The Darkest Star

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  But there was something weird about the photo.

  There was this odd double exposure effect where April stood. That was why I almost didn’t recognize her, but it wasn’t a normal double exposure. There was this shadow type affect surrounding the upper part of her body, as if someone were standing directly behind her.

  That was super-odd, but that had to be it, because the rest of the picture was fine. There had to be someone behind her. Did April know?

  Shaking my head, I zoomed out and started clicking through the pictures mindlessly, but I gave up and promptly fell down a rabbit hole of watching short videos of people making fancy cupcakes. I lost about an hour doing that, because I moved on from cupcakes to cakes, and then all I wanted from life was a giant chocolate candy bar.

  After logging on to my Facebook page, I hit the “most recent” button and started scrolling through new updates. I needed to be doing homework, but I didn’t budge from my laptop. My finger moved over the track pad as I mindlessly scrolled, stopping when I saw an update from my ex, Brandon. He’d posted a picture of a girl, and it took me a moment to recognize the blonde.

  I leaned in, squinting at the smiling selfie. I knew her. She was in my chem class. I’d seen her today. Her name was Amanda—Amanda Kelly. I quickly read the caption under her picture and my heart dropped.

  “No,” I whispered, sitting back.

  Amanda was reported missing this afternoon by her grandparents. The post read that she hadn’t come home from school.

  School had ended only a handful of hours ago, so she might not be missing, but there had to be a reason why her grandparents were freaking out. I read the post again, and it didn’t look like it had been reported to the police. The contact number belonged to her grandparents.

  God.

  I stared at the picture in disbelief. Colleen was missing. And what if Amanda was too? Both went to our high school and had vanished mysteriously the same weekend? That was … that was way too coincidental.

  Or maybe her grandparents were just overreacting? That was possible, because it wasn’t like with Colleen, who had been missing since Friday night. Maybe Amanda—

  A crash come from downstairs, causing my heart to lurch in my chest. My head shot up.

  What the…?

  I snatched the remote off the bed and muted the TV, and for a long moment, I didn’t move as I strained to hear any other noise. There was nothing, but that didn’t stop the wave of goose bumps from spreading over my skin. I was frozen for a moment, and then I grabbed my cell phone. I knew it wasn’t Mom, because I didn’t hear the garage door open under my bedroom. I swung my legs off the bed and then crept out into the hallway to peer down into the foyer. I held my breath and, when I didn’t hear anything, realized I had two options.

  Go back into my bedroom, sit down with the laptop, and look for a local exorcist, because obviously random, unaccounted-for sounds meant there was a demon in my house. Or go downstairs and investigate the strange noise to determine that it wasn’t a demon. But what if someone was breaking in?

  With all the lights on in the house?

  That seemed unlikely.

  I inched toward the stairwell and headed down them, stopping halfway when I remembered something very important I’d learned recently.

  Luxen could unlock doors.

  Oh crap.

  What if it was a Luxen helping themselves to the bag of chips I knew I’d left on the counter? A shiver crawled along my arms, and I looked down. I was still holding the remote. What the hell was I going to do with the remote? I started to turn back around, but stopped. What was I going to do? Call the police because I heard a noise?

  I was being stupid.

  Taking a deep breath, I went down the rest of the steps, stopping at the bottom. Front door was shut, but … but the French doors to my mom’s office were ajar, cracked open.

  I froze.

  Those doors were always closed. Always. Had Mom forgotten to lock them? That wasn’t impossible, but it was strange.

  Leaning forward, I peered into the rest of the downstairs. Everything looked normal. I shuffled into the living room, making my way through the dining area we never used. The kitchen looked untouched, and I could see the bag of chips, still where I left them. I stopped by the gray upholstered dining room chair, inching closer to the kitchen. There was nothing—

  I sucked in a sharp breath.

  The back door was wide open and the night air was spilling in, creeping across the tile floor.

  I so did not leave the back door open.

  Nope.

  Goose bumps returned with a vengeance as I took a step back, my hands clenching the phone and remote control. I doubted a demon had opened the door. Oh God, I should’ve just called the police. I should’ve called—

  The wisps of hair at the nape of my neck stirred. Something touched my cheek. Soft. Quick. Warm. Air lodged in my throat as icy fear seized every muscle in my body. Instinct exploded as my ears buzzed. Heart lurching into my throat, I slowly turned around as panic dug in.

  Nothing was there.

  I lifted my hand to my cheek. Good Lord, if someone were standing behind me, I would’ve had a heart attack, right then and there. Dead before I was eighteen, and that would suck so bad.

  Luxen could open doors that were locked, and they were also fast—fast enough that one could run past me, touch me, without being seen. It was possible, but why? Why would one be in this house? I seriously doubted it was Luc. I didn’t know him well, but I had a strong suspicion he would’ve made himself known.

  Obnoxiously so.

  Hands shaking, I kept backing up, past the dining table, and then I turned around.

  Mom’s office doors were closed.

  The breath I took got stuck. Silence fell as I stared at the closed French doors. I lifted my phone and then jerked as a knock sounded from the front door. For a moment, I didn’t move. I couldn’t. My pulse was thundering, blood roaring. The knock came again. I glanced over my shoulder. Whoever was in here wouldn’t be knocking on the door, right?

  It was like moving in slow motion. One step in front of the other until I pressed into the door and peered through the peephole.

  Zoe.

  Relief nearly cut my legs out from underneath me. Throwing the deadbolt, I yanked opened the door. “Zoe!”

  She must’ve seen something in my expression, because concern filled hers. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. No.” I stepped back, looking over my shoulder at my mom’s office. “I think someone was in here.”

  “What?” Zoe stepped into the house. “Why do you think that? Have you called the police?”

  “No. It just happened.” I swallowed hard, lifting my phone. “I was upstairs and I heard something fall over down here. I don’t know. It was a loud noise and I came downstairs. I didn’t see anything at first, but then I saw that the back door was open and—” I turned and my eyes narrowed. The back door was closed. “Wait. It was just open.”

  Zoe stepped around me, her gaze following mine. “Did you close it?”

  Clutching my phone harder, I shook my head. “No. I didn’t even go near it.”

  She started for the door, and I quickly followed, practically snapping at her heels. She reached for the door. I started to tell her to stop, but when she turned the handle, the door didn’t budge. “It’s locked.”

  “What?” Not believing her, I shot around her and tried the door myself. She was right. The door was locked. “That’s impossible.”

  Zoe stared at me.

  “Well, it’s not impossible. Luxen can unlock doors. That means they could probably lock them, right?”

  “Right.” Her gaze searched mine. “But why would they do that?”

  “I don’t know.” I twisted. “Those doors were open. I swear.”

  Zoe didn’t say anything for a long moment and then she charged forward, back toward the front of the house. “Let’s check it out.”

  I didn’t get a chance to prot
est that possibly unwise life choice, because Zoe was already climbing the steps. Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly caught up with her. Every room was checked, and in less than five minutes we were back downstairs, in the living room.

  “You don’t believe me,” I said.

  She placed a hand on my arm. “You’re shaking. So I know something happened, but, Evie…”

  “But it looks like nothing happened.” I slowly shook my head, feeling like I’d lost my mind a little. “I heard something. I felt someone. They walked past me. Touched my cheek—”

  “Touched you?” Zoe’s brows lifted.

  Nodding, I brought my fingers to my cheek. “That’s what it felt like.” I walked to the couch and sat down on the edge. “I don’t understand.”

  Zoe followed me. “What were you doing upstairs?”

  “Just looking at cupcake videos,” I said, and Zoe pressed her lips together. “Then I got on Facebook and I saw that Amanda’s grandparents reported her missing.…” A shudder racked me. “Maybe reading that, I let my imagination get away from me.”

  Zoe sat down next to me and glanced at the front window. “Maybe. I mean, the mind can do crazy things, right? Especially after everything we’ve all been through with the invasion. It can play tricks on you. You okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just freaked out.” I ran my palm over my knee as something occurred to me. I twisted toward Zoe. “What are you doing here?”

  She laughed at my question. “I was craving Walkers and I grabbed a burger. I texted you.”

  “You did?” I glanced at my phone. “There’s no text from you.”

  “I guess it didn’t go through. Weird.” She frowned. “Anyway, I thought I’d stop by and see if you heard from Heidi yet.”

  Zoe rarely just stopped by my house. Come to think of it, I couldn’t recall a time when she was here with my mom home. Moving a loose strand of hair back from my face, I glanced at the closed and locked back door. “She texted me a picture of her and Emery earlier. I think they were at a restaurant.” I exhaled roughly. “Did you hear about Amanda?”

  “I saw something when I was at Walkers. She was at school and it’s only been a couple of hours, but…”

  I dragged my gaze back to her. “But what?”

  She lifted one shoulder. “But I guess something else must’ve happened for her grandparents to think she’s missing after such a short period of time.”

  “I was thinking the same thing.” I leaned forward and placed my phone on the ottoman. My head was in a thousand places as I sat back. The run-in and weird conversation with Luc competed with Amanda’s possible disappearance. And whatever the hell happened here tonight was still taking center stage.

  And I really, really wanted a giant candy bar now.

  “You sure you’re okay?” Zoe asked again.

  I nodded even though I had a hard time believing that my mind had tricked me into hearing what I did, seeing two doors open, and feeling … feeling what I had. I leave bags of chips open all the time. Not doors. I wasn’t stupid.

  If someone had been in here, they’d been in my mom’s office.

  That left two questions.

  Who and why?

  * * *

  Smothering a yawn, I grabbed my English textbook out of my locker and shoved it into my bag.

  “You look like you just woke up five seconds ago,” James commented.

  I glanced up at him. He had his baseball hat on, turned backward. I gave him about five minutes before someone yelled at him to take it off. “I overslept.”

  Which was the God’s honest truth. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep easily last night, since I was expecting a door to randomly open and close all night long. When I did finally pass out, my alarm seemed to go off minutes later.

  I hadn’t told Mom what had happened last night.

  By the time she got home and Zoe had already left, I was beginning to doubt everything and it felt silly trying to explain what I thought had happened.

  “I can tell.” He stared over my head as he slipped his cell phone into his pocket. “Here comes April.”

  I groaned under my breath as I pushed a strand of hair out of my face.

  “And she looks surprisingly … chipper this morning.”

  “Chipper?” I coughed out a dry laugh as I rooted around for the granola bar I knew I had in my locker. “Is that the word of the day for you or something?”

  “No.” James paused. “Gadzookery is.”

  Wrinkling my forehead, I stopped lifting books and looked at him. “That cannot be a real word.”

  “Yeah, it is. Look it up. You might learn something.”

  I knelt down, rolling my eyes.

  “Hey.” April stopped behind me and there was a pause. “Didn’t you wear that cardigan yesterday, Evie?”

  Closing my eyes, I counted to ten before I answered. “Yeah, I did, and most people wouldn’t point something like that out.”

  “I’m not most people,” she replied, and James was right. She sounded awful chipper this morning.

  “I’ve got to run.” James was such a punk. “I’ll see you guys later.”

  April slid into his spot. “I don’t think he likes me.”

  “I don’t know why you’d think that.” I lifted up a binder at the bottom of my locker, and there it was. One lonely, little chocolate chip granola bar. I snatched it up. It was mine, all mine.

  “Who knows? It’s whatever.” She waited as I got up. “Are you going to Coop’s party this weekend?”

  I closed the door and faced her. There was nary a wrinkle on her white blouse. With her dark skinny jeans and her hair sleeked back in a ponytail, she looked like a very expensive personal assistant. “Not sure. You?”

  “Of course.” Her blue eyes glimmered like she’d downed a million cups of coffee. “You should definitely go.”

  “Yeah, we’ll see.” I lifted my bag to my shoulder as I pushed away from my locker. I spotted Heidi’s fire-engine-red hair, and the moment she saw April with me, she winced and wheeled around, heading in the opposite direction.

  Traitors.

  All my friends were traitors.

  “You know who I heard was going to Coop’s party this weekend?” April chattered on as we walked. “Brandon.”

  I slid a long look at her. Why would I care if my ex was going to a party? “So?”

  “And I hear he’s not going alone.” She reached up, twisting the end of her ponytail as we neared the bathrooms on the main floor. “I think he’s actually seeing someone.”

  “At the risk of sounding repetitive … so?”

  One side of her lips curled. “You haven’t heard? He’s been getting super-close to Lori—”

  A scream cut her off—a bone-deep shout of terror that raised the tiny hairs all over my body. There was a small cluster of people by the bathrooms, like normal.

  The scream came again, louder and closer, and then the girls’ bathroom door flew open. A girl burst out of it, her face the color of fallen snow.

  April dropped her ponytail. “What in the hell?”

  “Her eyes!” The girl shrieked as she skidded into the group lingering by the bathroom. “She’s dead and she didn’t have any eyes!”

  13

  As I sat on one of the stone tables outside of the cafeteria, I squinted as the bright morning sun glared down on us. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

  Heidi was sitting on the bench next to my feet, her dark sunglasses shielding most of her face. “I heard the screams. I thought it was a joke at first … until I heard what she was screaming.”

  I dipped my chin as I dragged my hand around my neck, scooping up my hair and bringing it to one side. As long as I lived, I would never forget the sound of that girl’s screams.

  We’d all been evacuated the minute a teacher checked the bathroom. Some of us had been sent out to the back parking lot and the rest of us were here, milling around or in small clusters. The police showed up within minutes of us bei
ng sent outside, and I’d only seen a handful of teachers since then. Everyone was pretty quiet, speaking in hushed voices or comforting one another. Every so often someone’s phone would ring. The school district had sent out an alert that there was an issue at the school. Knowing that Mom probably wouldn’t get the call or my text for a while, because she didn’t take her phone into the labs, I still let her know that I was okay.

  Someone’s parents wouldn’t be getting that text today.

  Heidi twisted as Zoe came around the corner. She dropped down beside Heidi. She’d left a few minutes ago to see if she could find out anything.

  “I think they’re going to cancel school for the rest of the day.” Zoe placed her book bag on the table. “I peeked through the front entrance, and the entire hallway is blocked with police tape.”

  “It’s basically a crime scene now.” I shivered despite the warmth of the sun. “They probably won’t be able to let us inside for a while.”

  Heidi’s phone dinged and she pulled it out from her bag as she asked, “Did you hear who it could’ve been?”

  Zoe shook her head as she swung a leg over the bench. “I’m never going to be able to use that bathroom again.”

  “Ditto,” I murmured, opening my backpack. I pulled out my camera and popped off the lens. I was aware that Heidi and Zoe were watching me, but they didn’t say anything as I started snapping photos of everyone standing around, focusing on how their shadows looked on the cement. I liked the contrast.

  It was probably weird that I was doing this, but Heidi and Zoe didn’t say a word. This wasn’t the first time they’d seen me whip out a camera at the most inappropriate time.

  Taking pictures was about more than clearing my mind. Sometimes the camera was … It was kind of like a shield between me and what was happening. It helped distance myself, so I didn’t feel too much.

  Maybe I should look into photojournalism when I graduated instead of nursing.

  As I lowered the camera, I spotted James jogging around the corner, crossing the common area. He stopped by a group, clapping his hand on another guy’s back before he made his way over to us.