Lachlan closes the door.
The van disappears down the road.
And the sun sets on another dark day.
?
Kade has never felt so lost.
He’s always known the way, the path,North.
The tattoo on his wrist meant home, safety, Iron Star.
Now he doesn’t know what it means.Maybe Lachlan’s right and there was once somethingelsethere.A moon, not a star.With the book in hand, he trudges back to the Tower through the surrounding woods.This path leads to Riley, back to some semblance of normality.
In time, Kade could shrug this off, let distance and disconnect blunt the edges of this encounter, like wave-kissed sea glass worn over time until it’s vague enough that he could call it whatever he wants, lock it up in a box forever.In time, he could dismiss what he saw, heard andfelt.
But he doesn’t want to.
He wants Lachlan to come back and keep telling him things because it hurts when he does but it fills a space inside Kade he never knew was there.Lachlan fills him with strange pieces of disjointed information that sink in and settle, make a home unexpectedly and Kade thinks he was starting to know himself better than he ever has.
Sullen, he walks without needing to look up, would know how to get to the Tower from anywhere, which is why he doesn’t see her until she speaks.
‘Hello, Jules.’
Kade stops dead and zeroes in on the new voice.
A woman slightly taller than Lee leans up against a large oak tree cast almost entirely in shadow.He’s not sure he’d have seen her even if he was looking, only sees her now because she’s moving.
The moon above is creeping towards full, so when she steps out from beneath the oak, Kade can make out a few details, like waist length jet black hair, wavy with small braids interspersed, pale skin not unlike the milky orb above.Her skirt is long and flowy, dressed in shades of dark grey and bronze.
Around her neck sits a chain with a small, glinting green gem.
‘Blaire?’he guesses.
‘How you’ve grown,’ she observes, her accent faintly French, gaze moving over him from head to toe.‘Boys don’t typically get taller past twenty, but I see that you’re the exception.No surprise, you always were.’
‘If you’re looking for my boss—’
‘I am not.’
Kade waits but she says nothing.
His instincts are coiling tight.
‘What do you want then?’Her eyes drop to the book.‘I can’t give you this.’
‘It’s not yours, darling.’
‘Don’t call me that.I don’t know you.’
‘I would like the book back, please.’
‘Lachlan gave it to me.’
‘It was not his to give.’
‘It’sLee’sbook, and she wants it back.’
