When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

Jacobi saves me from disappointing my number one fan.

“He’s not here to play, Lydia,” Jacobi emerges from the house, dressed in a pair of jeans and a school hoodie. “Mom says come inside.”

“But—” she tries to argue.

“Not now, Lydia.” Jacobi’s annoyed, and Lydia turns her gaze to me.

“I’ll come back soon,” I assure her.

She narrows her eyes and puts her tiny hands on her hips. “Pinky promise?”

I smile and hold out my pinky. “Pinky promise.”

She accepts and bounces off toward the house, sticking her tongue out at Jacobi as she goes. He tries not to laugh as he climbs into the passenger side of my Jeep.

“She’s smitten with you.”

“She’s five. She loves anyone who will play with her.”

“I don’t know, man. You have a gift.”

I drive aimlessly, and for a while, neither one of us talk. I think we both miss this—the ease of a ride down country roads, but this sense of freedom doesn’t last long, and soon the realities of the last few days creep back in.

“Roth's back,” I say finally.

“What are you going to tell him?”

“I don't know. Some version of the truth. He won't believe me if I say I haven't found anything at all.”

Jacobi moves uncomfortably in his seat.

“What?”

“Look man,” he says. “Just....be careful with this. Roth might be playing you.”

He sounds like Natalie. After I was promoted to Tracker, she'd told me to consider why Roth had asked me. The promotion couldn't be based on talent.

I scoff to myself. Even I don’t believe that.

“Have you been talking to Natalie?” I ask.

“No...no...just....what if Roth already knows who the Eurydice is?”

I want to shoot this down, claim there is no way Roth's observant enough to guess. Why else would he have me searching for her? But there's something in Jacobi's face that's telling me he knows more than he's letting on.

“What did you find?” I ask tightly, my impatience growing.

He looks away, opening and closing his mouth.

“Jacobi...”

“I did some research on the Eurydice...on her past lives. In the process, I discovered she's always incarnated with another person. A protector...a lover.”

This is new information. I know a lot about the Eurydice’s past lives, mostly how she was killed, which is super depressing.

I wait. He waits. My heart beats so hard in my chest it hurts.

“I hacked the Records.” The Records are a restricted part of the Archive t