The Darkest Star (Origin 1)

“Your father died because of them.” April’s voice was low and urgent, as if I had no idea that had occurred. “You can’t be okay with them living next to you or going to school with us.”

“I can’t believe you just brought up her dad.” Zoe grabbed the edges of her tray, and for a second I thought she might smack April on the head with it. “You know, you’re like a test run at having a child who disappoints you on the regular.”

April’s expression was the definition of unrepentant.

“None of this has anything to do with what happened to my dad.” I drew in a shallow breath. “And yeah, some of them are scary, but—”

“But what?” Zoe asked quietly, her gaze latched on to mine.

I shoved my hand through my hair and then lifted a shoulder. My tongue tied up. I struggled to get out the words I wanted to say. I didn’t know how to feel about the Luxen, especially after everything Mom had told me. No matter what my dad did or didn’t do, he died fighting them. And no matter if some of them had been on Team Human for years, they still scared me. What human in their right mind wouldn’t be scared of them?

I just didn’t know.

And I also didn’t know if that was, in fact, worse than having an opinion.

April shrugged as she scooped up a forkful of spaghetti. “Maybe this discussion is pointless. Maybe none of it will matter.”

I looked at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

A small twist of a smile curled her lips. “I don’t know. Maybe they’ll smarten up and decide there’s another planet out there more . . . accommodating to them.”11

Zoe waited for me by my locker at the end of the day as I switched out my books, grabbing my bio textbook so I could prepare for an exam tomorrow.

“Are you heading home?” she asked, resting her head against the locker next to mine.

“I should.” I grinned when Zoe lifted her brows. “But it’s so nice outside and I was thinking about heading out to the park.”

“Taking pictures?”

I nodded. The weather was perfect for taking photos, cooling down so the leaves were changing colors. Impromptu photo sessions were why I always kept my Nikon with me from the moment Mom had surprised me with it last Christmas. “Mom didn’t say I was grounded.”

“Sure,” Zoe drew the word out. “Good luck with that.”

I closed the locker door and then hitched my bag up on my shoulder. “What are you up to?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Need to study, but I’m probably going to just sit on the couch and marathon old episodes of Family Guy.”

I laughed as we headed down the hall toward the parking lot. Zoe’s parents, both of them, had died before the invasion in some kind of freak plane accident, so she had been shipped off to live with her uncle, who was never home. I only saw him once from a distance. They used to live closer to DC, but had ended up here after everything.

“So, I only heard bits and pieces about your trip with Heidi to that club.” Zoe caught the door, holding it open as we stepped out into the bright afternoon sun. “She was telling me it got raided while you guys were there?”

I pulled my sunglasses out of my bag and slid them on as we followed the mass of people going toward the parking lot. “Yeah, it was wild. I’ve never seen anything like that. At all.”

“There’s a reason why Heidi didn’t ask me to go with you guys. I would’ve told her no.”

“I couldn’t tell her no. She’s been going there by herself for a while now, and I just wanted to, you know, for her not to be alone.” I stepped around a couple who looked seconds away from either making out or screaming at each other. “I didn’t even get a chance to meet Emery.”

Zoe was quiet for a moment and then she nudged me with her elbow. “So I heard there was this guy there. . . .”

Groaning, I rolled my eyes as we climbed the small hill. What did Heidi not tell her? “There was a Luxen guy there who was a complete ass. Is that who you’re talking about?”

“That’s the guy who showed up at your house?” When I nodded, she let out a low whistle. “I bet your mom freaked.”

“You have no idea,” I muttered dryly. Out of all my friends, Zoe was the most . . . logical one, the calmest one. There was very little we kept from each other, so keeping everything from her felt wrong.

Honestly, she should’ve been at the club Friday night. She would’ve made sure I didn’t end up in that hidey-hole with Luc. “So, I didn’t tell anyone else this, but when he showed up at my house, Mom pulled a gun on him.”