Aether

"Happy birthday to Eva!" Cami lifted her tequila shot into the air with a girlish squeal, her grin wild and infectious. "May all your wishes come true—and may that cherry finally be popped."

"Cami!" Heat rushed to my cheeks so fast it almost hurt.

Caleb laughed beside her, entirely unhelpful. "She's got a point."

Cami had always loved putting me on the spot, especially when it came to my self-imposed vow not to date until college. "We're graduating in two months, baby girl," she said, tossing an arm around my shoulders. "You can finally loosen up."

"I volunteer as tribute," Caleb offered casually, like he was helping me study for finals instead of offering to ruin my life.

"You guys are the worst." I covered my face with both hands, already knowing I looked violently red.

Their laughter blended with the pounding music vibrating through the club.

"Okay, okay," Cami said between laughs. She raised her shot again. "To Eva, fake IDs, bad decisions, and Diamond's dance floor."

We clinked our glasses together before downing the tequila. The liquid burned all the way down, sharp and merciless, settling like fire in my stomach before warmth spread through the rest of me. For the first time all night, my body relaxed.

Smiling, I let my friends drag me toward the center of the crowded dance floor.

Diamond was alive—flashing lights cutting through darkness, bass shaking the floor beneath my heels, bodies moving in waves beneath clouds of smoke and expensive perfume. But somehow, inside all that chaos, it still felt like it was only the three of us.

The music swallowed me whole.

I closed my eyes and let the rhythm take over, letting go of every anxious thought still clinging to me.

Then I felt it.

A hand brushed the side of my neck.

Electricity shot through my body so suddenly my eyes flew open.

Grey eyes stared back at me.

Piercing. Intense. Almost inhuman.

The stranger stood close enough for me to feel the heat radiating off him, his gaze fixed on me like he'd been searching for something and had finally found it. I should've looked away. Instead, I froze beneath the weight of his attention.

His fingers rose to my cheek, brushing softly against my skin.

My breath caught.

The world around us blurred into noise and color while his eyes searched my face with unsettling focus, as though he was trying to understand what I was.

I bit down on my lower lip, struggling to hold myself together beneath that stare.

Finally, he spoke.

"Who are you?"

The question snapped something inside me.

I pulled back slightly, my heartbeat stumbling in my chest.

"Who are you?" I shot back.

The stranger tilted his head slightly, studying me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. His stare felt invasive, like he could see straight through me.

I swallowed hard.

Every instinct in my body screamed at me to run. Warning bells rang in the back of my mind, sharp and relentless, yet somehow I remained frozen in place, unable to move, unable to look away. My breathing turned shallow under his stare.

The blond man stepped closer, erasing the small distance I'd managed to put between us.

Before I could react, he took my hand gently and pressed it against his chest.

My eyes dropped instinctively.

His black floral shirt hung dangerously unbuttoned, revealing damp skin that glistened beneath the flashing club lights. A silver chain rested against his chest, and attached to it was a strange pendant—an upside-down arrow with a deep blue stone embedded at its center.

Something about it tugged at my memory.

A strange sense of déjà vu curled through me.

"Ella."

His voice snapped me out of my trance.

I blinked and looked up at him, frowning. "What?"

Relief flickered across his face so suddenly it startled me.

"I've finally found you," he murmured, almost like he was speaking to himself instead of me. His grey eyes searched mine desperately. "Where have you been all these years, Ella?"

Ella?

Confusion crashed into me.

"I think you've got the wrong person." I pulled my hand from his grasp, my voice quieter than I intended.

That seemed to unsettle him.

His brows drew together, a deep crease forming between them as he stared at me in disbelief.

That seemed to shock him.

He took a step back into the crowd, and just like that, the silver of his eyes vanished into the moving bodies—as though a curtain had fallen at the end of a performance.

Gone.

My mind struggled to catch up with what had just happened.

The haze surrounding me shattered, and suddenly I became painfully aware of everything again—the deafening music, the heat pressing against my skin, the bodies brushing past me on the dance floor.

My heart pounded violently against my ribs.

Regret twisted tight in my throat as my eyes searched frantically through the crowd for him, but he had disappeared like smoke, swallowed whole by the chaos of the club.

Only the lingering coolness on my skin where he'd touched me proved he had been real at all.

As the alcohol-induced dizziness slowly faded, I turned in search of my friends and spotted them a few feet away, completely lost in the music and each other's company.

Relief loosened something inside me.

Not wanting to interrupt them, I made my way back toward our table instead. I needed a moment to breathe.

My knees still felt weak from the storm of emotions raging inside me.

"What the hell was that?" I muttered under my breath, dropping my face into my hands.

I had never lost control like that before.

Eighteen years of discipline, caution, and carefully maintained composure had crumbled within minutes beneath the gaze of a complete stranger.

Get it together, Eva.

The voice in my head sounded harsher now, almost embarrassed by my reaction.

I exhaled slowly and leaned back against the booth, trying to steady my breathing.

I needed to go home.

There was no way I could keep pretending to enjoy myself after that emotional whiplash. My mind was still spinning, caught somewhere between panic and curiosity.

And Monday was finals week.

I still had exams to survive, and with only one day left to prepare, losing my mind over some mysterious guy in a nightclub felt beyond ridiculous.

My gaze drifted back toward the dance floor where Cami and Caleb were still dancing without a care in the world.

For a moment, I considered telling them I was leaving.

But I already knew how that conversation would go.

They'd try to convince me to stay, and when that failed, they'd insist on leaving with me because that's the kind of friends they were.

I couldn't do that to them.

Tonight was supposed to be fun—our first real taste of freedom before we go our own paths for college.

So instead, I quietly reached for my bag and decided I'd slip out without making a scene.

I asked the cab driver to drop me off a few buildings away from the house.

If my parents heard a car pulling into the driveway at nearly three in the morning, sneaking back inside would become impossible.

Earlier that night, when I'd wished them goodnight a little past ten, they'd been curled up on the couch watching their favorite late-night show. But judging by the glowing green numbers on my watch now—2:44 a.m.—they were definitely asleep.

At least, I hoped they were.

I slipped through the small wooden gate leading into the backyard, carefully easing it shut behind me before creeping forward on the balls of my feet.

Time to summon my nonexistent ninja abilities.

The cold night air brushed against my skin as I crossed the yard, every tiny sound suddenly feeling amplified in the silence.

The back door was always the hardest part.

It had an obnoxious habit of creaking loud enough to wake the dead unless it was lifted slightly while opening it—a technique I'd perfected years ago during the late night star gazing with Caleb in the yard.

Carefully gripping the handle, I pulled upward and eased the door open inch by inch.

Success.

I exhaled quietly as I finally made it up the stairs and into my room.

The second the door clicked shut behind me, my body collapsed onto the bed. I closed my eyes and drew in a long breath, desperate to calm the storm still raging inside my head.

But the moment darkness settled behind my eyelids, those grey eyes returned.

Sharp. Piercing. Unforgettable.

My fingers tightened around the fluffy duvet as the memory of his stare washed over me again, sending unwanted heat curling through my chest.

My eyes snapped open.

Absolutely not.

I refused to sit here fantasizing about some random man I'd met in a nightclub.

I needed sleep. I needed to recover from whatever emotional insanity tonight had been.

Pushing myself off the bed, I stood to change out of my clothes—

And froze.

My bedroom door creaked open, revealing the silhouette of Moira Rose James standing in the doorway.

My heart dropped straight into my stomach.

Busted.

Moonlight spilling through the hallway softened my mother's features, illuminating her warm hazel eyes as they swept over me from head to toe. To my surprise, a small smile tugged at her lips instead of disappointment.

"I noticed you weren't in your bed, pumpkin," she said softly. "I came to tell you your father and I are leaving for your grandmother's early tomorrow morning."

"Is she okay?" Concern flooded through me instantly.

My mother sighed softly. "Dr. Patrick wants to move forward with surgery immediately. We're not waiting any longer."

My stomach tightened.

Seeing the panic written across my face, Mom stepped closer and wrapped her arms around me. "Hey," she whispered gently. "It's going to be okay. Willa's a strong woman."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, pumpkin—"

"I will."

Her expression softened with both exhaustion and sympathy.

"Eva, your finals start next week," she said carefully. "And we probably won't be back until Thursday. Your grandmother's going to need us after the surgery."

"But I want to be there for her." I pressed my lips together hard, fighting the sting building behind my eyes.

"I know you do, baby." She brushed a strand of hair away from my face. "And Willa knows that too. But she also knows how important your education is."

Her hazel eyes lingered on me knowingly.

"I don't know where you were tonight," she continued gently, "but I do know it's your birthday, and you're an adult now."

Guilt twisted in my chest.

"So I'm trusting you," she said softly. "I need to know your father and I can focus on your grandmother without worrying about you staying out late or getting into trouble."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded quietly.

"Now go back to bed," she said softly. "You do not want your father joining our late-night conversation."

I laughed quietly as she leaned down to kiss my cheek before heading toward the door.

Just before closing it, she paused.

"Nice dress, by the way."

Confused, I glanced down at myself and immediately froze.

Right.

I was still wearing my mother's red dress—the one I'd shamelessly stolen from her closet two days ago after deciding none of my own clothes were "birthday worthy."

A small laugh escaped me.

"Sorry, Mom."

"We'll discuss your criminal behavior when I get back," she replied with a wink before pulling the door shut behind her.

"I love you," I whispered as the door closed, leaving me alone in the dark.

The thought of my grandmother going into surgery weighed heavily on my chest. Worry lingered, tight and persistent, but I tried to steady myself with what I knew to be true.

Willa was strong. She had to be—she had raised my father entirely on her own. She wasn't the kind of woman who gave up easily.

That thought was enough to quiet the rushing thoughts in my head, just enough for exhaustion to finally pull me under.

But sleep didn't come peacefully.

That night, the grey stare followed me into my dreams. Only it didn't belong to a grown man anymore.

It belonged to a boy.

Golden hair. Familiar eyes. A presence I couldn't place, yet somehow recognized.

I woke up more than once, trapped in a dream that refused to end properly, slipping in and out of it until morning.

And when daylight finally came, I told myself it had all been the alcohol.