Page 50 of Keeping Sarah

Jac nodded in agreement, though he did not look happy about what had already transpired between Sarah and the magician. “Literally anything.”

She bit her lower lip. “You’re both being very sweet about all of this, but I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You are not asking,” I said firmly. “We aretellingyou that this is what we will do. I do not care what he wants. I will get it for him or give it to him, if it is something of my own.”

She glanced from me, to Jac. “I don’t…I don’t want anyone else hurt because of me,” she said in a trembling voice. “Don’t you guys get that? This is all my fault.”

My heart wrenched in my chest. “What are you talking about?”

She made a sound of frustration. “If I knew more about what I am, or what I’m capable of, if I had a better understanding of my powers—"

“You are amazing,” I said, cutting her off and settling my hand over hers on the table. “You have been—"

“If I weresmarter, then I wouldn’t be fucking up all the time!” she barked and abruptly stood up, anger vibrating off her. “That’s the problem, Deacon. I am terrible at my job, because I should be smarter than I am, and I’m not, so I keep fucking up and getting people killed, which means this is all my fault. Stop trying to act like it’s not, because I might not be smart, but I am intelligent enough to know that much!”

We watched her stomp from the café, and when she was gone, I turned to Jac, gutted by what I’d just heard.

“What did I say wrong?”

Jac shifted in his seat. “I don’t think you said anything wrong. I think she’s scared she’s going to get us hurt when we see the magician.”

“I will go speak with her—"

“Don’t,” he said, stopping me before I could stand and he straightened to his own feet. “Let me.”

“Why you?” I looked up at him. “I am the one with whom she is angry.”

“Exactly. Which means whatever argument she’s working on in her head right now won’t work with me. Hopefully, I can diffuse her anger before she sees you again.”

I smiled in gratitude. “Truly, I do not deserve you.”

He winked at me. “Never forget it.”

I chuckled as he left the café and watched the trees go by out the windows. Night had fallen, so the trees were a dark blur outside. Peering upward, the stars glittered above. When I was a child, I had hoped to visit the stars. I told my parents, and they had smiled, as though I was being adorable. They did not know I was serious, but no one told me the stars were searing gasses and plasma which would have burned me alive, had I gotten too close. I was horrified to learn I would never succeed in my goal of visiting the stars. At age four, my astronomy professor had to deal with my disappointed bawling, the poor man.

I stretched my legs out and dozed on the padded bench in the café, while the stars stared back at me. I did not wake untilAllegiantparked. When I saw Sarah once more, she was in a far better mood as I tentatively approached her. Jac had patched things, it seemed.

Drift wished us speed and luck, as we left him behind to keep the ship ready to flee. We usedAllegiant’sonworlder as transport through the forest, until the underbrush became too thick to drive over, then we began to walk. After an hour, we found the cave she recalled.

“There,” she said, pointing in the direction. “The blue smoke, like last time.”

Those wispy tendrils seemed to hover just outside of the cave, which I found odd. “Why does the smoke not travel upward?” I asked.

“I have no idea,” she said, glancing at the two of us. “Are you ready for this?”

“For dealing with a magician?” I suppressed a shudder as I shook my head. “Never. Let’s go.”

The three of us entered the strange cave. Colorful pillows lined the walls and devotional candles sat interspersed with them. The innermost area of the cave was large and lit by a single fire in the middle. Every step forward felt like a future regret. Each hair on my body stood on end as we walked deeper into the dwelling.

Sarah called out, “Hello?”

“Rex, is that you? Let me put on my face,” a man responded.

Put on his face? The fuck?

As he walked around the corner toward us, he pressed his fingers against his face, like it was a mask of some kind, shooting up my anxiety tenfold. It briefly slipped around his mouth, nose, and eyes, until he had it settled into place.

One black eye, one white, both disconcerting. He was tall and thin, and set every nerve in my body on edge when he looked at me.

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