A Fractured Light (Beautiful Dark) by Jocelyn Davies Page A

make someone such a hypocrite? How could he feel that way and still do what he did to me?
    I couldn’t understand it.
    I felt like I was wearing headphones with the music blasting at full volume. Above the rushing in my ears one sound struggled to get through.
    “Skye!” My head snapped up. Ian stood over me, looking concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He went over to close the window, and I took that opportunity to shove the feather into my jacket. “Ready to leave?” I nodded. He cocked his head to one side. “Skye,” he said, his voice already making me feel better. “No one blames you, you know. For leaving. For any of it.”
    I nodded grimly. I wished I could tell him that I hadn’t just left. That I would never abandon him, or Cassie, Dan, or Aunt Jo like that. They were my family. But there were so many things I could never tell him. “I think maybe I should just go home first. See Aunt Jo. If word got to her that I saw Cassie before I saw her, she’d never forgive me.”
    “Good call,” said Ian. “You’re a way better person than me.” He clapped his hand on my back. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
    As we drove, Ian and I fell back into our old banter.
    “So what’s been going on since I’ve been away?” I asked.
    He glanced over at me. “Are you pumping me for gossip?”
    “I feel so out of the loop!”
    “Well, I’m not as good at this as Cassie, so bear with me. You’ll have to get the full scoop from her tomorrow.”
    “Pleeease?”
    “Okay, okay. Well, you know about Cassie and Dan, I guess, right? How they’re . . .”
    “Together?” I asked hopefully.
    “Sickening.” He laughed. “Ever since she left the hospital they’ve been surgically attached.”
    “Yay!” I said, clapping my hands, so excited, suddenly, to be surrounded by all the little normal things that I loved about my life.
    “I think we have different definitions of ‘yay.’ I lost a bro this winter, Skye.” He bowed his head. “A true bro. One of the good ones.”
    I laughed. “Hey, eyes on the road. So what have you been doing with yourself while that’s been happening?”
    Ian glanced in his side-view mirror and switched lanes evasively. A police car passed us in the opposite direction. My stomach tightened involuntarily, as I remembered the sirens on the morning of Cassie’s accident.
    “I’ve been finding ways to have fun.” He focused on the road as we neared my driveway and didn’t elaborate.
    “That’s such a guy thing to say,” I muttered. “You’re no fun.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at me. There was a mischievous look in his eyes that he was not going to tell me about. Something had shifted between us, as quickly as a cloud passing across the sun, but I didn’t know what. “Home, sweet home,” he said. “Ready to face the wrath of Aunt Jo?”
    “Ugh,” I said. “No. But I’m going in anyway.”
    “You can do this.” He patted my knee gingerly, like I might slap his hand away at any moment. “She’ll just be so relieved that you’re home. She’s been frantic.”
    “Way to make me feel better,” I joked halfheartedly.
    “Just call me if you need anything,” he said. I got out of the car, and leaned down to stick my head in the window.
    “Thanks, Ian,” I said. “I’m glad I saw you first.”
    “Me too.” He grinned. “Just don’t tell Cassie. She’ll kill me for not bringing you straight to her.”
    I zipped my lips and threw away the key.
    “Our secret.”
    He nodded and peeled out of the driveway.
    The light from the kitchen windows spilled out into the front yard as I stood and stared up at the house. It used to be home. It still was, I guessed.
    I took a deep breath and made my way inside.

Chapter 8
    T he front hallway was dark but for a faint light from the kitchen. It took me a moment to get my bearings before walking toward it.
    What was I going to tell her? Where had I been?
    The kitchen was deserted and still. The sink was