When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

Why do I feel this way now? Was it Samael’s incense or seeing Shy in his Valryn form that created this connection? Both make me uneasy.

“What about you?” he asks.

“Huh?”

“What about you?” he says again. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I breathe. “Sleepy.”

He smiles. “Me, too.”

He puts his Jeep in gear and we start retracing Lily’s steps. While Shy drives to our first location—a beach called Peter’s Point—he explains Jacobi’s plans to gain access to the security office to review footage from the day before Lily died.

“By gain access—”

“I mean he’ll probably hack the server.”

I shake my head. “How in the world did he learn how to do that?”

“You can find anything on the internet.”

I still don’t understand why we can’t just go back to Samael and ask her to trace Lily’s soul again. It seems like the fastest way to get what we need, and without wasting more precious time. Plus, I could ask Samael if she did anything to my brain last night when she lit those incense.

Peter’s Point is uneventful. It’s a small peninsula with several parking spaces for vehicles and boat trailers. A road curves around offering access to various camping, fishing and swimming areas.

Shy and I get out and walk. It’s hard not to reach for him. My body feels magnetized, and every time I bump him, an electric current shudders through me. Our fingers brush, but he never slips his hand into mine. I try to ignore the way it makes me feel—like this is all temporary, like it’s an act.

Is it an act?

Did I fall for the same trap Chase set?

I shake my head. A kiss doesn’t mean you’re together, I remind myself.

“Did Lily like the lake, too?” I ask.

“Not really. She hates—hated—” the correction makes my chest ache “not being able to see her feet when she swam.”

“Why do you think she was here?”

He’s quiet a moment, and then looks around, squinting against the bright sky.

“I think she was probably meeting her boyfriend here.”

I can’t help thinking about last night.

“You mean she was meeting him in secret?” Shy doesn’t say anything. “Was there something wrong? Was she not allowed to date?”

“Something like that.”

I know he’s not telling me everything, and it’s just another reminder of why I need to keep my wits about me when I’m around Shy. I slip my hand in the pocket of my jacket. Thane gave me the necklace Lily had given him. You know, just in case you don’t find anything tomorrow, he’d said last night before dropping me off at my house.

And it’s looking like we aren’t.

Shy and I walk the loop around the lake and then get back in the Jeep. After, we head to June’s, and when Shy parks, I feel a resurgence of his anxiety.

“What’s wrong?”

He looks at me quizzically, as if he can’t figure out why I asked.