Blackout (Darkness Trilogy) by Madeleine Henry

Author:Madeleine Henry
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: New Heroes Media
Published: 2014-06-18T22:00:00+00:00

13

I wait an hour before anyone arrives. Now the elevator doors are opening, and I bolt upright from my spot on the floor between suites. Star stands alone in the center of the elevator, wrapped in her own arms for comfort. Star looks up and gasps when she sees me. One hand rises to hold her chest.

“You scared me,” she whispers.

“I had to see you.”

She smiles nervously and exits the elevator with small steps. I nod my head to tell her that we’re alone, and she reaches for my hand to guide me into her suite. I grip her fingers harder than I intend to, but I just don’t want to let her go. Inside, her foyer looks exactly like mine: white. Round. Beaming. Enormous. Two boys our age sit beyond the columns in reclining chairs reading Spotlight and Zig-Zag. Walking lightly so they don’t hear us, Star and I creep toward her lavender bedroom and lock the door without being seen.

New York City glows outside her floor-length window. I can see miles of yellow windows from here, but I don’t want to think about Easies right now. I just want to be with Star. I draw the thick purple curtains shut to block out most of the glare, leaving one vertical slit between them. With the lights off in Star’s bedroom, this slit casts a stark rectangle of brightness through the air and across the floor. We stand to face each other in the one section of light. Everything around us is darkness.

“Oh, Phoenix,” she cries. She falls into me, and I cradle the back of her head.

I know, Star.

“Who was the last prize?” I whisper.

She points to her arm where she wrote: Wesley Parker. The rest of her notes run across her forearm in swerving print:

17yrsold

Takes care of older sister’s children after she passed away

Pennsylvania Family member

Wants someone who will put “family first”

Nice smile

Nice smile?

I stare in horror at the words. Without thinking, I grab Star by the elbow and pull her close. She stumbles forward as I lick my thumb and rub it across the phrase. As fast as I can. Right goddamn now. Before I can smudge anything, Star yanks herself out of my grasp and cradles her forearm across her chest. She’s panting slightly from the effort and now she’s stepping cautiously away, her eyes wide and her eyebrows high with fear. I take a bold step toward her. Get back here.

“Let me see your arm,” I demand.

“No,” she whispers timorously.

“Why not? Are you hiding something?”

“I’m not hiding anything,” she pleas.

“Then what the hell do you mean by ‘nice smile’?”

“Phoenix, please,” she begs. “He wants a girl with a nice smile. It’s not that I think he has a nice smile. It’s the other way around.”

“What?” I snap. The words haven’t hit me yet. I process them slowly and realize the depth of my error. Star didn’t betray me at all. This should calm me down, but I’m still tense. I feel it in my neck.

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