UNIQUE (A Powers Novel)

Nineteen

What happened to the mousey girl, and the entire Healing Hands test, has my gut twisting harder than it was before. I've hardly had time to process what happened to the missing test subjects before Forrest threw me into this mess. What I need is a way to escape.

And I know just the place.

When I knock on Celeste's door, she doesn't open right away. I wring my hands, wondering what time it is. Maybe she's asleep. Just as I'm about to give up, the door opens a crack. It's all she ever gives me. I slip inside and push it closed until hearing the click.

Celeste's room is dark, as it always is at night. She prefers the light from the world outside over the lamp. The sheets on the bed are in disarray, and she sits atop them in her black cotton matching pajama top and pants. The buttons on the top are one off, leaving the lapel resting at an odd angle. Celeste doesn't seem to notice. Her gaze is on the night sky.

"You walk in darkness today," she says as if it's the most ordinary statement in the world.

Moving closer to the windows, I rub the heel of my palm into my eyes. "Been a long day."

"Life takes us on a current that rages and flows. Fight the course and find yourself in darkness."

I sigh, looking for the moon with hands in the pockets of my drawstring pants, leaning a shoulder against the window. Fight the course of the raging current here... If only she knew. Or maybe she does. My gaze draws back to her. The lights from the city illuminate her pale skin. Skyscrapers and flashing billboards making the colors on her face shift from blue hues to red, purple. Something about this place effects Celeste. From where she's perched on the bed, her eyes are dull, and her skin is pale, hair wild.

"What do you see out there tonight, Celeste?" I ask, looking back out the window.

Bare feet pad against the swirling mosaic rug on her floor. Then she stands beside me, one hand pressed to the glass, gazing up at stars I can't see. When she stands close to the window like this, the color slowly returns to her skin. Her eyes become a vibrant shade of green. Even though her hair is unkempt, it shines brighter the longer she stands close to the window. Like the cosmos breathes life into her.

"Cassiopeia's will fall from her throne." Celeste traces a finger across the glass. "Andromeda's chains are breaking. The sea will part, and the hero and the stag will ride in for liberation." Her finger slides down, leaving a smudge, and I can see the creases at the edge of her mouth. "He's still so far away..."

A rare few Divinics have the ability to read the stars. But Celeste seems more in tune with the cosmos than any other I've ever met. So far I've discerned that Celeste can read auras and the cosmos. What else can she do? Somehow I can tell she is capable of amazing things, but her isolation prevents her from truly tapping into her abilities.

The more time I spend with Celeste, the more I connect with her. Like a sister. I want to set her free.

"Paternal bonds always tie. The day will come soon," Celeste says. "They will shelter you from the storm."

I pull my gaze away from the city to find Celeste's eyes locked on me. Well, not really on me, but around me. She's reading me again. At first, I found it unnerving as if I couldn't have any secrets from her. Now I don't care. It's comforting to be able to talk to someone without fear of being judged.

A weak smile curls the corner of my lips, but it fades when I see the way her brows pull together as she looks around me. The way she bites her lip and how her chest heaves as she shudders a breath.

"I'm sorry, Ugene," she says in that soft voice.

"Why? You just told me I would see my parents. You have nothing to be—"