When the Stars Align

My Life Changes When I Take a Wrong Turn

The next morning, my mom doesn't ask any questions of where I was last night or why I have bags under my eyes, which I appreciate. She makes eggs for my brother and I. Alec texts me at the last minute as I'm about to head out the door for school:

Alec: Sry, can't drive u today. Had to get to school early for my exam.

Me: I wish u had told me earlier so I could ask Jake, but it's cool. I'll walk. Need some time to myself anyway.

Alec: Sry again, c u in 2nd block?

Me: C u then.

"Bye Mom!" I yell.

Without waiting for a reply, I step out into the streets. The sun has just barely risen over the horizon, so it's pink around where the sun is and then fades into darkness. I stare at it for a minute. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. When we see light, we think of good, and when we see dark, we think of evil. The light and dark (or good and evil) balance each other out. Without good, there is no evil, but without evil there is no good.

I take the back way that Sophie and I used to take before Alec drove us. It's a lot faster than the normal route, and I'm already going to be late. I turn down a dark alley. I realized quickly that I had turned the wrong way when I reached a dead end. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a moving blur, but when I turn around, there's nothing there.

"Hello?" I ask.

Silence. I take out my phone and text Sophie:

Took wrong turn on back way to school. Lost. Help.

I slip my phone back in my pocket and start retracing my steps. All of the sudden, I feel myself being slammed against the brick wall of the alley, my head hitting it hard. I crumple to the ground, my vision going blurry, but I don't blackout.

"Get up," grunts a man standing over me.

He has a gun pointed at me. Leaning against the wall for support, I struggle to stand up. I notice a girl about my age standing with her arms crossed beside him. Both of them have a black streak in their hair. He snaps his fingers at her and she immediately closes her eyes. A second or two later, a grey van appears out of nowhere.

Is this some kind of crazy dream?

It certainly feels real enough.

"Get in the car," he says with the gun still pointed at me.

I look up, searching for a way out. The man grabs me roughly by the arm.

"Let her go, Hotchner!" says a voice that I recognize.

It's the boy from the club. Again. Surprisingly though, my captors turn towards him, so they can see him. He's standing a few yards away, how he got there, I have no idea. In his hand is a sword. The man that's still holding me tightly by my arm moves so quickly that he's a blur. He's suddenly standing behind me, one arm around my throat, the other holding the cold barrel of the gun to my temple.

"Don't come any closer, Ètoile," the man says.

The boy moves and ends up with his sword pointed at the girl. He's behind her, his sword digging into her lower back.

"Back away, and no one gets hurt," he says.

The man standing behind me chuckles. "You hurt her, and I kill one of yours."

The boy hesitates, and then calls his bluff. He runs her clean through. I scream as she crumples to the ground, her eyes lifeless. My captor cocks the gun threateningly but doesn't shoot.

The boy smirks. "I knew she was too valuable to you, you can't kill her."

"I may have orders to keep her alive, but that doesn't mean I can't make her wish she was dead," he says.

I notice his fingernails are cut long and sharp, very inhuman like. One of his fingernails is a sickly green color. All too late, the boy realizes what's happening. The man slices a long, deep gash in my arm swiftly as the boy lunges. The man steps away from me and starts to fire at the boy, but he's a blur of shadows. I creep along the wall as silently as I can and then begin to run. I run back out to the main road and keep running. I end up in the park, out of breath. I lay on the grass, struggling to catch my breath. After a minute or two, I get up and try to find out which direction is my house. As I'm looking around, I notice the boy propped up against a tree, watching me.

When he sees that I noticed him, he approaches me.

"You need to leave me alone," I say.

He does that one eyebrow thing again. "I did just save your life, you know."

"Oh please, my life was perfectly normal until you started showing up," I reply.

The corner of his mouth twitches into a smirk.

"I've watched you your whole life, Nova. There's so much more to all of this than you could possibly know, but let me tell you this. The man that attacked you in the alley? There are more of them, and they're coming. His green fingernail? Poison. If you don't believe me, look at your arm."

I looked down at my arm to find it oozing green.

"You have to come with me, I can protect you," he continues. "Please."

"You murdered a human being," I said quietly.

He shook his head. "Those two were anything but human, and I know you don't understand that right now, but you have to trust me."

It all becomes too much. My legs give out from under me. The boy catches me and swings me up into his arms, and then I pass out.