A Wish Upon the Stars (Tales From Verania 4)

“Why are you staring at those rocks?”

I shrugged. “They used to be mine.”

He squinted up at me. “What?”

“I collected rocks when I was a kid.”

“Why?”

“Because we were poor and there was nothing else I could get for free. And they were pretty. Sometimes.”

“You were a strange kid.”

“Right? And look at me now. Collect rocks, kids, because one day you’ll get to bone a knight and do magic and go on adventures.”

He laughed. “Maybe refine that message a little before you actually tell children that.”

I arched an eyebrow. “It’s pretty much true.”

“I think you might be a special case.”

“Heard that before.”

“Come here.”

I sighed and shoved my pack next to his. He opened his arms as I lay down, my head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close. He kissed my fake hair, and I nuzzled his fake beard. It was nice. Mostly.

“You’re still mad at me.”

He snorted. “Yeah, but I’m allowed to be. Doesn’t change the fact that I’ve always believed in you, even when I told myself I didn’t.”

“Leaving you was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

He sighed. “I know. But you did what you thought was right.”

“Was it?”

“Time will tell, Sam. But I think so. We’ll get through this. I refuse to believe that villains win in the end. They rise, but so do heroes. And we’ll fight back until we have nothing left. Because that’s who we are.”

“Fancy yourself a hero, do you?”

“I am rather dashing and immaculate, in case you didn’t know.”

“I do. Still sort of douchey, though. In case you didn’t know.”

“And in case you didn’t know, these walls are very thin and we can hear every word you’re saying,” Justin called out irritably from my parents’ old bedroom.

“It’s like they never stop,” Lady Tina moaned. “This is why I shipped Rystin.”

Ryan snorted into my hair.

He fell asleep shortly after.

I stayed awake for the longest time, watching the sunlight stretch across the wall.

NIGHT HAD fallen by the time we stepped outside the shack again. We’d all changed out of the clothes from the previous day and were wearing Dark wizard robes that the Resistance had gathered over the past few months. They were black and heavy, the material scratchy, but they were thick enough to hide weapons, and coupled with my shaping magic, we looked the part quite fiercely.

Ryan went first, making sure the street was clear before signaling the rest of us to follow. Apparently there was a curfew in effect for all residents of the slums, which meant the only people who should have been out on the streets were the Darks themselves.