Sunburst (Starbright Series)

by Rachel Higginson

  We filed into class right after the tardy bell rang and smiled sweetly at our World History teacher, Mrs. Merrit, Rigley’s mom. She just rolled her eyes at us.

  She was actually a terrible teacher when it came to homework and tests. She was one of the most brutal. And she didn’t accept any late work unless we had a note from a doctor proving we were on our death beds. This was unfortunate for me, since I never got sick, and my parents would die before they let me lie about something like that. But, she was also our volleyball coach and Rigley’s mom, so occasionally we were given grace for the random error in punctuality.

  Today was one of those days.

  I slid into my desk behind Seth and across from Tristan. The tension in the air was so thick, I wanted to reach for the six-inch blade hidden under my bubbly denim skirt, but I refrained. It wouldn’t do any good to beat either of these boys up; they were still determined to act like Neanderthals.

  Tristan shot me a smile, which I returned, but Seth didn’t even turn around. It had been three days since I spent the night with him; he had given me the cold shoulder ever since, except during training- then he was giving me the very hot, very deadly, very skilled shoulder. It was when he was kicking my ass with his damn pirate sword that I wished he would just stay distant, until I could give him what I wanted.

  I glanced over at Tristan while he listened to the lecture on the War of 1812. His head was freshly shaved; he was rubbing his hand over it in the way he did when he was thoughtful or pissed. His skin was darkening again, now that he was out in the sun all the time practicing or helping his dad with the planting. And his bright green eyes were intent and focused forward.

  He was striking. Sometimes I couldn’t believe just how gorgeous he was.

  It was disconcerting to stack him up next to Seth. Seth’s looks were so classically perfect, his burning amber eyes, his flawless, golden skin and his tussled light-brown hair. He looked very much the Angel that he was.

  But Tristan was all dark beauty and rough exterior. His muscles weren’t genetically made, but hard-earned over a childhood of manual labor and constant physical activity. His nose wasn’t exactly straight and his eyebrows were maybe a little thick, but he was Tristan- my Tristan. And I was afraid of how unwilling I was to let him go.

  I knew what I was supposed to do…. what I was expected to do.

  But I had to wonder if I was capable of living out this part of my destiny.

  I didn’t love Seth.

  I didn’t even like him as much as I liked Tristan. Tristan’s muscles weren’t the only thing that had been fought for and refined over time. My feelings for him spanned my entire life; they had developed constantly and consistently for as long as I could remember.

  And while I felt something for Seth, there was part of me that thought my physical and emotional reaction to him was as much of a genetic complex as his godly body. Tristan had worked for our relationship. Seth had appeared in my life and expected there to be one.

  That probably wasn’t fair to him, but there it was all the same- the root of my issue.

  My attention was drawn back to Seth when something moved along his back. I swung my gaze to him just in time to watch the tip of a Shadow’s pointed tail whip around Seth’s back.

  My breath hitched in my throat and I stared at Seth, waiting for the disgusting little demon to reappear. Shadows were exactly what they sounded like, black smoke like creatures that were actually more flesh and blood than incorporeal material. But they appeared as black, hazy smoke and could disappear at will, floating off into different dimensions or returning to Hell in their downtime. They could also make any shape they wanted and appear as apparitions or hallucinations. Over the winter I’d mistaken one for a deer in the road one night and that’s how Seth was introduced into my life.

  But I hadn’t seen one in a while- which was a bit disturbing. Still, it was unwelcome to watch one crawl all over my Counterpart in the middle of the day. I waited for Seth to react, to show the tension the little bastard would bring to his broad shoulders or a bit of desperation as he tried to get the shooting pain off his skin.

  Shadows were our exact opposite.

  Where we were made out of light, they were made out of darkness. Their touch to our skin was the harshest, most torturous kind of cold. And to them we were unbearable heat. We were purely made from Heaven and goodness. And they were spawned in the depths of Hell from only the vilest evil.

  Their direct touch would kill a human on contact. And in huge hordes, they had the ability to take an Angel’s life. Although one couldn’t do much danger other than an annoying kind of hurt- like death by a million paper cuts kind of pain.

  Seth must be insanely in control if he wasn’t even going to brush off the wispy little thing.

  It reappeared around Seth’s bicep and I only saw it because I was paying such close attention. It wrapped around and around, slithering up and down Seth’s arm and across his t-shirt like a snake.

  Still, Seth didn’t even flinch.

  I reached forward and tried to smack the Shadow off his back, but it scurried off before I was even close. Seth did feel that though and shot me a WTH look. I stared at him, trying to figure out if he was serious or not.

  He was.

  My face scrunched up in confusion, but I shrugged it off. He turned back around and started taking more notes on the lecture. The bold Shadow came back, this time winding around and around Seth’s neck. The deathly color of the Shadow was such a contrast to the healthy glow of Seth’s skin. The Shadow was skin to skin now, Seth should have been feeling something- especially around his neck.

  I couldn’t believe the proverbial balls on this Shadow. He was antagonizing Seth- an Angel- while me- another Angel- sat behind him and in a room full of humans!

  While there was an ongoing war over the state of this planet, there were boundaries set in place, divined by God Himself and agreed upon by Lucifer. Humanity was to be left to their own decisions. We all knew this- good, bad, even humanity understood they were masters of their own fate. They probably didn’t understand the true consequences for their decisions, still they were left to determine for themselves who would ultimately control this planet. And in order to do so, we had to follow rules.

  While Shadows could influence, they couldn’t outright attack. And in the same vein they weren’t allowed to outright reveal themselves or come in direct contact with humans.

  Sure, they broke the rules all the time, but to break them in front of two Angels was just downright stupid.

  Seth still hadn’t bothered to remove the Shadow. It seemed quite content wrapped around his neck, like a scarf. This baffled me. It would only take was a little bit of internal Light to singe the pest so it would scamper off to the depths of Hell it came from.

  I decided to help him out. I reached up- way up, because he was so tall, and readied my hand with some of my own Light. But just as I grabbed the back of Seth’s neck in a firm would-be choke hold, the stupid thing disappeared again. Seth jolted from the unexpected shot of warmth through his skin and swirled around in his chair again.

  “What, Stella?” he asked seeming annoyed.

  “Uh, you had something on your, uh….” I trailed off, not knowing how to explain it to him now. But why was he acting so completely oblivious to it? The few times I had been unlucky enough to come in contact with Shadows skin-to-skin, they had lacerated my skin and shot their deadly iciness straight to the marrow of my bones. The pain had been unbearable. And Seth didn’t even seem to notice! “Never mind.”

  He shook his head at me, seeming both confused and surprised by my behavior, and then turned back around.

  I tried really hard after that to turn my attention back to Mrs. Merritt. I mean, I really tried. But the damn thing kept coming back! It was like a stupid game. I would turn my gaze forward until I saw something move and then I would try to catch it before it flitted away again. I kept missing, though, and Seth kept growing more and more agitated, but th
ere was no way for me to explain it to him in class.

  He would understand after, though. And then he would thank me. I was doing this for him. And my own sanity.

  Finally, near the end of class, I got the upper hand by anticipating where the Shadow was going to go next. Not that the sneaky bastard was moving in patterns, but, well, I got lucky. And in my excitement to catch the Shadow I let out a shout of victory, so loud and out of place for the middle of history class. Luckily, I caught it low and to the side that was blocked by Seth’s body, so the rest of the class didn’t see what I was doing. And then because it was my exact opposite in every way and an enemy to my entire being, my triumphant shout became a painful cry as frigid pain shot through my skin and to the center of my being. My entire body seized up and I arched my back against the intensity of the agony.

  It hurt so badly that I fell out of my desk and onto my back on the floor. My body wrenched as I tried to open my hand and release the stupid thing, but every muscle in my body had tightened and flexed. I couldn’t pry my hands open and I couldn’t release my inner Light because I was surrounded by people who probably thought I was either crazy or having a seizure.

  My scream became a pathetic whimper and I closed my eyes against the pain.

  This one hurt- worse than all the others! I had been attacked by hundreds before and still been able to fight back. But not this one. For some reason, the pain was just too intense for me to even remember how to fight back, let alone do any lasting damage.

  Seth moved so fast, obviously more than humanly possible, but I couldn’t care about that now. I needed him to save me. I needed him to pry my hand open.

  His hands were covering mine in an instant and his inner Light was suffusing my skin like balm on an open wound. I lay there, saturated in his warmth and heat and finally pried open my hand. The Shadow escaped into the ceiling somewhere and disappeared out of this realm of existence.

  A tear snuck out the corner of my eye and slid down my cheek, pooling in my ear. I was too traumatized to do anything about it. Mostly, I was thankful there was just one tear and I hadn’t broken down into a puddle of weepiness.

  What just happened?

  “Stella, are you alright?” Mrs. Merritt stood over Seth, staring down at me with true concern on her face.

  I didn’t know how to respond. I was fine, at least now. But I had just freaked out in front of my entire class. I didn’t want to lie, but then again, I didn’t want to tell the truth. And any half-truth I could come up with would either make me sound certifiable or get me a trip to the doctor’s office, where they would find all kinds of abnormalities in my blood work.

  “She electrocuted herself,” Seth covered for me. “I think.”

  “You electrocuted yourself?” Mrs. Merritt asked skeptically. I didn’t exactly blame her for that….

  I nodded weakly.

  “How?” Mrs. Merritt demanded.

  Seth bent over and picked up an oddly-shaped paper clip and held it up for Mrs. Merritt. “With this,” he answered confidently.

  Our desks were next to the wall- that was the only way this was remotely believable. There was an outlet within arm’s reach. But still, a paper clip and an outlet was hardly electrocution worthy. Plus, wasn’t my hair supposed to be standing up or something?

  Cartoons always showed the frizzed-out hair if someone got electrocuted.

  “This would barely shock you,” Mrs. Merritt argued. Her hazel eyes narrowed on me and I could tell she was having a really hard time believing this, but she wanted to.

  “It really hurt,” I said, my back still glued to the industrial strength carpet.

  “This hurt you so badly you fell out of your desk?” she pressed.

  I nodded, letting my chin tremble with the emotion I was desperate to hold back. “It did.”

  “I thought you were tougher than this, Stella,” she shook her head at me with obvious disappointment. I didn’t expect anything less from the lady that made us do wall-sits for seven minutes straight while singing Christmas songs in pre-season.

  “I am,” I argued, not willing to give up my tough-girl image. “It just surprised me.”

  “You mean, you didn’t know what would happen if you stuck a metal object in an electrical outlet?”

  “Not from firsthand experience,” I gave over fully to the excuse.

  She just continued to shake her head at me, but then the bell rang and class was finally dismissed. Everyone rushed for the exit, conversation resuming again now that the drama I’d created was finally coming to a forced close.

  “Try to hold onto some of that curiosity for when you’re at home, alright?” Mrs. Merritt asked somewhat sarcastically.

  “I’ll try,” I sighed.

  And then she walked away, leaving me on the ground. My gaze flickered to Seth who was still looming over me. His amber gaze was concerned and…. something else, but I couldn’t define it. I felt Piper and Tristan hanging around too, but my eyes were intently focused on explaining to Seth that I was not crazy.

  “I’ll help her, guys,” Seth dismissed my friends with a tired breath, like I was somehow an inconvenience. They started to protest, but he waved them on.

  “I’ll wait,” Tristan argued stubbornly.

  “No you won’t,” Set growled.

  “I’m not-“ Tristan started but I cut him off.

  “It’s alright, Tristan,” I promised, feeling foolish. “Please. I’ll be right behind you guys.”

  He didn’t argue anymore, although I could feel that he wanted to. Or at least that he didn’t want to leave me alone with Seth. But I needed to talk to my Counterpart and figure out what in the world was going on!

  Seth helped me up, his strong hands taking mine and swallowing them almost completely. He pulled me to my feet effortlessly and then looked down at me, waiting for an explanation.

  “Let’s walk,” I suggested. “It will be easier to talk.”

  He moved to the side so I could lead the way and once we were past the classroom door we walked side-by-side down the wide hallways, letting people get out of our way, instead of the other way around. Our shoulders leaned into each other and our hands kept brushing, but I couldn’t pay attention to that stuff right now. I needed to focus.

  “There was a Shadow on you during class,” I whispered just loud enough for him to hear through the clatter and chaos of everyone changing classes. “It kept floating over you and touching you. It would not stop. And it was driving me crazy! I thought it was hurting you but you didn’t want to acknowledge it during class or something.”

  “Stella, I didn’t feel anything.” His voice was louder than mine but deep with meaning.

  There was only one kind of Angel that wasn’t affected by the Shadows- the Fallen.

  I laid my hand on Seth’s bicep and gave him a reassuring squeeze, “But I felt it too much. It wasn’t normal. That one Shadow hurt me more than the hundreds of them in the locker room. It’s not you. Something is going on.”

  He stopped, right there in the middle of the hallway, and turned to look at me. Students veered out of the way like we were a boulder in the middle of a rushing river. And that was exactly how Seth felt to me- like he was my rock, like he was the only solid thing when the rest of my life was floating away. And maybe he felt the same way about me.

  “We’re going to be alright,” he promised, leaning his face down so that we were only a breath apart. “Whatever they are doing, it’s meant to make us feel isolated….. inadequate. But we’re not either, Stella. We’re going to be alright.”

  I dropped my head to his chest and let out a sigh. My chin trembled again, so I pressed my lips together to keep from exposing my emotion. I didn’t feel alright- I felt the opposite of alright.

  “If they would just fight us…..”

  “It’s the mind games. They want us crazy and lost first.”

  “Well, they’re doing a really good job of it,” I grumbled.

  “Hey,” he tilted my chin up
and stared into my eyes- all the way in, all the way into my soul. “You’re not crazy and you’re not lost. Don’t let them win.”

  I nodded, the press of his fingers firm under my chin.

  “Are you Ok to go to class?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I tried to smile, but it was forced and unauthentic.

  “I’ll see you after school.”

  “I have practice tonight,” I reminded him. “Oh, and there’s this party tonight. Well, not really a party, but like a small get together at Lincoln’s tonight if you want to go. I know we have training but maybe we could get out of it? I could use a break.”

  “Who’s going?”

  “Piper, obviously. Rigley and Tristan…. you and me.” Finally I smiled when I explained, “Piper says it’s couples only.”

  “And I’m your couple?” His voice was so full of hope my heart cracked a little.

  An aching pain bloomed across my chest and my hands immediately reached for his, just barely entwining the tips of our fingers. It would be so much easier to be stubborn if he wasn’t so sweet.

  “According to Piper,” I whispered.

  “Then we’ll go,” Seth decided.

  “Jupiter won’t care?”

  “It won’t matter. If you’re acknowledging us as a couple, I’ll go anywhere.”

  I looked up at him, unable to help myself and lost my breath. His golden eyes were glowing- right in the middle of the hallway, right in the middle of school. His skin was hot to my touch and I felt his emotions swirl around me as they warred against each other- hope, reservation, adoration, skepticism….. longing, disbelief.

  “Ok, we’ll go.”

  He smiled at me, warm and affectionate, and then disappeared down the hallway.

  I turned around to head to my class and caught Tristan’s eye while he stood at his locker. He had just watched the entire exchange. My heart, that had been mending and piecing back together, dropped to my toes and splintered. His face was a mask of bitterness, but his eyes held depths of anguish that punched holes in my soul.