Page 58 of A Dream of Stars and Curses

But I know enough about him to understand that I really like him, so I think it’s fair that his rejection stings at least a little. I get why he said no. It still hurts, or maybe it hurts more because I understand? Maybe I’d have decided the same if our roles were reversed. I don’t know. How would I? I’m just a dumb little human.

I sniff against the coming tears and decide to take a detour home. If I’m going to the forest, I’m sure Lady wants to come. I could do with burying my face in her neck. I take a somewhat overgrown, easy-to-miss path to get back to the park, and the moment I enter the meadow, I see it.

Smoke.

How didn’t I smell it? Now that I see it, the stench of something burning fills my nostrils and tries to choke my throat. I must have been so absorbed in Leverett’s rejection that I—

That’s my house.

The smoke. It’s coming from my house.

My body doesn’t react the way I always hoped it would when faced with tragedy. I always thought I’d run, stay calm, and do something useful, but I go numb instead. My feet keep moving towards home, but I don’t feel anything. It’s like the emotional part of my brain or my heart has shut down because it doesn’t know how to rationalise that my home is burning down. Or maybe it’s just one thing too many and I’d already checked out.

Bonnie. I need to call her, and—

Is Lady still inside?

Something snaps back into place, and I start running. There’s already a fire engine, and Kate stands on the opposite side of the road with my pup by her feet. Lady whines and trots towards me when she sees me. Kate hurries after her.

‘I tried to call you,’ Kate says, ‘but I didn’t get through. We haven’t heard anything from Bonnie.’

I start to shake my head, though I’m not sure why. I’m not sure anything else feels appropriate. ‘She’s at her internship.’ I look towards my house. Maybe it’s not that bad—it hasn’t crumbled in on itself, and I don’t see any flames licking out of the windows. It actually looks mostly undamaged from the outside. There’s a bit of char around the door, but nothing’s collapsed that I can see. ‘How bad is it?’

‘They’re still assessing the damage,’ Kate says. ‘I was on my way home with my dogs when I heard the fire alarm from your open window. I didn’t see any smoke, so the fire brigade got here quickly. Once I knew they were on their way, I opened the door to get Lady out.’

One glance at the door leaning against the house tells me she didn’t exactly have a spare key I didn’t know about. It looks like an axe went through.

So if nothing else, we’ll need to replace that. I’ll cope if that’s the worst of the damage.

‘How did you know Lady was in there?’ I ask.

Kate smiles, and oddly enough, it still puts me at ease despite the situation. ‘I didn’t, but I also didn’t want to take the risk. As I said, I tried to call you but you didn’t answer. I’ll replace the door, of course.’

I nod, but tears burn my eyes again. ‘Thank you. For getting her out and calling the fire brigade. What happened? Do they know?’

Kate shakes her head. ‘No, and they may not find out. Whatever caused the fire has likely burnt up with it.’

A chill goes through me. What if someone just waited for me to leave and— I can’t go getting paranoid at every little thing or I’ll never sleep peacefully again. First I suspect Sunitha of stealing Bonnie’s necklace, now I think someone torched our house on purpose? It’s more likely that—

The chill turns into a shiver up my back.

‘What if it’s the curse?’ I whisper to Kate.

Her smile turns sympathetic... or pitiful. I’m not sure which. Do I sound that paranoid that she pities me?

‘I doubt it, Esta. But I’ll look into it if you like.’

I nod. ‘I need to call Bonnie. We... we need to figure out where to stay.’ Even if the fire damage isn’t that bad, we’re still missing a front door. What happens now? Is there such a thing as temporary emergency doors?

‘Nonsense,’ Kate says. ‘You can both stay with me until your house is sorted. I don’t have an empty room, but I can make you two comfortable on the sofas. I’ve already called a friend to replace your door; he assured me that he’ll treat it as his priority. You’ll have a new door before the end of tomorrow. They’ll board up the opening in the meantime.’

Lady shoves her head into my palm and whines up at me. I go to my knees and hug her. I’m so glad she’s okay.

I peek up at Kate. ‘I can’t ask you to do that.’

‘It’s no trouble.’ Her smile turns inquisitive—not something I’ve seen often on her. It’s like we’re about to share a secret. I like it, or I do until she says, ‘Or do you have somewhere else to stay? Perhaps with Leverett?’

My heart drops, and I hide my face in Lady’s ruff. ‘Seems unlikely,’ I mumble. ‘We...’ I almost say we broke up, but we weren’t dating, so that doesn’t work.

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