“You’ll find a way,” Raven said. She reached out to place a hand on my back, and patted it awkwardly. “You always do. That’s what you do best. Make the people around you feel better.” She paused, and took her hand away. “Did that help? I’ve never understood why people pat each other’s backs. It seems so unnatural to me. Just unnecessary physical contact.”
I laughed.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” I paused. “Did you notice anything weird about those police officers? Almost like they were—” And then, in a flash, I realized why they seemed so familiar. “Raven, they were—”
“Girls?” Aunt Jo called from the kitchen. “I think I hear the door. Will you go see who it is?”
Raven raised her eyebrows at me. I got up and crept warily to the front door. Who could it be so late on a weeknight? And on the night of the fire, of all nights. I braced myself.
“Your house is so big!” Earth was staring up at me with round eyes. “We got in the car as soon as you left.” She brushed past me into the house. “Can I sleep in your room?”
“I— What?” I looked back at the doorstep. Aaron hesitated, a duffel bag in his hands.
“The thing is,” he said, “I thought about it, and I guess we’re safer here with you than out there in Rocky Pines all alone, so . . .” He looked cautiously behind me. “Is she . . . ?”
“Come in.” I smiled. My entire body flooded with relief. I knew he would come. I knew it. Maybe Cassie was infecting me with her love of happy endings. I made a mental note to tell her.
“Hey, hon? Who is it?” Aunt Jo came into the hallway, wiping her hands on her jeans. When she and Aaron saw each other, they stopped short. “Oh,” she said faintly, one hand moving to rest on her heart.
Aaron let the duffel bag fall to the floor with a soft thud. “Josephine,” he whispered.
“I found him,” I said, looking back and forth between the two Rogues. They stood there, motionless.
“I see,” Aunt Jo said quietly. She looked down suddenly, as if remembering there were other people in the room. Earth was standing by her feet, squinting up at her with her little hands on her hips.
“Boy was he nervous to see you,” she said.
“Earth!” Aaron said, turning purple with embarrassment.
“What? She doesn’t look so scary in person.”
“Watch it.” Aaron looked like he wanted to crawl into his duffel bag. He smoothed his dark waves back and looked at Aunt Jo sheepishly.
“Oops,” said Earth. “Did I eat my shoe?”
“Well, hello to you too.” Aunt Jo laughed, a little dazed. “I’m Josephine.”
“I’m Earth,” Earth said. Aunt Jo looked up at Aaron in wonder.
“And I take it you met Skye.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “We’re sharing a room.” She waved a hand in my direction. “Don’t worry, we’re cool.”
Aaron laughed uncomfortably. “I guess we have a lot to catch up on.”
That seemed to snap Aunt Jo back to reality.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes, come in. Can I get you anything to drink? I just brewed some tea.” She put her hands on her knees and crouched to Earth’s level. “And I could whip up some hot chocolate, easy peasy.”
Earth looked apologetic. “I already brushed my teeth,” she said with a shrug.
“Good kid,” Aunt Jo said, patting her on the head.
Earth giggled. “I’m not a dog. Oh, but—Milo is in the car. Can he come in?”
“Milo?” Aunt Jo asked skeptically.
“Our attack dog.”
Half an hour later we were all sitting in the living room, mugs of tea (and one hot chocolate) clasped in our hands, Milo snoozing on the rug.
“I was closing up at the store, and all of a sudden I smelled smoke. When I walked out of the office, the whole front of the store was up in flames.” She stared out the window and shook her head. “All of it. Gone. My whole life’s work.”
“It wasn’t a cigarette or something, left in the trash?” Aaron looked concerned. He was sitting next to Aunt Jo—a good foot between them—and seemed unsure of what to do with his limbs: his arm was draped along the back of the couch, then it was in his lap; his legs were crossed and then they weren’t. Raven seemed oblivious, but Earth caught my eye and rolled hers, like, parents, what are ya gonna do with them? She was pretty astute for a seven-year-old.
“No,” Aunt Jo said, shooting a sideways glance in my direction. “I gave up smoking years ago. It’s bad for you, Skye, don’t do it.”
I raised my hands in surrender. “No arguments here. So you think it was an attack?”
I was met with an uncomfortable silence.
“Well, I’ll say it. I thought the same thing.” Raven flung her glossy hair over her shoulder. “That was no accident. Skye and I were off trying to convince a powerful Rogue—who himself, I might add, is watched every day by Guardians—to come back with us? The Order must have taken that opportunity to pounce. It’s definitely a warning.”
“I think you’re right, Raven,” Aunt Jo said, leaning forward. “It’s starting. The Order has made their position perfectly clear. They’re on the offensive.”
“I thought we’d be safe here,” Aaron muttered.
“Safer than in Rocky Pines!” Aunt Jo countered.
“Wait,” I cut in. Something didn’t sit right with me. The vision, the fire, the strange police officers . . . and Asher, watching me as we drove off. My heart sank. “It wasn’t the Order,” I said. Everyone looked up at me. I knew what I was about to say would change everything. “Those police officers looked familiar for a reason—they were Rebels. It was the Rebellion.”
“Are you sure, Skye?” Aunt Jo asked, the worry crease returning.
“Definitely. Fire? That’s a signature Rebel power—the Order can’t do that. And I was able to protect us both against it with my own powers of the dark. It wasn’t the Order this time. It was the Rebellion, for sure.”
Aaron seemed bewildered. “Even back in the day—” He glanced at Aunt Jo. “It was mostly the Guardians who were after us.”
“This is so much bigger than what we were doing then,” Aunt Jo said. Her voice was suddenly so small. “Skye is grown now. She has come so fully into her powers. With her at the helm, we really do stand a chance.”
“That’s what we thought last time, too,” said Aaron. His hand moved automatically from his lap to Aunt Jo’s knee. Without thinking, she placed her own hand on top of his. Earth and I shared another look, but this time neither of us smiled. “I’m here,” he said. “Earth and I are going to help you, however we can.”
“I hate to say it,” said Raven. “But it feels like—”
“It feels like this is only the beginning.” Everyone looked at me again. I was getting used to saying the thing that made the room fall into uncomfortable silence. The thing that made them nervous. “They’re not just fighting against each other anymore. Now they’re targeting us. Trying to take us out of the equation.”
Raven hesitated. Her blue eyes shone with realization.
“Not you, Skye,” she said. “Your friends and family. The people you love. You’re strong on your own, but what makes you even stronger is how much you love the people in your life—Aunt Jo, Cassie, Dan, Ian. And how much they love you. It’s why the Order always tried to isolate you from everyone. The Order may want to kill you, to keep your powers from falling into the Rebellion’s hands. But I don’t think the Rebellion has the same strategy. I think they want to kill us. And use you.”
I shivered. If that was true, then no one—not a single one of us—was safe.
I turned to Aaron and Aunt Jo.
“You know what we need to do,” I said. “We need to find James Harrison. And soon.” Aaron and Aunt Jo exchanged glances. Something seemed to pass between the two of them that I couldn’t read. Some secret, unspoken language that they’d learned to use a long time ago. They’d picked it up again effortles
sly. At the same time, they looked at me. And nodded.
“Good,” I continued. “Because once the three of you are back together again—I have a feeling that’s when I’ll be able to see what my mother couldn’t.” The moonlight shone through the window. Everyone’s face was turned to me. “That’s when I’ll see the fourth.”
9
I stayed up late.
Eventually we all said good night. Aaron and Aunt Jo brought our mugs into the kitchen and sat down at the table. Instead of going upstairs to bed, I hung out on the stairs, peering through the slats in the railing as Aunt Jo and her old flame talked in hushed tones, their heads bent together. As I strained to hear what the two Rogues in the kitchen were saying to each other, snippets of memory came pushing through to the forefront of my mind.
Rebellion—
Guardians—
Powerful one day—
For her own good—
Keep her safe.
I was six again, watching my parents have another argument about something I didn’t understand. They were having more and more of them. Almost every night, it seemed.
Little silver bells. When they ring, we’ll know.
If only I had known, if only they hadn’t kept me in the dark, I could have been better prepared for what was happening now. I could have spent my whole life preparing. I wouldn’t have made the friends I did. I wouldn’t have to put the people I love in danger.
If only my mother hadn’t forced me to forget.
The Order controls human fate. And she’d been one of them, for so long. Even after she left, their ways stayed with her. And she hadn’t thought twice about using her powers on me. Her own daughter.
I wished, right then, that somebody had given me a choice.
“You can see better from up here.” A small voice cut into my memories. I glanced up and realized Earth was sitting several steps above me.
“How long have you been there?” I whispered.
She put a finger to her lips. “Shh.” Silently, I moved to sit next to her on the top step, and we peered through the slats in the railing together.
“You’re right,” I whispered. “You can hear better, too.”
“It’s not my first time spying like this.”
I looked at her, surprised.
“No,” I said. “Mine either.”
I guess no matter how strong or powerful I was, part of me still felt like a kid, no idea what I was doing and making it up as I went along. How the hell was I supposed to save the universe?
But if I gave in to that nagging feeling of doubt, the one that told me there was no way I could pull this off, even for just a second, I knew it would unravel everything I’d worked so hard for. There was no room in my life anymore to question. It was time to act.
Side by side, we listened to Aunt Jo and Aaron talk about the past. It occurred to me that I didn’t understand it any more now than I had when I was six.
I opened my eyes just as the first golden reaches of sun were peeking through my window.
Aunt Jo finally let me take the day off of school. It had been a long night, she said, and we could all use time to process what was happening. For once, she even agreed with me that it was safer at home than it was roaming the halls of Northwood.
If the Rebels could attack her store out in the open like that, then maybe Asher had been wrong that cold night on the roof, when he told me the Order wouldn’t strike at school. Maybe the rules had changed, and nowhere was safe anymore.
Raven offered to go to school and keep an eye on Cassie, Dan, and Ian. She knew the Order’s tactics and methods, and could watch out for the Rebels. She would be able to keep my friends safe, until they could all come over. If all of us cut school on the same day, it was sure to raise some eyebrows and cause more than a few phone calls home. And we couldn’t let their parents find out what was going on. Who knew what the Order or the Rebellion would do to them if they did?
I texted Cassie as soon as I woke up.
Big news for all you epic love story fans out there.
Before I could even put my phone down she texted,
Asher’s back???
No, I wrote. Stick with Raven. Come over after school.
A second later,
Just the 2 of us? Raven = She-Devil.
I typed back:
She’s not that bad when you get to know her.
There was a pause while Cassie was either typing or staring daggers at her phone.
She is the physical embodiment of everything I hate in this world.
I typed back the following:
Get used to her because she is going to be on you all day like frosting on a cupcake.
Another pause.
Thanks, Skye. Now I want a cupcake.
After the drama of the night before, and the night before that—and so many nights before—my body ached to move. I pulled on running clothes, laced up my sneakers, and crept out of the bedroom. I was careful not to wake Earth, who had burrowed into a Hello Kitty sleeping bag and was snoring peacefully. On my way downstairs, I passed Raven, curled into a C-shape on the couch in the den. Her porcelain cheeks were red, and her perfect golden eyebrows were arched menacingly. She must have been dreaming—and man, she looked angry. I was glad not to be on the other end of her wrath.
The rest of the house was silent and still. I quietly opened the front door and jogged outside into the cool, spring morning.
Now that ski season was over, I had to think of ways to keep my powers focused and under control. I could do things I never imagined—that suit of fire-armor was new—but I still felt like I had to keep my mind and body in sync. It was easier now, and getting easier every day. Asher and Devin may have showed me what I was capable of, but I could take it from here. I didn’t need them to get stronger. I could do that on my own. What had Raven said to me? Isn’t it always the girls who run the show, anyway?
I could feel the wind in my hair, the weather in my blood, the clouds in my eyes.
At the top of the trail, I looked out over the clearing as I’d done so many times in my life. It used to be one of the only places in the world where I felt truly at peace. But a lot of things had changed in the past few months; I’d had a lot of important milestones here. Once, I slipped on a patch of ice, and would have fallen off the edge, plummeting to my death in the valley below, if Devin hadn’t caught me. After that, it had become our secret, unspoken meeting place. In this peaceful spot, I’d come to terms with a lot of my powers.
“I thought I might find you here,” a voice behind me said. I turned around.
“I was just thinking about you.”
Devin looked like he didn’t know quite how to handle that information. Asher would have said something clever without thinking, like, “I bet you say that to all strange guys you meet in the woods.” But Devin thought things through before he said them out loud. You could see the struggle in his eyes, even now. I always thought it was just because as a Guardian, there was so much he couldn’t express. Now, in the early morning light, I realized it was as simple as this: that’s just how Devin was.
He struggled with things. He said he loved me, but he had betrayed me more times than I could count. Raven’s words from the night before came spilling back to me. How can you love someone who’s hurt you?
In the months that I’d known Devin, I’d felt a range of emotions toward him—a whole spectrum, really. He had been a friend when I’d needed one, and in a moment of shadows and firelight in the woods, I’d questioned my loyalties and let him be something more. We’d been allies, then enemies, and then allies again when he chose to become a Rebel. But Ardith’s warning at school and last night’s attack on the store made it clear as glass: we were enemies, again, and always would be.
“Why are you here?” I asked him. “If you’re coming to warn me, don’t worry. Ardith has already done the job for you.”
“Skye, that’s not—”
“And the Rebellion’s pyrotechnical perf
ormance last night spoke volumes, too.”
“I wasn’t a part of that.” He looked pained, like there was more he wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure how to say it.
“Right,” I said. “Just like you never meant to hurt me, and you had no choice about cutting off Raven’s wings, and—”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
I stared at him. “You’re . . . you’re what?”
“I’m sorry. I was never able to say that to you, or give you the apology you deserved. Now, I can.”
Now I was the one who couldn’t find the right words.
“Listen, Skye,” he continued, as if gathering the momentum he’d built with his apology. “I didn’t come here to argue with you. I came to say thank you.”
“Wow,” I said. “Now I really don’t know what to say.”
“That’s okay.” The light radiated from his eyes. He looked so free. “I have a lot to say, if you’ll listen.” He led me to our rock, and we sat down. Side by side, just like we used to.
Something about being with Devin felt so strange and different, and I couldn’t place why. The tranquility, I realized. I don’t feel it anymore. I didn’t feel the usual Zen-like calm radiating from him. Instead, I could feel his nervous energy, matching mine, pulsing underneath his skin as his arm brushed against me. It was true. He really wasn’t under the Order’s control—or possibly, anyone else’s.
He was free. He could do whatever he wanted.
“I know we’re fighting against each other now. In some ways, I think we’ll always be fighting against each other. But I just want you to know that when you inspired me to jump, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. You showed me that I needed to break away. I couldn’t have done that without you.” He looked nervous. Maybe as nervous as I felt. “I don’t know. Maybe I needed to hurt you like that in order to realize how bad it was. How much I needed to be free.”
When I had gone to Devin for help when he was still a Guardian, there was always something holding him back. Something in his eyes that, I knew, meant there was a disconnect between what he said and what he felt. It was why my feelings were always so unresolved after I spent time with him. Who was the real Devin? What was really behind those eyes? I wondered if I would soon find out. A light burned in him that I’d never seen before. A different Devin sat next to me.
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