Nova's Dawning

The next day I didn’t have any classes, but I started working in the library. Back then when I imagined working in the library, I pictured the Disney Princess Belle and rolling around the shelves on a flexible latter that could hold my thicker body. Unfortunately, when I got there, I was disappointed. The guy who was ‘training me’ was hardly a trainer at all. He was one of those guys who seemed decent, but really had no ambition at all. His lack of care about his job and his work ethic bugged me, but I had no idea what his gift was, or if he was just normal, so I just tried my best to learn what I could. Previous workers had written instruction manuals on how to operate the system, but it still made it a bit difficult. However, by the end of the day I was a model employee, even surpassing my “trainer”.

The Dean stopped by as I was finishing up my shift, wearing a black and white dress that looked like it was from the 80′s. She was returning a book that I realized she had just checked out the day before.

“Finished already?” I asked, and she smiled at me, not really saying anything.

“You seem to be doing really well for your first day. Don’t forget the reason you were given this job.” She looked friendly, but her tone sounded spiteful, almost hateful.

I took a step back, and then I waited until my replacement came. The book the Dean had brought back looked interesting, so I decided to check it out: Moonlight: A Tale. I ‘clocked out’ which just meant picking my student ID up from our time clock box, and then I waited for Osiris. He would be working almost every day on Violet until her launch date. She needed maintenance, like small things, but he was always talking about how every small detail improved the quality of life on her.

It was kind of late, but I decided to head back to the library and step into the historical nonfiction section. There were many eras I was sure I could step into at this point, and I knew that my last session about the past was tomorrow, so I was trying to see how far I could push my gift. I found some books I was looking for, and I pulled them out as I plopped down to the floor. The pages spread out in front of me, I held my hands over them, feeling the past through the illustrations, and I took a deep breath, leaning my head back.

“Great Gods of the Earth and the Sky. Great Goddesses of Wisdom and Time. Open the gate of past to me. As you will so mote it be.” I whispered in the darkness of the corner of the library.

I imagined a big clock as the darkness engulfed me and I slipped into unknown lands. For the first time, I landed firmly on my feet. I opened my eyes, and what I saw astounded me. I had actually managed to throw myself into the stone age. I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to do it, however, there I was, watching historic creatures roam the earth, and just like that an idea came to me. So many people could benefit from the knowledge of the past. The history books could be rewritten to perfection, and even the bases of religions could be set onto correct paths. However, as short of a time I was in the past, enough time had passed in the real world for Osiris to get off of work and find me in the library.

“Baby?” I snapped back and he was there, smiling at me. I frowned and he chuckled. “What’s with the face?”

“I... I don’t know. A lot of time passed out here, but in there it was only a couple of minutes maybe, and that kind of worries me, I guess...”

He shrugged, helped me put the books back, and then we headed on our way back to my apartment. We had been staying there most days, and apparently Sam could even drive again, due to some gloves her mentor gave her, so we could do what we wanted until it was time for class.

When we got back to my place, I was surprised to find Bee there.

“Bee?!” I barely got to see her outside of class these days and it was a shock to see her away from Oren.

“Oh, hey guys, what’s up?” The exhaustion was clear in her quiet voice and I noticed she was curled up in her small bed, and I giggled.

“I just got finished working in the library, what about you? What’s the occasion?” I asked, putting comfy clothes on.

“Oren and I decided we should relax more, and it’s easier on him if he doesn’t have to take me to school every day, since he also works a normal job to afford his apartment.” She yawned and then rolled over.

I didn’t even have a chance to respond before she was out. I smiled at Osiris and he hugged me as we climbed into my small bed, following Bee’s suit.

By the time we woke up, Bee was gone, probably to get food at the nearby cafeteria. I ate some granola bars as Osiris got me coffee, and him and Bee came back, at the same time, discussing the different side effects of too much math.

“For me it just leaves me feeling like I should just die and not go to school. Like literally that’s what Accounting does to me.”

“I liked Accounting; Engineering Math is worse. Trust me.”

She shivered and we laughed. It felt nice to laugh with my friends and smile and be happy. For a few moments things were going well.

That day in History of Abilities we changed our seating a little bit. Thea sat in the middle of me and Bee, with Osiris next to me, and then Sam, and on the other side was Jack, who kept looking at Thea, as if he was checking up on her. Our teacher talked extra fast that day, and I tried hard to keep up in my notes, but I wrote so fast, by the end of the lesson I could barely make everything out.

“Before I let everyone leave... Star, you are the daughter of the famous Seer, aren’t you?”

“Yes ma’am,” I said, wondering why I couldn’t go one week without a personal assault.

“Just checking. I will be sending out a new homework assignment that I expect done by the beginning of class two weeks from now, and each person’s assignment will be based off of your individual gifts, that way no one can cheat. You guys have a nice weekend!”

We drove to the theater for our after class hangs and by the time the guys brought us food, we had all received our emails from Mrs. Campbell regarding our papers due the week after next. I had to dive into the past and get a feel for campus life and how everything worked when the school first started. Thea had to communicate with someone from the first graduating class. Jack had to retrieve an artifact from the original school and write about that. Sam had to use her power to give life to ancient tools that were once used, and Osiris had to write about the defense. Everyone’s paper would be different, and interesting, and that’s what I liked about Mrs. Campbell. She was a unique teacher with unique lessons, at the time I didn’t see the danger in it.

Thea looked a bit displeased, but Bee smiled at her. Bee had decided to stick around with us for a while. She loved saving lives, but I think Oren had convinced her that her life had to be kept in better condition if she was going to do this for the long term.

When the time came, we parted our separate ways and Osiris took me towards Michy’s. I sighed heavily on the way there and he looked at me concerned. “You okay?”

“I just really want everything to get better and stay that way. Some days are better than others, but I want every day to be good, for all of us. You know?”

He nodded and rubbed my leg. It was his way of letting me know he had faith.

When I got to Michy’s I was already tired and she did not hold back. I explained my assignment to her and she laughed boisterously.

“What’s so funny?”

“That’ll be a cakewalk for ya! You’ll be as right as rain!” she spun on her table and I closed my eyes on mine. I didn’t feel good that night.

“Michy... I think someone is attacking me.” I pulled my knees as close as I could to me.

“Yeah, me.” she laughed again.

“No... I’m being serious.” and I opened my eyes. Her back was to me, but when she turned her body around, she was giving me that worried smile.

“I could tell.”

I blanched. “Excuse me? You knew?”

“Well yeah, I’m a psychic witch. It was hard not knowin’, but there wasn’t much I could do. I don’t dabble in that bad magic.”

I laid down across two tables, in disbelief of this crazy woman. “You didn’t even like warn me, or say anything, like what the hell?”

Michy pulled me to sit back up and I pouted. “Grow up, Star. When ya have a rare ability you’re gunna be attacked for it, or targeted, or even hunted sometimes. Life doesn’t always work out the way ya want. Sometimes fate is the only thing that we got to rely on. Plus, ya literally forced everyone’s powers out, ya think a few of yur classmates aren’t mad at ya for it? AND, the spell was already broken by the time ya got here so don’t go barkin’ at me.”

I rolled my eyes and went back to diving in and out of the past. To me, this was like running. I had to build stamina until I could go for longer periods of time, however it left me feeling drained and defeated.

“If you’re mad at me, it’s just going to take more energy from ya.”

I groaned. “How could you not even attempt reach out to me? Or even say anything on Tuesday?”

“You seemed okay. It was just a Dreamwalker Spell. They ain’t painful, if anything they’re more of a ‘ignorance is bliss’ spell.” Michy spun on her table again, looking embarrassed.

“I just think it’s suspicious of you to not do anything, and rude. Something terrible is coming and you think I should just hide out in a trance, no thank you.” I was getting livid at that point.

“Calm down, Star. It’s just going to overload your-”

“No!” I closed my eyes and I felt energy shoot through me. “I want the truth! Why didn’t you say anything! How come it seems like you’re always lying to me?!” I grabbed her shirt and in that second, I saw a flash of blue light, and then I was in a different house. I was sitting on a table; unlike any I had seen before.

“Michy! Dinner is ready!” said a voice from another room.

“Coming!” I responded. I couldn’t control the body I was in, so I just went a long for the ride. The faces of Michy’s parents were blurred, but I could feel that she feared them. Siblings of hers sat at the table, and her parents ate with haste and pride.

“Michy, what’s wrong, ya haven’t even eaten any of your taters?” Their accents were almost as bad as hers, if not worse.

“I’m just not feeling that well. Light headed.” she mumbled, the fear of being smacked was evident.

“Get out.” I heard a voice said.

I couldn’t look around, but the voice repeated itself and it was getting louder.

Suddenly I was thrust through some tables, as if I had flown back into the present, from the looks of it Michy had been thrown in the other direction.

“Ow.” I said.

“Ya REALLY need to never do that again.”

“Sorry, Michy... I didn’t mean to.” I felt some pain in my shoulder, but when I sat up, I realized I was slightly bleeding.

“Oh my, is that blood?”

I laid back down, and I felt hands on my shoulder as I went in and out of my consciousness.

“Star?” Someone was calling my name, but I couldn’t make it out. I knew I would be fine, but I worried that Michy was still mad.

“Is Michy, okay?” I tried to ask, but I’m sure that it had come out as some incoherent mumble.

When I finally was able to wake back up, I was in my room. Osiris was curled up against me and I could hear that Bee was in her bed. The moon was high in the sky, and the sound of their breathing calmed me. My shoulder didn’t hurt, but my skin still felt that tingling feeling.

I rolled over to face Osiris and when I did, I must have woken him, because his eyes ever so slowly opened.

“Well hello there Mrs. Reckless.” he whispered.

“What happened?” I whispered back.

“Well I picked up my bleeding girlfriend. Brought her here, and then her best friend thought she was dying, and then she healed her. Michy says when you flew backwards you gave yourself a nasty cut on the arm with a side of a table.”

“Yeah, that sounds like me. Is Michy, okay? I kind of invaded her head on accident, and we kind of threw each other back.”

“Pfft. She’s fine, she’s stronger than most of our mentors, you need to be careful not to insult her. You have got to relax more, Star. You’re going to hurt yourself with all the stress you carry.”

At that point I hadn’t told him about the attack and last weekend, because I was trying not to scare him, but not telling him was proving to be a worse option.

“I can’t relax when I’m being attacked, and Bee could be getting attacked, and I just want my friends and I to be happy and live long and I just feel like that’s a lot to ask for at this point.” I shed a tear and he wiped it away, pulling me close.

“Michy explained some stuff to me, and it makes me feel useless, because what kind of protector am I, if I can’t protect my psychic girl against psychic attacks.” He hugged me tight and kissed my forehead. “I wish I could help you, but I don’t know how.” I nodded, wishing he could just fix the situation, that would have made things so much easier, but instead I just would have to learn to really protect myself. I told him about my new shark tooth’s trinket, but not from who I got it from.

That night he hugged me until I fell back asleep, and I drifted away into a land of dreams, where I was standing in a grassland I had never seen before. The very air made me feel like sweating and my mouth instantly dried up. Osiris was on the other end of the field, and I ran, for what felt like forever, until I finally reached him, but when he turned around, his eyes were brown.