When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

I wish I could see my father’s face because his shoulders go rigid, but I don’t wait for anything—for words or his scorn. I leave. I promised Mom I’d be home for dinner anyway

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CHAPTER NINE – SHY & THE COUNCIL

Natalie and I spend the week searching for Vera and staking out Anora’s house only to find it more boring than patrolling Nacoma Knight. Yet, even after observing her stargaze or read a book, Natalie still thinks she’s putting on a show.

“She doesn’t want to draw attention to herself,” Natalie argues.

“You’re grasping at straws.”

“I have straws. She’s not who she says she is.”

“You can’t keep saying that without substantial evidence.”

And we have none. The Hellhounds haven’t even reappeared—something I make sure to include in my reports to Elite Cain at the end of every day.

“I have evidence.” Natalie tries to repress a smile, and I hate that she has something to be smug about. “Your girlfriend’s going by her middle name. According to her mail, her first name is Lyra.”

I should have known Natalie would take the liberty of investigating Anora on her own. She is hoping to prove me wrong and beat me to uncovering some Earth-shattering truth about the new girl.

“First, she’s not my girlfriend. Second, you went through her mail? Isn’t that a federal offense?”

Natalie shrugs. “Only if you open it.”

“A lot of people go by their middle name, Nat. It doesn’t mean anything.” Her eyes narrow. “Besides, you’re supposed to be looking for evidence she’s practicing the occult.”

“It’s not just her name, Shy. The school she claims to come from has no record of her enrollment. You don’t find that strange?”

Sure, I find it strange and I’m curious as hell about the truth, and while lying about where you’re from is weird, it doesn’t actually break our laws.

“No matter what reason Anora has for being here, it’s not our concern until she starts practicing the occult.” I say that, but if she’s the Eurydice, the rules are a bit different.

Whatever she is, she’s human and has lived a human life. She could be running from other problems. I haven’t seen a man at her house throughout our week of surveillance, which tells me her dad probably isn’t in the picture, and if she and her mother are running from him, I doubt she wants him to find her easily.

I have intentions of keeping my distance from Anora, especially since Natalie has become increasingly clingy at school. I seriously can’t turn a corner without her appearing out of thin air. I don’t expect to think about or regret my decision, and yet I discover the longer I go without talking to her, pressure builds, like someone’s stacking stones on my chest. At first, a glance or a smile relieves the tension over my heart and sitting next to her in class keeps it at bay until patrol, but after one day of avoidance, I’m ready to worship the ground she walks on if it’ll make this feeling go away.

So, I find reasons to talk to her. I ask her for notes from the day I missed art and arrange to meet her in the library to pick them up. When I find her, she’s sitting in one of the large bay windows in Covington. She has a book in her hands, but she’s not reading it. She’s looking out the window. I stare at her like a creep but I can’t help it. I feel like I’ve been here before, admiring her from a distance—I like the way her long hair spills down her back, the way her graceful fingers curl around the edges of her book. I wonder how soft her hands are, how it would feel to hold them.

I shake those thoughts from my head and I approach.

“Hey,” I say.

She looks up at me and smiles, offering a breathless, “Hey.”

It makes my chest feel lighter and I think I could spend my whole life making her smile.

“What are you reading?” I ask, nodding to the book in her hands.

“Oh, nothing,” she says, closing it and moving her hands over the title. I reach for the book anyway, brushing my fingers over her skin. She is soft, and a surge of electricity sparks between us. She draws her hands away. I try not to let that disappointment me and instead focus on the book.

&n

bsp; I hold it up, reading the title aloud. “A Simple Guide to...Astrophysics?” the last word comes out as a question because I’m surprised. I look at Anora, then at the book, then at the pile by her feet. They are all books about space.

“Are you into space?”

She blushes. “Yeah, actually. I want to be an astronomer.”