Sunburst (Starbright Series) by Rachel Higginson Page A

Seth couldn’t be found. The school had called and asked where Seth was, and Jupiter had given them the sick excuse.
                  This would get messy now that Seth was enrolled in school.
                  If Seth was truly gone, we would have to go through the steps of filing a police report for a missing kid, or make up some story about why he would just suddenly disappear.
                  And that was on top of trying to process the idea that Seth would leave us- leave me. I couldn’t comprehend why or what he thought he could accomplish.
                  If Seth was hunting Aliah himself, they would kill him. As strong as Seth was, he was no match for all of Aliah’s men.
                  And if he wasn’t trying to kill Aliah…. then what was he doing? Joining them?
                  That thought was inconceivable to me. It was an entire idea I could not wrap my head around.
                  But it was the only idea that made sense. It explained why he just disappeared. And it explained how our emotional connection died.
                  “But why?” my mom asked in a gravelly voice. She had not taken his disappearance well either. We knew it meant one thing- that he was Fallen now.
                  Our side didn’t do the whole spy thing, but only because it wasn’t possible. There was no way to pretend you were evil without losing your Light, and that was the whole reason we existed. Once Seth crossed over, he wouldn’t be able to come back.
                  And he knew that.
                  “What is he thinking?” my dad asked Jupiter. He too sounded ragged from loss.
                  “I can’t be certain.” Jupiter sat up a little straighter and met my father’s eyes. “But I imagine he thinks he is doing something noble.”
                  I sat back in my chair, feeling like he had just laid an immense weight on my shoulders- that was too impossible for me to carry.
    Set h was doing this for me?
    Did he think he could protect me this way? Honestly?
    He could do a better job of that if he was with me. How could he possibly watch out for me if he becomes as twisted and sick as the rest of the Fallen? In no time at all, he would want me dead as much as Aliah and Seven. As soon as he handed over his will to Aliah, he would be bent to their desires, and they would always, always want me dead.
    It didn’t make sense.
                  And what was worse, was that this felt like betrayal to me.
                  Just hours ago he had kissed me so sweetly and promised to take care of me. He’d asked me not to give up on him! But now I realized what an impossible request that was. How could I hold out hope when he abandoned me? And what kind of hope was I supposed to have, anyway?
                  That he only stoop to a semi-evil Fallen status? That his mind only become half-polluted? That he only carry out the occasional terrible demands?
                  This was the worst thing he could have done! He had to know that!
                  And it was incredibly stupid.
                  The door opened and Nate and Serena walked in. Serena’s hair naturally flamed bright orange. Her head looked like she was on fire, it was so bright and shining. And golden skin radiated Light constantly because she was always fighting, or flying. She wasn’t meant for Earth and had never learned how to be human. Only here temporarily, she was the epitome of the constant reminder of the Warrior’s life I would never lead- the one off planet and where most of my compatriots were.
                  Nate was the quintessential Warrior. While Stars were as different as night and day, with our array of hair and eye colors, our height differences and body shape variables, Warriors seemed to fit into the same