Chapter Three

Elara’s POV

“That is literally impossible,” Maya laughed, shaking her head as we settled in the living room the following day. “There is no way he could have heard you. That is too far a distance, and it was not like you said out your thoughts or something.”

“Right,” I murmured, lying on the rug with my eyes on the ceiling.

But for some reason, I knew he had. As much as I tried to shake the feeling away, to tell myself he’d only looked because he felt someone staring at him like a bloody creep, there was a tiny part of me that knew it was something else.

“You know what?” Ethan, my other best friend, sat up on the couch, his hair falling across his face. “I think we should stop talking about your new neighbour. It is creepy.”

“I like talking about hot boys,” Maya said, shrugging. She kept her gaze on him, waiting. And I saw it. “I mean, who wouldn’t?”

“Elara.” Ethan was quick to reply. “I mean, I know she likes Alexander and goes to all his games, but that is it. She doesn’t talk our ears off about him, unlike you. Last month was the hipster guy from out of town, and the other month, it was…”

“We get it!” Maya rolled her eyes. “Elara is the innocent one, while I am the evil one trying to ruin her life, right?”

Ethan stopped. “Wait? What? You know that wasn’t what I said.”

“Elara!” My mother called from the kitchen at the right time. Pulling myself up from the rug, I gave neither of my friends a look as I ran into the kitchen.

My Mom had her baking gloves on, and she was bent over the oven, pulling freshly made pies out.

“I need you to take these out to the new neighbors,” she announced, pushing the tray onto the island. The pies were beautiful, but I was certain that wasn’t what caused the thrill in my belly and the sudden nerves in my bones.

“The new neighbours?”

She stopped moving, looking at me. “Come on, I know you are aware that a family moved across the street. No need to play dumb. I heard you lot talking about the hot boy.”

“Mom!”

“Go now,” she muttered, moving the tray closer to me. “You have always been the most charming in the family, and I wouldn’t want it to be weird if I go out there myself. You can tell their mom I said hi.”

Swallowing, I moved the pies into another tray and covered them with foil before stepping out of the kitchen. I took the back door, walking around the lawn and our building, before getting to the other side of the road.

I was at their door in no time, even though it felt like forever. I heard movements on the other side of the door, as if someone was drilling something into a wall. There were also yelling and another response.

Quieter.

But all of that ended the second I raised my fist to knock. Suddenly, it felt like there was no one home.

“Hello?” I called, my fist hitting the door again. “Is anyone home?”

Only silence responded, oddly loud.

Too loud.

I didn’t mean to, but my eyes found his window. I couldn’t see into it as much as I could standing by my own window, but from where I stood, I didn’t think he was in there.

Strange. I could have sworn I heard voices inside.

Trying not to let the hollow feeling in my chest get to me, I returned to my mother, who was still in the kitchen.

“No one is home.”

She stopped and narrowed her eyes. “Strange,” she murmured. “I thought I saw… never mind. They probably went out or something.”

My friends were still in the living room. They seemed to have moved past their arguments and were now huddled together, looking at something on Maya’s phone. I sneaked past them, up the stairs, and into my room.

Closing the door behind me quietly, I stood by my door, thinking about the stupid thing I was about to do for a minute before crossing the space. I mean, there was a chance that nothing would happen.

I was at their door minutes ago. No one was home.

Still, I sat by my window, my eyes scanning every inch of his room, as far as my eyes could see. For the first few minutes, nothing moved.

“This is stupid,” I murmured to myself, pushing away from the windowsill. And then, I heard his voice.

“What is stupid?”

My head jerked around, just as my heart thudded loudly against my chest. There was no one else in the room with me. And my door was locked. I looked back at his window, but no one was in there either.

It was the same as it was a few seconds ago, yet I was sure I’d heard someone respond.

I felt it when he sat by his window, even before our eyes met. His unblinking eyes regarded my features intently. They caught the fading sunlight, and for a second, they almost looked silver. In that moment, everything else faded.

There was just him.

Only him.

His lips didn’t move, but he angled his head, his eyes narrowing. It felt like I couldn’t breathe. My eyes stung the harder I stared at him, as if I was scared he would disappear.

As if I didn’t want him to disappear.

“Elara,” I heard him whisper, but it was only in my head. Because his lips still hadn’t moved. My fingers dug into the windowsill as I pushed impossibly forward. I was trying to reach him unconsciously.

“How are you speaking to me?” I whispered into the air, confusion coursing in my bones. “I have to be imagining this. I am right?”

He didn’t say anything. I didn’t hear his voice anymore. But he looked back into the room. I saw her blonde hair. His mother, I thought.

She saw me, too, but it was only for a few seconds before she walked over to the window, pushing the drapes over it.

I heard his voice again.

“Goodnight, Elara.”