The Burning Shadow (Origin 2)

His gaze shot to mine. “For what?”

“I don’t know.” I lifted a shoulder and rested my cheek on my knees. “For all of this? Because it seems easier to not have these memories.”

“No. Not at all.” Luc leaned over, bringing his face close to mine. “I cherish every single memory I have of us. Even the sad ones. I wouldn’t trade a second of them for anything, because I had my memories and you had a second chance. You lived.”

More tears clogged my throat, and I closed my eyes. “And you lost me,” I whispered. “I lost you.”

“Did we lose each other?” he asked, and then I felt his fingers on my cheeks, chasing a tear that had sneaked free. “You and I are here right now, aren’t we? Somehow, you found me, and I’m not someone who believes in happenstance. I don’t think it was a fluke that you walked into Foretoken with Heidi. I think it was something that was bound to happen and I…”

I opened my eyes, finding his. “What?”

“I was just waiting.”* * *“It really is a pet rock.” Heidi was staring at Diesel, who now rested in a nice little bed of cotton and rolled socks on top of my nightstand. “Holy crap.”

It was after school the following day, and it had been a while since the three of us just hung out. Zoe was in the computer chair I never used, toeing herself around my bedroom, and Heidi and I sprawled along my bed.

“I don’t know if that’s the strangest thing I’ve seen in a while or the most amazing thing.” Heidi’s chin was propped up on her fist, and her crimson-colored hair was pulled up in a high, messy topknot. “I think pet rocks stopped being a thing before we were born, but I think it’s the most amazing thing.”

“It is.” I smiled into my comforter. “I can’t remember the last time I laughed so loud.”

Zoe shook her head as she toed herself closer. “Part of me was hoping it was, like, a snake or something.”

My eyes widened. “I do not do scales of any sort.”

“I know. Then I could’ve had it.” She grinned at me. “By the way, did you get your Halloween costume?” she asked Heidi.

She nodded. “Sure did.”

“What are you dressing up as?” I asked.

“Rainbow Brite,” she answered, and I laughed. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?”

“Actually, I kind of already think of you as Rainbow Brite, so…” I looked over at Zoe. “What about you?”

“I think I’m going as Wonder Woman.” Her arms flopped over the sides of the chair. “Or maybe Daenerys? Not sure. You?”

“I have no idea.”

Heidi’s brows knitted. “You’re coming to Foretoken with us, right? I figured your anti-Foretoken oath has officially been broken.”

“Yeah, it has, and I’m going, but I haven’t really thought about it. I’ll figure something out. I have time.” Sitting up, I glanced at the television and saw the breaking news banner along the bottom of the screen. “Something is going on.”

Heidi followed my gaze as I leaned over her, but the remote was still too far away. “What’s going on in Kansas City?”

Zoe lifted her hand, and the remote flew from the edge of the bed to her hand. I shot her a jealous glare as she turned the volume up.

A male reporter was on the screen, his brown hair cropped close to his skull. I vaguely recognized him. “We’ve just received a statement from officials concerning the alarming activity at the apartment complex in Kansas City. Jill, can you update us?”

A dual screen appeared, revealing a dark-skinned woman in a pale pink turtleneck. She was standing across the street from a several-story, gray brick building that was cordoned off by yellow tape and partially blocked by ambulances and fire trucks. “Yes, Allan, we’ve just received word from Sergeant Kavinsky that this apartment complex on Broadway is under a complete quarantine at this time. There’s been no official statement, but we do know that the situation began last night when a coworker of one of the tenants came to the building to check on an employee of”—she glanced down at something she held in her hand, off-screen—“a local advertising and marketing firm who had missed work both Thursday and Friday and had no contact with the employers. It was this coworker who discovered several severely ill individuals inside the complex—all of whom, we are told, are now deceased.”

“Yikes,” I whispered as Heidi sat up and leaned into me.

“We have also been told that the coworker has been quarantined, as there are fears of exposure to whatever has sickened and perhaps killed the tenants of this building,” Jill continued. “This apartment complex has fifteen units, and from what we have been able to gather, all tenants in the complex are accounted for inside.” She turned her body, angling slightly toward the building. “We have also exclusively learned that one of the deceased tenants of this building, a Lesa Rodrigues, worked at a Luxen outreach facility in Kansas City. Now, we contacted this group and are currently waiting for a response, but this situation appears to be very reminiscent of the event in late September at a home outside of Boulder, Colorado, where a family of five were found dead, their bodies showing signs of a massive, destructive infection of some sort. The father of that family, a Mr. Jerome Dickinson, was a property manager at a Luxen subdivision.”