Tristan faltered a little, realizing after all these years that I probably didn’t need his help. I could fly. Actually fly. Probably jumping a few feet to a cement floor wasn’t a trial for me. But he had never seemed concerned about that before and I didn’t mind if he wanted to be chivalrous.
“You’ve never needed my help, have you?” Tristan confronted me gently; searching for the truth he knew I was incapable of hiding from him. My eyes glistened against the sun as I looked up at him and I blinked rapidly hoping to keep my Star instincts at bay. Glowing eyes could be unsettling. At his direct question though, emotion flared beneath my skin, causing it to warm ever so slightly, glowing right along with the rest of me despite my effort to stay completely normal.
“No, I’ve never needed it,” I admitted, reaching out for Tristan’s fingers with my own. “But I’ve always appreciated it.” I gave him my most charming smile, hoping to distract his sour mood. I loved Tristan like a brother and I hated that he felt disappointed. He was used to human girls, raised to be gentlemanly. And I hadn’t lied to him, even if I had an arsenal of super-human abilities, it was still nice to be treated like a lady.
Tristan held my gaze for a moment longer before exhaling a sigh that told me I was forgiven. He slid in through the half window and then waited for me to join him. When I was halfway through the window, he reached up and held me by the waist so that he could slowly lift me to the floor. The gesture was familiar and practiced and even if he realized I didn’t need his help, it was still comforting that he wanted to give it to me.
I beamed at him when my feet touched the floor, turning to face him again and plant a kiss on his cheek. “I’m sorry this is weird,” I whispered quickly, before Seth joined us. “I was so excited for you guys to meet, I didn’t think that it might be…. awkward for you both.”
“Stel, it’s fine. I promise,” Tristan smiled back at me, and his eyes told me he was sincere. Whew. “Now tell me what happened, and why he’s here to begin with.”
“Ok, so last night, on my way home, I was kind of…. attacked,” I explained as Seth made the jump from window ledge to concrete floor. The boy’s locker room of Mead High School sat below ground and smelled like dirty feet. The old lockers, two half-lockers stacked on top of each other, made tunnels in the dim light leading through a maze of discarded jockstraps and assorted athletic cleats. An even dingier community shower took up one side of the room, encased by a tile wall, with two entrances. A bathroom connected to the showers, but I had yet to find the courage to explore the inside of those stalls.
“Attacked?” Tristan stepped forward, instinctively wrapping his arms around me. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I’m sorry, I thought about it…. but there was nothing you could do, really….” I cringed, knowing he would hate the truth to the answer. I quickly continued to explain, hoping he would forget that he wasn’t a part of my war, well not in the army sense of things. “Anyway, there were hundreds of Shadows and they came out of nowhere. They destroyed my car and then, well, I don’t know what they planned to do with me, because it would have taken a lot more of them to kill me than that,” I rambled, a character trait Tristan was accustomed to. He waited patiently for me to gather my thoughts and finish. “Anyway, I scared them away with my whole Star-power thing and then Seth and Jupiter, my weapon’s trainer, showed up and kind of saved the day. They did the actual killing of Shadows, while I had just been content to scatter them.”
I noticed Seth try to hide his smug smirk when I talked about him saving the day, but it was obvious he was proud of his battlefield accomplishment last night. I glanced over at him and winked, which was something I had actually never done to a boy before and smiled. He should be proud.
“But you did do an excellent job of scattering them,” he praised me indulgently.
“Why did they attack you in the first place? I thought no one knew who you were or that you were here? Do they usually attack people like that? Or, uh… Stars like that?” Tristan asked seriously, clearly not taking comfort in the fact that Seth had taken so many Shadows out so quickly. Tristan had known the truth about me since we were ten years old. I had come right out and told him everything about my origins, my destiny on this planet and my future role in saving Earth from the legions of Darkness one day when we were climbing hay bales on his family’s farm. It had been hard for him to listen to as a ten year old boy, tasked with keeping the secrets of Heaven confidential. But he had believed immediately. Not just because the topic was raised when he asked her why I glowed every time he teased me and not because he had seen the proof I wasn’t human but because our friendship was everything to him, and to me. Even at ten he knew I couldn’t lie to him.
“No, they don’t.” I replied sullenly, “They knew who I was. We’re not sure how they figured it out, or if someone betrayed us, but they knew. We are hoping my parents will know more when they get back tonight.”
“So how did you know she was in trouble?” Tristan turned to Seth. I could see the mixture of gratitude for saving me warring with his need to mark his territory. Not that I was his territory, just more like the general area of our small town.
Seth looked at me warily. I knew my honesty with Tristan was unsettling to him. I was really upfront in general, but especially to Tristan. I knew Seth would never be able to trust Tristan the way I did. Tristan was just a human, and Seth owed him no explanations, but I hoped Seth at least trusted me.
“It’s Ok, Seth. I tell Tristan everything,” I reassured him, recognizing his doubts. “But he’s the only one that knows, he’s been sworn to complete secrecy and he won’t tell anyone,” I promised and then exchanged a smirk with Tristan.
Our shared look only caused Seth to look less inclined to share information with him. “Jupiter and I received a distress call from Sidra and Nisroc, requesting immediate aid. By the time we got to them, though, they were already dead,” Seeing the confused look on Tristan’s face, Seth clarified, “Sidra was the Protector of Earth up until yesterday and Nisroc was her Counterpart. When we found them murdered, we knew our leadership had been breached and so we came straight here to find Stella and make sure she was Ok. We found her easily enough; the sky surrounding her was completely filled with Shadows. “
“But you had already banished them or whatever? They just weren’t dead yet?” Tristan asked me, wanting to restore some of my credit.
“Yes, I scattered them, but I had no idea what I was doing! Seth is really the hero, and he is so much more prepared than me. My training really has been lacking, I’m sure the Elders cannot be happy with me or with my parents,” I lamented, worrying for the first time about the consequences my parents would have to face.
“Stella, if the Elders were unhappy with your training, they would have sent someone a long time ago,” Seth reasoned. I looked up at him, thankful for his reassuring words and deciding he was right. The Elders watched everything, or at least it seemed as if they could see everything. They were such a temperamental, stringent group, and if they were worried about my training, they would have stepped in a long time ago and either replaced my biological parents with dutiful, drill sergeant ones or replaced me with a Star that cared more about brandishing a sword made from Heaven’s Fire than her unnamed prom date.
Not that I was worried about a prom date. It was still months away, I had time.
“So what now?” Tristan asked, removing his arm from around me and clasping my hand instead.
“Now, we wait for my parents to get back and hear from the Elders. I don’t have any formal training, so Jupiter is here now to train me and continue training with Seth,” I sighed, feeling as if the perfect world I had always known was crumbling to pieces around me.
“So Seth is staying?” Tristan asked. I ignored the way his voice sighed over the question and chose to hope that once they got to know each other they really would have a strong friendship.
“Yes! You don’t really expect me to fight the Darkness all by myself, do you?” I laughed.
“Obviously not, I was just hoping you still had a little more time before you became all Stella Day, warrior princess on me,” Tristan joked. “Like until after soccer season or prom or something….”
“I think I still get to finish high school,” I countered, giving myself and Tristan some hope. “At least nobody has said otherwise so far.”
“So you still have to go to high school and fight evil. You’re life kind of sucks,” Tristan joked, his mood instantly perking up as soon as he realized I would not be plucked from his life or my daily activities. I would just be adding weapon’s training, the kind that actually involved fighting with swords, along with basketball practice, student council and homework.
“And be in shape for basketball practice on Thursday,” I whined, agreeing with Tristan’s point of view.
“Do you want me to call the Shadows and ask them to come back? I could tell them to bring more with them this time. Maybe you want something a little more challenging?” Tristan joked and I laughed again, thankful for the mood change from ominous to in-denial.
“I don’t think you should do that just to get out of basketball practice,” Seth scolded both of us, his golden brown skin tinged with pink.
“It’s just a joke, Seth,” I patted him on the bicep and flashed him another charming smile. “Now come on, I want to see what you’re made of! I need to know if you can keep up with me!”
The two boys followed me up the stairs and into the gym and I let them work out their competitive edges where boys should be competitive, in the gym and on the track.
----
I didn’t, and couldn’t understand boys. I watched Tristan and Seth race around the track while I finished my cool down stretches, and decided they had to be the most ridiculous species God ever created, both human and Angel. Seth did his best to run with only human strength, but Tristan was fast, too fast for Seth to stay completely honest, human and win.
In the end, Seth crossed the finish line with a smug smile across his face and a faint glow to his skin. I shook my head, deciding to save my congratulations for when they did something worth congratulating.
Tristan sauntered over to me, narrowing his eyes, clearly suspicious of his opponent’s speed. “Did he really win fair and square?”
“Of course I did! Do you really think I needed to cheat to beat a human?” Seth grunted from a little ways away, although he didn’t quite meet Tristan’s cold glare while defending himself.
“Stella, tell me the truth,” Tristan demanded, resting his hands on his h*ps while his chest still heaved heavily from his run.
“Hey, leave me out of this,” I took a step back, truly uninterested in being thrown into the middle of whatever jealousy lay between them. “I’m just an innocent bystander.” I flashed Tristan a smile and hoped he would move on.