“Who said I was talking about you?” His brown eyes were torn as he closed the distance between us.

  “What are—” Crystal’s voice broke through us as she leapt around the corner. I jumped away from Robb, but he didn’t budge. Her eyes darted around, but they slid into a glare.

  “We weren’t doing anything,” I blurted out.

  Crystal pointed to the ground. “Lola will freak if she finds cigarette butts in her yard.”

  “Yeah. Yeah,” Robb grumbled, bending down to pick it up. He walked right past us, but Crystal’s focus was on me.

  “Did something happen?” she asked, shivering in the wind. She hadn’t even bothered to put on a coat.

  “Just complaining about my dreams again.”

  Crystal folded her arms. “I don’t get why you complain about them,” she said, and I expected her to pry, but she winked. “Those boys sound cute.”

  I thought of the people I had seen in my recent dream. They hadn’t been the two in my bedroom, yet I had recognized Bracke’s name. It sounded bizarre, but so was the conversation. I couldn’t make sense of it, but I couldn’t admit I was even more conflicted than before. Crystal was worried enough.

  “Are you girls coming in?” Robb shouted from the door.

  “Yes,” Crystal responded, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her around the corner.

  “Is something wrong with Robb?” I mouthed. I didn’t want him to hear.

  “Why don’t you ask him?” She was loud enough for him to eavesdrop.

  I tightened my grip on her arms. “He seems bummed.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Linda and him keep breaking up,” she dismissed his peculiar behavior. “It’s normal.”

  But Robb’s gestures weren’t, especially if it focused on his on-and-off again girlfriend.

  “She isn’t coming tomorrow,” Crystal clarified, looping her arm through mine. “You won’t have to worry about drama.”

  But, apparently, I had to worry about Robb’s emotional state.

  I leaned into Crystal for support as we walked toward the doorway into her house. “Do you think you’ll be able to sleep over tomorrow?”

  “Yeah.”

  She leapt a few inches into the air, practically pulling me with her. “I can’t wait.” She ran up the three steps to the door and put her hands on my shoulders. Without warning, she shook me.

  My head rattled, and I blinked at her when she stopped. “That’s the Jess I know,” she said, seeing something in my face I couldn’t feel for myself. “It isn’t healthy to dwell on everything around you all the time.” She pushed the door open, and the heat washed over my skin. “You’ll get wrinkles before your twenties.”

  I wanted to say I didn’t care about that, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Robb was right about one thing − I had stopped standing up for myself, even though I didn’t know why. It was as if I’d lost part of myself that brought fulfillment, and I was trying to fill it with empty distractions.

  Eric

  It had been three days since my father left, three days since speaking to Eu, and three days since I contemplated leaving.

  I stood next to my car, considering my options. I doubted I could leave Hayworth without getting hurt, but I needed to know if it were factual. It would help narrow down Darthon’s identity. If I couldn’t leave, he couldn’t either, which meant he probably went to my school. It would mean he could only one of the boys in Hayworth. I didn’t know where to go from there, but it was a place to start.

  I got in and turned over the engine.

  It rumbled down the street as I drove through Hayworth, unsure of my decision. It had been made, and I could still change it, but I didn’t want to. I passed Jonathon’s house first. His little brother was outside, but Brenthan didn’t recognize my new car. He didn’t even look up. I hoped George wasn’t looking out of a window.

  Jessica’s house was next, but I couldn’t bring myself to look. Her bedroom window was in the front, and the reminder was too tempting. I passed Eu’s shortly afterwards, but a part of me wished he had seen me − so he knew I was making the decision after I had carefully thought it over.

  Even if I were rebelling against the Dark, I had to try to leave Hayworth again.

  I erased all thoughts from my mind as I neared the highway ramp I’d crashed at. I wasn’t thinking, but my stomach was twisting, and my palms were sweating. The unwanted reaction was uncontrollable, but I concentrated as Urte had taught me in training, and it disappeared as the car sped up, tilting to the left as I readied to merge.

  The moment had the potential to hurt me again, to ruin my success, but I kept my eyes open. I wanted to see what my future truly entailed. I wanted to see if I could figure out Darthon’s identity before he knew mine.

  I held my breath as I made it to the top and merged over. My grip loosened when nothing happened. I exhaled as the car continued forward on the highway, but disappointment seeped into me.

  Darthon could be from any town, and I’d lost control of my car by myself. The only theory we had was gone, and Hayworth melted behind me as undeniable proof. The people who were booking hotel rooms had to have been shades and lights moving in for the fight, and the war seemed more destined than ever before.

  I had to prepare myself, but I couldn’t return in that moment. I wanted to see the next town over − something I had never seen before. Even if it only lasted one night, I could pretend I was running away, like I belonged somewhere else, and I could forget the ramifications of my tested actions.

  Tonight, I wouldn’t find Darthon in Hayworth, but he wouldn’t find me either.

  Jessica

  The bar was loud. I always expected them to be chaotic, and this one was too loud to think. I hadn’t even had a drink yet. I was nervous enough about getting in, but they hadn’t even carded me, and my burst of nerves seemed as useless as the fake ID Zac had created. It sat in my purse, unused, and I couldn’t believe I had it. A year ago, I wouldn’t have, and my past-self lectured me through the cranked music and smoke.

  “I didn’t know it was legal to smoke inside,” I said, thinking of the Kansas laws, but no one heard me.

  A crowd of young adults − slightly older than us − screamed at a basketball game on the television, and I wondered if they hadn’t been carded as well. One of the boys even looked like he was wearing the same uniform Zac had.

  “On the house,” Crystal said, setting down three beers. They sloshed over the rim as she sat down and pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “Jeff won’t stop hitting on me.”

  I glanced at the puppy-eyed bartender behind the wooden countertop. He was talking to another customer, but he was watching Crystal. He was probably why we got in so easily.

  “He gave me a free shot, too.” She had to speak abnormally loud for us to hear.

  Robb grabbed his glass, indifferent to her small talk. He downed a few gulps, but he didn’t flinch. All I could recall was how my face twisted with disgust the only time I had accidentally sipped my dad’s beer.

  “Go ahead, Jess,” Crystal encouraged, drinking hers with the same nonchalant attitude Robb had.

  I touched the glass, pulled away, and grabbed it again. I didn’t want to look out of place with all of the bartenders around. I was paranoid about getting caught, but I was more worried about the effects it’d have. I’d seen my parents drunk enough to know how secrets slipped. It was how I learned my biological parents had died.

  “It isn’t that bad,” Robb added, speaking with his glass to his lips.

  I glanced down at the brown liquid one last time and sipped it. I tried to fight my expression, but I cringed. It tasted how I remembered.

  Crystal giggled, tapping my arm. “It gets better after the first one.”

  “I don’t see how that’s possible,” I admitted through a small cough.

  “You’ll see,” Crystal said, chugging more. She was already halfway through the first one.

  I followed her example but closed my eyes to prevent myself from spitting it back into the glass. It was disgusting. The taste, the smell, everything. I forced myself to continue until it was halfway gone. I met Robb’s widened eyes when I put it back on the table.

  “See?” Crystal exclaimed, bouncing up from her seat. “I’ll get a second round.”

  “Already?” I squeaked.

  Robb rolled his eyes. “She just wants to talk to Jeff.”

  Crystal ignored him as she strode away. She was acting as if Zac didn’t exist anymore.

  “Jess?” Robb spoke up, and I drank again. I didn’t know what he would say to me after the night before. “Why did you follow me outside?”

  “I need to ask you something.” The confession slipped out effortlessly, and my sips turned into a heated flush across my body.

  He raised his brow. “Why didn’t you?”

  I gestured to Crystal. “I wanted to ask you alone.”

  He placed his empty glass on the table. I hadn’t even noticed he finished it. “You can ask me now.”

  I bit my lip. It felt strange to talk so loudly about private matters, but I knew he wouldn’t hear me if I didn’t. “Why did Zac have your car the other day?”

  Robb’s calm expression faltered. “What are you talking about?”

  He had to have known. “I was jogging, and Zac drove by in your car,” I explained. I didn’t want to tell him what his friend had said to me.

  “You jog?” Robb asked.

  “Why does everyone seem to have a problem with that?” I whined.

  He chuckled. “You’re a little too fragile to be running around by yourself.”

  My muscles in my arm tightened. “How’d you know I was by myself?” I asked, too focused to be irritated by his fragile comment. He knew about Zac’s run-in with me. “Robb—”

  “I needed new brakes, and I was too busy studying to take it in myself,” he said. “That’s it.”

  I didn’t have a reason to distrust him, but it didn’t seem like enough. “What classes were you studying for?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing over his shoulder to survey Crystal. She was coming toward us. “What’s with the interrogation, Jess?” He leaned across the table. “Just tell me what’s bothering you.”

  Zac was, but I couldn’t say it without it getting back to him, and that was the last thing I needed.

  “Round two,” Crystal announced, slamming more drinks on the table. This time, there were shots with the beer.

  Robb gladly picked his liquor up. “You chase with the beer,” he said, but his tone made it sound less like an explanation and more like he was talking down to me.

  I grabbed mine, refusing to drop my eye contact. “I got that part,” I mumbled.

  Crystal clinked hers against mine before Robb’s. “To the night,” she toasted, tipping hers back at the same time Robb did. I followed and gripped the table when my throat burned. I wouldn’t cough this time.

  “What was that?” I managed, but my voice sounded rough.

  “Vodka,” Crystal said, sipping her beer. The mixing of the two was as unpleasant as the way my first beer had tasted.

  After a few more sips and a couple of minutes, I could feel my fingers tingling. I stretched them out and stared at them like I’d see sparkles, but they were my usual nails.

  “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

  Robb’s slurred voice startled me as much as his closeness did. He moved to sit next to me, and he placed his elbow on the back of my chair. I tried to scoot away, but my feet slid across the ground where I had tried to get traction.

  “It feels weird,” I admitted, standing up. “I should go—” My legs wobbled, and Crystal shot up, wrapping her arm around my waist. She forced a little dance like we had planned it and put me back in my seat.

  “Don’t stand out too much,” she hissed. Other drinkers had seen the entire thing. “We’ll get caught.”

  I couldn’t believe two beers and a shot had affected me so much. I had to remind myself that I was a teenager with less experience than I wanted to confess.

  “I’m not handling this too well,” I said, but I was surprised by the giggle that escaped me.

  “It doesn’t matter if we stumble out after a couple,” she said, sliding a new drink over I hadn’t even seen her get. “One, however, is a problem.”

  I didn’t reach for the glass, but Robb did. He took a sip from it, setting it down in front of me with a stillness that made my insides twist. He wasn’t even buzzed. “It’s always better after the first glass.” His words came out like a dare, and I snatched it from him like I had to prove myself.

  I sipped it and steadied my hand as I put it down. The liquid didn’t slosh around, and I grinned back at my friends. “You’re right,” I said, surprised my words weren’t a lie. “It does.”

  Eric

  The town was bigger than Hayworth, but that wasn’t a surprise.

  I drove through the gridded streets with ease, wishing Hayworth had been planned as properly. I had the place memorized in a few minutes, and I watched as my clock ticked by.

  It looked different in the dark. Older, but busier. People were everywhere, walking around in their own worlds, some of them clearly enhanced with alcohol. I stopped at a red light and watched as a group of boys passed by the front of my car. They didn’t even bother looking over, but I half-expected to see Zac among the group. It was the weekend, and their clothes were pressed. The amount of money floating through the desolate town was astounding. Hayworth was only fifteen minutes away, but the atmosphere changed as if I had passed a state line.

  I wondered if the town’s hotels were also booked, but it was too late to ask. Bars were closing, and the lights were going out. I should’ve been heading home myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn the car around. I wanted to see everything I hadn’t seen before, even though it was repetitive − one store after an eatery after a coffee shop. If I had left earlier, I could’ve gone inside.

  I turned a corner only to face a mansion. Outside lights streamed down the sides, and I slowed down to peek at the carved words at the top. St. Lucy High School.

  I recognized the name for one reason − Zac and Linda went there − and I tore my eyes away from it. I didn’t want to think about the guy Jessica had been doodling in her notebook. She warned me that she might date, and she would scorn me for getting distracted when she got her memory back. When − not if. I knew we would be together again, but the thought shattered like the lightning that smacked against the sky.

  I tried to ignore the omen, but rain splattered across my windshield, and my heart sank. I turned the car around.

  Jessica

  “A cab won’t be here for another hour,” Crystal complained, jumping in place as she tightened her coat. The bar was closed, and a misty rain fell from the sky. “I have to go home now.” Her mother had called, and Lola was furious.

  Robb hung up his phone. “Zac isn’t answering, but his house isn’t far from here,” he said. “We could walk.”

  Crystal groaned, but she wobbled forward. “Fine.”

  I didn’t have much of a choice. I followed her, concentrating on my feet. They felt like they secretly consumed alcohol on their own.

  Everything looked different. The sidewalks were wider − until a car drove by, then the sidewalks thinned into balance beams. Some lights were dim while others were as bright as the lightning above us. The storm blinded me, and the mist didn’t help. It was making my skin crawl, and I kept grabbing my arm like I was fighting off mosquitos.

  “I hate getting my hair wet,” Crystal said as she stomped in front of Robb and me. Her bleached hair had sprung out in tiny waves. I didn’t even know she straightened it.

  “Why did you have to wear that?” Robb’s voice glided over my shoulder as his hand landed on my hip.

  “Wha—” I looked down, staring at his touch, but I didn’t move away. He was warm in the cold rain.

  “You should wear dresses more often,” he continued, and my blush increased the liquor’s heat I was already feeling.

  “I told her that a long time ago,” Crystal joined the conversation, but she didn’t seem to notice Robb’s touch. She was too busy tying her hair into a bun. We continued to walk behind her, and she whined about Zac’s house the entire time. Her feelings for him had magically returned now that bartender Jeff wasn’t around.

  A screeching noise made her stop talking. A two-door Mercedes parked at the curb, and the window sprang down to reveal a blonde woman. “What the hell are you doing?” she asked, and I recognized her as soon as I saw her glare land on Robb.

  Linda.

  Robb stepped away from me. “We were walking to Zac’s, but—”

  “He’s busy,” Linda cut him off.

  His chest sank. “Great.”

  “Now what?” Crystal groaned.

  Robb sauntered up to Linda’s vehicle. “Linda—” He didn’t have to ask.

  “I can only fit one person at a time,” she sighed, dragging her manicured nails through her hair. They looked like claws.

  “Me first,” Crystal volunteered, running to the other side. She was sitting in the passenger seat before I realized it. Time was moving too fast.

  Linda’s glower was the first thing I saw clearly. “I’ll be back for you in fifteen,” she said, but it didn’t sound nice. It sounded like she was coming back to fight me.

  Her Mercedes shrilled as she skidded into a U-turn and disappeared.

  Robb sighed. “Ignore her.”

  “What is with you two anyway?” I asked, surprised by the harshness of my tone. I was no longer able to hold back what I was thinking.

  Robb’s brown eyes were wide, but they squinted when he looked away. “We’re not together right now.”

  Right now. Like they would be together again.

  “Are you upset with me?” he asked.

  I didn’t answer because I didn’t know. My head was spinning too fast to collect my thoughts, let alone my feelings, so I buried myself with silence. My body tingled, and the feeling, somehow, seemed familiar in the darkness. The overwhelming vision of flying flowed through my veins, and I shifted from side to side as if I would take off at any moment.

 

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