watch the two of them together. I refused to cry in front of her.
What happened after that was more incredible than anything I could have dreamed up. Discovery, betrayal, humiliation, rage, denial, shame, and wreckage.
“See what you’ve done? It’s all your fault. All of it!” Emeria screamed into my ear and tightened her grip on me. My stomach lurched and rumbled in response. I tried to expand my wings, but it was too late. Emeria was like a chain around me.
I’d wanted so badly to feel connected to my sister, but it was hard to feel connected to someone who was intent on killing you. I considered the impact of having a real blood relative, what it could mean. I just loved the name Emeria, like Emerson, only for girls. Then again, it probably wasn’t even her real name.
She embraced me, and for a moment she softened, and I thought maybe she sensed it too: that we needed one another. Maybe we could have a chance. I embraced her in return and thought I felt her soften even more. But then she paused and tightened her grip around me.
“Don’t feel sorry for me. You have no idea what you’ve signed up for. You think you’re in control and you know how this is all gonna end? Oh, it will end. Believe me, Grace. It will end.”
The venom in her words was like fire in my ears.
I felt our bodies leave the ground. Upward, colder and darker. There was only blackness when I opened my eyes. No visions, no thoughts, as if our minds had been shut down. The void startled me. She squeezed me harder and closed her wings tighter around me. Her breathing was labored.
When her grasp upon me loosened, I tried to break free, but she held on. The sound of loud flapping wings belonged to Arcturus and a boy I’d never before seen.
Arcturus grabbed Emeria, and they fought, wings flapping so hard it sounded like continuous claps of thunder. As they moved, clouds gathered and stirred around them. The boy grabbed me and lifted me back and away from them. I watched as Arcturus and Emeria fought, hand to hand, eye to eye, and mind to mind. The boy sang to me, drowning out all other sounds. It looked as if a tornado was forming in the midst of the most melodic, soft, boy choirish chanting, serving only to heighten my fear. My chest heaved as I strained against the strength of the boy holding me back.
Then, backed by a terrifying flash of light that emanated from his hand, Arcturus threw Emeria to the ground and shouted, “There will not be a next time!”
A Lie of Omission
Ever since Proseran appeared to me, it had been all I could think about. The fact that a flower had spoken to me, a weed, no less, weighed on me as much as what he’d said. I was to run away.
“Focus, Grace,” Caius ordered as I started my “running away” letter for the fifth time. Caius and Arcturus had taken to playing Paper Toss with my previous attempts. Talk about making lemonade from lemons. I wasn’t a bad writer. It was just that I knew what my running away would do to Mrs. Larson. It would be like losing Dad all over again for her. And yet, it was the only way to keep the Larsons safe. Still, an undeniable guilt gnawed at my gut. They’d been supportive and loving to Remi and me. I was going to repay that kindness with lies and deceit.
I pulled my old red messenger bag from the closet and stuffed it with underwear, socks, tights, two pairs of jeans, one skirt, three shirts, a hair brush, and a hoodie. A check of my makeup bag revealed lip gloss and my favorite butterfly and dragonfly hairclips.
Caius began removing clothes from their hangers and flinging them on the floor.
“What the heck are you doing?” Arcturus shot him a look. “It’s supposed to look like a runaway, not a break-in!”
No matter what we did to make it look real, I knew Sergeant Mullane would look for me out of obligation to Dad. Silent tears fell from my eyes as I grabbed my beat up copy of Romeo and Juliet, and next to it, Romeo and Juliet and Vampires.
Speaking of Romeo, Remi was nowhere to be found. He should have been there helping me. Instead, he had devoted his time and attention to Jenny, who was still recovering from