Beautiful Darkness (Caster Chronicles 2)

As we walked through the fair, it was hard not to notice that the rides seemed to get a little smaller and the games a little shabbier every year. A pathetic-looking clown dragged a cluster of balloons past us.

Link stopped, hitting me on the arm. “Check it out. Six o’clock. Third Degree Burns.” As far as Link was concerned, a girl couldn’t get hotter than that.

He was pointing at a blond who was headed in our direction, smiling. It was Liv.

“Link—” I tried to tell him, but he was on a mission.

“As my mom would say, the Good Lord has good taste, hallelujah amen.”

“Ethan!” She waved at us.

Link looked at me. “Are you kiddin’ me? You’ve already got Lena. That’s just wrong.”

“I don’t have Liv, and these days I don’t even know if I have Lena. Be cool.” I smiled at Liv, until I noticed she was wearing a faded Led Zeppelin T-shirt.

Link saw it at the same time I did. “The perfect girl.”

“Hey, Liv. This is Link.” I elbowed him, hoping he’d close his mouth. “Liv is Marian’s summer research assistant. She works with me at the library.” Liv held out her hand.

Link stood there gawking. “Wow.” The thing about Link was, he never embarrassed himself, just me.

“She’s an exchange student from England.”

“Holy wow.”

I looked at Liv and shrugged. “I told you.”

Link broke out his biggest smile for Liv. “Ethan didn’t tell me he was workin’ with a hot babe a cosmic proportions.”

Liv looked at me, pretending to be surprised. “You didn’t? I find that rather tragic.” She laughed and linked her arms through ours. “Come on, boys. Explain to me exactly how it is you make this strange cotton into candy.”

“I can’t give away national secrets, ma’am.”

“I can.” Link squeezed her arm with his.

“Tell me everything.”

“Tunnel of Love or the Kissing Booth?” Link grinned even wider.

Liv tilted her head. “Hmm. That’s a tough one. I’m going to go with… the Ferris Wheel.”

That’s when I caught sight of the familiar black hair and the scent of lemons and rosemary in the breeze.

Nothing else was familiar. Lena was a few yards away, standing behind the ticket booth in what had to be Ridley’s clothes. Her black tank rode up on her stomach, and her black skirt was about five inches too short. There was a long streak of blue in her hair, twisting down from where it parted around her face, and down her back. But that wasn’t what shocked me most. Lena, the girl who never put anything on her face but sunscreen, was covered in makeup. Some guys liked girls with crap all over their faces, but I wasn’t one of them. Lena’s black-rimmed eyes were especially disturbing.

Surrounded by cutoff denim and dust and straw and sweat and red and white plastic checkered tablecloths, she looked even more out of place. Her old boots were the only thing I recognized. And her charm necklace, dangling like a lifeline back to the real Lena. She wasn’t the kind of girl who wore stuff like that. At least, she didn’t used to be.

The lowlifes were checking her out, three guys deep. I had to resist the urge to punch all of them in the face.

I dropped Liv’s arm. “I’ll meet you guys over there.”

Link couldn’t believe his luck. “No problem, man.”

“We can wait,” Liv offered.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll catch up with you.” I hadn’t expected to see Lena here, and I didn’t know what to say without sounding even more whipped than Link already thought I was. As if there’s something you can say to sound cool after your girlfriend takes off with another guy.

“Ethan, I’ve been looking for you.” Lena walked toward me, and she sounded like herself, her old self—the Lena I remembered from a few months ago. The one I was desperately in love with, the one who loved me back. Even if she looked like Ridley. She stood on her tiptoes to push my hair out of my face, her fingers dragging slowly down my jawline.