by Lanie Bross
She could leave now; her task had been completed, and it was time to take the Messenger home. Ava and Owen had been brought together; they were now on the path toward their true destiny.
Not death.
Love.
Corinthe made her way up a narrow path to the road. She had a long walk back to the city, back to the Palace of Fine Arts, where she would set the firefly free, but she didn’t mind if it took all night. She didn’t tire of movement the way humans did and could walk for days and days and not feel any strain. And at least here under the stars, away from the chaos of the city, she could let her mind wander.
Fog shrouded the trees along the narrow, winding road. The air felt cooler here and settled over her skin in a fine spray. The dried husks fallen from the trees perfumed the air with a deep, earthy, menthol-like smell and crunched underneath her feet as she walked.
It should have been frightening, but Corinthe took comfort in the way the world had become muffled around her. She could almost forget where she was. The purple-tinted haze reminded her of the twilight colors of Pyralis. Of her real home.
She closed her eyes and reached out for the energy of the earth. The strong, heady scent of eucalyptus filled her lungs, but beneath the beauty, there was a harshness, a separation.
This was not her home. It could never be.
Headlights broke through the haze and rushed toward her. She stepped to the side of the road and watched the car barrel down on her. The lights grew brighter, so bright she had to shield her eyes as the car moved closer and slowed down.
In the driver’s seat sat the boy she’d seen earlier on the patio steps, the one wearing the Giants cap. The boy who’d taken her breath away.
The car stopped next to her and the driver’s-side window went down.
“You need a ride or anything?” the boy asked.
His voice was low and sort of gravelly, and it made the feeling of firefly wings in her stomach go crazy. There was an energy coming off him that made her feel curious, like the restless surge of strength she got when stitching from a storm. But she couldn’t accept his offer; the sensations inside her were too new, too confusing not to scare her. She needed to get away from everyone for a while.
“I’m fine, but thanks.”
The boy nodded, rolled up the window, and drove off, leaving Corinthe in the gloomy haze once again. Instead of making her feel better, though, the silence only amplified the anxious thoughts in her head.
The faint red glow of the car’s taillights faded around a bend in the road. Chaos swirled in Corinthe’s chest, as cold and cryptic as the fog.
Another task completed.
Another fate sealed.
She should have been relieved that it was over, but as the firefly battered her palm like a beating heart, Corinthe could feel something shifting inside her.
Things were changing. She just didn’t know what it meant yet.
What if your destiny was to kill the one you love?
If you enjoyed this special FATES story, look for Lanie Bross’s novel, FATES, in which Corinthe learns that her destiny is to kill the one she loves.
Here’s a sneak peek.
Excerpt copyright © 2014 by Lanie Bross. Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
Principal Sylvia Patterson pulled her office door shut, checked the lock, then hitched a stack of folders slightly higher in her left arm as she made her way down the empty halls of Mission High.
The school was silent except for the sound of her own breathing and the click of her heels on the polished gray linoleum. She passed darkened classrooms behind closed doors: the desks, tables, and chairs within were just vague, silhouetted forms beyond smudged glass panes. In each window she walked by, her reflection appeared distorted.
Even after nearly two decades in these halls, she always felt scared when the school was empty.
As she rounded a corner, Sylvia stopped. A trill of alarm passed through her: a figure stood just inside the double doors at the exit, partially hidden by shadows.
No one was allowed on school grounds after hours.
Sylvia dipped her right hand into her purse, closing her fingers around the can of Mace she always kept close by. “School’s closed now,” she chirped, hoping the intruder wouldn’t hear the tremor in her voice.
“Sorry.” The girl turned, her face now illuminated by the weak light flowing in from the parking lot outside.
Sylvia exhaled. “Oh, Corinthe. You startled me.” She withdrew her hand from her purse. Silly to be so jumpy. It was only the new transfer student.
Corinthe stared at her silently. She had a careless, disheveled look, despite the fact that Sylvia had been careful to emphasize the importance of one’s appearance when they’d met for the first time yesterday to fill out her transfer paperwork. Corinthe might have been a very pretty girl, with her classic, well-spaced features and her pale gray eyes. Even her clothing was neat and well put-together—at least she cared about that part of her looks. It was the hair—the wild, tangled mess of blond that hung down her back—that told a different story.
Sylvia had been a principal for ten years and had a good eye for possibility. She sensed, after knowing Corinthe barely two days, that the girl could be a real standout if she applied herself. Unfortunately, experience had taught her that the kids in her school rarely lived up to their potential. Corinthe would probably end up just another lost child who fell through the cracks. During Sylvia’s “Welcome to Mission High, Keep Your Nose Clean” speech, Corinthe had simply gazed at her, almost without breathing, her gray eyes completely flat, detached.
When children had no choices left, they all looked the same.
Corinthe shifted slightly in the doorway. “My foster mom was supposed to pick me up, but she never showed. Do you think …?” Her voice trailed off and she raised her eyes expectantly.
Those eyes.
Sylvia shuffled her stack of folders from her left arm to her right so she could check her watch. It would take exactly twenty-six minutes to get home and change before Steve rang her doorbell. She couldn’t be late for dinner, not after she’d practically begged him for another chance.
“Where do you live?”
Corinthe tilted her head slightly, like a curious bird. “It won’t be a long drive.” Corinthe spoke in a measured tone, almost like an actor reciting lines. It was a slightly strange response, Sylvia thought, but dismissed it—Corinthe was likely desperate.
“Come on, then,” Sylvia said. If they didn’t hit traffic, she would be okay.
They left through the main doors and Sylvia walked quickly down the sidewalk. She was tired. Too tired to make small talk. Already her mind was on Steve—what she would wear, what she would say, whether she had remembered to get her favorite blouse back from the dry cleaner’s.
She turned left at the end of the block and continued toward the staff lot, Corinthe’s footsteps echoing lightly behind her.
Should she wear the green blouse? Or the blue one? The green one highlighted her eyes nicely … but the blue one was more low-cut.…
“Here we are,” Sylvia said cheerfully. After ten years as a teacher and ten as an administrator, she knew how to keep up appearances, even when her thoughts were a thousand miles away. She stopped next to a small black sedan parked under a flickering streetlamp. She pulled out her keys and pressed the unlock button. A quick mechanical chirp echoed in the thick spring air. She threw her things into the back and slid into the driver’s seat, slightly startled by how quickly Corinthe appeared beside her.
The car growled to life and Sylvia maneuvered it onto the street. “So. Which way?” she asked.
Corinthe pointed. Sylvia eyed the girl, then turned, zigzagging the car right onto Church, left onto Dubcoe, right onto Castro Street, each time in response to a silent gesture from Corinthe. The pendant hanging from her rearview mirror sway
ed back and forth with each turn. Corinthe, Sylvia noticed, kept looking at it with a slightly troubled expression.
“It’s St. Jude,” Sylvia explained. “The patron saint of lost causes. Kind of a sad saint, when you think about it.” She half laughed. “Still, everyone could use a miracle, don’t you think?”
“Sure, I guess,” Corinthe said neutrally, the first words she had spoken since she’d gotten into the car. After another minute, Corinthe raised her hand as Castro merged with Divisadero. “Keep straight here, all the way toward the water.”
“You live near the Marina?” Sylvia wasn’t surprised. “How do you like it?”
“It’s okay for now.” Her voice cracked just a little as the car smoothly rounded the slight curve.
Some emotion seemed to pass over Corinthe’s face: Anxiety? Guilt? The expression was gone too quickly for Sylvia to decipher.
Suddenly, Sylvia wanted to reach out to Corinthe, to reassure her that things could be different if she only believed—if she tried. Sylvia knew that behind every student there was a story. That was why she kept doing this job day after day. There were moments—flashes, briefly held, like the light of a firefly—when she understood that this was the job she was meant for. If she could convince just one girl that her life was worth living, that she wasn’t a lost cause … that there was someone who hadn’t forgotten, who really saw her.…
“So, Corinthe,” she began. “Where did you—?”
Corinthe braced her hand on the dashboard and closed her eyes. She’d already seen it happen, knew what the outcome would be, but sitting there, waiting for the car to swerve, a tiny shiver of fear had gone up her spine.
There will be no miracles today.
The car dipped into a rut and the steering wheel jerked from Sylvia’s hands, spinning them into oncoming traffic. Horns blared, tires screeched, and for a split second everything froze.
Sylvia never even had a chance to finish her question.
Bright headlights illuminated the inside of the car and reflected off Sylvia’s terrified face; then an enormous SUV slammed into the driver’s side of the sedan. There was a loud, long howl, followed by a boom of crumpling metal. The impact sent the car spiraling wildly out of control across traffic. Corinthe threw her hands up as she was thrown forward violently. The windshield flew toward her face before her seat belt locked and she jerked back. Red-hot pain flashed through her chest.
The car glanced off a white compact that had swerved too late and finally came to rest in the opposite lane.
Then there was nothing but silence.
White powder filled the small cabin and Corinthe coughed, fighting to catch a breath. Smoke billowed from the front of the car, and the pungent aroma of burnt rubber permeated the air.
Corinthe felt a brief moment of dizziness.
Sylvia’s head was resting against the steering wheel, twisted unnaturally far to the right. A tiny trickle of blood ran down her cheek from a gash in her temple and soaked into the deflated air bag. Her eyes were open so that she stared at Corinthe, unseeing.
Corinthe felt a sudden swelling in her throat. Where had she been going? Who would mourn for her? Corinthe shook her head as though to clear away the questions. Recently, she’d been overwhelmed by doubts, by questions that swirled like heavy winds whenever she closed her eyes.
But curiosity was the reason she was here, exiled to this world, in the first place. It was not her place to ask questions.
Still, she couldn’t help reaching over to gently ease Sylvia’s eyelids closed.
Outside the car, people had begun to shout. Cars were blaring to life again, and already, Corinthe could hear the distant wail of a siren.
Inside, Corinthe waited. Then—a tiny flicker. A firefly pushed its way free of Sylvia’s hand, exactly as Corinthe had known it would. It was a Messenger. Once released, it would return to Pyralis, signifying that fate had been appeased, that order had been restored to the universe.
Corinthe gently scooped the small insect into her hand and closed her fingers around it. Relief, profound and gut-wrenching, made her limbs weak. She felt the tiny wings beat frantically against her palm, even though the firefly itself was weightless. It was like holding a tiny feather. Corinthe always worried that she would somehow harm the delicate Messenger until she could set it free near a Crossroad.
Voices rose; outside, there was an angry hiss of steam.
A blond woman in a matched jogging suit stepped out of the black SUV.
“Oh, Jesus,” she said, her voice muffled by the glass. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” The woman pressed her manicured fingers against her mouth. For a brief second, her eyes passed to Corinthe. A man ran up to the woman from the sidewalk and took her elbow when she swayed. Someone screamed and several people shouted into cell phones.
Corinthe reached to unbuckle her seat belt. A stray lock of hair fell into her eyes and she pushed it away with her free hand, only to realize that blood now coated her fingers. She froze, stared at it, unblinking.
This was not possible. She didn’t bleed.
She wasn’t like them.
Suddenly, the car door was wrenched open.
“Holy shit, are you okay?”
Huge brown eyes stared at her. She nodded, tried to move, found she was still tightly secured by the seat belt. A dark-haired boy, around her age, she guessed, ducked into the car and leaned across her chest, pushed the release, then carefully untangled her arm. Even with all the smoke and the smell of burnt rubber still choking her, Corinthe was startled by the scent of the boy: spice and citrus and something irreplaceably human. He wore jeans and a Bay Sun Breakers soccer shirt underneath an army jacket. There was something familiar about him, but if Corinthe had met him before, she couldn’t place where. He had full lips, an angular chin, and dark brown eyes that were wide with shock.
Too skinny, but cute.
Corinthe shook her head. She must have hit it during the accident: he was human, and she could hardly ever tell the difference between humans. But something about this boy seemed different.…
He started to reach behind her, to lift her out. The fog in her head cleared immediately.
“Don’t touch me,” she said.
“I’m just trying to help.” His voice was low. For a second, his tan hand skated along her shoulder, sending a chill through her. It felt like the touch of the firefly’s wings against her palm, uncomfortable but welcome at the same time. “Look—you’re bleeding. You were in an accident. Do you remember anything?”
The accident. The firefly. Corinthe slid out from the car and pushed the boy out of her way with her elbow.
“Hey!” He tried to stop her, but Corinthe shoved her way through the thick crowd of people. She clenched her fist tighter around the tiny spirit, which fluttered in her palm in protest. The wail of sirens grew louder, getting closer by the second.
She had to get away.
She ran as fast as she could. She ignored the shouts, growing fainter behind her, tried to push the feel of the boy’s touch out of her mind.
Her steps pounded on the concrete, taking her farther away from the disorder behind her. Her lungs burned, but she couldn’t stop. Not yet.
The firefly pulsed inside her closed fist.
There was still one more thing she had to do.
Lucas watched as the girl disappeared into the crowd, her shock of tangled blond hair obscured by the smoke.
For a second, he was torn. He had an instinctive desire to follow her. She had the craziest eyes he’d ever seen.… Gray, but tinged almost with purple, like the bay reflecting the sunset.
And that streak of blood across her forehead—it looked like she’d been hurt pretty bad. Poor girl. The woman in the car … he hoped it wasn’t her mom. Christ. She was probably in shock, running blind.
But she was already gone, lost in the throng of people that was swelling by the minute. Two police cars with flashing lights screeched to a stop at the intersection. Several people, Luc noticed, were fi
lming the action on their phones. Sick.
Maybe he should have tried harder to stop the girl. She might have a serious head injury. She might need help.
Luc glanced back at the wreck again, really seeing it this time. The car still hissed like an angry snake and a figure was slumped over the steering wheel. Luc’s stomach lurched. He took several deep breaths, then moved out of the way as a pair of EMTs came running past him. He wanted to walk away, but for some reason he was rooted to the spot, both terrified and transfixed.
Cop cars, sirens, accidents—they always did that to him.
In under a minute, more emergency vehicles converged, their red revolving lights casting a dim, blood-colored glow over everything. A hush fell over the crowd and Luc watched a paramedic wheel a gurney away from the car. The figure on it was covered with a white sheet.
The lights, the people in white jackets all brought back sickening memories. His chest tightened, making it hard to breathe. When he was six, he’d found his mom passed out in the kitchen and had to call 911. And just last week, it was Jasmine who’d been loaded in the back of an ambulance. She’d taken Ecstasy at a party and passed out. Thankfully, one of her friends had at least called 911. Luc didn’t even remember getting the phone call, or making the drive to the hospital, half blind with fear. It wasn’t until he’d reached the parking lot that he realized he’d left the house without any shoes.
Jasmine had recovered. Thank God. But Luc was still furious with her—for doing drugs, for going off her antidepressants without telling anyone.
Again.
Luc turned away from the accident. Blood pounded in his ears, making everything sound distorted. He worked his way out of the mass of people crowded around the wrecked car and the ambulances. The air drifting off the bay felt cool against his skin. He drove his hands deeper into the pockets of his army jacket to keep them warm.
