SCINTILLATE - Book #1 of The Light Key Trilogy

Chapter 17

Someday is a wish your heart makes when you want things to be different than they are.

That was the truest thing my dad had ever told me. And the saddest.

I showered the forest mud from my skin and hair, but the key and the clover ring would never wash off. These two marks were permanent and so upsetting. I didn't even wear makeup, and suddenly I'm tattoo girl? If this was going to keep happening to me, how was I supposed to hide it?

I swallowed my misery and dialed Finn's number, hoping he didn't mind me calling so late.

"I was hoping we could talk," I said through the lump in my throat. "I just had the worst fight I've ever had with my dad."

"I was about to call you," he told me. "I miss you already. I'll come by for just a few minutes, and we can talk in person."

I hesitated. My father would freak out if he caught Finn at the house.

"Please don't say no. I've got to see you again. It's like an ache," he said. "I'll give you a quick kiss, you can tell me your troubles, and I'll be gone. I promise."

"You can't keep that promise."

"What? Beg your pardon?" I could hear his smile under his insulted voice.

"'Cause I don't think I can. Okay, come by, but be stealthy about it. Dad and I are at war. My window is the first one on the left side of the house."

Fifteen minutes later, I heard a light tap on my window. I kneeled on my bed and slid the window open, poking my head out into the cool night air. Finn reached up and ran his hand down the length of one of my long curls.

"This is very Romeo of you," I said.

He clasped his hand to my cheek and whispered, "O' she doth teach the torches to burn bright."

I stared at his smiling honey-brown eyes. A corona of light flared around his body and extended toward me, sweeping through me. After he returned to Ireland, would I ever feel his warmth again? I wanted to stay with the boy who convinced me that what made me different was what made me beautiful.

I threw down my kisses, one after the other, onto Finn's waiting lips. Somehow, as we kissed, he slowly climbed halfway through my window, crawled over me, fell into my room, and onto my bed, knocking my pillow into the lamp, which thudded onto the carpet. He wound me in the embrace of his arms and legs. He woke every sleeping want in me.

I loved him. I could waste time wondering how this improbable, beautiful emotion had gripped me so quickly, but why? I knew I loved him. And I'd have probably said it if his sweet mouth wasn't covering mine with deep kisses that made my body achy and hungry. Instead, I did something I had read about in Faye's books. I sent Finn love. Pure, loving energy. Right from my heart to his. I imagined my light pouring into him, around him. Without words, I declared my devotion. I was powerful and weak all at the same time.

Finn gasped. "Cora, there's something I have to tell you—"

A burst of white light blinded me.

The light in my room blinked on. My father stood in the doorway.