Nova's Dawning

At that point I had no idea where to start searching for her, but I figured I could at least check with Oren. However, when I got to his little place, there was no one home. I called Bee, but no answer.

“You wouldn’t happen to know Oren’s number, would you?” Osiris asked me and I shook my head, I would have called him already if I had.

We sat in the parking lot in his car and I sighed deeply. Osiris pulled out his phone and began to play a game through his Facebook, that’s when I remembered. I pulled out my phone and called Oren through Facebook. “Oh, the wonders of technology.” I mumbled.

“Um, Star?” I heard Oren’s confused and distracted voice.

“Oren? Do you know where Bee is?” I asked, sitting up in my seat.

“Um... Yeah, she’s with me.” It was very loud on the other end of the phone.

“Oren?? Where are you guys?” Osiris looked at me with concerned.

“Uh.... The hospital. Hey I’ll call you back we’re going into the ER.” he said, as I could hear him mumbling to someone else.

“Wait-!” The call dropped. I could almost feel the flames again. “We have to go to the hospital, he said they’re in the ER!”

Osiris immediately sped towards the only hospital they could be at as I chewed on my fingernails. My gift had given me nervous habits, which now were the least of my worries. When we arrived, I bolted towards the ER doors and the nurse at the desk looked surprised at me.

“Hi, I’m looking for Belladonna and Oren.” The nurse then smiled at me, as if I was a friend.

“Oh, they’re in room 105, straight through these doors on the right and then it’ll be on the left.” she said, sweetly.

“Thank you.” I said, quickly, bolting towards the room. I could sense Osiris was behind me, but I just wanted to find Bee and make sure she was okay. The sound of a woman’s scream echoed in my head. I got to the door and I didn’t even bother knocking, but what I saw when I walked in was not what I had been expecting.

Bee was there, with Oren, but they weren’t in the beds, they were helping the people in them. Bee had a glowing blue light emanating from her palms as she healed a cut on a man’s abdomen. Oren was at the bed across the room and he was wrapping a sleeping man’s elevated leg in a new bandage.

“Star?” Bee looked tired, but Oren was quickly at her side to help her sit down. I walked over to her, taking the seat to her right.

“Told you, you were just a late bloomer.” I said, smiling in relief.

“All thanks to you, girl.” she said, tired.

“I called Oren and he told me you guys were in the ER.” He chuckled rubbing the back of his head.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t give you any good context.” Oren said, shaking hands with Osiris.

“Oh, sorry, Oren this is Osiris, Osiris, Oren. You guys haven’t really met before, and I’m sorry it’s on these terms.” I said. They nodded at each other.

Bee was practically half asleep in the chair, and Oren smiled down at her.

“She’s so cute when she’s tired. She works really hard.” Oren said.

“I didn’t know she was working at a hospital; she hadn’t told me about this.” I gestured to the hospital room. He looked surprised.

“Really? She told me that you knew, maybe she just assumed that with your gift and all. I’m sorry for scaring you. I didn’t realize that you didn’t have ANY context.” He smiled apologetically and I waved my hand at him. “Wait, so does that mean you don’t know anything?” he asked.

I shook my head, wondering what else there could be.

“Let’s take a walk.” he said. We left Bee to sleep near the patients they had just been helping, and we started walking down the hallway. “When Bee first woke up after she had been sick, we weren’t sure what was going on. She said she felt off, and I could tell something was different, but I was just so keen on making sure she was okay. I was making her soup and I cut my finger dicing up some veggies, like deep, my finger was almost chopped off, but she walked up to me and just kind of drifted into a trance. She grabbed my hand and in a quick flash of blue light, it was as if nothing had happened. The blood was still there, but the wound was completely healed. It was miraculous to say the least. So, when your school offered the solution, we were thrilled... except. Bee is the only one to have this power. No one else has it, because it’s always been passed on in her family and her family alone.”

“That explains why her whole family is filled with wonderful people.” I said, as we stopped at some benches in a waiting area.

“Yeah, so she’s had to kind of be self-teaching herself through this hospital internship, and she hasn’t taken a single break. She comes to the hospital every second she’s not in class, sometimes she reads here, and sometimes she even stays overnight. She wants to change the world with this gift. She knows there’s a lot of risks, and she understands that it takes a toll on her body.”

“But she wouldn’t have it any other way.” I said, nodding, because I knew how Bee worked. Our friendship was short, but I knew the kind of person she was.

“Exactly,” Oren said, “I’m sorry she hasn’t had time to do much. She tells me how she misses you all the time, but she knows you’re busy too, being a seer and all.” I smiled half-heartedly.

“Speaking of her being a seer.” Osiris said, trying to remind me of the reason we were here.

“Oren...” I said, getting serious. “I think Bee might be in danger. I’ve had a couple of, scary visions today, so powerful they’ve been building up for a while now. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see anything it was just smells, and sounds, and... fire. I couldn’t see the fire, but I could feel it, it even burned me,” and I showed him my blistered fingertips.

His face turned pale; he ran his long fingers through his short curly hair.

“There’s more about Bee’s gift. As you can imagine it’s... wanted, feared even. Apparently, it’s something that people will pay lots of money for, she can’t cure cancer or anything, but she can cure some things like broken bones, amputations, poisoned people, you know. So, the Dean told us that the more open she is with her gift, the more danger it puts her in, which is why I’m allowed to know everything, so I can protect her... However, I worry that I won’t be able to protect her enough. My powers stayed dormant. That was something Bee and I had started to bond over originally, but…”

He rubbed his face, the worry lines somehow more evident than before.

“In one vision I heard a car accident and people screaming. In the other it was a party, a party that Osiris and I believe is the Violet cruise launch. I think I was looking for Bee, but I couldn’t find her, so it’s my suspicion that the accident will happen with Bee, on the day of the party. I don’t know if that’s even true or not, my visions can be wrong, but they can also be changed. However,” I held my hand, looking at my burnt fingertips. “I don’t think this is a false vision.”

Oren’s whole demeanor had changed, his worried look, had become guarded and protected.

“I promise that I will do my best to protect her.”

Bee’s laugh entered our conversation. She sat down weakly next to Oren. “How many times are you going to give that speech, honey?” Her voice was softer than I remembered, probably due to lack of sleep, but she seemed happy to see me.

“Bee, you need to get some sleep.” I said to her, thinking maybe I could convince her.

“No,” she said, waving me off, “I’ll be fine. You’re the one who looks like they’ve been through hell.” She noticed my fingertips, and gently she touched them when the famous flash of blue light struck my hand. It was similar to that pins and needle feeling right after one of your limbs wakes up, but it was just a couple seconds of it.

When it ended my hands were brand new, no scars or anything. “Wow.” I said.

“Please take better care of yourself, Star. You shouldn’t be messing around with cooking so much if you know you’re going to get burned.” Bee said. She seemed happy and so glad to see me, that I didn’t want to tell her the truth. I just didn’t think it was necessary.

“Of course, Bee. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I wanted to cry, because I wanted to be honest with her, but I couldn’t make myself ruin her spirit.

“I want to save a lot of people, and I’ve already saved more than I ever thought possible, but at this point I just feel like no one can stop me. I owe it all to you, honestly, you really are the best friend a girl could ask for. Of course, I’m glad Oren and I didn’t have to meet under the same circumstances as my parents, but think of all the husbands, and wives, and children I can save.”

I nodded, not sure what to do at this point. I had come here to warn her, and I let Oren know, but it didn’t feel like I could do enough.

“We should get going.” Osiris said. He hadn’t spoken in a while and the sound of his voice broke the awkward silence that was developing.

“Very true. You need to take better care of yourself Bee. You’ll end up with the dead, and I’ll have to use Thea to communicate with you.”

She laughed. “Of course, Star. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Osiris led me out of there, because he could tell that something was going on. Seeing Bee smile and laugh had not only made me sad, but it had triggered another vision, one that I felt was going to take me under for a while.

“Please get me to the car.” We were walking faster now and I felt bad for having to lean on him so much, literally.

He put me in the backseat so that I could lay down, and I didn’t even hear him close the doors and turn the car on. I was gone.

It was similar to before. The darkness wrapped around me and all of my sight was taken away, however, after a few moments of fumbling around in the darkness, I noticed a light. I started to walk towards it, until I realized I was walking towards a room, with only three walls, and a floor. The ceiling was black, like the rest of this world. Inside the room, was Bee.

“Bee?”

She had been crouched over some papers on the floor, but when she heard me call for her, she turned around happily, but when she saw me, she looked confused.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, what?” I said, not really sure what game she was playing.

“I asked you who are you? Where did you come from? You… you have different eyes.” Her hair was longer, and her face more stressed, she was working on art on the floor.

“Seriously, Bee, what is this game?” I stepped closer, and she stepped away. My eyes were what they had always been…

“How do you know that alias? Do you follow me online?” she went back to her art.

“What? If that’s your alias what’s your real name?” I asked, just as confused, however, when she said her name the whole world shook and noise filled those four syllables, but when I went to ask again, I couldn’t. I shook my head.

“What are you working on?” I asked her.

“My art, obviously.” This girl’s attitude was much different from the happy, easy to get along with Bee, I knew, this girl was cold, and antisocial.

“It’s very good.” I said, inching just a bit closer. She held her hand up to stop me, without even looking in my direction.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

“I only talk to Michaela.”

Before I even had the chance to ask her who the hell that was, I was dragged out of the darkness by a strong force, and when I woke up, I had no idea where I was. Candles were positioned around me, and it took me a minute for my vision to realign. The two black shady figures came clear as Michy and Osiris. His face was snow white, and she was sweating, holding a small leather-bound book.

“That was a close one.” Michy said.

“What happened?” I asked, unaware of the previous moments.

“You were screaming! You were kicking and yelling and no matter what I couldn’t keep you down, so I brought you here...” Osiris wouldn’t look at me, but I could tell his eyes were red.

“It’s a good thing he did or you could have died.” Instantly I could tell there was something she was hiding, but it was clear that my life had been at risk. “You let the darkness get you. The darkness is a dangerous place where those of us with the sight can’t see, but all our other senses are amplified. It’s a place where future visions are not only feared... but they are set into motion.”

“What? But in the darkness, I saw Bee, I think. Like I was in a room. She was talking to me and I was looking at her.” I sat up quickly, a bit too quickly.

“Wait you actually saw things in the darkness?” Michy stepped closer to me, closing the circle by pointing at each candle as it went out.

“Yes, but Bee, well it wasn’t Bee. She was saying her name was something else. I couldn’t hear her real name though.” I looked to Michy for guidance, but what I got was a half-hearted explanation.

“A false premonition in the middle of the darkness. You must be even more powerful than anticipated.” Her green eyes were guarded, as if maybe I didn’t want to know the real answer.

I knew what she said was a lie, but I didn’t want to ask her in these conditions, and with Osiris so vulnerable. His shield was powerful, but I didn’t think that it could go against Michy.

“That makes sense.” I lied back. She nodded as Osiris helped me off of one of Michy’s many tables. “Thank you for saving me, Michy.”

“Trust me, you would do the same for me.” At that moment I didn’t hear the double meaning in her words, but I would come to understand what she had meant.

The experience with Michy left me suspicious and worried. Since the attacks I couldn’t shake the feeling of the darkness, but until I knew what was going to happen, the best I could do was give everyone a word of caution. A lot of us were planning the festivities. My friends and I, and many others, were working on set building in the Peace Room on Violet, because they were going to put on a talent show for the day of the launch. Really if anything it could be called a glorified magic show. Students who volunteered would get on stage in the other theater room and perform with their gifts. Some would walk through walls doing a ballet routine, others were scheduled to light things on fire, freeze them, and Thea was planning on doing a reading for everyone.

That would have been something.

Thea was happier in the Peace Room than anywhere else. One time after class, I found her in the downstairs bathroom, rocking back and forth in the fetal position. Her eyes were bugged out of her head and I tried so hard to help her. I ended up calling Bee, who luckily was on campus at the time. Bee’s presence was instantly soothing, but it couldn’t quiet the voices so she helped me get Thea to the theater on Violet. The second we walked through those doors Thea stopped whimpering and fell asleep. She couldn’t remember much, just the faint sound of our voices, but it was scary to say the least. So, it was a like looking at a new person as she decorated and laughed with our group of friends.

“Thea, can I ask you something?” I said to her, as we got more decorations from the stage.

“Sure, what’s up?” she said, not really looking at me.

“How’s your training going? Is your mentor helping you?” I tried to sound calm, but I know I sounded like an overprotective mother.

She kind of paused for a moment, and then smiled up at me. “Well duh, she’s doing a lot for me.”

Something about her statement was off, but I couldn’t tell which part.

“I just want to make sure you’re getting the help you need. I mean there are options if you aren’t. I don’t want you to think you’re stuck with a bad men-”

“Stop. Star.” She seemed angry now, as if I had offended her, I took a step back. She sighed heavily and gave me a weak smile. “My mentor is different; she’s doing the best she can. Our gift, well it’s hard to deal with. Really hard. It gets bad...” Her eyes drifted for just a second and then she popped back. Her hair swayed to reveal bright pink underneath. “I’m sorry, but unfortunately, her and I are the only ones with the gift, like you and your mentor. However, most of us kill ourselves before we pass it on. My mom almost did when she was pregnant with me. I don’t think my mentor is all that stable, but I can’t go at it alone like Bee. It would consume me. So, I’m doing my best, just trying to be normal again, and so is she. Please understand.”

I nodded, feeling bad for upsetting her. I had made everyone a bit uptight with my warnings and a part of me was starting to think that maybe I was just overreacting about what could very well be false visions. I was strung out, and I needed to relax. There was a lot going on, and I so desperately wanted to believe that with all the events we were working towards, we would finally be getting over the hard parts of obtaining powers.

So, I did what any strung out young adult would do, I took my boyfriend back to my dorm, where we could have peace and quiet, I got the softest blanket I owned, I made hot chocolate, put in a good movie, and I let him rub my shoulders until I passed out. When I woke up, I felt relieved and I felt bliss. It was as if everything I did was relaxing. I had coffee, food, read good books, slept, and that whole first weekend was like a dream.

Until I went back to school on Tuesday. In my Screenwriting class I snapped out of the trance like state in a quick and kind of painful second. I looked around and the only person staring at me was Mic Rits, my oh so crazy and kooky teacher. Yet, the look on his face was anything but goofy. He raised his eyebrows and then made a face at me, making me laugh off his awkward stare. Sam, who was sitting right next to me, gave me a concerned look and then I just waved it off. I was more worried about getting my senses back and figuring out what had happened to me. I attempted to go about class, but that feeling of dread I was getting so used to was coming back like a leaky faucet. In the class, Rits had us do a writing exercise where we wrote our biggest fears through a script.

When I first started, I honestly couldn’t think of anything. I was pretty accepting of fate, but I realized I was afraid of being helpless, and the darkness. It was the place where the worst things had been shown to me. So, I wrote about someone, who was born in the darkness, and was always helpless, but learns to fight for not just themselves, but those they love. The class loved it and then moved onto another story, but Mic was giving me that look again.

When class let out, Sam and Jack bolted to meet up with our friends, so we could get food in between classes, like we have always done, but Mic stopped me.

I stayed until everyone else had left, and then he hobbled out of his chair, and closed the blinds, and the door. He then stood up, and didn’t look so frail anymore, even his voice was a bit deeper.

“That’s some magic you had on you there.”

“Excuse me?” He was walking fine now and I was completely taken aback by this new man who was in front of me.

“You had a spell on you, no pun intended. You were in a dream like state, correct?” He sat back down in his chair, crossing his legs.

“Yeah... but how...?” I sat back down as well, trying not to seem as scared as I was. He pointedly looked at me.

“I have the ability to detect weird things, like hidden things, spells, all sorts of undetectable variables and banish them, and you my pupil, were laced with some type of dream spell. It wasn’t a lot, but it was something, to say the least.”

“Who do you think could have done something like that?” I nervously thought about who would have it out for me.

“I don’t know, honestly, but take a better part in protecting yourself. Study up on some counter methods. Okay? It’s a dangerous world out there, and it’s obvious you need some help. Take this.” The item in his hand was what looked like a small fang. “It’s a shark’s tooth. Keep it in a bag on your person at all times. It’ll give you strength to fend off psychic attacks.” He seemed to go back to his old man self and his smile became small and friendly. “Now have a nice day, Star. See you in next class.”

I sat there for a second, trying to see if maybe it had been a premonition, or if it had been real, but the shark’s tooth in my hand confirmed that it was real. I got up quickly, putting the tooth in my coin purse, and heading out of the door. My friends didn’t ask me what was up, which I thought was weird, but I assumed they were just ready to eat. Thea never joined us for food, but she always said goodbye to us before heading to Violet. She had become the project manager for the talent show, due to her being there every day, and it had filled her with joy.

We split for tacos, and then went our separate ways for the night. Osiris and I dropped Sam off at her usual place, and then we went to the witch’s hat, (that was what Osiris called Michy’s house) which was a fair opinion.

When I walked in, she was her usual bubbly self, twirling through her tables, and encouraging me to push my gift to the limits.

I sat on one of the coffee tables now, and she sat on one across from me.

“Great Gods of the Earth and Sky. Great Goddesses of Wisdom and Time.” My head fell back and I imagined a digital clock, with ‘8:59’ on it. “Open the gate of past to me. As you will so Mote it be.”

At the last minutes she grabbed my wrist, and she suddenly went with me into this vision of my past. We landed in a pile of snow. It was so cold I felt like I was going to scream, but Michy popped her head right out of the snow and laughed. I got out as my teeth started to chatter. I loved snow, but not when I wasn’t wearing appropriate clothing.

Michy seemed to be unaffected, and I cursed her for her power. However, what we saw next surprised up both. It was a woman, who looked kind of like me, but she was young. I soon realized it was my mother back when her hair was still blonde and her eyes were brighter.

“It’s snowing.” she said, and I realized she was talking on a cell phone, with a bundle in her arms, probably me. “Yeah, I know. I’ll see you soon.”

She hung up the phone and when she turned around there was a young version of my father. They seemed kind of unhappy, but they looked at baby me with love. I smiled, for what felt like several minutes.

However, I started to cry, and then my mother pulled me away from my father and got in a cab, leaving him behind in the cold. Not only was I cold now, but I was sad. My parents had never told me about that. I knew that they had issues, but this was different. They were barely speaking.

“Take a good look at our surroundings.” It was a hospital, but one I recognized. It was the hospital that Bee and Oren had been working in.

I stared at it for a minute, until I realized it was blurring out of my vision. “No, wait!” And the blurring halted, however, Michy was gone.

I walked up to the hospital, and I saw the newspaper, and sure enough it was the day after my birthday, and we were in Quebec. My parents had never mentioned that they were from here, even on the way up, and that was uncharacteristic for them. I knew this was my mom’s school, but I had thought my parents had met in Michigan. I was getting very curious on what was going on, but I couldn’t stay any longer, I felt like passing out, even in this part of my past.

When I came to, I was still sitting on the table, which was surprising, because I kind of expected to be laying down, due to exhaustion. However, it seems that our vision sharing experience had taken a toll on Michy, because she was holding her head as she was curled up on one of her tables.

“Michy? Are you okay?”

She groaned and I grabbed her a glass of water, tried to find some medicine, but failed. I brought it out to her and she took little sips. I had a headache forming, and I was starting to feel dizzy, but I wanted to make sure she was okay.

“You are very strong.” Michy said, waving me away from her.

I sat on the table across from her again, and I meditated as she drank the rest of her water.

“Well that was as rare as a cricket on a bull. You kicked me out of your head, try not to do that again, please.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to see what was happening, I didn’t know I was born here.” I was trying to wrap my head around it, all the things I had wanted to bring up and talk about were suddenly on the back burner.

She nodded and set the water on the table next to her and she repositioned herself to be cross legged. “It’s possible ya weren’t. When ya let me in yur’ head it could of jumbled up the memory. There’s no way of knowin’ for sure, but I reckon that’s what it was.” Seeing me nod my head in slight understanding she continued. “Okay, so we only have an hour left, we should work on yur’ past sharing just a bit more and then I think ya can go home early tonight. Is there anythin’ else that ya want to ask before we hit the last stretch?”

She seemed to be a bit better, but I still was a bit worried for her. “That darkness stuff… It’s very serious, isn’t it?”

She grimaced as if that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. “Star, that stuff… We shouldn’t talk bout it. The more ya do, the more likely it will happen… I don’t want that for ya, so let’s just move on to somethin’ else. Okay?”

I nodded; a bit annoyed she wouldn’t give me a straight answer. “I start in the Library tomorrow. Do you think you can give me some tips about that?”

“Oh yes! I almost forgot and I recommended that to the Dean. Well I want ya to do that, cuz’ it’ll really help hone in on specific things. Like ya could get a look onto a battlefield, or even the titanic. Let history take ya, but don’t let it suck ya in. Ya hear me?”

I nodded, wishing she was a bit normal.

“Now let’s git back to work.”

So, I let myself dip into the past repeatedly, allowing Michy to see where I came from, not knowing about everything else that had once been.