“And you like them?”
A genuine, hearty laugh. “We love them! Your ideas are . . . magical. That’s the word we all thought of when looking through them.”
Magical.
My entire being lit up, and my body flushed with the intensity. “Thank you,” I managed to stutter. “Thank you so much.” I choked back a cry of joy.
The woman’s voice bubbled with happiness. “Listen, come down to our office next Friday, and we’ll set everything up, okay?”
I let out a whoop of excitement, not caring if I looked stupid, not caring that the man who walked past me cringed. “I will. Thank you again.”
The woman’s laugh was what I imagined a twinkling fairy to sound like. “Can’t wait to have you at our school. Have a great day, Jeraline.”
“You too.”
And she hung up.
I won.
I really won.
And I knew exactly what I needed to do. What I wanted to do.
Racing home, I was on a mission.
I threw my bedroom door open, gathered the broken dress still on my floor, and began to sew. I fixed every seam and replaced every bead that had fallen off, until finally I only had one more bead to add, the largest of them all: the star my parents named after me. The place where I knew they waited for me a long, long time from now.
The dress was finished. Complete.
I put it on along with the petticoat, then turned toward the mirror.
It was just as stunning as it had been before I stepped foot on the runway that day. I could admit it without flinching from self-doubt. And I looked stunning too. Because . . . because I was me, and for the first time in a really long time, I found that I truly liked me.
Picking up the unframed picture of my parents on my bedside table, I hugged it fiercely, then placed it back.
One last hurdle to jump.
Putting on some lipstick, fussing a bit with my hair, I left the apartment.
I arrived at the alley quicker than I expected. Things we fear are often like that. But I had to do this. I had to move forward, and this alley was a part of that.
I had let it become the center of everything I feared in life, and now, as I really looked at it: it was just an alley. A grotesque, dirty and dark alley, but no longer the embodiment of what scared me.
Taking a step forward, my foot disappeared in the darkness.
Maybe I spoke too soon.
I’m not afraid.
I’m not afraid.
I’m not afraid.
Or, I didn’t want to be afraid.
That felt right.
I took another step forward, and light began to seep in, slowly, but enough that shadowed outlines of fire escapes and dumpsters materialized in front of me instead of the fog of black.
The further I walked in, the brighter it grew, until I heard footsteps and a silhouette of a man coming toward me.
Old instincts crept in, and I almost ran.
Emma appeared next to me though. “You got this,” she said with a smile. “Don’t be afraid.”
And suddenly . . .
I wasn’t.
“Jeraline?”
Emma disappeared as the figure turned into Josh, materializing out of the shadows of the alley, his face wracked with worry as he approached. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I went to your apartment after your phone call, then I went to Buster’s . . .” His eyes widened in awe as he truly saw me. “Jeraline . . .”
“I’m okay,” I reassured him. “More than okay. I’m better than I’ve been in a really long time.”
Josh brushed his hand against my cheek. “When you said you shot someone . . . I got so scared.”
Reaching out, I gently took his hands in mine. “I know. I’m sorry I scared you. But I was wrong. I didn’t hurt anyone.”
Blood rushed through my veins until the pounding in my heart was overwhelming.
I wasn’t a killer.
It was such an intense feeling of relief, my knees wobbled slightly.
Josh caught me, his hands now around my waist. Then he stared at me again, as if each new moment shell-shocked him. “You . . . you’re just so beautiful.”
My face burned in what I was sure was a full-on blush. “Thank you.”
He kept staring, shaking his head in wonderment. “I mean it. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. I’m the luckiest guy in the world.” He looked down, embarrassed. “I mean, I know we only went on one date . . . I didn’t mean to assume . . .”
I kissed him.
When I pulled back, his worry had been replaced with a silly grin. He eyed our surroundings. “We should get out of this creepy place.”
“This place isn’t creepy. I think it’s beautiful.” My whole being beamed with a sense of calm and purpose I’d never experienced before. Holding out my arms in a waltzing position, I looked up expectantly at Josh.
“You want to dance here?” he asked, watching me with a dazed expression.
I nodded.
Tilting his head to the side with amusement, Josh chuckled. “Well, okay then.”
Carefully taking my arms in his, Josh led the dance, and we waltzed among the garbage and the dark as if it were the marble floor of a fairy-tale castle.
Before our eyes, the alley grew lighter and lighter, the sun deciding at that very moment to shine directly in its center.
Our feet left the ground as we floated into the air, oblivious to the world around us.
I knew I had nothing to fear anymore.
Life would still be hard, but I could face it now.
And in that very moment, as Josh’s T-shirt and jeans transformed into a double-breasted tuxedo and we danced among the stars of the universe, I could truly be happy.
I could truly be me.
OTHER BOOKS BY BECCA C. SMITH
THE RISER SAGA
Riser
Reaper
Ripper
THE ATLAS SERIES
Atlas
Grigori Returned
The Underworld
RISER & ATLAS FINALE
Atlas Rising
DREAM DIARIES
The Dream Diaries
The Dream Diaries: Blood Ties
THE ALEXIS TAPPENDORF SERIES
Alexis Tappendorf and the Search For Beale’s Treasure
Alexis Tappendofr and the Search For Atlantis
LOVE & DARK SERIES (With Hina McCord)
Vessel
First Born
Gutian Code
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Bio
Landmarks
Cover
