Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

decided to land while she still knew she could do so without being

spotted. She started to trot toward the ferry, looking and listening

as she went. As she passed India Street, she heard the slaps and

thuds of what sounded like a massive hand-to-hand fight. Her feet

pounded against the pavement as she ran up the middle of the

road toward the sounds, already knowing where she was going,

where the Fates would have arranged this. The Nantucket

Atheneum.

Helen rounded a corner and saw that a dark pall erased the entire

end of the street. Even in a dark room it?s possible to sense

other things around you, but Creon?s shadows were so complete

they robbed Helen of more than just her vision; they uprooted her,

tilting all of her other senses off balance as well. Looking at the

thing he created, Helen understood why Creon was called a Shadow

Master. He did more than simply take away the light; he made

that same thing that lurks under the basement stairs or at the back

of the closet?that full darkness that your brain believes is stuffed

with serial killers and monsters. Helen had to swallow down a

scream just looking at it.

Somewhere inside that terrifying

black hole, she could hear

Creon and Hector hammering away at each other in a blind rage.

Helen was at a loss. She was so scared of the disorienting nothingness

that Creon had created she couldn?t force her feet to run into

it. She screamed Hector?s name and scrunched her fists up in frustration,

and as she did so her hands began to glow with the stark

blue-white glow of electricity. Then something occurred to her.

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When she was fighting for her life against Creon in her foyer, her

spark had thrown back the gloom so she could see him. Even