“No, no, I’m aware. Just clarifying terminology to ensure we’re on the same page.”
“So studious and precise,” she teases. “Anyway, I remember thinking it’d be really great if I could have used the stars to find my way back, but alas… All the experience did was give me nightmares.”
I swallow. Those woods are as familiar to me as the back of my hand, and even then, they’re vast and endless. Getting lost within must have been horrific.
“How’d you find your way out?” I ask.
Elle stands up straight. “I called my dad. My parents were still in town, waiting to come pick me up. He came instantly, no questions asked. He’s always saving us kids.”
The last sentence comes out a little forlorn, scratching away at some hardened piece of my chest. As she clears her throat, she goes back to the telescope, plastering a big smile on her face.
I discard my coat and take a seat on the platform ground, drawing my knees up. I point to a cluster of stars between Taurus and Cancer. “My favorites: Castor and Pollux.”
“Gemini?” she asks, walking over to where I’m sitting. She stares up at the sky, her fingers instantly finding my hair and threading through.
Smothering a moan at how good it feels, I lean into her touch. “The twins. When I was young, my sister Bellamy and I would pretend to be them.”
“Which one were you?” she asks, snapping her fingers. “Wait, no, let me guess. Pollux.”
“Based on what?”
“Vibes mostly. I don’t know much else about them.”
“It breaks my heart how little you care about Greek mythology.” Slowly, while she’s still looking up, I slide my fingers around her wrist and draw her to the floor with me. Into my lap.
My heart races, my pulse thick and prominent in my throat, terrified that I’m making a mistake. That she’ll pull away or resist or that the emotions I’m so used to when it comes to these interactions at large will resurface from where I’ve tried to drown them.
But she doesn’t do anything except melt into my embrace.
Chest tight, I tentatively wrap my arms around her as she fits herself on top of me. The observatory is so still, so quiet, that I can hear every breath she takes and releases, and I allow the soft sound to steady me even as my mind swims.
She links her fingers through mine, warming my cold flesh.
I rest my chin on her shoulder. “Pollux was of divine birth, so I never would have ascribed him to myself. My twin… She was the magical one. Everyone loved her, and she could light up a room without even being in it. I was always sort of just there, watching over her, trying to keep her out of trouble.”
Elle nuzzles against my neck. “You’re a good brother.”
I used to think that too, but a good brother wouldn’t have let her die in the first place.
A good brother would’ve put an end to the organization that killed her instead of treading water within it for eight years.
“When I was an undergrad, she dragged me to this party,” I say softly, admitting out loud things I’ve never told a soul. Not my parents, not the campus police, and not Beckett. “I didn’t typically go to them, too busy with school or theater to waste my time drinking with peers I didn’t much like. But she was convincing, you know? She had this way with words, and I wanted to be like her that evening. I wanted to be fun or have fun or whatever. So I went.”
My throat constricts as the memories surge to the forefront of my mind. Bellamy’s smile, her eyes glittering as she put a beer in my hand.
I only had one or two before things grew fuzzy, and even though I wasn’t a big drinker back then, it still seemed odd for me to be so affected.
That was what I thought until I woke up drowning.
Submerged in water, bound and afraid. I’d struggled briefly before realizing it was useless and cursed myself for not being stronger. Fear bled into my body as my lungs filled, but then I was suddenly back on land, sputtering and coughing.
Hours seemed to pass at Lake Lerna’s embankment. No one came forward to reveal they’d rescued me, and the darkness of the forest crept in.
A scream pierced the air, and I knew then—I knew it was hers. I wanted to move, wanted to find Bellamy, but couldn’t. It was as if my body was sinking into the mossy earth, and I was too dazed to do anything about it.
“We’d been warned to steer clear of the woods,” I tell Elle, staring at the back of her head. “From birth practically, everyone in Fury Hill is taught that the lake is haunted, and if things go in, they don’t come out. We’re told about danger lurking between the branches, catching in the trees, and that death waits for the founding family members. If we aren’t careful, it’ll snatch us up.”
Elle tenses as I speak, and I press my nose into her hair, inhaling her soft scent.
