Dangerous Destiny: A Night Sky novella Read Free Page A

Girl. She was still listening in, and I wasn’t all that happy about having her find out where I lived. “I don’t know whose house it was, but it’s actually kind of new, like, relatively recently built and…” I realized that Calvin’s old referred to Beattie himself. “Wait. How old was old man Beattie?” I scrunched up my face. “Did he, like, die before we moved in there?”
    “No, no!” Calvin said through his laughter. “Nothing like that. The family sold it when he moved in with his son and daughter-in-law. I think they live up in Connecticut somewhere.” He glanced at me. “And it’s not so bad here in paradise, once you get used to it. Sunshine, beaches, blue sky, palm trees…”
    “Humidity,” I finished for him. “Swamp butt, heat rash, sunburn…”
    My pessimism cracked him up. “So where exactly are you from, New Girl? Where is this mythical, fabulous place that’s exponentially more awesome than beautiful Coconut Key?”
    “Skylar,” I told him again. “Actually, I’m from Connecticut, too.” I went general despite his exactly , figuring he wouldn’t know Guilford from Madison or even Hartford.
    “That’s a weird coincidence. Mr. Beattie went north and you came down here. Kinda cosmic.”
    I shrugged. Cosmic wasn’t the word I’d use.
    “So, you’re a Yankee,” Calvin concluded. “You love the seasonal changes, enjoy the cold. I give you eight months, tops, before you start shivering when the temp hits 65 degrees. It happens to everyone. So why the move mid-school-year?” He changed the subject without a beat. “Your dad work for StarSurge or something?”
    “What’s StarSurge?” I asked.
    “When NASA went private—” he started, but then cut himself off. “Obviously, if you don’t know what StarSurge is, then your dad doesn’t work there. Mine does.”
    “It’s just me and my mom,” I admitted. “And you’re half right. We moved down here because she got a job—which is stupid because she had a great job in Connecticut, only suddenly we’re here and I’m in this stupid new school, completely without friends, and…” I cut myself off. “I’m sorry. All my crap seems like…total crap, compared to…”
    Calvin had gone very still as he watched me, as if waiting to see if I’d say it.
    So I did. “Life in that chair.”
    His smile lit his face. “It’s not so bad. In fact, it’s kinda great to never have to worry about finding a place to sit,” he told me. “Plus, I don’t have to ride the bus.”
    “Unlike some of us at this table,” I agreed, smiling ruefully back at him.
    “Answer this quick,” Calvin said. “Would you rather spend ten hours in a car with a man with extreme flatulence—”
    “What?” I laughed out loud.
    “Or ten minutes in a porta-potty that’s been used by a basketball team with the runs?”
    I didn’t hesitate. “Ten hours with Mr. Flatulence,” I told him decisively. “Car windows can be opened. I will survive.”
    Calvin nodded thoughtfully. “Good choice.” He picked up his sandwich, carefully dividing what was left into two segments as he added “Don’t worry, New Girl, you’ll be riding in style before you know it, with all the new friends you’re gonna make here. You’re funny. And refreshingly honest. And pretty, if you’re into the whole skinny redhead thing, which, sorry, I’m not. Speaking of junk in the truck, or lack thereof, might I offer you half of my outrageously delicious sandwich, so you don’t have to eat that bullshit what-the-fah your mother gave you for lunch?”
    “Oh my God, yes,” I said, grabbing for it and taking a bite. It was hot sauce on that meatloaf, and it was awesome. I said the rest around a full mouth. “Thank you, Your Grace! I was starting to think you’d never ask.”

Chapter Four
    It’s time.
    I know that it’s time, because she appeared. Sky walked out into the quad, like a gift.
    My heart is pounding. Pounding. Pounding, the blood inside of it moving