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Tristan faltered a little, realizing after all these years that I probably didn’t need his help I could fly Actually fly Probably ju a few feet to a cement floor wasn’t a trial for me But he had never seemed concerned about that before and I didn’t mind if he wanted to be chivalrous
"You’ve never neededfor the truth he kneas incapable of hiding froainst the sun as I looked up at hi to keepAt his direct question though, ehtly, glowing right along with the rest of me despite my effort to stay completely nor out for Tristan’s fingers with ave hi to distract his sour mood I loved Tristan like a brother and I hated that he felt disappointed He was used to huentlemanly And I hadn’t lied to him, even if I had an arsenal of super-human abilities, it was still nice to be treated like a lady
Tristan held h that told h the halfand then waited for h the , he reached up and held me by the waist so that he could slowly lift esture was familiar and practiced and even if he realized I didn’t need his help, it was still coive it toto face hiain and plant a kiss on his cheek "I’m sorry this is weird," I whispered quickly, before Seth joined us "I was so excited for you guys to ht be… aard for you both"
"Stel, it’s fine I promise," Tristan smiled back at me, and his eyes told me he was sincere Whew "Now tell in with"
"Ok, so last night, on my way home, I was kind of… attacked," I explained as Seth e to concrete floor The boy’s locker rooround and smelled like dirty feet The old lockers, two half-lockers stacked on top of each other, h a maze of discarded jockstraps and assorted athletic cleats An even dingier community shower took up one side of the room, encased by a tile wall, with two entrances A bathrooe to explore the inside of those stalls
"Attacked?" Tristan stepped forward, instinctively wrapping his arht about it… but there was nothing you could do, really…" I cringed, knowing he would hate the truth to the answer I quickly continued to explain, hoping he would forget that he wasn’t a part of s "Anyway, there were hundreds of Shadows and they came out of nowhere They destroyed my car and then, well, I don’t knohat they planned to do with me, because it would have taken a lot more of them to kill me than that," I rambled, a character trait Tristan was accustohts and finish "Anyway, I scared the and then Seth and Jupiter, my weapon’s trainer, showed up and kind of saved the day They did the actual killing of Shadohile I had just been content to scatter the s the day, but it was obvious he was proud of his battlefield accolanced over at hi I had actually never done to a boy before and smiled He should be proud
"But you did do an excellent job of scattering theently
"Why did they attack you in the first place? I thought no one kneho you were or that you were here? Do they usually attack people like that? Or, uh… Stars like that?" Tristan asked seriously, clearly not taking comfort in the fact that Seth had taken so many Shadows out so quickly Tristan had known the truth about ht out and told hiins,Earth fro hay bales on his family’s farm It had been hard for hi the secrets of Heaven confidential But he had believed immediately Not just because the topic was raised when he asked her why I glowed every time he teased me and not because he had seen the proof I wasn’t hu to him, and to me Even at ten he knew I couldn’t lie to him
"No, they don’t" I replied sullenly, "They kneho I was We’re not sure how they figured it out, or if so ht"
"So how did you know she was in trouble?" Tristan turned to Seth I could see thewith his need to mark his territory Not that I was his territory, just eneral area of our small town
Seth looked atto hieneral, but especially to Tristan I knew Seth would never be able to trust Tristan the way I did Tristan was just a human, and Seth owed him no explanations, but I hoped Seth at least trusted ," I reassured hi his doubts "But he’s the only one that knows, he’s been sworn to complete secrecy and he won’t tell anyone," I proed a smirk with Tristan
Our shared look only caused Seth to look less inclined to share information with him "Jupiter and I received a distress call froot to the the confused look on Tristan’s face, Seth clarified, "Sidra was the Protector of Earth up until yesterday and Nisroc was her Counterpart When we found them murdered, we knew our leadership had been breached and so we caht here to find Stella and h; the sky surrounding her was completely filled with Shadows "
"But you had already banished them or whatever? They just weren’t dead yet?" Tristan askedto restore some of my credit
"Yes, I scattered the! Seth is really the hero, and he is soreally has been lacking, I’m sure the Elders cannot be happy withfor the first time about the consequences my parents would have to face
"Stella, if the Elders were unhappy with your training, they would have sent soo," Seth reasoned I looked up at hiht The Elders watched everything, or at least it see They were such a teroup, and if they orried about o and either replaced eant ones or replaceda sword made from Heaven’s Fire than her unnamed prom date