Page 49 of When Stars Fall

“Wyatt?” I call when I get close enough. A commotion breaks out behind me on the terrace, but I’m laser-focused on him. One wrong step, and he’s tumbling into the dark ocean below fully dressed. It’s not a long drop, but at night, with his poor swimming . . . I can’t catch a full breath.

He glances up, and a grin splits his face. He seems to forget he’s on the ledge because he tries to walk toward me at a normal speed, and he topples off the side, toward the ocean.

I let out a cry, and I rush over to the edge. Down below, Wyatt is thrashing in the water, but rather than swimming to the boat dock or back toward the wall, he’s headed out into the darkness.

I kick off my shoes, and I launch myself into the surf. When I hit it, the coolness sends a shot of adrenaline through me. Wyatt is easy to catch, but he’s already barely keeping his head above water. I latch onto him, and he scrambles for me, pushing me down with his weight. Before I go under, I manage to snatch a breath.

When I resurface, Wyatt’s face is barely visible against the gentle waves. He’s going to drown. A cry of agony escapes my lips, and I plunge back over to him. I manage to grab the neck of his T-shirt, and I drag him through the water behind me toward the dock. At the edge of the concrete pier, I swing him around, and Wyatt grips the ladder.

“You’re stronger than you look.” His voice brims with amusement, and I want to slap him.

The adrenaline and the shock of the situation has washed away any of my drunkenness. We could have died. He could have died. I hold onto the ladder with one hand while I grip his chin with the other. “Are you okay?”

“If you wanted a swim, you should have told me.” He runs a hand down his face, wiping away the residual water, and he grins.

Once we’re at the top of the ladder, he slings his arm around my shoulders while rivers of water run off us. The terrace has been cleared out, and the staff eye us as we walk past.

“Are you okay?” one of the bartenders calls to us as he cleans up his station.

“Went for a swim,” Wyatt calls back. “Water is refreshing.”

The guy chuckles, and I shake my head.

Outside the hotel, Calshae, Nikki, and Isaac are bent over laughing about something while the rest of my friends are trying to coax them toward Front Street so we can walk home.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Isaac climbed the moon gate and got banned from the hotel for life. They took a copy of his license and everything.” Nikki blinks and cocks her head. “Are you wet?”

“I went for a swim, and Ellie came too,” Wyatt says.

Isaac claps Wyatt on the back and launches into the story of when they were high and jumped off a roof into a shallow pool. As they walk, water forms rivers on the ground from Wyatt’s soaked clothing. I shiver as a breeze sweeps across Front Street.

While I peer into the starless sky, Nikki recounts Isaac’s moon gate escapades, and I wonder whether my mother is right—that the depths will keep dragging us down until one of us drowns.

Chapter Twenty

Wyatt

Present Day

I toss another pebble into the water, and it skips across the surface. A day and a half left. Annoyance floats above me like a cloud. Ellie could have cleared her schedule. She could have breakfast with her mother any day.

“That was a good one,” Calshae says from her seat on the blanket.

“There are no good rocks on this beach.”

“We pay a lot of money for there to benorocks on this beach. Every time you find a pebble, I consider firing our beach maintenance people.”

“Not worth it. Not high tourist season.” I bend down to grab another tiny pebble and rub it between my fingers. “Thanks for coming out here with me. I’m not good at being alone.”

“Sometimes being alone is good for you.” She sifts sand with her hands. “Any progress with Ellie?”

“No idea. She’s hard to read. Something is holding her back.”

“Probably the addiction thing.” Calshae doesn’t miss a beat.

I turn on her, and I’m sure my frustration spews out of me. Of course that’s a factor, but during every conversation, there’s an undercurrent I can’t quite ride to its logical conclusion. There’s something else.

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