Page 2 of Firefly Effect

She grinned. “Well, are you just going to sit there and stare at my brother all night, or are you coming with us?”

Heat blazed in my cheeks like a wildfire. Luckily, daylight was fading, making my blush difficult to see. I couldn’t believe Carley had practically caught me drooling while staring at her brother.

“What?” I laughed. “I was just thinking about that story,” I lied, covering my shame with a smile.

Carley’s giggle came with a wave of her hand, telling me she didn’t care if I was gawking at her brother. “You mean the same firefly tale your uncle has told us every single night this week? Has he always had such a wild imagination?”

I nodded. My eyes were wide as I tried to select my words in a way that would paint her a picture. “You should see his book collection. He has so many that he started building bookshelves in his bar. They take up practically every single wall from the floor to the ceiling.”

Beside the outdoors, my uncle’s bar was my favorite place to be when I got to stay with him. He even named the bar Firefly thanks to my love for the tiny creatures.

“Wow,” she said in a dreamlike state. “I’d love to see that. I have to beg my parents to take me to the library.” Her eyes dimmed with sadness. “We can’t afford to have bookshelves like that.”

Guilt pelted me in the gut. “You should come by Firefly on your way out of town.” I grinned. “I’ll have Patrick find a way to convince your parents.”

Carley perked up and squeezed my hand. “That would be the coolest.”

I smiled, unable to control my overwhelming sense of hope at the thought getting to spend a day with her among my uncle’s bookshelves.

“We should go.” Carley seemed barely able to contain her joy as she tugged me forward. “Everyone’s already heading into the woods. Last one to the creek jumps in.”

My enthusiasm mirrored hers, even though she couldn’t see it. I’d learned at a young age to hide my emotions at all costs. Vulnerability was a window into the soul—a weakness my mother could never bear to witness.

Still, excitement compounded in my chest just thinking about the entire reason I begged my parents to continue letting me come to Bryson City, North Carolina, for the summers—the synchronous firefly show. When I was younger, nothing was more magical than watching the entire woods erupt with blue and green sparkling lights.

I looked over to the nature trailhead where our peers were walking into the woods, chanting, “Run, run, as fast as you can—you can’t catch me, I’m the Firefly Man,” followed by hysterical laughter.

“Evie!” my uncle called.

I halted and looked over my shoulder at Uncle Patrick, who stood with all the other parents and a few more of his friends. They all held red Solo cups filled with some alcohol mixture that seemed to be endless in its supply.

“Remember to stay on the path,” he warned. “And don’t stay out too late. We’ll be playing cards at Jimmy’s campsite. Find me there when you’re done.”

“Okay!” I said, more than happy to oblige. Who would want a detour into the freakishly scary woods in the dark, anyway?

Patrick smiled. “Have fun, Evie girl.”

With another tug of Carley’s hand, I followed her, astutely aware that Foster was right beside us.

Once we were around the first bend of the trail, Carley stopped, a wicked look flashing across her face. She pulled something out of the inside pocket of her jean jacket. As soon as I saw the glass mason jar, unease filtered through me.

“Carley, no…” Panic beat at my chest like a warning cry.

Her eyes twinkled. “Why not? It’s our last night.”

My disbelieving gaze bounced between Carley and Foster. Shock and confusion flowed through me like a tidal wave. Until that night, we’d never tried to trap the fireflies. No one broke that rule. After all, the moral of the Firefly Man tale was to let nature be. “W-what about the Firefly Man?”

Carley’s laughter made my cheeks flame. I hadn’t thought through my question before asking, but after it slipped out, I realized how immature I sounded.

Foster’s reaction was different, his downturned mouth creating yet another frown that did little to alleviate the intensity of my attraction.

Carley stepped toward me, her freckled features mischievous. “That’s just a silly campfire tale, Evelyn.” Her smile was warm and reassuring—she must have sensed my panic. “Besides, it’s not like we’ll keep them in the jar to die. We’ll let them go.”

Relief eased my tension. How bad could it be if no harm came to the innocent creatures?

“Here,” Foster said, revealing his own jar and holding it out to me. Just the sound of his voice had my heart tripling its beat. “You can use mine.”

My eyes locked in on the round top and metal latch of the jar before I looked back up at him. My heart caught in my chest as I stared back into a sea of green. Gold specks swam within them, distracting me momentarily from my shame. I was caught between fear of the Firefly Man and attraction to the boy I had been crushing on all week.

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