Page 46 of The Mist of Stars
“What’s going on?” Aislin asks with her food box tucked under her arm.
“The ghost has returned,” I announce flatly then blow out a weighted sigh. “I think the jerk is messing with me. Seriously, if it weren’t for his ghost-like qualities, I’d think he’s a faerie.”
“Ugh, let’s hope he isn’t,” Aislin gripes. “Faeries are freaking annoying. Not more than vampires, but still, they’re pretty close.”
“Since when do you have issues with vampires?” Laylen wonders, turning to face her, his blond hair as pale as a ghost in the moonlight creeping through the clouds.
“Since one attacked me on that last mission,” she clarifies. “I almost got bit.”
“Not all of them are bad,” he points out, folding his arms across his chest.
“I know, but I still don’t have to like them.” She assesses him with her eyes narrowed. “Since when do you defend vampires?”
He scratches his cheek. “I don’t.”
“Okay.” She sounds so perplexed.
“Okay.” He sounds equally confused but almost appears fidgety.
I trade a look with Alex, and his puzzled expression reflects mine.
I decide to interrupt the oddly tangled confusion of a conversation “Great. Now that it’s settled that we don’t like vampires, and we don’t defend them, and everyone is super confused about this conversation, can we get going before I end up getting arrested?”
“You’re not getting arrested,” Alex insists as he fishes his keys out of his pocket. “But you’re right; we should get going.” He spins his keys around his finger before heading over to his Camaro parked on the opposite side of the parking lot from where Aislin parked.
Laylen trails after him, and Aislin and I start toward her Jeep. She’s bizarrely quiet as we make the short walk in the dark.
“Are you okay?” I ask as she retrieves her key fob and unlocks the doors.
“I’m fine.” She opens the driver’s side door and sets the box of food on the middle console. “I’ve been having these strange dreams lately, and what Laylen said reminded me of them.”
“What were the dreams?”
“That he was a vampire, and he bit me.”
I blink in shock, but she climbs into the car before I can remark.
I go to the passenger side and get in, shutting the door before placing my to-go box in the back seat.
“It’s not a big deal.” She hands me her own to-go box to place in the back then starts up the engine. “If I were you, it’d be a big deal since you’ve been seeing the past and the future. But I’m me, so they’re just dreams.”
“Reoccurring ones, though,” I stress. “You know what that can mean.”
“I’m not a seer witch, Gemma.” She pumps the gas a few times as the engine tries to stall. “What the heck is my car’s problem? It’s struggling to stay running?—”
The engine makes a screeching noise then stalls before dying. She tries to start it again, to no avail.
“Dammit.” She pops the hood, shoves the door open, and hops out. “Go stop my brother, please.”
I get out and start toward him as she lifts the hood. Then I pause when I hear her mutter, “Oh my God.”
I spin around and jog back to her, my shoes scuffing against the damp asphalt. “What is it …?” My words fade from my tongue at the sight of the engine under the hood.
Or, well, the block of ice encompassing the engine.
My jaw drops. “Is that from?—”
I’m cut off by the sound of branches snapping from a nearby cluster of trees.