“I—what?”
“You disappeared. You weren’t on the ground in the parking lot anymore. That’s why I freaked out and told Astaroth. That was the moment we knew you were even more of a threat than we thought you were. If you could transport yourself to the places you envisioned—what was to stop you from getting into the Order’s realm?”
“So you’re saying if I can make myself have a vision of this beach at prom, I’ll be able to get there?”
“Well, no. There’s no way I could know that for sure. I’m not the one with visions of the future. What I am saying,” Raven said, “is that it’s worth a shot. I mean, I don’t see us all lining up with options, right?”
“She has a point,” said Ian.
Raven nodded. “Look at it this way. I may be a bitch sometimes, but at least you never have to wonder if I’m telling the truth.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
“But once we’re at prom,” said Ian, “how do we know it’s time to leave?”
“I’ll tell you,” Earth piped up.
“Earth.” Aaron’s face had turned red. “This is serious.”
“I know,” she said. “The sky will tell me.” She winked at me, and I grinned.
“Okay,” I said. “So our plan is this. We go to prom. Earth watches the sky for a sign. And then . . . I make myself envision this beach. If I succeed, I take the Rogues with me. When we get there, Aunt Jo, Aaron, and James—form the circle. And”—I paused—“leave room for me. Because I’m the fourth Rogue.”
“Skye,” Aunt Jo said. “How did you figure that out . . . ?”
I smiled enigmatically. “Let’s just say I had some help.”
“Wait a minute,” Cassie pouted. “Dan and I don’t get to come?”
“You seriously think I’m taking you with me? I’ve almost gotten you killed, twice. There’s no way I could live with myself if it happened a third time. Besides,” I said. “Someone has to watch Earth.”
“I don’t need to be watched,” Earth piped up. “I am almost in third grade. I’m not a little kid anymore.”
“Good point, Earth,” I said, kneeling by her. “You’re more grown up than half the people I know.”
“True story,” said Dan.
“But you’re so special that I need someone whose only job in this whole world is to keep an eye on you. To make sure you’re safe so that when we get back, you and I? We can have a day of fun, just the two of us.”
Earth looked up at me, smiling devilishly. “You mean like a sister day?”
I patted her on the head. “We can work out the semantics when we cross that bridge, Trouble.” Aunt Jo and Aaron had turned red, but they were grinning.
This instinct I had to protect Earth made me think of my parents. My mother and father’s mission had failed because they would sooner let that happen than put me in danger. They knew that I would be the one to complete the circle, and they took that secret to the grave to protect me. It was what I’d worried about with Earth. And what Ian’s dad had worried about with him. We all tried to protect the ones we loved. But we couldn’t do it forever. Eventually we had to let them go. So they could fight their own battles.
I wasn’t a little kid anymore, and I had to face the future, no matter what it held.
23 
Clouds obscured the moon that night, shrouding my room in darkness. I lay in bed for hours, but I couldn’t sleep. Earth tossed and turned in her sleeping bag, and the house seemed to creak and groan more than usual. I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one having trouble quieting their mind.
Everything was in place for prom—but it wasn’t the battle I was thinking about. Weirdly, it was something Ian had said. I guess now would be an inappropriate time to ask you to prom, huh?
If I went to prom at all, I always pictured myself going with Asher. But the next time I saw him, we were going to be fighting against each other. I never thought it would get this far.
Before I knew it, dawn was casting its wide net of light across my room.
There was a knock at my window.
At first I thought I was dreaming. Earth turned over and mumbled something in her sleep. I pulled my jersey comforter up over my head to block out the light and the noise, and burrowed under the covers. I only had a few hours left before everyone else in the house woke up. And the day of the battle would begin.
Then I heard it again, and my heart leaped into my throat. Because there was only one person I could think of who ever appeared at my window like that.
An inky black feather danced across the floorboards. . . .
I threw the covers back and vaulted out of bed. I didn’t care that I was in boxers and my old River Springs Community College sweatshirt that was faded and pilled and had holes in the wrists from sticking my thumbs through. I didn’t care that my hair was a mess, and my eyes were bleary and red from lack of sleep, or that I wasn’t wearing any makeup. I had been waiting for this. He had come back. Maybe we wouldn’t have to fight against each other after all.
Maybe, finally, this was all over.
I flung the window open wide, and let the spring air rush into my lungs. I couldn’t wait to see his face, to feel his hands on my cheeks, his thumb brush across the freckles on the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t wait to see his devious grin.
But the face that met me was kissed by the sun, his hair golden and his eyes serious. He wasn’t grinning. Because it wasn’t Asher.
It was Devin.
I must have looked confused, because he smiled sheepishly. “You were expecting someone else.” It wasn’t a question. I was too baffled to even respond. I half expected him to offer me a hand to pull me up to the roof, like Asher always did, but instead he said, “May I come in?”
“What are you doing here?” I demanded. “Shouldn’t you be with the Rebels, buffing your swords or whatever?”
“Buffing our swords?”
“You know what I mean. You’re consorting with the enemy. The half-asleep enemy.”
“Um.”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I haven’t had my coffee yet.” Devin raised his eyebrows. He looked a little bit amused. With a sigh, I stepped aside and motioned for him to climb through the window.
“Look,” he said once he had maneuvered his way between Earth’s sleeping bag and Cassie’s fortress of blankets and pillows. “I know I’m probably the last person you want to see right now. And I don’t blame you. But since you left so upset the other night I haven’t been able to think about anything else. I told you I would make it up to you. I made a promise to you, a promise I’m going to keep.”
“Devin. Slow down. What are you talking about?”
“You told me to put my money where my mouth is. I couldn’t stand the thought of us going into battle against each other, and you thinking I’m some horrible monster.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Do you know why you never felt the coldness or the emptiness when you were with me, before—only the good feelings? Have you figured it out?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” I stammered.
He looked up at me. Pain flashed in his eyes. Something about it reminded me of Gideon. The darkness behind the crystal blue, the trauma that lingered and tortured him still.
“I found a way to take it away from you.”
For a second, I was so shocked I was sure I’d heard him wrong. When I didn’t say anything right away, he continued.
“I knew that Gideon was teaching you and that you knew how to tell if you were being influenced. When Astaroth realized that the plan didn’t work—that I didn’t kill you after all—he commanded me to keep you close, to find a way to win your affection back. I had to find a way to make you want to spend time with me, to trust me, when I knew you didn’t. Skye, I know this is going to sound weird, but if they hadn’t forced me to, I don’t know if I ever would have spoken to you again.”