Lux (The Nocte Trilogy 3)

Dare notices my hesitation.

“Are you scared?” he whispers mockingly.

No, of course not. I shake my head. Accusing someone of being scared is the worst insult possible, I think.

He smiles again.

“Then sneak out and meet me at midnight. You know Finn will be surrounding himself with his Latin books. I know you won’t want to join that.”

No, of course I don’t. Latin annoys me, but Finn has developed a fascination for it, and spends every free second studying it.

“You know you want to,” Dare adds.

“Fine,” I agree, trying to sound grudging, but chills run up and down my arms in anticipation, because what does he want to do out there in the dark?

He’s so… rebellious. It’s hard to say.

True to my word, I sneak out of my bedroom and slip out of the house at midnight. I run as fast as I can down the paths because I swear there’s something chasing me.

Something dark,

Something scary.

But when I glance over my shoulder,

There’s never anything there.

I burst through the garden gates, and Dare is already here.

&nbs

p; He smiles, and his teeth are pearls in the night.

“Hey,” he greets me casually, like it’s not midnight and we’re not breaking rules.

“You’re not supposed to leave the house,” I remind him.

He shrugs. Because he’s Dare and he’s a rule-breaker. “So?”

It’s a challenge and I don’t address it. Mainly because I don’t have a good answer.

I don’t know why he’s not supposed to leave the house. It’s never made any sense to me. It’s not fair. But then again, Uncle Richard has never been fair to Dare.

“You and I are alike, Calla,” Dare tells me, and the night is quiet and his voice is soft. “I’m in prison here, and you’re in prison in your mind.”

“No, I’m not,” I protest stoutly. “I’m medicated. I’m fine.”

Dare shakes his head and looks away. “But you know what it feels like.”

I do. I have to admit that I do.

“No one knows what it’s like to be me,” I whisper. “Not even Finn. It’s lonely.”

“I know what it’s like,” Dare finally answers. “You’ll never have to explain it to me. You’re not alone.”

While we sit and examine the stars, our shoulders bump into each other and absorb each other’s warmth, and I think that might actually be true.

Dare and I are the same. When I’m with him, I’m not alone.