I crossed into Balthazar’s living room, where the fire roared in the fireplace. It cast warm, dancing light over the floor. It felt good to be back home—

Home? Not my home, obviously. It just felt good to be back somewhere normal, anyway.

In an instant, the men were in the room with me, forming an expectant huddle around me.

“Well?” said Balthazar in his usual gruff manner. “Let’s see it up close.”

I slipped my fingers down the front of my dress and into my bra, clutching the warm metal. I pulled it out with a slow, careful motion that all three men watched unblinkingly. Then I held it out before them, and they stared down at the ancient object.

“That’s it,” Sebastos confirmed in a murmur. “That’s the astrolabe. I remember.”

I pushed aside the weird comment for now, sticking with what mattered. “And you’re sure this will take us to the person who abducted Holly?”

“If Death has Holly, then yes, it will lead us to her.” Balthazar plucked the astrolabe from my hand, running his fingers over it with something like reverence.

Irritation simmered. “What do you mean if Death has Holly?”

Sebastos lifted his shoulders in a stiff shrug. “It’s the most likely explanation, but nothing is certain.”

Balthazar handed the astrolabe back to me. “Can you read it?”

I frowned at the indecipherable surface. “No problem. I’ll just channel my inner… what would it even be? Astrologer? Astronomer?”

“Whatever makes it easier,” said Raphael.

I traced my fingers over the etchings, over the stars that marked its surface. This was more Holly’s thing than mine. What would she do in this situation? She’d totally inhabit the role, press her palm to her forehead while the spirits took over her body. Or something.

My chest ached when I thought about her. To my utter horror, I actually felt tears spring to my eyes as I stared at the astrolabe. I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone here seeing me like this, so I lowered my head, obscuring parts of my face with my long blonde hair, and stared at the shiny, round object in my hands.

When the blur left my eyes, I saw things more sharply than before. The hands, the symbols, the directions—my mind blazed with images of the sun’s position in the solar system, casting light over the Earth. My pulse raced, and my grip on it tightened. It wanted me to read it, but… something was missing.

For the first time, I noticed a small ring at the top. As if ruled by some instinct, I gripped the ring, shifting the astrolabe vertically. Without entirely realizing what I was doing, I brought it close to my eye. And suddenly it wasn’t just an object to me anymore. It felt like a part of me.

“The sun,” I said.

“What?” asked Raphael.

“I can’t read it without knowing the sun’s position.”

Raphael moved closer to me, touching my waist with his hands. Heat radiated from his body, caressing my skin in waves of warmth, the feeling at once strange and intensely familiar. Another long-lost sensation well known to some ancient part of my brain. With the astrolabe pressed to my forehead, I stared into his deep blue, gold-flecked eyes, ready to lose myself in them. The alluring scent of cedar smoke snaked around me.

Raphael leaned in close to me. “Look into my eyes, Queen of Venom. You’ll feel the sun.”

What the heck was he talking about? And yet—he was right. When I stared into the stunning gold flecks of his eyes, I felt the sun’s warmth heating my skin, the rays washing over me. My mind whirled with images of stars, and the rays of light connecting them to form constellations. Then, in the recesses of my mind, I envisioned afternoon shadows growing long over a grassy landscape, long fingers retreating from the setting sun…

I gasped at the intensity of the vision, stepping away from them. “Anyone care to tell me why, exactly, I can operate this thing with my mind?”

I looked up at three stony faces, three sets of eyes staring right at me, no one speaking.

I loosed a sigh. “Of course not. Silly me.”

Sebastos nodded at the astrolabe. “Where do we need to go?”

“West,” I said. “We need to go west. And I think we should go now.” More than ever, I desperately wanted to find Holly. I had to tell her about everything that was happening to me.

Balthazar narrowed his eyes. “You’re sure you can read that thing?”

I looked between the three men towering over me. The pressure of the past few days suddenly started to rise in me. “No. I’m not really sure about anything, to be honest. Not sure if I’m crazy, if you’re crazy. Not sure why I just saw a whole bunch of constellations in my mind, or why Raphael feels like the sun, or why I want to touch you all. Not sure if I saw a shadow angel flying overhead, or if Holly is an imaginary best friend that I invented to cover for my disaster of a life and the oppressive freaking loneliness that eats at my chest.” I took a deep breath, not entirely sure what I’d been rambling about.

Raphael flashed a wicked smile. “Can you go back to the bit about wanting to touch us, Queen of Venom?”

Did I really say that out loud? I swallowed hard, smoothing out my dress. “I didn’t say that.”

Sebastos cocked his head. “I like her when she gets worked up.”

Balthazar arched an eyebrow. “Are you quite finished?”

I lifted the astrolabe. “Yes. Let’s get to the car. I think I can find this Death jerk.”

* * *

As we sped down Route 2, I sank into the plush leather seat of Balthazar’s Porsche, gripping the astrolabe. We moved along the highway, and I let my mind fill with visions of stars, of the sun blazing hot over the horizon. Under the burning light, the astrolabe filled my mind with visions of shadows moving across grass, over leaves and deadfall in the forest. With each crawling movement of the shadows, the astrolabe was telling me exactly where we needed to go.

After the initial reading, I didn’t seem to need Raphael’s aura in order to operate it.

“Keep heading west.” I tightened my grip on the astrolabe, my frustration increasing along with my excitement. “I think I’m due some answers at this point. Why is it that I know how to read this thing? What are these visions in my mind, and how did you know I’d be able to do this?”

Raphael met my gaze, his blue eyes penetrating the darkness. “I want to tell you, Dawn. But I can’t. You just have to remember.”

I unleashed a long sigh. That is some bullcrap. “Tell me about yourselves, at least. Who are you? How did you end up in the Academy of Light together?”

“My story is the most interesting,” said Raphael. “I was born in France. Travelled to London with my mom to seek our fortune, which turned out to involve a low-end brothel run by someone named Mrs. Adkins. Lived in the rough end of South London as long as the city would have me, and when I’d overstayed my welcome in Britain, I came to the States. Ended up in Massachusetts—fuck knows how. But I can tell you that the women here are just as lonely, and they pay well for my considerable skill set.” A wicked smile curled his lips. “I’ve never left a customer unsatisfied, anyway.”

“You’re a…” I said, trailing off pointedly so that he would finish my sentence, but he just shot me a cryptic smile.

“A whore,” Balthazar cut in.

Raphael tensed. “It’s not my preferred term, is it? I’m an expert in the seductive arts.”

It was one of his usual jovial comments, but his tone had changed. There had been a distinct edge to it—an anger, almost.

I wasn’t going to ask any more questions, but Raphael turned to me abruptly. “Do you remember anything?”

I shook my head. “About what?”

“About us.”

His words sent a spark of excitement dancing up my spine, but I still had no idea what anyone was talking about. “I don’t know what you mean. I’d never met you before I ran into you in the cemetery.”

From the front seat, Sebastos turned to look at me, curiosity carved on his bronze features. “You don’t feel anything when you’re around us?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” said Balthazar. “If this is going to be all about feelings from now on, I’m turning on the bloody radio.”

Raphael was still studying me. “Dawn, Balthazar was right. We’re drawn together. There are… forces in the universe that are difficult to explain. These forces prefer it when we’re together.”

“Forces,” I repeated in a low tone.

“Haven’t you noticed a power when we’re together?”

I considered Raphael’s question with more seriousness than I would have dreamed of just a week ago. Yes. When I’d looked into his eyes as I read the astrolabe, I’d certainly felt something. And the way I’d been able to home in on the astrolabe in the first place seemed like it had come from a connection to the men from the Academy.

Only last year, I’d given Holly such a hard time for buying a crystal healing pendant. When she’d seen my reaction, her eyes had scrunched at the corners. Her lips had turned downward when she’d realized I held absolutely no belief in the supernatural.

My chest tightened at the memory. Had I been a good friend at all?

And now here I was—considering the possibility that my proximity to three exceptionally hot men gave me magical powers.

Not that their hotness had anything to do with anything.

If I got her back—when—I’d change. I’d be an amazing friend. No, I’d be nothing short of a perfect one. Supportive, open-minded. Anything she needed.

A lump rose in my throat. If she were truly caught up in something dangerous because of me, my heart would break.

“Are we still going the right way?” asked Raphael.

Once more, I let my mind meld with the astrolabe, my skull whirling with images of stars and shadows spreading over a grassy field, moving north and west.

“Yes. But we’ll need to head a little bit north. Head north as soon as you can, actually.” I glanced out the window, realizing we were driving through rural Concord. We turned off onto a dark, empty road. “When I use the astrolabe, I see stars. Anyone care to tell me what that’s about?”

Sebastos turned to look at me, pinning me with his hazel eyes. “The stars rule our lives, Dawn.”

I cast my mind back to the nightmare I’d had—the one about crawling over a battlefield, half dead. I’d been searching for Gemini in the night sky.

I shot a quick glance at Raphael, at the tattoos that snaked over his arms—the entrancing, dark whorls of stars. I’d seen the same ones on Sebastos—and on Balthazar.

I frowned. “Do you guys all have matching tattoos of stars?”

“How did you know about mine?” asked Balthazar, a hint of amusement tingeing his steely tone.

My cheeks heated. “I, uh… I saw them from across the street.”

“When you were using your binoculars,” he added.

Raphael huffed a laugh. “Spying on her neighbors. Our Dawn does have a wild side.”

I knew he was making fun of me, but something about the way he’d said ‘our Dawn’ made warmth flutter through my belly. “I notice none of you are answering my question.”

“I have more tattoos that you haven’t seen, Dawn,” said Balthazar. “But this would hardly be the time or place to show you.”

I sighed. Then I leaned forward, examining the tattoos on Sebastos’s neck. “They’re constellations. Aren’t they?”

Sebastos turned around to regard me, an impressed smile curling his lips. He opened his mouth to respond.

But before he could answer, a car swerved suddenly out of the opposite lane, screeching right into our path. I hardly had a chance to scream.