Nova's Dawning
Chapter 23

Wednesday the rest of my friends went out to work, while I stayed there, and Bee came over. She brought face masks, nail polish, and a curling wand. She did my hair and we painted our toes while our face masks hardened. She got me to relax and laugh again, which was a miracle to say the least. I never knew how hard it was to be happy until that last week, and I was amazed that Bee had such a positive influence on my life. Occasionally she would cast out her blue light, and I would suddenly feel healed again, as if every pain I had ever received never existed.

“How are you and Oren?” I asked Bee as we were washed our face masks off.

“We are doing much better than before, but I still feel this very dark feeling.” She looked away from me and I could see the pain she was in.

“I’m just worried about everything I guess, and he can tell.”

I sighed, fully aware of the sadness I was causing. It hurt me to know that my friends were going to be on edge until I finally met my demise.

“Sometimes when you are anticipating things it just makes it harder.” Tears welled up in her eyes, and even though her face mask was gone she rinsed her face one more time, as to hide the falling tears from me. “You’re my best friend Star. I love our other friends, but since day one you and I have always been so connected. I am really grateful for our bond, and the time we’ve spent together.”

I knew she was upset, but when I thought about our time together, I thought about our promise to make our own poutine, and I couldn’t help but smile at the idea. “Let’s make poutine and make sure that we keep making great memories together, okay Bee? No matter what... I know what’s in store for me, however all I want is for the rest of you to be happy and go on living to the fullest extent. You guys have turned my dull boring life into something of color and light. I am so blessed.” A tear slid down my face but I smiled at her, trying not to let things get too sad. She nodded, wiping away her remaining tears. She called someone and within the hour we had a bunch of ingredients for poutine and several other dishes.

“My mom sent me these recipes and I think you’ll like them. They seem really yummy so I figure while everyone is out, we might as well get some cooking done.” Bee was smiling again, trying so hard not to let herself succumb to the sadness. It seemed as the day went on my friends were reaching this point where they were almost accepting of the fate that I had been given, and I was definitely learning that I needed to make the most of it.

Our food was marvelous, and probably the best food I’ve still ever had in my life. When our friends returned home, they fell in love and demanded that we make more. We had homemade poutine, as well as a black bean soup, vegetarian stir fry, we made a huge bowl of Caesar salad, and to top it off we made a loaf of homemade banana bread. I cooked so much that night that sometimes I can still feel the heat from their oven on my face.

When we all were finally filled to the brim Oren came to pick Bee up and the rest of my friends headed to their rooms. Osiris and I were on the couch as per usual, and for the first time in almost a week I felt like things might be all right.

“I still have this feeling of dread, but... I think that no matter what happens things will work themselves out, and everything will be okay.” I kissed him lightly, and he held me close like he had done so many nights before.

“Starlite, I hope you are right, because I don’t know what I would do without you. Everyone else might make it out okay, but if I lose you... I just don’t think I would be okay, not for a very, very, very long time.”

I rubbed my face into his chest and I nodded against him. “I know babe, but I have a little faith. I’m not weak. I’ll do everything I can to make sure I’m safe, and I know you guys will do even more than that.”

He kissed the top of my head and quickly we were asleep.

That night I dreamt that I was seeing the hospital again, but things were different. Instead of going down the hallway I normally went I followed the cries of a woman down the other way. Her sobs filled the halls and I wanted nothing more than to console this ailing soul.

However, the closer I got it felt like the harder and harder she was crying.

“Please stop.” I said out loud, hoping my voice was heard.

However just as I was reaching the door where the woman was my alarm went off and I woke up in the real world. I didn’t think much of it considering the amount of stress I had been under lately. Our final for History of Abilities was an essay on what we had learned and a bunch of multiple-choice questions based on random facts. It seemed easy, but when it came to the essay, I felt stumped, as if I had never written a paper before.

I eventually decided to write about how we came to own violet and how it benefitted the school. I liked the subject the most because it tied to Osiris in a way that was still a little sketchy, but it made him happy.

Mrs. Campbell took our papers, put them in her briefcase, and then sat on her desk, staring at all of us.

“This class might actually be my favorite out of my two others, because you guys were the most attentive and kind. You were so happy to be learning, and I can really appreciate that as a teacher. I hope you all the best of luck and may fate be kind to you.”

I gathered my stuff slowly and my friends and I departed. I felt like I should have said bye, feeling like I probably wouldn’t last much longer, but I kept my head held high. I refused to say goodbye to anyone for fear of bringing my passing into fruition. I was determined not to go down unless I was kicking, fighting, and screaming.

We all had dinner at our favorite hole in the wall together, and it was hard to sit there. The dynamic had done a complete turnaround from our previous times out. We were all quiet, and Mo and Jack who were usually the most talkative and annoying were now the most silent and morose. Thea attempted to cheer us up at one point, making a face out of her breakfast platter, but all I could muster was a small appreciative smile. I wanted to laugh, but even with my determined attitude I also didn’t want to get my hopes up.

Afterwards we all went our separate ways to our mentors and then we were all meeting back at the apartment for some drinking and games. Even Bee had agreed to come this time. It would be our last gathering as friends before the adventure we were preparing to take on Violet. Even though, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, I still wanted to pack, because I wouldn’t have wanted to be caught off guard.

Osiris kissed me goodbye as per usual and then I walked up to Michy’s, for what I thought might have been the last time.

“Welcome!” Michy said in a sing-songy voice, as she twirled inside. Her tables were in a circle, with balloons and candles everywhere.

“Um... is it your birthday?” I asked, unsure of the occasion.

“No, silly! We are celebratin’ the end of the semester, and no more havin’ to report to the Dean after tonight. Plus, you’ve finished all the basics. You’ve already flown through everythin’ I’ve given ya with beautiful rainbow colors. So tonight, we will do a short lesson and then we will relax, pop in a movie, and drink wine!”

I smiled at her and nodded, feeling drained, but appreciative of the short day.

As I processed her words, I realized something, “Wait, you report to the Dean?”

“Well yeah we all have to. Yur success here determines what kind of trainin’ you’ll get next semester. We have much more to learn, so you’ll be comin’ back to see me twice a week, but some students can have one to three days of trainin’. Make sense?” Her accent seemed thicker to me for some reason tonight and it made me give a small giggle.

She fixed me up a pot of her energy tea and when I finished the tea I would be done for the semester. It was a surreal feeling to say the least, but I was grateful that Michy had gone through such lengths to put my mind at ease.

“What kind of reports do you have to give the Dean?” I asked as I finished my first cup.

“Nothing big, just like how much you’ve learned, sometimes I include how vivid the vision but very rarely do I include contents, unless it’s of dire importance.” Her tone seemed kind of serious as if she had reported something like that in the past but she quickly changed her demeanor. “So tonight, it’ll be simple. I want ya to take turns seeing somethin’ from the past, present, and future, but I want it to be focused on one person, and I’ll even let ya pick me since I know ya don’t have a lot of items from people tonight.”

She gave me some of her things and I focused very hard on her happy attitude.

I didn’t need to speak the chant to the past anymore, I could think it and I would slip in. I landed on a beach as I saw a young girl twirling on the sand as a full moon hit the horizon. She was laughing loudly and happily. She stopped and she looked up to the moon, her arms out wide, and she fell back into the sand. I tried to get closer, but already the world was blurring away and I was opening my eyes to Michy’s candlelit living room.

I had a horrible headache, but I drank the next cup of tea and tried to get past it.

“Try channelin’ me and putting a clear image of something you’re proud of in my head.”

I sat in the middle of the tables, letting the natural flow of the room guide me down the right way. Maybe it was because of the number of items I had, or the close proximity, but it was incredibly easy to reach Michy, and I thought about my script from screenwriting, and I put the image of me getting praise in her head.

I pulled back slowly, with more control than before, and she smiled.

“That must have been a hell of a script.” she said from her couch, “I would love to read it sometime.” I nodded and I drank another glass of tea, wondering how much she actually made. “Okay now I want ya to see my future love life and remember what I said last time. Less emotion equals more truth.”

I let the tea settle that time, feeling the energy all the way down to the tips of my toes. I then took a deep sigh and blanked my mind of all thoughts and feelings. I thought only of Michy and her future love life. I thought not of who she preferred, but who fate chose, and then I said the chant with power and determination.

I landed on my feet into the future, in a dark place that led me to a door. Slowly and carefully I opened it into the kitchen of a nice southern style house. I could see the white picket fence from the window and a hot pie was on the windowsill.

“Honey, I’m home!” I head Michy’s familiar voice and I followed it.

A man appeared from another room in the house and he hugged and kissed her on the nose. He was a tad shorter than her with red hair and green eyes. They were a gushy couple and I almost pulled out, but I heard a baby begin to cry.

“Ya woke Lyra.” she said, laughing, knowing it was her booming voice that did it.

I rolled my eyes and came back to the real world eager to move on to the next thing.

“Do you want to know?” I asked her, when I noticed she was looking at me curiously.

“No, I don’t think so. I’ve seen many things and I don’t know which is true, but I like that. I would never want my life to be spoiled for me.” She twirled into the kitchen bringing out only half a glass of tea. “This is the last of it, so drink up and then we can break out the good stuff!”

She laughed and I gulped down the tea, eager to be done.

“So, this time I want ya to focus on a truth.” She rolled her eyes at me as I blanched, “Don’t be that way. Sometimes the truth is nice. Ask to see the truth about something simple, like who actually invented electricity or even who made chocolate. Ya can even see what really happened to the dinosaurs if ya want and remember the more void ya are of emotion the more truth it will have.”

“You’ve already said that.” I groaned, getting back into position.

“Yeah, well ya best not forget it.”

I focused on dinosaurs, and the first time someone found the bones. I cleared my head of emotions and thought about finding bones, when I whispered, “Show me the truth.”

I slipped and landed on hands and knees. “Ow.” I was outside and it was dark as a man walked by in 1600′s clothing whistling some tune I had never heard of before.

“Great, SCOTT.” He said, loudly alerting some others nearby.

The ground was wet as if there had been a mudslide and it revealed large bones.

“These must belong to a giant elephant!”

“Or a giant man!” an onlooker said. They began to mutter to themselves in a weird accent in their weird clothes and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I pulled out voluntarily letting my emotions come back slowly but surely.

“You’ve done really well kid. I’ve done a good job!”

I shook my head at her, and my headache hit me like a boulder. “Can we get that wine now?”

She nodded happily and popped in a movie and dashed for the bottle of wine. I crawled onto the couch and then I snuggled into the blanket she had laid out for me.

The movie was the Bee Movie, and while she laughed boisterously, I found it preposterous. It was a weird movie that didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but after three glasses of wine I didn’t even care.

Osiris picked me up and I was already pretty buzzed by then, so naturally when I got back to the house, I had another few glasses of wine. Thea had brought Selene over, and her and Bee were in a video game showdown. Thea cheered her on, and Mo and Jack strengthened their bromance with a round of shots.

I don’t remember much from that night, but what I do remember I can never forget. It was the feeling of being safe, of being loved, and of being cared for. I couldn’t help but relax while I was surrounded by my friends, and act like nothing was the matter. I knew that there were issues, but that night, I felt free, and with my friends around me enjoying life, I wanted nothing more than to make sure they could live long happy lives, no matter what the cost to me.

It’s unfortunate that I would come to wish that I had never thought those words.

That night I dreamt of a great big sky, filled with puffy white clouds in an endless blue horizon. The wind was light, but warm. I could feel each tiny blade of grass brush against my ankles and I laid down in their embrace.

“Star.”

Far away someone was calling my name, but I didn’t want to leave the warm blanket of nature I had wrapped myself in.

“Star... Don’t do it.”

I woke up the next morning next to Osiris. His back was to me but having his body heat was exceptionally soothing.

We only had a few days left till the cruise, and this was the last day that everyone would be going to work on Violet. I had asked to go, I had practically begged.

“Seriously?! It’s the LAST one. Everyone is going to be there, so you can’t really expect me to NOT go. Please?! Everyone will be there and I won’t willingly wander off alone. Come on, won’t it be best if everyone is there to protect me?”

They all shared a concerned look and then Osiris sighed in defeat. “Fine. You might as well, since we all do need to be there. Just make sure you stick close to us always.”

I squealed with joy and immediately put my hair in the ‘productivity bun’ as my friends had come to call my messy hairstyle. I put on some good work clothes, and I pumped myself up not really sure what to expect. I knew they had completed a lot since I had last seen the stage, but for what was there I wasn’t ready.

The backdrop was a starry night sky type painting, with a cityscape and stars that looked so real I wanted to drift away in them. There were props everywhere for people’s acts, some things were disguised as fire, others as icebergs. The dynamic in the room was overwhelming yet, inspiring.

“This place is beautiful.” I said to Thea. She nodded, sighing happily.

I worked closely with Osiris and Sam as the others started to show up. Bee brought Oren and even Selene joined our small group of friends. She was getting to be like a big sister to all of us by then, always making sure we were all right. At one point soon after we had started, I caught her staring at Thea from afar and I giggled.

“Oh shush.” She said, her cheeks going red.

“Well Ms. Lovebird, it seems you’re the quiet one right now.”

She looked away. “She’s just so proud of her work, and she should be. This is amazing... And it makes me really proud of her. I just want everything to work out.” She turned back to me. “For everyone.”

I nodded, understanding her concern.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” It was hard to look her in the eyes.

We got back to work doing the finishing touches on everyone’s individual props. The theater had transformed from the room of silence to a room of companionship. Every person who was performing had teamed up with someone who wasn’t and they had been working together to finish everything important. It was a space of collaboration and teamwork, with Thea being the head honcho.

Sam and I were in charge of the finishing touches on the backdrop, as well as making sure the lights were positioned correctly for the beginning of the show in the other theater. We had to make sure the colors were right, and that every light switch worked according to what it was supposed to in the other theater.

These things had been tested over and over again, but with this ship being so old weekly checks were necessary. Everything worked fine, but when we were up in the control booth that feeling hit me again. I could see everyone working on the stage from there, and a couple of them stopped, as if they felt it too.

“Are you okay, Star?” Sam asked, as I stared down at everyone else.

I shrugged. “I guess you could say I’ve been better.”

“Don’t worry. We won’t let anyone hurt you.”

I smiled half-heartedly wishing that I could shake this feeling of dread, and then we went back down to meet with the others. We continued to work, for what felt like forever when we realized that we were the last ones left.

“I didn’t realize it was getting so late.” Thea said. I was getting hungry at that point, and it seemed like things were finally drawing towards an end. “I think we’ve done it everyone!”

My friends and I let out small cheers of joy and we packed up our tools and put everything away. The personal props were being stored in the theater where the show would be, and the backdrop and the bigger props were kept on the stage in the Peace Room. The night before the show we would transport everything to the other theater. We put everything in its proper place and took a step back to look at it all.

“It really is wonderful.” I said to Thea.

“Thank you,” she replied, “thank all of you.”

We headed out of the theater, Thea locking the door behind her. We reached the deck of Violet and the only other person there was the security guard, who was like everyone’s grandpa. I don’t even remember his name, but I haven’t forgotten his smile. He reminded me of Santa Claus with his white beard, and thick red cheeks.

“What are you kids going to do now that you’re done?”

“Eat!” Mo said, and we laughed. We were just about to say our goodbyes, and maybe if we hadn’t stopped to talk to the security guard things would have been different, but they weren’t.

“THEA! THEA!”

A guy came running up to us, out of breath. We recognized him as one of the performers and Thea tried to calm him down.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“THE STAGE IS ON FIRE.”

The security guard had stepped over to us and he immediately was calling the fire department, although, I wasn’t sure what they could do on a ship. Thea’s face went white and Selene had to catch her from falling over.

“I’m going to see what I can salvage, and make sure there isn’t too much damage.” Selene said in a hurry.

“We need to sound the fire alarm. There are workers on the bottom floors!” Osiris said, frantic.

I was in shock as was everyone else, but they were ready to dive in.

“Sam stay here with Star.” said Bee, as the rest of our friends hurried back in to take care of the fire, and the rest of the people on board.

I sank to my knees, not really sure what was happening. The feeling of dread was so heavy on my shoulders that tears began to roll down my face.

“STAR?!” Sam was right beside me trying to do her best at comforting me. “Star, what’s wrong?”

“They shouldn’t… Something… Happpening… I have to find out.” Sam’s face grew white as a sheet.

I shook my head; afraid I knew the answer I was looking for. I tried to speak again, but no words would come out. I took a couple deep breaths, trying not to carry my emotions with me, and I attempted to channel Thea.

“How did a fire even start?” she asked incredulously. “The doors are still locked!”

I could sense her opening the doors, and I felt the heat on my face as she walked inside. I took a deeper breath and through her eyes I saw the starry night sky that was now an endless red horizon of flames. I felt her pain and disappointment as the tears flew down.

“There’s nothing we can do.” Selene said to her. I was getting weak and I had to pull out. When I came back the fire alarm began to go off.

“I think they’ll be okay.” I said to Sam, trying to make myself calm, but the longer that we waited the worse I began to feel again. Workers began to pour out of violet, oil and smoke evident on their faces. I stood up, searching for the faces of our friends. Some people ran past us, and others stayed to see if the rest would make it out okay, but time continued to pass.

“What is taking so long?” Sam asked me. I felt tired, but I wanted to know that everyone was okay. I took a few deep breaths, but I couldn’t calm down, and I dropped into the darkness.

I felt heat on my face and I could smell fire. There was a scream and then groans.

I remembered this vision, and I flinched myself out. “NO! Sam, we must go after them. The vision I had about the fire. I thought it was a car crash... but...”

Sam’s head turned towards Violet; the pain visible on her face. “We can’t. It’s too dangerous.” She looked back at me.

Defeated, I dropped back to my knees, remembering my singed fingertips from weeks ago, unsure of what to do. I couldn’t channel anymore, because it took too much. I didn’t have energy tea, or an unlimited supply of stamina like Michy, and with no food in my system I was starting to have stomach pains.

We sat outside, in the cold, for what felt like the longest time, unsure of what to think and what to do I sat, and meditated, determined to not break down.

“Sam! SAM!”

I could hear Oren and Osiris coming this way and I stood up, bracing myself for something horrible. The sirens were finally approaching and I only fainted when I realized they were carrying people out.

When I opened my eyes, a bright light was there to blind me. I sat up slowly, and when I looked around, I realized we were in a waiting room. I jumped up, trying to see if it was the waiting room from my vision, but there were so many more people there than I remembered, I couldn’t tell.

It was then that I noticed three of us were missing; Bee, Thea, and Selene.

Sam was sitting there, her short hair looking disheveled and her eyes dark.

“Guys?” I asked. They looked to me sad, and Osiris’s arms wrapped around me.

“You were asleep for a few hours. Are you hungry?” he asked me softly. I nodded and he looked over at Sam. Without even saying a word her, Mo, and Jack jumped up and were out the door.

“What time is it?” I asked, sitting in the seat next to him.

“It’s like five in the morning I think. Maybe six. I don’t really know. Most of our phones died a little bit ago. Sam is going to get some of our stuff and then food, because none of us have eaten since yesterday.” He said putting his arm around me.

“So, what happened?” I asked him after a short pause.

He sighed, rubbing his face with his free hand. “Star, I... I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Is everyone okay?” I asked, not wanting to be lied to.

He nodded, and then shrugged. “We don’t know yet.... We all went in, guns blazing, ready to tackle our missions. I sent Mo and Jack to warn the workers, while I went to get the fire alarm going with Bee and Oren. I got it going and they got them out, and we realized that Selene and Thea weren’t at the spot to meet up yet. We all got worried and headed down to the theater after them. The fire was pretty much out by then, but they had inhaled so much smoke. They were basically passing out while they were heaving stuff out of there. I tried to get them to leave, but they wanted to save something on the stage. I don’t even know what it was. Anyway, we stood nearby, waiting for them, but when they went up the stage a part of it collapsed and they were hurt... We had to drag them out before Bee could do anything and after that she could only heal them one at a time, and with all the smoke it was really hard for her to do it all...” He looked away, angry. “I should have been able to do something. I couldn’t have protected them if I had put my shield out, because of all the places it happened in the theater... They are both in critical condition. Bee was able to heal Thea a good part of the way, but Selene... well it’s not looking too good for her. She fractured something that punctured something else. Bee came out a bit before you woke up to explain. She has been in overdrive since we got here.... We don’t really know what’s going to happen, and with us being in a hospital, it’s been incredibly stressful.”

For a second I wondered why, but then I realized that my death vision was in a hospital, and I understood.

“So, they could both make it?” I asked optimistically.

He shrugged, kissing the side of my head.

“It’s technically Saturday now, right?” I asked, feeling numb, and he nodded. “Good, then they’ll have time to recover before the cruise.”

He smiled at me half-heartedly and hugged me tighter. “I hope so.”

If only hope would have been enough.

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