When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

“You will not sit?” she asks Thane.

“I prefer to stand.”

She shrugs, dragging her eyes back to me. Her berry lips pull back into a smile, and yet there’s something cold about her. Maybe it’s her heavily-lined eyes, studying me like a difficult spell.

“What can I do for you?”

I open my mouth to answer, but Thane takes the lead. “We’re looking for a soul.”

Samael’s lips part, and she nods her head once in understanding. She reaches for a glass bowl and pours various substances inside—powders and liquids. I wonder how often people come to her for this sort of thing.

“Do you have an item of theirs? Something they wore, perhaps?”

Thane steps forward. “It’s not something she wore...but it was a gift from her.”

He drops a necklace into Samael’s palm, and a heavy weight settles in my chest. I wonder when Lily had given it to him—was it before or after the falling out with Shy?

Thane doesn’t look at me as he returns to his spot behind me. Samael drops the necklace into the mixture and lights the contents on fire.

I gasp as dark red flames erupt from the bowl. “What are you doing?”

“She gave a part of herself to the boy when she gave him the necklace. If I can resurrect that part of her, perhaps she will tell us where she is.”

“But…I thought resurrection was illegal.”

Samael looks at me, part in challenge, part in annoyance, and answers, “It is.”

I sit in silence, sorry I interrupted her, and watch the flames. A single form rises from the fire—beautiful, like a doll with long limbs and graceful steps.

“She felt safe when she died,” Samael says at last. “Relieved.”

“Relief?” Thane echoes her.

“Yes. She felt like some

thing had been made right.”

A second image materializes, this form is outlined in bright orange, but the middle is darker—the two flames embrace, twining together in a crackle of spark and smoke, and when they part, the bright, doll-like flame has waned so thin, it flickers until it is nothing more than a thin rivulet of vapor.

“The last thing she felt was shock.”

The other flame remains and a high-pitched whistle fills the air. Samael retrieves a pitcher of water, dousing the fire, filling the air with the smell of sulfur. I cover my nose with the sleeve of my jacket.

The witch reaches into the sludge, retrieving Thane’s necklace, and drops it into the center of a cloth. As she starts to massage away the evidence of her spell, she speaks.

“The girl you seek is at the train yard.”

Thane and I exchange a look. I’m not familiar enough with Rayon to know where the trainyard is located, and now I’m curious. Why would Lily go there?

“Are you aware of your responsibility once you do find her?” Samael asks.

“Very much,” Thane says evenly, almost angrily—but I still don’t understand. What’s his responsibility?

Samael doesn’t look convinced and says, “She must be returned to Spirit.”

“I said I understood,” Thane snaps.

But Samael isn’t looking at him, she’s looking at me.