Morningstar

As Wither heads back to Draconic, he feels Zanna slip her hand in his free hand that isn’t holding his cane. His spine erects. He doesn’t want Xeon to know about them, but then her fingers entwine in his. He doesn’t want to let her go. He likes the feeling of her soft hand in his.

“Your idea worked,” Zanna whispers.

“M-My idea? You were the one who figured it out,” Wither says.

“How did you know where it was?” Moneo asks. His team, which consists of Slier, Ilya, and Vil, are also following them.

“It was a team effort,” Zanna says. “Wither told us that Icarus must have hidden the bells someplace meaningful at least for him. Then Xeon told us every place that we visited with him, and then I knew the place. Kobo was the one who found it.”

“That easy?” Ilya asks.

“We just needed to put our minds together,” Kobo says. “That was the true objective of this challenge.” Zanna nods as he shakes the bells. They are calling whoever can hear them to tell them that the challenge is over.

“You didn’t argue?” Moneo asks. “Not once?”

“There was no reason to,” Zanna answers.

As they arrive to Draconic, the first thing that Wither spots is Lexan sitting on the ground. Wither almost laughs. He must be tired of working with Tilray, Phoenix, and Fey. Wither walks towards him, forgetting that he is holding Zanna’s hand. He stops, but Zanna takes the lead towards Lexan.

“What happened?” Wither asks Lexan.

“It was horrible,” Lexan says. “They were constantly arguing. My breaks were when we were running to another spot.”

Phoenix smacks Lexan on the shoulder as he stands up. “It wasn’t that bad.”

“You weren’t the one who needed to keep peace,” Lexan murmurs.

Phoenix rolls her eyes. “Anyway, who found it?”

“They did,” Vil says, pointing at Wither and Zanna with her thumb.

“Really?” Lexan asks, wide-eyed and with a huge smile. “Will you… you know, give us a taste of the coffee?”

“In your dreams,” Zanna says.

“What?” Lexan asks. His eyes fall on Wither. “Wither?”

“You heard the lady,” Wither answers as Zanna pulls him inside of Draconic. They walk a floor up and stop by the door. She kisses him on the lips before letting go of his hand and walking inside. He feels someone grab his shoulder softly.

“She is driving you crazy, isn’t she?” Lexan asks, smiling.

Then Wither feels someone grabbing his arm. “If you break her heart, I will make sure to break every inch of your bones,” Phoenix says, smiling genuinely. “Are we clear?”

Wither nods, but Vil speaks for him. “We both know that if someone is going to break someone’s heart is going to be Zanna, not Wither.”

“I guess you are right,” Phoenix answers and follows Vil inside.

Wither glances once at Lexan before heading inside. He always knew that having a girlfriend was going to add pressure, but he never knew that Zanna’s friends were going to be another factor. He enters the room and sits quickly besides Vil.

“Kobo, Xeon, Zanna, and Wither were the group to find the bells,” Icarus says as he shakes the bells that his holding. “That team and the team led by Slier were the only ones that worked perfectly. The rest worked horribly.”

“Excuse me?” Tilray says.

“You are excused,” Icarus says, ignoring her remark. “I watched every single one of you. Shin, East, and Hakea didn’t hear each other’s opinion; they only heard Beta’s. Killam and Rin were arguing all the time, while Agrion ignored, and Norm tried to calm down the situation. Tilray, Phoenix, and Fey wanted to be all leaders, when Lexan was the real leader.”

“Try working with Phoenix and Fey,” Tilray says. “They are impossible to work with.”

“Hey! It is you the problem, not me!” Phoenix yells.

“Keep lying to yourself, darling,” Tilray answers.

“You–”

“Phoenix,” Icarus warns.

“But she…” Phoenix begins but she sits down. “Fine.”

Icarus nods. Wither thinks that it is about time that Phoenix hears Icarus for the first time. She always argues with him, and he loses his patience quickly when it comes to her. Wither honestly believes that if Icarus is going to quit the team one day, it is going to be because of her.

“Anyway, Zanna’s team and Slier’s team are free to go,” Icarus says. “The rest will remain back and tell me what was wrong with their group and how they are planning on fixing it.”

“What?” Hakea asks.

“That’s not fair,” Killam says.

Wither doesn’t want to be here while they argue with Icarus. He stands up and walks out of the room. He waits outside for Vil, who was part of Slier’s group, but Zanna is the first to come out. She stands in front of him.

“Can I stay with you while Phoenix and Rin come out?” she asks.

“O-Of c-course,” Wither says. Why does he stutter when it comes to Zanna? She likes him already. He should be more confident. Maybe if he speaks more to her, he will become more comfortable. “Ph-Phoenix sure gets into Icarus’s nerves, doesn’t she?”

“You have no idea,” Zanna says. She looks around her, searching for something. “Can you save a secret?”

He always has been able to hold secrets, but for Zanna, even more. “Yes.”

“Phoenix and Icarus are dating,” she whispers.

Wither suddenly believes that the world is turning upside-down.

***

Lexan is sitting next to Tilray. He has his chin on the table. He knows that most of the time he is a happy fellow, but now, all of his happiness has been drained by Fey, Tilray, and Phoenix.

“I do not care what you say, but I did not do anything wrong,” Tilray says as she looks at her nails.

“Oh, sure,” Fey says. “You were actually bossing us around. You made yourself leader several times.”

“Well, you actually made decisions of your own,” Phoenix tells Fey, “like deciding to substitute me on searching the bells on Icarus.”

“You hesitated on doing it, so I was happy to oblige,” Fey answers. “And you also made yourself leader several times.”

“You all were horrible,” Lexan whispers. Then he speaks louder, “Why don’t we admit what ourselves did wrong? For example, I wasn’t fit to be leader. I chose to be a leader to stop you three from arguing, but I was kidding myself. I cannot be a strong hand when it comes to you all.”

“So, you are admitting that you are weak,” Tilray says. “Good for you!”

“That’s the point of all of this!” Lexan says. “We need to admit our weaknesses.”

“I am not weak,” Tilray says.

Lexan sighs. “I am not saying that you are weak. Admitting your weaknesses also makes you strong.” Tilray only shrugs. Lexan sighs and returns his chin to the table. “Whatever. I give up.”

“How are we doing in here?” Icarus asks as he approaches.

“Horrible,” Lexan says, not bothering to rise his head. “I gave up.”

“Is that your weakness?” Icarus asks.

“One of many,” Lexan says.

“Then you need to work on not giving up so fast,” he answers. “Anyone else want to tell me their weakness?” None of them speaks. He looks at Phoenix. “What about you, Phoenix? Would you do me the favor of being the first?”

Phoenix glares at him. “Fine,” she says. Lexan is surprised that she agreed. “I cannot work with Tilray because I honestly think that she is at my level, if not better. I know that she is as strong as me. I envy how Fey can hunt and climb better than me. My weakness is that I don’t like to admit when people are better than me.”

Icarus hand goes to Phoenix’s hair. She flinches as he moves it, messing her hair. “Excellent.”

Phoenix pushes his hand away from her. “I am not a child so stop treating me like one!”

Lexan cannot see Icarus’s mouth under the mask, but he somehow can tell that he is smiling. This is the first time that he has seen him treat Phoenix sweetly. “How about you, Fey?” Icarus asks.

“You,” she answers.

Icarus only stares at her. “I am serious.”

“Fine,” Fey says. “I envy the beauty of Tilray and Phoenix. The men that I like are always interested on one of them and not me. That’s why when I work with them, I want to be the leader. I want everyone to see me be bigger than them, better than them.”

“Very good,” Icarus says.

“Where’s my pat on the head like you did with Phoenix?” Fey asks.

“She didn’t like it, so I am not doing it again,” Icarus says. “I can shake your hand if you want.”

“No,” Fey says.

Icarus shrugs. “What about you, Tilray?”

“I don’t have weaknesses,” Tilray answers.

Lexan groans. “Just talk already!”

“Fine! Don’t get so work up,” Tilray says. “My weakness is that I do not know who I truly am. I have so many things that I haven’t figured out for myself, so I copy everyone and try to be better than them to see if that’s the real me. I envy people who know themselves and those are the people that I mostly hate.” She crosses her arms. “Happy?”

“This wasn’t for my benefit, but for yours,” Icarus answers. “Even if you don’t want to admit it, I know that you are all feeling better now that your worries are out. Maybe now you will all work together in the future.” He moves his arm towards the door. “Go on. Leave. Eat lunch.”

He doesn’t have to tell Lexan twice. Lexan stands up and heads to the door faster than ever. He likes Tilray, Fey, and Phoenix, but he likes them individually. He doesn’t like them when they are together. He only hopes in the future that Icarus doesn’t place him in the same team as them again.

When Lexan steps out of Draconic, he spots Wither, Vil, and Zanna sitting on the floor in front of a tree. He quickly approaches them.

“How was it?” Vil asks.

“Horrible,” Lexan sighs. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you,” Wither answers.

Lexan looks at Zanna. “Including you?” She shakes her head.

“Hey,” Phoenix says, appearing next to Lexan. “What are we doing? Are we having lunch together?”

“Oh, no, no, no, no,” Lexan says as he shakes his head. “I need a break from you. You can be quite difficult when you want to be.”

“And you are such a drama queen,” Phoenix says as she combs her hair that was messed by Icarus with her fingers. “You should hear Icarus and work on your patience. Besides, I only get so… competitive when Tilray is there.”

Lexan is ready to say no again, but he looks at Wither. His hand is holding Zanna’s. He, for once, is happy. Lexan has never seen him with a big smile in his face. He met Wither crying over Yenta’s death, and now he is happy for the first time. He cannot break Zanna and Wither. He cannot be the one to break his happiness.

“Fine,” Lexan says. As he begins to walk, he stops when he spots them. Jibe, Asper, Radon, and Soar walking meters away. He hides behind the tree.

“Are you all right?” Phoenix asks.

“Those are his old friends,” Vil answers as nods towards them. “Something happened and now he doesn’t want to see them.”

Phoenix glances at them before turning to Vil. “What happened?”

“It is none of your concerns,” Lexan says. His voice comes rough, even angry. He hardly never speaks that way.

“All right,” Phoenix says as she nods and as if she didn’t mind hearing him so furious. “We stay here while they go away. We have to wait for Rin, though.” She takes a glimpse to their direction again. “I’ll tell you when they are gone.”

Lexan looks at the floor. He doesn’t want to remember what happened. He wants to forget. He slides his back on the tree and sits down. “Thanks,” he only murmurs.

***

Vil yawns and she doesn’t bother to cover her mouth. She is so tired, but she is outside anyway. “It is cold,” she whispers. Winter is already arriving, and the wind is already turning colder.

“We should have brought a coat,” Lexan says. “But it is too early for the air to be cold.”

“I thought that we were going to start feeling the cold wind next week,” Wither says.

Vil continues to walk. She is tired. She wants to return to her dorm and sleep. “Does anyone know where his room is?”

“I do,” Wither says. “Zanna told me. It is this way.” He takes the lead. “Hurry.”

They walk in a fast pace, following Wither. Vil knows that she needs to be in here with them, but she still wants to complain. She didn’t ask for this ability that she has. Why did she have to end up with it?

When they arrived at the mentors’ dormitory, Wither remembers the directions that Zanna told him. Icarus’s room is on the third floor. He walks upstairs and knocks on the door after making sure several times that he is right. The door opens barely to see Icarus’s face.

“Yes?” Icarus asks.

“We need to ask you something,” Lexan says.

“It is part curfew,” he says. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“It literally cannot,” Vil says.

“I am kind of busy,” Icarus says. He doesn’t want to let them in. Is he hiding something?

“We know about Phoenix,” Wither says. Vil wants to raise an eyebrow but she stops herself. What is Wither talking about? What does Phoenix have to do with this?

Icarus doesn’t move for a few seconds. He closes the door. Vil flinches. She was not expecting that. Then the door opens again, and this time completely. He moves aside to let them step in. When Vil enters, she spots Phoenix standing by the bed. She is wearing the gray cloak that Icarus always wear. She is holding it tightly, covering her night clothes.

“Oh,” Vil says, unable to hold herself. Icarus and Phoenix are seeing each other on their free time. She was not expecting that. Didn’t they hate each other?

“What?” Lexan asks. “You… and you… Wow. I didn’t expect this.”

“What do you want?” Icarus asks.

“I, um…” Vil begins, but she looks at Phoenix. Can she say it out loud? Does Phoenix know about the ability of Vil to see spirits? She looks back at Icarus. “Does she know about… my ability?”

He stares at Vil. “Wither and Lexan knows,” he says, even though it sounds to Vil as if it were a question. “I believed I told you not to say anything to them.”

“They saw a spirit,” Vil admits. “I had to tell them.”

“Did they touch you?” Icarus asks. Vil doesn’t know what to answer. “Did they touch you when they saw the spirit?”

“Yes,” Vil says.

Icarus sighs. “You can invite people to watch the spirits, but you have to be touching them and talking about spirits. That is dangerous, Vil. Spirits can haunt anyone who acknowledges their presence.”

“Spirits?” Phoenix asks.

“Vil is blessed,” Icarus tells her. Vil is glad that she interrupted. She needed a small break from Icarus’s heat. “She can see spirits and invite everyone to see them. It is a passive ability, except if she speaks to them.”

“Passive?” Lexan asks.

“That’s not important for now,” Icarus says as he shakes his head. “Just do not speak to spirits. And I am not joking. Do not speak to spirits.”

“I… I almost did,” Wither says.

Icarus sighs and turns to Vil. “I only asked you two simple things: to not speak to spirits and to not tell anyone about it.”

“I-I-I know,” Vil says. “I warned him. I told him not to speak to Yenta.”

“Yenta?” Icarus asks, his voice rising a little. “Listen to me, Wither, do not speak to Yenta. We do not know if he is the Yenta that died or if it is another spirit looking like him. Yenta is gone. Do not think that that spirit is him.”

Wither looks taken aback, but that it is not why they came to see Icarus. “I mentioned to Yenta the same words that you said to that other spirits,” Vil says. “He disappeared, but what does that do?”

“Those are dangerous words,” Icarus says. “They mention a saint.” He moves away to his wardrobe. He opens it and Vil catches a glimpse of more gray cloaks like his usual cloaks. He searches for something before closing it. He walks back and hands it to Vil. It is a small white candle. “Saints expect something in return for using their blessings. Light this candle, mention the saint’s name and let it blow through the night.”

“But what did those words do?” Vil asks.

“They let Yenta rest for the night,” Icarus says. “He will be back the next night.”

“Is-Is there a way to set him to sleep forever?” Wither asks.

“There is, but we cannot do it in Morningstar,” Icarus says. “Doing that kind of ritual consists a lot of energy, energy that can be detected by anyone near. There are people at Morningstar that do not like people with these kinds of gifts. If they find anyone who have abilities, they will kill them. That’s why no one should tell about Vil’s abilities. They might hunt her.”

“Why?” Vil asks.

“That’s a story for later,” Icarus says. “Just go to back to your dorms, light the candle, mention the saint’s name, and forget that all of this happens. And please, do not speak to any spirits. The results can be catastrophic.”

Vil nods, but she isn’t satisfied. She has a gift; she possesses an ability, and she cannot use it. People would want her dead if they knew about her, more than usual. Most of herself doesn’t care about that, but something inside of her is begging her to leave Morningstar as soon as she can.