Nova's Dawning

My meeting with Michy that night was anything but normal. She had told me to get one thing from each of my friends, and to bring all of those things with me. She hadn’t told me why, but when I got there, I was suddenly very worried about her.

“Michy... why is your house clean??” The tables were straightened up with paperwork actually filed correctly, and not a single hair ball on the floor.

“I do this about twice a year, and one is always towards the end of November. I usually keep it clean till after Yule, and then it falls apart again, but I wanna make use of my home this time.”

She sat down on her clean and empty coffee table, and I sat on the couch across from her. “A part of being in the present is channeling. It’s like a one-way radio, like the scrying except you send a message when you reach the other person. Obviously, it works better with multiple objects, but for now I want ya to just send a short clip to each of yur friends.”

“Why?” I asked, not trying to be rude, just simply curious.

“Because I’m invitin’ ya all over to my newly clean house for yur American Thanksgivin’. I foresaw that ya’ll would burn yur food at yur place, no offense, and plus there’s plenty of room here now. Ya can say no, but I think it would be nice to have guests, and I’ll even supply tofurkey.” She almost looked young with her big pleading eyes, and it made it very hard to say no.

“I’ll ask, but we are bringing our own food. I would feel guilty if you cooked for us.”

“That’s fair. So just do what ya normally do, but whenever you sense the other person, just think as loud as ya can the words ‘call me’. That sound good?” She was so giddy she started to dance on the coffee table and I closed my eyes, letting myself slip into a deeper and deeper sleep. I then focused on the earrings from Bee, I let their cold plastic sit against my skin just long enough to put me in Bee’s position, and then I whispered, “Call me.” I was jolted back, probably from Bee’s shock, and after about ten seconds my phone rang.

“NICE!” Michy said, twirling and twirling around the coffee table and into the kitchen. I laid down exhausted and answered my ringing cell.

“Star, are you okay? I just suddenly got this really weird feeling...”

I chuckled. “Yeah, Bee sorry that was me, it’s just a part of my new training. I’m actually calling to ask you something.”

It wasn’t hard to reach Bee, but the hardest person to get in touch with was Osiris. For Jack it took a couple of tries, for the others three, but with Osiris I was on round five and nothing. Mostly everyone else had said yes, even Owen and Bee, except for O.

“What’s his gift again?” Michy asked, after I collapsed on the couch.

“He’s a shield...”

“It’s possible you just can’t get to him... Especially if he’s a shield, you would have to have direct contact while his shield was down. If he even knows how to take it down.

“Oh.” I felt too weak to argue with her and with the general consensus a yes, I just simply asked him when he picked me up. He agreed wholeheartedly, and then because I worked the next day, we decided to get our Thanksgiving shopping done on the way home. I sleepily tried to grab everything, but in my state, it was amazing I was still standing.

“Thank you for always helping me, Osiris. I know I don’t tell you that enough, but I appreciate you so much.” He gave his usual appreciative smile and then he got me home quickly, and we went to bed.

I worked in the library that next day, and while I sat at the desk waiting for students to bring their books back or check out new ones I worked on my paper. I explained how there was more to the beginning of moonlight than we thought. How the story of the current Dean’s heroism is something that is being kept in the dark, and that I had a theory that it connected to the opening of moonlight. I mentioned the twin sisters, and I named my paper Gift or Curse. We were relatively steady, but I still had plenty of downtime to wrap up the conclusion on my paper. When my shift was up, I was practically running out of there, when I bumped into Thea in the hallway. She was in a better mood now than I had seen in well over a week, and she was on the phone.

“Oh, Star just got out. I’m going to talk to her.” She giggled, and in a soft voice she said, “Okay, bye.” She put her giant phone away and she dragged me over to a nearby bench. That same bench where I was finding myself again and again.

“Do... do you think my mentor could join us for dinner tomorrow? She wants to keep an eye on me and make sure that I’m okay.”

I smiled. “Oooooooohhhh. T’s got a giirrllfriieennddd.”

“Oh, shut up, I do not.” She playfully slapped me, and we laughed.

“Didn’t you tell me she’s a bit unstable, though?” I looked at her with slight concern.

“Well she promised she would be on her best behavior, besides if she’s there she can protect me and guide me on fending off entities. Unfortunately, most others can’t help with that, not without it escalating first...”

“What’s her name?” I asked, smiling.

“Selene. So, she can come?” She asked, practically pleading, and I nodded.

“Michy has plenty of room.” She squealed with joy and I laughed. She hugged me goodbye and practically skipped off in the other direction. I shook my head in disbelief at the transformation she had made, but I was thankful that her mentor was able to protect her in the ways we were not.

The next morning, I printed my paper and I handed it in with more confidence than I had anticipated. Mrs. Campbell nodded and everyone else filed in behind me. Class went smoothly; back in America schools were out for fall break, but Canada’s Thanksgiving had been last month, therefore we were still in full throttle. No one was talking about last week’s class, and for good reason. You could tell that others were keeping their distance, but Thea’s escalated mood was practically impenetrable. In fact, her happiness radiated throughout our friend circle, filling all of us with a new type of purpose. Bee was laughing harder than I had seen her since before school started, and even grumpy grandpa Jack was turning into a young holly jolly Santa Claus.

Immediately after class we were all going our separate ways to meet with our mentors early that way we could leave early. Michy had been prepping the food until I got there and when I stepped in the door with all the groceries, I got busy making everything under the sun. I didn’t like meat, Oren was a vegan, and Osiris was a carnivore, so to say we weren’t diverse in our food choices would be a grave misconception.

The first person to arrive was Osiris, and then Sam, and then Jack. They helped us get the finishing touches down such as setting the table and putting food in places where it was easily accessible. Then Oren and Bee arrived. She was revived as if she had spent some time on Violet, and it was clear that Oren’s presence eased her mind.

However, when the doorbell rang and I opened the door, the couple of the night was obviously Thea and her mentor. She was taller, with a nice build, broad shoulders, and the thing that stood out more than anything was the little tuft of red hair within the rest of her pixie cut. It complimented Thea’s pastel pink hair as if they were practically made for each other. She had a rougher voice, and every time she spoke Thea smiled. Selene seemed a couple years older than us, but she got along with almost everyone pretty well.

At first, it seemed to be affecting Jack. His mood went from neutral to moody in a flash, however, as the dinner went on, no one could be anything but happy. It was the first time, in a long time, where we were all genuinely unbothered, and we all didn’t care about anything. What broke the trance was when I received an email from Mrs. Campbell, in fact everyone did.

I was the first to check. Osiris was there for me and it read:

“Dear Students,

I have read over each and every one of your papers and I find them all fascinating for different reasons, as was the purpose of your paper. However, I find myself not wanting to grade them until I can talk to you, and really get a feel for your experience.

Until next week,

Mrs. Campbell.”

I watched as Thea read the email, and she grasped Selene’s hand, her mood dimming for just a minute. She rubbed her back, and soon after that they left. People thanked us for the meal and then dispersed, since tomorrow was our weekly theater work day, and I was also having to put in a shift at the library, plus Michy wanted me to come over after everything since we didn’t have time to practice before dinner.

With a couple of chants her house was clean again, and all the dishes were put away spotless.

“You should teach me some of that stuff sometime. It would really come in handy.” She smiled halfheartedly, and I assumed it was because she was tired. I hugged her goodbye and then Osiris and I went back to my dorm to get some peace and quiet from the rest of the world.

“Everything went really well. I’m proud of you.” He said as we crawled into bed.

“Me? I mean thank you, but what did I do?” I cuddled into him. He kissed my forehead and hugged me tight.

“You’ve been doing really well with yourself today. You show such promise and when you push yourself, I can see the toll... I was talking to Oren at dinner, you know, and he was explaining that before we had talked to him, he had been letting Bee push herself until she couldn’t stand. She’s taking care of herself now, and he told me that she’s a different person. I noticed a week or so ago, that you were pushing yourself just like she had been, and I worry about you Star.” He ran his hand over my hair and down my arm. “You mean a lot to me, and I wouldn’t want to see you put yourself into a hole.” I nodded into his shirt, my eyes tearing up.

In that moment I knew that I wanted nothing more than to lay here and love this man. He was opening a side to me I didn’t think I would see, and my heart was so full of love.

In the morning I was still so overcome with love I hadn’t even worried about anything else on my to do list for today. I got to the theater and I was ready to put together the greatest fake wall anyone, would have seen, however, no one was there. We were only two and a half weeks away from the show date and in Thea’s handwriting was a note that said, “Talent Show Prep Cancelled”.

Students started to show up that were help and some walked away happily, but those in our friend circle were confused.

“Does anyone know anything about this? Or has anyone heard anything from Thea?”

Everyone shook their heads and I suddenly started to feel very uneasy.

“I’m sure she’s fine.” Mowgli said reassuringly, in an attempt to make us feel better.

“Could it have something to do with Mrs. Campbell’s email?” asked Bee. She along with the rest of us had been unsettled by her ominous note.

“Maybe...” said Sam, “But I still don’t think that would cause her to cancel Theater Prep... Like she loves this job.” Sam decided to call her, but she couldn’t get through, none of us could.

“Oh god.” I began to feel very nauseous. “I’m going to see if I can channel her. It’s a long shot, but I’m going to need anything of Thea’s that we can come up with.” I still had my one thing from my last session with Michy, plus Sam had a couple of her things in her backpack.

I settled against a spot nearby, I let the silence take me. I focused on Thea, and I resonated with each object trying to get a feel of my friend. For what felt like forever I fumbled through the darkness, not really getting a grasp on Thea, when suddenly a shadow passed in front of my vision.

“It’s her.” A voice whispered, and then another.

“She will ruin everything.” The voices were almost too much for me, when I began to feel Thea’s presence. Her face felt cold and wet, as if she had been crying, and the feeling of loneliness was like the weight of the world. She was crushed, and the shadows were feeding off of her, making it hard for her to get up.

“Star.”

She said my name and it jolted me back into my own self, where the shock made me hit my head against the wall I was leaning against.

“Did you reach her?”

“Are you okay?”

I nodded, letting someone help me up as I rubbed my temples.

“Thea is really upset. I’m going to go see what I can do.”

“I’ll drive.” said Sam, eager to help Thea.

The others went to see if they could get into the theater to work a little bit as Sam and I drove towards Thea’s, not really knowing what we were doing.

On the way to Thea I wanted to channel her again, to let her know we were on our way, but knowing I would have to meet with Michy later, I didn’t want to push myself. When we arrived at the small place she was staying at, all the doors were locked, and I could see a darkness surrounding the house. For seconds I felt hopeless, as if we were powerless, but we weren’t.

Sam focused on the door knob, and a couple clicks later it was open.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“It’s something to do with electric currents, my mentor taught me, I don’t really know the deets.” She rushed inside and the door to Thea’s bedroom slammed shut. “T, please let us in. We’re your friends. Just tell us what’s going on.”

We could hear her sniffling, and it sounded like she was rustling around in her bed. I shared a confused look with Sam and we nodded.

“Thea we are coming in.” I said as Sam unlocked the door. She was curled up in her bed with the lights out and heaping out spoonfuls of ice cream into her mouth. Her face was tear soaked, and a darkness hung over her head.

“Thea...” Sam rushed to her side, and she awkwardly stood there. Sam wasn’t much for hugs and physical contact, but she wanted to comfort Thea.

I sat on the bed and I went to rub her back, but it shocked me. I snatched my hand back, and I looked at Sam. She sighed and went to rub Thea’s back and Thea sobbed into her shoulder. Sam grimaced at me and I shrugged not really sure what to do.

“What happened, T?” Sam asked, trying to gently push her up.

She took a couple deep breaths and I could see the shadows get smaller. I took the ice cream without touching her and let her continue to clutch the spoon.

“Selene hasn’t spoken to me, and the spirits tell me she doesn’t want to be with me. They keep saying all of these terrible things and they’re saying she will never love me, and that we can never be together!”

Her tears streamed down her face and Sam patted her back gently, shooting me confused looks.

“Sweetheart, the spirits are probably just messing with you. You know you can just call her and talk to her.”

She shook her head quickly and I felt like she was going to hit me. “I shouldn’t bother her. She does a lot for me I...”

“Look Thea.” Sam pulled away from her and wiped at her shirt a little bit. “You’re like my best friend... But Jesus if you can’t pull yourself together, I’m going to start shocking some sense into you. Get a grip T, SHE’S YOUR MENTOR. She’s in your life for this exact freaking reason, and if she can’t help you then YOU need a new mentor.”

Sam stood up. She never acted like it, but she was the shortest one out of all of us, except for Bee, who was always busy saving lives, including ours. Sam’s shaggy head of hair was a tad bit longer than usual, and her boyish features were more prominent than they ever had been before. Thea took a couple deep breaths, as she always did, and she wiped away some of her remaining tears.

“I... don’t want to be a burden...” she mumbled, and I realized the black shadows around her were slim to none.

“You’ll never be a burden to us, honey... but you need to realize that you aren’t alone and that Sam is right. She’s your mentor first... okay?”

I wanted to reach out to her, but I wasn’t risking the chance of getting shocked again. I just gently took the spoon now, letting her rub her eyes almost completely dry now.

She took a deep sigh, and then hugged me, probably because I was the closest. Luckily nothing happened, and I hugged her back.

“Tell us where you can find her, and I’ll drive you there that way you can talk to her.” She nodded and we helped her out. She wasn’t surrounded by shadows nor was she electric anymore, but there was still something bothering her. It was hard to tell whether it was from the situation or something else, but when Sam stopped for gas I found out.

She popped out to pay for the gas, and Thea looked up at me. “Are you sure the spirits are just lying to me?”

“Well...” I said, turning around to look at her, “Usually they just say stuff to hurt you, the bad ones at least. Isn’t that right?”

“I guess that’s true... but... I keep hearing really awful things... from all of them...”

“Honey, I’m sure they’re all just doing it because they know you’re vulnerable.”

She nodded, her mood lifting slightly. “That’s probably true. I never thought about it like that.”

“What could they all say that was so bad that could possibly be true?” I turned back around playing with a piece of my hair.

“They keep saying you’re going to destroy everything...”

I froze. We were revealing truths, and discovering things that were hidden from us, but there weren’t any serious enemies in our lives that were threatening our very existence. So far, I had only experienced the one psychic attack, but it wasn’t painful or harmful to my physical state, but her words still made my skin crawl and heart sink. Something about them made my hair stand on edge and my hands go cold.

“Yeah right, maybe herself but that’s about it and plus, with all of our gifts we are pretty much invincible, and we’ve even got ourselves a shield!” Sam said as she got back in the vehicle. Thea gave a small laugh, and I smiled, the cold being replaced with the heat of Sam’s car.

We dropped Thea off at Selene’s house and then we went back to Violet where I had to go to work, and Sam would join the others working on the set.

I got to work a little bit early, but they let me work anyway. We were getting busier with everyone returning textbooks, taking copies of their study guides and preparing for the small amount of finals we had. It went smoothly and a couple of my friends even stopped by once they were done, returning the textbook for their math classes and such. The head librarian came to visit me and told me I was doing really well, and then told me I wouldn’t have to work anymore since the library would be closing next week, in preparation for the festivities, but that she was really excited to work with me next semester and wanted me to have the top position, right under her. I was thrilled to tell everyone about it, but the only person I would see until after my meeting with Michy would be Osiris. He was thrilled for me, and we celebrated by getting our favorite coffee on the way, even though it was late afternoon.

“I’m thinking about what to get you for Christmas.” He said, typing in the address to Michy’s. We had only been going there for a few weeks now, but he still didn’t know the way completely.

“Nothing?” I said, and he laughed.

“I have to get you something. I mean it’s Christmas.”

I shook my head and laughed. “You do enough for me toting me around. I’m fine. All I need is you. Plus, we will be just getting back from the cruise, enjoying your demanding work, so that’s a gift right there.”

He shrugged, “I’m going to get you something.”

I pouted, but he wasn’t going to let up and I could see that. “Fine, but something small.”

He smiled at me and shortly we arrived at Michy’s. I got out of the car and I didn’t even have to knock on the door this time, she opened it before I was even there. She twirled away and I closed the door behind myself.

I had five things of Sam’s this time, because I needed to be able to channel anyone, at any time. This session I was ready to give it my all, so full strength and just give it all my energy. I kept at the slow method, not trying to drain myself immediately, but as I got more and more in depth with seeing and sensing Sam’s world, I started to feel my body get weaker and weaker.

“Is there no way for me to get my energy back quicker, no magic or spell I could learn?”

I wanted to learn the tricks that Michy knew, I wanted to be as talented and diverse as her, but as powerful as my mother if not more.

She put her hand on her chin in thought, and then I saw the light bulb go off as she danced her way into the kitchen. She came out with a jar of little tea bags. “This is an energy tea I hand made. It’s real sweet, but it’ll help restore some energy, the only thing is you have to brew it with sunlight, so let it sit in the sun for at least five minutes per cup you brew.”

“Thanks!” She gave me a premade cup to try and then I went back to channeling Sam. At one point I could feel her hands typing on a keyboard as she worked on something for our screenwriting class. The words flowed smooth and fast as every click resonated in my head. “Boo.” I said, and I felt Sam jump. I laughed so hard I nearly fell off of the table I was working on. I got an angry face emoji from Sam and I laughed even harder.

“Do you think you’ll ever teach me any spells?” I asked Michy, as we were wrapping up the session.

“Maybe.” She said, “What I do ain’t exactly easy. This ain’t some Harry Potter mumbo jumbo. What I do, is real, and has a lot of factors. Besides, it’s hard enough to see the future, which you’ll be learning next week. I’ll see you Tuesday at seven sharp, we don’t want any late bees.”

I shrugged and headed outside where Osiris was waiting for me.

“Woah, this is the first time I haven’t had to carry my dead girlfriend away from her lesson. What did she do to you?” He asked, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

“Michy gave me this awesome tea and it really works wonders on resupplying your energy levels. You should try it some time.” I said, kissing him back.

He laughed as we pulled out of there heading to his home so I could share my excitement for the future with our friends. When we got there everyone was playing games and Sam glared at me. I laughed loudly and shared my joyous news with our group. They were elated and we celebrated by having a few drinks. It was a little less quiet without Thea and Bee, but it was rare these days that I got quality time with Mowgli and Jack. They had been collaborating on something for the Talent Show, but it was a secret and the only other person who knew about it was Thea since she was in charge. They were dedicating their Saturday’s to it and no one else was allowed to witness it, so they were preparing for their vigorous session tomorrow.

We went through a couple rounds of smash brothers and then the majority of us went to bed. Osiris and I laid on the couch, with a movie on in the background.

“I’m really excited about the cruise... honestly. I know it’s going to be pretty cold like the whole time... but I think it’ll be a lot of fun and the show is going to be amazing.” I said and then I kissed his nose.

“I’m very excited as well. Everything is going really well.”

He rubbed my arms and I smiled slightly. “Do you think things are going too well?”

“What?” He asked, confused.

“You know... I just... I don’t know it’s like things are too perfect...”

He laughed softly, not wanting to disturb any of our friends. “There’s no such thing as too perfect babe. Don’t you know about the law of attraction?”

“There you go again with that… I just mean... I also know that everything flows in a circle.” I sighed and snuggled into him. “I’m sorry... I guess I’m just worried.”

“You are always worried, Star. Even if something goes wrong you’ve got me, and I will always be there to protect you.”

I nodded into him. “I know.”

Soon after we fell asleep, not prepared for what fate had in store.