Assassin (Starlight Book 1)

by D. N. Hoxa

  When the door open, it wasn’t his face I saw. It was my friend Kate.

  “I’m sorry, Star. She insisted—”

  “That’s okay. Give me a minute, then send Uncle Sam.”

  My throat began to hurt even more than before as I looked at Kate. My best friend. My only friend. Easily one of the most beautiful girls I knew who for an unknown reason was friends with me, despite me being the complete opposite of her. I didn’t wear dresses. I didn’t go to parties. James had been my first boyfriend, to her complete horror. I’d always wondered why she was friends with me. Why I mattered to her. It was only that day that I figured out that was a lie. I didn’t matter to her. When the whole school laughed at me, she was there, too. She saw me run, and she knew I’d wait for her in the bathroom. She didn’t give a shit. Didn’t even text me.

  “Star, I’m sorry,” she finally said.

  I knew she was. She maybe cared for me, but she cared more for what people thought of her. That’s why she didn’t come after me. That’s why she didn’t spend all that much time with me during lunch breaks. She always seemed to have something to do in that time. The only time she was really my friend was after school, at my house or hers.

  “I know.” I said weakly, because what else could I say?

  Silence. Awkward silence. We’d never gone so long without talking before. She stood there, staring at me, studying my face. The tension in the white room kept on growing until I felt like it was going to suffocate me.

  “I look like shit, I…know,” I said to somewhat break the ice, and she let out a small scream that was supposed to be a laugh. Her eyes were teary. Too bad she wasn’t there when mine were.

  “What happened?” she asked, never moving from her place.

  “Hit and run,” I lied.

  “I…” she started to say, but I stopped her.

  “It’s okay. You know your priorities and I...I’m not one of them. I respect that but...” I was very aware that I sounded like an old lady by stopping every few words to take a breath, but my throat was killing me. “But it doesn’t mean I have to like it or...put up with it.”

  She looked confused, probably because I’d never been the type to say what I felt to people, let alone her. I was just...afraid I’d make others feel bad. When it came to me, I knew I could take it.

  “What? You mean… we’re not friends anymore?” she said, half a dumbfounded smile on her pretty face.

  “No, we’re still friends. Just... not the way we used to be. I don’t...think I can do that anymore. But thank you for...everything.”

  It was a lie, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her to not speak to me again. It was going to hurt too much, but like I said: I could take it.

  Her tears spilled, finally rolling free down her cheeks. “Oh,” she breathed. “You’re welcome and thank you, too, for understanding.” She didn’t look at me again. Staring down at the floor, she opened the door and said: “I really am sorry for not being there for you when you needed me,” and she walked out.

  So that was what the end of a friendship looked like. I never wanted to try one again, ever. Tears filled my eyes. I swear I could see their evil smiles as they whispered: “Missed us?”

  I concentrated on my breathing for the few minutes it took for Uncle Sam to come knocking on my door. He did so with a huge bouquet of lilies in his hands. My first thought was to smile, but then I remembered where I’d been and how he’d lied and…

  “How are you feeling?” He left the flowers on the nightstand and sat on the only chair next to my bed.

  “Okay.” He could see that was a lie as he studied me and what were probably bruises on my face.

  “I’m really sorry, Star.” His voice was weak, weaker than I’d ever heard it before.

  “Why did you lie?”

  A sad smile stretched his lips. “The truth is too…complicated to tell.”

  If my throat and gut didn’t hurt that much, I would’ve laughed. “I was kidnapped at your store.” I was pretty sure he knew that much.

  “I know, Star, and I’m really sorry. For what I did and for what happened to you today.”

  “You keep saying that…” I whispered. I remembered him saying that he had done something terrible and that he was sorry. “How did I get out of there?” The last thing I remembered was the man kicking me in the face.

  “I got you out,” Uncle Sam said.

  “So why didn’t you just tell the cops that?” My head was a mess. I focused on his face so hard that everything else around me became a blur.

  With a sigh, Uncle Sam slowly reached out for my hand. I shivered at his cold touch but didn’t move away. “I need you to listen to me very carefully, Star. What I’m about to tell you is going to sound ridiculous at first, but I need you to keep an open mind. Can you do that?”

  Even more confused. That, and Uncle Sam was beginning to scare me. I nodded, anyways. “So long as what you’ll tell me is the truth.”

  “It is, I promise you,” he whispered, then looked away from me. “The people that did this to you are the Red Rebels.” His voice was so low I barely heard it.

  “Sounds like a bunch of...teenagers with anger management...issues.” No idea what kind of a reaction he expected from me, but that was the only thing that came to my mind.

  Uncle Sam smiled. “Believe me, I say the same thing.” He took his sweet time before he continued. “I’ve done a terrible thing, Star. I’m really sorry I brought you into this.”

  There he went again. “I wish you could just tell me what that means.” Nothing made any sense to me, but the only thing I wanted to know right away was who the people that had kidnapped me were and why Uncle Sam had lied about it.

  “I’m going to start from the very beginning. I…I should have told you this the first day I met you.” He sighed and shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was saying.“There’s a whole world out there, Star. A world with creatures beyond anyone’s imagination. There are beings with superpowers, immortals and mortals with extraordinary abilities that walk the Earth, unknown by most humans.”

  I smiled. “X-Men superpowers…or like Twilight superpowers?”

  It was meant as a joke, but Uncle Sam answered it anyway. “Both, I guess.”

  “Both,” I repeated with a nod.

  “Can you do me a favor, and just pretend to believe me so I can get on with my story?” he said after a few seconds.

  Maybe he’d lost his mind. Maybe he’d always been crazy, and I just never saw it. A thousand different options came to my mind, but the truth was, I was stuck in whatever situation because of him and he was the only one who could give me an explanation. Even if that explanation was just a bunch of bullshit, I wanted to hear it.

  Reluctantly, I gave a weak nod. “Let’s do that. Let’s pretend I believe in what you say. How is it that…how do I fit into all of this?”

  “I-I-I…” Uncle Sam clamped his mouth shut. I’d never heard him stutter before. For whatever reason, that was the thing that freaked me out more than anything that had happened up until that second. “You have to understand that I never thought any harm would come to you, Star. I would’ve never done it otherwise.”

  “Can you just tell me what you did? You’re really starting to scare me.”

  “I used you, Star. I made you my Keeper without your consent.”

  Keeper. “Of what?”

  “Of my secret. I hid my secret in your mind without you knowing about it.”

  My head began to pound like it had a heart of its own in there. My brain was all but frozen. The only thing I could think about was those stupid words.

  “The Unique,” I whispered as I thought about the covers of the book. “What the hell kind of a secret is that? And how can you…hide it in my mind without my knowing? That’s…” Absurd. Ridiculous. Pick any name in the book.

  “With magic,” Uncle Sam whispered.

  “Pardon me?”

  “Magic. I did it with magic.”

/>   I waited, my mouth hanging open, for him to start laughing. I waited…and waited…

  “We said we were going to pretend that you believe me until I told you everything, didn’t we? So just keep on pretending. I’m…” he sighed and rubbed his face raw for a few seconds. “I’ve never done this before, and I’m trying my best!”

  I looked to my right at the button that was going to get the nurses in my room. I could reach it if I moved a bit to my right, but would Uncle Sam let me? Freaked out, I dragged myself just a tiny bit without being noticed. I could get to it a little at a time.

  “Like I said, I buried my secret in your mind without your consent because I didn’t think that anyone would ever even suspect that I’d choose a human for a Keeper,” Uncle Sam continued. Human. He called me human. “Those people…I didn’t know they would come after you. When I heard them coming, I thought they’d know that you’re just a human and leave. I’m really very sorry, Star. Really sorry.”

  He sounded so sincere, I was tempted to believe him on the spot.

  “How could you think they’d just leave? I could see it in their eyes…I-I could feel it. They were going to hurt me the second they laid eyes on me. How could you not?”

  He was the one who claimed to do magic. Just the reminder of how my stomach had felt when that woman had looked at me…yes, I’d known they were going to hurt me.

  “What…what do you mean?” He seemed really confused.

  “I mean, if I could tell that they were there to hurt me, how could you not?”

  Uncle Sam stood up, opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, and sat down again. “How could you tell that they were going to hurt you? How exactly could you tell?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just a feeling in my gut, like someone or something was pulling at it. And their eyes…the woman’s eyes changed somehow the second she decided she was going to attack me.” I realized how ridiculous I sounded as I spoke those words, and I squeezed my eyes shut. “Look, all I know is that the woman came in and she attacked me, and she tortured me…”

  Shivers washed over my body at the thought of all the pain they’d caused. I didn’t really care about the bruises. I healed faster than anybody else I knew. But the pain—I was never going to forget that.

  “That’s…that’s not possible,” Uncle Sam whispered after a second, and I laughed. I laughed so hard, my throat caught fire.

  “Not possible? Really?” Wasn’t he the one who talked about magic a second ago?

  “You’re human. Humans can’t feel anything. Most supernaturals can’t, either. Only half-fey, like me,” he said, looking at me now with a new light in his blue eyes. A new wave of curiosity.

  “I don’t…supernaturals?”

  “Yes, that’s what they’re called,” Uncle Sam said. “And I’m half-fey, Star. I would have been able to feel if you had any magic in you. And I don’t.”

  I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply for a few seconds. This was getting out of control. He honestly looked like he meant every word he said.

  “Uncle Sam, can we get to the point where you tell me what’s really going on? I’m tired and I would like to get some sleep soon.”

  Lie. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at all. I just wanted him to get to the point already.

  With his lips pressed, Uncle Sam nodded. “Can you feel something in me?”

  I shook my head without a word.

  “Maybe because I’m a half breed.”

  “Half fey.” He’d said that before. “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be immortal?” All the books I’d read about fairies said that they were immortal.

  “No, because I’m part human. We live half a century more than you, but that’s it.”

  “You say we. Are there others like you?” Couldn’t believe I was dragging this ridiculous conversation on, but I was too curious about what he would say.

  “Yes, many others. Half breeds and full blood supernaturals. Good ones and evil ones.”

  “Like the Red Rebels.”

  Uncle Sam nodded.

  “Tell me about The Unique.”

  He knew I meant the book he’d hidden in my mind without my consent.

  His thin lips stretched into a sad smile. “Yes, Illyon, the White Book of Wisdom. It has existed since the beginning of time, and it was written by the first supernaturals. The first fairy, the first vampire, shape-shifter, warlock, Nephil, and the first demon. It holds the entire knowledge of this world, the power to both create and destroy massively. Spells that could manipulate thousands of minds, turn oceans into ice, spread death like a virus. Knowledge so powerful that, in the wrong hands, it could mean the end for us all,” Uncle Sam whispered as if he was afraid someone was listening.

  “So it’s a spell book.”

  “Yes, you could say that. And I was its Guardian for the past twenty years.”

  “Pardon my ignorance, but if you’re only a half breed, why would…” anyone want him to guard such a powerful thing?

  “Because Illyon cannot be kept anywhere but in the mortal realm. Half-fey are best suited for living in it and…let’s just say the Council trust me.”

  “The Council?”

  “Yes, fourteen of the strongest supernatural that govern over our kind.”

  Not a hint in his face or eyes that said he was kidding. Or that he was lying.

  There I was, in a hospital room after having been tortured for God knew how long by two people, and Uncle Sam—sweet Uncle Sam—was talking to me about vampires and fairies and shifters and secrets hidden in my mind…

  “I’m sorry. This is just…it’s just too much. And it’s impossible.” He had to see it, too.

  “Everything is possible,” he said, looking at me like I was the crazy one there.

  “But you’re telling me that you’re a fairy.”

  “Part fairy, and if you want proof, all you have to do is ask for it.”

  Proof. Of course! Why hadn’t I thought about that earlier?

  “Yes, proof. Proof sounds perfect. Give me proof.”

  As I watched him take the flowers he had brought for me in his hands, a voice in my head kept reminding me how stupid it was that I was allowing this. I should’ve called the nurses, Ella, Dad, anyone already. Uncle Sam had obviously lost his mind.

  But as he closed his eyes and let go of his breath, the air around me charged with electricity. Suddenly, I began to feel Uncle Sam, too. But not like the others, no. This was the opposite.

  I couldn’t even swallow as I watched him. It felt like Uncle Sam’s body was humming a melody that spoke of grass and clear skies and sun and nature. It was the most calming feeling. And the flowers…the beautiful flowers in his hand began to grow longer, their color brighter, their smell richer. It was right there, all of it in front of my eyes. The flowers wrapped themselves around Uncle Sam’s hands, then let go of him again. They danced right in front of my eyes until they became longer than me.

  Had I known that this was going to happen? Had I believed Uncle Sam from the beginning? Was that why I’d let him tell me all the ridiculous story that now felt more true than the bed I was lying in?

  Pain shot in my gut before I realized that I’d sat up straighter. Tears filled my eyes. That man…Jonah, he’d electrocuted me. And something told me he hadn’t used any device to do it that wasn’t attached to his body.

  “My family…” I whispered. What if they found me in the hospital? What if they hurt Ella and Dad? They’d already threatened me with them.

  “They don’t know—”

  “Yes, they do. They told me they knew where I lived. I can’t let them hurt my family.” It didn’t matter how much it hurt. I put my feet on the ground and attempted to stand up. Failed.

  “I’m so sorry, Star,” Uncle Sam kept whispering.

  “Don’t be sorry, just tell me how to get my family to safety. Tell me who those people are so that I can…” What? Run? Hide? If they could do magic like Uncle Sam just had right in front of my
eyes what hopes did I have?

  Uncle Sam shook his head and looked away from me. Not a good sign. My heart sank. “I’m sorry, Star. I can’t tell you who they are. I can’t tell you who else they’ve told. Maybe every Red Rebel already knows that you…”

  “But I’m no longer your Keeper. I can feel it.” And I could. I no longer felt whatever it was that had connected me to The Unique.

  “You can still tell them where it was. That’s more than they could have hoped to ever find,” Uncle Sam mumbled.

  I tried to stand up again, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. My pain was too great.

  “So what are you suggesting?”

  I wasn’t going to just sit around and wait for them to find me again.

  “I’m suggesting that you leave,” he said.

  Leave. We could do that. Dad was a firefighter. He could find work in another state. We could go anywhere else.

  “I know it’s not easy, and I wish I’d had more time. I hate having to drop everything in your lap like this, all at once, but…” he didn’t need to say it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

  I ended up lying back down without having ever stood up. There was nothing more Uncle Sam could say, and not two minutes later, Ella and my dad came into the room. By the time they thought to look at the flowers on my nightstand, they were already their normal size again. Uncle Sam kept telling me how sorry he was, and before he left, he promised me that he’d come back in the morning to check up on me before the hospital let me go.

  And as I lied to the cops about the car that hit me and ran away, I cried. They thought I cried because of the memory, and they were right. It just wasn’t the memory they thought I had.

  When I finally closed my eyes to get some sleep—Ella’s orders—and Dad took my sister home for the night, I thought about how I was going to tell them in the morning. How I was going to explain to them that we needed to leave Philadelphia for good. It was going to be hard considering I couldn’t tell them the real reason, but I trusted my little sister and my father. And I would do anything I had to, anything at all to keep them safe.