“Who is the fourth Rogue you were never able to see?”
It glowed even brighter, searing the wood until all four swooping arcs of the engraved clover burst into flames that illuminated the darkness.
I heard my mother’s voice answer:
My little clover.
Four leaves.
I had to protect you. You weren’t ready yet. Wait. Was she talking about Earth or—
You are the key to all this.
Four intertwined loops.
It was the last thing I expected to hear, but it had been in her letter from the beginning. The clues had been there all along.
The fourth—was me.
The fire went out. The key had disappeared. And the box was sealed forever.
I had the answers now.
22
“Okay, everyone, listen up! Skye’s about to speak! We are now entering . . . planning mode.” Cassie beamed at me. “Take it away, Skye.”
“Thanks, Cassie,” I said, stepping before the group. Raven sat on a kitchen stool to my right, and Ian on one to my left. Dan sat cross-legged on the tile countertop of the island, and Cassie leaned back in his arms. James, Aaron, and Aunt Jo sat in chairs around the kitchen table. Aunt Jo had Earth in her lap.
Earth watched me with a grave expression. I guessed Aunt Jo and Aaron had talked to her about the battle, because she looked like she was taking the whole thing very seriously. I could almost see the cogs and wheels in her head turning.
“Here’s what’s going on,” I said. It was so funny—I used to hate being the center of attention. That was Cassie’s obsession, not mine. I loathed the “surprise” parties my friends threw for me every year, and whenever I was in a big crowd, I longed to escape for fresh air. That was how I met Asher.
But somehow, I’d become used to commanding the attention of a room. It wasn’t so bad, really, once you got past all the eyes boring into you.
“All of you—every last one—have helped lead us to this moment. We all know that tension between the Order and the Rebellion has been brewing for a long time. What once began as an ancient rivalry over fate versus free will has now become a battle—over me and my powers.
“The Rebellion has been waging a war against you guys—my friends and family—the people I love most in this world, with their power over the elements. “The Order has been trying to manipulate my life, my mind—to make me question what I now know I’d be stupid to believe. That I am alone and always will be. That those I love will only leave me. That you all might not stick this out, that you would abandon me to fight the final battle on my own. An impossible task, one I definitely wouldn’t survive.” I looked around the room at the faces of my friends and family. “Cassie, you’ve almost died for me, twice. I know you have a flair for the dramatic—but even you know that’s a little much. You could have left me so many times, found a new best friend, stayed safe. But you didn’t.”
Cassie’s face flushed, and she beamed at me.
“Please,” she said with mock humility. “High school would be so boring without you.”
“Dan,” I continued. “I know you’d rather be a track sensation and a Mysterious Ellipses groupie—but you stuck by me when I needed you. You’re a true friend.”
“I wouldn’t say groupie, exactly,” Dan muttered as Cassie patted his knee.
“Ian, you could have bolted the minute you realized that you played a bigger role in this than you’d ever imagined, or were prepared for. But I need you. We need each other. We’re supposed to do this together . . . and, well, I’ve never gotten to use this excuse before, but my mother said so.”
“It brought me back together with my dad,” he said. “That alone is worth it. Besides”—he turned pink under his freckles—“you know I can’t say no to you.”
“Raven.” I sought out her ice-blue eyes. “You were an enemy, but now I trust you with my life. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
Raven shrugged. “Don’t let this go to your head, Skye,” she said. “But saving your life may have been the best thing I’ve ever done.”
“May have been?”
“Hey there, Miss Ego,” Raven snapped. “I’ve done quite a few things I’m proud of!”
“Aaron, James,” I continued, shaking her off. “You didn’t have to come back to River Springs. You didn’t have to confront your difficult past. But you did, and with your help, we actually stand a chance at changing the entire course of destiny. Thank you.”
Aaron huffed in response, and James slapped him on the back with an enthusiastic grin.
“Earth,” I said. “I think you and I were supposed to find each other. Earth and Skye. We balance each other out in so many ways. You’re the little sister I always wanted. The freakishly smart one who can show me messages in the stars.”
Earth giggled. “Thank Milo!” she said.
“And Milo! Our attack dog, of course. Thank you, Milo.” Milo yawned and rolled onto his back.
There was only one person left to thank. My eyes found Aunt Jo’s. There was so much I wanted to thank her for. But when the time came to speak, I didn’t know what to say or how to say it. “I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you, too, Hurricane,” she answered, her own voice cracking.
I took a deep breath.
“We’ve all spent a lot of time in our lives protecting each other in one way or another. We’ve helped each other get this far. What Astaroth said was my greatest weakness has actually been what’s made us so strong. Love. It may be known as the great destroyer of worlds, but I’d rather believe that more often than not it brings them together. We have the opportunity to free our world from forces that have oppressed us for too long. And I say—let’s do this.”
A huge cheer echoed across the kitchen. I smiled grimly.
“This battle is going to take place on prom night, and I know we’re all ready to face it. There’s just one last thing I can’t figure out. I’ve seen myself fighting on a beach.”
“A beach?” Aunt Jo’s eyes went wide. “Like a lake?”
“An ocean,” I said. “With cliffs jutting up on one side. And I have no idea where it is, or how to get there. Only that that’s where I end up.” I looked at Ian. “That’s where we end up.”
The room fell silent with thought. Then Raven opened her mouth.
“I know how you get there.”
We all turned to look at her. “You do? How?”
“I mean, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Do you remember the night, Skye, when Cassie was in the hospital—”
“Hey . . .” said Cassie. “Where are you going with this?”
“—and you and I had a little, let’s call it a polite disagreement—”
“I can think of a few other things to call it,” I said.
“—outside in the parking lot? You were overtaken by a vision. Do you remember?”
“Actually, yes,” I said. “It was all white and misty, and—”
“It wasn’t just a vision. Skye, you went somewhere.”
“I—what?”
“You disappeared. You weren’t on the ground in the parking lot anymore. That’s why I freaked out and told Astaroth. That was the moment we knew you were even more of a threat than we thought you were. If you could transport yourself to the places you envisioned—what was to stop you from getting into the Order’s realm?”
“So you’re saying if I can make myself have a vision of this beach at prom, I’ll be able to get there?”
“Well, no. There’s no way I could know that for sure. I’m not the one with visions of the future. What I am saying,” Raven said, “is that it’s worth a shot. I mean, I don’t see us all lining up with options, right?”
“She has a point,” said Ian.
Raven nodded. “Look at it this way. I may be a bitch sometimes, but at least you never have to wonder if I’m telling the truth.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
“But once we’re at prom,” sa
id Ian, “how do we know it’s time to leave?”
“I’ll tell you,” Earth piped up.
“Earth.” Aaron’s face had turned red. “This is serious.”
“I know,” she said. “The sky will tell me.” She winked at me, and I grinned.
“Okay,” I said. “So our plan is this. We go to prom. Earth watches the sky for a sign. And then . . . I make myself envision this beach. If I succeed, I take the Rogues with me. When we get there, Aunt Jo, Aaron, and James—form the circle. And”—I paused—“leave room for me. Because I’m the fourth Rogue.”
“Skye,” Aunt Jo said. “How did you figure that out . . . ?”
I smiled enigmatically. “Let’s just say I had some help.”
“Wait a minute,” Cassie pouted. “Dan and I don’t get to come?”
“You seriously think I’m taking you with me? I’ve almost gotten you killed, twice. There’s no way I could live with myself if it happened a third time. Besides,” I said. “Someone has to watch Earth.”
“I don’t need to be watched,” Earth piped up. “I am almost in third grade. I’m not a little kid anymore.”
“Good point, Earth,” I said, kneeling by her. “You’re more grown up than half the people I know.”
“True story,” said Dan.
“But you’re so special that I need someone whose only job in this whole world is to keep an eye on you. To make sure you’re safe so that when we get back, you and I? We can have a day of fun, just the two of us.”
Earth looked up at me, smiling devilishly. “You mean like a sister day?”
I patted her on the head. “We can work out the semantics when we cross that bridge, Trouble.” Aunt Jo and Aaron had turned red, but they were grinning.
This instinct I had to protect Earth made me think of my parents. My mother and father’s mission had failed because they would sooner let that happen than put me in danger. They knew that I would be the one to complete the circle, and they took that secret to the grave to protect me. It was what I’d worried about with Earth. And what Ian’s dad had worried about with him. We all tried to protect the ones we loved. But we couldn’t do it forever. Eventually we had to let them go. So they could fight their own battles.
I wasn’t a little kid anymore, and I had to face the future, no matter what it held.
23
Clouds obscured the moon that night, shrouding my room in darkness. I lay in bed for hours, but I couldn’t sleep. Earth tossed and turned in her sleeping bag, and the house seemed to creak and groan more than usual. I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one having trouble quieting their mind.
Everything was in place for prom—but it wasn’t the battle I was thinking about. Weirdly, it was something Ian had said. I guess now would be an inappropriate time to ask you to prom, huh?
If I went to prom at all, I always pictured myself going with Asher. But the next time I saw him, we were going to be fighting against each other. I never thought it would get this far.
Before I knew it, dawn was casting its wide net of light across my room.
There was a knock at my window.
At first I thought I was dreaming. Earth turned over and mumbled something in her sleep. I pulled my jersey comforter up over my head to block out the light and the noise, and burrowed under the covers. I only had a few hours left before everyone else in the house woke up. And the day of the battle would begin.
Then I heard it again, and my heart leaped into my throat. Because there was only one person I could think of who ever appeared at my window like that.
An inky black feather danced across the floorboards. . . .
I threw the covers back and vaulted out of bed. I didn’t care that I was in boxers and my old River Springs Community College sweatshirt that was faded and pilled and had holes in the wrists from sticking my thumbs through. I didn’t care that my hair was a mess, and my eyes were bleary and red from lack of sleep, or that I wasn’t wearing any makeup. I had been waiting for this. He had come back. Maybe we wouldn’t have to fight against each other after all.
Maybe, finally, this was all over.
I flung the window open wide, and let the spring air rush into my lungs. I couldn’t wait to see his face, to feel his hands on my cheeks, his thumb brush across the freckles on the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t wait to see his devious grin.
But the face that met me was kissed by the sun, his hair golden and his eyes serious. He wasn’t grinning. Because it wasn’t Asher.
It was Devin.
I must have looked confused, because he smiled sheepishly. “You were expecting someone else.” It wasn’t a question. I was too baffled to even respond. I half expected him to offer me a hand to pull me up to the roof, like Asher always did, but instead he said, “May I come in?”
“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “Shouldn’t you be with the Rebels, buffing your swords or whatever?”
“Buffing our swords?”
“You know what I mean. You’re consorting with the enemy. The half-asleep enemy.”
“Um.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I haven’t had my coffee yet.” Devin raised his eyebrows. He looked a little bit amused. With a sigh, I stepped aside and motioned for him to climb through the window.
“Look,” he said once he had maneuvered his way between Earth’s sleeping bag and Cassie’s fortress of blankets and pillows. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now. And I don’t blame you. But since you left so upset the other night I haven’t been able to think about anything else. I told you I would make it up to you. I made a promise to you, a promise I’m going to keep.”
“Devin. Slow down. What are you talking about?”
“You told me to put my money where my mouth is. I couldn’t stand the thought of us going into battle against each other, and you thinking I’m some horrible monster.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Do you know why you never felt the coldness or the emptiness when you were with me, before—only the good feelings? Have you figured it out?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” I stammered.
He looked up at me. Pain flashed in his eyes. Something about it reminded me of Gideon. The darkness behind the crystal blue, the trauma that lingered and tortured him still.
“I found a way to take it away from you.”
For a second, I was so shocked I was sure I’d heard him wrong. When I didn’t say anything right away, he continued.
“I knew that Gideon was teaching you and that you knew how to tell if you were being influenced. When Astaroth realized that the plan didn’t work—that I didn’t kill you after all—he commanded me to keep you close, to find a way to win your affection back. I had to find a way to make you want to spend time with me, to trust me, when I knew you didn’t. Skye, I know this is going to sound weird, but if they hadn’t forced me to, I don’t know if I ever would have spoken to you again.”
“It’s not weird,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m . . . I’m grateful for it.”
His mouth twisted in a painful smile. “I found a way to do it without you knowing. But it meant I had to sacrifice something for you. I was able to pull away your emptiness, to take it out of you, so all you felt when you were with me was good. I’m the one who felt cold and empty. I took your pain as my own. And you never knew.”
All I could do was stand there quietly, letting his words sink in. Earth turned over in her sleeping bag, and Cassie snored loudly.
“Can I ask you something?” I said finally. “The early days? The ones before you—” I paused, and he nodded uncomfortably before I had to say more. “Everything between us then—that was all real?”
“Every minute of it,” he said. “But so much has happened since then. I know those moments are lost now, forever.”
My eyes began to fill with unexplainable tears.
“I know,” I said. “It wasn’t always easy, but—I’ll always keep those memories someplace safe.” He had
been looking at the ground, but now he looked up at me. Those blue eyes of his always had a way of piercing right to my heart. When our eyes met, I knew it was true. I would always hold them close.
“So will I,” he said.
“I guess I’ll see you next in battle.”
“What?” He frowned. “Skye, I’m here because I’m leaving the Rebellion.”
“Where are you going?” I gasped. “You mean you’re not going to fight?”
“Oh, I’m still going to fight. But I’m going to fight with you.”
For a second, I was sure I hadn’t heard him right. But as the words sunk in, I thought I understood.
“You really are a Rebel now, aren’t you?”
“It would appear so, yes.” He grinned at me, almost shyly. His eyes were so impossibly blue. “Who’d have thought that I would finally become a real rebel, just as I’m leaving them?”
The floorboards creaked behind me, and Devin looked up sharply. I whipped around to see Raven, hovering in the doorway.
“Devin?” she said softly, standing there self-consciously in her borrowed T-shirt and pajama pants. Her lower lip trembled. When I turned back around to Devin, his eyes looked glassy.
“Hey,” he said. He moved toward her quickly and they stood facing each other.
“You came.”
“I had to. Raven, I—I’ve been so confused. I didn’t know what love, real love, was until I jumped from the Order. For so long, I confused love and longing. For what I couldn’t have. And who I couldn’t be. But Skye was right—I didn’t know what it meant to love, not really. I thought it was winning. But love is falling, isn’t it? It’s giving up what you’ve fought so hard to control—and being okay with that. Since being free, I’ve realized something, Raven. We’re a team. We always have been. And I—I need you.” She crossed her arms and snorted. “I know, you probably never want to see me again after what I did to you,” Devin continued. “But if there’s a chance . . . even a small one . . .”
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