Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1)

by William Bernhardt

  She shook her head in a quick motion. I glanced at Mom and Dad, who were both trying to hide the worry in their eyes. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong when I heard the answer in my sister’s blood.

  The sound of the cancer drowning out her healthy cells was a sound I’d never heard before, but as I focused on the grating whoosh, I knew that’s what I heard. “It’s the cancer, isn’t it? It’s too late.” I said in a quiet voice. She nodded.

  “The Revenants took her right after I called you,” Dad said. “She never had a chance to get treated. And now…” he exhaled. “Now it’s too late. The doctors said all they can do now is make her comfortable.”

  She’d been suffering this whole time in that awful place. “Katelyn…” I wanted to say how sorry I was. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her, how much I would miss her, how I would never be able to live without her. I couldn’t say any of it. The lump in my throat wouldn’t let me speak.

  “We’ll leave you alone,” Mom said quietly. Everyone left, leaving me with my sister, who laid her head on my chest, the sound of her cancer stricken blood a grating sound in my ears.

  The warmth from her body spread through me. For the first time in her life, she didn’t speak. She didn’t have any sage wisdom or awe-inspiring advice, or horror at my recent societal blunders. She only rested there, her head on my chest, with tears sparkling in her pain-filled eyes.

  “I should have never left,” I managed.

  She blinked away her tears, but didn’t answer.

  “This is my fault. If I’d just left the Revens alone, I would’ve been there for you. I could’ve gone to the hospital with you. I could’ve been the sister you needed—”

  “June, no,” she finally said, her voice coming out as a choked sob. “It’s not your fault. I told you to leave, remember?”

  “But why?”

  She blew out a breath of air.

  “Was it because you wanted me to help other Shines? Because I didn’t save anyone. I destroyed two very evil people, but now I don’t think it was worth it. I should’ve never left.”

  “No,” she answered. “That wasn’t the reason.”

  “It wasn’t?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then why did you want me to leave?”

  “To find your reason.”

  “My what?”

  “The reason you have your Shine. Everyone has their powers for a reason. It’s not just some random coincidence that you can sense blood. Even if you don’t realize why yet. You’re stronger than you think.” She reached out and touched my hair. “And you’re so beautiful. Like Rapunzel.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I wish I could’ve grown up to be like you.”

  Her heart slowed. She didn’t have much longer. An hour or two, maybe.

  “Katelyn,” I whispered, stroking her head. “I can’t let you go.” Deep inside I knew it was true. She was part of me. I would never be the same if she was gone.

  Everyone has their powers for a reason.

  Though her heart had slowed, I still heard the blood flowing with a gentle whoosh, like a wave lapping at the ocean shore after it had lost its momentum.

  I focused on her heart, using my Shine to find the cancer that was teeming through her cells. With horror, I found the disease crowding out her healthy cells, making it impossible for the intact cells to carry oxygen through her blood.

  I concentrated the same way I had when I’d healed Memphis. I found the leukemia cells reproducing in her bone marrow. I took those out first. Most of the abnormal-shaped cells were easy to spot. It might have taken hours, although I lost track of time. There were hundreds, thousands, maybe, but I destroyed each one.

  After I finished with her marrow, I moved on to her arteries and vessels, seeking out each irregular cell and destroying it. Time disappeared. Sounds, lights, noises, all disappeared. Only my sister’s blood remained.

  I moved from her vessels to her heart. Clearing away the cancerous cells became second nature. I removed each one, unclogging the tissue, creating space for the good blood to flow freely.

  My sister inhaled, jarring me from the task of removing the cancerous cells. Her face came back into focus. Her eyes connected with mine. Her hand was still wrapped in my hair, as if she’d been hanging on for her life. In a way, I guess she had.

  She sat up. Sweat beaded her forehead. She winced as she moved, but then smiled. Her heart thrummed loud in my ears, louder than I’d ever heard it before. As she sat straight, she knitted her brows. Her hand moved from my hair. She clutched her chest, feeling the pressure of her heartbeat beneath her hand.

  I laid my hand atop hers. Her heart beat with steady, drumming pulses. She didn’t speak, though in her gaze, I saw understanding dawn. Her hand shook beneath mine, and I squeezed it tight.

  Tears formed in her eyes. “You did this.” It wasn’t a question. It was an acknowledgement of understanding.

  “Yes,” I answered, hugging her tight to my chest. Her hair smelled of rubbing alcohol, yet still retained the familiar faint aroma of lavender shampoo. “Yes. I think I’ve found my reason.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I sat alone in the courtyard. Resting on the fountain’s edge helped calm me. The water spilled over the petal-shaped edges, making the water appear like glass. The Shine cathedral surrounded me. Moonbeams highlighted the stained-glass windows, casting red and blue shadows over the shrubs and gravel paths that wound through the empty yard.

  It had been a week since I’d healed my sister. Both our lives had changed drastically since then. With my sister’s near death, and my ever-impending capture looming over us, Mom and Dad had decided that our family came first. With that realization, Dad had retired from politics. We’d found shelter in the Shine cathedral, but we’d known it was a temporary solution, so Mom had listed our condo. She’d already rented a cabin in the heart of the Alaskan wilderness.

  We left tomorrow.

  I hadn’t seen Memphis once since he’d rescued me. I’d asked around, but no one seemed to know where he was. He’d always been good at hiding.

  The water felt cold as I ran my fingers through the rippling surface. The splashing echoed in my ears. Maybe he’d realized that I was too dangerous to associate with. Maybe he still needed to reconcile his feelings for Alexa. Whatever it was, it hurt me that he was gone. I imagined that he would come back for me. Was I wrong?

  Closing my eyes, I let the trickling water overpower my thoughts. I would most likely never see him again. But it would be okay. Honestly, it would probably be safer that way.

  “I found you.” The deep, familiar voice echoed across the courtyard. I opened my eyes, certain that I’d imagined it.

  But no, it was him. Memphis stood in the shadows, the moonlight accentuating his tattoos, his eyes and face barely discernible. I stood and took a step forward, afraid that he might disappear as I drew closer.

  My heart thudded in my chest. “You came back?”

  “Only for a little while.” He didn’t move from the shadows. My heart fell. Only a little while?

  “Things have changed,” he explained. “I’m not a Reven anymore. I’m not military. I can’t stay here. I’m leaving soon. I came to say goodbye.”

  Goodbye? I took a hesitant step closer. Humid night air brushed across my cheeks. I feared the gust of wind would take him with it. But I took another step and he stayed, though still concealed in the darkness. “Where are you going?”

  Something shiny glinted in his hands. Focusing, I found that he held a knife. My knife. I stopped walking, fearing that he may have fallen back on old habits. Though we’d grown close, I was still Shine and worth enough money to pay for wherever it was he planned to go. My gaze snagged on the knife. He must have seen my hesitance.

  “I found this at Green Wood. I thought you’d want it back.” He held it out, finally exposing his arm to the moonlight, the tattoos dark against his skin. I didn’t take the knife from him.

  “No,” I said and ste
pped back. “Keep it. I don’t need it anymore.” I swallowed the knot forming in my throat.

  “June—” he tried.

  “No. Just call me. Or text. I’d rather not…”

  He’d come to say goodbye, but I refused to let him. I hated goodbyes. Better to just pretend to see each other again, even if we knew it was never going to happen.

  I turned away, focusing on the double wooden doors that led into the cathedral. The knot in my throat returned, larger this time, so persistent that swallowing became impossible. I balled my hands into fists, feeling his eyes on my back.

  I grabbed the door handle. I didn’t want it to end this way, but I didn’t want it to end at all. We would see each other again. We didn’t have to say goodbye.

  His hand caught mine. “I wanted to tell you something else.”

  He held my hand in a firm grip as he placed the knife on my palm. The worn pearl handle brought back memories. The first time I’d fought him and lost miserably. I studied the knife, watching as the moonbeams made the pearlescent surface seem to glow.

  “Just listen to me, okay?” he asked.

  I wrapped my fingers around the hilt, and then finally tucked it into my jeans pocket. “Okay.”

  He led me back to the fountain and sat on the edge. I rested beside him, trying to act casual, though it was impossible with the way my hands trembled. A painful knot formed in my stomach. Why was I doing this? Why was I letting him say goodbye?

  He ran his fingers along his arms, the way he did when he was thinking of something. “I went back to find my parents’ corpses. I buried them.”

  “I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say.

  He shook his head. “They weren’t my parents, not really. My real parents adopted me, and we didn’t share the same blood, but they loved me. They’re the people I remember.”

  “But still, it must’ve been hard.”

  He stared straight ahead. “The hardest part was looking at them, seeing how much we look alike. Realizing what I could become.”

  “But you’ll never be like them.”

  He exhaled. “Not if I can help it.”

  The wind rustled the tree branches. The call of a night bird broke up the uneasy silence. Glancing at Memphis, I worked up my courage to ask him something that had been nagging me since he’d rescued me. I hadn’t seen Adelaide die. “Memphis, did you kill your mother?”

  His gaze locked on mine—that predator’s gaze that made me want to hide somewhere—but I didn’t look away. “Yes,” he finally answered. “I’d meant to talk to her, to reason with her. Maybe see if she still considered me her son. But when I saw her that night at Green Wood, about to kill you, I knew she wasn’t the person I’d imagined. I killed her to save you, but now, I don’t feel any better. I’ve killed my mother. That’s something I’ll always have to live with.”

  I nodded, not sure what to say.

  “Miss Angel was right. No matter how much I try to fight it, my curse always seems to follow me. I’ve killed my own mother. I fulfilled Miss Angel’s prophecy. But that isn’t all—everyone around me dies. That’s why I have to leave. That’s why I can’t stay here. You almost died once. If I stay, it’ll happen again. And next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

  I blinked, trying to come up with an answer. “But you can’t seriously believe in curses, can you?”

  “It’s pretty hard to ignore.”

  The water trickled behind us, soft and musical. With the sound of the water came the pattering of his heart. The knot in my stomach twisted with the familiar sound of his heart. I hugged my arms around my chest, feeling exposed and alone, wanting so badly to stay close to him forever, knowing it wouldn’t happen unless I could change his mind. “If you’re cursed, then why did you come back and save me? Why are you here now?”

  He knitted his eyebrows, as if my question had caught him off guard. “Because it would be wrong to leave without an explanation. I had to say goodbye.”

  “But you could have called or left a message. If you’re afraid of putting me in danger, then why are you here now?”

  He turned away. “You don’t understand.”

  “I don’t understand what? There’s no curse, Memphis! Yes, you killed your mother, and a lot of the people you loved have died—”

  “Everyone—”

  “No.” I felt the anger rising to my face. “Not everyone.”

  He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

  “I’m still here.”

  He didn’t answer. But he didn’t argue either. Maybe I was getting through.

  “There is no curse, Memphis. If there was, then I would’ve died that night in the castle. But I’m still here.”

  He looked straight ahead. Something moved in the tree branches. I focused and found a small brown bird perched on one of the limbs. I’d seen it before. A nightingale.

  He followed my line of sight and found the bird. It began to sing, a slow, haunting melody that somehow brought comfort, reminding of the night we’d spent on his balcony.

  “You can’t shut everyone out of your life, or then you’ll have no life at all.”

  His eyes stayed focused on the nightingale. I wanted to see inside his head and figure out what he was thinking. Maybe he was remembering the nightingale’s fairy tale.

  “But June, I can’t hurt you. I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”

  The nightingale’s song drifted through the courtyard. Its cadence seemed to mirror the sound of Memphis’s heart.

  “You can’t worry about what hasn’t happened yet,” I said. “You told me that, remember?”

  He looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

  The sound of his heart came to me. I couldn’t be sure, but I felt as though it slowed a tiny bit. “Maybe you’re right,” he finally conceded. “But what if something happens…”

  “No,” I stopped him. “No more what ifs. We live for today. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure about that? You still want me around—even if it means you could die?”

  “Yes. I’m certain. Even if it means my own death.” I would die inside anyway if he was gone, but I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that.

  He exhaled. “All right then.”

  The fluttering of wings broke up the silence. The nightingale’s tiny body disappeared beyond the tree limbs, yet I could still hear its lingering song.

  “Look,” I said, mustering my courage. “We’re leaving for Alaska tomorrow. My mom and dad think it’s too dangerous in the city. Plus, they kind of want to start over. We’ll be out in the mountains, in a big spruce forest—the middle of nowhere—where no one can find us. We’ll be safe, at least as safe as we can be under the circumstances. I know this is short notice, but why don’t you come with us?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “I mean, but if you don’t want to—I understand…”

  Smiling, he took my hand. His skin felt so warm against mine. His smile was genuine, which made it even more enticing. My heart skipped a beat. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “You’re going to live out in the wilderness, without phones or makeup or indoor plumbing—and you want me to come with you?”

  I frowned. “I never mentioned the plumbing.”

  “All right,” he said. “I’ll come. If it means I get to see you roughing it out in the Alaskan wilds, then I’m coming.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Of course.”

  I kept my hand in his, afraid that if I let go, I’d never get him back. “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”

  He pushed a strand of hair from my face. “Maybe a little bit.” He kissed my forehead. “I missed you,” he whispered. “Whenever we’re apart, I feel lost.”

  I eyed him.

  “It’s true.”

  I nodded. I knew. I felt it deep inside, as if we were part of each other. “I know.”

  “You do
?” He searched my face, maybe trying to decide if I was being honest with him.

  “Yes. I know because…” I blew out a breath of air. Why is it so hard to say the things you really mean? “I know because I feel the same way.”

  He squeezed my hand, and then leaned forward. His lips brushed mine. The world stopped. Only Memphis and I remained, suspended in time. My thoughts and worries evaporated. His lips were warm and soft, and gentler than I imagined. When he pulled away, he locked his eyes on me.

  I felt my cheeks hot and beginning to flush, so I focused on his hands instead. I ran my fingers along his lines of tattoos, his heartbeat loud and penetrating my thoughts.

  “Would you like to know how the poem ends?” he asked.

  I looked up, confused. “You’ve told me already. Alexandria burns to the ground.”

  “No, there’s more.”

  “There is?”

  He nodded. “Bones buried beneath the ash, on the wings of nightingales return the seeds.

  The ash, once a constant reminder, of the lives taken, fades. The seeds take root where buildings stood. Green shoots appear, not frozen in time, but filled with life. From the tiniest seeds sprout jasmine, lavender, and spruce. From the darkest December comes the sunlight of June.”

  “That’s seriously how it ends?”

  He nodded.

  I nuzzled into his shoulder. “I like how it ends.”

  He ran his fingers though my hair. “Yeah. I do, too.”

  Episode Thirteen

  Road to Nowhere

  by Sabrina A. Fish

  1

  Camille parted the window’s limp curtains as sweat trickled down her temple. The loud whirring of a box fan sounded from the room. She glanced behind her at the dark, empty suburban street, then pulled herself up onto the window's outer ledge. She'd been watching the house all evening from the baking interior of the little white electric car that had once belonged to her best friend, Jenni. Closing her eyes, she shoved aside the grief and guilt always waiting to overwhelm her. No time for that now.