The Stars Never Rise

Maddock shrugged. “Finn’s in my earliest memories.” He kicked a bit of gravel down the cracked sidewalk as we passed the peeling paint and chipped brick facades of some of the oldest houses in town. They were old even before the war, back when New Temperance had another name and no wall, and looked just like thousands of other towns in hundreds of other counties around the nation.

“Everyone thought he was my imaginary friend,” Maddock continued. “But the only part I could say at the time was ‘friend.’ It came out as ‘Finn.’?”

“You named him!” I couldn’t resist a smile at the thought. “So…how did you play with someone you couldn’t see?”

He shrugged again, and his pocketed hands pulled his pants up briefly to expose more of his socks. “We were about five when he figured out he could step into my body.” Maddock chuckled at the memory, and I glanced around to make sure we were the only ones on the street. A boy and girl walking alone together would be noticed unless they looked and acted like brother and sister.

Fortunately, the neighborhood looked deserted. We were still at least a mile from the center of town.

“Finn used to get me in so much trouble! For a while, every time he got a turn in my body, he’d take a bite out of everything he could reach in the fridge, to see what it tasted like. A couple of times I got sick.”

We turned another corner, and storefronts came into view on either side of the street, forming a redbrick canyon. I wrapped my coat tighter; the temperature seemed to be dropping by the minute. “I wish I could hear him like you and Grayson can.”

“He wishes that too.” Maddock’s blue-eyed gaze caught mine and held it. “He really likes you, Nina.”

“He’s been very candid about that.” And his candor had caught me by surprise. I shrugged. “It’s not like kids in New Temperance don’t sin. We just don’t flaunt it.”

Maddock nodded. “I think it’s the same way everywhere. And maybe that’s how it should be. Maybe we are sinning, and maybe we do deserve to be tortured in hell by demons. But then again, if the Church knew what we know—that demons are already delivering hell right here on earth—maybe they’d be a little less eager to judge us for enjoying whatever life we have left. Real exorcists rarely live long enough to donate their souls, you know.”

I hadn’t thought about that, but I wasn’t surprised.

Ahead, the school came into view, its tall, postwar fence punctuated with sharp wrought-iron points, and my heart began to pound. We were four blocks from the courthouse, and the crowd had grown denser. People were everywhere.

I glanced at Maddock, but if he was anxious, I couldn’t tell. I’d put my hood up and tucked my hair into it, fighting not to stare at the ground, certain I’d be recognized any second, but he walked next to me like he belonged in New Temperance. As if he’d been born here. And that was when I realized what he was doing.

If he didn’t look out of place, people would have no reason to notice him. Maddock was hiding in plain sight. But that was easier for him than it could possibly be for me, because his picture hadn’t been broadcast to millions of people who were eager to hunt him down and turn him in. His face wasn’t…

…on a giant Wanted poster plastered in the front window of the Grab-n-Go.

I sucked in a sharp breath and Maddock followed my gaze to the poster, where my face stared out at us both, literally larger than life. My name was right under it in huge block letters, along with details about the reward for information leading to my capture.

Below that were smaller school pictures of Reese and Devi, side by side, looking younger and more innocent than the exorcists I knew them to be.

“Don’t stop,” Maddock hissed when my steps lagged.

I matched his pace but couldn’t slow my racing pulse or the wave of dizziness that rolled over me. My plan wasn’t going to work. Someone would recognize me. I was going to get us all arrested, or worse.

“Calm down,” Maddy whispered. “It’s too late to back out now. We’d draw more attention by turning around.”

I had no intention of backing out, but…“You should find Reese and Devi and get out of here. There’s no reason for us all to get caught.” I’d never forgive myself if I got them hurt or captured.

“No way,” he breathed, and I could hardly hear him over the footsteps and whispered conversations all around us. “We don’t abandon our own.”

I wanted to argue, but by then we were part of the flow of traffic, carried by its current toward the town square, and so tightly surrounded by other spectators that if I reached out, I could touch at least three other people.

We were trapped within the mob gathering to hang us. Figuratively speaking.

At least, I hoped that part was figurative.