“You’ve never needed my help, have you?” Tristan confronted me gently; searching for the truth he knew I was incapable of hiding from him. My eyes glistened against the sun as I looked up at him and I blinked rapidly hoping to keep my Star instincts at bay. Glowing eyes could be unsettling. At his direct question though, emotion flared beneath my skin, causing it to warm ever so slightly, glowing right along with the rest of me despite my effort to stay completely normal.
“No, I’ve never needed it,” I admitted, reaching out for Tristan’s fingers with my own. “But I’ve always appreciated it.” I gave him my most charming smile, hoping to distract his sour mood. I loved Tristan like a brother and I hated that he felt disappointed. He was used to human girls, raised to be gentlemanly. And I hadn’t lied to him, even if I had an arsenal of super-human abilities, it was still nice to be treated like a lady.
Tristan held my gaze for a moment longer before exhaling a sigh that told me I was forgiven. He slid in through the half window and then waited for me to join him. When I was halfway through the window, he reached up and held me by the waist so that he could slowly lift me to the floor. The gesture was familiar and practiced and even if he realized I didn’t need his help, it was still comforting that he wanted to give it to me.
I beamed at him when my feet touched the floor, turning to face him again and plant a kiss on his cheek. “I’m sorry this is weird,” I whispered quickly, before Seth joined us. “I was so excited for you guys to meet, I didn’t think that it might be…. awkward for you both.”
“Stel, it’s fine. I promise,” Tristan smiled back at me, and his eyes told me he was sincere. Whew. “Now tell me what happened, and why he’s here to begin with.”
“Ok, so last night, on my way home, I was kind of…. attacked,” I explained as Seth made the jump from window ledge to concrete floor. The boy’s locker room of Mead High School sat below ground and smelled like dirty feet. The old lockers, two half-lockers stacked on top of each other, made tunnels in the dim light leading through a maze of discarded jockstraps and assorted athletic cleats. An even dingier community shower took up one side of the room, encased by a tile wall, with two entrances. A bathroom connected to the showers, but I had yet to find the courage to explore the inside of those stalls.
“Attacked?” Tristan stepped forward, instinctively wrapping his arms around me. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I’m sorry, I thought about it…. but there was nothing you could do, really….” I cringed, knowing he would hate the truth to the answer. I quickly continued to explain, hoping he would forget that he wasn’t a part of my war, well not in the army sense of things. “Anyway, there were hundreds of Shadows and they came out of nowhere. They destroyed my car and then, well, I don’t know what they planned to do with me, because it would have taken a lot more of them to kill me than that,” I rambled, a character trait Tristan was accustomed to. He waited patiently for me to gather my thoughts and finish. “Anyway, I scared them away with my whole Star-power thing and then Seth and Jupiter, my weapon’s trainer, showed up and kind of saved the day. They did the actual killing of Shadows, while I had just been content to scatter them.”
I noticed Seth try to hide his smug smirk when I talked about him saving the day, but it was obvious he was proud of his battlefield accomplishment last night. I glanced over at him and winked, which was something I had actually never done to a boy before and smiled. He should be proud.
“But you did do an excellent job of scattering them,” he praised me indulgently.
“Why did they attack you in the first place? I thought no one knew who you were or that you were here? Do they usually attack people like that? Or, uh… Stars like that?” Tristan asked seriously, clearly not taking comfort in the fact that Seth had taken so many Shadows out so quickly. Tristan had known the truth about me since we were ten years old. I had come right out and told him everything about my origins, my destiny on this planet and my future role in saving Earth from the legions of Darkness one day when we were climbing hay bales on his family’s farm. It had been hard for him to listen to as a ten year old boy, tasked with keeping the secrets of Heaven confidential. But he had believed immediately. Not just because the topic was raised when he asked her why I glowed every time he teased me and not because he had seen the proof I wasn’t human but because our friendship was everything to him, and to me. Even at ten he knew I couldn’t lie to him.
“No, they don’t.” I replied sullenly, “They knew who I was. We’re not sure how they figured it out, or if someone betrayed us, but they knew. We are hoping my parents will know more when they get back tonight.”
“So how did you know she was in trouble?” Tristan turned to Seth. I could see the mixture of gratitude for saving me warring with his need to mark his territory. Not that I was his territory, just more like the general area of our small town.
Seth looked at me warily. I knew my honesty with Tristan was unsettling to him. I was really upfront in general, but especially to Tristan. I knew Seth would never be able to trust Tristan the way I did. Tristan was just a human, and Seth owed him no explanations, but I hoped Seth at least trusted me.
“It’s Ok, Seth. I tell Tristan everything,” I reassured him, recognizing his doubts. “But he’s the only one that knows, he’s been sworn to complete secrecy and he won’t tell anyone,” I promised and then exchanged a smirk with Tristan.
Our shared look only caused Seth to look less inclined to share information with him. “Jupiter and I received a distress call from Sidra and Nisroc, requesting immediate aid. By the time we got to them, though, they were already dead,” Seeing the confused look on Tristan’s face, Seth clarified, “Sidra was the Protector of Earth up until yesterday and Nisroc was her Counterpart. When we found them murdered, we knew our leadership had been breached and so we came straight here to find Stella and make sure she was Ok. We found her easily enough; the sky surrounding her was completely filled with Shadows. “
“But you had already banished them or whatever? They just weren’t dead yet?” Tristan asked me, wanting to restore some of my credit.
“Yes, I scattered them, but I had no idea what I was doing! Seth is really the hero, and he is so much more prepared than me. My training really has been lacking, I’m sure the Elders cannot be happy with me or with my parents,” I lamented, worrying for the first time about the consequences my parents would have to face.
“Stella, if the Elders were unhappy with your training, they would have sent someone a long time ago,” Seth reasoned. I looked up at him, thankful for his reassuring words and deciding he was right. The Elders watched everything, or at least it seemed as if they could see everything. They were such a temperamental, stringent group, and if they were worried about my training, they would have stepped in a long time ago and either replaced my biological parents with dutiful, drill sergeant ones or replaced me with a Star that cared more about brandishing a sword made from Heaven’s Fire than her unnamed prom date.
Not that I was worried about a prom date. It was still months away, I had time.
“So what now?” Tristan asked, removing his arm from around me and clasping my hand instead.
“Now, we wait for my parents to get back and hear from the Elders. I don’t have any formal training, so Jupiter is here now to train me and continue training with Seth,” I sighed, feeling as if the perfect world I had always known was crumbling to pieces around me.
“So Seth is staying?” Tristan asked. I ignored the way his voice sighed over the question and chose to hope that once they got to know each other they really would have a strong friendship.
“Yes! You don’t really expect me to fight the Darkness all by myself, do you?” I laughed.
“Obviously not, I was just hoping you still had a little more time before you became all Stella Day, warrior princess on me,” Tristan joked. “Like until after soccer season or prom or something….”
“I think I still get to finish high school,??
? I countered, giving myself and Tristan some hope. “At least nobody has said otherwise so far.”
“So you still have to go to high school and fight evil. You’re life kind of sucks,” Tristan joked, his mood instantly perking up as soon as he realized I would not be plucked from his life or my daily activities. I would just be adding weapon’s training, the kind that actually involved fighting with swords, along with basketball practice, student council and homework.
“And be in shape for basketball practice on Thursday,” I whined, agreeing with Tristan’s point of view.
“Do you want me to call the Shadows and ask them to come back? I could tell them to bring more with them this time. Maybe you want something a little more challenging?” Tristan joked and I laughed again, thankful for the mood change from ominous to in-denial.
“I don’t think you should do that just to get out of basketball practice,” Seth scolded both of us, his golden brown skin tinged with pink.
“It’s just a joke, Seth,” I patted him on the bicep and flashed him another charming smile. “Now come on, I want to see what you’re made of! I need to know if you can keep up with me!”
The two boys followed me up the stairs and into the gym and I let them work out their competitive edges where boys should be competitive, in the gym and on the track.
----
I didn’t, and couldn’t understand boys. I watched Tristan and Seth race around the track while I finished my cool down stretches, and decided they had to be the most ridiculous species God ever created, both human and Angel. Seth did his best to run with only human strength, but Tristan was fast, too fast for Seth to stay completely honest, human and win.
In the end, Seth crossed the finish line with a smug smile across his face and a faint glow to his skin. I shook my head, deciding to save my congratulations for when they did something worth congratulating.
Tristan sauntered over to me, narrowing his eyes, clearly suspicious of his opponent’s speed. “Did he really win fair and square?”
“Of course I did! Do you really think I needed to cheat to beat a human?” Seth grunted from a little ways away, although he didn’t quite meet Tristan’s cold glare while defending himself.
“Stella, tell me the truth,” Tristan demanded, resting his hands on his hips while his chest still heaved heavily from his run.
“Hey, leave me out of this,” I took a step back, truly uninterested in being thrown into the middle of whatever jealousy lay between them. “I’m just an innocent bystander.” I flashed Tristan a smile and hoped he would move on.
“You’re anything but innocent,” Tristan murmured, taking a step closer to me.
I backed away, recognizing the glint in Tristan’s eyes and not understanding where it came from. My back bumped against the white brick wall of the gym, while he trapped me with one arm over my head. I stifled a groan, knowing this was Tristan’s way of letting Seth know that he might have won the race, but he wasn’t about to win whatever contest involved me.
“Tristan, what are you doing?” I asked, a giggle bubbling up before I could stop myself. Tristan’s eyes swept over me, and he ran his free hand over his sweat-soaked shaved head. I knew I should be completely grossed out by him, but something about the way the sweat ran down his neck and over the hollow part at the base of his throat caused my eyes to linger unexpectedly.
“I just want to know if you have plans tonight?” he asked in his most innocent sounding voice. “We still have two free nights of winter-break left and I want to take full advantage of the whole no-homework thing.” His dark green eyes reminded me of the color of grass at night and they blazed with an intensity I had seen before, an intensity that remained between us even before Seth showed up. He dipped his head, and waited for my response.
I could feel Seth’s eyes on us and couldn’t stop myself from repeating in a low, careful voice, “Tristan, what are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” He picked his head back up and blinked his eyes like a confused puppy dog.
Which reminded me, “You are not a dog and I am not a tree. This is so not going to work,” I lifted my hands to his chest bare chest and pushed him back. His hands clasped down on mine and held them to him.
“I know that, Stella,” he all but growled.
My eyes flicked to Seth who stood there bouncing on the back of his heels, his jaw clenched tight and the glow under his skin burning like hot embers in a building fire.
“You know that I love you, don’t you?” I turned my eyes back to Tristan and softened my tone.
“No, I don’t know that,” Tristan complained, it was his usual response whenever I confessed my platonic love for him.
Even if he didn’t want to hear the truth in my words, I knew I had gotten through to him, that it would only take a few seconds before reality set in. I had always been Tristan’s, ever since they were little. Other boys didn’t ask me out, everyone in our small town accepted whatever was between us was marriage material, even though we both knew there was nothing. There could never be anything. And so, I waited for his expression to relax and his testosterone level to drop before I continued.
“I’ll text you later, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything tonight. My parents are getting back later and we have to have the whole, ‘what happens now’ talk,” I sighed, afraid of the future conversation and the consequences it would have on my life.
“Oh that’s right,” Tristan laughed. “I almost forgot the future of mankind now rests on your shoulders.” He released my hands and pulled me into a completely friendly, but disgustingly sweaty hug. I laughed against his chest, thankful he could take everything in stride. “But you’ll text me later?”
“Yes,” I agreed. “Now get off of me, you’re so gross!”
Tristan let go of me and we gathered our warm ups to slip on before crawling back through the locker room window and out into the late winter afternoon. Seth stayed silent until the two of us were alone again in the beat up Jeep that still needed to get them home.
“I don’t think I like him,” Seth admitted as he watched Tristan’s big white pickup pull out of the parking lot.
“I don’t know where I went wrong,” I sighed. “I was sure you two would be best friends.”
Seth laughed too at that, a deep, throaty laughed that made me smile even wider. “It probably has something to do with that pretty blonde head of yours.”
Knowing he was right, but not wanting to admit it, I threw my arm out to smack Seth in the chest. He reached up to block me, and nearly dropped the door that he still held firmly in place next to him, since it no longer stayed connected to the vehicle. We both started laughing and what blossomed between us was more than a new friendship, but a well-rooted trust that was solidly planted in the base of our souls. We were partners now; this world needed us both if it was to survive. And likewise, we needed each other if we hoped for the same fate.
Chapter Five
My parents were already home and sitting at the kitchen table with Jupiter when Seth and I walked through the back door. The early sunset left the outside world dark by the time we drove home and I couldn’t help but feel chills of the Darkness nearby. I convinced myself that since Seth seemed unbothered, they were in my imagination and nothing more. I had been shaken up the night before, and that’s all.
Once inside the kitchen, I left all fears of impending doom behind me and ran for my parents, thankful they were once again home safe from one of their missions. My father stood up first, enveloping me in his muscular arms and holding me tightly to him. Micah Day, whose name meant Angel of the Divine Plan, was one of the fiercest Angelic Warriors alive. He stood towering over me at 6’5 and because of his muscular frame and chiseled, god-like face seemed invincible to not just humans, but many Angels alike. He was an intimidating man to meet, and an ironic contrast to many of the other farmers in the area who were aging and overweight from spending too much time sitting on combines and eating too many steak and potato dinn
ers. He did his best to hide his stature by wearing thin-framed glasses and keeping his light brown hair slightly askew, but I knew the Clark Kent rouse only confused humans.
“I’m sorry we left you Stella-bean,” he apologized huskily in my ear.
I shivered, trying to stop the sob that threatened to explode from me. I hadn’t taken the time to really think last night through, and hadn’t really wanted to. But hearing the fear in my father’s voice sent reality crashing around me, clattering to the floor of my stomach and vibrating through me.
“I’m Ok,” I promised, lifting my head bravely to meet my father’s pale blue eyes, the same ones I had.
“I know,” he sighed with the resign of a father knowing he was raising her daughter for Fate’s purpose.
“My turn,” Celina Day announced, me from my father and into her own loving arms.
I was obviously Celina’s daughter. There was no question when we stood next to each other. Our golden blonde hair fell in the same curled-at-the-end waves, and our slightly upturned noses, and full mouths reflected each other like mirror images. Our only striking difference was the color of our eyes, where I had inherited my father’s ice-blue color, Celina’s glowed a deep gold that matched the color of her hair and skin; she masked the oddity of their color with contacts when on this planet, but having just returned from a mission they glowed with the light buried inside of her. She had been a Sun elsewhere in the universe, with a whole galaxy of planets in her charge, before duty called her to Earth and her husband, to raise her baby to inherit the responsibility of the Earth.
Stars and Warriors were the lowest level of angelic beings. They’re base was on the lowest level of Heaven, but their task to protect life kept them mostly away from home. Rarely did a Warrior and Star actually get to spend significant amount of time together, but instead chose to procreate in responsibility to their race. Boys were born Warriors, and girls were born Stars, although the titles merely differentiated jobs and genders, both sexes were capable of the same fetes of supernatural.