He’s been watching too many news channels, I thought.
“What’s the second thing you wanted to tell us?” Raiya asked.
“The vortex has disappeared from my radiation maps,” Logan said.
Raiya, Elysian, and I all exchanged knowing glances. That was because Draco had used the vortex for its purpose—to forge the meteorite into a sword of his own.
“But I have picked up on some traces of the radiation signature,” he added.
“Can you bring it up on the screen?” Raiya asked, stepping forward. She took his bag and his book as he obliged her.
Logan keyed in a few words and seconds later, he pulled up the picture of the city maps. There were dots and shapes and colors all swirling around, like a weather map mixed in with tie-dye.
“Here,” he said, gesturing toward several lines slivering their way around the northern part of the city. “The blue lines here are similar radiation patterns to those of the meteorite,” he said. “It’s a bit different from before, and it’s more faded. I didn’t see it the first couple of times I looked at it.”
I squinted my eyes, looking toward the lines. “It’s running through Rosemont’s old site,” I said.
“And the hospital, and the Time Tower, and the marina,” Elysian added.
“And Rachel’s,” Raiya whispered.
As I silently vowed to protect my coffee kingdom, I glanced over at Logan. “What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I know that the meteorite has disappeared, and by all indications it’s either been destroyed or it’s out of the city limits. Or out of the reach of our tracking satellites.”
“Thank you for showing us,” Raiya said. Her tone was gracious and her eyes were kind, but I could tell she was worried.
“I don’t know if it will help you,” Logan said. “But now that my research has been tanked, it’s back to observation for now.”
“It might help us,” I said, “but I’m not entirely sure how at the moment.”
“It might help if you had a degree in astrophysics and aeronautics,” Elysian said.
Stop being unhelpful! I wanted to scream at him. He’d already cost me quite a bit that night—stolen moments of sweetness with Raiya and a tolerable span of time to discuss things with Dante. I didn’t need him bruising my ego or stoking my temper.
Logan didn’t seem to notice my irritation, but kept walking us through charts and facts and figures. Soon, I began to feel like I was in one of Mr. Hale’s science courses, my body stuck in one place, and my mind adrift in a sea of numbers and symbols.
“Thanks for all your help, Logan,” I heard Raiya say. “I think that’s all we can handle for tonight, but it’s given us a good place to start.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Logan said. “I know you can’t tell me everything that’s going on, but I know that you’re the good guys. I’m happy to help.”
“We’re more than grateful,” I assured him.
I was telling the truth. As Logan sat down with his book and his doggie bag once more, and Elysian, Raiya, and I all headed out of the building, I couldn’t help but feel like Draco’s days were numbered.
“That was interesting,” Raiya said. “And disturbing.”
“It was all good information.” I reached over and knocked Elysian on the head. “We probably could’ve gotten more information out of Dante if you hadn’t started arguing with me.”
“I didn’t start the argument,” Elysian grumbled. “I said something and then you started arguing with me. I’d say it’s more your fault than mine.”
“As usual!” I shook my head. “That’s what you always do.”
“I’m not the only one who’s doing just what he always does,” Elysian shot back. “You’re no different!”
“How?” I asked.
“You’re back to planning out your life and just dragging people along,” Elysian said to me in an accusing tone.
“I have to drag you along sometimes!” I threw up my hands. “Do you know how awful it is, trying to get Starry Knight to actually live?”
“Excuse me?” Raiya interrupted. “I’m doing just fine on my own!”
“No you’re not,” I said. “I practically had to twist your arm about prom.”
“So I don’t want to ‘live’ unless I want to go to prom?”
“Yeah,” Elysian joined in. “Where you can parade her in front of your friends as proof that your life is better than theirs?”
“What are you talking about?” I hissed at him. I turned back to Raiya. “Come on, prom is practically right up there with getting your driver’s license. It’s part of growing up.”
“That’s the difference between us,” Raiya retorted. “I already have grown up—and I didn’t need to go to prom to do it!”
She turned away from me and took off before I could stop her.
I whirled around, glaring at Elysian. “You didn’t have to make me fight with her.”
“I didn’t make you do anything,” he said. “You did all the talking.”
I clenched my fists angrily. “You’re just terrible!”
“So what?” Elysian asked. “You still have a problem.”
“I’ll say! I’m looking at it.”
“You know, even if we are terrible, flawed beings,” Elysian said, “that doesn’t mean that we are incapable of getting things right. It doesn’t mean we will do the right thing. It means we know what’s right and want you to be better.”
“That’s stupid,” I said. “Clean up your own act first.”
“I will!” Elysian assured me. “And you will not like it when I do.”
“You must’ve been hanging out with Aleia more than I thought if you’re going to hurl cryptic remarks,” I yelled at him.
Seconds later, he huffed loudly, sending a stream of smoke out of his nostrils, and then he flew away.
☼11☼
Prom
I went home after fighting with Elysian and Raiya. It was easier to fight against them and feel like I was the winner; fighting against myself meant that I always lost, even when I won.
It was becoming more of an issue the longer I knew both of them.
Of course, I still loved myself more. I’d known myself longer.
Or had I? I mean, less than two years ago, I didn’t know I had any supernatural powers (other than getting good grades and making it look easy at the same time.)
Maybe that was what drove me from my dreaming, leaving me largely sleepless, making me even more restless and on edge than usual.
It was a good thing I was talented; the last days of the week were tense. Raiya didn’t talk to me much at all, and Elysian only seemed to sniffle at me.
I was giving them room, and I assumed they were giving me room, too—room to fume, more than anything else. Room to worry, the rest of it.
One of the things I decided not to worry about was SWORD. I would get to that later, if I worried about it at all. Even if Raiya had her reservations, I thought they were basically allies now, and that was all that mattered. We still had some philosophical differences as far as I could see, but there was nothing preventing me from dealing with them after we took care of Draco. If I had to take care of them at all. Dante had said they had a few more assignments, and then they would be stepping out.
No, I was more worried about other things.
Friday was a half-day at school, as it was prom night. The school was decorated and the students were all cheerful, myself included. Poncey was practically prancing around, while Jason was cheering about finally finding a date. I was happy to hear my friends were coming—even Simeon was coming, though he was bringing someone I didn’t know as his date.
Mikey was the only one of us who was rather reserved. But he had other problems to worry about. Since he’d fallen behind in his schoolwork, he wasn’t able to go to the prom.
But I wasn’t worried about him, either. Not really, anyway. I was more worried that Raiya was going to b
ack out of our agreement.
I hadn’t been that nice to her, I supposed. She was already not excited about going to prom; I didn’t need my emotion-reading skills to know that. The fact I’d hurt her didn’t seem to help.
So after school, and the obligatory shout-outs to my friends and discussions with others who wanted nothing more than to be my friends, I headed over to see her.
“Hamilton.” Rachel greeted me with her usual warmth. “How are you today?”
There was no hint to suggest anything was wrong.
I cheered instantly. “Hi, Rachel.” I walked over to the counter where she was cleaning. “Raiya getting ready for the prom?”
“Prom?” Rachel frowned. “That’s tonight?”
“Yes. Didn’t I tell you about it?”
She laughed at my frightened confusion. “Just teasing,” she said. “But no, Raiya had her GED this morning. She’ll be finished with it in another hour.”
Shame sank into me. I’d forgotten about her test!
“I forgot,” I said, half in disbelief and half in annoyance.
At least nothing happened while she was taking her test, I thought.
“I think she did, too,” Rachel admitted. “I came in early this morning so she could go. She was running behind schedule. She seemed distracted.” Rachel gave me a teasing glance. “She seems to be distracted a lot when you come around now.”
I grinned, despite feeling bad about forgetting her.
“You really do love her, don’t you?” Rachel asked.
“Of course,” I said. “Even if I forget about her tests.”
“Good.” Rachel handed me my cup. “There’s nothing like love to add magic to a special night like this. Go home and get ready for tonight. By the time you’re ready, she’ll be ready, too.”
I agreed. I left, feeling better knowing Raiya wasn’t going to leave me hanging. Rachel would see to that.
For all of Rachel’s more annoying fluffy true love stuff, I was glad she was like that—and not just because it meant I could count on her to help me in certain instances like this one.
As I changed my clothes and showered, I got a voicemail from Cheryl, who, even though she wasn’t working, was held up at a meeting with a potential investor for her firm.
I suppose many parents take pictures and gush over their kids at prom, but I didn’t have to deal with that. Adam was the only one who seemed excited for me; he took pretend pictures of me as I came down into the living room with his toy camera, while Mark dozed in the armchair. Even Elysian seemed to be missing, but considering his fondness for sweets and his concern over Draco, I had a few ideas of where he was.
“Boy.”
I turned to see Ayako poking her head out from the kitchen. She had a real camera in her hand. “Let me take picture for you.”
“Alright.”
A few pictures later, she slipped me a nice surprise: A corsage. “For your lady,” she said with a kind smile.
I regretted, for a teeny tiny moment, that I’d been so harsh on Ayako’s cooking. Just because she didn’t make food I liked didn’t mean she wasn’t a nice person. Maybe that was true of the others, too, and I’d just been unable, or unwilling, to see it.
The corsage in itself was pretty; there was a large white bloom, surrounded by small pink blossoms, with a nice arrangement of baby’s breath and small decorative inserts.
I didn’t know the names of the flowers, nor did I care much.
“Thank you,” I told the kind cook, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Oh, sweet boy,” she said with a small chuckle. “Go have fun.”
I didn’t need any more prompting. I hurried outside, surprised to find Elysian, clearly waiting for me. I didn’t know if it was the weather or his presence, but all of a sudden there seemed to be a chill in the air.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Starry Knight asked me to come and get you,” he said.
“I didn’t feel anything,” I said, glancing down the mark on my wrist. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” he said. “She’s getting ready for prom, and I was bothering her, so she sent me on this errand to get rid of me.”
I laughed. “She’s smart.”
“She also figured this would give you a chance to apologize to me,” Elysian said.
I stopped laughing. “She’s diabolical,” I muttered.
“So I guess that’s a no-go on the apology?”
“What do I have to apologize for?”
“For your general selfishness, maybe?” Elysian shrugged. “At this point, the list is so long I don’t think I could read through it all.”
“If you’re supposed to take me over to Raiya’s,” I said, my tone low and dangerous, “you’d better stop talking.”
“You don’t make it easy,” he snapped. “Your life is always just one long to-do list, and you act like we’re pitted against you when we don’t think a certain way or fall into line behind your expectations.”
“My expectations are reasonable,” I argued, starting to walk down the road, out of the subdivision and toward the coffeehouse café.
“Your arrogance is not,” Elysian muttered behind me.
“What about your arrogance?” I said. “You’re the one who’s judging me.”
“I’ve seen the kind of behavior you have before,” Elysian reminded me. “Draco was just like you, even before he chose to rebel along with Alküzor and the others.”
“I’m not like him.”
“Yes, you are.” Elysian pushed back. “You’re all about yourself, and you don’t mind running the people who care about you over if it means you get your way.”
He scurried ahead of me, and we dropped the subject along with the conversation.
I rebelled against his reasoning, but I had to wonder at him. Did Elysian just admit he cared about me?
Despite my anger over Elysian’s accusations, I made a promise to myself to be nicer to him. I didn’t want to apologize—seriously, the end of the world would happen before I willingly apologized to him first—but I could forgive him for being a jerk about things.
After all, I thought, Draco’s betrayal had to have hit him hard. While Elysian and I weren’t brothers, we were brothers in arms, and we had a mission to face together. He could have easily been hesitant to trust me because of the past.
It didn’t excuse his behavior, but it explained it better.
I forgot about Draco and Elysian as we arrived at Rachel’s. The corsage was in my hand, and I was surprised to feel a bit nervous.
Rachel waved to me from the back as we walked in. “Hey!” she called. “Raiya’s upstairs.”
“Thanks,” I called back.
I turned to Elysian. “Stay down here, out of sight,” I said. “I’m going to go get Raiya.”
“Fine. Hurry up. I’m hungry,” he muttered.
“Don’t you mean, ‘take your time,’ then?” I asked. “Raiya already told me she puts whatever you eat on my tab.”
Elysian thought this over for a moment. “Good point,” he finally said, and then he slithered out of sight, already changing into a chameleon-like form as he headed toward the kitchen.
I let him go and allowed my nerves to resume their persistent hum. My nerves doubled the instant I walked up to Raiya’s room and saw her.
She was wearing the dress she’d worn for Rachel’s wedding. I recognized it instantly, and not just because of what it looked like; I felt the same rush of reaction, the same admiration I felt for her last summer. Of course, this time it was much more potent, because I let myself admit I was attracted to her.
Her hair was pulled back in a half-bun, no doubt a nod to her Starry Knight persona. There was even a line of small flowers in her hair where the wings on her head normally sat.
As I caught her eye, she winked at me.
I stood up straighter and made sure my mouth hadn’t dropped open in shock.
She came up to me and slid her arm t
hrough mine. “Rachel wants to get some pictures,” she warned me.
I pretended to groan. “We have a long night ahead of us, then.”
“You could end it right now,” Raiya offered. “It would spare me a lot of embarrassment in front of your friends.”
“You’re the one who told me everything was going to be alright,” I reminded her. I showed her the corsage Ayako had given to me. “You’re going to have to prove to me you know it this time.”
I pinned it to her dress, careful not to poke her, and stepped back. “There,” I said, leaning forward to give her a kiss on the cheek. “You’re mine.”
As she blushed, I felt the desire behind her eyes as she looked back at me. No amount of Starlight defender training in the world could’ve prepared me to resist her silent plea.
The instant I allowed myself to lean in and kiss her, I felt the rest of my resistance disappear. My hands were suddenly tangled in her hair, my mouth fused to hers, and her body pressed against mine.
She welcomed me, her hands running down my back as she tried to pull me closer. We stumbled against each other, and I barely managed to catch us against the wall. I was too intoxicated at the taste of her, the feel of her, the heat between us—all of it overwhelmed me, and I was unable to do anything more. Everything washed over me, leaving nothing behind. Nothing but her.
“Hamilton,” she whispered as she began to push me away. “We’re going to be late.”
“It’s okay,” I insisted.
“But—”
“Please,” I begged. “Please, just let me kiss you for a bit longer.”
We’d had this discussion before, several times. I knew she was hesitant when it came to passion, and I knew she had good reason to be—she hadn’t been thinking clearly when Orpheus tricked her into going supernova on the other side of Time, and the possibility of losing me again terrified her.
So when she relaxed and gave me a tremulous smile, I felt the weight of her trust and the burden of her hope as they broke through my yearning.
“Okay,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss me again. “But Rachel still wants pictures. We can’t be too much longer, or she’ll come looking for us.”