Page 284 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“She’s a clairvoyant super-spy for the CIA. I think she’s an assassin, too. She’s cool, you’ll like her.”

Rachel tried to figure out how to react to the onslaught of information I was providing her on my friends in the Valley.

It was ten o’clock by the time we turned onto Bo Cove Road. Reuben turned onto Sunset Lake Road towards his house, and I continued up the mountain to the church. Even in the dark, I could never get over the beauty of driving down into the valley. The trees enclosed and surrounded it like a self-contained planet in its own corner of the universe.

Alex, Jake, and Sophie were sitting outside waiting for us. Alex was standing behind Sophie, her arms draped over her friend’s shoulders and her chin resting on the top of her head. Jake lounged on the couch beside Sophie, his feet up on a small stool. A few small puppies were playing at their feet, and a larger dog sat beside Jake as if it were guarding the pups.

Rachel and I made our way to the front, and Jake stood and hurried to offer his assistance.

I stopped short on the porch, staring at the dogs and trying to believe my eyes. The adult dog was clearly a wolf, huge and furry with an angry face, a scar on his eye, and a missing front foot. The puppies just looked like puppies, but they were pretty big.

Rachel was staring in fear. “Is... are those—”

“Don’t worry about the dogs,” Alex said. Her Russian accent and low, harsh, gravely voice always seemed to surprise people when they first heard her speak, because nobody expectedthat soundto come out of someone that skinny and pretty. “We have an agreement with the pack.”

I looked at her and sighed. “Alex... you’re so fucking weird.”

Ihelped Rachel getsettled, and then I went to my own room. Alex met me in the doorway. “Alice, we need to talk,” she said.

“Um, okay? What’s wrong?”

“Were you planning on staying here for any length of time?”

I hesitated. I’d thought I would spend at least a few nights here instead of at Reuben’s house because I needed a break from him emotionally, and I was trying to remind myself that I liked him, but that I wasn’t in love with him.

“I had planned on it,” I said. “Is that okay?”

“Yes, you are always welcome here,” she said, but then she added, “but we are filling up faster than expected. The Summer semester starts soon, and the sports and band students are coming back...”

I knew what she was trying to tell me. She needed the room. And we’d brought an extra body.

So much for emotional distance. “Maybe I can get Sophie and Mark to help me pack tomorrow.”

“I don’t mean to kick you out–”

“No, it’s fine,” I said, steeling myself and letting the quick flash of betrayal pass me by. Alex didn’t lie to me. We’d brought another person, and I wasn’t here that often. It didn’t make sense for me to have my own room if I wasn’t going to use it.I let the flash of betrayal pass, acknowledged that she was right and I didn’t need to feel hurt about it, and tried to shake it off.

“We won’t need it until July,” she said. “You’re free to stay here for a while. You have plenty of time.”

That night, I couldn’t sleep. Reuben had texted me goodnight, and that he’d like me to come by the house in the morning for our ritual of coffee and planning out the day. He said he had a surprise for me. I had mixed feelings about the situation, and about basically being kicked out of the Valley House. I couldn’t sleep because I’d had a ton of coffee to keep me awake while driving, so I hauled my telescope outside and set it up in the grass.

It was a stunning, cloudless night, and I could see so many stars. The moon was new and dark which only added to the brightness of the stars I could see. Placing my cell phone over the eyepiece of the telescope, I managed to take a few photos. On a whim, I uploaded them to TikTok and created a quick video, explaining that I had left for a break from the city and was enjoying the beautiful mountains of North Carolina.

I really wanted to show them to Reuben. He was probably asleep, but I wasn’t sure who else to text them to. And I knew he’d understand, so I sent the photos anyway.

He answered a few minutes later.

Reuben: Beautiful

Alice: I love them.

Reuben: If you’d like, we can go up to the observatory while we’re here.

Alice: Yes please

Reuben: The lake out by my place is beautiful at night, too.

Alice: Everything up here is beautiful. I think this mountain is the most beautiful place in the world.

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