A Blue Star Rising

by Cecilia Randell

  “That… makes a little more sense to me than somehow duplicating particles.”

  Elaina frowned. “Wherever would you get that idea? That’s silly. If you duplicated particles, then there would be two trunks when you were done. And how would you even do that? The particles would need to come from somewhere.”

  Blue shrugged. “Um, a movie I saw once. About a magician.”

  “Oh, is this an Earth movie? I still think it’s a ridiculous idea, but it would be very interesting to see.”

  They watched the next few students transport the box, each with differing degrees of success.

  “Just remember,” Elaina finally said. “If they knew how we did this, they wouldn’t need us. The Nemico knew how, and that was what started the war. Well, that and they were trying to subjugate us. I’m glad they didn’t win. I’m not a fan of subjugation.”

  Blue snorted, and the instructor glared in her direction, but didn’t seem to know who to reprimand. But a war…? Just one more thing to add to the list of Things Blue Needs to Know. She sighed. She’d get there eventually.

  She had two more tries that class. Neither was successful, but she did what Elaina had suggested. She imagined the two spaces as one. It still wasn’t quite right, but there was a stirring of something familiar, a tremble in the air that reminded her of an overlook in an Austin park, that told her she was finally on the right track.

  After they were dismissed from class, Blue gathered her bag and tablet and waited by the wall for Elaina as she talked to the instructor. Duri—her constant, mostly silent, shadow—joined her.

  “Blue?” Sarah stood there, haughtiness in full force, but then she ruined the image by biting her lip. “I—I think I need your help.” She shot a look at a group of her friends who hovered by the doors. She waved them on, then turned back to Blue. “But not here. Come meet me—”

  “No.” Ah Duri, a man of few words.

  Blue shot her guard a glare. “You can come by my place, if you like. In about two hours. I have some training to do, but I’ll be—”

  “I cannot wait that long.” Sarah crossed her arms.

  Blue wanted to just tell her to go away. She didn’t owe this girl anything, and the attitude of arrogance wasn’t encouraging her to give Sarah whatever she may ask for.

  Then she bit her lip again and looked down. “It’s about… something Jason and I talked about before he left.”

  Blue’s eyes went wide. Oh. “Um. Yeah, but it’s still better if you come to my place. We’re headed there now. You can come with us.”

  Sarah raised a brow. “No. I have my own transport.”

  Elaina popped up beside Blue, a determined frown in place. “Leave her alone Sarah.”

  “Oh, look, the birrit grew claws. How cute.”

  Duri and Garfield both growled, and Sarah took a step back. Blue didn’t know what a birrit was, but it probably wasn’t good.

  “The building on the corner of Corras and 29th South, apartment 428. And, Sarah, leave the attitude here.” Blue turned and marched away. From the corner of her eye she saw Garfield do the same, with an added paw flip that looked an awful lot like… did he just give Sarah the bird? What was Forrest teaching the cubs when she wasn’t looking?

  “Ha,” Elaina said once they were in the corridor and out of earshot. “That was great. Pretty soon you won’t need me and my birrit claws.”

  “What’s a birrit?”

  “Umm… sort of like a cross between a bunny and a hedgehog, if I’m remembering my Earth animals correctly.”

  Blue snorted. The image she conjured was a fairly accurate comparison to her friend.

  “I know,” Elaina said as though she could hear Blue’s thoughts. “I couldn’t even really get mad, though I appreciated the growls.” She glanced up at Duri shyly, then back down to Garfield, who flicked his tail at her and chirped. “What did she want?”

  “My help with something, apparently.”

  “Careful there, okay?” Elaina’s brows pinched. “Girls like Sarah don’t—well, they just don’t. You’re either one of them or you’re not.”

  Blue nudged Elaina’s shoulder with her own, wishing she could fill her in. She wasn’t having Sarah come over to try to be friends; Sarah had information on a super-duper secret investigation Blue and her prida were conducting. Yeah, that would alleviate Elaina’s worries. “It’ll be fine. And tomorrow’s a rest day. We can go get more of those dakash.”

  Elaina nodded and bounced. “Yes. I like this plan.”

  Sarah arrived right on time. They stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room, Blue, Sarah, Duri, and Felix. Mo’ata was shopping for groceries. Forrest was still at the university and Levi at work.

  “So, I guess we can sit?” Blue waved a hand at the dining table.

  “No, this won’t take long.” Sarah curled a lip at the mismatched chairs. Then she took a breath and her eyes slid closed. “Annaliese is missing. Jason said I should come to you if I had any information on the drug Petyr took. I don’t, but I figure if I was supposed to come to you about the drug, I should come to you about Annaliese.” Her eyes opened, and she glared at Blue. “Don’t make me regret this decision.”

  The fuck am I supposed to do with this? She looked to Felix.

  “I’m messaging Mo’ata,” he said. “Get what information you can.”

  “Right.” She turned back to Sarah. “Sit.” Then she ran to her room for a notebook and pen. Coming back to the living room, she saw that Sarah was exactly where she’d left her. “I’m not kidding. Sit. I need to know everything you know or even suspect, and that’s not a thirty second conversation.”

  “I am not a damned pet,” Sarah mumbled, but she did pull out a chair at the end of the table.

  Felix snorted, and Blue rolled her eyes. She knew where he’d gone with that comment, but now was not the time.

  “Tell me everything.”

  Sarah’s damned brow went up. “Starting when? Birth?”

  Blue blew out a breath. “Look, I know you don’t like me. I don’t particularly like you. But this is going to go a lot faster, and a lot better for your friend, if you drop the damned attitude.”

  Sarah gave a curt nod. “Fine. I did talk to Petyr in the hospital before he had his episode. I’d promised Annaliese and Jason. But he was mumbling nonsense. I’m not even sure he understood what I was asking him at the time. There was an investigator right there, and…” She shrugged. “I didn’t get anything from him, and I was perfectly fine with that. I don’t want Annaliese tangled up in this business anymore.”

  Felix claimed a seat next to Blue. “What happened with her? Why do you say she’s missing, and why do you think it’s connected with Petyr?” He gave Blue a small nod—Mo’ata was on his way.

  “Because yesterday I finally told her what he did say. And today she’s not in any classes, she’s not answering her comm, and she’s not at home.”

  “Why not report this to the school or the city guard?”

  Sarah glared. “I do that, and Annaliese is out of the Academy. And they obviously don’t know any more about what’s going on than you, or she wouldn’t be missing.”

  Patience, Blue, patience. She’s worried about her friend. And the worry seemed genuine.

  “Have you spoken to anyone else?”

  She shrugged. “I told Instructor Peel that she was ill. That’s it.”

  “And what, exactly, did Petyr say to you?”

  “Like I said, it made no sense.”

  “But what was it?” Geez, did this girl have to be such a farking know-it-all?

  “He just said ‘University’, and then ‘art.’”

  Blue froze. They suspected there was a connection at the university, but that was all they’d had. Until now. One word. “Art.” It wasn’t much, but she’d made connections on much less before.

  “Felix?”

  “On it.” His fingers flew over the tablet propped before him.

  Blue focused on Sarah. “Anything
else? Not anything you think is useful, but anything else at all to do with Annaliese, anything she said?”

  Sarah shook her head, eyes wide. Fear lurked there, temporarily overcoming the anger. “Do you really think it’s as simple as that? Someone in the art department at the university?” She swallowed. “And I sent Annaliese to them?”

  Something was going on there. For a moment Blue wanted to reach out, take Sarah’s hand in hers, and ask her to spill. Too nice. She pushed the urge away, knowing it would be rejected. But she did keep her voice gentle. “Sarah? Do you remember anything else from your visit with Petyr?”

  “There was a girl there before me. A-a girl from the university, the guard said. She’d brought him a drawing. That’s why I dismissed what Petyr said. I really thought he was answering my questions at first, but then…”

  “Who was the girl?” Felix’s voice was sharp.

  “I don’t know. I hadn’t seen her around, but Petyr and I don’t really…”

  Sarah seemed to be having trouble moving past the idea that she may be the reason her friend was in trouble. “Sarah.” Blue did reach out this time. She took the girl’s cold hand in hers, squeezing the lightly trembling fingers. And Sarah let her. “I need you to focus now. We’ll do what we can, but focus.”

  Sarah looked down at their joined hands and jerked hers away.

  “See if you recognize any of these people.” Felix flipped his tablet around to face Sarah. On the screen were faces and short bios. The top of the screen read “Department of the Arts.” “It won’t show all the students, only the professors and assistants, but—”

  “Her. She was the one who visited Petyr.”

  Blue jerked her head over to see who Sarah had seen. She hadn’t actually expected her to recognize anyone.

  It was Mika.

  Blue blinked. Mika.

  Forrest. “I need to…” She didn’t finish the sentence, just pulled out her comm and dialed him directly.

  Chapter 29

  FORREST

  The sun shone down in bright streams upon the pink-leaved shrubs and brown grasses of one of the university’s courtyards. The sky was a clear, brilliant blue. The cold bit into his exposed fingers, and Forrest chastised himself for forgetting his gloves. It was a short walk to the gazebo he’d agreed to meet Matti at to discuss their class project, but long enough that he felt the coming winter. Vivi padded along beside him, her ears perked and nose in the air, sniffing at the city smells brought on the breeze. He’d started taking her off the harness when they were on the university grounds.

  There was a surge of anticipation, but whether it was his own or the cub’s he didn’t know. Blue had mentioned getting words from Garfield. He hadn’t sensed anything as strong from Vivi yet and often had trouble sorting his own feelings from hers. The bond was different between them, closer in some ways, but not as developed in others.

  We’ll get there. Just like the rest of his new family. They’d get there.

  “Forrest!”

  Pausing on the edge of the path that led from the rear of the art building, he groaned. Mika. Vivi’s ears flattened against her head, sensing his annoyance, but she didn’t react in any other way.

  Forrest had done exactly what he’d told Daniel he’d do. He’d taken both routes. The one Daniel had pointed out was more direct, though it went through some of the more rundown areas. Mika’s skimmed the nicer edges of the central district, and though it did take a little longer, it wasn’t too bad.

  But he’d still been avoiding her. After the way she’d treated Blue on that first meeting, he hadn’t felt comfortable cultivating her as a friend. His pixie had enough to deal with without adding weird, hot-and-cold shit from random people to the mix.

  He’d also been making plenty of other friends, mostly from his classes. Well, they were more acquaintances at this point, but once things settled down with the investigation and he and Blue had a bit more of a routine, he was hoping to have them all over or maybe take Blue with him on a trip to one of the museums with everyone. She could even bring Elaina if she wanted. That girl was a strange creature, for sure, but she’d been good for Blue.

  “Hey, Forrest.” Mika drew even with him. The cold air of early winter blew the dark waves of her hair from her face and brought color to her cheeks. “Hey. Sorry.” She was breathing a little fast, from her hurry to catch him, he supposed. She held out a hand as she wavered on her feet.

  Instinctively he caught it. Her thumbnail dug into the back of his hand, and he flinched. Vivi growled.

  “Oh, sorry again. I just”—she sucked in a breath—“guess I need to get a bit more exercise than standing in front of an easel.”

  He gripped her wrist in his other hand and extracted himself. Damn, that had hurt. Teach me to not put on my gloves, even for a quick walk. “What was it you needed?”

  She stared up with big eyes. “I wanted to see if you might still want that tour of the area. There’s a break day tomorrow. I figured you and Blue might like another person to show you around. I know you’ve got the clansman and I’m sure Blue’s met some people from the Academy, but I know they can also be a bit, um…”

  “Stuck up?”

  Mika suppressed a smile. “That’s a word for it. I take it there’s been some issues?”

  Forrest shrugged. “I’ll put it to her,” he conceded. “I think we already have plans, though, or she might.”

  “I’m fine if it’s just you.”

  “Mika.” He put as much warning as he could in her name.

  She held up her hands. “Just as friends. Truly. I admire your work, and I see you getting along with the other students. My job as assistant keeps me out of a lot of the classes and stops a lot of the other students from getting close. It would just be nice to have another friend, especially one not from Karran.”

  That was new. “Where are you from?”

  “Oh. Cularna originally. I’ve been here so long I sometimes forget I’m not a native.” Her voice lowered. “Others still haven’t forgotten.”

  Daniel’s words came back to him. Watch out for her. Forrest wasn’t naturally a suspicious person. He liked to believe that people were basically good, whatever anyone else thought or taught. But as Phillip had once proved to him, there were people you couldn’t take at face value. And despite her innocent demeanor, he couldn’t bring himself to take Mika at face value.

  He stared down at the girl as other students and university staff, bundled in their coats and scarves, hurried past. The gazebo, outlined in bright white and gold, stood just yards away. Matti’s dark head was inside, bobbing to some unseen music. That was one thing Forrest and the boy had in common, a love of song.

  “I’ll talk to Blue,” he finally said. “But I’ve got to meet up with Matti real fast, then run a few errands before dinner, so…”

  “Right. You have my comm address?”

  “Yeah, somewhere in the paperwork from the first day.”

  Mika shifted from foot to foot. She could simply be cold or nervous about something. “I’ll wait to hear from you then.” Then she was gone.

  Definitely weird.

  He shoved his hands into his coat pockets and walked the rest of the way to the gazebo, Vivi at his side. Matti spun just as he climbed the last step. “Good, you’re just in time.”

  “For what?”

  “Three seconds.”

  Then the early evening sun must have hit just the right angle because suddenly the gazebo was awash in rainbow flecks. Vivi gave off a squeaky growl and pounced, chasing the flecks like a house cat with one of those laser pointers.

  “What the…”

  “It’s the reflection off the bell tower glass.”

  Forrest followed Matti’s arm to where he pointed. The bell tower hadn’t functioned properly in about five hundred years, according to university rumor, but the administration refused to either repair it or tear it down. The glass surrounding it sparkled, the light dancing across the surface as though alive, be
fore falling on the perfect canvas of the gazebo’s white half-walls and columns.

  “That’s amazing.”

  “If we can get a piece of glass of the same composition and find the right angle, it would make a perfect counterpoint to the iron alloy in the sculpture.”

  “Damn, I’m glad I got paired with you for this project,” Forrest said. Sculpture had never been his strong point, but he also hadn’t taken many classes in it. It was also one of the classes the art director had insisted he take. What were his words? Forrest had to “prove himself.”

  “You’ll get there. And the concept sketches? The hatched egg, cradling a dark and broken figure with that one spec of light at the center? The professors love that torn artist strontu.”

  His mind went to work. What would be the best way to capture that light? “We’d have to have a built-in base of some kind. Maybe a half shell of the glass? And pin lights at just the right angle…”

  The sparkles lasted mere moments as the angle of the sun shifted.

  “The challenge will be to find the exact angles.” Matti said, tapping at this tablet.

  Forrest’s comm went off, and he answered absently, “’Sup?”

  “Where are you?”

  His attention sharpened at the worry in her tone. “Still at the university coordinating on a project and then meeting up with Levi for a few errands.” And a surprise for you, pixie. The last he kept to himself.

  Her exhale came through loud and clear over the line. “Is Mika around?”

  “Mika? Earlier, she invited us again to go touring with her, but—”

  “We think she may be the connection we’ve been looking for.”