(Above is a charcoal drawing I did of Alrund a few years back. Thought I'd add it for this chapter!)

Ash:

"Bye, Ash!" David said, as the wire door slammed behind him. It had a horrible sense of finality that made her want to cry. But she wouldn't. She was determined. She stared through the door, scratching at the wire netting, the sound grating her teeth.

"Dad, don't go!" She pushed open the door and stepped out into the night. The porchlight flickered over the driveway, thanks to the faulty lightbulb David had been meaning to fix. She doubted he'd be fixing it anytime soon. He was too busy squeezing the last of the cardboard boxes into his van, alongside the rest of his possessions. The car door slammed shut, jolting her heart. Ash sprinted down the porch, clutching his Richmond football flag, which flailed in the wind. This was it—the moment when her parents came to an end.

It had all began after they'd returned from work, when they'd broken the news that David was moving out. Tonight. She'd tried not to show any emotion—for her parents' sake, mostly—but as she passed him his flag through the window she was closer to tears than ever.

"It's for the best," David said. "We'll talk tomorrow. Yeah?"

She nodded. A lot.

"Night, Ashie." Rubbing his bald head, he smiled wearily and started the engine, his headlights moving further away as he reversed up the driveway. A wave of his hand and he was gone, up the street and to... She wasn't sure where.

As Ash went inside, her heart felt as if it was burning up. It was almost as bad as that weird turn she'd had about two hours ago, when her spirit felt close to bursting and she swore that something had changed in the universe. It was crazy. She knew that. Her only explanation was that she'd sensed her parents split just before they'd arrived home from work. Or maybe she was just screwed up in ways even she couldn't understand.

Ash hovered in the alcove, staring out the door and into the darkness. Beyond the driveway a streetlamp had a haze around it. The night was too cold, too misty, too silent.

As Marianne passed down the hall, Ash almost screamed at her for not trying harder, for letting her dad walk out the door. But Marianne's head was down the entire walk to the kitchen, and Ash suspected her mum was crying as she loaded plates into the dishwasher.

"Mum," Ash said. "Leave that. I'll do it later."

Marianne thumped the dishwasher door closed and leaned against it. She stood there for a good minute, facing the window and wiping her eyes.

Ash's voice came out surprisingly upbeat, as she said, "You know what we haven't done in a while?"

"What's that?"

"Sat on the back roof."

"Ash, I don't know... I'm really not in the mood."

"Come on...!" She flicked on the kettle. "I've already started the hot chocolate."

"Boiling water barely constitutes as hot chocolate, sweet."

"Ha. That's what you think!" Ash raced around the kitchen, collecting thermoses, fruit, cocoa and milk, pouring the kettle the second it clicked off. In less than a minute, two hot chocolates were on the counter, along with a fruit salad. "There. Finished."

Marianne stared in astonishment. "That was fast. Really fast. I knew you would be one day, but I never realized..."

Ash frowned. Her mum really wasn't making sense and it was beginning to freak her out. She loaded the goodies into a bag and dragged her mum out the back door and across the patio. Bag in one hand, Ash climbed the ladder onto the roof that overlooked their backyard and the solar lamps lighting the gardens. Ash already had the drinks out and the fruit salad in mugs by the time Marianne was sitting on the skylight beside her.

Ash was extremely organized for some reason, and she didn't like it. What she also didn't like was that they were one person short. David would normally sit next to Marianne, while all three of them looked for the patterns in the sky. Tonight, there were too many clouds.

"Where's Dad gone?" Ash asked finally.

Marianne took a few sips and winced, as if hot chocolate was bitter. "A friend's."

"Which friend? Do I know them?"

Marianne's eyes teared up again.

"It doesn't matter," Ash muttered.

"Kimberly Edwards."

"The clinic's veterinary nurse! But she's only twenty-four!"

Help! That's only eight years older than me! Actually, that's fourteen years younger than Mum! I can't believe it! Dad had to be one of those men that goes for the newer model. Idiot. Mum is gorgeous, fresh-faced, and an exercise nut. Those fun runs she makes me do... the daily yoga routines... Grueling. More than that, she would help any animal, person, or thing worth saving. Dad was crazy to let her go.

Marianne sighed. "Kimberly Edwards. Can you believe that?"

"I'm sorry, Mum."

She pulled Ash into her side, grasping the warmth of her drink. "Me too, Ashie."

Ash drunk the last of her chocolate, trying not to think of her dad at Kimberly's house. She now dreaded Wednesday. After school, she had a shift with Kimberly. Her dad would be there, too. She wanted to see him. And strangely, she never wanted to see him again.

"What will happen with the clinic now that you...?" Ash asked.

"I'm keeping the house," Marianne explained. "Your father is keeping the clinic, with the help of the investor."

Wow. That's why they need that Lücan guy. They must have been planning this split for a while. And they didn't tell me.

That horrible investor!

Ash touched the star under her scarf. He'd been far too interested in it. She wondered what it said... Not that she intended asking Lücan. He might want to collect it for himself.

Then reality struck. David hadn't just left Marianne, he'd left Ash, too. For Kimberly Edwards. That was how much his family meant to him. But Ash wasn't about to ask whether she'd be seeing David on weekends. She was too old for her parents to be worrying about custody battles.

Ash bumped Marianne's shoulder, tears brimming but not falling. "So, it's just you and me, hey?"

"Is that okay?"

"Yep. As long as we sit up here every night, then yep."

"Done."

Ash gave her mum a reassuring smile. Then a chill flooded her, worse than that universe-altering moment from before. Her heart felt like it was breaking over and over again. She sobbed uncontrollably, having no idea why.

"Ash! I'm sorry!" Marianne said. "You'll still see your Dad—"

"No. It's not that!" Ash said between gasps, batting her mum's hand away.

Someone cried in her head. His voice was rough, as if he'd been crying for hours and didn't know how to stop. Then she was looking through his tear-filled eyes, and she felt as if it were her arms wrapped around the wounded man lying on the bed. As the crying guy pulled out of the embrace, the man on the bed seemed familiar, even with his eyes closed. He was in his late thirties or early forties, and his blond hair stuck out every which way. He had a stubbled jaw that was strong. His khaki jacket was blood stained. Together, Ash and Crying Guy stared down at the man's chest. It didn't move.

The guy occupying Ash's mind sobbed and she sobbed again. Her cry sounded empty, sadder as it died in the night. She rose to her feet, feeling unnaturally tall upon the rooftop—closer to the clouds, closer to him. From out of nowhere, the words flew from her mouth, "I need to see Will."

"What?" Marianne breathed.

"Will. He needs me. I have to find him." And then she leaped from the rooftop, landing easily in a crouch on the patio.

"Ashleigh! Stop!"

Ash paused by the edge of the patio, ready to leap from that, too. If she took the side gate and cut through the front yard she knew she would be closer to finding him.

"Wait for me!" Marianne called, climbing down the ladder. Wrapping her cardigan around her shoulders, she rushed towards her daughter. "Do you know where to go?"

Ash shrugged. "No." But she could feel him, and that seemed like enough.

"I'll take you."

"You know him?"

"Yes."

Ash stared at her mum. Her secrets seemed to be endless!

Marianne went into yoga breathing mode, then led Ash through the house and out the front door. As they crossed the road, Marianne asked, "Do you know what's happened to Will?"

"Something bad."

Marianne hurried her pace.

Feeling the great distance between Will and herself, Ash had expected the walk to take longer, but three houses up Marianne unlatched Jasper's picket gate and strode along a pathway bordered by every rose imaginable. Ash had been admiring the garden for years. Sometimes she'd found an excuse to walk past it, just so she could breathe it in. Sometimes she had no excuse at all. The flowers were bold yet elegant, and full of the most amazing scents that could sell as eau de parfum, and that scent wafted up to the veranda as Jasper opened the front door.

"Marianne, this isn't a good time," he began.

"That's why we're here." Her voice turned quiet. "Ash asked to see Will. She's concerned that something might—"

Reluctantly, Jasper opened the door. "You'd better come in."

Ash was confused. Just last night he'd asked her out on a date and sung to her. Tonight, she felt slighted. Something she'd never expected from Jasper. It did nothing to ease the sadness already weighing upon her, which was growing by the second.

They were led to the back of the house and into an elegant lounge area. The white curtains were still open, showing a lamp lit courtyard that made Ash pause. Rosebushes surrounded the border and lined a path into the darkness. She had never seen so many roses. It was oddly disturbing, but nonetheless beautiful.

"Will isn't here," Jasper said. "Give me a moment to chase him up."

As he left through an archway, Ash slumped into the burgundy and gold armchair near the windows. She was exhausted, as if she'd cried her entire life. Then she saw two things at once—the Van Gogh painting of 'The Starry Night' on the wall opposite, and the white marble staircase Will was running down in his bid to get to her, little orbs of light floating above him, guiding the way. She was out of his head a moment later, and Marianne was staring at her strangely.

"Have you been here before?" Ash asked.

Marianne rolled her lips together—her contemplation tactic whenever she was thinking up a diversion. "I've popped in on the odd occasion. Borrowed sugar. That sort of thing."

"Nothing else?"

Her mum shook her head, then looked away.

"Okay." She's lying.

Jasper returned. He seemed jittery, like he'd had too much caffeine. "Will is on his way. Give or take a few minutes."

"Thank you, Jasper," Marianne said.

Ash watched the clock. The seconds turned into minutes. Any moment she would be meeting the boy from the festival. She could barely remember his face, and she'd requested to meet him! But his pain burning in her chest was real. It was stronger than ever, the closer he was.

Beside her chair, the French doors clicked open, startling her. She turned, expecting Will. The clinic's investor walked in, looking more like a spy after a night of espionage. His brown hair hung in his eyes, not quite concealing the cuts over his forehead and cheeks. His navy suit that had been pristine earlier was ripped. Blood seeped through his white shirt. But it was his eyes that upset her most of all. They were circled with yellow and so very, very tired, as if he might not survive the night. Ash was about to pull out her phone and call for an ambulance, but Marianne shook his hand in greeting.

"Thank you for bringing her," he said.

"Are you alright, Lücan?" she asked. "What happened?"

Staggering over to the mantel, he clutched it like an old man. "We lost Ama and Hahn."

Marianne slapped her hand to her mouth, crying in an instant. Her mum knew these people far too well. Maybe too intimately, as Lücan embraced her lightly, something Ash imagined he rarely did with anyone.

"Poor Will," Marianne mumbled into Lücan's shoulder.

Poor Will?

Oh no. Hahn was the man lying motionless on the bed.

And Ama was... Amaryllis.... Trails of blonde hair and lovely dresses. Hazel eyes that always had a misty look to them, as if she knew as much of the happenings of the universe as the stars did. Come to think about it, she'd always been around Ash as a child, singing songs that seemed strange now.

Everything inside Ash went numb.

Amaryllis... Will's mother!

I have to see Will.

Lücan turned to Ash. "You remember them."

She should have been asking how he knew such a thing, but she stepped towards him. "I'm sorry...Your friends..."

He smiled in gratitude.

This close, she could see how bloodshot his eyes really were, how tense he was. As desperate as she was to find Will, she couldn't help but throw her arms around him and bury her face into his chest. She frowned, about to pull back when he awkwardly folded his arms around her. It might have been pity on his part—Let's hug the crazy girl—but it felt like more than that. She pulled back. "We've known each other for a long time, haven't we?"

Pain shifted across his face, but it was buried just as quickly. "Many years ago. Things have changed, and soon they will again. When that time comes I'll explain everything."

What does that even mean?

"Find Will," he said, bracing her shoulders.

Ash nodded, feeling Will's spirit as she rushed through the archway on her left. Not looking where she was going, she tripped onto the middle of the training mat spanning the room. Gleaming swords shone upon the walls. There were bamboo fighting sticks, and weapons to which she had no names for.

These people are kind of scary. Although...I don't feel scared.

Dismissing the strange room, she ran through the next archway and stopped at the second door on her right. Taking a deep breath, she knocked. When no one answered, she peeked inside. The bedroom was just as airy as the rest of the house, but full of bookcases and a desk covered in gigantic textbooks and a laptop. The knives and ninja stars that sat beside those texts should have made her nervous, but she inched forward.

There, lying on the bed, was the boy she'd been aching to see. But he was facing the window, still a mystery. His strong frame was curled slightly, and his blond hair was sticking out every which way on the pillow. Just like his father's...

She tiptoed towards him, hating that the back of his shirt had been slashed with a blade intended to end him, or that his jeans were gashed pretty much everywhere, like it was a new trend, one complete with blood stains. He'd been through more than just losing his parents. He'd been through hell.

Ash reached out and touched his shoulder. His hand clasped around hers, and she squeezed it gently. His knuckles were rough, little nicks all over them. That sight was enough for her to forget about boundaries. She dropped onto the bed, lying into the curve of Will's body. He turned gingerly, flinching from whatever hurts he had. Then they were inches apart on the pillow. Ash could hardly breathe. Ever since she'd felt his pain on the rooftop, he'd become as much of her as she was of him.

Bowing his forehead to hers, Will pressed his eyes closed. "They're gone, Ash. Both of them."

Every word that came to her felt useless. All she could do was wrap her arms around him and hold him tight.

"I was too late," he whispered.

"I don't know what happened, but look at you, Will!" She traced the bruise across his cheekbone and the cut beneath it. "I'm guessing you did everything you could to help them."

He blinked up at the ceiling. "They were already gone by the time I'd arrived. I didn't know it at first. There was too much going on. Panic everywhere. Then Keenan told me what his father had done and I..."

The guilt inside him was agonizing. Ash could feel it in his hearts, surprised that he had not one but two beating painfully.

Without warning, she was pulled into his mind, and the events of his day began to unfold. It seemed she wasn't the only one who'd felt the universe change. Will had been standing in the archway of the training room when he'd clutched his chest, at the exact moment his parents fell. She sensed him fighting the rest of the memory, while trying to break their connection.

The scene skipped ahead in time. Will was being flown across the stars by none other than Lücan! Another boy was bracing Lücan's arm, and he did not look pleased about it. Ash wondered why this boy didn't just fly himself—he had the most amazing white wings. He looked too ethereal to be real, and that only made her certain that Will was dreaming. But as they delved further into the flashback, his world did seem strangely familiar...