Getting Closer

I glance over my shoulder at the beach, the bonfire, and the heaving crowd around it, then back to Aiden. There's nothing for me tonight but a boring night at home ignoring my mother's disapproval. And he said there's no drugs out there.

"No drugs? No pills, or weed, or anything?" I say, wishing I could mask the desperate wanting in my voice.

"None." He's emphatic.

I swallow. "Okay." I nod and try not to return the smile that breaks on his face. "But I've only got a couple hours before my curfew." Lies. I have over four hours. But he doesn't need to know that—and I want a reason to bail if I need one.

Aiden nods, then waves a hand toward the dunes. "Pick your vantage point."

I stare at him a second, wondering how smart it is to turn my back. But I know I'm being paranoid, so I turn and trudge back around the corner to the dune grasses.

The light on the horizon has almost disappeared. Now there's a gray line I can only see when I'm not facing the flames of the bonfire.

I walk a few feet out of the shadows and find a hillock that looks comfortable. When I sit down the grass hides me to my chin. Aiden slips up beside me and sinks to the ground so close his thigh is pressed against mine. I jiggle over a couple inches. He pretends not to notice.

Oh, boy. Keeping my hands off him is going to be harder than I thought.

The soft light of the distant flames plays against the angles of his face, lighting up his prominent cheekbones, making his eyes shine.

He rakes a hand through his hair, the slick strands falling over his forehead as soon as he stops touching them. He glances at me from the corner of his eye. "So, come on. Shoot."

"Shoot what?"

His lips pull up at the corner. "I'd bet money you've been thinking about Shades and power pretty much every second since I channeled for you."

Yes. But I shrug.

We sit there for a silent minute or two. I scan the people and the fire, but my mind is much further away—back in that room where he touched my skin and turned me into a candle.

"C'mon, Kate," he says softly. "You came all the way here. You got me alone. You're safe. I won't stop you leaving . . . Ask your questions."

I glance at him from the corner of my eye. He's watching me with a strange, gentle intensity on his face. I'm about to ask him about the movie, but I chicken out.

"Why isn't anyone getting in trouble," I blurt, tipping my head towards the bonfire and the crowds around it. "Why aren't he Police breaking this up?"

Aiden rolls his lips in like he's trying not to smile. "Shades have friends in very high places," he says enigmatically. When I examine him, trying to figure out what that means, he laughs. "Kidding—sort of. This is a public beach and there's no law against fires at this time of year. They'd probably try to break it up if the fire got close to the buildings. But anyone can have a fire here on burn days."

The mundane answer isn't satisfying. I shake my head at myself.

Aiden brushes my arm with the back of a finger. "Kate, seriously. What's on your mind? We don't have a lot of time."

"Yeah, you never know when the Shine'll show and bust up the party, huh?" It's supposed to be a joke about that movie—to broach the subject without looking like I take it seriously.

But Aiden flinches. He pretends to recover quick and flashes a grin, "Yeah. Good one." But the trill in my stomach jangles like a fire alarm.

"So . . . the Shine is real too?" I squeak, then clear my throat. "I mean, that movie—"

"I told you, that movie is a lie some Hollywood producer made up to sell a lot of tickets," Aiden says darkly. But he's not meeting my eyes. "Chase is dreaming if he thinks he can shut me down like that."

"What does Chase have to do with any—" The words just come out. I'm not thinking about it until Aiden goes very still. Holy shit.

"Chase is a Shine? For real? Like, they exist?"

Aiden's lips move like he's muttering something, but he doesn't avoid the question. "The Shine are pathetic. But yes, they exist," he says like the words taste bad. "But that's the end of anything true in that movie. I'm serious, Kate. Ignore it. It's a story."

"But, Chase—"

"The Shine are a group, not a single person. And they're . . . the furthest thing from demon hunters, or whatever that piece of trash called them. They're just people. Weak people. Judgmental. They think they're better than everyone else."

I'm stunned, but I've seen the judgment for myself. "Okay, but—"

"You're not here for the Shine," Aiden sneers. "They're pathetic do-gooders who hug a lot and call themselves family." His agitation gives away more than he means to, I think. "God is light," he says in a falsetto, "He shines on his children, or some shit." The derision in his tone should singe my hair. "Ignore them, Kate. They're weak and stuck so far up their own asses it turns their whole faces brown." He turns then, his eyes lock on mine. "You belong with us. The Shades, and our power. Ask your questions about that, Kate."

My breath quickens and I look away, feeling naked under his eyes—and not in the good way.

"The movie . . . I watched it last night. It was . . . horrific."

"And total fiction," he says without missing a beat.

"Even the power stuff—be able to do stuff to people. Make them do things?"

Aiden shrugs. "I've never tried that. Sounds possible. Derek could probably do it. He's the head of our, uh, area. Probably depends what things you're talking about."

"Hurting people?"

His jaw goes hard. "Only to make stop them hurting someone else."

"Restraining them? Like there was a scene where they tied a girl to a tree with power—"

"Kate," he groans. "The movie's just a movie. I promise."

I swallow. "Okay. Sure . . . You're right. But, there's also interviews on YouTube. With people who've been in rituals and stuff." I spent my lunchtime in a handicapped stall, looking them up. "Are those real?"

Aiden shrugs. "I'd have to watch them to know for sure. But if they're scaring you, chances are it's made up."

"So then, the Shades aren't scary?"

He leans in until his breath brushes my skin. "We're just people, Kate. You don't have to be more afraid of us than anyone else."

"H-How did you . . . find that power?"

"Derek taught me," Aiden says, still watching me.

"What do you use it for?"

He grins. "Anything I want. Anything from fixing stuff I broke to . . . making other people happy. Like with you, yesterday." The twist he puts on the last word is so suggestive. But he doesn't push the innuendo. Instead he finally breaks my gaze and looks towards the bonfire in the distance. "Do you know why passive people call you addict, Kate?"

"Passive?"

"People who can't channel. Who aren't Shades or Shine."

"Shine can channel too?"

He snorts. "Barely. But you didn't answer the question."

It's instinct to lie about this, but he's being so open with me . . . I swallow and answer honestly. "Because I'd cut off a limb to get drugs if I had to."

He doesn't move.