Nova's Dawning

On Monday, Mowgli wanted to test his ‘special effects’. The correct title for his power, was Gravity Manipulation. It had been easy to turn off, but he said that the hardest part was getting it to work when he wanted, without losing complete control.

“It’s easy to make an entire jungle lose gravity, but not one rock. I don’t know why, but my mentor is trying her best to teach me.” he said, as we all ate breakfast together in some diner.

“Is she hot?” Jack asked. He had been given permission from his teacher to help us out today, since we might have needed different objects to test on.

Sam slapped his arm and included a bit of shock when she did.

“OW. Not cool.” he said, and Sam giggled at Thea. Thea was in charge of the show so it only made sense that she be here with us, although it worried me. We were pretty far from Violet, and if something were to go wrong, it would take a while to get help.

Osiris rubbed my back, and I rested my head on his shoulder. The memories I was making were special to me, and I took moments like those to imprint them on my brain. My friends’ laughter, my boyfriend’s soft sweater, and the greasy breakfast that I would come to regret later.

We each paid our bills and then headed towards the empty field where we would be watching the practice. We were in two separate cars, because Osiris and I had a date planned for later that night, and the rest of our friends were going to Violet to recharge. However, Thea rode with us, so as to avoid looking at Jack for longer than she had to.

“Are you going to be okay, Thea?”

“I think so... but if I start to not think so, I’ll let you know.” She smiled, but something about her words only worried me more instead of giving me comfort.

“I kind of wish Bee could have joined us, honestly.” I said, thinking about worst case scenarios.

“Her power would have been nice to have, just in case, but I really don’t think anyone is going to get hurt, hurt.” said Thea, in reassurance.

I nodded, trying not to let my worry show.

“Star, we’ve still got a few minutes, why don’t you relax?” Osiris had good intentions.

I let my seat fall back a little, and I laid my head onto the headrest as I took a couple big deep breaths.

I said my past incantation internally, and then imagined a clock and a date. I slipped into the past and landed perfectly in a chair.

It was Halloween, but I was small. My parents were holding hands and talking to family members I couldn’t recognize. I was dressed as a green M&M, running around the house, barely three feet tall. “Star! Be careful.” my mother yelled.

Little me reacted and caught herself before she fell face first into a pile of leaves, but then she flopped into it anyway, giggling and rolling around in them.

My parents smiled and parted ways with the family, and then they stopped holding hands, they barely looked at each other, and it let me see how unhappy they really were. Were they even actually together? Soon enough I was being pulled out and I opened my eyes.

The car wasn’t moving, and everyone was standing out in front, except for Osiris. He was next to me, holding my hand, looking worried. “I didn’t know if you would wake up, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Thank you.” I smiled at him and he kissed me on my cheek before we stepped out of his car. The field was green and I’m sure if the sun had been out, it would have been even more beautiful, but the sky was overcast, and the air smelled of rain. Sam watched from the safety of her car, and the rest of us sat around it, watching Thea and Mowgli go over the rundown for the show.

He was mostly needed during the opening and the closing. His gravity manipulation would hold the curtain up and then let it snow (aka dropping cotton). We wanted people to do it, but there was no catwalk, so Mo would have to lift it all up from the stage and then let it fall when the show started. Thea brought a towel and a small tuft of the cotton he would be using.

“Okay so try the cotton first, and then the towel.” she had taken a cardboard box and made it into a makeshift model of the stage.

I had never seen Mo use his controlled power before, so what I witnessed was interesting.

He closed his eyes, repositioned his feet, and then put his hands into a circle. Thea stepped back as he began to hover a couple inches off the ground. The hood on his hoodie lifted and then so did the cotton, perfectly sticking to the top of the box. He then pointed his hands down, still in that circle, and the towel quivered. It slightly raised, but then fell, as did the cotton. He slowly lowered back to the ground and then let his arms rest.

He swayed a little and Thea gave her shoulder as support, “Mowgli are you alright?”

He nodded, smiling with that goofy grin. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I’m ready to go again.”

He tried several more times, but on each attempt, it seemed like the towel was moving less and less, not only that, but you could see the toll it was taking on Mo.

“Maybe we should stop for the day.” Thea said to him, putting her hand on his arm.

He shook his head and kept going, and Thea backed away. Her face darkened and I watched as her eyes focused on something behind Mo. She backed up a bit more, and Mowgli, not realizing her mood change, stepped into his usual stance and began the steps.

He formed the circle, and Thea dropped to her knees. His feet were hovering above the ground, and Thea covered her face. I stood up to go over to her, but when Mo moved his hands down, the towel flew up, and the cotton fell down. However, the box itself was suspended in air, and Thea began to hover.

Her scream is what finally pulled Mo out of it, but by then it was too late, for he had lost almost complete control. He fumbled in the air as he floated towards Thea, but her screams were the effect of something besides the gravity. I walked towards them, but Mo put his hand out.

“Stop, Star! If you come any closer... you could end up in space.” I stopped and Osiris pulled me back.

“I need to help them!” He was about to respond when another voice spoke up.

“THEA! Thea, I know I’m scum, but I need you to listen to me.” Jack’s voice rang through the darkening field. I looked to Sam, who was staring at the sky nervously, as rain drops began to fall from the sky. I thought it was pretty to watch them underneath Osiris’s shield, but there was nothing like what was around Mo and Thea. The drops of water were suspended around them, almost creating a shield made of water, it was like looking up while being underneath the clearest lake in the world.

“Jack, stop. I don’t want anyone being too rash, right now. We can figure a way out of this.” Mo’s positive attitude was encouraging, but Thea’s whimpers still worried me.

“Thea... Are you listening to me?” Jack asked, pulling up his arm.

She nodded, face still buried in her arms, her fingers gripping onto her hair.

“Thea... I’m going to pull you out of there, and after I do that, we can grab lunch, and I can tell you why I’m scum, and we can just talk. Would you like that?” His face seemed sincere, and Thea lifted her head, looking more like that girl I had met on Violet then the pink haired boss I had come to know. “I need you to help me pull you out of there, okay? Can you help me help you? We can go look at cats and eat good food and shit, all right? I just need your help.” She opened up a bit more and Jack took a couple steps back.

“Jack, you idiot, I just said not to do anything too rash!” But Mo’s words went unheard as Jack sprinted through what was now a bubble of rain drops. Sam was biting her nails in her car, and I watched as my friend splashed into an anti-gravity rain bubble. For a second, I was relieved, but Jack’s feet were coming out from the top, and then his legs and Torso, and suddenly I was trying to reach them, but Osiris was holding me back.

“No!” But then Thea’s small hand popped out of the top and grabbed his and he was pulled back into the bubble. I joined Sam in her car, too stressed to do much else.

“If it stopped raining, I could shock Mo again, and get them down. It takes physical touch with all this weather...” Sam looked defeated.

“Mine does too. Osiris could get us close enough, like with you, but the second we made contact with one of them, we’d all lose gravity...” I sighed, unsure of what to do next.

However, our situation was gradually getting worse. Mo’s rain bubble was growing and soon not only would he flood this area when he went back to normal, but he could hurt our vehicles.

“We have to do something.” Sam said, getting out of her car. I followed, curious as to what she had in mind. “Hey Osiris, could you get me inside?”

“Actually, no. You would think so because I did last time, but Mo’s power is so great now, I doubt I would last a few seconds. I’m sorry.” His apology was for both of us.

I got as close as I could, and I sat down.

“Is there anything of Mo’s in the car??”

“You trying to steal my stuff, Star?” He asked, trying to be funny now of all times. The bubble grew and I scooted back a bit.

Sam got back in, helpless, and Osiris dug through the back seat and then the trunk, coming back to me with a couple of jackets. I thanked him and put them both on.

“Mowgli can you hear me? I’m going to try something, it might give you a headache, but it could work, is that alright?” I closed my eyes, inhaling the scent of my friend.

“Yeah, whatever works, Star.”

“I’m wearing a jacket of yours we found in the car. It’s black, with fur on the hood and sleeves. Can you describe to me what it was like the last time you wore this?”

“Uuuhhh, sure. I think it was that time where Sam and I went to get drinks for that party we had. It was stinking cold, and Sam was like, ‘You’re a crybaby.’

“Osiris,” I said in a hushed voice, “Bring Sam to me and have her sit beside me, and please don’t let her get wet.”

He didn’t even say anything, he just obeyed.

“What did the coat feel like?” I asked him.

Sam sat next to me and Osiris sat behind us. “What do you need Star?”

“I need you to think about the time you and Mo got drinks and he was wearing this. Just think long and hard about it, okay, and think about him.” She looked confused but her eyes closed and I could see the wheels in her head start to turn.

“The coat was warm, like big hugs.”

I let my head sit back, and I whispered the words to myself. I focused on everything that was happening, rested my hand on Sam’s arm, and then I slipped into the memory. It was only a week or so ago, but it felt like ages had passed.

When we landed, I was sitting, but Sam was a bit disheveled. I stood up and we watched as past Sam and Mowgli loaded her car with alcohol. I walked over to him, and I hugged him. He smiled, and I knew it was from the warmth, but really, I did it to materialize the present Mo. He almost landed on top of Sam, but she stepped aside, letting him fumble on his own.

“Star??? How did you do that??”

I smiled. “It’s just something I was taught. It’s just called Past Sharing. Say one day, when Osiris and I are old, and I want to reminisce with him, we could do it with a front row seat, there’s the typical way, like how I brought Sam here, or the hard way, like I brought you here, and there are lots of conditions. I have to have something of theirs, I have to know the exact memory, or have great detail, and I have to know how they were feeling, and then recreate that feeling. Also, you would have to be alive. Not only that, but when we get back, I’m probably going to be out until tomorrow. Sorry guys.” I yawned as the dematerialization of this memory began.

“No problem, Star, and thank you. Get some rest, you deserve it.” Said Mo.

Just before I faded away, I watched as Sam gave Mo the tiniest of shocks and they blurred out of their own memory.

When I came back to, it was Wednesday.