A Beautiful Dark (25 page)

“I’m sure she’s already thought of that.” Dan was grinning like I’d never seen before.

Ian turned to us and motioned to the coffee bar. “You guys want anything? My treat.”

“Ian, seriously, how are you not fired?”

“I dunno, Skye, some people love me.” It felt like a deliberate jab, and suddenly I felt a little guilty. Cassie and Dan hadn’t been the only ones I’d been neglecting.

“I’ll take a chai latte,” was all I said in response.

Trey banged his drumsticks over his head as he counted out, “One, two, three, four,” and struck up another song, a faster one. Dan and I started dancing to it, jumping up and down and waving at Cassie, who beamed as she belted out the lyrics.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Asher come in from outside, shaking off a light dusting of snow and looking around. I pretended not to see him and shook my head wildly, letting my hair fan out. Dan laughed. When I glanced up at Asher, he was watching us, looking moodier than I’d ever seen him. Ian came back with our drinks, and as I sipped my latte, I carefully turned back around. Asher was gone.

Cassie began singing another song, this one a bit slower and softer than the others. Dan and Ian were watching the performance, paying little attention to me.

“Want to dance?”

I spun around so fast that my latte nearly spilled over the side of the mug. Devin was standing there, looking both unsure of himself and hopeful.

“Uh . . .”

“I’m sorry for being so impatient. I thought a dance might be a better way to say it.”

“Sure. Okay.” I put my mug down on a low table and took his hand.

Devin held me close, his hands on my waist while I placed mine on his shoulders. There were a few other couples dancing around us. I didn’t usually slow dance at the Bean, and something about the whole thing felt awkwardly formal.

Even so, as I let his cheek brush against mine, I remembered how nice it felt to wake up in bed next to him. To let him hold me.

“Not bad, Devin,” I said, grinning.

“Years of practice.” I couldn’t see his face.

Decades? Centuries? Millennia? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know exactly how long he’d been around.

He paused, slowing us down mid-turn so that we were barely moving. “I know I’ve been difficult. I’m not—I can’t do things as easily as Asher can. But I only want—” He pulled away from me, and the look in his eyes was intense. “I care about you, Skye. I don’t want you to make a bad decision.”

“One that might lead me to the dark side?” I teased.

But Devin didn’t laugh.

“Just know that you’re important, and I’d do anything for you.”

His gaze never strayed from mine. In his, I read honesty and something much more.

When the music shifted into something with a faster beat, Devin let go of my hands. He walked away then. And like Asher, he didn’t look back.

During the set break, Cassie jumped off the stage and ran to us. Her hair had fallen out of its bun, and her cheeks were red. “Guys!” she crowed. “What did you think?”

“Um, Cassie, you guys are
good
!” Ian said.

She did a little bow. “You like?”

Dan was suddenly quiet, as if he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. He just kept pushing his floppy hair back and then smoothing it down, and then pushing it out of his face again. So I jumped in. “Yes! Amazing. You know we need to celebrate.”

Cassie smiled brilliantly. “I know. I was hoping you’d say that. With your Aunt Jo away, I was thinking . . .” She glanced at Dan and then back to me.

“Oh, no,” I said. “No way. She’ll kill me.”

“Come onnn, Skye! We haven’t had a party since your birthday, and your house is totally
empty
! Didn’t you even say yourself that it was too quiet?”

Why was I hesitating? I’d been stressed out and anxious since my birthday, and Aunt Jo was away all the time, which was basically like
asking
for her kid to have a party. Didn’t she know that’s what would happen if she went away for weeks at a time?

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

“Really? Yay!” Cassie squealed. She ran back to the stage and jumped onto the platform, grabbing the mic with a little shriek. “Hey!” She called out, raising one arm to get everyone’s attention. “Party at Skye’s after the show!”

I turned to Dan. “This is either going to be the best idea ever or a very, very bad one.”

Chapter 31

I
t turned out that my house was the perfect party spot. The big windows let the moonlight in, creating a romantic ambiance, and the lack of partition between any of the rooms kept the party traffic flowing. I made a mental note to invite everyone back in the summer when we could spill out onto the big deck that looked out over the mountains, ignoring the nagging voice that wasn’t sure where—or what—I’d be by the time summer rolled around.

Maggie Meltzer’s older brother brought over a keg, and we stashed it in the kitchen, under the window where Raven’s face had appeared not too long ago. I hated that everywhere I looked now, my old life was peppered with reminders of my new one. No matter how much I tried to push them away.

I stood by the keg, sipping from a red plastic cup and talking to some of the girls from the ski team. Things with Ellie had been a little tense for me since the ski trip, but she didn’t bother me quite so much anymore. Of course, the memory of walking in on her and Asher by the ice machine still made me feel nauseous. But so did the thought of Asher going back to the Rebel camp when this was all over and leaving me forever.

Cassie came bounding up to me, sloshing beer over the side of her cup and pulling me away into a corner of the kitchen.

“Okay,” she said. “So are you okay with everything?”

“Mm-hmm.” I smiled.

“I haven’t said anything all year because, well, we’re all such good friends, and I didn’t want to, you know, upset the balance.”

“Cassie, I promise, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“So you’re okay with it? I mean, I guess if he feels the same way, too?”

“Are you kidding? I’m more than okay with it! And trust me, he feels the same way. You should have seen his face when he realized you were singing to him.”

Cassie beamed, and I knew it was the right thing to say. If Cassie and Dan got together, it would change the dynamic of our group, but I couldn’t help thinking about Asher and how much I wished there was nothing standing in
our
way. I needed to start getting used to things changing.

I wanted to tell Cassie about my parents—about the truth behind Asher and Devin’s sudden appearance at our school and my own role in all this. The kitchen was loud, but we were standing off in a corner where it was quieter and with the way our heads were tilted together, I knew no one would be able to hear us.

“Cass,” I started, my voice shaking a little in the way that it did when I got nervous. “I have to tell you something.”

She eyed me carefully. “I knew you weren’t telling me everything.”

“It’s . . . um . . . it’s hard to talk about. But I want you to know. You’re my best friend, and I’ve been keeping these things from you, and I just . . . I’m so sorry. I’ve wanted to tell you this entire time.”

“Whoa, Skye. Shh, it’s okay.” She put her hand on my back. “I’m not mad. You can tell me anything, and I promise it will stay between us.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath. “Remember the story that Asher told at the campfire?”

Cassie’s eyes were growing wide and excited. “Yeah? Is this about Asher? Are you guys—”

“No,” I said. “Well, kind of. I mean—there’s more to the story than that. It turns out—” That sensation of being watched had suddenly pricked at the back of my neck, and as casually as I could, I looked behind me.

Devin was standing on the other side of the marble island. He wasn’t looking at us, but from the look on his face, I knew he’d heard every word. I had to think fast. I had to play this off like I’d meant to tell her something completely harmless. Cassie looked a little bewildered, waiting for me to finish the story.

“It turns out,” I continued, “that he never even liked Ellie. We kissed. He liked me the whole time.” It was still the truth, after all. Just a very, very big omission. I hated that Devin had to hear it, but better that than he hear me spill all of his secrets to Cassie.

Cassie’s eyes were huge. “Oh, Skye!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me. “That’s incredible! You have to fill me in on
everything
!”

“I will, definitely. But I think you should go look for Dan now. I bet you two have a lot to talk about.” I gave her a pointed look. “Besides, I should go check on the party. I am the hostess, after all.”

“Okay!” She started to back away toward the open living room. “This is so romantic!” She squealed again, clapping her hands together before she took off.

My heart still pounding at the near miss, I turned around and found myself face-to-face with Asher. Devin was nowhere to be seen. It was a little creepy the way he could disappear like that.

“What’s so romantic?” he asked, his head tilted to one side and studying me as though he could read my mind. He looked so good, in a soft, chocolate-colored sweater and jeans. I wanted to bury my face in his chest and feel him breathing beneath my cheek.

“Nothing to do with you, obviously,” I said, turning away again.

“That’s not what it sounded like,” he said, catching up to me and leaning down, his voice low in my ear. “It sounded like the opposite, actually. Were you telling Cassie about me?”

“No!” I sputtered, spinning back around. “And what are you even doing here? I don’t remember inviting you.”

“You didn’t. But if you’ll recall, your friend Cassie invited everyone at the show. And that included me. So don’t be rude. Are you going to offer me a drink or not?”

“Not,” I said. “Why did you come?”

Asher looked taken aback, even a little hurt, but he kept up the light tone.

“I wanted to see you.”

“But—”

“In case you’ve forgotten,” he said under his breath, taking me gently but firmly by the elbow and turning to face me, “I have a job to do, remember? And that’s to look out for you.”

“Well, you haven’t been doing so hot the past few days, have you?”

“Hey, will you stop being difficult with me for like five minutes, or is that too hard for you?”

“I’m complicated, remember?” I said. “I’ve got
dual
natures.”

“Oh my god!” he said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “You are impossible! Look, I haven’t heard anything from the Rebellion camp in a while. And it makes me nervous that Raven’s still lurking down here. Someone must have sent her. There’s no way she could come on her own. She has to follow orders. She’s a Guardian, that’s what she
does
.”

My heart beat more rapidly. I hadn’t heard Asher admit to being nervous before.

“So?” I jutted out my chin.

“So something else has to be going on. I just wish I knew what.”

We stood there facing each other for a second or two.

“Hey, you look really nice,” he said suddenly.

“Really?” I said, pleased with my new favorite outfit and forgetting that I should pretend not to care what he thought.

He leaned in as if he meant to kiss me but straightened up at the last second.

“Sorry. Look, I’ll just stay out of your way. But I’m not leaving.” He backed away. “This is me lurking. Okay?”

“Fine,” I said, sighing heavily. “I don’t care. Do whatever you want.”

Eric Walsh, who sometimes deejayed on underage nights at the only club in town, hooked his iPod up to the speakers in the living room, and the keg, miraculously, didn’t run out. At one point, I couldn’t find Cassie or Dan, and Ian was busy talking to Elizabeth Seifert. I was glad for him. He deserved someone who could appreciate him. I grabbed my jacket from a hook by the door and made my way to the sliding door that led onto the deck. But I never made it outside. Asher’s frame was silhouetted by the moon as he leaned against the railing. He didn’t see me through the glass doors behind him. He was looking up at the stars, watching the sky.

Instead of joining him like I had done on my birthday, I took off my coat and headed back to the kitchen for another beer. I wasn’t going to hide from my party this time.

Chapter 32

R
ed plastic cups rolled across the kitchen floor like tumbleweed. Instead of cleaning, Cassie and I were sitting on the counter in the kitchen, finishing what was left of the food. The last stragglers had just left, and it was something like two in the morning.

“I have to go home,” she declared, jumping off the counter. “Brunch tomorrow? Someplace greasy?”

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” I asked. “Are you done sobering up yet?”

“I haven’t had anything to drink for like two hours. I’ve been busy,” she added with a cryptic smile.

“You’re really going to make me wait until tomorrow morning for this story, aren’t you?” I asked, following her out to her car.

“Mm-hmm!” She hummed as she got in.

“Fine!” I slapped the roof and backed up. “Call me for brunch.”

Cassie turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened. She tried again, but all we heard was a sick-sounding hum coming from under the hood. “Uh-oh,” she said, getting out again. “Well, eff my life.”

“Hooray!” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Now come inside like a smart person, sleep over, and in the morning, I’ll drive you to the gas station to get a tow truck, okay?”

“Greasy eggs before the tow truck, though?” Cassie asked hopefully.

“Of course,” I said. “It will be just like old times.”

“That’s what we
should
have done after your birthday,” she said as we walked back toward the house. “Stupid boiler.”

In my room, we pulled pillows and blankets down to the floor, just like we used to.

“Skye?”

“Mmm?”

“Dan and I kissed.”

“I
knew
it!” I cried.

“I’m really happy,” Cassie said sleepily. “Promise it won’t change anything?”