Ash
Well, spending my midnights magically scrubbing the locker rooms wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but they had to be done. And it was the only time I could be in the athletics building without running into Silver. He’d developed a habit of hanging around after practices, probably hoping to run into me. But I couldn’t let that happen, not after what he’d told me.
The problem was two-fold. One, I liked him.A lot. Far more than I should have after a couple of kisses. Honestly, it made me feel pathetic. I knew that if I ran into him, I wouldn’t be able to resist his charms. And two, he was leaving at the end of the year. Permanently. The last thing I wanted to do was fall for some guy who was guaranteed to leave me. That would be devastating. So it was best that things between us just never got started to begin with.
I knew it was the smart thing to do, even if it felt like I was tearing myself apart. Every night, I’d wait until the building was practically deserted before slipping in with my mop and bucket. The shadows would help me move silently through the corridors, wrapping around me like a protective cloak.
Tonight was no different. I’d just finished the main shower area, my shadows extracting the grime with surprising efficiency. Professor Blackwood would be proud because I’d finally gotten the hang of pulling out impurities without destroying the underlying structure. Mostly. There was still that one tile near the drain that had mysteriously disintegrated, but I’d managed to patch it with a quick spell thanks to a handyman spell book from the library.
“Making progress,” I muttered to myself, watching as the shadows swirled around the floor, leaving gleaming tile in their wake.
I was so focused on my work that I didn’t hear the door open. Didn’t sense another presence until a familiar voice cut through the silence.
“Ash?”
My heart leapt into my throat as I spun around. Silver stood in the doorway, his purple skin almost luminous in the dim light, those silver eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my knees weak.
“S-Silver,” I stammered as my mop clattered to the floor. All my shadows suddenly dropped what they were doing and stretched toward him as if they craved his presence as much as I did. “What are you doing here?”
“I left my Advanced Pyrokinetics textbook in my locker by accident.” He just stood there, looking me up and down. “Why are you here so late?”
“Uh… ran out of time,” I said quickly. “Yep. Really b-busy with homework. Had to change my schedule. No way around it.”
Silver lifted one eyebrow, then crossed his arms. “You’re avoidingme, aren’t you?”
I froze, my mouth suddenly dry. Silver’s gaze was too intense, too knowing. My shadows coiled anxiously around my ankles, betraying my emotions.
“No,” I lied. “Of course not.”
“Bullshit.” Silver took a step closer, and my shadows stretched toward him like eager fingers. “You’ve been cleaning at midnight for the past week, haven’t you?”
My face burned. “I’ve just been busy with classes.”
“You’re a terrible liar.” Another step closer. I could smell his cologne now, that intoxicating scent that had haunted my dreams. “Why are you running from me?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m not running.”
“Then why do you look ready to bolt right now?” His voice softened. “What did I do wrong?”
The gentleness in his tone nearly broke me. I bent down to retrieve my fallen mop, needing something to do with my hands.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I admitted, staring at the wet tile instead of his face. “I just... I think it’s better if we don’t complicate things.”
“Complicate things?” Silver laughed, but there was no humor in it. “What’s complicated about two people who are clearly attracted to each other?”
“You’re leaving,” I said, finally looking up at him. “After graduation, you’re going back to the Twilight Realm. Forever. You said so yourself.”
Silver’s expression shifted, something like pain flashing across his features. “So that’s it? You’re writing this off before it even starts because I have to go home eventually?”
“What’s the point of starting something that has to end?” My voice came out sharper than I intended. “I’m not interested in being someone’s college fling before they go back to their real life.”
“Is that what you think this is?” Silver closed the distance between us in two quick strides. “A fling?”
My shadows swirled frantically as he approached, reaching for him despite my attempts to rein them in. Every inch of me ached to touch him, but I forced myself to stand my ground.
“What else could it be?” I asked, hating how small my voice sounded. “Humans aren’t allowed in the Twilight Realm. You told me that. So whatever this is, it has an expiration date.”
Silver’s hand reached for mine, hesitating just before contact. “Can I touch you?”
