“Star?”
His eyes are closed. I press my ear to his chest.He's still breathing.
“Mackenzie!”I scream, until my throat is raw. “Mackenzie!”
My hands are shakingas we set Star down on my couch.He's conscious now, but there's a strange paleness to his face that has nothing to do with the color of the sky.
“Mason.”His fingertips brush my chin, and my stomach seizes.
“I’m going to take care of you, baby. Just hang on.”
I stand and turn to Mackenzie, who's almost as pale as Star is.Her worried eyes follow me out of the living room.“You're leaving?”
I rip open the front door. “I know someone who might be able to help.”
“To help you what?”
I glance over at Star. His eyes are closed now. “To help me send him back.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Hey, man,”Marty says as he opens the door, running his hand through his hair.He’s in a threadbare flannel and pajama pants, his feet bare. “Come on in.”
He doesn't seem at all concerned about the fact that he's only kind of dressed for guests. But that's fine. It doesn't matter.
“I remember you now,” he says, shutting the door behind me. “I couldn’t put a face to your name in the group chat. You’ve only been to a few meetings, right?”
“Uh, yeah.”
He nods. “You were vague in your texts.”
He stops in the middle of his living room and crosses his arms.I can't help but look around.I guess I half expected maps on the walls with pushpins and thread, lava lamps, alien statues.
But his house looks like a normal house, just like mine does.
“Yeah, I'm not trying to give a lot of information.At least, I didn't want to over the phone. Not to everybody.”
He narrows his eyes.“Sounds a bit suspicious, don't you think?”
I shrug. “Look, I understand if you don't want to help me, but I have someone to protect.I have to be careful. I can’t justblast my business all over a fucking group text full of people who might come knocking at my door.”
He stares at me for a moment, eyes narrowed.“Someone to protect…”
“I have to be careful about who I trust. And I don't know if I can trust you.”
“But you're here.”
“Yeah, I'm here, and I'm fucking terrified.I think this could be life or death.”
He’s quiet again, arms still crossed, and then he nods. “Okay. Then tell me what’s going on.”
He motions to his couch.It's striped and circa 1974.I take a seat and he settles into an armchair across from me. He doesn't offer any water or coffee or anything.I'm kind of happy about that.I don't think I could stomach anything at the moment.
“I went out to the waypoint, where the energy is supposed to be strongest, just to…I don’t even know…”
“See something cool?” His face is blank, his voice monotone.
“I know I sound like a fucking cliché, but...yeah. I was curious.”
