From the Publisher: “An American geek with a supercharged brain saved the world when he vanquished the wicked lord of Faerie. Yet sooner than he expects, Kellen St. James will have to play the hero all over again…”
About the author: Stephanie Keyes is the author of over a dozen young adult and romance titles, including the award-winning books The Spellbinder’s Sonata and The Internship of Pippa Darling. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Keyes is a technical writer and content strategist by day, as well as a teacher and speaker. She lives in the South Hills area with her husband, two boys, and fashion-conscious goldendoodle, Duncan MacLeod.
The quaint little shops and restaurants that made up downtown Bar Harbor lured in passersby with their curb appeal. Fall wreaths hung from storefronts along with signs promising free samples of hot apple cider and blueberry muffins. Small clusters of baby boomers wandered the sidewalks, whipping out their cameras every few seconds to capture the image of whatever curiosity had piqued their interest.
A group of people sat beneath a small circular pavilion with green and white trim, listening with rapt attention to a speaker. Part of a tour group or maybe a church service. There were already dozens of people out on that Sunday morning, but I could envision the potential for more in the summer. Hopefully our off-season arrival would work in our favor.
We passed by what looked like the busier side of town when Gabe spoke up. “I think those people are taking my picture.” Gabe grinned and attempted to show his best side as he eased the rental into a spot on one of the side roads beside a restaurant with a blue striped awning.
I whipped around and spotted an elderly couple bundled in jackets and boots with matching scarves around their necks. They did indeed seem to be aiming their cameras in our direction. Though I’d lay odds the real target was the restaurant, we couldn’t be too careful.
“Don’t look at them. I’m not sure it’s a good idea that we’re being photographed.”
“Right.” Gabe nodded, averting his gaze. “I didn’t think about that.”
I’d picked up three ball caps last night and had left them in the back of the car—just in case. Now, I pulled them out, setting one atop Gabe’s head. “Here.” I set a plain, navy blue cap on Cali’s head that read Softball Queen. “You push it down, like this.” I shoved the final one onto my own head.
“Thanks.” Cali beamed even as her ears poked out on the sides, reminding me of an elf. With care I arranged her hair over her ears, covering them from the cold.
Gabe adjusted his hat as a grin split his face. “That hat says you’re a Bass Master, Kellen.”
“What’s a bass?” Cali’s lips quirked.
“It’s a type of fish. It means he’s a rockin’ fisherman.” Gabe snorted.
I shook my head as I turned to Gabe. “At least mine doesn’t say Born to Ride a Hog.”
“Wha?” Gabe peered into the rearview, checking out his own cap.
“Come on.” I patted his shoulder and climbed out of the car. Cali followed.
Gabe, on the other hand, stayed behind an extra handful of seconds, frowning as he tugged the bill down on his forehead. Finally he climbed out. “Nice, K. Touché.”
“Hey, someday you’ll thank me for adding to your wardrobe.” I grinned and took Cali’s hand.
We crossed the street to a restaurant and stepped inside to find a haven of warmth and delicious smells. The restaurant was long and narrow with mostly booths on one side. We managed to snag the last free booth on the end.
The menus handed to us by a smiling waitress proclaimed the place as Jacob’s. Their special was none other than Maine blueberry pancakes.
“What’s a pancake?” Cali leaned close, squinting as she tried to interpret the menu.
“They’re a slice of heaven, that’s what they are.” Gabe winked, but his face immediately fell as he recognized his mortal faux pas. “Oh, no pun intended, C.”
She grinned at Gabe over the menu. “No worries for you, Gabriel.”
I suppressed a snort at Cali’s attempt at slang. It made me love her even more, the way she tried to fit into my world. Our world.
The waitress stopped at the end of our table, tablet at the ready. She was older, with curly white hair that rose up and around her head in one large puffball. She didn’t make eye contact over her notepad, and the sound of her tapping foot on the linoleum reminded us she had a restaurant full of customers. “What’ll it be?”
The three of us ordered rounds of coffee and the special. The waitress returned moments later with cups and a carafe of coffee. I waited until she was gone before I asked the question preying on my mind.
“Do you think we need to move on today?” Maybe the photographers had been legit tourists, but my time in Faerie, where nothing was ever as it seemed, had jaded me.
Gabe scoffed. “Kellen, this is a tiny town. They were just tourists. They probably weren’t even trying to get us in frame.”
I raised the coffee cup to my lips and sipped the overly strong brew. The waitress had skimped on the cream, and the blend hadn’t reached my optimal coffee hue yet. I didn’t bother signaling to her. She clearly didn’t want to be there any more than I did. “I’m not sure we can write anything off.”
“Kellen’s right. We need to be less conspicuous.” Cali frowned as she ran her fingertip along the tines of her fork. “I’m not saying that everyone’s a threat, but it wouldn’t hurt to be more aware of what’s going on around us.”
“Noted. Man, this is just like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One. You know, when they go on the run?”
Cali stopped fooling with her fork and stared at Gabe. “Should I know what you’re talking about, Gabriel?”
I stifled a laugh, loving how she was already calling him on his bizarre tangents.
Gabe’s expression turned serious. “Basically, C, it means I need to start treating everyone like the enemy and be less trusting.”
Funny, but I’d never known Gabe to be trusting at all. When we’d been at Yale, he’d practically asked for a background check on everyone I had a study group with. At the very least he always asked to meet them.
After draining my cup, I found I’d almost returned to a half-human state. About twenty minutes later, our waitress set three ginormous plates of food in front of us. The meal could have fed us as well as about ten others. The pancakes steamed on my plate and I inhaled slowly, taking in the familiar smell of hot blueberries.
“Now, you have options here, C,” Gabe said, using his fork as a pointer. “You can go with butter and syrup—either blueberry or maple.”
“What do you use?” Cali asked me, her expression lit with curiosity.
I held out my hand and Gabe set a container of powdered sugar on my palm. “Thanks.” I popped the top and sprinkled the sweet powder over my pancakes. “I highly recommend powdered sugar.” I capped the jar and set it back on the table.
“Freak.” Gabe grinned as he uncapped the blueberry syrup and dowsed his breakfast liberally. “Syrup’s the only way to go.”
“Or maybe,” Cali reached out, collecting first the powdered sugar and then the syrup, “a compromise?” Without waiting for our responses, she added both powdered sugar and blueberry syrup to her pancakes.
“Huh.” Gabe leaned forward, considering Cali’s topping selection as though she were a scientific experiment.
Cali cut into the pancakes and took a bite. Her eyes widened to the size of the plates our food had been delivered on. “Delicious.”
My own first bite was heaven. The blueberries burst open in my mouth, burning my tongue. It reminded me of the time Gran had made cookies and I’d taken one off the pan as soon as it came out of the oven. It had burnt my tongue so badly that it puffed up. It’d been worth it though. The cookie was awesome.
Gabe polished off half a pancake in one bite. He shoved it into his mouth and chewed for several seconds before swallowing. Syrup leaked from the corners of his mouth on either side. Cali burst into laughter. I’d never heard her laugh like that—with abandon, as though she didn’t have a care in the world.
Gabe glanced up, a residual piece of pancake sticking to his pronounced chin like a goatee. “What?”
This only served to make the situation funnier, and I roared with laughter right along with Cali. I offered him my napkin. “Wipe off your face, man.”
“Thanks.” Gabe did so, then balled the napkin into a wad and tossed it onto his plate.
We ate like that, laughing as though we were on a normal trip. I almost forgot for a moment that we were on the run. Gabe hadn’t, though. The instant we finished our meals, he was all business.
“There’s a grocery store around the corner. I can get milk and other stuff. Can you hit the hardware store across the street? We’ll need extra flashlights. I’ve got oil lamps back at the house, but just in case. Sometimes the power goes out for a while when the wind picks up, and I don’t know how long we’ll be staying here. Or if we’ll be staying.”
“Extra napkins?” A petite blond waitress walked by and placed a pile of napkins in front of Gabe. Her wide smile parted her lips to reveal ultra-white teeth.
Gabe sat up straighter so that he was almost able to look her in the eye. “Thanks.” He accepted the napkins with a warm smile, sending a faint blush creeping up the waitress’s cheeks like a wine stain on a white rug.
She left our table, probably to gossip in the back about the nice, cute guy that had been a sloppy eater. Apparently Cali and I hadn’t taken to our breakfast as ardently as Gabe had, because she didn’t offer us any additional paper products.
The smile stayed stuck on Gabe’s face until he opened the first napkin and blanched. He crumpled it up and reached for the second before dropping it on the table as well.
“Gabe, what’s wrong?” I reached for the napkins, but he held up his fork with the tines pointed toward me. By the time he opened the third napkin, he let his fork fall onto the plate with a clatter. In silence, he inspected the other napkins and then quickly discarded them, returning to the first three.
“We need to leave. Now.” He stood up and reached for his wallet.
“I’ve got it.” I tossed a fifty on the table.
“Thanks.” Gabe waited for Cali and me to stand, then spread his arms, blocking us from view like security detail for a rock star as he ushered us out the side door.
I gripped Cali’s hand tightly in mine, the same unease building inside of me as I glanced back at the restaurant.
The blond waitress was nowhere to be seen.
This excerpt from The Fallen Stars by Stephanie Keyes is published here courtesy of the author and should not be reproduced without permission.
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