Shine Light (24 page)

Authors: Marianne de Pierres

She searched the entire church until she found him in a bed in a corner of the nave.

Lenoir’s beautiful hair had fallen out and his skin had blistered. No one had come near him, fearful that, even in this state, he might harm them. On the floor lay the shrivelled remains of a Night Creature who’d been trying to subsume him. The webbing that had connected them dangled from where he’d torn himself free. His eyes were open, as though waiting for her. She bent over him and looked into them.

‘You didn’t fight back,’ he whispered.

She cleared her throat and tried to speak several times before the words finally formed well enough. It hurt but she knew how to ignore the pain. ‘I never meant you and your kind harm. I meant only that we should survive. Surely that’s the right of all living things?’

He managed a weak smile. ‘Still you fascinate me, little bat, even as I perish.’

‘I’ve brought the light back to Ixion and freed the uther queen. You can no longer control us. The cave system is extensive, though. There is room for you to live in the darkness below ground.’

‘There is nothing to sustain us.’

‘With the return of the daylight, the plants will grow, and animals will be born and die. There will be food.’

He closed his eyes and she felt something golden and precious steal through her body, bringing her renewed vitality.

She put her mouth to his ear. ‘Stop, Lenoir, you’re wasting your strength.’

‘Not – waste,’ he managed. ‘A gift . . .’

She put her fingers to his lips to quiet him. ‘You have risked much for me. It’s I who has a gift for you.’

Then she climbed onto the narrow cot, picked up the webbing that had been torn from the Night Creature and nestled it against her chest.

Within moments it had burrowed into her skin and begun the osmosis. They lay together, quietly, in peace. When she began to feel sleepy, she forced herself to tear the webbing away and get back to her feet.

Already Lenoir’s blisters had begun to fade. She leaned down once more and put her lips gently to his.

His eyes flickered open and she needed no words to read his expression.

‘Naif!’ called a voice from across the cruciform.

It was Rollo, waving and excited. ‘The uthers are here. They’re beginning the badge reversals.’

She waved back. ‘I’m coming. Make sure Markes and Suki are first.’

He hoisted his thumb in the air and spun on his heel.

Naif allowed a trickle of jubilation to steal into her body, starting at her toes and spreading through every part of her. She turned back to Lenoir, a smile blossoming on her face.

But the Riper’s bed was empty. Lenoir had gone.

M
arianne de Pierres is the author of the multi-award-nominated Parrish Plessis and Sentients of Orion series. The Parrish Plessis series has been translated into eight languages and adapted into a role-playing game. She is also the Davitt award-winning author of the Tara Sharp humorous crime series, written under the pseudonym Marianne Delacourt. Her first series for young adults, the Night Creatures trilogy, is receiving rave reviews.

Read more about the series at
www.burnbright.com.au

A
special thank you to Zoe Walton for championing this series and to Kimberley Bennett for taking over the editing duties and making me work hard. These are your books as well as mine.

And to Tara, who manages all my wild ideas with good humour.

‘To enter the endless night of Ixion is to enter a darkly glamorous world in which danger and pleasure dance to an intoxicating beat – as irresistible to us as it is to Retra.’

—Isobelle Carmody, bestselling author of
The Obernewtyn Chronicles
on
Burn Bright

‘In Ixion, Marianne de Pierres has constructed the perfect metaphor for teenage anxiety: a foreign world loosed from all past certainties, inhabited by symbolically costumed cliques engaged in complex hostilities. Your worst fears lurk just off the poorly lit paths, and the only relief comes from the brief sleep of the
petite nuit
, or in surrendering yourself to the music that throbs through the clubs. Read
Burn Bright
and feel a shiver of recognition, even as Ixion’s strangeness casts its spell.’

—Margo Lanagan, author of
Tender Morsels

‘The world created by de Pierres is fascinating, strange, and dangerous. It is a riveting read.’

—Rebecca Kemble,
Reading Time
on
Burn Bright

‘An intense, unpredictable and addictive page turner . . . a one-of-a-kind experience. Marianne de Pierres is an amazing and ingenious writer.’

—girlaboutbooks.blogspot.com on
Burn Bright

‘If Isobelle Carmody and Melissa Marr had a book baby together,
Burn Bright
would be the finished product! Adventurous, edgy, provocative, dangerous . . . and kind of thrilling with each and every page you turn.’

—talesoftheinnerbookfanatic.blogspot.com

‘In a YA market fast becoming saturated in dystopias
Burn Bright
shines out in the crowd. It’s ominous and daring and spectacular.’

—inkcrush.blogspot.com

‘
Burn Bright
introduces one of the most exciting worlds I’ve encountered since Scott Westerfeld’s
Uglies
series, or Isobelle Carmody’s
Obernewtyn
, and it will surely appeal to fans of both.’

—Holly Harper, Readings Books

‘The sequel to
Burn Bright
firmly cements Marianne de Pierres’ reputation as one of the finest writers of young adult speculative fiction . . . Breathtaking, with wonderfully drawn scenes and dialogue,
Angel Arias
is a terrific sequel examining faith, friendship, exploitation and the abuse of hegemony in subtle and thought-provoking ways . . . This tale leaves you wanting more.’

—Karen Brooks, author of the Curse of the Bond Riders series

‘A truly magnificent sequel . . . With action and heart-pounding suspense around every corner you’ll be simply captivated by Naif’s story.’

—sassybooklovers.blogspot.com on
Angel Arias

‘A chilling tale of a world fallen into almost unimaginable decay and strong characters working to pick it back up again. Atmospheric and intoxicating, I recommend it for fans of darker paranormals and dystopias.’

—inthegoodbooks.blogspot.com on
Angel Arias

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Copyright Act 1968
), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0
Shine Light
9781742753249

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

A Random House Australia book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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www.randomhouse.com.au

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
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First published by Random House Australia in 2012

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Author: de Pierres, Marianne
Title: Shine light [electronic resource] / Marianne de Pierres
ISBN: 978 1 74275 324 9 (ebook)
Series: de Pierres, Marianne. Night creatures; 3
Target audience: For young adults
Subjects: Fantasy fiction
Dewey number: A823.4

Cover illustration by Jarosław Kubicki,
www.kubicki.info
Cover and internal design by Astred Hicks,
www.designcherry.com
Typesetting and eBook production by
Midland Typesetters
, Australia