A Radiant Sky

21

The clock ticked out the seconds on the wall.

We know where James Harrison is.

Tick.

Ian is going to find him.

Tick.

We’re going do this.

Tick.

I could hear the tension crackling just beneath the surface of my skin. Every cell in my body felt wired to explode.

I looked down at my test booklet and tried to focus on the words in front of me, but the ones in my head were too distracting.

Ian’s dad. The third Rogue. James. The war.

“Skye,” Mr. DeNardo said. “Eyes on your own test, please.”

Right, I realized. I must have been spacing out, staring off into the distance. I looked back down at my own booklet.

Earth. Aunt Jo. Aaron. The fourth. Prom. So close.

“I’ll be back in time for prom,” Ian had said. Clearly I couldn’t just up and leave for a few days, all because I wanted to go with him. Could I? Or what if . . .

The edges of the test in front of me were curling into darkness. And the classroom dissolved with it.

No, I begged. Please, no. This is the worst time for a vision. EVER.

I was moving. Wait—a car was moving, and I was inside of it.

Am I Ian? I wondered, my pulse quickening. Is something about to happen to Ian? I glanced around his dashboard for any sign, any clue, as to what was about to happen. It was surprisingly clean, clear of all the debris that usually cluttered his car.

As my vision crystalized and came into focus, it dawned on me that this definitely didn’t look like Ian’s car. So who the hell did it belong to? I felt it turn sharply, switching lanes suddenly. Too suddenly.

There’s going to be an accident.

Out the windshield, I could see that I was almost perpendicular now to the rest of the cars on the highway. I was barreling forward—on purpose—toward one car in particular. A hunter green Subaru. Ian’s.

I happened to glance in the rearview mirror then. And found myself staring into a narrow face with an evil grin, framed by long blond hair. Lucas.

The Guardian who’d tried to pick a fight with us in the cafeteria when I was still a Rebel. The Guardian Devin warned me was now Astaroth’s right-hand man. Raven’s replacement.

“He’s going to hit Ian!” I screamed.

“Excuse me?”

I blinked. The entire class was staring at me, pencils poised in midair, mouths hanging open.

“Ms. Parker, do you have something you’d like to share with the whole class or should we let you get back to that exciting dream?” Mr. DeNardo did not look as amused as my classmates.

“I have to go,” I whispered. “I—I’m sorry.” I gathered my books and my bag, and sprinted through the door and down the hall. Screw the test. Who was I kidding, anyway? I had given up any semblance of a normal life a long time ago. Right about the time Asher and Devin showed up in my life.

The night of my seventeenth birthday.

“Here goes nothing,” I whispered to myself as I ran down the front steps. But instead of hitting the bottom, I spread my wings and took off.

Something broke painfully inside me as I left my dreams of a future behind.

I had to save Ian. I only hoped I wasn’t too late.

I flew on silver wings along the highway.

Come on, I thought. He can’t have gotten too far.

I narrowed in on the cars below. In the vision, Lucas had been about to cross three lanes of traffic to ram Ian’s car. So Ian must be driving in the right lane, bordering the trees. I looked for any spot of green I could find.

And then I saw it—all unfolding before my eyes. A tan, inconspicuous sedan, its engine revving as I watched, veered sharply, too sharply, into the lane next to it. Right toward a hunter green wagon.

I swooped down, hoping to make it in time. The sedan’s engine roared. I sped closer and saw Ian glance out the driver’s side window. His eyes widened as he took in the scene that was about to unfold. I pounded on the window for him to open it. No—we didn’t have time. I spun around.

The tan sedan was veering toward me, picking up speed. Heart pounding, I raised both hands out in front of me and summoned my powers. I had no idea if it was the power of the light or of the dark that I was calling—and I didn’t care. All I knew was that a huge gust of wind burst from my hands and pushed the sedan backward. Lucas’s eyes grew wide as the sedan narrowly missed a car speeding toward it, then rolled off the highway in the other direction.

Ian pulled his car onto the shoulder of the highway, and I came to a rest beside him. He opened the door and got out on shaky legs. Relief welled up in me as I flung my arms around him.

“Okay,” he panted, struggling to catch his breath. “You win. I’m taking you with me next time.”

“Next time?” I said, pulling away. “What about this time?” I extended my wings, and didn’t care who on the highway saw me. “Come on. Let’s go find your dad.”

Ian grinned. He took my hand, and we left his car where it was on the side of the highway. I grasped him tight, and together we flew.

Turns out, Wyoming was a lot easier to get to when you had wings. The several-day journey Ian had planned took no time at all when I was carrying us through the air.

The landscape in the southern part of the state was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Vast green brush swept across the land, and every now and then huge burnt sienna buttes jutted out at odd angles, like some giant had dropped his toys and forgotten to pick them up.

I remembered Asher telling me that angels—particularly Rebels and those with Rebel blood—gravitated toward wild beauty and natural landscapes. I could see why James would want to escape to somewhere like Sunset Peaks, Wyoming.

We followed the return address on the envelope and found ourselves in a community of small, rustic houses that bordered a lake so big, we couldn’t see the other side.

I glanced at Ian. “Do you want to knock?”

There was no answer. The lights weren’t on, and there was no car parked in the drive.

I nodded at the lake.

“Down there,” I said.

We rounded the path, and the wide, blue water stretched out before us. The clouds above were reflected in the glassy surface. “Skye,” said Ian. “Look.” The lake fed into a wide, flat river that ran down along the houses we’d passed. And dotting the river was a group of fly fishermen—maybe twenty or so, at first glance.

“Do you see him?” Ian whispered. I looked around for a tall man with hair the color of hay and a smattering of sun-faded freckles. But we were too far to really see what any of them looked like.

“Wait—there,” I said excitedly. I pointed to a man in a navy blue fly-fishing vest with bright orange piping. A khaki fishing hat shielded his face from the afternoon sun. But it wasn’t his taste in fishing gear that caught my attention. It was the way the water moved around him—not just rippling, but swelling, breathing. Like he was moving it with his mind, or—

“Rogue powers?” Ian said.

“I think so.”

Ian looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

“Well,” he said. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“What are you going to—”

“Dad!!!” He shouted, standing on his tiptoes and waving his arm at the man.

“Stealthy,” I said.

The man’s head turned, quickly, to look at us. He seemed to squint against the sun.

“What if he doesn’t recognize me?” Ian asked. “I’m older and manlier now.”

“That’s true.” I rolled my eyes. “Maybe yell, Dad, it’s me, Ian!”

I didn’t expect him to take me seriously, but he did exactly what I suggested.

“Ian!” I hissed. “Well, I think it’s safe to say our cover’s blown.”

But at Ian’s words, the man froze. His fishing rod dropped into the river and was swept away by the current.

“Do you think he saw us?” Ian asked.

Ian’s question was answered when the man began to make his way toward us. When he got close enough that I could see his face, I gasped. Short, sandy hair. Freckles scattered across his nose from being out in the sun. Like Aaron Ward, he was easy to recognize from my vision—the same, but older.

Like us . . . but older.

He regarded Ian with a mix of fascination, wonder—and caution. Like Aaron, he, too, seemed on edge at the mention of something that could tie him to the Rogues.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

“Ian?”

“Dad.” Now that we were here, face-to-face with him, Ian seemed unsure of what to say. For a minute, the two men stood there, silently, regarding each other.

And then in a flash, they embraced each other tightly.

“Son,” said James, his voice cracking slightly. “How did you—did your mother—what do you—”

“Know?” Ian asked. “Everything, Dad. I know everything.”

“I wanted to tell you,” James whispered into his ear. “But I knew I had to protect you. And that meant leaving. When your mom told me to get out, I didn’t argue. But I couldn’t stay with those Rogues. It was just too hard, and being around that little girl of theirs, well, it reminded me too much of you.”

I smiled. I could feel tears springing to my own eyes. All this searching, all this waiting, wondering if and when we would find James Harrison—Ian’s dad, the third Rogue my parents had gathered together—had paid off in the best possible way.

“That little girl?” Ian said. “She’s right here.”

James stared at me. “You’re Skye?” He turned to Ian. “Mer and Sam’s daughter?”

“That’s the one.” I grinned.

“God, you’re so grown-up! Both of you are.” He wiped his eye with the back of his hand. He had the same open, earnest energy as Ian, and I couldn’t help but immediately like him. “Do you kids have time to stay? Because—” He saw the look in our eyes, and his face fell. “I guess there’s a reason why you know all about me now.”

Ian looked at me for support, and I nodded.

“There’s a lot we have to tell you, Mr. Harrison—er, Sharpe,” I said.

“It’s James, Skye. I guess it’s time I go by James again.”

I nodded. “James. Ian and I have to fill you in on what’s going on.”

We did exactly that.

James didn’t seem quite as resistant to the idea of coming back with us as Aaron had—but then, Aaron had reasons to be nervous about his return to River Springs. James had left because of his secret, but now that he didn’t have to hide it from his son anymore, he had nothing to fear in returning. His biggest concern was helping us.

And that was how I gathered the whole group back together again—with some new additions, of course. James flew back with us to River Springs, helping me along with boosts of power when I needed it. He decided to stay with us at Aunt Jo’s, not quite ready to face Ian’s mom, the one person who still didn’t know his secret. He, Aunt Jo, and Aaron began to practice combining their powers, preparing for what was to come.

I learned more about the Rogues and the kind of power they harnessed every day. They drew from the Rebels, but as only half angelic, they couldn’t harness the full power of the elements. Instead, each Rogue, I learned, had some small spark of talent or skill. Aunt Jo was able to manipulate the earth in small ways, which apparently was the reason she had started running excursions out of Into the Woods Outdoor Co. in the first place. Aaron had some power over the wind and sky. James, as we’d seen in Wyoming, was handy with water. When the three of them combined their powers, they could do some serious damage. One afternoon, they actually forged a river through the field behind our house.

And now that the three of them were back together, we were one step closer to calling a Rogue army.

In the middle of all this, final exams ended. And I didn’t go back to school after the very first final I ran out on. Aunt Jo called to tell them I was out due to a family crisis, which wasn’t even a lie, and that I would have to take an incomplete. I could finish the credits in summer school. Of course, none of us knew if we would make it till then. But wasn’t that kind of the point?

I could see into the future—see flashes and signs of things to come. But my visions only took me so far. I couldn’t see how it would end. I didn’t know who would win. Just like the dream I’d had over and over, I was hovering on the edge of a great precipice. The biggest, steepest, most challenging ski slope of my life. And I knew that now, the time had come for me to strap on my skis, pull down my goggles, and take the plunge into the unknown.

I couldn’t control everything in my life anymore. I had to just let go.

Junior year was almost over—the weirdest, hardest year of my life—and senior year stretched out before us. But while everyone else was preparing for prom and summer vacation, my friends and I prepared for some kind of epic battle. And none of us knew if we would survive.

We gathered every night during finals week, in the days leading up to prom. Our house was fuller than ever before—and I loved it. It had been me and Aunt Jo, just the two of us, for so long. But now, I didn’t ever want to go back to those cold winter days where the house was empty and I stared out my window at the moon, alone. I wanted a full house, and everything that came with it.

My mind kept coming back to Earth. She had become like a sister to me, and I still had a persistent, lingering feeling that she was the fourth Rogue in my mother’s original vision. Shadowy, hard to see, because she hadn’t been born yet. It made sense. But the idea of having her play such a crucial role in all this made me ache. She was just a little kid. How could I throw her in harm’s way? How could I take her into battle with me?

Our parents had tried to protect us, too. They hid the truth from us all our lives. But we found our way to it anyway.

I couldn’t put it off any longer. I had to ask my mom. One last piece of advice, before it was time to put the past behind me and face the future on my own.

I had one loop of the key left. One more question.

So one night, while Aunt Jo and Aaron took Earth upstairs for a private talk (no doubt to explain the full extent of what was about to take place), and Cassie and Dan went over their color coordination for the zillionth time, and Ian and his dad caught up, and Raven snuck off for some much needed alone time—I went upstairs and took the wooden box from my sock drawer. As I asked my mother one last question, the final loop glowed brightly.

“Who is the fourth Rogue you were never able to see?”

It glowed even brighter, searing the wood until all four swooping arcs of the engraved clover burst into flames that illuminated the darkness.

I heard my mother’s voice answer:

My little clover.

Four leaves.

I had to protect you. You weren’t ready yet. Wait. Was she talking about Earth or—

You are the key to all this.

Four intertwined loops.

It was the last thing I expected to hear, but it had been in her letter from the beginning. The clues had been there all along.

The fourth—was me.

The fire went out. The key had disappeared. And the box was sealed forever.

I had the answers now.