A Radiant Sky

26

Mist swirled around us. I opened my eyes, felt the floor beneath us, saw my bed, my dresser, the window that looked out over the mountains. Asher had brought me home. We were kneeling, facing each other. “I’m sorry it took me this long to realize that fighting for you was just as important as fighting for the universe.”

He grinned, but his eyes were serious. “I’ll always fight for you, Skye,” he said. “We’ll fight for each other now. No matter what. Promise?”

“Promise.”

I smoothed his hair back, and something changed in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped it with my own.

This time when we kissed I knew it was different. With hands that trembled slightly, he peeled off my soaking wet tank top. My hair got caught, but he laughed and gently untangled it. I slid off his jacket and pulled the faded black T-shirt, still damp, over his head. I pressed myself against the smooth, olive brown skin of his chest, and he traced his fingers up my back. My breath caught, and when I hesitated, he pulled me closer.

“Come here,” he whispered. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lowered me gently to the floor, spreading his old army jacket beneath us. “Is this okay?”

I nodded, laughing softly.

“What?” he asked, smiling back. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

I took a deep breath. “I was thinking,” I said. “That I hope we don’t burn the whole house down this time.”

“Well,” Asher said, that infuriating, mischievous grin spreading across his face. “Damned if that won’t stop me from trying.”

I laughed. “I think I can control myself now.”

“We’ll see about that.”

And there, in my bedroom, where I’d first caused the heat between us to grow and where we’d played checkers all those months ago with the snow falling softly against the windowpane, there, we found each other’s arms, and the heat grew hotter still, and I kissed him, and he kissed me, and we made a promise right then and there never to leave each other’s side again. Not in war. Not in peace. Not if we lived or—and we didn’t say it outright, but I knew we were both thinking it—if we didn’t survive the night. Because I knew he was the one. For the first time in my entire life, as we lay beside each under the darkening, radiant sky, I didn’t have to think about it. I just knew.

“Skye! Come on, let’s go, we’re going to be late!”

I pinned a tiny purple flower in my hair and took a step back to stare at myself in the full-length mirror. The dress Aunt Jo had given me fell in soft, ethereal folds, fading from white to a dark, dusky blue where it grazed the floor. It was the color of the sky just after sunset—or just before dawn.

It’s always darkest before the dawn.

And it was going to get dark tonight. Before we could move on.

I’d pulled my hair in a loose, low side bun, but black tendrils escaped around my face. I wished so badly that my mom was here to see this, that she could have a chance to see who I’d become.

As I looked in the full-length mirror, my eyes flashed back at me, silver, mercurial. I was ready for this. Whatever would come, whatever was going to happen—I had never been more ready.

I walked to the top of the staircase and peeked over the side. Asher stood in the downstairs hall, looking good as always in his jeans and boots and beat-up army jacket, trying to flatten his messed-up hair in the mirror by the door.

“No tux?” I asked, smiling. I knew full well that he didn’t have a tux.

Asher turned around, and his mouth hung open a little. He put a hand to his heart. “God,” he said, looking a little bit at a loss. “You are so beautiful.”

“Stop,” I replied, blushing. I walked down the stairs slowly, careful not to step on my dress.

“No, really,” Asher said. He took my hand and spun me around. “For once I don’t know what to say.”

“Maybe this will help.” I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer.

“Skye!” Earth came bounding out of the living room, wearing an elaborate tutu and ballet slippers. “We’re going to a dance!” She threw her arms around my legs and squinted up at me. “You look like a princess.”

“You look,” Aunt Jo said from behind her, “like an angel.”

Aaron came in too, followed by James. He put his arm around Aunt Jo. “I’m a lucky man,” he said. “Not only am I going to prom with three beautiful women—”

“Dad!” Earth rolled her eyes. “I’m just a girl.”

“—but I’m going to prom with three kick-ass heroines as well. I want you three to know that whatever happens tonight, I am honored to fight beside you.”

Asher coughed from over by the door, looking awkward.

“Asher,” Aunt Jo said, extending her hands to him. “I know we haven’t always been allies in the past, but if Skye loves you, well, then so do I.”

He blushed scarlet. “Nah, I mean I—” Then he seemed to think better of himself. He straightened, and his face grew serious. “I would never let anything happen to her. Not as long as I’m alive.”

A car honked from the driveway.

“That’s the others,” I said. I looked nervously at the group in front of me. “Ready?”

Aunt Jo glanced at Aaron, who squeezed Earth to his side. Asher took my hand.

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

A white stretch limo was parked in our driveway.

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.

“Bonjour!” Cassie popped her head out of the sunroof. “Your ride, messieurs et mesdemoiselles.”

“Cassie, what the—”

“I know, I know,” she said. “At first I sort of wondered, is this excessive? And then I was like, I am excessive.” She grinned. “Besides, I figured, you know, not to be all grim or whatever, but if this is our last night on earth, we should kind of live it up while we can, right?”

I couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re crazy,” I said.

“But you love me.”

“If I could go back to when I was five and pick a new best friend, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Okay then,” she said. “Now that we got that yearbook message out of the way, let’s blow this popsicle stand.” Her eyes slid past me and landed on Asher. She grinned. “Skye,” she whispered. “I really hope you win so you can tell me that story later.”

“I’ll do what I can.”

“We’re going to take the car,” Aunt Jo said, coming up behind me. “We’ll see you there.”

I kissed her on the cheek. “See you there,” I said, and I was surprised when she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight.

“Be safe,” she whispered fiercely into my ear. “Be so, so safe.”

“I’m going to make it through this alive,” I promised. “We all are.”

“Well.” She tucked a tendril of hair behind my ear. “Just in case.”

Asher and I climbed into the limo and squeezed in between Dan and Ian. Across from us, Raven and Devin held hands and grinned at each other. She looked luminous in a simple black column dress, her blonde hair pulled back in a chic knot. Devin practically glowed in his tux. He nodded at Asher, who squeezed my hand and nodded back.

“Promward bound!” Cassie yelled, and the driver stepped on the gas. As we pulled out onto the road, the stars twinkling above us, I tried to suppress the feeling that our lives would never be the same after tonight.

Even without the war, I knew mine wouldn’t.

Once we were on the road, Cassie’s eyes glinted mischievously. I looked at Dan for reassurance.

“Don’t look at me,” he said. “I have no idea what she has planned.”

“Just a little surprise.” Cassie winked. From behind her, she pulled a bottle of champagne.

“Dude,” said Ian. “Really?”

“It’s nonalcoholic,” she said. “So we can toast. I’m not actually encouraging us to all get tipsy right before we try to stop an ancient war from happening. Seriously.”

She pulled a stack of plastic champagne flutes from a bag by her feet and popped the bottle. Sparkling apple juice spritzed everywhere.

“Cassie!” I cried.

“Sorry! Sorry. Okay, here’s one for Ian . . .” She handed one to Ian. “And Dan. And one for you, Skye. And for Asher—yay, by the way! Welcome back—”

“Cassie . . .”

“Okay, okay. Devin, you get one too, of course. And lastly . . .” She caught Raven’s eye, and Raven stiffened. “But certainly not least, one for Raven.” She handed Raven a flute, and they shared a look. “The newest member of our group, with the best hair. I was wrong about you. You’ve more than made it up to us. I’m sorry.”

Against all odds, Raven’s face broke out into a genuine smile.

“I’m sorry, too,” she said. “Thank you, Cassie. You have, er . . .” She paused. “Very nice hair, too.”

I laughed and held up my glass. “Even if this is the last night of our lives,” I said, “and it’s not going to be, believe me—let’s make it the best.” Cassie, Dan, Ian, Raven, Devin, and Asher held up their glasses to clink mine.

“To seventeen,” Cassie said, her eyes misty. It was the toast we had made at my birthday party six months ago, before any of this had started. Just me, Cassie, and Dan. My two best friends from childhood. Dan caught my eye and grinned.

“The year it all falls into place,” he finished.

The gym had been transformed. The entrance was strung up with hundreds of paper lanterns, forming a tunnel of light that we had to walk through on our way inside. Asher grabbed my hand and squeezed it. Just ahead of us, Cassie walked next to Dan, the soft light blurring her red-blond hair like a vintage photograph. Dan looked at her, and for one really beautiful moment, he just smiled. There was no worry in his eyes. He leaned in close to whisper something in my best friend’s ear, and I think I actually saw her blush. She pushed him lightly.

On the other side, the tunnel opened up into the End of the World.

Someone—I glanced at Cassie—had gone crazy with the papier-mâché, creating a giant chasm in the gymnasium floor to simulate an earthquake. A smaller version of the Statue of Liberty leaned off-kilter in the corner, surrounded by a deep snowdrift of cotton balls. By the half-court line, the stern of the Titanic rose into the air. Tiny plastic LEGO people clung for dear life, some suspended by strings to show them plummeting to their icy fate. “Check it out!” Cassie spun in a circle. “It’s the end of the world!”

I couldn’t help glancing at Asher. He didn’t seem to find the theme very funny.

“Well, guys,” said Cassie. “Who knows what’s going to happen tonight, but I think we better get in a dance or two, right?”

“For once,” Dan said, “I’m with this one. M’lady?” He held out his hand, and she took it proudly.

“You guys,” she said, walking backward so she could talk to us as Dan led her out onto the dance floor. “I have the studliest prom date!”

Devin guided Raven onto the dance floor, and Ian wandered off to the punch.

“How about it?” Asher held out his hand to me. “One dance before it all goes down?”

I hesitated. “I don’t know. Shouldn’t we find Aunt Jo, Aaron, and James, and go over the strategy one more time?”

“Skye,” Asher leaned in close, and I felt that familiar shiver up my arms. “If I know you, you know that plan cold. Let yourself have five minutes of fun.” He pulled back and flashed me a grin, then gestured to the dance floor.

I glanced at Dan, who was twirling Cassie in circles around us. She laughed and laughed, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. How did she let everything just roll off her shoulders like that?

I took a deep breath.

“All right,” I said, and placed my hand in his. “But no fancy stuff.”

Asher laughed. “I’m all fancy stuff. Come on, let me show you my moves.” I rolled my eyes and let him lead me onto the dance floor. Asher wrapped his arms around me, and I leaned my cheek against his T-shirt. As we turned slowly, I knew that being here with him was giving me strength.

“I don’t know what you’ve done to me, Skye,” Asher whispered in my ear. “But I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.” I pulled back to look at him. Now that I had him back, was this the last time we’d ever dance together? I had finally found him only to face the thought of losing him. There was so much I wanted to say, but I was afraid if I opened my mouth, I would cry.

Instead, I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

Over his shoulder, I spotted Devin, standing alone as Raven walked off to scout for Guardians and Rebels. He caught my eye.

“Asher,” I said softly. “Can you give me a minute?” Asher turned around and caught Devin’s gaze. Something passed between them, something I wasn’t sure I was supposed to see. The hatred of those early days was gone. It was replaced with a tense agreement. An understanding.

After everything we’d been through, who could have predicted that Asher and Devin would find themselves on the same side, voluntarily? That they would take the same risk, at the same time, without even knowing? At the end of it all, they had so much more in common than they ever realized.

Asher nodded and said in a low voice, “I’ll be waiting.”

I made my way across the dance floor to where Devin stood. He watched me approach with a look on his face that was hard to read.

“You look . . . wow.” He shook his head, and I blushed.

“Would you dance with me, Devin?” He looked surprised, but he reached out, tentatively, for my hand. “Just one more memory,” I said, and led him onto the dance floor.

Around us, the paper lanterns glowed, like fireflies, in the dark gym.

“Devin,” I said slowly. “I just wanted to say thank you, for helping me find Asher. It meant the world to me.”

He swallowed sharply.

“You showed me how to have the happiness I never thought was possible for me. I owed you the same.”

We danced in silence as the music wrapped around us like the softest blanket. Whatever happened, I would never forget him.

I’d realized something then. I’d had this vision before, seen this moment—but it had been different. Somehow, somewhere along the line, I had changed my own fate, along with the world’s.

The song ended, and I looked up at him.

“You and I,” he said, “we were never meant to be. It’s true, right? It was always an uphill battle. There was always an obstacle.”

“I know.”

“Thanks for this memory.” He pulled away. Weirdly, I felt tears stinging my eyes, and bit the inside of my cheek. I looked over to see that Raven was hovering on the edge of the dance floor, watching us. Her expression was part anxious, part hopeful.

When I turned back to Devin, he was gone, and I had lost him in the crowd.