Starbound (9 page)

Olivia had the most knowledge, so it was no surprise she cast the spell. Her voice was musical, steady, and true. “If there be a perfect match, this spell under moonlight will surely catch the one who is meant to be and shall be revealed to me. I cast this spell from a part of me, one of five, free will of who I see.”

A gentle breeze picked up my hair and tingles ran down my spine. I watched in awe as a fire of blue flames erupted at the center of the circle. The flickering flares were cool to the skin, emitting magick, not heat. Inside my blood was singing in rejoice. It had been so long since I’d given in to the magick. It engulfed me with love and trust.

I missed this
.

“I’ll go first,” Olivia offered. The material of her long, black dress draped on the ground. She plucked a strand of her hair and dropped into the center of the dancing blue flames.

Zeke snickered beside me. “I pity the poor sap that gets saddled to Olivia.”

Olivia tapered her eyes. “Just wait, Zeke. I’ll be laughing when some girl knocks you on your ass.”

We all waited for something to materialize out of the unearthly flames. A shimmer. A face. When seconds turned to minutes and nothing happened, I felt cheated. It was a reminder that having goddess blood didn’t mean you always got what you wanted at the snap of your fingers.

“You go next,” Olivia prompted, looking at me. There was a tint of disappointment in her crystal-violet eyes.

My heart went out to her. She, out of all of us, had probably wanted to know the most. Maybe this spell wouldn’t work on any of us, and it would be just a big waste of magick. I took a deep breath. Did I really want to know who I was destined to spend all eternity with?

“You don’t have to do this, Kats,” Seth said, staring intently at me over the blue fire. His voice was hard and icy.

It instantly put my back up. God, I hoped my starsoul was drop-me-dead-gorgeous, just so I could rub it in Seth’s face—hell, Elena’s too. I plucked a piece of hair, eyes defiant, and dangled it over the glowing flicker. Then I looked at Seth and Elena on the other side of the circle and let the single piece of hair slip from my fingers.

Shifting my gaze to the blue light swirling within the circle, my heart was in my throat. I didn’t know why I was so nervous, but my palms were damp. Was I really about to see the guy of my dreams?

At first I thought that the spell was going to be another dud. The azure flames held steady, frolicking in time with my pounding heart. And then it happened, a twirling motion in the fire that slowly began to emit a colored smoke. My eyes clashed with Seth’s over the ethereal light, and I lifted my chin. Nervous or not, I wasn’t about to show it, yet he looked just as anxious. Or maybe I was mistaken and it was just because Elena was whispering something in his ear. I probably had it wrong. Why would Seth care whose face would be revealed?

Slowly the sapphire mist began to curl and take form. I sat at the edge of my seat with clasped hands. The face reflecting from the smoke was…
No! No! No! It wasn’t possible
.

My breathing became labored. I thought I was going to pass out.

Seth’s
?

What the hell?

I froze.

No one said anything. No one moved.

It was Elena who broke the thick silence. “Fuck me.”

I couldn’t have said it better.

Olivia gasped beside me.

I could feel my whole body shaking, but was it from anger, fear, or shock? “Real funny, guys,” I said cynically. This couldn’t be real, right? There was no way that
Seth
was my starsoul. I stood up. “If you didn’t want me here, you could have just said so. There was no reason to be assholes about it.” I had never been so embarrassed.

“Katia, this isn’t a joke,” Zeke added stonily. “I swear on the full moon it’s true. But he should have told you in a less tacky form. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking you would get hurt.”

Looking over my shoulder at Zeke, my emotions were tripping over one another. How could this be real? How did Zeke know? Had they all known, and I was the only idiot here? “Seth told you?” I accused, addressing everyone.

Zeke nodded. “The others didn’t know,” he said, heavy with regret.

Maybe somewhere in all the craziness running through my head, I knew that Seth had always been more than just a guy. I shot to my feet, glaring at him, and he was quick to follow. “Y-you knew? You knew that we were starbound?” I could barely get the words past the lump in my throat.

His jaw ticked. “Yes.”

I felt the air leave my lungs. “For how long?”

Frown lines creased the corner of his lips. “Practically my whole life.”

I was speechless.
His whole life?
“I—I don’t understand. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

I couldn’t believe we were having this discussion in front of the whole circle. They all pretended to be interested in something else. I
was still having trouble believing it. Seth Nightingale’s heart was twined with mine. Seth. How had
I
not known? I mean this was my soul mate, and he had been here, in front of me the whole time. A range of emotions tumbled inside me. Disbelief. Rage. Longing. Excitement. Hope.

Hardness settled over his dark eyes. “Because I don’t want this. I don’t want you,” he said, his voice strained and harsh.

I felt like I had just been sucker punched. I gasped. “You don’t want me.” My mind was reeling, and then I was seeing red. I wanted to hurt him. “Well, the other night you sure as hell wanted me,” I spat.

Beside him, Elena’s painted red lips sneered. I had to get out of there. Pain lanced through my chest, and I turned away before Seth could see the effect his words had on me, before he could tell me again that he didn’t want me.

I ran.

Chapter 9

Katia

“Kats!”

“Katia!”

I heard both Seth and Zeke yell my name, but I kept on going without looking back. Just as I reached the edge of the woods, uncontained tears streamed down my cheeks. I ran without any destination, just away from him—away from the circle. My vision was cloudy, my makeup was smearing, and my body felt heavy and sore, but none of it mattered.

My heart was…

Breaking.

Confused.

In pieces.

And I never felt so humiliated and exposed in my life. He didn’t want me? Fine. I never planned to talk to Seth Nightingale again. He could roast in Hell for all I cared. Even as I thought the words, I sniffled back another round of tears.

None of it made sense. How could he be my starsoul if he felt nothing but hatred for me? That was not how starbound worked. The spell had to be wrong. Seth had to be wrong. We weren’t destined. Our love wasn’t written in the stars.

Occupied with the events of the night, I somehow ended up in the old cemetery, on All Hallows’ Eve nonetheless. That was a bad omen all around. Just as my legs were burning in protest and I was about to stop, I felt the ground slip out under my feet. Suddenly I was staring at the twilight sky, when moments ago all I could see were blurry headstones and graves. My belly dropped at the rush of falling, and I had no time to catch myself.

Arms flailing, I fell backward. There was a loud thump followed by a searing burn on the back of my head. Blinding pain speared behind my eyes, and I thought maybe I had screamed Seth’s name. Or maybe that had been inside my head, because then the lights went out.

And there was nothing.

Seth

“That was low,” Zeke said frowning, and I couldn’t have agreed more. It was by far the lowest thing I had ever done. “I am actually ashamed that we are friends. I never thought that would happen.”

My belly sunk, and remorse unfurled, growing like a wild weed. Everything Zeke said was true. He couldn’t possibly make me feel any worse than I already felt. By hurting Kat, it was like stabbing myself in the heart again and again. Her pain was my pain.

And right now I was drowning in it.

I wanted to karate chop something.

Zeke continued, making me feel like shit, but I knew it was deserved. “It was wrong and you know it. She deserves the truth. The
whole
truth.”

He had thought that if he forced my hand, I would tell her about the curse, but I couldn’t. I had made a promise.

“How could you, Seth?” Olivia asked, tears swimming in those violet eyes, and I was hit with a fresh wave of pain. Olivia was like a sister to me. She wore her heart on her sleeve. If others hurt, Olivia felt their pain. Plus, she could incinerate me with a twitch of her pinky finger.

I had done some pretty shitty things before, but this took the cake. The look in Kat’s eyes would haunt me for the rest of my life, I was sure. My hand reached out, steadying myself on the trunk of a tree while I tried to catch my breath. I couldn’t breathe. It felt like the air had been sucked from my lungs.

Digging my fingers into the tree bark, I fought with the crushing urge to chase after her—to beg her to understand. What I had done had been for her wellbeing. Deep down I wanted to believe that she knew that—knew me.

But even as I tried to convince myself, I knew that Kat didn’t really understand the sacrifices I was making for her. How could she? In an attempt to protect her, no one had bothered to explain, but were we really protecting her? Because if the amount of pain that I had seen in her eyes was any indicator, then I was doing a bang up job of destroying her.

Elena slinked up next to me. I wasn’t in the mood. “Go away, Elena,” I growled.

Her head titled up, and she had this secret smirk on her lips. “And leave you to suffocate in guilt? Nah. I don’t think so.”

My eyes flashed in anger. “I don’t want to be coddled. Not by you.”

“Oh, don’t I know it. Only Katia could cure what ails you, lover boy, but you sent her away.” She trailed a black nail up my T-shirt. Elena loved to stir trouble. “Now why would you do that?”

“It is none of your business,” I said with clenched teeth, feeling my anger rising.

She wasn’t discouraged. If anything, I had piqued her interest. “Hmm. It makes me curious.”

My fists balled at my side. If she were a guy… “Well, you can shove your curiosity up your—”

“Guys,” Olivia interrupted. “This isn’t helping.”

“You’re right,” I agreed. “We need to find Kat.”

Elena pouted, her hand flattening on my chest. “Do you ever stop thinking about her? It’s exhausting, and we are supposed to be having fun.”

I frowned. “Knock it off.” I batted her hand away, and she scowled.

“Something isn’t right,” Olivia said, hugging her arms around herself while her eyes clouded in worry.

Elena sauntered into the middle. She enjoyed being the center of attention. “You guys are pathetic. She probably went home with her tail between her legs.”

I’d had enough, plus Olivia was right. Trouble brewed in the whistling winds.

Straightening my shoulders, I shoved my hands into my pockets. “We should break off in groups, cover more ground. Olivia’s right. We need to find her.”

No one argued, for once. Elena and I went off in the direction Kat had run, while Olivia and Zeke headed back toward the road. Hopefully, this way, we could eliminate where she wasn’t. I tried her cell phone with no luck as we split off, but then again, I really hadn’t expected her to take my call.

We approached Hilltop Cemetery, a place I’d rather avoid tonight of all nights. The high moon cast shadows over the chipped headstones that my imagination went wild with. An owl hooted from the woods surrounding the old cemetery.

“Tell me she isn’t this stupid,” Elena grumbled in discomfort behind me.

She wasn’t the only one who felt apprehension. “Come on,” I replied, cautiously treading around graves, careful not to disturb the dead.

We weaved between the rows of graves, both aware that we weren’t really ever alone in a cemetery. Not with all the spirits running amuck. Something was definitely wrong, I could feel it with every fiber of my being—Kat was in trouble.

Just as I was about to suggest we move on, something caught my eye—a glisten of white. Before I looked any further, I knew it was Kat. Snowflake curls spilled in a ring on the cold ground. Seeing her motionless, stark fear encompassed me. “Kats,” I called in desperate hope. She didn’t move, and I reached her in two long strides.

Her face was so pale, and her body lay awkwardly in the grass. Sticky blood oozed from the side of her head, staining her hair and seeping into her cardigan in stomach-turning red. “Kats.” She was unresponsive. “Kats, open your eyes,” I demanded.

I sunk to my knees next to her, unable to believe what I was seeing. Less than an hour ago she had been full of life, smiling with the circle. Now she looked on the verge of death, and there was too much blood.

A shadow fell over me. Elena. “Heal her,” I demanded as she stood over us. Kat’s blood covered my hands as I laid her head in my lap. Her breathing was shallow, and I was scared out of my mind.

“No,” Elena replied without hesitation. I had to wonder if she even had a heart.

“Elena, please,” I pleaded. Never before had I asked her for anything, let alone begged her. It killed me that she was the only one among us with the power to heal. “Please. She’s lost so much blood.”

“Why should I?” She sounded self-righteous.

All I could think was fate couldn’t be so cruel as to take Kat from me before she really knew how I felt about her. She couldn’t leave me after I had just thrown what we had in her face—rejected her. It was so absurd, I almost laughed out loud. To lose Kat not from the curse but from something as tragic as this was too bitter to accept. I refused to let her go.

“Elena, come on. Don’t be a bitch. She used to be our friend,” I said, desperate and not thinking.

I looked back down at Kat’s colorless face and asked, “What do you want?” I knew how Elena operated. She wouldn’t never do anything for free or out of the kindness of her black heart. One thing I did know—I wasn’t going to like where this was going, but what choice did I have? Kat’s heart was wavering. “Just name your price. I’ll do anything.” My voice had gone cold as steel.