He cups my face, kisses my cheeks. “I’m sorry, was it—?”
“Don’t apologize,” I laugh. “I mean, I’m not going to do that every time but—”
Sam laughs too and wipes my lower lip with his thumb. “Nova,” he whispers, then he smiles. “Little Star? Isn’t that what the guys call you?”
Hearing my nickname on Sam’s lips is a whole new level of dreamy.
“That’s not enough,” he says, shaking his head. “You’re too bright, too strong, too fiery to be a Little Star.” He kisses me again then pulls me into his arms. “You’re everything.” He holds me tight. “You’re the sun.”
3
KOLE
As soon as we reach the outskirts of town, it’s obvious something is different here. Something washes over me. Darkness. It settles in my limbs and makes me feel ice cold. Tanner feels it too; his face is pale and he’s rubbing his temples.
“Whatisthat?” he asks, keeping to the shadows as we inch closer to the town sign.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s bad news.” I glance at the sign.Phoenix Falls—Where Ashes Turn to Light.It’s swaying gently even though there’s no breeze.
“Straight to Rev’s?” Tanner asks.
I nod, gesturing for him to follow me so that we loop round the back yards of the houses on Acacia Avenue instead of walking beneath the streetlamps.
As we draw nearer, Tanner looks longingly in the direction of the falls.
“You miss them?” I ask quietly.
He nods. “I miss the quiet,” he says. “The lake helps, but there’s something different about the falls. Something that soothes the ache, you know?”
My jaw tenses. I do know. But until Nova came along, I didn’t. The only thing that soothed my ache—the hunger in my veins and the pain in my soul—was the brief moments of relief I had with Tanner. For me, Nova is water. Her fire pummels the darkness out of me the way the falls beat Tanner’s pain from his limbs.
We’re almost in the center of town when we hear shouting. At the back ofThe Cross, we wait in the trees and watch as three earth mages spill out onto the pavement. An air witch follows them. She’s yelling, spinning a cyclone of autumn leaves into the air. It’s impossible to tell what they’re fighting about, but when roots start to protrude from the sidewalk and a tree nearby creaks angrily, I step in. Without revealing myself, I lock the roots back down, steady the tree, watch the three earth mages waver on their feet. Normally, something like this would take effort. With Nova’s blood inside me, it’s a cake walk.
As if the mist of rage has cleared, the pissed earth mages stare at one another then move off down the street with the air witch following behind.
“Who’s running the bar?” Tanner asks as we press ourselves up against the side wall.
“Don’t have time to find out.” I jerk my head across the street.Rev’s Threadsis in darkness. For now, the street is empty. We run across the cobbles and dart down the alleyway to the back of the store. Instead of knocking on the door, I take out my cell and text Rev.We’re here. K & T.There’s a moment’s silence before we hear movement inside. We wait patiently, then finally the door opens.
Rev ushers us into the darkness of the stairwell. She doesn’t speak until we’re upstairs in her sunshine yellow, dimly lit apartment. Then she pulls Tanner into a fierce hug and squeezes my hand. “You made it. You shouldn’t have come,” she says. “I’d have come to you.”
“We needed to see for ourselves,” Tanner tells her, stepping back and looking around the room. “Is Sarah here?”
Rev cants her head toward what I assume is a bedroom. “She’s sleeping. I can wake her—”
“Not yet,” I tell her, folding myself into a chair at her small round table. “First, let’s talk about what the hell’s going on around here.”
Grimacing, Rev puts the kettle on the stove, opens a cupboard, and takes out three bulbous mugs made of hammered metal. She sighs and leans back on her countertop. “Can you feel it?” she asks. “The energy?”
Tanner and I exchange a knowing look. “We felt it,” he says. “The second we entered the town.”
“It’s seeping into everything.” Rev wrings her hands together in front of her stomach. “People are fighting, stealing, fucking. More than usual, I mean.” She raises her eyebrows. “List any one of the seven deadly sins and, right now, Phoenix Falls is full to the brim with people enacting them.”
“Tanya and Jake?” I ask, annoyance gurgling in my chest at the fact two inexperienced kids are now running the town instead of Mack and Luther.
Rev shakes her head. “They were told they’d get back up from the Bureau but, honestly, I can’t figure out what’s happening. All of the S.D.B agents seem to have cleared out. Reporters too.”
“We noticed the news going quiet,” Tanner says.