Page 13 of Stardusted

Noanything. Just flat, empty road.

“What the f?—”

I shot to my feet, steadying myself on the car’s trunk before stepping onto the lane. The air curled around me, cool and biting, drying the clammy sweat on my forehead. The wind carried the scent of distant bonfires and damp earth, and fall-painted trees rustled overhead, their dead leaves whispering. The stars were vivid chips of ice.

The night was still. Completely still and unnervingly quiet as I turned in a full circle.

There was nothing out there.

“You’ve got to be joking.” My voice felt extra loud in the loaded silence.

I’d seen it. IknewI’d seen something.

I left the roadside and made my way on trembling legs to where the orb had hovered, and I crouched to get a better look.In the red glow of the taillights, the pavement glittered with something like wet sand or ground glass.

Chilled, I extended a hand, then hesitated. Afraid to touch the ground. Afraid of what I’dfeel.

But I couldn’t let it go. Not yet.

Bracing myself, I pressed my palm to the asphalt.

And immediately hissed through my teeth, yanking my hand back and curling it against my chest.

The ground was hot.

Not warm.Hot. Like sunbaked blacktop at the peak of a July afternoon. Like something had burned there a second ago. Somethingglowing and pulsating and…impossible.

Could it really have been a…?

Climbing to my feet, I scrubbed my hand against my uniform skirt like I could remove the sensation. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the spot. All I could see was that ball of light, that blazing glow, and shock buzzed in my ears.

Which was why I didn’t hear the engine until it was too late.

The low growl of a vehicle registered a split second before headlights burst into view, swerving around the bend.

Coming right for me.

I stumbled back with a scream, but it was too late to run. Too late to get out of the way. I’d been squatting like an idiot in the middle of the road, and now I stood rooted in place by the searing white light hurtling around the curve.

This was it. This was how I died, on the shittiest of shitty days, pancaked on a lonely country road. Splattered while chasing after strange lights?—

Tiresshrieked.

I shrieked, too, short and hoarse. The chemical scent of burning rubber stung my nose again, and I shrank in on myself, throwing my arms over my face like they could somehow saveme. Like I could hide from my inevitable doom adorned with halogen bulbs.

This was it. I waited for the pain. Readied myself for the impact. Hoped my family, my friends, wouldn’t be too sad because this was the end.

Only the end didn’t come. Neither did the impact.

One second passed. Then another.

Somehow…somehow, I was still upright. Still breathing. My heart pounded so hard it hurt, but I was alive. Very much not a pancake.

I pried open one eyelid, gasping.

Headlights burned into my retinas. Behind them, I could barely make out the hulking shape of a larger vehicle, an SUV maybe, idling inches from where I stood.

It’d stopped.