The Fallen Stars (A Star Child Novel)

by Stephanie Keyes

  When I initially looked at myself, nothing had changed. An exhausted and uncomfortable guy stared back at me, nothing more. Then I looked at my chest. The emblem, though small, lay directly above my heart and glowed a faint golden color. Willock continued to hold the amulet close to me, but when he pulled it away the marking I’d observed on my skin blended into my flesh and faded.

  I breathed in and exhaled, letting my breath out slowly, then looked at Willock. “I don’t want to rule anything without Calienta.”

  “The amulet can show you where she is now, Kellen. You have only to claim your birthright. And you can change so many things,” Willock said.

  “Can I bring her back?” My voice cracked on the last word.

  “If she is truly dead…It is…not advisable.”

  I looked down for a moment, shifting back and forth on my feet, before looking at him again. “How can I really trust you, Willock?” Yes, he had saved me so far, but what if he wanted the amulet for himself and it would kill me?

  Willock stared me in the eye. “Because when I give you the amulet, I’m going to die.”

  I’d known this somehow, known all of it, but it still came as a shock. In the next thirty seconds, I would be taking another man’s life—and I didn’t have a choice.

  “Take it.” Willock shoved the amulet into my hand. Still holding on, he cautioned me. “Get your pendant ready to join to it.

  Nodding, I lifted up the pendant in my other hand, hovering it above the amulet. The pair of objects seemed to shake in response to one another’s close proximity. Willock began to sweat profusely despite the cold. This would be painful for him. I would forever regret causing him pain, especially since he’d saved my life.

  “On the count of three. One, two…three!”

  Jamming the pendant onto the grooves in the amulet, I waited. I expected more fireworks or a lightshow at the very least, but it was anticlimactic. The pieces began to fuse together slowly, until they gradually became one.

  In the space of several seconds, the silver of the pendant became completely absorbed into the amulet, until it appeared as though the front of the amulet, which had once been smooth, was now embossed with the emblem from my pendant.

  As they joined, an indescribable feeling of power flooded my body. It reminded me of my brief experience as an immortal, when Síl granted me high kingship. The power had been too overwhelming, too tempting. This time, with Danu’s amulet, the sense of power and temptation could easily be described as twenty times that—no, maybe two hundred times more.

  Then the power of the amulet was too much for me and I wanted to get away from it. My fingers twitched as though to drop it.

  “Don’t let go of it. Don’t let it out of your sight,” Willock said. He swallowed, lowering himself to the ground. “Show her to me, Kellen. Please, show her to me.”

  I wanted to take the amulet and run. Cali was my Cali and I didn’t want to share even a fraction of her with anyone. Even though she did not return Willock’s feelings. Even though she’d died. Then again, Willock was responsible for saving my life. How could I let him die without returning this small favor?

  “Please,” Willock pleaded. “I need to see her one last time.”

  Nodding, I pulled the amulet up so that it was at eye level with Willock.

  Willock instructed me. “Close your eyes. Think about her. Recall everything about her that makes her matter to you. Bring that to your mind and then allow yourself to let go of all your fears, all your doubts.”

  I did as he suggested. Cali. Her hair, her eyes, her body, her mind, her heart—they were all parts of Cali that popped into my head when I thought of her. Now, I would not think of her as dead and gone. I would think of her as alive in my memory always.

  “Show me my Cali,” I whispered.

  Opening my eyes, I fell backwards onto my butt as the amulet transformed into a window through which I could see Cali. I’d expected to see her as…what, as a ghost, or an angel? I’d had no idea, but to see her alive and with Cabhan was not what I expected. Although maybe that meant she’d become an angel now. But she didn’t appear as healthy as an angel might have. She’d been hurt. Bad. However, she lived.

  “Did you see—” My words trailed off, as the rest of them didn’t matter. Willock was dead on the ground beside me, his empty eyes still staring at the image of Cali, a peaceful smile on his face. Reaching down, I gently closed Willock’s eyes, my tears falling on his face. “Goodbye, my friend.”

  Standing, I looked inside through the window. The house had been trashed almost beyond recognition. Between Arawn’s terrible housekeeping and the explosion, things weren’t looking good. I couldn’t forget the smell from—I assumed—the exhumed bodies of my parents. Unwilling to spend even a moment more there, I walked across the patio until I hit the lawn, gulping in the fresh air. As I looked around the abandoned estate, dawn broke, casting tentative rays over the treetops and down onto the front of my father’s empty house.

  With everyone gone, the sense of absolute loneliness dropped over me like a cloak. Tears that choked me with their intensity came then, and I cried. I cried for the parents I’d lost and for the one I’d never known, for Cali, for Gabe, and even for Roger.

  What the hell was I supposed to do now?

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  CALI—NIGHTMARE

  When the light I’d closed my eyes against became too bright, I peeked out from behind my hooded lids, I looked in the direction of the portal. Cabhan’s hands were still on my head, and he kept them there, which kept my pain at bay.

  The brilliant light that came from the portal lit up the sky, finally bringing closure to what had seemed to be an endless night. The wind stilled and the air calmed; the vista was pristine. But my eyes kept flickering to the portal, waiting to see who would come through it. A moment later, onto the stone stepped Síl, the creator of my family and others of the faerie race.

  “So you’ve come to take her, Síl.” Cabhan’s voice seemed relieved. It probably would have been painful for him to take me to the mortal heaven, despite the knowledge that we’d probably see one another more often. Not that I understood the workings of such a place.

  Síl opened his hands at his sides. “If she wants. Though I can offer her another option, should she choose it.”

  “Wh…” My voice faded away. The time that I would spend in my body was almost at an end.

  Síl continued. “I can restore you to your role as goddess, if you wish. You have done everything within your power to help our cause, Calienta. This is my reward to you, should you choose to accept it.”

  My mind flashed to Kellen. He was not dead, but he’d chosen a different side. That could mean that if I became an immortal again, I might have a hope of turning him back. Of leading him into the light…

  The voice did not sound like my own. I used the last bit of breath left in my lungs to respond. “I accept.”

  Cabhan squeezed my shoulders. I felt his sigh brush against my cheek. Perhaps his relief shifted to sadness.

  “Then let us not waste time, as your life will end soon.” Síl’s words held kindness, understanding. Bending down, Síl touched my forehead, and I cried out as Cabhan’s hands went away and the pain returned. It seemed like it was everywhere and in every part of me. Too much.

  “Tar ar ais.” Sil’s voice was soft, a contradiction to the impossible power within him.

  My head throbbed as consciousness began to slip away from me. I could hear his words in the back of my mind, but it was like I watched the ceremony from afar. As though I wasn’t really a part of it.

  “Air, I call upon thee.” Síl spoke and a wave of Air flooded my lungs. It swirled around us, lifting my hair playfully as it did so. Perhaps welcoming me back.

  “Fire, I call upon thee.” My fingers warmed, but not much else happened since Fire had been with me all along.

  “Earth, I call upon thee.” Upon the calling of the third element, nearly all of the pain slipped a
way. My head still ached, but I could open my eyes. I could see what was happening all around me.

  “Water, I call upon thee.” As Water returned to me in a fine, gentle mist, I sat up. A golden strand of light wound its way down from the stars and into my body, sinking into my very core. The pain disappeared completely and I felt good. Better than I’d felt in quite a while. Better than I’d felt inside my mortal skin. With a resounding snap, my consciousness and my body became one again and I no longer lived as a mortal, but as an immortal.

  Looking down to inspect my clothes, I found them covered in blood, quite possibly my own or someone else’s. Without qualms, I changed my outfit, conjuring a sweat suit like the one that Kellen had bought for me. Cabhan shook his head and laughed.

  Raising my eyes to the sky, I waved a hand at the last fragments of night and lit the few remaining stars that still clung there, gray shadows that only I could see. They shone more brightly than even the sliver of moon that still hung, barely visible, in the sky.

  Standing, I smiled at Síl. “Thank you.”

  He did not smile back, but gestured to the portal. “Let me take you back to your parents. They have been filled with worry and frustration, being barred from visiting you.”

  “Yes.” I turned to Cabhan then. “I love you.”

  He pulled me to him, hugging me. “And I love you, dear sister. Give my love to our parents.” He smiled as he pulled away from me and then faded away into the night.

  I followed Síl as he made his way into the portal. My foot rose and I’d just been about to step in when I halted at the sound of the one voice that I’d longed to hear again. The one voice that I prized above all others.

  “Cali!”

  Could I believe my ears? It had to be a dream. Whipping my head around, I found him. He looked surprisingly good despite what he must have been through. When he said my name again, he lit up, lit up like the brightest candle, as light seemed to emanate from him in a round golden ring.

  “Kellen!” Heart threatening to burst from my chest, I turned to run to him, but I couldn’t. The moment I began to propel myself forward, I was pulled back, back into the portal and away from Kellen.

  Though I could see him clearly, I could not reach him. Just as the way had been blocked to me to travel through before, it had been blocked again, now barring me from moving in the opposite direction.

  Kellen stood, seemingly horrified, as the massive portal sucked me in. There had to be something wrong with the portal. Once I got home, I would go and find him. My heart sang, despite the problems with the portal. He’d come to find me! That certainly wasn’t a sign of evil, was it? He couldn’t have turned. He truly loved me and it was not possible that his feelings had faded, regardless of what Arawn had done or planned to do to him.

  Before I could contemplate further, the counter-force of the portal knocked me down and I landed roughly on my backside. “Ouch.”

  “Oh, I do hope you are not hurt, Calienta.” Síl’s voice spoke to me, though where it came from I could not tell at first. I couldn’t see him anywhere. It was a very disconcerting feeling, like I was being watched.

  Everything became white then, with no variation in color, just a stark whiteness that overwhelmed even my now immortal eyes. It looked like I was standing on a patch of clouds or possibly a fog bank.

  “No, I’m fine. Where is Kellen?” I had to get back to Kellen.

  Síl appeared then and smiled, instantly changing from the creator to whom I’d given my love and respect to the being that I’d come to fear the most in a short space of time.

  “Ainmire.” My breath rushed out of me.

  “Yes. Was it not simply inspired?” He smiled a wicked smile.

  “A hidden place of my own creation,” he said.

  “Where is Kellen?”

  “Oh losing his mind over the loss of his love, I’d imagine.” He jutted out his bottom lip in a pout.

  My hands shot fire at him and he easily deflected my attack. “Eager to use your gifts again so soon? I don’t blame you. I would be too.”

  With a flick of his wrist, I slammed back against the portal entrance. I glanced back and could see that Kellen tried to get through. He stood just on the other side and beat on the portal gateway as if it were a door. He shouted my name. If only I could reach him…

  “Young love. How sweet.” Ainmire’s voice sounded as if he did not think it was sweet at all. “Should we let him pass through so that you two might be prisoners together?”

  A sound caught my attention and I noticed the bird that had saved me earlier, circling the air above Kellen’s head. Maybe he’d decided to protect Kellen now.

  I turned back to him. “No! Kellen shall not pass through. What is it that you want? Why are you keeping me trapped here?”

  Ainmire’s, eyes shot to the bird. “Ah, but you’re a bit too feisty for this conversation. I would rather wear you down a bit first. It’s much more pleasant, for me anyway and I have use for you.” With a flick of his wrist, I was bound from shoulders to feet by invisible bonds. Suddenly I was lying on the ground—or at least what passed for ground.

  “Who are you really?” I’d never heard of this immortal.

  “I’ve told you who I am. I’m Ainmire. I’m the Star Catcher.”

  Before I could respond, he was gone, leaving me trapped and alone. “Kellen, I miss you,” I said aloud.

  Closing my eyes, I wished fervently that I would see him again, for even a moment. But I kidded myself. A million moments would never be enough.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  KELLEN—LOST

  Two steps. That was all I’d taken before I was whisked from my father’s estate and plunked back in the woods in Maine. When was this freaky night ever going to end? It had become my own personal hell and I seemed doomed to be stuck there forever.

  The hillside inclined in front of me as I walked forward. You’d think if I was supposed to have some sort of faerie blood that I could run fast or do something cool. Testing it out, I ran forward at the fastest speed I could muster, but only tripped clumsily and fell on my face.

  The amulet still pulsated in my hand. Even though its power was no longer corrupt, merely restrained, I still wanted no part of it. I shoved it into my shirt pocket.

  Picking myself up, I wiped the sweat off my brow and got my feet moving again over the uneven terrain, but this time I took less for granted. That included my complete lack of previously assumed latent physical abilities.

  As I reached the crest all of that was forgotten, because ahead of me floated a glimmering white oval in the air. It hovered and shimmered, only partially visible in the growing light. But the oval itself was not what entranced me. Standing in front of it was Cali.

  “Cali!” Though there was only a short distance between us, somehow it felt like she was going to slip away before I could reach her. She didn’t respond to my voice, so I yelled louder. “Cali!”

  She turned then, a smile like the dawn breaking across her face. Cali began to run toward me but she was yanked back into the white oval, a portal of some sort. Panic crept into her eyes and Cali started shouting. At least that was what she looked like she was doing inside the portal. I couldn’t hear her voice but I could feel the fear and anxiety radiating from her.

  “She’s gone! Cali!” I asked no one. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I noticed something on the ground. Leaning forward, I picked it up. Oh no. Another note.

  Kellen,She has been taken. Only Rowan will know what to do.

  Who was the note from? The handwriting resembled Dillion’s again, but was it his or Willock’s? Could I trust it? Did I even have a choice? More importantly, what did Rowan know that I didn’t?

  Standing there on the top of the mountain, the wind licked at my hair. My jacket had been taken from me at Stephen’s and now only the shirt that Willock gave me, in combination with my jeans and boots, kept the cold at bay. Ears and hands frozen, I stood, looking over at the spot where Cali had disappeared.


  Maybe I could try running and jumping into the portal. Perhaps now that I had the amulet, I could get through to her. I ran toward where the oval still faintly shimmered, planning to jump through. A bird’s cry echoed in the night along with the pounding of my feet against the rock. I’d almost reached the spot when I realized that directly below were rocks. The flat plateau on which I stood gave way to a deep ravine. I didn’t care. I jumped toward the portal at the precise instant that it disappeared.

  In mid-air, steel-like hands gripped my arms, pulling me back right before I would have jumped off the side of the mountain. Turning around, I nearly un-saved myself by falling down the mountain anyway when I realized who’d pulled me back.

  Laughter erupted from my chest as I lunged at Gabe, each of us smiling and giving one another pats on the backs. “That was a close one, man.” He grinned at me and then, backing up, he took in my appearance. “Dude! You’re a hot mess.”

  I shrugged. “None of it matters now. They have Cali.” I held out the slip of paper to Gabe, giving him a moment to digest the words.

  Surprisingly, waves of emotion reached me from Gabe, just as they had from Cali. Relief at seeing me, but concern for Cali. Something more, too. Something that he deliberately wasn’t telling me.

  Where had this ability come from? My legs shook. I never sensed Gabe’s emotions before. The memory of my conversation with Willock preyed on my mind.

  I was half-Faerie. What if…what if this was a gift? The ability to experience the emotions of others, amplified to include not only the woman I loved but also others I encountered? I couldn’t imagine it. Me, the subject of so little shared emotion my whole life, experiencing it now in this way…

  Cali and her absence weighed heavily on me. Was she safe? We had no choice but to find Rowan and ask for help.

  “Who’s Rowan?” Gabe’s voice brought me back. He looked clean, I noticed, like he’d just taken a shower. How was that possible, considering his accident?