Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
“Okay, I think this is about where we were,” I say, stopping on the path in the woods. “Yeah, this is it, alright.” I point to the bare tree beside me. Its trunk is still black, burned from where the lightning struck it.
I turn back to Star. For the first time, he's actually wearing clothes.
I didn't manage to convince him that he needed a coat, but he has pants and a sweater on, at least. I know that if someone stumbles upon us out here in the woods that we’ll have much bigger issues to deal with than why he's not wearing winter clothes in the snow, but for now, this is my biggest concern.
Someone seeing him through a window or from afar isn't going to notice the color of his skin, not when the sky is so gray. But they’ll notice if he’s going shirtless in single-digit degree weather.
“Do you feel anything?”
His eyes scan the forest and then settle on me. “Feel?” he asks. He has this sort of hopeless look on his face. I feel a tug in my stomach. I hate that he's having to do this. I hate that he has to go through any of it. But I'm not sure what else to do right now besides start at the source.
“Do you remember what you felt like when everything happened before?”
He looks down at the ground, eyes searching, like he's trying to pinpoint an exact emotion.
I take a step closer to him and his eyes come up to meet mine. “You said you reached for me. Can you not do that again? Just reach up?”
His brow furrows. “I meant that almost… metaphorically. I did not have arms.”
I sigh. “Right, I'm sorry, that was stupid.”
“It was not stupid,” he says. His hand comes up, his fingertips brushing my jaw. “I do not wish to make you feel that way.”
I pull his hand away, mostly because I can’t think with him touching me so gently. “I’m just not sure what to do. You mentioned that you've seen things happen like this before.”
He grimaces. “I have seen many strange things happen right here in these woods. And I have been made aware of things happening in other places, but nothing like this. Not in any quantifiable way that would help us find a definite solution. I…” His chin wobbles.
I step right up against him and take his face in my hands. “Please, don't cry.”
“I’m sorry.” He sniffles, shakes his head. “I feel useless. It is strange to go from somewhere where you have no real control over anything, not even your own self, to a body where everything is within my control.” He brushes his fingers across my lips gently. “Everything but this.”
I have to look away from him. I can't do this. I can't let this emotion get too big. He doesn't belong here. We both know it.
“Perhaps I do not have to go,” he says.
But even as he says it, I can tell he knows that's not an option. How could he stay here? Looking the way he does... It's not like he can go into town and be part of normal life.
As if the universe is reminding us of how impossible it is, Star gasps and bends, his hand going over his chest.
I wrap myself around him like I can absorb the pain. “Are you okay?”
He nods but he doesn’t speak, like it might hurt too much to.
“Is it the same pain from last night?”
He nods again, refusing to meet my eye.
I knew that wasn’t the end of it. Part of me hoped it was some kind of human pain, nerves or heartburn or something. But now I know it isn’t. This is something worse, I can feel it.
“I’ll figure this out, okay?” I tell him as he straightens again, pain still clear in his eyes. “I’ll put out another blast to the people in my paranormal group. A few people answered, but they want specifics, and I'm afraid to tell anyone about you.”
He nods. “I understand.”
A shiver runs through me. He grasps my shoulders hard, fingers pressing into the puffy fabric of my coat.
“You are cold. We should get you home,” he says.