A THRONE OF SHADOW AND SOULMATES

gonna drown

ice cut thro

splashing up my jeans. The

old stone buildings. I could feel the wind so cold with the ra

car, the kind that didn't belong anywhere near student housing. He looked l

k Cl

n through the rain, I could see it - his eyes, faintly red. The firs

, though most of the pages had already turned t

ds a shiny car to

. "Fiery. I like it. Are you always this friendly, or just

definitel

ing, or just with girls wh

started toward me, movin

" he said, voice dropping just enou

he world's ending.

e'd noticed me at all, but I had to act cool I didn't let

Clawson? You stalk e

rough. "Only the ones who st

wn my neck, but heat

it. I don't fall for

smirk I couldn't see. "In

in my mind, soft and casu

pie. Back soon." In case you don't know I'm the l

behind human faces, but unfortunately I had been born on the bor

't see the car until it

s and sketches scattering like feathers. Ink bled into

creeched

my back. For a few seconds, all I could hear was the st

re

ighter-red, unmistakable now. For a split second, I could sw

u o

rough the downpour. "I di

t, I almost let him. Then instinct -

myself up. "Just try not t

n looked at them.honestly I was not feeling it what the other girl

e fix this," he said softly.

essays, crumpled and soak

e be

e page - a sketch of a gold

a

p my arm - not pain, not elect

shock mirrored there. For a moment, the world was nothi

at's takin

gh everything. Shar

y rain, her heels clicking against the wet

, scraped, clutching my ruined

s is what's

Derek muttered wit

ark still burned under my skin, wild and confusing. "

rned to

ad changed - lower, commanding.

d. Slowl

our name?

ing. Then, for some reason I

ky

ng into the storm before h

m, my name echoing in his mind. Skye. I

r. She's nobody. A broke scholarsh

'd felt - that spark - wasn't huma

in his chest, sw

university walls, a

e the pack - the expectations, th

rm, dripping wet, hair

t and leaned against i

uard - pale face, wide eyes, and a faint go

ered. "Now I'm

sed it aside, glancing at the

ly beneath the lamplight, the ink spreadin

zzed. A tex

est. All good, lit

on out there - I she didn't. Instead, I sat on my bed and stared out

istant, a w

eyes didn't fade. It pulsed - faint, then stron

wind howled harder. The sound wasn't

knew - this was o