Starlight (The Lightning Strike Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  When the moon and star on my palms prickled warningly, I sighed. I should have realized the only person rude enough to invade my Dream-World would be him. . .

  I turned around when the prickling became more of a burning, crossing my arms and frowning at the smirk on Lucas Adler’s face.

  “Get out,” I demanded.

  “Not just yet,” he objected. “Being here is enlightening, to say the least.”

  “I said: get

  Thunder cracked overhead as I yelled at him, but his smirk only widened.

  “If you didn’t want me here, you should have blocked your mind from me, Emma Fitch. I’ve done my research; I know you’re smart. You should have known to do everything you could to keep me out.”

  I kept quiet, not wanting to tell him, of all people, that my barrier-building skills were not where they needed to be if I was going to keep him out of my head. I still had one and a half, maybe two years left of school, and barrier-building wasn’t taught until students’ last term. I made a mental note to teach it to myself from books if—when I woke up.

  “I didn’t think you’d stoop as low as to break past someone’s Barriers,” I fussed, changing the subject carefully.

  “Nothing’s below me. I’m not going to stop until I get your Magic. I’ll fight you to the death.”

  “Your death,” I retorted.

  His smirk deepened as he meandered toward me.

  “Determination. I like that.”

  “I don’t care what you like.”

  His eyes narrowed slightly. He stopped walking, remaining a jump’s length away from me.

  “You’d better be careful, Emma Fitch. If I can breach your Barriers, imagine what I could do to your mother’s.”

  The heat rose up in my skin.

  “Leave her alone!”

  The trees in my Dream-World rustled uncomfortably as my anger strengthened.

  “I seem to have touched a nerve.” He paused. “If you fight me, I will kill Jessica Monroe. If you continue to fight me, your mother.”

  “They haven’t done anything to you!”

  “But you have.”

  “So?” I seethed. “Leave them alone. Just go after me.”

  And I’ll be ready.

  “You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll spend plenty of time going after you. Maybe the Abarims will join me.”

  I rolled my eyes. Everyone knows that the Abarims hate all Quans; they wouldn’t be working with him.

  “Don’t be so quick to doubt me. The Abarims could cause plenty of damage to you and your family.”

  “They can’t get into Quan.”

  “Don’t be so sure.” He moved closer until he was standing right in front of me. I refused to let myself step back. “They think you’re safe, with the security ‘round your house. You even think you’re safe. But I can get to you whenever, wherever. No one can stop me from taking your Magic. Not you. Not Zach Stone.”

  “We already stopped you once.”

  “Luck.” His eyes flickered between mine. “I saw you two at the school. You held yourself together until he showed up, and then you let yourself get distracted. When he pulled you out of the way, you were clinging to him. . .” He crossed his arms, studying me. “You want him.”

  I frowned. I didn’t want to want Zach.

  “You do,” Lucas mused. “Maybe I should just go after him to get to you. Distraught, love-struck teenagers aren’t going to be able to protect themselves very well. They’re—”

  “I am not love-struck.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “We’ll see.”

  There was a flash of light to my side, and when it faded away my heart stuttered.

  I flew to Zach’s side, falling to my knees beside his unconscious form. I didn’t even think on it twice, my hands moving to hold his face. The current rushed through me again, harsher than before, with a sort of electrical shock thrown in. The ground rattled, like in the small aftershock of an earthquake. Zach’s eyes snapped open and he took a large, gasping breath.

  He looked at me, and I saw his familiarity with the current in his eyes. My hands still on his skin, the current between us was intensified. I wanted to stroke my thumb over his cheek, but refused to let it move.

  “Are you okay?” I whispered. I knew Lucas was still there behind me, but I ignored him.

  “Emma—I—where—”

  “You’re in her Dream-World, Stone.”

  I whirled around, focusing on Lucas again. Zach jumped to his feet and grabbed my hand, pulling me up. His grip was tight on my hand and the current’s potency increased even more.

  “Stay the hell away from her.”

  Lucas looked amused.

  “I was wrong. It’s not just you, Emma, it’s both of you.” Zach’s grip on my hand tightened. Something changed in Lucas’s eyes, and he half-pointed his finger at me. Zach tugged me behind him. “You touched him, and the ground shook. . . It’s both of you.”

  “What’re you talking about?” I asked.

  Zach’s hand shifted and my vision blurred for a moment. His palm was touching my scar, a different feeling coming from that. Trust. Such an absolute feeling of trust, stronger than anyone’s ever presented to me before.

  “I know you both felt that! Know you feel that. The look on both of your faces—”

  “You’re imagining things,” Zach cut in. “There’s nothing.”

  Lucas looked amused.

  “I don’t think I am. You haven’t even let go of her hand.”

  “I’m keeping you away from her.”

  “Bit overprotective, Stone.” Lucas’s eyes flickered over to me. “She was the same before you got here.”

  Zach’s eyes flashed down to me but I kept my eyes on Lucas. Zach looked back at him.

  “It’s time you got out,” I told the enemy.

  “I’m not leaving until I have you,” Lucas corrected. “Then I’m going to take your Magic. Stone’s next.”

  “You won’t get either of us, Lucas,” I refuted, stepping up next to Zach despite the disapproving look I received from him.

  Lucas cocked his head to the side.

  “Don’t be so sure.”

  “You’re not going to win. Go ahead and try to, though, if your ego can’t take another hit so soon. You’ll just continue to lose if you fight us.”

  Zach looked down at me.

  “Trust me,” I whispered, barely moving my lips.

  His grip on my hand tightened in affirmation and he looked back at Lucas. His arms were uncrossed and he raised them up in a sort of “why not” shrug.

  “Then let the fight begin.”

  He sent a curse at us, but I shouted a spell that ended our sleep. My eyes snapped open and I was in my room, the sheets tangled around my legs.

  I’m good, Zach’s voice sounded in my head as he Pathed me.

  Same.

  I rolled over, seeing Winnie lying next to me. I stroked her head and she “hugged” me with her eyes in affection, starting to purr.

  “This is escalating, Win,” I whispered. “I challenged him, and he’s going to take it.” I rolled over onto my back. “He’s going to try to kill us.”

  What a Way to Spoil the Morning

  When I woke again, the sun was shining

  brightly into my room from the open window. I stretched, arching my back away from the mattress as I did so. I climbed out of bed, looking past my vase of violets that rests on a small table I have, to the street. Two guards were sitting across from my house and I rolled my eyes, but then I realized: they weren’t moving.

  My spine rippled with cold and I spun around. Standing on the other side of my room were four of the most powerful people in our Galaxies: the Council. Galaxia was once a protégé of Queen Allu’s, and Mab, despite her famously nasty temper, has always had a place in this group. On either side of Galaxia stood Louisa, who was gifted in nature magic, and Horatio, the father time of legend.

  I swallowed, my mouth sudden
ly feeling dry.

  “We are not going to harm you, Emma,” the black-haired Galaxia said calmly.

  “Why—” I swallowed again. “What’re you doing here?”

  “Time is paused,” Horatio stated. “Your parents will not intrude.”

  “Intrude on what?”

  “Our discussion,” Louisa said. “There is so much we need to discuss.”

  I shook my head.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Lucas Adler,” Mab clarified, a bit harshly.

  I frowned.

  “Oh.”

  “You need to know why he attacked you,” Galaxia said.

  I crossed my arms.

  “He’s after my Magic.”

  Galaxia continued, “You are on Level Twelve. How you are on Level Twelve is why he is after you, Emma; though he has no idea.”

  “You know?” I asked, my curiosity peaking. “You know why my Level jumped?”

  Galaxia nodded, but Louisa spoke.

  “Your scars.”

  I started, my arms unfolding as I looked at them. I stared at the strangers.

  “How’d—”

  “We are the reason they are there,” Louisa added.

  “What?”

  “You, child, are the Keeper of the Galaxies.”

  I barely heard Horatio as those words came out of his mouth. My heart was pounding too loudly and it was sounding in my ears.

  “Sorry?” I spluttered.

  They seemed to have been expecting this reaction from me.

  “Since you were two weeks old, you have been the Keeper,” Galaxia restated.

  “That’s not possible.”

  “It is,” said Louisa. “You are the Keeper. You control everything that has to do with the Galaxies, hold everything.”

  I shook my head.

  “There has to be some kind of mistake.”

  “Galaxia herself put the orb that once held the Galaxies inside of you,” Mab said. “There is no mistake that you are the Keeper.”

  I sank to sit in the chair near my window, my heart beating to the point that my chest hurt.

  “This is why your Level jumped. Why Adler attacked you. When he set out to get you, and failed, it undoubtedly angered him. He is not going to stop until he is stopped. Do not let him take your Magic, Emma. Whatever you do, stop him; no matter what it takes. If you die, everything dies. We die. The farthest stretches of the Galaxies will die.”

  “Everyone dies,” I pointed out unnecessarily.

  “Not you,” Louisa said.

  “What, I’m—immortal now?”

  “You always have been.”

  I looked at the floor to hide my face. I’d live past everyone. My parents, Jessie, Thalia, Clara. . . Zach.

  “It’s very necessary,” stated Horatio.

  “Why me?”

  “That is a story for later,” Galaxia stated. I looked back up at them. “Tell no one. If the public learns of this. . . it would be very, very dangerous for you, not to mention everyone and everything else. If in desperate need you have to Open the Galaxies, just clasp your palms together. You will be able to show a mirror image of them, with the utterance of the words: Epilia Galaxa. Which means: Bring forth the Galaxies. We will teach you about being the Keeper in time, and you will keep gaining Levels.”

  I rested my head in my hands, trying to process all this, but then I stood up quickly,

  “I can’t stop him.”

  “Who?” Louisa asked.

  “Lucas. He invaded my Dream-World last night. Knocked Zach unconscious and dragged him over into mine, too.”

  Their eyes widened.

  “Zach?” Galaxia asked. “Zach who?”

  I frowned.

  “Zach Stone. He goes to school with me. . . Lucas hates him because he stopped him from killing me yesterday.”

  They exchanged looks that made me realize they were keeping something from me. Before I could ask what, it hit me.

  “You know!” I exclaimed, my eyes widening. “You know why Zach and I feel Magic when we bump into each other! Why when we were in my DreamWorld, and I touched his face, the ground shook.”

  They remained silent, but then Galaxia spoke.

  “You said you feel Magic?” I nodded. “Does Zachary feel the same thing?”

  “He said he did.”

  Galaxia closed her eyes briefly.

  “Adler felt the quake?” she asked.

  “Yes. He questioned us about it, but we don’t even know what it means. You have to tell me.”

  All of them took a breath. I moved around my bed to stand directly before them.

  “Please.”

  “You and Zachary are the Kahi.”

  It was the same as with Horatio when that word left Galaxia’s lips.

  “I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but we’re the what?”

  “The Kahi, child, the Kahi! The absolute rulers of the Galaxies! Their Royal Majesties of the Galaxies! You two are the King and Queen since birth! The Kahi!” snapped Mab.

  “I know what it means, but this is too much to handle. Why both? And why didn’t you want me to know? Isn’t there a Crowning in like. . . their nineteenth year?”

  Galaxia smiled.

  “You did get it. . . Yes, there is. You and Zachary will be prepared by then.”

  “How? And I thought the Kahi was supposed to only be the same two people for forever?” They gave me a look. “Zach too? Zach’s immortal because he’s the Kahi?”

  “Yes,” said Horatio. “You both are immortal because of who you are.”

  “How am I supposed to tell him? I promised I’d try to figure out what this was.”

  “You two are—close?” Galaxia asked.

  “Not—exactly. I mean, now we are more than before. . . He saved my life. What does that even matter?”

  She shook her head.

  “No reason. Emma, you must tell him.”

  “Why can’t you? You told me.”

  “He trusts you. It would be better for him to hear it from someone he trusts.”

  “What about me?”

  Galaxia sighed.

  “We did not come here with the intention of telling you that you and Zachary Stone are the Kahi. We came to tell you that you are the Keeper.”

  “So, what? You were never going to tell us until the Crowning, or something?”

  “Next year we were going to tell you,” Louisa clarified. “Just find some way to tell Zachary who you two really are.”

  “What about me being the Keeper?”

  “That he cannot know until the Crowning,” Galaxia said.

  The others looked at her like they were flustered.

  “Why not? I mean, if we’re going to rule together shouldn’t we have an honest relationship? He’s gonna have to keep the secret of being the Kahi anyway and this is going to tear me apart, being the only person who knows.”

  “We—” she started.

  “Yeah, I know you know, but we’re not friends. Zach’s my friend. And the Kahi.”

  Galaxia shook her head.

  “He cannot know. Emma, promise you will not tell a soul you are the Keeper.”

  I crossed my arms.

  “Fine,” I grumbled.

  She sighed.

  “Good. We will be in touch. Do tell him you’re the Kahi; it will make things much easier when the time comes.”

  They disappeared, and after a second I turned around and sat on the end of my bed, holding my head in my hands. A bird outside my window started singing and I looked up, seeing a red bird sitting on a tree branch. I realized I controlled both those specimens. Keeper. Kahi. I was so dead.

  Of course I loved my home. I loved the Galaxies, even though I have never left Quan. e2, in her magnificence, has always been very popular since Queen Allu Wrote it. The weather is almost always perfect, even though Capitol City receives snow on occasion. Luckily it doesn’t last for long as we are right against the glistening Haven Sea. The main continent that
holds Capitol City and our largest forest, Farbreach, is named Corinth. It’s basically an over-large island, resting in the West and North Haven Seas. There is another continent, Hemsby, which rests in the East Haven. It houses our industrial towns, including a fair few rural towns.

  Throughout the whole ocean are islands, all ranging in size and population. The South Haven Sea is a most-popular vacationing spot. Here on Corinth, there are many forested areas, some way up in the mountains and others just about an hour and a half out of Capitol City. It is my greatest desire to live up in the forest, close to Capitol City, after I finish university. It’s so beautiful and peaceful up there; the perfect place to raise a family. We’d be close enough that they can attend the same school I do, but still far enough away that we have a sanctuary from the daily hustle and bustle of the city.

  It hit my heart harder than I had expected when I realized I would never have that now.

  Where’s the Life Raft?

  I was tortured with the knowledge of who I really

  am over breakfast. I wanted so badly to blurt it out so my parents would know, but I kept stopping myself. Galaxia would probably erase their memories if she found out they knew, anyway.

  I left early for work, insisting that my parents let me walk. I put on a guard- a sort of Magic shield- to make them happy and set off. I walked quickly through the tree-lined streets.

  It took me twenty minutes to get to the library and I was still a little early. I signed in and waited for my shift to begin by looking through the new arrivals.

  “Emma? What’re you doing here?”

  I turned around, seeing one of my two bosses,

  Camille Devons, standing just inside the office.

  “Working. Well, I’m early, so I’m just burning

  time until it’s ten.”

  “You didn’t have to come in today, Emma; you

  could have taken some time off. Elliot and I wouldn’t fire

  you or anything.”

  “I work today, Cam. I always work on Fyn, and

  school's over now. I thought I was starting my summer

  shifts?”

  She came and sat before me.

  “Yeah, but. . . with what happened yesterday. . .” I frowned at her.

  “Cam, I’m not letting Lucas Adler destroy

  everything I have just because he attacked me once. He

  won’t come to the library; there are too many people and