Queen of the Stars

by Haley R Lawson

“Sorry about that. It’s the anniversary of the day we left tomorrow. Theo wants to take me to the spot where this picture was taken.”

  “That’s sweet. Your brother is here. Did he tell you?”

  “No, I think he’s embarrassed. Malerie’s apparently with a different prince now.”

  “She’s not the only one. I’ll see you later.”

  Sky seemed confused until she saw me. Theo said, “Of course they are here. Sky, I left something on the ship. I will be back.” Sky was so grown up now.

  I said, “I am sorry.”

  “For what exactly, because two royal men just ran away from you.” Charlie left my room and went in the other direction. “Make that three.”

  “I am sorry I got Theo’s hopes up about his brother. I truly thought and wanted that man to be him. The john doe convinced me he was, on earth with an identical painting to the one Alex had given me. Everything in my heart was telling me that he was Alex. Conner had him arrested and when I had him released, he stopped talking to me. We were already coming here, so we couldn’t cancel. The king put us in the same room, but he was sleeping on the floor until tonight when he went to Atri’s room. He came back right at the moment your brother decided to kiss me. I ran after Conner, so I guess Charlie is upset because of that. I am sorry for all of it.”

  “Theo will come around. Ella and Luke are here too. Peter wanted to play with the prince, so they are probably supervising.”

  “A little family reunion right here on your home planet.”

  She laughed. “You should go and talk to Conner.”

  I went towards the loading docks and ended up on Theo’s ship instead of Unity. He was walking out and said, “Don’t you know your own ship?”

  “I do. It was moved, and they are the same model. I apologize sir.”

  Theo just walked past me. I made it to my own ship and found Conner in Atri’s room. He wouldn’t let me in, but Atri came out to talk to me. He said, “What did you do to my brother?”

  “Broke his heart. We were fighting because a john doe tricked me into believing he was Alex and then Charlie kissed me. Charlie’s spots were blue but mine if I had them would’ve been orange or red.”

  “I have no idea what that means.”

  “I chose Conner. I chose him years ago. He is my person. I love him and only him.”

  Atri went to reply, but the door opened, and Conner kissed me. “I know you wanted it to be him. I’m sorry I’m so stubborn.”

  “It’s okay. Can you please come finish our visit, so we can get off this planet and away from this crazy Atlas family reunion?”

  A pilot came over and said, “Um, there’s another ship and they want us to move again.”

  I said, “You have permission to move the ship as you see fit. Just don’t leave us behind. We are getting off.”

  Atri stayed on Unity, but Conner and I went back off the ship. We were in the loading dock area and Malerie came off her ship with Ben and her new husband. Ben was clearly out of control at the moment. He ran right past us. Malerie said, “Sorry about that. He… he just gets along better with Charlie. This is Andrew. I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Everyone in the galaxy apparently has. It’s not exactly like Charlie is telling it. Andrew and I were seeing each other for a while before… it wasn’t a one-night stand.”

  Andrew said, “Honey, who am I speaking to.”

  I said, “I’m Rose, and this is Conner. We are the leaders of Unity.”

  He said, “Oh, Malerie has told me all about the ship. I heard you rebuilt the country on earth. That’s pretty amazing.”

  “Malerie, why did your dad let you leave?”

  “Ben is no longer eligible for the thrown and this baby is a little girl. My sister has a prince anyway, so we are going to Andrew’s home.”

  “You aren’t dropping Ben and leaving, are you?”

  Andrew said, “No, of course not. He will have a place on my planet as will Charlie. We came to talk about it. We just found out the baby is a girl this morning.”

  “Well congrats on your baby girl.”

  “Thank you. We are so excited. Have you seen Charlie?”

  “Yes and no. He was near my room the last time I saw him, but he was running away in the opposite direction. He kind of kissed me.”

  “Of course, he did. Well I guess we will see you at dinner tomorrow.”

  I told her we would, and she took off after Ben to look for Charlie. Conner and I went for a walk. We found the purple ocean from Charlie’s old picture. Theo and Sky were standing in the moonlight and he got down on one knee. Conner and I went in the other direction after they kissed. Charlie and Ben came running towards the water. Peter and Luke were with them. Ella, Malerie, and Andrew eventually caught up. The twins who were still living on Unity showed up with Atri, Heidi, Jackson, Evan, and Tucker.

  Jaisy said, “We heard there was an Atlas family reunion on the beach.” Sky hugged them and showed them her new ring. Tucker lined everybody up for a photo. We all took one without watches and then one with.

  Ella hugged me and said, “If only Alex could see what he built.”

  Theo said, “Tell her how you honored him by almost accepting a fake as his replacement.”

  She said, “It truly is an Atlas reunion now. We have the drama.”

  I said, “It’s a long story involving a john doe.”

  She said, “So how much did you believe him?”

  “Enough to try to hand Unity over. Conner stopped me, and we got in a huge fight. Charlie kissed me. I chose Conner again. You’re pretty much caught up now besides Theo and Sky’s engagement.”

  “Oh, well thanks for catching me up. Where’s John Doe now?”

  “Somewhere working on Unity’s engines.”

  “Okay, then. I am definitely seeing a ghost over there.”

  I looked, and John was standing by a rock watching the reunion. I went over and said, “John, you can’t be down here. This is a private… reunion event thing.”

  “It’s a public beach. I checked.”

  Theo came running over and beat John to the ground. I tried to pull him off, but John said, “I can take it.” Luke broke up the fight, but everyone was now staring at John.

  Conner said “I’m sorry everybody. We should’ve left him off the ship on earth. He’s not Alex. He’s just one of ours. John go back to the ship.”

  I helped him up and he looked me in the eyes the whole time. He walked away with tears streaming down his face. Everyone else was crying too. We were all missing Alex and seeing his ghost. I couldn’t describe the connection I felt in my heart. I tried to think of anything at all that could help me prove this was Alex. I had to just watch him walk away.

  Theo stood next to me watching and hugged me. “I would’ve fallen for it too. He looks just…”

  He ran towards John and I heard something about a shoulder, but John had burn scars there and Theo just let him go. He came back and said, “He looks just like him, but I don’t know how to prove it. We both had a birthmark on right shoulder, but he’s burned there. I am sorry I was so horrible to you. You lost him too.”

  “It’s okay. I completely understand. Don’t let this drama ruin your and Sky’s night. I will work on finding the truth from him.”

  I left the Atlas reunion without ever actually talking to Charlie and went back to my ship. Conner came too, but Atri and the others hung out. Conner said, “Just let him go. Alex died. Rose he is gone. That man is not him.”

  “Okay, but he is someone. I am going to Theo’s ship to find out who.”

  “And when Alex’s father finds you?”

  “I wear Alex’s royal crest. I am basically family. His mother loves me, and his father trusts me.”

  “That was years ago.”

  “Maybe, but I have to try.”

  I boarded Theo’s ship and went to the royal archives. I looked for Alex’s birth certificate. The information was secured and restricted to royal family members only. I presented my iden
tification card and was taken to the king’s office.

  Theo’s ship was three times the size of Unity, but I could tell the same person designed them. I was left in a chair outside of the king’s office and the man who left me, went in said, “Sir, there is a visitor from Unity. She presented this royal identification card with your late son’s crest on it. We knew he did not have any offspring or a wife, so I have her outside. You should know she was researching restricted information.”

  Alex’s father said, “You tell Ms. Rose to come in here and hug me.”

  I went into his office and he hugged me. He said, “Now what can I do for you?”

  “I have a john doe on my ship from your planet. I am just trying to figure out who he was. I also was looking up information about Ale…Adexsfren because I miss him and wanted to know his story.”

  “My computer doesn’t have any locks on it. Unfortunately, it depends on what you know about your john doe. We don’t have many DNA records. We weren’t exactly up with the times until a few years ago.”

  “Okay, I will see what I can do. Thank you, sir.”

  He let me sit at his desk. He had pictures of Alex and Theo when they were little, but no baby pictures. I looked up Alex’s birth records and there weren’t any. Theo didn’t have any either. I thought maybe it was just a royal thing. I looked up anything I could find on Alex. Any pictures or mentions of the prince started when he was five. Theo at least had a royal birth announcement, but there was nothing from Alex. His mom came in looking for his father and found me instead.

  She hugged me and said, “I heard you were looking to learn more about Alex. He was a rule breaker from the day he was born, but he broke them in such a way you were almost proud of him. He cared more about the people than the stupid traditions. He was always sharing his royal stuff with anybody he could find.”

  “That sounds like him. Did he have any weird things he did that were unique to him?”

  “Everything that boy did was unique.”

  “Any embarrassing stories that nobody else knows?”

  “Why do you sound like you are trying to pick him from a lineup? I heard about your john doe problem. You think he’s Adex, don’t you?”

  “He told me he was, but nobody believes him. He is burned on the shoulder of the birthmark.”

  “Honey, that isn’t a birthmark. It’s a royal tattoo. It glows under a certain type of light. My boys, as much as I love them, were not born to me. They were adopted. Adex’s mother was my closest servant. She passed away when he was four. We raised him like our own. Theo was abandoned by his mother and his father passed away protecting my family. Where were the john doe’s burns? Did he have any injury to the bottom of his foot?”

  “No, not that I know of.”

  She handed me a pen from the top drawer of her husband’s desk. “This lights up. On the bottom of Adex’s right foot, there is a tattoo with his mother’s name and his birth family’s crest. It’s the crest on your identification card. If that is my son you have, you send him here.”

  I ran as fast as I could, and John had left my ship. I searched the castle for him, but he was nowhere to be found. I ran to the beach and no one had seen him. I ran down the beach and found him walking into the waves. He didn’t look like he was going to stop. I ran in after him. The water was freezing, and it stung as I waded further. I got in front of Alex and said, “You promised you wouldn’t leave me again.”

  “Alex promised. No one wants me on Unity or anywhere for that matter. I don’t exist.”

  I started pushing him to shore. “This isn’t water and it is burning me, but I will stay here with you all night. Adexsfren… Alex please just go back to the shore.”

  He did as I asked, and I tried to use the light thing on his right foot, but I broke it in the purple ocean. “My tattoo was on my shoulder. It’s gone now.”

  “Come with me.”

  He came to his brother’s ship with me. “I can’t be here.”

  “Yes, you can. Just stay with me, please.”

  I was still burning from the purple water. He took me to his family doctor. The doctor treated me for chemical burns. It was still the same guy from years ago on Unity. I asked him if he had a light device. He told me he didn’t and asked the man with me who he was. I just said he’s a friend.

  Alex lead me to his childhood bedroom. He knew exactly where it was. His brother was in there. He attacked me and said, “How can you bring him here?”

  “He brought me here.”

  Theo was shaking and started throwing stuff at Alex. Alex pulled out a box from a hidden panel in the wall. He had pictures of his mom in there and a toy that Theo had given him. Theo said “Nice try, the whole ship has these hidden panels. Get out of my room.”

  Alex pulled a light device from the box and handed it to me. He sat on the bed and I shined it on his right foot. The royal crest and the name Liliaday appeared on his foot.

  Theo said, “What is that?”

  I said “You have one too. You were both adopted. That’s his mother’s name and his family crest.”

  Theo took his shoe off and he did in fact have one too. He hugged his brother and said, “I am so sorry.”

  Alex said “It’s okay. There was no way for you to know.”

  “But she did. She did for years. We have to go find mom.”

  We went to their parents’ room. Theo went in first and said, “I proposed to Sky, and she said yes. We had an Atlas family reunion which turned into more of a Unity reunion. A man that looked like Adex and who was from our planet interrupted us. Rose insisted it was Adex and mom she was right. He’s alive and he’s in the hall.”

  She ran into the hall and nearly knocked Alex over. His father came up the hall from somewhere else and was conflicted as everyone else had been. He pulled him away from his mother and pinned him against the wall. I picked up his left foot by mistake and tried to show his dad, but nothing showed up of course. Alex was suffocating, but I managed to fix my mistake and his father went from killing him to hugging him.

  I let them have their family moment. They all came back to the castle with us. The Atlas family reunion had moved into a theatre room and the king’s son had joined in. He saw us walk in with Alex and said, “Okay, am I seeing a ghost? I thought Prince Alexander was lost and only had one sibling. Who are you and why are you in my castle?”

  I said, “Your highness, this is Prince Alexander.”

  Alex took his shoe off and I shined the light on his foot. Jackson got up and hugged him. He said, “Are you coming home?” Alex said “I am, but Rose is queen. Her rule goes now.” Jackson said, “Fair enough.”

  Conner came over and said, “I was just trying to protect her.” Alex said, “I know. I’m not mad. I get it. There was no way for me to prove it and it was questionable timing. You let me live my dream of being an engine mechanic for a few days. It’s hard work.”

  Luke laughed and said, “You have no idea man. I did it back when Charlie’s dad was in charge. I honestly preferred the trash room.”

  The prince of Charlie’s home planet introduced himself to both of us as Prince Markus. I remembered dancing with him during my royal coronation ball, but this meeting was much more relaxed. It was so nice to just all be together again. We watched a movie about ocean exploration. Their ocean was so very different from earth’s. I fell asleep and slept peacefully for the first time in years. We stayed on Charlie’s home planet until after their royal dinner the next night.

  When we returned to our ship, Alex was given his old room back. I put his second painting on his wall along with some of the pictures from his childhood bedroom. He eventually agreed to come back and work with me. I got him his very own seat next to mine in the royal office. We made a stop at every one of the remaining planets our ship’s residents were from. At each, we shared the story of Unity. We shared our story of love. We picked up passengers and left passengers behind, but my royal team stuck around. Conner was so afraid to visit his own
planet again, but when we did, there was so much hope. It turned out that the attack that left him burned caused Charlie’s father to leave the planet alone. Conner took me across his childhood home and did so without a watch. It was truly a beautiful planet. It was one of my favorite.

  Conner’s family castle had been left behind as a pile of rubble after the fire. Incredibly, the people rebuilt it as an orphanage. His family’s crest was on one of the pillars in the front. We went in and visited the children. One little girl stood out to Conner. She was a little tom boy and was clearly not a rule follower. The other children were all bowing every time we entered a room, but she stood tall. Her uniform was missing the sweater vest the other children had and she was brave enough to hand Conner a picture she drew of Unity. It got her into trouble, so she wasn’t allowed to eat dinner with us and the planet’s current prince. Conner made peace with the prince who turned out to be a childhood friend of his. Unity was welcomed back to that planet many more times including two hours after we left so Conner could go back for the little girl.

  We called her Bella after learning she didn’t have a name. Conner’s mother’s name was Belesria, so it was a little bit of a way to honor her. That little girl became our world and Alex’s too. If she ever got in trouble, Alex always bailed her out of it. She ended up marrying Sky and Theo’s first-born son. They met at the yearly Unity reunions we held on Charlie’s home planet.

  We also visited Alex’s home planet. He visited his birth mother’s grave and her family. The broach I am wearing was given to us by his grandmother. She came with us for a few years before her passing. We made sure she saw the galaxies, but she was most fond of earth. That is how we decided earth would be Unity’s final resting place. It just made the most sense to all of us. We want to inspire people. We want to show them that no matter where you are, you can do anything you set your mind to.

  Chapter 34

  The Time for Unity on Earth

  Mr. Humphrey said “Ms. Rose, your story certainly has inspired all of us here. Your ship is going to live on for years to come. Are you here on earth alone?”