The Brightest Night

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  “All I had to do was picture it? And that was it?”

  “Yes,” Luc said. “That’s it.”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it. “Really?”

  Grayson sighed so heavily, I was surprised he didn’t blow us away. “Yes. It’s that easy.” His head cocked to the side as he spoke around the stick. “It should be. Unless there’s something else wrong with you.”

  I shot him a death glare. “There’s nothing else wrong with me except for the fact you’re here.”

  “Wait.” The Source winked out once more as Luc frowned. “You’ve never tried to summon it before?”

  “Well…” I shifted my weight from foot to foot as both guys stared at me. “I mean, not really.”

  Luc blinked.

  “What?” The lollipop slid out as Grayson’s mouth dropped open. He caught it before it could hit the floor. “You haven’t even tried to use the Source? Not once?”

  “No.” Feeling about seven different kinds of defensive, I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why would I? Do I need to remind you two what happened the only times I’ve used the Source? Not only did I have no control, two out of those three times, I had no idea who I was. Why would I go around purposely summoning something that could potentially hurt the people I care about? You’re not included in that statement.” I glared at Grayson, and he frowned. “And let’s not forget that everything just happened.”

  “No, you’re right.” Luc snapped out of the only stupor I’d ever seen him in. “This isn’t second nature to you, and there’d be no reason for you to even try it, especially considering what has happened. I should’ve considered that.”

  “Damn straight,” I muttered, but I was feeling kind of dumb now. Like I should’ve known to have at least tried.

  God, I was worse than baby Luxen everywhere. I didn’t even know what the Source felt like and—

  “You’re not dumb.” Luc was suddenly in front of me, his hands clasping my cheeks. “You’re not worse than a baby Luxen.”

  I wasn’t so sure about that.

  “If anything, I should’ve figured this out.” His eyes searched mine. “All of this is new to you, and barely any time has passed. There is nothing wrong with you. Okay?”

  I nodded.

  Grayson was slowly shaking his head, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

  Dipping his head, Luc pressed his forehead against mine. “You’ve got this. I know you do.” He touched his lips to mine, the kiss short but so incredibly sweet. Sliding his hands off my cheeks, he backed off. “This is actually good news.”

  I glanced at Grayson. He was staring at one of the dirty windows, the Blow Pop gone. “How is this good news?”

  “Because this may mean you can use the Source and control it intentionally,” Luc explained. “And if that’s the case, that’s a big hole in your ‘only the Daedalus can control your abilities’ theory.”

  “Her what?” Grayson was focused on us again.

  As Luc explained to Grayson my theory about Dasher being the key to my control, or at least attempted to, I thought about how if Luc was right, this would be a huge hole, but …

  Staring down at my plain old hand, I didn’t think about the weird effect I’d seen while at Kat’s or what the Source looked like when Luc summoned it. Could it really be that simple? I almost couldn’t wrap my head around it, but what if it was? I just had to picture it and that was it?

  A sense of rightness swept through me as I opened and closed my hand. From what I knew, that was what I’d done in the woods. The images of what I wanted had flickered through my head so fast, and the Source had responded even faster, replicating what I saw. With April, it hadn’t been the Source I’d used. It had been physical training, and I’d been on autopilot, my sense of self taking a back seat.

  The hum in the center of my chest increased, almost as if it knew what I were thinking. Could that be why I’d felt more restless? It wanted to be used? But what if I did and it triggered something in me that I couldn’t control?

  Fear was a shadow pressing on my back, and that restless buzz intensified. If I didn’t try because of what might happen, then what would happen?

  Nothing.

  Nothing good was what would happen. I would be worse than useless, because I would be choosing to do nothing.

  I was not going to be useless.

  Determination and absolute refusal to sit back and do nothing became a fuel that burned away the fear. The hum in my chest pulsed like a faint heart palpitation. What I was feeling wasn’t anxiety or restlessness. It was power—power building inside me. And if that were true, was me not using the Source possibly leading to situations like the night I’d had a nightmare, when I’d hit critical mass? I didn’t know, but I closed my eyes. In my mind’s eye, I saw Luc’s hand, crackling with the Source, and then I replaced his hand with mine, and I willed it to happen.

  12

  A spark.

  That’s what it felt like, like striking a match. A tingling sensation swept outward in a rush, shooting down my right arm. All of it could’ve been my imagination or wild, wishful thinking, but if it was, it was some of the most realistic imagining I’d ever had.

  “Peaches? Open your eyes and look.”

  I did just that, finding both Luc and Grayson staring at me.

  “Not at me.” Luc’s smile was full of reassuring warmth, and when his gaze met mine, there was the kind of heat in his eyes that made me think of hard kisses and soft touches, and there was also everything he’d never spoken.

  Why in that moment I realized Luc had never actually said those three simple yet powerful words was beyond me, but I did. I didn’t need those words when I could see them in the way he looked at me, when I could feel them in every one of his actions.

  Drawing a shallow breath, I looked down at my hand, and I wanted to shout hallelujah upon what I saw even if I couldn’t help but notice how different it was from when Luc did this.

  White light encased in shadows swirled around my palm, threading between my fingers. It sparked and pulsed tiny licks of power that resembled arcing electric lines.

  “I did it.” I almost couldn’t believe it as I turned my hand over. The Source followed the movement. Glancing at Luc, I felt my lips curve up as excitement bloomed in my chest. “I did it.”

  Luc smiled, and it was a big one, the kind that transformed his features from beautiful to simply breathtaking.

  Then I saw it—the strange mottling of the skin of my arm I’d seen at Kat’s. Shimmering onyx-colored dots appeared under my skin.

  “Do you see that? My arm?” I asked, glancing quickly at Luc.

  He nodded as he looked me over. “It’s not just your arm, Peaches.”

  “What?” My eyes widened.

  “It’s all over,” Grayson said from his corner. If he weren’t talking, I’d question if he were breathing, he was so still. “Splotches of it. On your neck. Your right cheek.”

  “It’s all over?” I looked down but somehow resisted the urge to pull up my shirt to see if it was on my stomach. “I have an outbreak of glittering black dots.”

  “Could be a worse outbreak,” Luc said, and I gaped at him. “You looked like this before, Peaches, while you were in the woods. And the night before last, I saw the marks on your cheeks.”

  “And you didn’t think to tell me that?”

  “I didn’t want you to freak out.” He paused. “Obviously.”

  “I’m not freaking out!”

  He cocked his head. “You’re not?”

  I snapped my mouth shut. The spots seemed to move under my skin, crowding closer and then stretching farther apart. “I thought I saw this yesterday while I was with Kat and Dee. I didn’t say anything because they didn’t seem to see it. I thought I must’ve been imagining it.”

  “Interesting,” murmured Luc. “It could’ve been a spike of the Source. What were you feeling or thinking when you saw it?”

  My thoughts raced back to that moment. “We were t
alking about me not remembering my time with the Daedalus.”

  “Makes sense, then. I’m sure there was emotion attached to that conversation.” Luc’s gaze roamed across my face in a way that made me want to see what he saw. “It must’ve only been on your arm, then, because there’s no way they wouldn’t have noticed this.”

  “I want to see what I look like,” I said, looking around, but there was no window clean enough to even attempt to see a reflection in. Did they have bathrooms here?

  “When we get back to the house, you can look.”

  Impatient but knowing there were more important things than checking myself out, I let it go. “I bet I look weird.”

  “It’s actually kind of beautiful,” Grayson said, and I about fell over in shock. Did he just sort of compliment me? He must’ve surprised himself, too, because he also looked like he was about to topple over. He averted his eyes—wait. Was he … blushing? “But yeah, it’s also really weird,” he added. “I’d be uncomfortable if I were you.”

  My lips pursed.

  “It is beautiful,” Luc said, and when I looked back to him, he was smiling. “And it is different. You know what a Luxen or Origin looks like when they use the Source. Sometimes there are no other visible signs. Other times—”

  “It’s white light in the veins or the pupils turning white.” I swallowed. “Do I have black veins?”

  He shook his head. “Not right now, but when you were in the woods, there was a faint darkening in the veins, and you had the aura of the Source around you.”

  Like with the nightmare. “What does it mean when there’s an aura?”

  Luc studied me. “What does it feel like to you when it happens?”

  I mulled that over. “I felt … I don’t know, like the power—the Source—was building up in me. Like it was expanding outside of me.” And then, just like that, I answered my own question. Anytime I’d seen a Luxen or Origin do that, it was when they were very angry or about to go toe to toe with someone.

  “There you go,” Luc said.

  Realizing Luc wanted me to figure out what I already knew, I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re annoying.”

  “And sexy.”

  I shook my head, returning to watch the white and dark light swirl over my knuckles. “Do Arum get black dots on their skin?”

  “Not that I’ve ever seen. They are a near mirror opposite of the Luxen. I imagine this is how the Arum DNA shows in you.”

  “This is just crazy.”

  My gaze shot to Grayson. I hadn’t heard him move, but he was no longer perched on the cable spool. He stood only a few feet away.

  Curiosity marked his face as he stared down at my hand, shaking his head. “It really is a mixture of Arum and Luxen.”

  He sounded so surprised that I asked, “You didn’t see me in the woods, did you?”

  Still staring at my hand—at me—he shook his head. “Dawson and I had gone after the other members of SOL. I saw the aftermath of what you did in the woods, and I know what Steven claimed, but…”

  “Seeing is a whole different type of believing,” Luc finished for him.

  “I’ve never seen anything like that.” Ultrabright blue eyes lifted to mine. “You would have the abilities of both, to use the Source to push outward and to draw it in.”

  “I guess.” I closed my palm, and the Source flickered out of existence. Oh no. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

  “That’s common,” Luc assured me. “If you’re not using it for something, you’ll have to make it stay there. How do you feel?”

  I shrugged. “Normal, I guess.”

  “No urge to kill us?” Luc asked. “Well, no urge to kill me?”

  Grayson arched a brow, appearing entirely unimpressed with that statement.

  I, on the other hand, thought it kind of sucked that the question had to be asked. “Not at the moment.”

  Luc grinned. “Call on it again.”

  Nodding, I did, and I felt the spark—the taut pull from the center of my chest and then the rush of energy. The shadowy light erupted over my hand.

  I lifted my hand, turning it slightly as I stared at the display of the Source. Completely awed by what I was able to do on command, I felt a little weak-kneed and silly, but this was …

  God, a handful of months ago, I would’ve laughed in the face of anyone who suggested I was able to do such a thing.

  “Now I want you to make it go away,” Luc instructed. “You can do this several ways—”

  I pictured it vanishing, and the Source did just that, flickered and then faded out.

  “Okay.” Luc laughed.

  Smiling like a fool, I curled my fingers inward. “I just pictured it disappearing in my mind.”

  “That was one of the ways I was going to suggest.” Leaning against the bench, he folded his arms. “Do it again. Summon it and then make it go away.”

  I did it again and again, so many times that I lost count, and each time I did, the glittering dots appeared. Grayson went through four Blow Pops, leaving me to wonder multiple times how many of those things he had in his pocket.

  Luc didn’t move on from that until there was no doubt I could control summoning the Source. Then he found an empty white carton, placing it on the center of the table. He faced me. “I want you to move this carton. You don’t need to summon the Source for this, but it works the same. You want the carton to move. Picture it happening.”

  Ignoring my grumbling stomach, I turned to the table. Once more, I found myself wondering if it was really going to be that easy. Picture it, and they will come. I swallowed a giggle.

  “Focus,” Luc ordered softly. “You should try to focus.”

  “You know, I’m going to be really annoyed if I picture that box moving and it does. Because that means I’ve lost days of being incredibly lazy.”

  “Peaches…”

  “I could’ve been willing doors to open and close, clothing to unfold, peanut butter jars to come to me,” I explained. “I could just lie in bed all day and will food to enter my mouth.”

  “Such lofty goals you have.” Grayson had returned to his cable spool and his high horse.

  “I don’t know of a goal any loftier than having food come to me while I’m in bed,” I retorted.

  “Let me guess, you haven’t even tried to see if you could move anything?” Grayson snorted as he peeled a wrapper on another Blow Pop. “I thought every human tried that at least daily.”

  I rolled my eyes. “We try that every once in a while. Not every single day.” Well, at least I didn’t, because the disappointment of not being able to move things with my mind was real. “And no, I haven’t since everything happened.”

  “Shocker.”

  Forget that stupid white carton. I pictured the cable spool sliding out from underneath Grayson.

  Nothing happened.

  “Evie,” Luc warned, but he sounded like he was choking on laughter.

  Grayson looked up from his Blow Pop. “What?” He lowered the sucker. “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  “Are you trying to do something to me?” The Luxen laughed. “I’m not remotely worried.” He popped the lollipop into his mouth. “At all. Want to know why? Moving objects is one of the hardest things even for the youngest and brightest of Luxen to learn and control. You might’ve been trained and all that, but obviously you have no recollection. So, go ahead. Give me something to laugh about, because this is getting incredibly boring.”

  Oh, I was so going to give him something, all right, because it struck me then that picturing anything moving wasn’t the key. It was the intent behind it. The will. Most importantly, it was knowing that I could.

  I didn’t picture the spool shooting across the floor. This time, I willed it. The pulse in the center of my chest was faint, something I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been paying attention.

  It happened so fast, a split second after the thought entered my mind. It was lik
e an invisible string had been attached to the spool and it had been yanked hard. The thing spun across the floor, sending dust into the air as Grayson went down, hitting the floor with a satisfying thump. He sat there, the Blow Pop hanging limply from the side of his mouth, his eyes such a startling unnatural shade of blue.

  “Are you bored now?” I asked sweetly.

  Grayson popped to his feet and whirled toward me. Where the Blow Pop went, I had no idea. The pupils of his eyes went diamond bright, and the center of my chest pulsed. Tiny hairs all over my body rose as every part of me, including what was in me, hyperfocused on the Luxen.

  His gaze darted over my shoulder, and I saw his jaw harden. He took a step back as the light receded from his eyes. “If you were anyone else…”

  The warning hung in the air between us, and I knew it wasn’t me who stopped him. It was who stood behind me.

  That ticked me off.

  The Source flared intently, pressing at my skin a lot like it had the night I’d had the nightmare. I didn’t need to look down to know that I had an aura.

  “It’s not Luc you should be worried about,” I said, and that was my voice, those were my words. I meant to say them.

  “Should he be?” Luc asked quietly from behind me. “Should he be worried right now, Evie?”

  I had to think really hard about how I wanted to answer that. A deep, hidden part of me wanted Grayson to come at me, and I wasn’t sure if that had anything to do with the Source or not.

  But as much as I wanted to knock Grayson off his pedestal, I didn’t want to seriously hurt him, and I would. I would totally destroy him if I let loose.

  “No,” I said, exhaling roughly. The tension in my chest eased off, and the shadowy light faded like smoke in the wind. “He shouldn’t.”

  Surprise flickered across Grayson’s face, and then he looked behind me again. His brows rose.

  “What? Do you want me to peel the skin off your bones?” I demanded, and I spun to Luc. He was smiling. I blinked. “Why are you smiling?”

  “I’m smiling because you really wanted to take Grayson down,” he said, eyes glittering.