When Stars Come Out (When Stars Come Out 1)

Jake looks confused for a moment. “I don’t know...late. Toward closing time.”

The Capri Sun sours on my tongue.

I can’t imagine Thane taking me to Samael, helping me search the train yard for clues or spending time with Shadow Knights if he was involved in Lily’s death. After all, it makes sense he would be with her. They were best friends. Still, was he the last person to see Lily as Lily?

We are silent for a few moments, and then I say. “His name is Thane. She wasn't dating him.”

And when we’re quiet again, I notice the world has gone quiet, too. The hair on the back of my neck and arms stands up. Then, there’s a rustle in the trees beyond.

“It’s probably your rescue party,” he says and reaches for his flashlight. “Alright, you found her.”

But when he shines the light into the trees it isn't the face of a student staring back. It’s not even the face of a living person.

It’s a dead person.

It’s Lily.

“Oh no.”

“What the hell…” Jake pushes off the tailgate, starting forward, but I grab his arm and he stops. Lily hasn’t moved from the tree line. She stands as if she might implode, like a doll held up with string. Her shoulders fall forward into her chest and her knees buckle. She peers at us through a curtain of stringy hair, face streaked with dirt and bloody tears.

And the smell—decay and something chemical that burns my nose.

Souls don’t smell.

“Is this some sort of sick joke?” Jake asks.

“Jake, get in your truck,” I say.

But he’s not listening, and he doesn’t understand what he’s looking at, either.

“You aren’t funny, Jeremy! Come out of there!”

Lily moans, lifts her head and it lolls to the side. “Jake?” She whispers. Blood spills from her mouth. “Anora? What are you doing here? Together?”

I squeeze Jake’s arm, hoping it’s enough of a signal to keep him quiet.

“It’s Queen’s Ransom,” I say. “You found us.”

She doesn’t blink, and after a moment her broken head falls forward and she makes a gurgling sound.

“What...happened...to...me?”

I push Jake back and whisper. “Get in the truck, Jake.”

Lily looks up. The yellow light from the flashlight casts shadows on her cheeks, making her features look sharp and demon-like.

“You.”

“Lily.” I spread my feet apart, the presence of the thread at the surface of my palm.

“You!”

The wind picks up, carrying her odor, moving the grass, so I don’t notice the insects until they’re climbing on my shoes and up my jeans. I yelp and brush them off.

“What the fuck!” Jake cries and starts an odd dance, h

opping onto the bed of his pickup, but the insets reach him there, too. Jake picks up a shovel and starts squishing them, which only enrages Lily.