Page 43 of Pixie Problems

"He promised!" I screamed at the back of Torian's head. "Don't you dare get all up in my business, acting like you know what's best for me - "

Torian turned, but I was pissed. It took all of two seconds - because I wasn't thinking quite as quickly as I should - to realize this prick had just shoved Keir away from me. He'd fucking broken up our kiss. The same damned kiss I'd been hyping myself up for, fretting over, and feeling guilty about.

And now it had been interrupted by this self-serving ass?

Aspen was ok with this. Keir was ok with this. I was the luckiest girl in the world, but no. It couldn't be that easy. The most arrogant boy I'd ever met justhadto stick his nose in where it didn't belong.Again.

"You are drunk," Torian insisted.

"I've been planning that kiss for days," I shot back, doing my best to glare him right in the eyes. "Just because you think you're the fucking king, or that you run this school, or that you get to order your sister around doesn't meanIhave to listen to you!"

My anger was building, the lack of control fueled by the drinks I'd had. I could feel it pressing at my mind and growing in my chest.

"You kissed me!" he growled, this time keeping his voice low.

So I stepped closer, right into his face. "I am not your fucking bitch. Aspen isn't an ice bitch. And you know what? You're not my daddy! I already have two of those to make sure I'm not fucking up."

As I spoke, my shadow grew. The eyes opened, revealing holes where the light broke through. The louder my voice got, the thicker the thingbecame until it simply stood up, making a barrier between me and Torian.

"Rain," he said with a voice forced to be calm, "you need to - "

"No!" I screamed, my inebriated mind refusing to let him finish.

So the shadow shoved, using all that pressure inside me to do it.

Torian flew, his feet lifting off the ground as his body was catapulted through the air. Keir jumped, trying to help, causing the pair of them to crash down together into the plants. Aspen screamed something that sounded like my name, but the floodgates had just been opened.

Darkness poured out.

There was so much of it, and it spread faster than I could imagine. Like some kind of cross between water and vapor, the shadows bled from my hands, my chest, and even my feet. Blackness rolled across the ground, smothering the plants. It billowed into the air, bouncing off the glass roof just to roll back down towards the ground again, immersing the crowd in it.

And it kept going. In a matter of seconds, the well-lit and open area where we'd been partying became a container for the most tangible shadows I'd ever seen. The cheers and laughter of the student body turned into screams of fear.

I barely had time to even realize what was happening, and then darkness swallowed up even me, leaving no light at all behind.

Chapter Thirteen

RAIN

"Rain!" Keir's voice pushed through the darkness, but I couldn't tell which direction it had come from.

"Jack!" My bird sounded like he was chiding someone, possibly me.

Then there were the screams. So many of them, yet most didn't have words. It was simply panic. I turned, unable to remember which way I'd been facing when all of this happened, yet the sounds didn't spin with me.

"Aspen!" I called out.

But it was Keir who answered. "Rain, where are you?"

"Here!"

A hand grabbed my arm. "Rain?" This time, Keir sounded like he was right beside me.

"Is that you?" I asked.

"Do you have her?" Aspen called.

"You have to let it go," he told me, ignoring everything else. "It'll keep getting darker until youlet it go."