Among the Stars

  Chapter 11

  The next morning Canis updates me on what they learned from the Zodiacs.

  Apparently a few months ago a Singular showed up at the club with the same black veins Orion has, looking for help. He said he had been attacked and when he used his powers to defend himself the man grabbed his arm and he passed out. When he woke up the black veins were there. The person who attacked him wore a mask and he didn’t know who it was.

  The Zodiacs started researching into for him but couldn’t uncover anything. When they tried to get a hold of him to tell him, they couldn’t reach him. No one could find him. He had just disappeared without a trace. After this, the Zodiacs started looking into his disappearance. They didn’t find him but they found out that other Singulars had been disappearing. No one had realized it because they were mostly loners that only came around every few years. In every case they all just one day disappeared and no one has seen them since. There was no evidence of foul play so the Zodiacs hadn’t reported the disappearances to the Elite.

  With Orion’s attack it was pretty clear Alex was behind everything but we still didn’t know what he was doing. Only one Singular for sure had the same black veins and he disappeared not long after getting them.

  “Since Alexander is a Black Hole, our best bet is to find Draco and see if he knows anything. He was the one who came up with the process so if anyone knows how Alexander is doing what he is doing, it would be him,” Canis says. Orion hasn’t spoken a word all morning. Canis told the whole story and he just sat there eating and avoiding eye contact.

  “Is that where we are going next?” If Orion doesn’t kick me out of the group that is.

  “Yes and no. We need Draco but we also need to alert the Elite to what’s going on. It will be faster if I search for Draco alone. You guys can go ahead and convene with the Elite and hopefully I will meet you there with Draco.”

  So Orion and I were going to be alone and he hadn’t spoken one word to me since last night. Sounds like fun.

  “Are you sure I shouldn’t come with you?” I ask Canis, trying to avoid an awkward situation with Orion. “I mean the Elite seem really important, they probably don’t want a human around at such a time.” Maybe I can make it seem like I’m just nervous about meeting the Elite. Canis nervously scratches his head. He and Orion really are similar.

  “The thing is, humans can’t Travel and I need to be able to Travel.”

  Oh, so that’s it. I would just slow him down.

  “Then isn’t me being here slowing everything down? Instead of driving you guys could be Traveling.” Again I feel like an inconvenience. Maybe I should just go my own way. I’ve obviously pissed off Orion and my humanness is just slowing them down and wasting possible precious time.

  “Traveling takes a lot of power and we thought it would be best if Orion didn’t use that much until we know the effects of what Alexander did. Orion would be traveling normally anyway so don’t feel like you’re a problem,” Canis says kindly.

  I know he’s trying to make me feel better but it’s not working. Last night showed me that I am completely clueless with the Star stuff. All I do is add extra baggage and time.

  “Either way,” I say, looking at my plate, “I think I’ll go home. I’m not worried about Alex and this isn’t my world. You guys will be able to do what you need to do without explaining things to me or worrying about me. I’ll fly back tonight and I’ll be out of your hair.”

  “No.”

  Shocked, I look up and Orion is staring into my eyes. He hasn’t said a word and now he decides to speak?

  “No?”

  “You’re going with me to meet with the Elite,” he commands.

  “Look I know I owe you my life but you can’t just-” I try to tell him he can’t order me around but I don’t get far before he cuts me off.

  “Didn’t you tell me you were invested in all this?” He uses my own words against me.

  “Yes but-”

  “Does your definition of invested mean you are going to run when things get tough?”

  “That’s not it!”

  “Then what is it?”

  He stares at me like he’s daring me to come up with a good enough reason to leave. I can’t tell him I want to leave because I feel like he doesn’t want me here. That just makes me sound whiny and then he’d know I want him to want me here. He just doesn’t want me to leave because he feels obligated to protect me.

  “Nothing.” I’ll never come up with anything that will make him let me go. I’ll just have to go along until he feels he’s fulfilled his duty of protection.

  “Then that’s settled. You’re coming with me and we’ll meet up with Canis later. Go get packed. We leave for the airport in two hours.”

  “Yes sir,” I respond sarcastically. Canis gives me a sympathetic look as I leave to do as Orion says.

  -------------------------------------------------

  Canis is saying goodbye as we load up the car to go to the airport. He hugs me and tells me to be safe and not to let Orion get me down. I hug him back and I promise him I will. The “be safe” part, I can’t promise the Orion thing. He lets me go and says he’ll see me soon. I hope so because I’ve really grown to like him. I walk over to the car and Orion goes to say goodbye to Canis.

  “Be safe brother,” Orion says.

  “As you,” Canis responds.

  “Stay on guard. We don’t know what Alexander is planning.”

  “I will. Take care and don’t wear yourself too thin.”

  “I won’t.”

  They embrace and when they step apart they each have a hand over the other’s heart.

  “If the stars are aligned,” Orion says.

  “Then cross them,” Canis responds.

  Then they drop their hands and Orion gets into the car. I wave to Canis before doing the same. He starts the engine and we head to the airport.

  “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I ask him.

  “New York City,” he says.

  “I don’t have a flight booked.”

  “I took care of it.”

  “Okay. I’ll pay you back for the ticket.” So far he had paid for everything. Refusing to let me pay for my own hotel rooms and even my food, and I felt bad.

  “There’s no need.”

  “I have plenty of money. You don’t have to keep paying for everything.”

  “I said there’s no need.”

  I bite my lip to keep from huffing in frustration. He’s so stubborn. Sure he’s rich but I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself financially. At least paying for myself would make me feel like less of a burden.

  -------------------------------------------------

  When we get to the airport Orion checks us in and we get our boarding passes. While we wait to go through security something occurs to me.

  “Oliver?” I whisper to him. I use his alias in case anyone overhears. He turns and looks at me. “What about your arm?” He is wearing a long sleeved shirt but if he needed to roll the sleeves up and security saw, I’m pretty sure they would have him quarantined faster than he could say flash those black and silver eyes.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he answers. That’s easier said than done. Is he just winging it and hoping everything goes without a hitch?

  We make it to the front of the line and I go first. I don’t have any problems and I’m putting my shoes back on when I hear the x-ray machine beep. I look up and Orion is being waved out and stepped to the side. This is it; I’m going to be flying to New York alone. The TSA agent pats him down and I hold my breath when he feels Orion’s arm twice.

  “Can you roll up your sleeve please?” the agent asks. Orion obediently does as he’s told. Here we go, I think. But when he rolls up his sleeve his arm is wrapped in white bandaging. This is he plan? I think incredulously.

  “What are the bandages for?” the agent asks.

  “Ah man I got burned on the jo
b. I’m a firefighter and I got caught under a beam during training and it burned through my suit by the time they got me out. A rookie mistake that they are going to hold over me for a long time.” He laughs. My jaw almost drops. Orion sounds like a completely different person. He voice is higher and it has a carefree sense to it. He sounds like he really is embarrassed he got himself into such a situation.

  “Are you safe to fly?” the agent asks less stern than a moment ago.

  “Oh yeah, I’m all good. Got a letter from my Doc and my badge in my bag if you wanna see?”

  The agent signals another agent who brings over Orion’s bag and they go through it. I think he’s bluffing but they pull out a piece of paper and a badge. Both the agents look over the paper and badge.

  “Okay, you’re clear. Thank you for your patience.” The agent hands his things back over to him.

  “No problem. Have a nice day,” Orion says cheerfully and walks over to me. “Let’s go.” His voice is back to normal and he just keeps walking, leaving me to speed walk to catch up. He doesn’t stop until we reach our gate. He sits down and I stare at him in astonishment.

  “What?” He avoids my gaze.

  “You could have told me your plan.” And that you are such a good actor.

  “You didn’t need to know.”

  “Where did you get the letter from?” I knew he had worked as a firefighter not too long ago so I knew where he had gotten the badge.

  “It’s a fake.”

  Guess that’s all I’m going to get out of him. We sit in silence waiting for our flight to board. I didn’t think to take my book out of the bag I checked. I groan internally at the thought of a six hour flight with nothing to do. Orion was obviously not going to be much for conversation. Maybe I’ll watch a movie.

  It isn’t long before we board. I lead the way to our seats since I have the middle. There’s an elderly woman seated by the window and she smiles as I take my seat. Orion silently takes the aisle seat and we wait for the plane to take off. Not wanting to crowd the lady, but also not wanting to anger Orion by invading his space, I try and keep my arms as close to my body as possible.

  People board the plane quickly and we take off. As soon as we are in the air, the lady puts an eye mask on and falls asleep against the window. Guess she won’t be much for conversation either. I drum my fingers on my leg waiting for the flight attendant to pass out the movie players. Finally she reaches us and I get out my wallet so I can pay for the player.

  “Movie player?” she asks cheerfully.

  “Yes please.” I go to hand her my card but Orion sticks out his.

  “I got it,” he says to me. The attendant goes to take his card.

  “No, I would like to pay for it please.” I continue holding out my card and she hesitates, unsure which card she would take.

  “I said I got it,” Orion repeats, giving me a look.

  “I said I’d like to pay for it.” I glare at him, refusing to back down.

  “Ailey,” he says like he’s speaking to a child.

  “Oliver,” I mimic his tone.

  “Should I come back?” the attendant asks, uncomfortable with the hostility between us.

  “No. I’m paying for it.” He looks away from me and hands her his card.

  “No, he isn’t.” I refuse to back down from this.

  “You’re making a scene.” He stares pointedly at me.

  Embarrassed, I look around. Some of the other passengers are staring at us.

  “Forget it. I don’t want one.” If he’s going to be a child about me paying then I’m going to be one too.

  “Yes, you do.”

  “No, I don’t.” I cross my arms and sit looking straight ahead.

  “Fine. I’ll get one for myself.” The attendant runs his card and hands him a player. She hurriedly moves on to the next aisle.

  “Here.” He tries to hand me the player but I don’t take it. After holding it in front of me for a minute he sighs, flips my tray down, and sets it there. Without making eye contact I take the player and slide it over to his. He slides it back. I slide it over again and put up my tray.

  “Geez you’re stubborn,” he huffs, exasperated.

  “That’s rich coming from you,” I say bitterly.

  “I am not stubborn.”

  “Ha. Yeah. You aren’t stubborn at all.” I roll my eyes at him. He doesn’t respond and we resume our silence. I’m embarrassed I acted the way I did but he just made me so angry. It’s like all my frustration just came out all at once. Who does he think he is that he can pretty much ignore me all day and still act the gentleman when it comes to buying things? He has no right to not let me pay for my own things. I sit there thinking all the things I can’t say out loud.

  “I’m sorry,” he says suddenly.

  “Huh?” I almost give myself whiplash turning to look at him.

  “I’ve been a jerk and I’m sorry.” His green eyes are soft and sincere.

  “Yeah. You have. Why?” I’m not quite ready to let go of my anger. He hesitates but eventually answers.

  “I was angry over what happened last night.” He keeps his voice down so others don’t hear and I do the same.

  “What are you talking about?” Was he talking about the fight with Leo? Why would he take that out on me?

  “You don’t know this but Leo and I have never been on the best of terms. I let my temper get the best of me last night and I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

  I didn’t expect him to apologize to me. I didn’t even think he knew that he had upset me.

  “Why don’t you guys get along?”

  “I can’t stand him. Never have. He’s arrogant and acts like he’s entitled to anything and everything. He doesn’t appreciate things and then when he just dragged you off I lost it. He shouldn’t have treated you like an object.”

  I’m taken aback by his words.

  “You were,” I pause, “looking out for me?” He shrugs.

  “Not that you needed it. I saw you two on the dance floor.” He doesn’t look at me but I can hear the hurt in his voice. Is it because he doesn’t like Leo or is there more to it? I didn’t do anything wrong so why do I feel so guilty?

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Why? You can dance with whoever you want to. Even let them Brand you if that’s what you want,” he says bitterly.

  “Brand me?” I ask, confused. He points at my wrist.

  “What he did to your wrist. We call it Branding, although kissing is not required to do it,” he says with disgust.

  “Oh. I didn’t know.” I rub my wrist where the Brand was. When I got back to the hotel I saved the number but the Brand was gone when I woke up this morning just like Leo said it would.

  “You’re lucky it wasn’t permanent,” Orion says quietly.

  “Permanent?”

  “Depending on how much power is used, it can be temporary or permanent like the one on my back.”

  “That’s a Brand?”

  He nods.

  So Brands were their version of tattoos. There’s so much I don’t know about them. I guess I’m lucky Leo didn’t make it permanent but would he really have done that? He seemed nice enough, forward, but nice. I think back on last night and I certainly wasn’t drunk enough for it to impair my impression of the situation. Thinking about last night I remember something that I wanted to do. I reach into my purse and grab the ring Orion gave me.

  “Here,” I set it on his tray, “thought I’d give it back since we won’t be going to the club anytime soon.” From how the Zodiacs reacted it seemed pretty important and I didn’t feel comfortable hanging on to it. He picks it up and holds it in the palm of his hand.

  “You don’t want it?” His voice holds a hint of sadness that surprises me.

  “I don’t think it means what you said it means and I don’t feel comfortable wearing it not knowing,” I answer truthfully. The Zodiacs said whoever gave it to me must love m
e but last I checked Orion sure didn’t love me. It seems to me that it’s more than just a pass to the Star VIP club.

  “It’s true it does make it easier to identify us to the club staff but we don’t need them. We all know each other so they are more symbolic than functional.”

  “What do they symbolize?”

  “A bond. Only an Elite can make them and only an Elite can give one. They are reserved for Stars. Rarely does a human have one. There’s usually a special reason if they do.”

  “So why did you give one to me?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” he asks.

  And then he stares at me. He stares at me like you stare at a puzzle that’s taken you too long to solve. A puzzle that keeps you awake at night, going over all the possible answers, only to come up with nothing. It’s funny because that’s how I see him. He’s a puzzle that I can’t solve, one that I keep having to hit the hint button only to get obscure clues like: “This number could be a 7 but maybe it’s a 2.” I stare back at him. Two puzzles trying to solve each other, only I think he’s getting better hints than I am. I try to find the answers in his eyes. There has to be something there that can tell me why he flip flops between closed off and open. Something that will tell me exactly what he means when he says: “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Someone bumps into Orion as they walk by and puzzle time is over. He turns and assures the girl, who keeps apologizing, that it’s alright. It’s probably for the best. I was never good at puzzles anyway.

  Time ticks on in silence, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I know I told myself I wouldn’t fall for him but as time goes by, I’m realizing that maybe it’s too late. I think it may have been too late that night on the porch.

  I’ve always been a strong believer in love at first sight. My parents had been the main reason for that. When I was younger, they’d tell me the story of how they met. Mom and Dad had both been part of a study abroad program. They went to different schools but the program was a partner program where five schools sent their best students to learn foreign law. The program would start in Ireland and then bounce around to a few more countries before ending the semester back in the States. Dad had wanted to get a head start on the other students and got there early, little did he know, Mom had the same idea.

  Dad was sitting in the library, reading through court cases, when Mom walks in carrying a stack of legal books. Dad jumped out of his seat to offer her a hand but ended up jumping right into her and sent her and the books tumbling to the floor. Dad was embarrassed, Mom was embarrassed, but they called it there romance movie moment. They bonded over their mutual embarrassment and early starts to the program. Then they fell in love before the program even started. Dad used to tease Mom that he loved her first because he saw her first. It’s funny that that would be a competition between them; who loved who first.

  A lot of people believe love at first sight is just that, love at first sight, but I think it’s different. I don’t think you know you love them at that moment. I think it’s afterwards, after you love them and you try and pinpoint the exact moment when you knew they had your heart, that’s when you know its love at first sight. When you can’t find a moment where they weren’t on your mind, when you didn’t hope you would see them again, when the only time you know for sure you didn’t love them was before you met them, that’s when you know it’s love at first sight. The moment when two overachievers sat, embarrassed, on a library floor or when two outsiders sat, peacefully, on a porch swing. It’s not in that moment, but when you think back that you know for sure, I love this person.

  “Ailey?” Orion taps me on the arm.

  “Huh?” Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t hear what he said. I look over and see that the flight attendant came back, this time with the food cart.

  “Do you want anything to eat?”

  “Sure.”

  This time there’s no arguing over him paying. I’m too busy trying to solve the puzzle. I wish I got better hints. He passes me a sandwich and a pop. I eat it slowly while I contemplate the hints I’ve gotten so far.

  Hint: He asked you out to lunch. Answer: He’s interested in you.

  Hint: He watched over you incase Alex came for you. Answer: He worries about you.

  Hint: He took you on this trip. Answer: He wanted you to come.

  Hint: He gave you the ring. Answer: He has feelings for you.

  I know the answer I have come up with but that’s the thing about puzzles; you can be so sure about the answer but when you plug it in, it’s still wrong. The answer could be very different if I look at it a different way.

  Hint: He asked you out to lunch. Answer: He wanted to get to know a stranger better.

  Hint: He watched over you incase Alex came for you. Answer: It’s his job.

  Hint: He took you on this trip. Answer: Again, it’s his job to watch out for you.

  Hint: He gave you the ring. Answer: I can easily get into the VIP area.

  See? Damn puzzles.

  I stare at the Star ring sitting on his tray. I know what I want the answer to be. The question is, do I take the chance my heart screams at me to take or listen to my mind’s whispered warnings.

  Orion notices me staring at his tray.

  “Do you want the player?” Hints in his voice? Not a chance.

  “No, I’m okay.” I pick at the hem of my shirt in frustration.

  He looks at his tray, trying to figure out what it is I want. The only other thing is the ring. Some emotion flashes across his face but it’s gone before I can tell what it is.

  “Do you want the ring back?”

  Yes. No. I want you to want me to want it back. I think hard about my answer. A lot rides on my answer. If the puzzle he’s trying to solve is the same as mine then is he looking for hints too? What will my answer tell him?

  “Yeah, I want it back.”

  “I’m glad.” He smiles and hands me the ring. I breathe an imaginary sigh of relief. I take it and put it on.

  Hint: He wants you to wear the ring. Answer: He likes you.

  “It goes on the middle one, right?” I wiggle my fingers for him to see.

  “That’s right.” He smiles and it looks like the happy unhindered smiles he used to always have when we first met. I love it when he smiles like that. We slip into a companionable silence for a while. Eventually the older lady next to us wakes up and we talk for the rest of the flight.