The Girl Who Called The Stars (The Starlight Duology Book 1)

by Heather Hildenbrand

  Before I could form any sort of plan, Jalene’s glow blinked out, plunging everything into complete darkness. “You get a thirty second lead time. Go!” she shouted.

  I took off running and looked over at the sound of footsteps next to me. It was Ben. “Hey, follow me,” he said as the rest of the kids all scattered.

  I stayed close beside him as we ran and saw Mallone sticking parallel a few yards to my left. I had no idea how he even kept up with us considering his size. He was faster than he looked.

  Behind me, shrieks sounded, and I knew the hunting had begun.

  “This way.” Ben led me to the north edge of the field near the tree line and then stopped suddenly, throwing himself on the ground in a belly flop. I crouched next to him. “Get lower,” he hissed.

  Without a word, I dropped flat on my belly beside him.

  A second later, I saw Mallone do the same several yards away.

  We laid there in the grass in silence for a moment listening to the laughing and the occasional yell as someone was chased. The chases were hard to make out. My eyes followed the ball of light I could only assume was Jalene at the far end of the field. So far, no one else had lit up with her.

  “What resources do you have?” Ben asked.

  “What?” I twisted my neck to look at him and found both him and Mallone watching me with interest.

  “Resources,” Ben repeated. “You know, besides your glow. What can you do?”

  “Um. I’m decent at hand-to-hand combat, I guess?”

  Ben shook his head impatiently. “We’re all decent at that.”

  “Hey, I’m better than decent,” Mallone whispered loudly.

  Ben shot him a glare. “Shhh.” Then he turned back to me. “We can use anything else we’re capable of here. Mallone’s good at stopping people which doesn’t really help unless you manage to make him your hostage.”

  “Stop giving her ideas,” Mallone grumbled.

  “She deserves to know everything we do,” Ben answered. He glared at Mallone. “And shut up. You talk too loud.”

  Mallone muttered something, but then fell silent.

  Ben turned to me again, his irritation smoothing away. “It’s okay if you don’t have anything extra. I don’t either.”

  He was so honest, I almost considered admitting what I could do with heat, but Xander’s warning came back to me, and I changed the subject instead. “So, do you guys play this game a lot?”

  “Kind of. We use games a lot in our training simulations, but most of those include weapons and strategized battle scenarios. It’s more fun when we just get together and play it like this.”

  “Your training sounds intense,” I said, remembering that Xander was in charge of the war games and combat training.

  “It can be, but then again, we’ll face even worse out there.” Ben turned to me. His gaze flicked over the bandage peeking out from underneath my long sleeve and he whispered, “So, what was it like? Meeting a Shadow?”

  I looked over and saw the excitement in his wide eyes and tried not to wince. He was naïve. Obviously not as experienced as Xander, or he wouldn’t look nearly so excited.

  “Pretty scary,” I whispered back. I thought it would best to leave my own gut wrenching fear out of the story since this kid so obviously didn’t register that as a possible reaction.

  “Eamon said a Shadow ambushed you, but that he ripped its throat out before the darkness could root inside you.”

  “Yeah, that about sums it up.” I shuddered remembering how it had felt, the disgusting tentacles of that dark magic as it entered me.

  Ben watched me, unblinking and hanging on my ever word. “How bad was it—the darkness, I mean?”

  I frowned. “It’s not really something I want to repeat ever.”

  Ben sighed. “I wish I’d been there.”

  I shot him a look to see if he was kidding, but he looked completely serious. And completely wrapped up in whatever fantasy he was having about kicking some Shadow ass. He didn’t seem to register the sound of footsteps coming closer.

  I poked him and then jerked my chin toward the sound of whoever was approaching. Then I raised my head just above the brush we were lying behind. Up ahead, Jalene wandered closer, moving in a zig-zag pattern in order to stop and check behind every bush.

  Damn.

  Ben and I shared a look. Then he motioned to Mallone who already looked poised to jump up. Some sort of signal passed between them and then Ben turned back to me. He held up one finger.

  Wait.

  I nodded.

  We peeked at Jalene again and waited. When she turned away to check the next bush, Ben whispered, “Now!”

  We both jumped up and took off.

  Behind me, Jalene let out a shriek and launched herself after us. I was faster, but Ben knew the right hiding places, and I ended up getting tagged.

  “Gotcha,” Jalene sang to me before she danced away again.

  A second later, her light went out, and she disappeared across the field.

  I turned my glow on and looked around, but beyond the small circle of illumination it provided, the darkness reflected back even blacker than before. Clearly, that was the point; a sort of handicap for the one doing the hunting. But unlike Jalene, I didn’t know my way around.

  I just hoped I wouldn’t trip or something while I was chasing someone. I wandered around for a while hearing movement and shoes against the grass, but nothing close by. No one visible above the bushes that dotted the ground.

  I ventured over to look and listen near the trees at the edge of the field. It was even darker here, and I couldn’t see or hear anyone. Maybe no one hid this close to the woods. I hadn’t asked what the boundaries were.

  I turned to head back, halted when something grabbed my foot mid-step and nearly sent me tumbling.

  “What—” I tried jerking free.

  The pressure tightened, squeezing like a vise, and I went down.

  “Ow,” I muttered, trying to pull myself free, but the pressure held until my ankle throbbed with it. I looked down, trying to identify what had grabbed me, but there was nothing to see. My ankle was untouched. But even as I stared down at it, the squeezing sensation remained.

  I wiggled my foot, trying to get free of the unseen force holding me here, but every attempt to pull away only made the pain worse.

  “Uh,” I grunted, kicking hard against whatever invisible force held me. The tension slackened enough that I was able to gain a couple of inches. Relief flooded me, but then the pressure suddenly increased, and I cried out from the sharp, unexpected pain.

  I sucked in a breath, preparing to let out a scream that would be sure to bring everyone running. Before I could let it out, the vise grip on my leg gave a jerking tug and started pulling me roughly across the grass. The scream in my throat died as I realized, in a panic, that I was being dragged toward the trees and no one had even noticed yet. I used my free leg and started kicking into the air and then against whatever was holding me.

  I felt, rather than saw, that I’d made contact, but it wasn’t enough.

  The thing dragging me didn’t let up.

  I dug my hands into the ground, trying to find something to hold on to as the thing slowly dragged me further toward the woods. If it got me that far, I had a feeling I was done for.

  Desperate now, I found my voice again (I’m pretty sure I had been only grunting and panting with the efforts of my resistance up until now) and let out a piercing scream. At the same time, I pushed my glow on as bright as I could. The heat came with it, sending bolts that sizzled and singed the dried grass just beyond my toes.

  From near my feet, there was a distinct hiss.

  The pressure eased as whatever had been holding me suddenly released my leg. I twisted around again, hoping to catch a glimpse of my attacker, but just like before, there was nothing to see.

  Whatever had grabbed me was invisible.

  Or I was just crazy.

  At the edges of the reach of m
y own light, I watched the tips of the grass move, parting as if to allow someone or something to pass. Then the trees at the edge of the woods rustled too. I blinked, trying to see what wasn’t there. For a split second, I thought I caught a glimpse of something, but then it disappeared.

  I was alone.

  And hurting.

  A hand landed on my shoulder. I jumped and jerked my face upward. A face filled my vision, blotting out the rustling branches and snapping me back to reality. The first thing that registered was Jalene recoiling from where she’d touched me. She held her hand carefully against her body then shook it out, wincing.

  The second thing was the pain in my ankle.

  “Are you okay?” Ben asked.

  But he wasn’t talking to me.

  Jalene nodded back at him. “Her skin…” Ben stepped closer to inspect her hand, but she waved him away and dropped down beside me, her mouth set in a tight line. She didn’t try to touch me again. “What happened?”

  Before I could answer, several more kids appeared behind her. They tried pressing in closer, but Ben ushered them back. No one spoke, and I felt all their eyes on me. They were all waiting for an answer that I was pretty sure was going to sound insane when I gave it.

  “Um, yeah I’m okay, I think,” I said, looking down at my leg. My ankle throbbed in pain, and I hadn’t even tried to move it yet.

  “Did you fall?” someone asked. Tyson, maybe.

  “I…”

  “Did you at least tag someone?” another one called out.

  Ignoring them, I reached down and pulled up my pant leg. Sure enough, I could see my ankle was bright red all the way around and the skin below it was already displaying several different shades of purple.

  “Did you trip?” asked Jalene quietly, kneeling to look closer at my leg.

  “No. I mean yes, but something grabbed me,” I said, trying to make sense of what had happened.

  “What was it?” she asked in a low voice.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. When I looked there wasn’t anything there.”

  Jalene looked at me sharply, her dark eyes probing for something. A second later, her features smoothed out again. When she spoke, it was loud enough for everyone else to hear. “Maybe someone accidentally put their hand or foot out and you tripped.” Her tone wasn’t as dismissive as the others but it wasn’t reassuring either.

  I blinked at her, but she didn’t wait for me to reply.

  “Okay, everybody, game’s over. Alina’s fine but it’s getting late and I’m calling it.”

  Her words were met with a collective groan before the kids all started to disperse. One by one, each of their glow lights came on to lead their way home. Ben was the only one who stayed behind, but Jalene didn’t fuss at him for it.

  I stared blankly at their backs until I felt Jalene crouch beside me again.

  I looked over at her and she offered an apologetic smile. “I needed to get them out of here,” she explained. “Now, can I see the injury again?”

  Without a word, I slid my pant leg up a little further. Jalene bent low, examining the marks on my leg again. I noticed she was careful not to let her fingers brush my skin again. Would she ask me about it? I didn’t want to lie to her but Xander had said…

  “Ben,” Jalene said, rising to look over at where he stood waiting. “I need you to go get your brother. Can you do that for me?”

  “Yeah, I can do that but why? Is Alina okay?” Ben looked worriedly down at me, and I was struck again by how young he seemed. How unaccustomed to danger he really was.

  “She’s fine, I just need to talk to him,” Jalene told him firmly, and I could hear it in her voice—she was keeping something from him. From me too.

  “All right.” Ben nodded and headed for the path that snaked through the woods toward town. He paused when Jalene called out to him.

  “Ben, hurry!”

  He took off then, running hard for the tree line.

  I jumped as I realized he was heading into the same trees where my attacker had gone. I looked at Jalene with wide eyes. “He can’t go that way. Whatever grabbed me went that way.”

  “He’s fine. Whatever grabbed you is gone now,” she said, confidently. “We’re going to wait here, and Ben will be right back.”

  I stared at her incredulously. How could she be so sure and calm? Unless… “You know what happened to me, don’t you?”

  She sat down next to me. “Not exactly, no. I have some ideas and so will Ben’s brother. That’s why I sent Ben to get him. Plus, I trust him to help get you home safely.”

  “I can get myself home safely,” I snapped.

  Jalene’s brow shot up. “And I’ve hit a nerve, apparently.” I scowled. “Look, I didn’t mean to piss you off or suggest you can’t take care of yourself, but you’ve been gone a long time. There are things at work even I don’t understand. What I do know is that we’re stronger in numbers.”

  “You sound like Xander,” I muttered.

  Jalene’s lips twitched. “Do I?”

  “Yes, he’s always going on about my safety and all the things he does for my protection. It’s annoying.” My eyes flicked to hers as my words dawned on me. “When he does it,” I amended.

  Jalene laughed. “Please. It’s annoying, period. I get that. But considering who you are, you might want to get used to people looking out for you and making your safety a priority. It’s not going to stop anytime soon.”

  I grimaced because she was right. When I saw her glance down at her hand again, guilt pricked at me. “I’m sorry I burned you.”

  Jalene shook her head and tucked her hand away. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Of course I’m worried about it. My safety isn’t the only one that matters,” I began, but she cut me off.

  “That’s not what I meant. I’ll be fine. I just… You surprised me.” Her gaze sharpened as she studied me. “The heat… I thought it was part of the attack, but it was you, wasn’t it?”

  I hesitated. “Maybe.”

  She smiled. “Relax. I’m not going to share with the class.”

  I let out a breath. “Thank you,” I said. “But why not?”

  “For your protection, of course,” she said with a lopsided smile.

  I laughed. “No, I meant why would you do that for me? You don’t even know me.”

  She squeezed my arm which had thankfully cooled. “I know enough.”

  A noise behind me in the trees made me jump. I turned in a jerky movement and it was all I could do to swallow the scream that rose in my throat as two black silhouettes emerged and headed our way.

  “We’re back,” Ben called a second later.

  My shoulders sagged in relief.

  But then I caught sight of who Ben had brought with him. “Xander?” I managed.

  “Dammit, I was in the middle of a meeting,” Xander said. “What couldn’t wait?”

  “Alina had an accident.” Jalene’s tone was light, but Xander reacted immediately, quickening his step until he was nearly running to reach me.

  When they got close enough, my brows shot up, and I looked at Ben. “Xander’s your brother?”

  Ben shrugged. “Don’t worry. I don’t let the fame go to my head.”

  Xander ignored that and crouched in front of me, his eyes already scanning me for injuries. “What happened?” he asked Jalene.

  “She says something grabbed her ankle and wouldn’t let go,” Jalene answered. “She also burned me when I got here to help her.”

  Xander’s expression hardened at that. “Did anyone else see it?”

  “I don’t think so,” Jalene said. “I sent Ben to get you and told everyone else to go home.”

  Xander nodded and then looked back at me expectantly. “Who hurt you?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  He nodded. “Tell me what happened. Start from the beginning.”

  I blew out a breath. “We were playing night wars. Ben and Mallone were on my team, but then I got t
agged. After that I was the hunter, but I couldn’t find anyone. When I got close to the woods, something grabbed my ankle and yanked me down. Then it… It started to drag me toward the woods. I fought it but it was so strong.”

  My ankle throbbed all over again as I said the words.

  Xander’s hand rested on my thigh by the time I was done. My breath caught and I waited for him to react, but he didn’t even seem to realize he was touching me. “Did you see who it was?” he asked.

  “No. I… I looked but there was nothing there. It’s crazy, I know, but whatever had me was invisible.”

  Xander’s hand tightened against my thigh. “What happened next?”

  “I fell and then it started dragging me toward the woods.”

  “How did you fight it?” he asked.

  “I kicked it and when that didn’t work, I panicked and heated up. I think it was enough to burn whatever it was because it let go after that and escaped into the woods.”

  “Did you see anything?” he asked. “Anything at all.”

  I shrugged. “The leaves rustled as it ran off, and I thought I saw something in the trees, but I can’t be sure. Honestly, I feel crazy. Do you guys have invisible predators I don’t know about?”

  Ben shook his head, wide-eyed and speechless, but Jalene and Xander both looked away. Whatever they weren’t telling me, it was clear they weren’t going to spill it in front of Ben. The problem was that neither of them had told me I was crazy for any of it.

  More secrets.

  Now that I was done with my story, Xander went back to his perusal of my body. It was ridiculously intimate the way his gaze dragged slowly over me, and I felt my skin heating all over again for entirely different reasons.

  “Where does it hurt?” he asked, and I blinked, almost forgetting the answer for a moment. But his tone was so cold and detached compared to the way he’d looked at me. Like a bucket of ice water.