The Girl Who Called The Stars (The Starlight Duology Book 1)

by Heather Hildenbrand

  Nightingale was already shoving at her stall door by the time I’d grabbed a saddle and flipped the latch.

  “You want to go for a run?” I asked.

  She answered by shoving past me toward the open barn doors. I laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Less than five minutes later, we were galloping. I sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the wind on my face and the feel of my hair being lifted off my back to blow out behind me. Without effort, the mental line of communication opened, and I could feel Nightingale’s sensations as she passed them to me. Her eyes stung from the wind and her skin tingled where her ruffling mane of midnight hair pricked her coat. But she loved this just as much as I did.

  As we left the barn behind, the stress melted away almost instantly, and I felt my body respond to the wind and the freedom that came with increased speeds. Nightingale strained to go faster. In answer, I loosened the reins and let her set the pace.

  All thoughts of war and rebellion and even the stranger in my dreams melted away. For a few delicious moments it was just me and my horse, and a sea of stars above us. It was everything. And a small, naïve corner of my heart wished it wouldn’t end.

  Eventually, Nightingale slowed to a walk, and we approached the tree line at the end of the narrow valley that was our backyard. I hesitated. Leaving the canyon this late at night was a definitely “no” as far as Peter was concerned. Especially if it meant wandering the woods alone. But in the year we’d lived here I hadn’t seen a single trace of Shadows.

  Besides, I was sick of the rules. No, I was sick of the fear.

  Hell, I’d charred the walls of my training room earlier. If anything was out here with me, I wasn’t the one that deserved to be afraid.

  With a soft bump of my heel against Nightingale’s sides, we made our way inside.

  It was cooler here, thank the Goddess, and I was instantly glad I’d come this far. The trees here were mostly varying types of pines with some Boxelder thrown in as we got closer to the lake I knew lay ahead. Plenty of shade that, even after the sun went down, offered a temperature dip that felt great on my overheated skin.

  Without the speed to distract me, my thoughts trickled back in and I found myself wondering what it would be like to show up to the parade with Ethan Lawson. Probably not as great as if I were actually interested in the guy. Definitely not as great as if the stranger with the eyes showed up instead.

  Stupid, Alina. I didn’t even know if he was a “he.” All I knew were those eyes. But something about them promised me…

  I didn’t know what.

  I sighed, wondering if maybe there was something wrong with me.

  Something besides the fact that you’re an alien with superpowers?

  I honestly didn’t know if that had come from me or Nightingale.

  She snickered, tossing her mane around as her head bobbed, and I had my answer.

  My thoughts drifted to what Peter had said at dinner the night before.

  A portal.

  Most humans thought we used spaceships to travel—if they even believed we existed at all. But ships weren’t nearly as efficient as the portals. That is, if you could find one.

  The only one we knew of for sure was the portal that had brought us here; a rift in dimensions out in the desert of New Mexico. But with all the conspiracy theorists, we couldn’t risk living anywhere near it, not with the Shadows probably using the same one to hunt us down.

  I knew Peter had secretly been hunting for another one for years.

  He hadn’t mentioned it at all this last year, and I’d started to wonder if he’d changed his mind. But I realized now it was only me. I’d gotten too comfortable here. And soon, I’d have to leave it behind. The hard part was wondering what would be waiting for us on the other end.

  Deep down, I wished our next stop might include finding the owner of the eyes from my dreams, but I also knew better than to expect a miracle like that. The fact that I was still alive was miracle enough. Expecting another was just greedy.

  My distracted thoughts abruptly went silent as I heard a noise.

  Crunch.

  I whirled in the saddle, eyes scanning, but the sound had already stopped.

  Probably a raccoon or some animal, I told myself.

  Crunch.

  When it came again, I knew it wasn’t a forest animal. Not with the way my heart was pounding and my skin was crawling. I’d only ever had this reaction once before, and I’d hoped to never have it again.

  I straightened, mentally urging Nightingale to turn sharply so we could cut back to the canyon. My sweaty palms slipped over the reins as I debated the wisdom of making a run for it.

  Crunch.

  Out of the corner of my eye, something moved.

  I turned and spotted a dark figure among the trees. Nothing more than a scrap of black, but my throat closed and any hope of a scream was silenced as my entire body went unresponsive.

  Crunch.

  The noise came again and this time I watched as the figure came closer.

  I was completely frozen now and trying hard not to panic. It could have just been some small game hunter out late, I reasoned. But we were miles from anywhere a human would be, especially at night. It was the reason Peter had chosen this place to begin with.

  With a shaking hand, I patted Nightingale reassuringly. Easy girl. It’s probably just a hiker. Keep going toward the canyon but walk at an angle so we don’t have our backs to it. One step at a time. Slowly.

  While I talked her through it, my mental voice way too high-pitched to be anything but terrified, I watched the figure through the trees. We’d only gone a few paces before the figure began to move toward us.

  The farther we went, the faster it came.

  It broke through the trees obscuring my view. It took only a second for my eyes to focus on the shape and make it out. When I did, my breath caught, and I nearly choked on the fear that lodged in my throat.

  I was so effing screwed.

  Larger than any man, with robes swishing along the ground, a Shadow emerged, a layer of pine needles kicking up in his wake. His face was obscured by darkness, and it wasn’t just the lack of moonlight hiding his features. It was as if…there were no features to see.

  His face was a void. The closer he got, the more I sensed an even larger void straining to latch itself to me.

  Finally, I found my voice.

  My scream startled Nightingale, and she bucked hard, tossing me off her back before she galloped away. I could read her fear almost as loudly as my own as she zig-zagged wildly through the trees and then disappeared safely into the canyon beyond.

  Shit.

  I rolled over and sat up, brushing my hair from my face in time to see the Shadow looming over me. It was enormous, blotting out everything else as it peered down at me.

  The edges of its robe curled around where its feet should have been, and I wondered if it even had legs or if those were missing just like its face was. I looked up into the blank darkness where eyes belonged and blinked as two dark orbs appeared, latching onto mine with a force that made me want to cry.

  Reflexively, my light sprang to life from the center of my chest. The glow lit the air around me, and the Shadow shrank back before leaning in again, its eyes wide.

  “You…are…her,” it whispered.

  I shoved my light out brighter but whatever distaste it had shown before was gone now. It didn’t even flinch.

  “I’m—” It didn’t matter who I was now. I knew that as certain as I knew it was going to kill me no matter what I said.

  “Master will be pleased.” The Shadow extended a robe-clad arm and a gnarled finger emerged—aimed at me.

  I gasped as the pain hit.

  My glow faltered, blinking off then on again like one of those bug zappers when its victim got too close. I scrambled backward, trying to escape the pressure that built around my heart, but there was nowhere to go. The pain in my chest intensified until it was more than anything I’d
ever experienced in any training session.

  I shoved against it with my light, willing the heat to zap him like his dark energy was doing to me. But it wasn’t enough.

  He had me.

  Sweat coated my skin, and I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming.

  Maybe I’d die out here, but I damn sure wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of watching me break before I went.

  Black dots danced in front of my eyes. I could feel consciousness slipping as the pain blotted out everything else. The darkness inched closer and part of me wanted to let it have me. Anything to end the agony inside my chest.

  Through the haze, something else moved among the trees.

  I tried to follow it, to focus, maybe even to warn whoever it was—but I couldn’t find the energy to call out. Not with this crushing weight on my chest. All I could do was hold on, shoving my light out hard against the force of the Shadow’s power. And maybe that would be enough to allow whoever was there to get away.

  But instead of running in the other direction, the figure came closer.

  I bit my lip until I tasted blood, hoping like hell it wasn’t another one of these monsters. No way could I hold out against two of them.

  I blinked through the tears streaming down my cheeks and caught sight of the figure inching closer.

  Not a person.

  Not a Shadow.

  What in the actual hell?

  A pair of orange eyes glowed from just outside the beam of light I’d cast from my chest. They were set just above a long snout that pulled back to reveal gleaming teeth. I could only stare in amazement as the biggest wolf I’d ever seen snuck up behind where the Shadow still loomed over me.

  The wolf’s eyes met mine. It dipped its head in what felt a lot like a knowing nod. A signal to hang on and stay out of the way.

  You didn’t have to tell me twice.

  Then those sharp teeth flashed and four powerful legs sprang as the wolf launched itself through the air. Its enormous paws grabbed the Shadow around his shoulders in a sort of bear hug and knocked him to the ground.

  I scrambled sideways just in time to avoid being trampled as the two of them went down. The Shadow grunted and when the wolf climbed away, long claws had ripped holes in the robe, revealing mangled flesh now leaking with thick, dark liquid where the wolf had torn him open.

  The wolf didn’t stop there.

  The Shadow screamed as the wolf’s teeth closed over his throat, ripping away fabric and flesh as it pulled violently on its prey. I felt my stomach roll at the sight of the hole left behind. A second later, the Shadow’s scream abruptly cut off as the vocal cords were ripped away too.

  The wolf stepped back, its large head turning toward me. Orange eyes locked with mine, and I stared in horror at the blood still dripping from its jowls.

  The wolf blinked then looked down almost sheepishly at its own mess. “Goshiadawelshep,” it said.

  My jaw fell open, but no sound emerged as the air whooshed out of me and my light blinked out. The wolf had talked? I had no idea what language it had just spoken, but the fact remained that words had just come out of the mouth of a wild wolf way too big to be real. Or real in this world, anyway.

  Panic took over then. Shock and nausea ripped through me, and I got to my hands and knees just in time to vomit the contents of my stomach onto the ground below.

  The wolf made a noise of concern, and I felt it press closer to me.

  I shot to my feet, backing away from the dead Shadow and the murdering wolf. I haphazardly swiped the back of my hand over my mouth. Apparently, even with the threat of having my throat ripped out, I still cared about whether or not my face was clean.

  My priorities needed work.

  Stumbling a bit, I managed to re-ignite my glow. It was dimmer than usual, but I decided any light at all was a win right now. Several yards stood between the wolf and me. Even from here, the wolf was massive. I could see the muscles in its shoulders move and ripple as it took a step toward me and growled.

  “Stay back,” I warned, hoping my tone was enough to convey my meaning. But the wolf only growled harder and kept coming.

  I took a step backward and bumped into something that felt a lot more like another Shadow than another wolf. Jumping away, I let out a sharp scream as I caught sight of a robed figure looming nearly within reach of me.

  Had the wolf been trying to warn me?

  Just like before, the Shadow raised a gnarled finger and pointed it at me and the pain began. I steeled myself against it, gritting my teeth as I shoved against the power attempting to drain me. My chest ached but this time, I held my own, sweating through the effort of keeping his disgusting darkness from creeping inside me.

  Out of the corner of my eye, something moved. I assumed the wolf had circled around to come at the monster from behind and told myself to just hang on a bit longer. Then I braced myself to watch as a second throat was ripped out right before my eyes.

  But the wolf didn’t strike.

  Instead, a lightning bolt flashed and a power surge blanketed the woods around me, sending me stumbling backward. It was a power nearly identical to my own—except that it had actually been strong enough to affect the monster.

  What the hell…

  The Shadow groaned, its back arching as a beam of light pierced straight through his back and out the front of his chest. It was sharp and narrow like a sword and the Shadow lurched as if the thing had been run right through with a blade. The light withdrew, and the Shadow crumpled to the ground where it lay still.

  I looked up, half-expecting Peter since he was the only one I knew who even had a chance of demonstrating that kind of power.

  But it wasn’t Peter.

  It was a stranger. A guy, maybe a couple of years older than me, with broad shoulders and big muscles that seemed contained only because of the fitted shirt he wore. He was breathing heavily thanks to the fact that he’d just taken out a Shadow with nothing but his magic, and his chest was glowing hot and bright with a light I’d never seen come from anyone but Peter and me.

  I dragged my eyes from the delicious outline of his muscled torso and up to his face, another feature that wasn’t bad to look at. Not only was he a glow like me, he was smoking hot. But my elation sank immediately. There was nothing inviting or even friendly about his expression. Dark eyes held a deep well of some emotion I couldn’t name. The lighting was wrong for me to see what color they were, but that didn’t matter. The expression he wore made it clear he didn’t want me looking at him too closely. Or at all.

  Clearly, he wasn’t a Shadow, but from the look he wore, I wasn’t convinced that made him a friend either.

  Without warning, his light suddenly blinked out, leaving only mine to illuminate the space between us. His expression shifted to disbelief and in the space of a blink, a thousand emotions flitted across his face.

  “It’s you,” he breathed in a deep voice that made me willing to be whoever he was hoping.

  “And you are?” I managed to ask.

  At that, his brows knitted in clear confusion.

  Then he blinked, his features hardened, and he turned away, bending down to check the Shadow for a pulse. I shuddered at the idea of touching the disgusting flesh of the monster at my feet, but the stranger didn’t seem fazed by it in the least. Like he did this sort of thing all the time.

  I caught sight of the trio of knives clipped onto his belt and realized he probably actually did find himself checking for pulses pretty frequently.

  “You should turn off your light. It’ll only draw more of them,” he said to me as he rose to his feet again.

  My eyes widened at that, but I did as he said—too shocked to do anything else. My light went out, plunging us all into darkness. Then I remembered the wolf behind me. I scrambled back a few more steps so I could see them both and frantically tried to figure out my best move.

  I knew these two had just saved my life, which probably meant they didn’t want to kill me. Hell, this angr
y guy was probably even Zorovian judging by the lightning bolt sword he’d thrown from his chest. I wanted to be excited about the possibility that there were others like me who had survived the invasion.

  But still, Peter had made it clear the galaxy was different now. Full of spies and those willing to do anything to earn a bounty—including the one on my head. If that’s what they were here for, my chances probably weren’t good. Giant killer wolf. Hot guy with a giant attitude and muscles to match. Little old me. I wasn’t going to assume anything.

  “Look, I appreciate what you did but I think I should get home now. So, have a good night. Uh, bye.” I backed away a couple of steps, waiting to see if they’d follow or try to stop me.

  “Why is she acting like this?” the angry guy asked the wolf.

  The wolf didn’t answer which made me wonder if I’d imagined the whole talking thing before. But from the way he watched me, I got the feeling he wanted to see how this played out between me and Broody over there.

  “She’s all over the place not to mention the way she just stood there when those assholes attacked her. And she’s acting like she doesn’t recognize us,” the guy added as I continued to shuffle backwards.

  “Hey. I’m right here, you know,” I said, irritation overriding the fear as I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “Only because Eamon and I saved your ass,” he shot back. “And I’m still confused why you couldn’t do it yourself.”

  I stopped backing up. “Wait. Who is Eamon?” I asked, trying to make sense of what he was saying. All of it was confusing as hell. Why was he talking like he knew me? More importantly, he was talking like I should know him.

  “That’s Eamon.” The guy pointed at the wolf, looking back at me like I was an idiot for not knowing the answer.

  “Fine. Whatever. And who the hell are you?” I demanded.