Among the Stars

  Chapter 5

  “Orion? The constellation?” I ask incredulously. Oliver, or apparently Orion, nods his head in confirmation. What does that even mean? “And Alex is one too?” I’d never heard of a constellation named Alex.

  “Alex is something else. I’ll explain everything, I promise, but I need to get you out of here. He may come back and it’s not safe for you here.”

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?” What was I even going to tell the police? Obviously I couldn’t tell them the constellation Orion was fighting some other being in my living room; they would think I was crazy. I’m having trouble not thinking I’m crazy myself.

  “There’s no need.”

  “What about my house?” Someone will definitely notice all the broken windows in the morning. Then they’ll notice the blood.

  “I’ll have someone take care of it. Right now my first priority is to get you somewhere safe.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Orion stands up and offers me his hand which I take after a moment of hesitation. “Not far. I have a house where you’ll be safe. Do you need to bring anything? It will just be for the night, I’ll bring you back in the morning.”

  “I should probably grab a few things.”

  “I’ll wait for you down here. I’ll know if you need me.”

  I want to ask how but I just nod and head upstairs. I go straight to the bathroom and wash the blood from my hands and neck. I try not to think as I watch the bloody water flow down the drain. Working on autopilot, I change out of my bloody clothes and throw some clothes in a bag, grabbing a few essentials as well. I also find my phone on the floor and I grab it and its charger too. Lastly, I grab a coat and head downstairs. Orion is waiting for me exactly where he was when I left.

  “Okay, I’m ready.”

  “Stay close to me until we get to my car. It’s just down the street.” He opens the door and peaks out. “Okay, let’s go.”

  We walk quickly out into the night, the rain and wind from earlier is gone. I stick close to Orion the whole way. He constantly scans our surroundings until we reach a jeep not too far down the street. When we get to the car he opens my door and shuts me in before he gets in on his side. He turns the car on and throws it into gear, speeding down the street; we quickly leave my hometown behind.

  I watch the trees pass steadily by. As time goes by I feel like I’m getting farther and farther from the only life I’ve ever known. I start shivering uncontrollably, the shock finally moving from my mind to my body. Orion notices and reaches into the backseat to pull out a blanket. I accept it and wrap it around me as he turns the heat up. An hour later we reach a town. The town is dark and quiet as we drive through it. Not surprising this late at night. When reach the other side, he turns down a winding dirt road and pretty soon a house comes into view. It’s a two story ranch style house with what looks like a shop off to the side. The lights are still on inside the house. Orion parks the car and we get out. He motions for me to follow him and we walk up the porch and enter the house. The house is clean and smells like cinnamon. A man that I recognize as Caleb sits on the couch watching TV.

  “It’s about time you got home,” he says without looking at us. “I was wondering if you had forgotten it was movie night.”

  Orion clears his throat and Caleb turns to look at us.

  “Oh,” he says in surprise. “If you need the house, I can leave.”

  “It’s not like that. Alexander attacked her. I needed to bring her somewhere safe.” Orion motions for me to sit and I sit down in a rocker as he sits down next to Caleb. He flops down with a sigh and I notice how tired he actually looks.

  “You’re kidding, right? Why would he do that?” Caleb looks from me to Orion.

  “I don’t know but he’s different. He can Travel again.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “That’s what I thought too. I had him beat but then he Traveled and it caught me off guard. He stabbed me and threatened to kill her unless I used my power. When I did, he did this to me.” Orion shows Caleb his arm and he looks at it with confusion. I lean forward to look as well. Black veins stretch their way up his forearm.

  “Does it hurt?” Caleb touches one of the black veins.

  “Not now but when he did it it sure did. I can still use my powers and I don’t feel any different. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Neither have I,” Caleb says grimly, he looks towards me. “She knows then?”

  “The bare minimum. I didn’t have time to go into the details.”

  “We? You’re one too?” I ask Caleb. He stands up and gives a bow.

  “Canis Major at your service,” he says, smiling proudly. “You can call me Canis.”

  “I’m Ailey. We met the other night.” I say.

  “I remember. Would you like anything to eat or drink?” he asks.

  “I think I’m okay.” I was still shaking a bit and I didn’t trust myself to hold onto anything.

  “I’ll have something,” Orion says. He turns towards me. “I’m going to go call Caelum to fix your house and I’ll be right back.” Orion takes out his phone and walks outside.

  “Caelum?” I ask Canis as the door shuts.

  “He’s one of us. Also known as the chisel. He and his brothers, Sculptor and Pictor, are experts at fixing and creating things. It’s part of their powers.”

  “Oh.” The full extent of how little I know about them hits me again. How many of them are there? What powers do Orion and Canis have? Who is Alex to them?

  “Sure it’s a no on the food? I made soup earlier.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  He then leaves me in the living room, probably going to go get food for Orion. I don’t sit there long before Orion comes back in and sits back down on the couch.

  “You’re house will be fixed before morning. No one should notice,” he assumes me.

  “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Well, I was the one who destroyed it in the first place,” he says, chuckling.

  “It wasn’t your fault though.”

  “I suppose you’re right. It’s no problem though.” He smiles at me and I give a small smile back. I still don’t understand what he is but he hasn’t hurt me and I don’t think he will. If I thought he planned on hurting me I wouldn’t have come here with him. After getting over the initial shock of being attacked and seeing him change, I’ve realized he means me no harm. He’s still Oliver and he protected me.

  Canis brings in two bowls of soup. He hands one to Orion and puts the smaller one on the coffee table in front of me. “Just in case,” he says with a smile. Then he walks up the stairs, leaving the two of us alone. Orion sits and eats his soup in silence.

  “You really should eat something.” Orion glances worriedly at me before returning to eating.

  Trying not to shake, I carefully pick up the bowl and take a few bites. It’s absolutely delicious and I take a few more. I guess I was hungrier than I thought because I finish the whole bowl. When we are both done Orion takes our bowls into the kitchen and comes back with a mug of tea which he hands me.

  “Thanks.” I sip at it, my hands steady after eating.

  “Are you ready for me to explain?” he asks.

  “Yes,” I reply eagerly. I set my tea down and give him my full attention.

  “I’ve never really had to explain it to someone before so please bear with me.” He takes a deep breath and begins.

  “I said before that I’m a Constellation but to be more specific my soul is in the stars the make up the Orion constellation.”

  “Your soul?”

  “Yes. Unlike you, and the rest of the human race, my soul isn’t in my body but in the stars.”

  He notices my confusion and scratches his head awkwardly.

  “I’m sorry; I’m not explaining this very well. You see each human has a sort of energy coming from them. That energ
y is your soul and we can sense it. When a person dies, that energy leaves their body. Residual energy can linger but for the most part that person’s soul dissipates into the cosmos. A long long time ago, I died, but my soul got trapped in the stars. When it did, it changed it and since my body still had a residual piece of my soul, it changed too. I woke up, alive, but different. My soul is still in the stars but I’m connected to it by the little piece left inside me. I get my powers from the stars in my constellation.”

  “How did your soul get stuck?” I ask, completely flabbergasted.

  “We aren’t sure. From what we have figured out, certain stars seem to have a unique energy to them. Since we couldn’t sense these energies before we changed, we don’t know if that energy is a part of our soul or part of the original star. Either could be the reason it got stuck. It seems like a different energy than our soul but for all we know it could be an effect of the star on it. Our souls are so different from humans now that we really don’t know. Ours may have different forms just like we physically do.”

  “You aren’t human?”

  “In a way but not like you are.”

  “What are you then?”

  “Collectively, we call ourselves Stars. Specifically though, as I said before, I’m a Constellation since my soul is in multiple stars. Not all of us are Constellations; some only inhabit one star, they are called Singulars.”

  “How many Stars are there?”

  “I don’t know an exact number but in the hundreds. There used to be more of us,” he responds sadly.

  “What happened?”

  “Something very human. We went to war.”

  I wait for him to explain and eventually he does. His voice becomes somber as he begins his story.

  “We are very old. I can’t even give you a date for when we became what we are but we all became Stars within years of each other. In the beginning we had no clue how to control our powers or even what we were. As we found more of us though, we came to understand how our powers worked and we knew we weren’t alone. We kept thinking there had to be a reason we had come back to life with these powers. A higher purpose we said. We thought it had to be to protect humans, protect you from what happened to us, so that’s what we did. We became the human races’ protectors. Guardians of what we used to be. We’ve watched over you as you’ve grown and fought to survive. As time passed, others decided that that wasn’t good enough for them. We are very powerful and some decided that it was more appropriate for us to rule over you as the greater species. There was a war between Constellations and Singulars. The Constellations wanted to remain protectors and the Singulars wanted to rule. There were some Constellations that sided with the Singulars and vice versa but for the most part it was one side against the other. The Singulars outnumbered us but we were stronger because of our multiple stars. We are immortal but there are ways to kill us. It takes a lot of power though and the Singulars just didn’t have it.”

  As his story goes on, he seems to go farther and farther away. I wonder if he was close to any of the Singulars. Did he have to kill his friends all so humans wouldn’t be ruled by them? Back when he was fighting Alex in my house, there was that one moment when he looked sad as he prepared to hit him again. He said Alex was something else but he must be like him somehow. I wonder if they used to be close.

  “After we decided to stop peaceful negotiations, it didn’t take long for us to win. We decimated them. They had two options: give up or die. After the war, most of us went separate ways. It tore us apart. Some groups banded together, ones who were close friends, but for the most part we stopped coming together.”

  He stops talking and stares at the wall like he can see the past splayed out before him. With his powers, maybe he can. His face is heartbreaking and it wrenches my heart. I move out of my chair and sit next to him. Taking his hand in mine, I gently squeeze it. When he looks at me he seems surprised and he studies my face as if he’s looking for something.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, and I truly am. Human wars are so damaging and their war was no different. They fought this huge battle for us and we don’t even know about. We don’t know what they did for us. They are just thankless heroes.

  Orion puts his other hand over mine. “Thank you,” he says. We sit like that for a moment longer before he removes his hands. “It’s late and you must be tired. I’ll show you to your room.”

  I still have so many questions but I am tired and I don’t want to push him. He looks beat both physically and emotionally. I nod and he leads me upstairs.

  “There’s only two rooms so you can have mine. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

  “I can’t let you sleep on the couch,” I exclaim. “This is your home. I’ll sleep on the couch.” I turn to go back downstairs but he stops me.

  “Please, I insist. Trust me the couch is one of the comfier places I’ve slept,” he assures me.

  “Are you sure?” He’s done so much for me and now he is giving up his bed too.

  “Completely. The bathroom is through that door there.” He points to a door to the right of the bed. “If you need anything, I’ll be right downstairs. Sleep well.” He touches my shoulder as he walks past.

  “You too,” I reply and head into the bedroom, closing the door behind me.

  The bedroom has a warm feel to it. The decorations remind me of the forest. It’s decorated in pretty greens and accented with dark wood furniture. Nature themed pictures dot the walls and the bedspread has an animal border. His room matches his personality perfectly. I guess Orion the Hunter would be outdoorsy.

  I change into my pajamas and brush my teeth before climbing into bed. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a more comfortable bed. The sheets are soft and I’m surrounded by his scent. It makes me feel safe and I quickly fall asleep.