“How’d they react to that?”
“Dad’s furious. He pulled the, ‘while I live under his roof’ crap, so I said I’m moving out.”
“Emma—”
“Zach, I’m not breaking up with you and if that’s what I have to do to continue living there, I’m out. They think I’m choosing you over them.”
“What did you say?”
“That you’re not just some boy, you’re my life. All of a sudden, it’s like they’ve forgotten everything you’ve done for me.” I shook my head. “I can’t leave you, and I won’t.”
“But where are you going to go, Emma?”
“I was thinking of asking Galaxia if I could go up now,” I whispered, “instead of in Ott. But I’ll delay as long as I can. I told them a week.”
“I don’t want you to leave your family early because of me, Em.”
“It’s done. Unless they snap out of whatever put them in this mood, I can’t live there anymore.” I sighed, curling up against his side. “I don’t know why they’re being so stubborn. They aren’t usually so quick to doubt me.”
“Someone got to them.”
“And it was probably Keenan. Spreading lies just to try and keep us apart. I’d warn your parents.”
“And tell them what? We have a secret and Keenan’s desperate to know what it is?”
“Yes.”
****
Mom and Dad said nothing more about Zach
for the next week, and I did pack. Zach helped, when Mom and Dad weren’t home. He was still unsure about me doing this, but understood and didn’t try to change my mind.
Mom begged me to eat dinner with them Esvit, and I accepted only to stop her begging. Clara is at Chloe’s for the night, so it was just the three of us. When Clara heard what was going on, she actually raised her voice at Dad, something she has never, ever done. She said he was crazy for trying to keep me from Zach, but when he got fussy with her, she kept quiet about the whole situation. I could still see her fuming around all of us, but there wasn’t anything she could do.
“So,” said Dad, not looking up from his food. It was the first word he had said to me all day—and it was almost seven in the evening.
“So, , Dad?” I asked.
“Have you talked to Stone lately?”
“Again with the Stone,” I muttered inaudibly. “What was that?”
“Why do you ask?”
He looked at me.
“Remember what we told you.”
“I do remember. You’ve just forgotten what I told
you. We weren’t going to sleep together, and since you won’t ‘let’ me be with Zach, I’m moving out.”
Mom sighed, “Emma, please don’t—”
“You can’t keep me from him.” I shoved my chair
back from the table. “And I know you don’t like Zach right now, but you should know that only Lucas Adler calls him ‘Stone.’”
With that, I got up from the table and went upstairs, collapsing onto the couch. What the hell did Keenan say to them?
I was alone for a good two hours until Mom came up.
“Emma?” she asked.
“What?” I asked angrily.
“Don’t be mad at me, please.”
“Why shouldn’t I be? Until you walked in on Zach and I being teenagers- which we still are, in case you’ve forgotten- you’ve never had any ill will toward him.”
“You have to understand what it looked like—”
I sat up.
“And I told you that I’m wasn’t ready. I’m still not. To be perfectly honest with you, Zach will be who I first sleep with, but not any time soon.”
She sighed.
“Emma—”
“We love each other, Mom. Please understand.”
She swallowed.
“It’s just. . . before we came home, Keenan—”
“What?” I shouted, leaping to my feet. “Keenan? Seriously, Mom? You know he hates me!”
“He doesn’t hate you! He’s worried about your well-being!”
I rolled my eyes. That was the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.
“He is! Emma, Keenan told us that you and Zach have this huge secret that you won’t tell anybody. When your father and I saw you two—we suspected—”
“But you were wrong. How could you listen to Keenan over me, Mom? I’m your daughter.”
“We’re sorry, Emma. We don’t hate Zach. We realized we should never have—we’re just so worried about you. You and Zach are so close—you’re rarely ever away from each other—you could have been sleeping together.”
“But we aren’t, Mom.”
“We understand, Em. Please don’t be mad at us anymore, please. And don’t move out. You’re still our daughter.”
I sighed.
“I’ll stay.”
“Thank you.”
Mom hugged me and walked out of my room, shutting the door behind her.
I pulled out my Zevin and dialed Zach’s number.
“Hey, Em.”
“Hey. . . we were right.”
“About what?” he asked slowly.
“Keenan telling my parents that we have a secret.”
“They told you?”
“Yes, and they aren’t mad at you anymore. They just—when they were told that we have a secret and then saw us—they just assumed. But they know they’re wrong, and they’re sorry.”
“I still can’t believe Keenan tried to turn your parents against us, though. That’s really extreme, even for him.”
“I know, and that worries me. But we’re never alone, and we’re gone in two months, anyway.”
“Two months,” he sighed.
“I know. . . I’m nervous.”
“So am I.” He paused. “I love you, Em.” “I love you, too, Zach.”
A Dash of Joy, a Smidge of Panic
When I spoke with Zach’s parents about his
plans for his nineteenth birthday, they told me he hadn’t said anything. I knew why he was shying away from this birthday, but I wanted him to have this last bit of normalcy. So, with some help from his parents, I planned a small get together for him, to celebrate. His aunt and uncle came, as did a few of his friends from school I knew he still got along with.
He ended up enjoying the party, and more than once I saw joy in his eyes as he laughed. He thanked me when it was over.
My nineteenth birthday party, though, had been planned in its entirety by Jessica since we were sixteen, with adjustments made over the years. Jess, her dad, Thalia, Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Walt, and the Stones came over in the late afternoon on my birthday. It lasted a couple of hours, and while I was happy, I couldn’t get rid of the panic I kept feeling. Every single person I loved in the entire universe was here, in a confined space. It wouldn’t take much to disable the use of Magic in our house, and he knew my birthday. It wouldn’t be difficult to find me.
The party ended in the evening, leaving my parents, Clara, Jessie, Zach, and I to have tea in the living room. Dad turned on the news, and of course—of course they were talking about Lucas. . . Or, the lack of him. The news was saying what a miracle it was that he was staying off the grid, but I knew differently. He was plotting, undoubtedly against me.
My heart ached in my chest, and I vaguely heard a crack of thunder outside. . . Outside where the sky had been cloudless until my panic had gotten the best of me. Zach’s hand slipped into mine, his palm pressing against the scar.
“You’re fine. It’s okay,” Zach whispered.
I nodded, because I knew my family and Jess were watching me. I knew Zach was only telling me that I was okay to try to keep me calm, but it was too late. The storm had already hit.
The Drastic Change
Ott tenth.
No matter what we did, no matter how slowly we went about our days, we couldn’t delay any longer. There were only three days remaining until the marked date for the Crowning of the Kahi, and I wished more than anything we had a choice. We’d been
chosen as children, as infants. How could the Council possibly know we would be the sort of people we are? Zach had mentioned that, with his lineage, weren’t they essentially grasping at straws with him? I’d shut him down immediately on that one. They had not only named me Queen, they had placed the Galaxies in me. They entrusted me with everything, and while I loved the Galaxies I held, neither of us were sure we could do this.
When Galaxia appeared in my room that afternoon, three days before the Crowning, she told us that we would be taken to the Council's planet, which would be changing to our command, at five the next morning. Zach had to be in my room in time, and he told her he would be.
After Galaxia disappeared, we stood up off my couch.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” said Zach, hugging me tightly. He kissed my forehead.
“Okay,” I murmured.
Zach disappeared.
I went over to my desk and slid open a drawer, lifting everything out and placing it on my chair. Then, lifting the wood bottom, I pulled out the letters I had written months ago. I dropped the wood and fit it back into place and put everything but the letters back.
I left my room quietly and got out of the house without being caught. I only had two letters to deliver: one to Jessica and one to Thalia. I delivered Thalia’s first, slipping it into her mail box. The warning not to open it until after five-thirty tomorrow morning was written on the envelope.
Then I went three blocks over to Jessie’s house on Bridgebane Gate, slipping her letter into the mailbox at the end of the driveway. I couldn’t bear handing it to her in person, and so I left quickly, walking aimlessly. When I ended up in the Park, I sat on a bench in a quiet part of it. I wondered if Zach and I could just run, and my thoughts got locked onto that idea until my scars prickled.
I sighed, exasperated, and got to my feet, turning around. I had surprised him.
“I told you that you couldn’t sneak up on me anymore.” I crossed my arms. “They hate you, and they don’t want you anywhere near me.”
Realization filtered in his features.
“Your Galaxies, you mean?” Lucas asked with a sneer. “They’re Galaxies, Emma. They do not have feelings.”
“And yet the lightning by the Capitol seemed to send you running.”
His eyes narrowed, but then he smirked.
“You are in a mood tonight, Emma. Does it have to do with who you and Stone are?”
I frowned.
“What? A couple? Stronger than you?”
He frowned, now.
“No, I figured out that damned force. The one I first felt in your Dream-World, the one that seemed to tell you—tell both of you—that the other wasn’t dead after I escaped Bolenvare.”
I held myself together perfectly.
“And?” I prompted. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you down easy when you’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong. You and Stone are the Kahi.”
“The Kahi? You are insane, Lucas. That, or you must have hit your head exceptionally hard recently.”
“I’m not crazy, Emma, and I didn’t hit my head.” His brow creased. “You have to know.”
“I am not the Kahi, Lucas,” I denied, shaking my head.
He took a few steps closer to me and I stiffened.
“Yes, you are. You and Stone.”
“Why are you pressing this? Zach being the Kahi makes him more powerful than you, and I know you would hate that.”
“Because you know me.” I frowned at the notion of knowing him. “You’ve always told me you two were stronger than me, why are you—”
“Because I’m the Keeper,” I cut in. “Because I love Zach, and I will never let you take him from me!”
The storm clouds settled in overhead, rumbling with thunder as lightning shot across the sky. Lucas looked up at the bolts for a moment, and then his black eyes met mine.
“Let’s make a deal.”
“I don’t—”
“You leave with me now, and you quit your damned fighting. . .” He moved quickly around the bench and I shuffled back, my arms unwinding so I would be able to defend myself properly. Lucas’s next words, though, made my heart skip a beat apprehensively. “I’ll leave Stone alone. I’ll leave everyone you care for alone, but you can’t leave. Ever. My deal is you for their peace. Fair trade, don’t you think?”
All I had ever wanted was for my loved ones to be safe, which had been difficult since the second Lucas first tried to steal my Magic. Nothing I did would stop him. . . except this.
My soul got hot.
“You’re forgetting something in your deal, Lucas.”
His brow creased again.
“You’re bargaining with me?”
“There is no bargain!” I lifted my hand, and the light, the pain, flying off the moon illuminated his face. His brow creased. “Even if I was crazy enough to accept your deal, you’d end up killing me in the end. You can’t have me, and you can’t have my Galaxies!"
The next moment, I shifted my hand in and towards me, and he was gone.
****
I was still shaking when I vanished myself, back
into my room. I sat at the foot of my bed, and tucked my still-aching palms against my sides. I breathed five seconds in through my nose, and ten out through my mouth to try and be calm, but then Mom was shouting my name down the hall and racing into my room.
I pressed my hands against my bed instead, so Mom wouldn’t know something was wrong.
She waved her hand at the wall between my windows and I looked at her in confusion.
“Mom? What’s—?”
She shook her head at me, and the Channel 12 emblem appeared on my wall. The newscaster was in Farbreach, from the looks of it.
“Nash Deagan here outside the home of Lucas Adler. . .” started the reporter.
I stared at him; this couldn’t be good. . .
“Just five minutes ago, the infamous Lucas Adler’s mansion collapsed to the ground, killing everyone inside. I’m here with David Rosen, Capitol City’s Police Chief. What can you tell us, David?” asked Nash, turning to the man next to him and moving the microphone to him.
“Well, Nash, as you can see, Adler’s home is no more. We don’t know the cause of the collapse, yet, but we’re working very hard on determining it.”
“Can you tell us who was inside?”
“We’re assuming Adler and a young woman that’s always with him, Tess Wilcox. However, we haven’t found their bodies yet—”
I turned off the screen and stared at the floor.
“Emma?” asked Mom.
“I just saw him.”
“What?”
“Lucas. I just saw Lucas in the park.”
“You—you did? What did he say?”
“Nothing, really,” I fibbed.
“How’d you get him away?”
“I teleported him.”
“You did? How?”
“My Galaxies don’t like him."
Mom was quiet for a long while, before: “I—I just thought I’d let you know that you’re free.”
“Free?” I muttered the word like it was foreign.
“Adler can’t hurt you anymore.”
“Oh, that free,” I mumbled.
“What other free would I be talking about?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you okay, Em? Have you been sleeping?”
Where did that come from? I wondered.
“Yeah, I’ve been sleeping fine,” I lied. Truthfully, I hadn’t slept through the night in months. “I’m just. . . it’s a shock, that’s all. I don’t have to worry about him lurking in the shadows anymore.”
She sighed and kissed my head.
“He can’t hurt you again. I’m going to go back downstairs to finish dinner. Soup tonight.”
Mom stood up and walked to my door.
“Okay. Uh, hey, Mom?” I stopped her.
“Yeah, sweetie?” she asked, turning around.
I jumped off
my bed and ran to her. I hugged her.
“I love you, Mom. Never forget that.”
“I love you too, Em. And how could I forget that? I can see you any time I want.”
No, you can’t.
Mom smiled before leaving. I fell back onto my bed again, overly frustrated. Half an hour later, Mom Pathed me and said it was time for dinner. I said I wasn’t hungry, and that I loved her and Dad and Clara.
I twisted the lightning bolt around on the chain in a haze. Eventually, Winnie came up and lay next to me, purring. I stroked her head, finally falling asleep with her curled up against me.
“Em—Emma, wake up,” someone whispered, shaking my shoulder.
I opened my eyes wearily.
“Zach? What time is it?” I yawned.
“Four forty-five. I figured you’d be asleep, so I came early. Have you given your parents their letter yet?”
“No, I’m going to go put it on my mom’s dresser right now.”
I stood up and fetched the letter from its hiding place. We went down the hall and to the other side of the house, entering my parents’ room. I placed the letter on Mom’s dresser where she’d find it. I left without looking at them, going back into my room and willing myself to stay calm. I checked the time, and then looked at Zach.
“Let’s run. I can use the Galaxies to hide us, Zach. Let’s just run.”
He stared at me, surprised, but then Galaxia—but not quite Galaxia, more of a hologram—appeared in front of us, placed her hands on our shoulders, and we were gone.
Ours for the Taking
I opened my eyes, blinking against the haze, and
found myself in a large, cushioned bed. I stirred, and it was then I realized I was lying in Zach’s arms. My back was against him, our hands entwined.
Smiling, I curled closer to him and closed my eyes, drifting back into sleep.
When I woke up again, I rolled over to find Zach already awake.
“Hey,” I whispered.
He smiled.
“Morning.”
“How long have you been up?” I queried, resulting in a shrug from him.
“Not very long. Did you sleep okay?”
I nodded.
“Better than okay.”
He kissed my forehead and then sat up, stretching. I couldn’t help but marvel and how I could see the muscles underneath his shirt. He caught me staring.
Starlight (The Lightning Strike Trilogy Book 1) Page 18
