Something hot and needy flashed in his eyes and he lurched forward so that we were only inches apart. “I saw you kiss him.”

“You saw me say goodbye to him,” I shouted.

He grabbed my biceps in his two huge hands and held me painfully. His fingers bit into my biceps and he pulled me harshly against his chest. My mom and Serena immediately flanked me, a threatening, ever-constant presence. He glanced at them briefly before returning his savage gaze to mine.

“You’re mine,” he rumbled, low and threatening. “He’d better not touch you again.”

“He won’t,” I promised, but felt sick about it. It seemed so wrong to give him what he wanted after everything we just went through, but I couldn’t do anything but tell him the truth. Tristan and I were over. It was only Seth. It was probably only ever Seth.

“I’m going to try to kill you again,” he confessed in a ragged voice. “I swear to you, I will try to kill you.”

“I know.” And a tear slipped from the corner of my eye.

“Don’t let me.” And then he was gone.

My breath caught as I slipped in the air but I quickly righted myself. More tears poured from my eyes. I felt like collapsing to the ground, letting the impact take me, getting swallowed up by the vast ocean and giving up. But I couldn’t. And not just for me.

For Seth too.

I moved with my loved ones and we made our way back to America, then Nebraska and finally home. We were as slow as we could be on the way home- without burning Jupiter, without drawing attention to ourselves. Still, there was an earnestness to get Jupiter home and hopefully save him.

We landed on the gravel drive silently. It was just past midnight by now and the Stars above were bright and vast as they stretched out from one end of the horizon to the next. I paused and looked at them, silently hating them for the cold battle they fought from such a distance; for the help they could never offer me; for their far-removed existence that didn’t even touch the chaos I lived in.

We fought the same battle, but it felt infinitely different. We shared a common enemy, but I was not like them and they were not like me.

I couldn’t even grasp the concept of the bigger picture in my damaged state. Nothing, no conflict, no battle, no torment existed except Seth and his heavy presence in my world.

Even Aliah paled in comparison to the man I loved and the destruction of what should have been a perfect love. I hated that he was so far away from me, but at the same time I needed him to stay away.

I hated that I loved him while he was like this; at the same time I knew that my love was the only thing that would save him.

Clattering inside the house drew my attention and I followed the noise through the front door that was left ajar to watch my dad lay Jupiter down on our dining room table. Whatever had been on there had been swept to the floor and Serena was running into the other room, gathering items as my mom shouted instructions.

Nate and my dad immediately went to work pulling the swords from Jupiter’s body. He had long since passed out, so I prayed he didn’t feel the jerking and tugging as the men worked to remove the weapons. Crimson blood tinged with a bright, almost neon orange flowed from his body and my mom worked to mop it up with towels that Serena brought in.

I watched in horrified fascination as they worked on Jupiter’s body. His skin was sickly pale, but the blood was so bright, so hot. Where it dripped on the table it sizzled into beads. My mom’s hands weren’t bothered by the heat, but the towels were steaming.

If he were a Warrior, this wouldn’t be a fatal wound; he would already be healing. But he wasn’t a Warrior. He wasn’t even human. I realized he outlived most humans by hundreds and hundreds of years but I had no idea how resilient he was to this kind of blood loss.

Eventually Serena ran out of a job and walked over to me. Putting her arm around my shoulders she led me out to the front porch. Wordlessly she sat down on the porch steps and I followed simply for something to do.

For a long while we just stared up at the sky and watched the stars twinkle above us. Eventually she let out a long sigh and said, “I miss it up there.”

A humorless laugh escaped my lips and I heard myself say, “Oh, yeah?” Although I felt a serious detachment from my emotions right now. I probably should have been worried about how my body seemed to shut down and block the torrent of pain and heartache I should be going through. On the other hand, it actually felt kind of nice to be separated from what I knew to be an intense, soul-shattering heartache.

It felt like survival.

“It’s simpler up there,” she sighed. “Not as….. complex. Bad guys are bad guys, good guys are bright, fiery balls of Light. There’s no confusion in who to kill, who to save. Evil is always evil and goodness always, always looks exactly like it should.”

I stared at my ruined shoes and waited for her to get to the point.

Hopefully she had a point.

“I’m glad I’m not staying here,” she admitted and I didn’t know whether to laugh or stab her myself.

Instead the emotion I had been holding back broke free and the hot tears were falling from my eyes before I could get control again. Serena glanced down at me, seeming surprised by my show of emotion. A little awkwardly, she did put her arm back around my shoulder and held me close to her.

Laying her head on top of mine she said, “You were built for this world, Stella. You are equipped with the right emotions and defenses to deal with all of this. I wouldn’t have spared Seven’s life today. And I wouldn’t have spared Seth’s. You are for this world, for the people that live here. They couldn’t have chosen a better Star.”

“You say that, but if it were Nate-“

“If Nate were trying to kill me, if Nate were no longer in possession of his soul, I would not hesitate. It might kill me, but I would not hesitate.”

And there was such solid conviction in her voice that I was stunned to find I believed her.

“It’s nice to feel safe now, isn’t it?” she changed the subject before all of my thoughts and feelings had completely settled. “It’s nice what the people down here can do with a blessing. Now that is something I wish I could take with me. I would just bless the whole planet and then retire.”

I snorted a surprised laugh. “Retire?”

“Sure,” she laughed too. “Take Nate, tour the galaxy, all that good stuff.”

I shook my head and laughed some more. “You’re crazy.”

She was quiet for a moment and then said, “You know, you are too, a little bit.” She kissed the top of my head, squeezed me a little tighter and then said, “I’m proud to know you, to fight alongside you. You have a strength I didn’t know existed. And when the time is right, this planet will be thankful for the force you will become. The Darkness will cower at your name, Stella. And the Stars above will celebrate in the fortress of power you will be. I know this.”

She stood up, leaving me gaping at her words. She patted my head like a small child and then disappeared back into the house. I stayed on the porch, not able to face Jupiter inside on the table, not able to look at my parents who had come so close to death tonight but somehow survived, not able to deal with the rest of my life.

Instead I stayed still, staring at a world in the heavens I would never be a part of. I thought about Serena’s words of encouragement and wondered if they would be true. If they could be true. If I could live up to all that.

She was right when she said my battle was complex. Seth was my enemy but my future too. How was I supposed to fight him and protect him at the same time? Not for a moment did I believe he or Aliah would stop. They would keep coming after me and keep coming after me, until either I turned eighteen or they killed me. And even after eighteen? Then what? Would Seth be able to come back to me? Would there be anything left of the soul I fought to save?

When dawn finally broke in our part of the world, Jupiter was still alive and successfully bandaged up. He wouldn’t be the same for a long time, his wounds were deep and damaging, but he would live. Nate and Serena had taken off, back to their hidden house. And my parents were alive.

They said goodnight and suggested I do the same. Jupiter was now in our guest bedroom where he would stay until he was fully recovered. There was nothing left to do but go to bed.

I crawled up the stairs and dragged myself to my bedroom. I stripped down and fell into bed. I was filthy, covered in dirt, sand, sweat and blood, but a shower would wait. Snuggling into my pillow and wrapping my blankets around me, I stared out my window at the lightening sky.

Just moments before sleep took me away to the wonderful world of peaceful oblivion, I felt a presence and the shadow of something pass over my window. Too exhausted to move and emotionally worn out to care, I let my eyes drift shut and gave up thoughts of the honey-eyed boy that would haunt my every waking thought and watch over me while I slept- even while he vowed to kill me.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Seniors!” Piper hollered at the top of her lungs. Her head was tipped back and her arms swung out wide to her sides. All at once she dropped her head and swung her arm violently so that her hand hit her open locker door and slammed it shut. “Finally!”

“Finally,” I said quietly in support. But while the rest of the school celebrated the last day of school, I secretly mourned it. Part of me couldn’t wait to reach eighteen and set Seth free. And another part, currently the most emotional part, felt depressed because this was it. One more year and I would give up whatever humanity I pretended was mine. I would walk away from all these beautiful people, my friends, the people I cared about most outside of my family and Seth, and embrace a destiny I was quickly learning to despise. This was my last year in civilized society before my days and nights became stuff of super-hero legends only without the comic books to immortalize me.

It was like a countdown clock hovered above me, following me around with every step.

Besides the loss of humanity I felt strongly, there was the real possibility I wouldn’t live past my eighteenth birthday anyway. Because while the fight on the Sri Lankan beach was something I personally would put down in a history book, my eighteenth birthday was basically an invitation to every bad and dangerous thing out there that I was fair game.

My identity was no longer secret and my incentive to come out of hiding- Seth- would be especially advertised.

So this was it. In a month and a half I would turn seventeen and then it was just a matter of time.

“Is your locker cleaned out?” Piper asked, eyeing me skeptically.

“Yep.” I kicked at my overstuffed backpack that was pushed against my closed locker door. “You?”

“Yep,” she echoed. She kicked at her own backpack that was not even zipped closed thanks to the books, papers and random locker items that overflowed the top. “Stella, seriously, you need to be a little more excited about the end of the school year. We are going to have an epic summer! We’re seniors and you finally realized what a tool Tristan is. I mean, come on! All good things, baby! All good things!”

Her excitement was catching and I did feel a smile break free. But I still said seriously, “Tristan is not a tool, Pi. Give the guy a break!”