CONTINUING
BOOK FIVE of THE STARLIGHT CHRONICLES
C. S. Johnson
Copyright © 2016 by C. S. Johnson.
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher.
The story continues on, for Sam.
It continues on, too, with the help of a new friend and fellow writer, Krissy, who has helped encourage me much in the short time we have been friends.
☼1☼
New Year
I was standing before the entrance to my high school, staring into space and sloshing my feet further into the cold wetness of the surrounding slush, when a foreboding premonition settled on me like softly falling snowflakes.
I’m alone.
Even as a chorus of my cohorts joined me, pushing past me in the crowded halls, surrounding me in a sea of familiar faces, I felt alone—utterly alone. It was hard to say whether or not their presence compounded the empty feeling inside of me.
If nothing else, I thought as I made my way through the familiar halls, they aren’t doing anything to make me feel better.
Those self-absorbed jerks.
I supposed I couldn’t blame them entirely. It wasn’t my personal choice to be back at school, any more than it was anyone else’s. It was the end of winter break. That probably made things harder than they had to be, even though they were already hard enough.
“It’s time to just suck it up and deal with it, Hamilton,” I muttered to myself as I pulled some books out of my locker. “Doesn’t matter if you’re unhappy right now.”
“Hey, Dinger!” Drew McGill nodded toward me as I stepped inside the school. “You got Elm’s AP Chem assignment done? I’m going to need your help.”
“Well, hello to you, too,” I replied with a half-instinctive, half-hearted, half-smirk. “Can’t even get to first period before you need help, Drew? Pathetic.”
He laughed. “At least it’s predictable.”
If Drew expected a grin, he was sorely gratified, even if it was a hollow one.
Everything that was wrong about this day was predictable.
I received an email regarding the swim meets for the next month, I desperately needed coffee, and Cheryl, always the lawyer-more-than-mother, insisted that I somehow convince the immutable laws of space and time to bend to her will and add three hours onto the day, just so I could put in more work at City Hall.
All of this was completely predictable, right down to the hapless friend asking for basic homework answers standing before me, only three months before our SATs were scheduled to take place.
How is it only seven-thirty in the morning?
“Got it when you need it,” I assured Drew, before heading toward my first class.
“Hey.”
“What?” I turned to Drew and he shrugged.
“I’m glad you’re doing okay, man.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, suddenly alarmed. There’s no way he would know about …
“I mean, I’m glad to see you’re doing okay. With Mikey in the hospital still, and Gwen, you know, with the illness and all, I thought, you know, maybe the holidays would be … ”
His voice trailed off, and I suddenly understood. He didn’t, and none of my other friends did either, but I did, and that was enough to prompt me to respond accordingly.
“I’m fine,” I lied. “People depend on me, Drew. Where would Central be without me on the swim team this year?”
“Yeah, true. I guess especially so, since Mike’s not on it.”
I nodded, as if to make my point clear on the matter.
“Well, see you later, then.” He waved, and I felt a tug in the back of my conscience.
I reached out, my hand slapping down on his shoulder in a brotherly way. “Thanks, Drew.”
“No problem.”
“I got to go,” I muttered. “Martha’s class and all that, you know. AP Gov’s not going to wait, even if it is me. That’s saying something, too, because I’m Martha’s favorite.”
Drew laughed. “Sure. See you later, man.”
“Bye.” I turned and headed off quickly. Well, that wasn’t awkward at all.
“Hey, Poncey’s on the lookout for you, too,” Drew called back.
“He’ll get his homework help, same as you.” As Drew turned the corner, my grin turned into a grimace.
Routine was unsettling, and not just because it was the official deathblow to the holidays. Everything was the same as before the break.
January in northern Ohio, even with the lake effect currently in effect, was no warmer than usual. Nothing out of the ordinary happened to me as I walked to school; my steps had been the same as the previous year’s, as carefully measured out as the sugar and creamer in my coffee.
On some level, it was a good thing that my best friend, Mikey, and my ex-girlfriend, Gwen, were still hospitalized from the demon monster attack last semester. It would give me room to mope, and everyone would still think of me as this great, tragic, wonderful guy.
Last year, I would have lapped that up like cream. But I knew it was no longer the truth. I was no longer that guy.
Walking into Mrs. Smithe’s room for AP Gov, I knew immediately there was no longer any use for pretending everything wasn’t somehow worse.
Everything was the same—except for one major thing: Raiya’s seat was empty. I sat down in my seat, the one in front of hers, and tried not to dwell on my dismay.
I could agree that lady troubles were the source of my sadness, but it had nothing to do with Gwen or any guilt over her fate.
Love has a strange way of changing people, and I was no exception.
It was amusing to me on some level that even this time last year, I would have welcomed Raiya’s absence. Falling in love with her—accidentally and intentionally all at once—changed me, changed my life.
Thank goodness I had my Game Pac. I pulled out my gaming device and sinking my mind into a routine game of Tetris.
This year, I thought as I skillfully maneuvered the colored blocks around on my screen, I know I’m not as great as I thought, but it doesn’t matter quite so much. Part of it came with the territory of growing up, some of it came from falling in love, and the rest of it probably came from other things—with “other things” the most understated way of saying my supernatural powers. Life was not easy when it was your duty to fight evil and seal away demons as the city’s resident superhero.
I smirked to myself. Of all things, finding out about my supernatural powers and my life as a fallen Star on Earth—not to mention running around town in a super-cool, super-goofy costume topped off with a feather-crown—would have been the last possible thing on my list of what would change me.
Right up there with true love, I thought, recalling the cynical ramblings of my past.
Bearing the superhero calling of Wingdinger, and carrying out its duties, had pushed me to be a better person, ironically showing me how not so great I’d been before.
Thinking over it, it was good that I knew I wasn’t a good person. What kind of person would actually be happy at the thought of his best friend suffering from a mental breakdown and PTSD, and his ex-girlfriend getting her soul sucked out?
Even if it would add a nice subplot to my legend.
“Hamilton Dinger, are you paying attention?”
“Huh?” I jerked my eyes off the screen (just as I managed to make it to the next level) and looked up to see Martha Smithe giving me one of her famous glares over the top of her thick glasses.
“I asked if you were paying attention,” Mrs. Smithe repeat
ed. “I’m on a coffee-fueled lecture here; you’d better be paying attention.”
“Oh. Yeah, I am,” I remarked, giving her a teasing smirk. “You can count on me.”
She pursed her lips. “Why don’t we have a chat after class, anyway?”
“There’s no need,” I assured her. “I’m listening.”
This seemed to placate her, as predictable as it was.
I stole a glance at the empty seat behind me, as though I could wish Raiya into reality.
No such luck, even for a fallen Star, I thought to myself. Of course, every Star is only allowed one wish, and I’d already used mine.
That was part of the reason Raiya had to go. She had to go and see Alora, the Star of Time, to see about getting another wish. She told me she needed it to earn her place back in the Celestial Kingdom.
I glumly turned around, pretending to take notes in my notebook.
But it wasn’t long before my mind wandered off to better times and stranger places, and settled on a memory less than a month before …
☼2☼
Farewell
“Are you sure about this?”
Raiya arched her brow at me as she stood in the moonlight of the winter solstice, just beneath the trees near the Apollo City marina. It was the same place, months prior, I’d fallen back to Earth after visiting with Aleia’s sister, only to find Raiya—then in her Starlight Warrior form, Starry Knight—waiting for me in the rain.
“I told you before, I’m not exactly sure of this, but it’s the best shot we have.” Her violent eyes darkened against the night sky as the fog began pouring in.
“What am I going to do without you?” I asked, shoving my hands in my pockets.
“Watch over the city,” she told me simply. “We both know it’s a full-time job, even with only Asteropy and Elektra left to stop.”
“They haven’t made a lot of commotion lately.”
“But there are other demons making trouble, and there is that possibility that they’ve found a new leader,” Raiya reminded me. She leaned against the trunk of a tree. “And there is always Elysian to look after, right?”
I snorted. “That’s another full-time job in itself, or even two if you count feeding him. There’s no denying he’s got a sweet tooth. I’ll need backup when I go to Rachel’s.”
“You just might get some,” Raiya said with a small smile, making me wonder what she meant. “I have to admit, after this past month, I’m surprised you’re not tired of me.”
I came over and leaned beside her, taking her hand in mine. “It still wasn’t enough time.” After all the time we’d been apart, both on this side of Time and the other, I was more than adamant about making up for lost moments.
“We’ve seen each other nearly every day for the last six weeks,” she reminded me. “Sometimes more than once. I’ll be back soon enough.”
“That’s not soon enough.”
Raiya laughed. “I’ll miss you,” she admitted. “More than you know. But this is the only way I can see about getting a new wish, so I can be restored to the Celestial Kingdom, same as you are.”
I shifted against the hard bark of the tree behind us. “Being forgiven by Adonaias doesn’t seem like it would be something that would need a Star’s wish.”
A scowl crossed her face. “I used to judge people, and a price always had to be given. There’s no way to survive and still get everything you want. But if I can get a new wish, I’ll be able to get there.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“That’s because you’ve seen him, talked with him. Adonaias,” she clarified. “What do you need to fear, having been remade and recreated already? Your Starsoul—all of it, including your Starfire, soul, and spirit—is alive; mine is not. My spirit has been dead since I was born into this world.”
“This is confusing, all this Star stuff,” I said with small sigh. I didn’t see why she thought I was in any better of a position, since she seemed to know more about the Prince of Stars than I did.
“I was going to recapture the Sinisters and seal them away. Presenting them might have helped me earn back my life on the other side of Time, in the Immortal Realm.”
“We’re not that far from getting the last two,” I pointed out.
“Thank goodness for that,” Raiya said, her voice bitter. “If it wasn’t for Aleia’s desperation, I wouldn’t have agreed to this until they were all captured.”
“But you did,” I said, realizing it was indeed out of character for her. “Why does Aleia have the power to change your mind so easily?”
“Because I love her, of course. She is among my best friends. I have damned myself, but if she has a chance at happiness with Orpheus, who was to be her match on the other side, then I have nothing to lose.”
“Nothing but your pride,” I teased.
Raiya glared at me, but I knew it was more because she knew I was right.
“You did end up falling in the first place,” I reminded her.
“Be careful, or I’ll have to beat you up when I get back.”
“Something to look forward to,” I remarked, trying to be cheerful.
A Star’s wish had great power, I knew, and the misuse of that power had brought us here. But I was sure Adonaias, the Prince of Stars, and our master, would understand Raiya’s actions. She’d used her power to stop the Seven Deadly Sinisters from escaping her power.
I shifted closer to her and leaned against her. In the cool night air, this close to Christmas, the extra warmth was inviting. “You know, there are a lot of things I never realized I didn’t know about you.”
“That’s because you like to talk about yourself,” Raiya bantered back. “You have a hard time talking with me, instead of at me.”
“I do not. We’ve talked about you plenty of times.”
“It’s still more of a 70-30 split.”
“You don’t always like to tell me things.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ask.”
“Is that supposed to be a trick of some kind?” I asked.
“Well, it was the same with Gwen for that matter,” Raiya mused, and I shook my head.
“I’d rather not recall my past mistakes,” I contended, “but since you brought it up, I’ll keep it in mind.”
She sneered at me. “I’d appreciate it.”
“It would be my pleasure,” I promised, sealing it with a quick, pressing kiss—which quickly turned into several, each one longer and sweeter than the last.
We were quite breathless by the time the Apollo City Time Tower chimed, and we knew we only had fifteen minutes before eleven o’clock.
“You never did tell me why you had to supernova before,” I said, awkwardly backing away from her.
She went quiet for a moment, a contemplative expression on her pretty face. “My sisters had been held prisoner with me for a long time,” Raiya said. “They managed to find a weakness.”
“What was it?”
“You.”
“Huh?” I reeled back, turning to face her. “What happened?”
“Orpheus tricked me.” She twirled her fingers around a loosely bound lock of hair. “He gave me one of your feathers and said it was all that was left of you after he attacked. I knew by then Orpheus was a traitor, but … ”
She shrugged as her voice trailed off.
I thought about the first time I’d seen Starry Knight, when she came barreling into my life. She had a long, red feather in her hair. I took it back some time ago, seeing it as part of my own fire-feather wings. She’d kept it, I realized, even as she ripped through Space-time, getting reborn into a human existence.
I squeezed her hand. “You really didn’t expect to ever see me again.”
“No.”
“That monster.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe Orpheus and I were ever friends.”
“He was different before. You know as well as I do that our decisions have strange ways of marking us and changing us.”
&
nbsp; I nodded. “That I do.”
Raiya glanced around the tree, gazing over at the marina. “Speaking of Orpheus, he should be coming with Aleia soon.”
“Elysian, too,” I added. “He said he’d bring the rest of the sealed Sinisters with him so you can have them.”
“We’d better transform.”
A flash of light and blast of power later, we both stood together, face-to-face with our fallen Star forms. Her bow was out, and my sword was ready. Before she could step out of the shadows of the trees, I took hold of her arm.
“You know,” I said, “I really like being with you, like this.”
“You always did,” she said with a smirk, “until we met last year.”
“I would’ve liked you better before if you hadn’t insisted on calling me a child,” I told her.
“I would’ve liked you better before if you hadn’t insisted on acting like one,” she easily countered.
“Ha! You were worse.” But I couldn’t hold back a smile, because she just made arguing more fun than it already was.
“I have been who I am for all my life,” Raiya replied. “Though, of course, down here on Earth, my purpose has changed.”
“My purpose has changed, too,” I remarked, “and it guides the rest of me as I go along, I suppose. But I still think there is enough wiggle room for fun and happiness. And hope,” I added, recalling how many of our trials had become victories.
“People who think they are not beyond mercy or grace often think that way.”
“Well, I am the Star of Mercy, technically. So I know you are not beyond me.”
She giggled, surprising me. “I see why you still want to work in law.”
“Well, it is hard to break the habit, after thinking it for so long,” I conceded. “And it is not like we will be superheroes forever, right?”
“And what if we are?” Raiya asked. “Are you prepared to do it until your body submits to death and your spirit is taken back to the other side of Time’s power? Would hope be enough to carry you through, despite pain?”
My real answer, I decided, was not one what I wanted to know. Or maybe it wasn’t what she wanted to hear.