Little Spark

27 - Shadowboy

The moment I step foot in the park, a mass of clouds slips over the sun and drops a palpable shadow over the area like a shroud. A chilly breeze whistles in my ear, and I turn my head and catch sight of the park's fountain; featured at its center is a large Lady Justice statue just like the one at the blue house. Her presence feels like a bad omen.

Reign suddenly appears a short distance away where the edge of the park abuts the woods. He beckons me over. My heart is pounding, and I see Candis' face on the inside of my eyelids every time I blink, but my feet won't listen when I tell them to go the other way. When I get to him, he pushes the branches of a shaggy bush aside, and I step into a small nook hidden behind the wide trunk of an oak tree. Once the bushes fall back into place, we're completely concealed. And alone.

I've still got my back to him, and now I'm freaking out. I shouldn't be here. I promised Candis....

He touches my arm, and I whip around in a panic.

"Whoa," he says, startled. "Are you okay?"

My lips part in shock when I see him up close: he's wearing his glasses, and tufts of blond hair stick out at random angles. There are faint, dark circles beneath his green eyes, which are drained of their shade-shifting fire, and he's paler than usual, which makes his scar more prominent. He looks like a whacked-out ghost of himself.

Without thinking, I place the back of my hand against his forehead. "From the looks of it, I should be asking if you're okay...."

He smiles, and—no joke—the clouds shift. We both look at the sky as the sun reemerges, and every inch of our surroundings is kissed with warmth and light. When we look at each other again, his eye-fire is back full-force.

He steps forward and takes my face in his halfway-gloved hands, and I freeze like a deer in headlights. I feel the familiar tingle at the base of my palms and try to squeeze my hands shut, but of course it doesn't work. In the silence, the sparking sounds as loud as machine-gun fire.

The tension shatters. "I see I've still got it," he says.

I push his hands away. "Seriously? You're conceited even when you look like a hobo?"

He actually blushes. Like full-on pink cheeks.

"Are you blushing?"

"Can we sit please?" he asks, turning even redder.

"Not until you tell me why we're hiding in the bushes."

"We're here because it's safe," he says as he drops down in front of the oak. "I used to bring my sister here."

I kneel across him and sit back on my heels. "You have a sister?"

"Had. She's dead. That's part of the reason I asked you to come. You mentioned my scar by the river, and since I already feel like I'm in the freaking Matrix, I figured I'd tell you the story."

"Alright," I say, inexplicably comfortable with him all of a sudden. "Regale me, Shadowboy."

He looks away and sighs. "So I had a younger sister, River. She was a Clairvo like your little cousin—"

My eyes go wide and I open my mouth to release a slew of expletives, but he puts his hand up to stop me. "Please don't interrupt me," he says. "The only way I'll get this out is by saying it all at once. You can ask questions when I'm done. Deal?"

I gulp and nod even though I'm screaming on the inside. He knows about Ruby?!

"Okay, so like I said, my sister was a Clairvo. My parents tried to keep it under wraps because Oskur... well, let's just say he has some strange ideas about their abilities. I think he thinks they can tell him how to take over the world or something. When he found out about her—which was inevitable—he asked my parents if he could talk to her.