NOTHING SHINES FOREVER
Nathaniel
Being that it was only eight o’clock, I didn’t want to risk traversing without proper clearance.
Carson answered his phone on the second ring. “I’m at the house, and no, Maryah isn’t here.”
“Right. See you in a second.”
I didn’t focus on a specific room. I focused on reappearing eye to eye with Carson. I traversed and resurfaced standing on the kitchen island—in the dark. Carson’s hands were stretched above his head fiddling with a light fixture.
“This is a first,” I said.
Louise stood below us with a flashlight aimed at Carson’s hands. “One of Harmony’s ghosts got angry and blew out all the lights.”
Carson finished spinning a bulb into place. “Hit the switch, Dakota.”
Light flooded the room and Carson and I hopped down off the counter.
I peered down the dark hallway. “It blew out all the lights?”
“Yes indeedy,” Dakota answered. “I could only find one flashlight, so Shiloh’s running around fixing the rest.”
“Must have been one powerful spirit.”
Louise cringed. “His aura was brown and thick as mud—so much hostility and unresolved anger. He also broke a couple dishes. Harmony has her hands full with that one.”
“Is she still here?”
“No.” Dakota pushed his haphazard waves of blond hair from his eyes. “She didn’t want him doing any more damage to the house.”
Dakota wasn’t a member of our kindrily, but he was a member of our family. To Harmony and Faith, he was related by blood. The rest of us became connected to him by heart, which in many cases is as strong as blood or soul ties.
He grabbed a rag and scrubbed at wet spots on the Element logo of his t-shirt. “I tried a Repelling Evil spell on him, but the poltergeist prick exploded a can of soda on me.”
I grinned. Dakota had never successfully cast a spell. “Trying to protect your sister again?”
“Some spirits just don’t know when to let up,” he spat. “In my next life I’m going to be a Ghostbuster.”
Louise and I laughed. Carson rolled his eyes.
At age thirteen, Dakota’s harness malfunctioned during a rock-climbing adventure and he nearly fell to his death. Carson and I reacted instinctively. Dakota witnessed me safely anchored to the rocks above him one second, and below him on the ground the next. In actuality, Carson saved his life. My intention was only to break his fall, but Carson grabbed him mid-plummet, and Dakota halted within inches of my arms. He refused to believe the explanations we constructed, so the kindrily entrusted Dakota with our basic secret of abilities. Over the years he attained further knowledge about us, and it strengthened his desire to be an Element.
“Anyway,” Carson said, as the hallway light flickered on. “Shiloh had me text you.”
Shiloh spun out of the hallway into the kitchen, singing a chimerical song about lights and ghosts. A head full of braids had replaced the thick unkempt hair I’d seen him with a few days earlier. “Natty bro!”
“Carson said you had him text me. Why didn’t you just call me?”
“Left my phone at the dance studio.” He dumped an armful of bulbs into the trashcan. “All the lights are fixed, Louise.”
Louise patted his back. “What would I do without you, Shiloh?”
“You’d use a flashlight.”
She playfully shoved him, and in true Shiloh style he dramatically fell against the refrigerator. “Maybe so, but none of us have the ability to know what you told us earlier. Hurry up and tell Nathan.”
“Tell me what?”
“Let’s go outside,” Shiloh said. “I’d rather show you.”
∞
We walked to the far end of the deck where the spiral staircase led to the rooftop. I traversed to the top and waited for him.
When he reached the top stair, I asked, “Why are we up here?”
“The closer the better.”
“Closer to what?”
He pointed upward.
I glanced at the sky. “Beg your pardon.”
“This might sound crazy, but keep in mind I see differently than the rest of you. Just like you see colors and I can’t, I can see things that you can’t.” He rubbed his hands together. “Promise you won’t push me off the roof when I tell you this.”
“I’ll do my best to refrain.”
He sucked air through his teeth and blew out a long breath. “Okay, last night, I thought I saw something in the sky, but I dismissed it due to Faith’s contagious optimism. Tonight though, it’s a tad brighter. I can’t deny it’s there.”
“Deny what’s there?”
He stepped past me so he wasn’t near the roof’s edge. “Maryah’s star.”
My eyes darted upward, searching for the celestial light that used to shine beside mine. I saw only darkness. The empty grave in the sky matched the black hole inside me. I lowered my chin and glared at Shiloh.
“Dang. You don’t see it either. I’m telling you, where her star used to be is a pulsing spec of mist that’s halfway between gray and silver of my color spectrum.”
“Her star burned out almost two decades ago. Once a star falls it doesn’t rise again.”
“I discussed that with Faith and Louise. Maybe it never fell. What if it just faded like her memory, and now it’s slowly being rekindled?”
“The star that represented her has burned out. The heavens are through weeping for her, and so am I.”
“Do you really expect me to believe you’re not going to fight to bring her memory back?” I stared at him, unblinking. “You aren’t yourself anymore, bro. We miss the old Nathaniel, the believer of love and miracles. I swear, Nate, there is a trace of light up there.”
I shook my head. “Impossible.”
“We’ll see about that.” Shiloh sat down, dangling his legs over the side of the roof. “Carson thinks I can see it because of my ability to see in the dark. He’s hoping to reproduce my gift by designing special hi-tech glasses. If he pulls it off, I’ll prove you wrong.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it.”
He reclined back with his hands behind his head and smiled. “We know. That’s why Carson is making the glasses.”
