Page 104 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

“No,” he said.

She blinked at him. “Did you miss the fact monsters attacked because of me? That I’m a total freak?”

“Don’t be silly,” said Marcy. “You’re not a freak.”

ChapterThirty-Four

Stratton

Austin cleared his throat,still holding Cadee to him. His gaze darted to Marcy and then to the rest of us. Worry slashed at his mouth. “Uh, maybe we should elect someoneotherthan the woman with the pet squirrel who keeps wanting to take home monster parts, as our spokesperson. Just a thought. Also, I need to get Cadee home. Her father is going to be worried sick about her if news of this reaches him.”

“Oh, it’s reached him,” said Michael, coming around the side of the building, looking livid.

Dave and Jim were next to him. They had dual expressions that said everyone was about to get a dressing-down.

Jim thumbed in Michael’s direction. “He came to Dave’s looking for his daughter. Her friend told him she was headed to some party not far from campus. Shieber then informed him of the monsters headed here. He took the newsgreat. In related news, there is now a broken picnic table in front of Dave’s place.”

Michael shot Jim a hard glare.

Jim grinned. “Was it something I said?”

Michael looked as if he was about to yell at Cadee.

Astria pushed on Stratton more.

He set her down, and she stepped toward Michael. “She’s safe and unharmed. I promise. I know you’re upset, and that you were probably super worried, but she’s okay.”

Michael swallowed hard, obviously struggling with his emotions. “Craig told me something years ago. Something I didn’t want to believe. It was about that damn house y’all lived in. He said Stevie didn’t run off without saying goodbye. He said…he said all of you vanished into thin air.”

Astria sighed. “He was telling you the truth. We did.”

“Could Cadee have vanished tonight?” he asked.

Astria’s gaze moved to the ground. “I honestly don’t know. Mostly because I don’t understand what happened eighteen years ago. Maybe.”

Michael went for his daughter and drew her into his arms.

Astria peered down at her arms. “One second I was in the house, the next I was states away, in a field, covered in these.”

Elis’s attention moved to Stratton. “Are those what I think they are on her? Fae markings?”

Stratton gave a nod.

Astria’s attention moved to him quickly. A crease appeared on her forehead. “You know what they are?”

“I do,” he said, his throat suddenly dry as he tried to figure out how they’d ended up on her.

She touched one on her forearm. “Do you know what they mean?”

“Yes,” he replied.

Suspicion filled her green eyes as she continued to touch the sigil absentmindedly.

Stratton motioned to it. “That one is to channel power. To focus magik.”

She stopped making contact with it and touched her shirt instead.

It took him a moment to realize Astria was clutching something that was beneath her shirt. “Oh,” she said, her voice trailing off. No one spoke for a moment. She met Stratton’s gaze again. “Can you tell me what the rest of them mean? They’ve been on me for nearly twenty years, and I’ve never known what they meant.”

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