Page 59 of The Amber Sunburst

“Xos! I was about to come get you. I thought maybe you weren’t coming.” Oh, he likes Eudoxia soooo much. The fact that neither of them has noticed how mutual their feelings are is a real testament to the power of denial.

“I’m here,” Eudoxia stutters.

“Yeah, you are,” Zeno says.

They stand close, staring at each other for a good ten seconds, and Ophelia has never felt so much like a third wheel.

“Yes, and I am also here,” a voice mocks from inside the room. It breaks Eudoxia and Zeno out of their trance, and they laugh awkwardly at each other.

When the three of them step into the room, she locates the joker. A tan boy with dark, tousled hair is hanging upside down on his bed and smiling at her. She’s never seen someone with eyes like his before. Blue in the center fading into light green, and ringed by blue again on the outside. Both eyes have freckles of hazel in them, different on each. The colors make a striking contrast with his skin.

Eudoxia was right; he’s not her type. But she’s almost jealous of whoever he is chasing after because why can’t she be so lucky?

He tumbles off the bed into a pile of clothes and books strewn across his side of the floor, and sticks out his hand.

“I’m Alexander.”

“I figured,” she teases.

Instead of quipping back like she expects, Alexander’s grin gives way to something more… calculating, and his entire energy shifts.

“Something wrong?” she asks, because his stare isn’t flirtatious. It’s assessing.

“Nothing. You just… look like someone I know.”

“I do?” She doesn’t get that a lot.

“Well, you don’t look like him, I guess. In fact, you couldn’t look less like him. But something about you just reminds me of him.”

He pauses, then says, “But, whatever. It doesn’t matter,” and his smile is right back on, and any trace of intensity is completely gone. “It’s nice to meet you. Zeno talks about you all the time; I think he’s scared Xos likes you more than him.”

Right, Eudoxos. She can’t slip up with that.

Ophelia rolls her eyes. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

Alexander jumps back onto his bed like a contained ball of frantic energy. “So, you’ve noticed it too?”

She gestures over to their friends, talking softly in the corner of the room. “As if it’s not obvious.”

Alexander’s eyes fill with mischief. “Oh, I think you and I are going to get along, Miss Ophelia. It seems we share a mission.”

She jumps onto his bed, comfortable with him already. She loves the company of fellow troublemakers. “Mission: Get-Those-Weirdos-to-Make-Out-Right-Now?”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

14

LAZARUS

Lazarus is shaking. He can’t make it stop.

The first Trial is in three days, which means he has three days before his goals either come to fruition or are cut off at the root.

He’s not sure he’ll be able to stop himself from flinging his body off the cliff if he fails.

Three days means something else, too. Three days before the Trial is when the theme is released. So, in just under an hour, he will become even crazier than he already is, piecing together and pulling apart some cryptic clue. He tries to revel in the comparative calm, but he’s too anxious to let himself settle.

Lunch came and went without him, and now he stands at the chalkboard, remaining alert so he doesn’t miss everyone entering like in the first meeting.