Page 44 of A Clash of Stars

I made eye contact with him, and the golden light kissed his copper skin and illuminated his bright emerald green eyes. He turned to walk when we were hit with darkness. The sun left the sky, and the moon’s light didn’t shine as brightly as the night before. We approached the side of the Magique Terre Mountains when we abruptly halted. The tunnels were dark and overgrown with vines and flowers.

“We must go through the tunnels to save time to make it to the Sea des Glaises, our final destination. Everyone, grab a torch. Madok will lead the front with me, and Evander and Clara will take the back.”

Griffin said in such a commanding voice that he could’ve told me anything and I would’ve done it. I noticed the annoyed glance that Madok swept over Evander and me, but I ignored it. We grabbed the torches and began the trek through the mountain. As we began walking, Evander’s steps inched closer to me.

“I saw you were talking with my sister. What bad things did she have to say?” Evander chuckled at the ending of the question, almost making it seem more like a statement.

“She said very kind things about you. She mentioned you took her to see Athiana’s tears even though you thought it was too girly.” I nudged my shoulderagainst his arm. He took a deep breath looking ahead at his sister before he turned his head to me.

“I would do just about anything for the people I love. I’d move the mountains, destroy a million armies, and even lay under the stars when needed.”

My heart was struck with an overwhelming feeling of insight into him and what hides behind his tough guy appearance. I had many questions about who he was and what he liked to do, and I craved to know more.

A rumble behind us radiated inside the tunnels.

Evander grabbed my hand and told me to run. We started sprinting in the narrow halls of darkness. The rocks and dirt started to swirl and fall around us, thudding once they hit the clay ground. We approached two passageways, and the front of our group led down the right.

As we approached the entrance to the passage, vast chunks of boulders fell and blocked our path, leaving Evander and me separated from the rest of the group. We began to run back, but my satchel was caught under a large boulder as it fell to the ground, pinning it along with the book under it.

“You must leave the bag, Clara. We have to go.” Evander said with such concern that I knew I needed to leave. It pained me to leave that book behind. I knew it was only hypothetical, but it felt important to me—drawn to me.

He pulled me in the other direction and led me down the other passage, still running. Finally, the rumbling stopped, and we realized it was only us two, separated from the others by rocks and dirt. We had to continue our journey down this passage together.

Chapter 11

Icoughed as the dust settled around us and let my lungs fill back up with somewhat clean air.

Struggling to breathe normally, I had to sit down and rest. I leaned against the cool rock behind me and peered at Evander.

His eyes were concerned for me, and he quickly walked to my side and slid down the wall next to me. When we were finally caught up with our breath from the running, the adrenaline started to fade out of me, and the heat started to rise within me. Evander’s smirk rose as he studied me carefully, neither of us saying anything. It was as if we didn’t need words to share our feelings.

His voice was deep and luxurious as he spoke, “We have to keep moving, just in case this tunnel decides to cave in again.”

I took a breath and stood up in response to his statement. We started walking down the dark passageway with only one torch lighting the way, because of me. When I lit the torch, Evander didn’t seem impressed, which sparked an insecurity in me that it shouldn’t have.

“How far do you think this passage is?” I questioned him.

He looked ahead and answered, “I’m not sure. There was a reason why Griffin didn’t choose this one, and I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Tons of thoughts ran through my head. What would happen if we didn’t get out or if there wasn’t a way out?

“Stop worrying about that pretty little head of yours. We’ll be fine,” Evander uttered. He turned his head around to catch a glimpse of me and smiled.

“When Griffin and I were younger lads, we pretended we were on a great adventure and were always looking for make-believe treasure. Griffin and I were pretty close as kids. We did everything together; he was like a brother to me. Although he always won our adventure competitions, which ticked me off as a seven-year-old, I didn’t mind losing to him.”

I smiled, “I thought you didn’t like to lose? You’ve made it clear to me that winning is your only option.”

He didn’t answer for what felt like a million minutes.

“I do always win, Clara, but sometimes, allowing someone to achieve success is okay, too,” he said proudly.

I thought that was a very humbling response to my somewhat rude question. I thought about all the times he took a step back during our battling sessions at Sefida, how he took my last chocolate chip cookie, or even how he helped me hide my powers during the beginning ceremony of the variance.

His emotions and actions gave me whiplash. Some days I wanted to know him more. Others, I just wanted him to fall off a cliff. A giggle came out of Evander, and I turned to him with a questioning look.

“What? What’s so funny?” I started questioning whether I had said that in my head or out loud. He finally stopped laughing.

“You want me to fall off a cliff? That seems like a gruesome way to go, Clara.” The way he said my name made my skin spread with goosebumps. It frustrates me just how much he affects me; I know he can tell too. He halted his steps and turned his body to face me.

---