Page 79 of Stardusted

“Fine.” I spoke clearly, concisely, showing him my hand once more. “I got these markings when an alien robot at the university tried to kill me. I’m pretty sure it was over a stone artifact that turned into a crystal and then burned the shit out of me—” I broke off, exhaling a humorless laugh. “That’s my best guess, anyway.” I twisted my wrist and studied the pattern. “I got knocked out or fainted…and somehow woke up in a totally different place. Withthese.”

I waved my palm halfheartedly at him before gripping it in front of me again. Silence stretched like thick putty.

Sky didn’t answer. He didn’t move, either. In fact, he might as well have been carved from stone, too. Only his eyes skimmed between mine like he was searching for something else I hadn’t said.

But I’d already laid pretty much everything bare.

Several heartbeats passed, and just when I hit my breaking point, he finally murmured, “And the markings…they showed up that day?”

“Yes. I noticed them an hour or so after coming to in that hallway. But…” I eyed him, my voice trembling. “Sky, why don’t you look surprised by any of that…?”

Being right about him wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I’d thought it would be. In fact, something icy crawled down the back of my neck, and it wasn’t just the rain.

He didn’t answer.

“Oh my God,” I breathed. “You’renotsurprised, are you? You know about them. The alien robots.”

Sky’s jaw clenched tighter. He had to be cracking molars. “Rae…” he ground out, the warning unmistakable.

“What do you know about this?” I flattened my hand between us. “Tell me.”

The tension between us practically crackled.

I wanted to run back inside. Forget this confrontation. Forget everything. But it was too late for that.

Too late to pretend this wasn’t happening. Too late to escape any of this.

I kept falling, diving deeper and deeper into impossible truths. Why couldn’t I let it go? Why couldn’t I stop pushing?

Sky stared down at me, emotions swimming in his eyes. Another white flash of lightning lit them up, but his face stayed locked in that unbearable tightness. Ifeltit in my own shoulders,a pressure bearing down as I gazed at the man I’d been obsessing over for months.

A stranger.

He wasn’t who I’d thought he was. I couldn’t summon that righteous anger I’d felt earlier. Not when he was looking at me like that. Likehewas afraid, too.

I was so wound up I nearly gasped when he asked, “Do you really remember what happened at the university?”

“Do I remember it?” I gawked at him in disbelief. “What kind of question is that? How would I justforgetan alien robot attack? That’s not something that just…” I flung my arms out. “Justslips your mind!”

My harsh laugh felt more like a sob. Everything I’d been struggling with for days—it was bubbling up inside me like frothing water. Like trapped steam.

I hugged my middle, but it was a failed attempt at containment. Another bitter scoff scraped out of me. Rainwater slicked stray strands of hair to my cheeks. My skin was buzzing, humming. Too stretched over brittle bones and seething blood.

“I won’t ever be able to forget what happened,” I rasped, not looking at him. “I’ve been replaying it over and over. I’ve had nightmares. I’ve been alternating between worrying I’ve gone completely insane and being terrified that some mechanical monster is going to hunt me down and finish the job.”

When a phantom stone lodged itself in my throat, I paused, trying to regain the scraps of my composure. My stomach churned.

I risked raising my eyes and found Sky watching me. Assessing. Like I was a bug under a microscope, another sample on the anthro lab table that had changed everything.

The ache in my chest twisted tighter. Became more painful. Like that bubbling, frothing pressure fought to escape.

“Please. Just tell me what you know,” I whispered. I’d resorted to borderline begging, and I didn’t even care. “Please.”

It was enough to crack the mask, apparently, because Sky grimaced, turning his head to give me his profile. The mist had dampened his dark hair, curling it around his forehead and ears in a way that would’ve been endearing in any other circumstances. If I didn’t want to grab him and shake the answers out of his handsomely wrapped skull.

My heart pounded in nauseating thuds. This had gotten all too real, all too quickly. I’d wanted the truth, but this felt dangerous. Like walking the edge of a long drop.

“Sky…” I started, but that was as far as I got before the words dried up.