Halfway up the trail, a clearing opened up into a view of the valley below. I stopped there to rest and stared out over the mountain panorama. The light began to shift, and clouds moved in, tempting me.

Focus your energy. Find the switch.

The clouds took the shape of rolling waves, resembling the sea. I rocked back and forth on my heels, and the clouds rolled back and forth with me. I crouched low, and the clouds descended on the valley, so thick I couldn't see a thing. I stood up, and they wisped out into a fine mist, swirling around me. I closed my eyes and wished for snow. When I opened them again, snowflakes floated from the sky, catching on my eyelashes.

It didn't let up. More snowflakes followed as I jogged back down the mountain, coating my ponytail and soaking through the sleeves of my shirt. By the time I got back home, it was flurrying, accumulating on the ground, a soft layer of white drowning out every other thought but one: I had done this.

I vowed to go for another run again the next day. I was grounded, after all. I had all week.

When I walked into the kitchen, shaking snow from my hair, I stopped short. Aunt Jo was sitting at the kitchen table with Asher. The two of them were stiff and awkward. Aunt Jo's eyes were narrowed suspiciously. They looked up when they saw me.

"Skye," Aunt Jo said. "Asher just came by to drop off a book you left at school."

"Oh," I said, still breathing hard from my run and marveling at the awkwardness I'd stumbled into. "Thanks. Come on, let's go upstairs." Asher smiled politely at Aunt Jo, and followed me upstairs to my bedroom. I closed the door behind us.

"Wow, I don't think she likes me," Asher said, falling onto my bed. "That's a first."

"How could she not like you?" I asked. "Didn't you charm the pants off her like you do everyone?"

"I tried," Asher said, bewildered and annoyed. "It didn't work."

"Huh." Maybe she thought he'd been with me at the cabin. Maybe she still blamed him for my running away.

"Hey," Asher said, a slow smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as if noticing me for the first time.

"What?" I grinned.

"You look kind of sexy in those running clothes."

"These? This spandex is like a million years old."

"I so don't care. Come here." He reached out his hands to pull me toward him, and I leaned down for a deep, intense kiss as he ran his hands up my legs. Even through the fabric, my skin prickled at his touch. I still had the energy from the clouds pulsing through me, and I felt alive, connected to the earth, to Asher's spicy scent. As if sensing this, he pulled me on top of him on the bed, deepening the kiss with his hand on the back of my neck.

"Wow," he whispered. "What's gotten into you?"

"I just feel good today. Is that so bad?" I batted my eyelashes against his cheek.

"Bad? Hell, it's amazing."

I glanced out the window behind my bed. The stars were moving in the night sky, twinkling on and off, rearranging themselves.

I'm doing that, I thought. I watched them move in different directions, trying to control the pattern of stars. I frowned and stared hard. I had to focus my thoughts. I could do this. I could control this. The stars came together, pulled to the center of the sky as if by some great magnetic force. They formed letters. They were spelling something.

Asher pulled me back down before I could see what.

"Hey," he said. "You okay? Where did you go just then?"

Suddenly I heard footsteps in the hall. Aunt Jo. I broke away quickly. Asher groaned.

"Man," he said under his breath, "that sucks."

We sat up.

"I'm sorry," I said. "She's . . . been strange since I've been back. Or maybe I've just been used to her being away all the time."

When he didn't respond, I glanced over at him. But I wasn't sure that he had heard me. His eyes had zoned in on my dresser.

"Skye," Asher said suddenly, "what's that?" He stood up abruptly, crossing the room in two strides. He picked up the white feather I'd found at Love the Bean.

"Nothing," I said, reaching for it. He swiftly lifted it out of my reach. "I found it last night."

He let the feather fall from his hand to the floor. The shaft was broken in three places, the fringes bent and mangled where it had been crumpled in his fist.

"That's a Guardian feather," he said. "And that's what I do to Guardians."

"You know," I said, heating up, "I do have Guardian blood in me. I can't change that."

"You're not a Guardian. You chose the Rebellion." He paused, his voice softening. "You chose me."

"I know," I said. "I did. I do! But my powers aren't just dark. I can feel it."

He squinted at me. "You can use that for good."

"I need to understand it. You can't teach me that. No matter how hard you wish you could." He sighed and turned toward the window, his back to me. I wanted to go to him, but I stayed still. "You can't destroy me if your job is to protect me," I snapped. "So mull that one over."

He raked a hand through his hair and turned, looking at me. He looked apologetic and annoyed at the same time, but at least he wasn't angry anymore.

"I'm sorry." He breathed out. "I justa" I see him. In homeroom. Walking down the halls. In the cafeteria. In the library." Had Asher seen us together in the library? It's not like we were doing anything, but still, the idea of him thinking I was warming up to the Guardian who had tried to kill me made me uncomfortable. "And I get so angry. He still looks at you. What right does he have to look at you? I just want to kill him. And I will, Skye. I will. As soon as I get the chance."

"Ashera"" I said. "Stop." But he was already brushing past me out of the room. I didn't follow him. Instead, I picked the white feather up off the floor, and brought it over to my dresser.

I started when I lifted my gaze and saw my reflection in the mirror. The girl who stared back at me had silver eyes, flashing in the early evening light. Intense and bright.

Powerful.

That night, Aunt Jo and I ate dinner at the kitchen table in tense silence. I knew she didn't like Ashera"that she didn't fully trust me anymore, no matter what she said. And she knew I knew. I believed that she loved me and that she was glad I was back. I believed that I'd scared her when I was gone. At least . . . I wanted to believe it. But something felt different between us now.

Why did Aunt Jo distrust Asher so much? He was the one persona"the only person, reallya"who I trusted now. Was she picking up on something I somehow couldn't see?

Before bed, I took the notebook I'd found in the cabin out of my sock drawer.

Guardians haunt these woods, watching us. I know they know. It's only a matter of time.

How come there wasn't more written in it after that first page? That couldn't have been the only entry. Unlessa"the Guardians had attacked before he or she could write more? What if the owner of the notebook hadn't written any morea"because she or he hadn't lived long enough? Slowly I thumbed through the rest of the notebook. I hadn't noticed it before, but several pages had been ripped out, leaving jagged, torn edges. So maybe there was more, but the writer didn't want anyone to find what he or she had written. What if the pages contained something important? Or dangerous? Something the owner needed to keep hidden, in case a Guardian found the notebook.

Unless . . . the owner of the notebook hadn't ripped out those pages. What if someone else had? Someone who had found the notebook before me.

Were the pages destroyed? Were they hidden somewhere?

Maybe there was still a chance that I could find them. And it felt so important that I did.

Chapter 12.

I woke up to the sound of thunder. It ricocheted off the walls and shook the floor, so loud it felt like it was coming from inside my head rather than from outside. I pulled on dark skinny jeans, rain boots, and a lightweight sweater, and headed downstairs. The weather had been unpredictable since I'd been back, right along with my erratic moods. Yesterday it had been snowing, and today it was pouring. Once I learned to control my powers, maybe I'd be able to control what kind of weather I inflicted on people. I'd have to work on that.

Ardith met me at the door with an umbrella. "I can't do anything about this rain," she said, frowning. "You are more powerful than you even know. Give me your keys. I'll drive. You concentrate on aiming the lightning away from us. Sound good?"

I grinned. "Okay," I said. I was glad to see her. It was nice to have a reminder that this wasn't in my head.

The drive was treacherous, with actual zigzags of lightning touching down around the car. Thunderstorms were one of my favorite things, and I remembered as a kid going camping with Aunt Jo, the terrified elation of running to shelter to avoid getting hit by a flash. This morning I leaned my forehead against the window on the passenger side and watched the light streak across the sky. I tried to do what I had done with the clouds. It was like painting with my mind, as several bolts flashed and then swirled up, back into the clouds, before they ever hit the ground.

Ardith let out a low whistle. "Asher was right," she said.

"About what?" I asked. "What did he say?"

She glanced sideways at me. "He really believes you can do this. That you're stronger than all of us. He thinks you're going to change things. He's so happy you're on our side. Whatever comes." She smiled warmly. "We both are."

"He told you that?"

"We've known each other a long time. We don't always have to say things out loud to know what the other is thinking."

"Do you . . . ?" I started to say. "I mean, have you ever . . . ?" I deflected a flash of lightning from hitting the car, sending it spiraling back into the sky.

"Do I love him? No." She laughed softly. Something in me relaxed a little. "My heart will always belong to another."

"Oh." I paused, trying to remember what I had overheard back at the cabin while I'd supposedly been unconscious. "Is it . . . Gideon?"

Glancing at me, she nodded slightly, then gazed back out the windshield.

"What happened?" I asked. I knew I shouldn't overstep my careful friendship with Ardith, but I had to know. "And why did we need him specifically for this mission?"

Ardith took a deep breath. The sky churned with phosphorescent light. "When your parents fell in love and were cast to Earth," she began, "it was the start of a great Truce. There was a tenuous peace for a long time, a balance between the Order and the Rebellion."

"Right," I said.

"But before that, we were at war. That's why we're so afraid of what is coming. Because we've seen the violence that can erupt between the sides when that balance shifts. And it's never shifted like this." She looked at me, then looked away. "The war was vicious and lasted for millennia. I was taken by the Order before I even knew what had happened. I was with Asher, and hea"he only looked away for a second, but it was one second that counted. I can't say he's ever quite forgiven himself for it."

I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. I just continued to stare out the window, sending bolts of lightning back into the wild morning.

"Gideon came after me," Ardith continued. "We were young and in love. He thought he was invincible. But they caught him. They tortured him, used all kinds of mental tricks, manipulations. They wanted Asher. But Gideon wouldn't give in. He wouldn't sell out his friend."

"He must be so strong," I murmured.

"He was there for a long time." Ardith nodded to herself, and for a moment it seemed like she'd forgotten I was there, so completely was she brought back to the memory. "I don't know how long in human time, because that's not how things work for us. They kept us apart. Eventually he learned their waysa"and taught himself to fight back. He beat them at their own game and escaped. He saved me. But it took such a toll on him."

We were pulling up toward school. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, the thunder and lightning more sporadic.

"It had been so long since we'd been together," Ardith continued. Kids were getting out of cars, slamming doors, calling to their friends. I felt a million miles away. "And he'd changed," she said. "He was distracted and moody. Sometimes he would vanish in the middle of a conversation, go somewhere far-off, as if his mind wasn't truly there." She paused. "Someday I am determined to make it up to him and prove that I am as devoted to him as he is to me." She took a deep breath. "But it's so hard, Skye. That's the kind of test you hope you never have to face. I could never love anyone else while Gideon is still alive."

We pulled into a parking space, and Ardith cut the engine. I didn't want to get out of the car.

"That's why we need him," I said quietly. "He's the only Rebel who knows how to fight their mental influence."

Ardith turned to me and nodded. "Not even Oriax could."

"You'll find a way to show you love him," I said, putting my hand on hers. "I know it."

She looked into my eyes, and her smiled was tinged with sadness. "You are going to save all of us," she said. "You're going to destroy the Order. You'll make them pay."

Ardith got out of the car, and I followed. I wanted to be the heroine that they thought I could be. But I felt so far from being ready to fight.

Ardith tossed me back my keys and started for the front archway.

"Asher thinks it's his fault, you know," she said, turning around. "That he let Devin hurt you. He let something like that happen once before. He can't believe he let it happen again."

"That's why he's so intense about protecting me." It made sense now. The worried looks. The fierce insistence that I join the Rebellion. The white feather, crumpled in his fist.

Ardith nodded. "Just so you know where he's coming from. How serious he is."

A lump formed in my throat. I needed to find a way to let him know it wasn't his fault. I was grateful for the Rebellion's protection. But I needed to protect myself.

Homeroom was tense. Devin didn't look at me, and Asher's arm around my shoulders was tighter than it had been the day before. Now I understood why. I couldn't help but look at him in a new way.

When the bell rang, Ms. Manning pulled me aside to let me know I could meet my new tutor after lunch in the library. I glanced over to where Devin had been sitting, but he was already gone. Rather than the twinge of sadness I might have felt the day before, I just felt anger. The Order were monsters if they were willing to use torture to win a war. And the Guardians were just their mindless, soulless puppets. That's all Devin was. If I hadn't understood it before, I did now.

When I walked into the library later that afternoon, another blond kid was sitting in his place. I'd seen him before, with the group of Guardians. My pulse sped up, but I had to remind myself what Asher had said: They'd never do anything out in the open. School is the safest place to be. No matter that Raven had implied otherwise.

I walked toward him.

"Hi," he said. "Skye? Ms. Manning said you needed someone to catch you up on your homework?"

"Yes," I said, sitting down. "Thanks." He opened his notebook, and we started with English. I glanced at him over my textbook. He didn't seem like a Guardian. He seemed normal. Nice, even. And he was really smart.

I was so confused.

It's only a matter of time, the notebook had said.

What were they planning?

My body ached to run. To get better, stronger. Protect myself. It was all I could think about.