Page 125 of Stardusted

“Again,” Sky said, barely above a whisper.

His light touchwasgrounding. That low, rumbling voice was also nice. He could’ve read me a terms-and-conditions page, and I’d have enjoyed it.

Focus, Rae.

I pulled in another breath, even deeper this time. Slower. To my surprise, the tension in my back started to ease. I slumped a little, collapsing into the couch.

“You’re doing great. Just like that,” Sky said, and inthatdeep timbre, the slight rasp…

I gasped when a faint buzzing vibrated up my arm, and I rolled my lips into my suddenly dry mouth.

“Doing okay?” Sky asked, fingers flexing on my wrist. The tingling stopped.

“Sorry,” I whispered, cracking an eyelid. He was studying my face closely. “That just felt weird.”

“We can stop,” he said, brows pinching. His grip loosened. “We don’t have to try this.”

“No.” I straightened my shoulders and squeezed my eyelids shut again to block out that concerned stare. “No, let’s keep going.”

“Okay. If you’re sure. If it gets to be too much, tell me. Try to relax.” His fingers slid over the soft skin inside my arm, and I fought a shiver.

Right. Relax. Sure.

Amelia had dragged me to enough yoga classes that I fell into diaphragm-focused inhalations easily enough. Now, if only I could stop focusing on the fact that Sky Acosta was holding my wrist and whispering like a sexy audiobook narrator.

“Keep breathing,” he said, and I resisted the urge to huff.

That faint buzz started up again, and when I forgot that it was being generated by the guy I’d been crushing on for seven months, it was actually kind of…soothing. Relaxing warmth. It didn’t hurt at all.

I lost track of the number of deep breaths I took. Gradually, I sagged into a hazy, tranquil slouch. This wasn’t so bad.

It wasn’t bad atall.

I’d almost forgotten Sky’s fingertips resting on my wrist. There was just pleasant heat. For the first time in…God knew how long, I felt peaceful. Like maybe the midterms bearing down wouldn’t be so bad and aliens weren’tthatbig a deal. Like maybe I could just take a quick nap.

I had no idea how much time passed. Maybe minutes. Maybe hours.

“Now,” Sky said eventually, from far away, “go back with me to the lab. The anthropology lab. Recall what you were feeling and seeing, and focus on the moment you touched the halix.”

The lab. The tablet. The white-hot fire. Electricity everywhere, and the mechanical groans of a robotic monster.

A thin thread of that relaxation unraveled. Frowning slightly, I summoned the memory. The rough, stone outer layer had sloughed away under my palm like sand sliding off that pulsing, amethyst-like core.

“It’s glowing,” I whispered. My voice sounded strange and slurred. Muffled. Detached, just like my mind.

“Yes. It is. You touched it.”

I bobbed my head in a jerky nod. “I touched it. It felt hot. And…my skin is tingly.”

“Yes,” Sky said, a note of anticipation bleeding into his voice. “Your hand was on it when it exploded.”

I stiffened.

That moment rushed back with jarring clarity. Like I was there again, living it. The blinding flash, the molten surge that melted into my hand and burned through me.

That light flooded in. Blinding white fire. Shapes. Glyphs?

Symbols I didn’t know. Somehow also familiar.