group?”
That stung. “Yeah…but…” I had no idea what to say.
“Relax.” He cracked a smile. “I’m just kidding.”
I tucked my hands up into the sleeves of my coat. “Kidding about the star or Mr. Sterling?”
His smile broadened. “Mr. Sterling.”
As much as I was glad to hear that, I still wasn’t feeling too ecstatic about the idea that he was still trying to convince me that an actual piece of a star had fallen. The idea was absurd. A real piece of a star—I’d never heard of anything so insane. Okay, I take that back. I guess I had.
But still…
“So, why is it that people don’t know about this fallen star ?” I asked, making air quotes.
“Well, for starters, the piece was only about the size of a baseball.” He hesitated, shifting his weight to the side. “And …well supposedly, there was this secret group who came and collected it before anyone could discover it had fallen.”
I stared at him like he was crazy. And, who knew, maybe he was.
“You think I’m lying.” He crossed his arms and leaned in toward me. My heart reacted with a jolt that nearly knocked the breath out of me. “But I’m not.”
I had to catch my breath before I spoke. “How am I supposed to know whether you’re lying or not? I don’t know you at all. I mean for all I know, you could be the world’s greatest liar.”
He pressed his lips together, pausing before he said, “Yeah, you’re right. You don’t know me. But taking you out here was me trying to let you get to know me.” He moved in closer to me, and I could feel the warmth of his breath on my face. “But you’re not making it very easy on me.”
“I…” My mind clouded, and it wasn’t until he moved away from me that I could think clearly and process words again. “So what you’re saying is there’s a group that took the fallen star?”
He nodded. “That’s what I’m saying.”
“So who is this group?”
“Now that’s a secret I can’t tell you.”
I sighed. I was so confused. Confused about why he’d brought me up here. About why he was telling me this. About everything really. “So, what happens if I touch the spot?”
“Why don’t you try it and find out.”
I stared apprehensively at the ashy spot. There was something off about it. The color, the charcoal texture, the way the snow didn’t cover it.
“Don’t worry,” Alex said, “I’m pretty sure you won’t start on fire or anything.”
“Pretty sure,” I muttered. Well, that was reassuring.
I took a deep breath and bent down, letting my fingers brush up against the spot. It didn’t feel hot or anything. Not even warm. But there was something off about it. Something different, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. It almost felt sparkly….or maybe it was more electric.
“Feel anything?” Alex asked.
“Not really.” I let the tips of my fingers rest against the spot for a few seconds longer, then pulled my hand away and stood up. “It’s not even warm.”
“Huh…” He furrowed his eyebrows as he studying me over.
My pulse sped up like a bolt of lightning had shot out from the sky and zapped me in the chest. You’d think after a couple of weeks of feeling it, I’d have gotten use to it. You’d think, being the key words. But that wasn’t the case. In fact, I could still barely remember how to breathe whenever I felt it.
The wind started to pick up again, twirling flakes of snow around in the air like pixie dust. The sky had become shaded with clouds. Sundown was nearing, and it looked as if a storm might be moving in.
“Well,” Alex ran his fingers through his hair, “we should probably get going before it gets dark .”
“Sounds like a good idea,” I agreed.
I’d been so swept up in Alex’s story about the star that I’d temporarily pushed the yellow-eyed death monsters out of my mind. But when we started the walk back to the car, and the silence set in, my mind raced back to the what-if’s. What