Nova's Dawning

When I woke up on my birthday, I was unsure of what to do, what I could touch. My mother had given me several warnings.

“When it hits you, you’ll know. I wish I could be of more help at that moment, but you can always call, however, depending on how sensitive you are at first it might make things worse. Honey, listen very carefully, you will need to wear mittens, avoid boys at all cost, especially that first day. Find the Dean or go to a teacher. You will need help. I know you’re strong, but if you aren’t careful it could drive you crazy. That first day… it’s rough.” She had given me several pairs of mittens and even a list of items that might trigger me more than others such as people, papers, and books. “Darling, I know you love to read, but when you get your powers, you will not be able to touch any books, not until you get your mentor, okay?”

The way things worked at Moonlight, was that once you went through the change, which was officially called Nova’s Dawning, your schedule was changed to include Mentor Training starting the next week. I was hoping to maybe at least get my powers the day after my birthday, but getting them before your birthday, even the day before was super rare, and I did not want to scare Osiris. I used the excuse of being cold for me wearing two sets of gloves. He was trying to comfort me before class, but as he took his seat I tried to recollect if I had ever heard of people getting their powers before their eighteenth birthday, or if it had made them sick. With all the sickness I was sure that was most likely an unwanted side effect, but no one, not even my mom, had warned me about it.

After class I said goodbye to Osiris, since he had to work on Violet that day, and I walked to the front office, wanting some answers and to see about getting my schedule changed. However, when I got there everyone had their doors shut as if they had all suddenly gone on a vacation. I sat down in a chair nearby and closed my eyes for a minute. Ever since I had woken up, I felt horrible, like something bad was going to happen and the overwhelming sense of dread increased every hour.

When I opened my eyes, I realized I wasn’t at school anymore. I was on Violet and I was watching Osiris, but he couldn’t see me or hear me.

“We’ll be ready to sail her in three days boys!”

The crew he was working with cheered and I saw someone set something down so that he could cheer, but when he did it fell down onto the ground and afterwards everyone left the room except for Osiris. I watched in horror as the rag began to catch fire. Osiris could smell the smoke, but instead of leaving he tried to find it. I screamed and screamed to get him to leave, but he would never abandon ship. Finally, he found the rag due to seeing the smoke, but by then it was almost completely aflame, and with the pressure on the boat, it exploded.

I opened my eyes and I was back at school, suddenly covered in sweat as if I had been in that small room with the fire. I could feel my sweat turn cold as the AC blew on my skin.

I didn’t want to think I had my first real premonition, but that maybe I had just fallen asleep and had a bad dream. That would explain my sudden exhaustion and want for a nap.

I even convinced myself I was right, because rags couldn’t just catch fire. Obviously, I was just over worried, so I went downstairs to the lobby, and sat down on the couch. The news was on and it was a section on house fires. The number one cause was people leaving dangerous chemicals in the wrong areas, and on rags. I got up and immediately went to the nearest bus station and I hopped on the fastest bus to the harbor.

I ran onto Violet, barely having enough time to flash my school ID at the guard at the front entrance. I knew exactly where he would be, down in that stupid, hot room where he would declare that the ship would be good to sail.

I walked in as soon as he said it, and I saw the man set the rag down and before it could fall into the place where it couldn’t be reached, I grabbed it.

“Do you know that if you had let this fall down there it would have caught fire and blown this place up?!” I was raging. I didn’t even look at Osiris I just kind of stormed off and left. I took the rag and threw it as far as I could into the ice-cold ocean.

Then I went and I sat by Osiris’s car, thinking about how on earth I was going to explain this situation to him. ‘Hey, honey, sorry I ruined your little meeting, but I totally saw that you were going to explode, like in my head. ’

I put my face in my hands. I had no idea how I would tell him because I was at a complete loss for words, but the minutes soon turned to hours and then my phone rang. It was him. They had done several tests of the air once I had show up for my little rant and had found some unfortunate things. They would now be delayed for at least another month. He came to the car eventually and I could sense the tension in his shoulders.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked in the car.

“Do you?” he asked. I just shrugged. I wanted to be honest with him, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready yet.

“I think it’s pretty important, but I’m not going to force conversation about it.” He nodded and kept driving.

We stopped at a little diner, tempted by the smell of eggs and potatoes. Nothing out of the normal, just small talk. I paid for breakfast and then we went over to his place. He took a deep breath and walked in the door, however what we saw was horrendous. Mowgli was hurling into a trash can, and you could hear Sam and Jack hurling in the two bathrooms. I noticed there was a ‘Happy Birthday’ banner on the wall, and streamers hanging from the ceiling, but it looked like that was as far as they had gotten. I was touched. We grabbed glasses of water and split up to take on the challenge of caring for our sick friends. I went for Sam first.

She didn’t have long hair to hold, so I just kind of rubbed her back until she didn’t have anything else to throw up. I put some water on her lips, and I helped her to her bed. She was mumbling something about electricity so I made sure to turn out all of the lights. I left her sleeping on the bed, and then I went to check on Jack. I could hear Mo putting up a fight with Osiris, and I didn’t even want to go there. It was awkward helping with my mittens on, but my friends needed me, so I did what I needed to do.

Jack was almost asleep by the time I reached him, but I put some water on his lips and he seemed to wake up for a minute.

“Thanks, grandma.”

It felt so familiar, yet so foreign, which kind of hurt my heart. I helped him up, and he stumbled to his room, crashing on his bed, and passing out just as quick.

I went out to check on Osiris, but he already had Mo tucked in on the couch. We laid down on the floor and I rested my head on his shoulder while he rested his head on mine.

“It’s been a really long day, hasn’t it?” he said, finding us a pillow and making a tiny bed for us on the ground.

“It’s been a really long week.” I mumbled, trying to stay awake so that I could hear his voice.

“We can put a movie on and try to sleep. I’m sorry your birthday wasn’t as extravagant as we had planned. Let’s rest.” He didn’t have to tell me twice. Within seconds I was asleep. My dreams returned that night, but they were very pleasant.

I was in a field, singing a song and playing with the flowers. I wasn’t gardening, I was just looking at each and every one of them, giving them thanks, and kissing their petals. I took in the scent of all the flowers I could, until my nose stopped being able to smell things altogether. I flopped down in a patch of tall grass and I sang that song more beautiful and louder than I ever had before. Here in this field I could do anything and I wouldn’t get yelled at for it, or berated, or even laughed at. It was a wondrous feeling to live without fear. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, I was under the stars, as if I had fallen asleep in my field and time had fast forwarded. I sat up, confused, but I watched as shooting stars went overheard. I was alone in that field, but I didn’t feel alone, I felt loved and I was comforted by the silence of the night and the brightness of the stars around me. That’s the way I felt when I woke up.

How I wish I could have just stayed asleep.

We were the first ones up because sleeping on the floor is a bit uncomfortable. I went to the kitchen and started making something for breakfast. Osiris tried to help me, but his cooking skills were at a big fat zero, and I was having to teach him how to crack open an egg.

“Woah, that’s like so much easier than how I would do it!” which was him banging on the egg until the insides came out.

I sighed, happily because my dreams had put me in a really wonderful mood. Osiris and I were making such a clatter in the kitchen, singing, dancing, cooking when we heard Jack from his room go, “I smell food.” followed by a very small man scream.

I turned the stove off, luckily the food was done and consumed, and then Osiris and I went in to see what was wrong with him.

“Jack, are you all-” started Osiris, but we stopped dead in our tracks. There was a plate of breakfast all over his face.

“Seriously, man!? You had food hiding in here the whole time?”

“No, it just showed up. Look.”

Suddenly a second plate of food appeared, but it also splattered all over Jack.

“Awh man, that one had pancakes with syrup.” He looked scared, but he wasn’t showing it a whole lot, if anything he looked uncomfortable due to all the breakfast, he was now covered in.

I however, was not as calm. “You got your powers! Congratulations!!” My joy was soon followed by a very girly scream that came from Sam.

I stepped out of the hallway and I heard Mowgli say, “Uh... Guys?”

Osiris followed me out and went after Mo, as I went to the right after Sam.

“Sam?”

“DON’T COME IN HERE.”

I tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge, and then the knob electrocuted me.

“Ow.” I kissed my palm and rested my head against the door.

“Please, just leave me alone, right now.” her voice sounded thick, like she was about to cry.

“Sam, honey. What’s going on? Did you get your power, too?” I nervously was knocking on the door.

“I don’t know, Star, it’s just really weird and I don’t think I should be around people right now.”

I put my hand on the door knob once more, and it shocked me again, but this time it was ever more painful.

“Ow, holy crap.”

“PLEASE JUST LEAVE.”

“NO! I’m not going anywhere. I understand that you are probably experiencing something really weird. You aren’t alone. We all are going through something weird, but if you just let me in, we can get through this, together. Okay?... Sam?”

I waited on the other side of the door, and I heard her sniff. I opened the door and she was wearing giant rubber gloves and a rubber mask.

“Where did you even get those?”

“They were from a Halloween costume, last year. My mom told me rubber always helped her…” she said, mumbled. I could tell she had been crying, but I ignored it and headed back out to the living room. “Her power is electricity, but like it’s not powerful at all. My birthday isn’t for months…”

I nodded as we headed into the living room. My first couple of steps were normal, but the closer I got the more I felt like I was walking on the moon as if each step I could leap higher and higher.

The second Osiris saw me he hugged me tight, and it instantly grounded me. I signaled for Sam to stand a few feet back, I didn’t want anything to set her off.

“Be very careful. Mo doesn’t know how to get down yet.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, but as I turned to look, I realized Mowgli was on the ceiling, his blanket was draped around his body hanging down. Some of the stuff in the living room was also floating, just chilling two to three feet in the air.

“Where’s Mo?” Sam asked.

“He’s... hanging out.” said Osiris. I slapped him, wanting to laugh, but remembering we were in a very serious situation. Too many things were changing all at once and I wasn’t sure that I was strong enough to handle it all. However, in those seconds of doubt, I got a feeling.

“Sam, be careful approaching him, but I think you should see if you can do something. In fact, I think you can get him down, if you just take off your gloves.”

“What? No, what if I hurt him? What if-? Wait, get him down?”

I pointed and she got as close as she could until she could see Mo’s hair draping from the ceiling. He waved.

Sam stepped back and then took a deep breath. “What about you guys?”

“We’ll be fine. He’s a shield, remember?” he grimaced at me, but I maneuvered us away from Sam and Mo, pushing us into the very far corner in between the table and the kitchen. She stepped closer and closer until finally her feet started to lift off the ground. She fumbled for a minute, trying to get her balance, but then she steadied herself, and began to take off her gloves.

“Go easy on me.” Mo said. He didn’t even know what she was capable of, but I’m sure he could guess.

I could see the sparks fly as the gloves came off of her hands, Mo stared in awe, but I stared in fear. She could seriously injure him if the charge was too much.

“Please be careful.”

Sam nodded, taking a deep breath, and then she put her hand up and looked away.

Unfortunately, at first the electricity shot towards me and Osiris, but thanks to him being a shield it just kind of went around his bubble. I could feel him shaking and sweating, trying to make sure he didn’t fail us, but I knew he wouldn’t, because he would have done anything to protect me.

So, in those few seconds of light I relaxed in his arms, finding beauty is Sam’s electric world.

However, I soon tensed up, because the electricity hit Mo, and he fell to the couch.

Luckily, they didn’t have high ceilings, so we didn’t have to worry about him falling too hard, but it was still stressful. He seemed fine, he actually was smiling, even though he had just technically been electrocuted.

Sam slid the gloves back on as quick as she could and Osiris kept right by my side.

“How do we feel?” I asked.

Everyone just kind of shrugged and I could hear Jack washing himself off in the bathroom. He groaned.

“Well it seems to me, that we need to take our concerns to someone, because last I checked you guys didn’t all share the same birthday.” said Osiris, breaking our awkward silence.

“So, what? You wanna go talk to the dean?” asked Mo.

“Oh, I demand we talk to the Dean.” said Jack in new clothes.

I nodded. We went in Osiris’s car, because Sam didn’t trust herself to drive, due to the chance of her frying her car with her very touch. In the car they discussed what they were going to say, but I sat there in silence. I was beginning to get that overwhelming sense of dread back.

I remembered what Sam had done earlier, when she wanted to focus, and I remembered when I was sitting next to the office, when the first vision came to me. I sat back in my seat, letting my head go slack, and I took a deep breath.

I heard someone say my name as the scenery melted away before me and I found myself on campus. I realized that I was sitting where I had been during my previous premonition, right near the offices. No one could see me, so I walked over to the doors and I stepped inside. There was the Dean, sitting at her desk, running her fingers through her long raven hair.

“No, I don’t understand it.” she said on the phone. “Some of the students haven’t even had their birthday yet, but they have completed Nova’s Dawning, and the ones whose powers were dormant are now appearing.” There was some silence as the other party responded. “Most of their birthdays were next month or December, they’re all a bit premature, so I’m just worried about their development.” She nodded, and sighed again, listening to the person on the phone. “Okay, I’ll make the announcement tomorrow afternoon, at the Freshman event. Sorry to call you like this, I just wasn’t sure.” She nodded again and smiled. “Thank you.” She sighed and then she looked directly at me. “I see you.”

I jolted back into the car and I nearly made Osiris swerve with the way I threw my arms out. “Holy crap, Star. You nearly scared the pants off of all of us. What happened? What did you see?” said Sam.

I shook my head, still trying to ground myself back in the car. “Um. I was at school. The dean is going to address everything at that event we are having tomorrow, so there’s no need to go see her, but she said we are all premature and that our entire class went through Nova’s Dawning.”

“I don’t know guys. I think we should still go and try to talk to her.”

“We won’t be able to Jack.”

He grumbled in the back seat and Osiris pulled over, realizing it wouldn’t be smart to keep going forward. He surveyed the car, me looking exhausted, Sam in her rubber outfit, Mo, in sweatpants and a hoodie that’s hood wouldn’t stop floating, and then there was Jack, the mean old grandpa who wouldn’t stop grumbling.

“What if we just go and get some frozen yogurt? I’ll run in and grab it, while you guys just kind of stay in the car and relax. You need it.”

“How come you’re so... okay, O?” asked Mowgli, wrestling with his hoodie.

“I’ve been eighteen for a couple months now. My powers came a couple days after, but I remember it being less than pleasant, however you guys seem to have had it much worse. On the bright side, this just means you can get to mentor training faster.” He turned to me and kissed me on the cheek, as he went back to driving.

“Ooooohhhh.” they all cooed from the back seat. I blushed and sank deeper into my seat, my long legs hitting the dashboard. Even in our terrible situation Osiris was able to make us smile. That’s what I loved about him the most, no matter what, even on the darkest of days, he would help us all feel better. He ran inside once we got there and had taken everyone’s order, making sure to not leave out any details. It only took about fifteen minutes, but in that time span each and every one of us had managed to fall asleep.

I woke up when he got back, seeing as I was the designated yogurt holder, but everyone else stayed knocked out. The frozen yogurt was freezing against my legs, especially through my yoga pants, but I didn’t care, the mittens came in handy then.

We were in a situation that I felt was beyond us. Had I been the catalyst? Was this all my fault? It couldn’t be, but then again, here we all were, premature. I knew in the moment that I was going to have to start living up to my mother’s legacy. It was hard to think about, hard to process, but whenever it got to be too much, and the tears would well up in my eyes, he would reach out and grab my hand.

“Star, it’s going to be okay. I’m going to protect us from whatever happens. I know this is a lot, but I’m going to stick by your side. I promise you.” I nodded and squeezed his hand. I laid my head back and sighed in relief. On that short but long car ride to their place, nothing felt better than knowing he was there, and that my friends were okay, for now. Which is what made me suddenly worried about Bee. I pulled out my phone, jumbled with the froyo, and called her as fast as my fingers would let me.

“Hello?” Oren’s voice was familiar, but not what I was looking for.

“Where’s Bee?” I asked, voice raising an octave.

“She’s getting sick pretty bad at the moment. I’m about to tuck her in. I think it’s just that stomach bug you had earlier in the week.”

I nodded, knowing that he couldn’t see, but taking the time to think about how I should respond.

“Yeah, probably. Whenever you get the chance, just bring her home okay? Please keep an eye on her, and call me if anything happens.”

“Of course.”

The click on the other end unsettled me, but I wasn’t worried. I knew he thought the world of her, and that she was in good hands.

“Everything good with Bee?”

I shrugged, not really knowing. “She’s just now getting sick, so I guess we’ll see tomorrow. I’ll send her a message, explaining that the Dean is making special announcements, and that she has to go to the thing. I can only hope she’ll be able to make it. My only concern is that she’s with Oren, and I don’t know how he’ll react if she wakes up and her powers are there, you know?”

He nodded, grimacing ahead as we pulled into their apartment complex. Everyone stirred awake as we pulled in, the sound of the gate closing was an eerie reminder that we were up a creek without a paddle.

I handed out the frozen yogurt and then we all descended up to their apartment, not really sure what to do when we got there.

“We probably shouldn’t play any games that are going to make anyone angry. The last thing we need is Sam frying the power in the whole building, no offense or anything honey.” I said quickly.

She just kind of shrugged. She knew I wasn’t trying to be mean, but she also knew that her ability was out of her control for the moment. As much as she wanted to use it, Sam was smart, and knew that it would be dangerous to just use it blindly.

“So, what, card games?” asked Mo as we walked in the door.

“Like Apple to Apples?” suggested Osiris, taking a seat on the couch, closing his eyes.

“I think that’s under the pretense of ‘bored’ games.” said Jack and then Candy Land appeared and fell to the floor. He looked at the pieces scattered on the carpet, rubbed his face, walked back to his room, went in and closed the door.

I let out a small laugh, but in the end, it really wasn’t that funny. Jack could conjure anything if he thought about it long enough, that’s what I was getting at. Sam was a walking power surge, Mo couldn’t stay grounded for more than an hour, and my Osiris was the shield that was protecting us all from being overwhelmed.

That night all of us decided that it would be best if we just kind of went to our separate areas. I didn’t live there, so I just stayed wherever Osiris was, which in this case was the couch, that way Sam had the room to herself.

He held me tight under the blankets and kissed the top of my head.

“When I woke up yesterday, I felt so wonderful, like every cell in my body had been renewed and that there was nothing in this world that could stop me. However, everyone else is having the exact opposite when they wake up. It’s fear because they don’t know what to do. I just wish I could help them. I only hope that things get better for all of us.” I said.

I nuzzled my head against him and tightened my arms around his waist.

“Something tells me it will.”

Even then I felt like that was a lie.