The Aeon Star

by Hart, Lauren T.

  Kara nodded and pulled out her cell phone.

  Gen took the clothes Kara had brought with her into the bathroom. The top was ruined, and it could be argued that Nick's hoodie was as well, but maybe the holes gave it character.

  She washed her face, brushed her hair and her teeth then slipped into her blue jeans and a long grey top from the closet.

  When Gen returned from the bathroom everything was in order. Kara was sitting on the pale chair clicking away on her phone as if it had all happened magically around her.

  The black purse Gen had been using was sitting on a small dresser near the bathroom door. She had completely forgotten about it. She flung the purse over her shoulder and Nick's hoodie over her arm.

  Kara showed her to the kitchen, politely excusing herself moments later when her phone rang. Gen was hungrier than she had thought and she ate until she was Thanksgiving-dinner full.

  Part of her was stalling as well, she knew, but she wasn't entirely sure why.

  She cleaned up after herself then traced her way at a leisurely pace to David's office where she lingered outside the doors for a bit admiring the cool white walls and sparse artful accents.

  The door opened. David wore a sly smile, a white button up shirt, undone, and blue jeans.

  She stifled a nervous laugh. "Perfect timing."

  David's smile broadened as he pointed to a small decorative glass star hanging over the door. "It's a camera," he shrugged. "Motion activated."

  "Oh," Genevieve bit her lip.

  David chuckled. "How are you feeling this morning?"

  "I'm not sure I'm ready for that question."

  David nodded, and she followed him into his office.

  "Where's Paul?"

  "He went out a couple of hours ago, said there was something he needed to take care of. Not to worry, I'm sure he'll be back soon. Please," David motioned toward the long white sofa. "I've been speaking with Gerard – your father," he said after she had sat down. "He wanted me to convey his and your mother's regrets for not being able to come and see you directly. He believes it's in the best interests of all that he appears neutral during this time."

  "Right."

  "The word has gotten out about your visit to Royal Crown. Souls have already begun to gather. Elle, your mother, has sequestered herself and— ... in her quarters, as usual." David's brow furrowed. He walked decisively over to the couch and sat down. "Only a very small handful of people know this," he turned toward her, hushing his tone, "but you are not an only child."

  "I think I knew that." Gen said.

  "Ian and Lilly, they're nine. They've lived their entire lives within the walls of your family's estate; Elle's attempt to avoid the mistakes she made with you."

  "Mmmm. I believe Ian has paid me a visit or two."

  "I know. I heard about the wave."

  "Wave?"

  David looked confused. "The security wave, in the ballroom?"

  "The Fire Light." Gen understood.

  "I've never heard it called that before. I guess it is a bit like firelight," he mused. "It takes a strong soul to recover so well and so quickly from a wave burn, I hope you haven't had any adverse side effects."

  "No," she said, shaking her head as a surge of heat ran through her. "We're friends now."

  David looked confused. "I've been directed to formally request your attendance at the Ange Counsel meeting on Friday," he informed her. "The request comes on behalf of the entire Ange counsel—" he stopped, taking a breath and shaking his head. "I'm not going to mislead you Cousin, this invitation is meant to sound very diplomatic and proper, but the simple matter of it is that it's all an effort to assess your threat level... and then... decide what to do with you."

  "What does that mean?"

  "You're an anomaly. You have to understand the dichotomy. You were a born royal, which, by your birthright dictates that you are destined to lead. And yet, you are also an Angemon. Which many believe, makes you destined to be our destroyer."

  "But I... What if I just disappeared again? I could. I could just go away."

  "That wouldn't stop those that hunt you. Taking the life of an Angemon brings with it a very high bounty."

  "So what do I do?"

  "The best hope you have is being able to defend yourself. We need to find a way to reintegrate you with yourself. I've been talking with Paul and giving it some thought, I believe that if you're able to consciously soul shift, it might bring you into integration with yourself."

  It was worth trying. All she had to do was physically shift on purpose. Which might have been easier to do if she had ever been aware that it was even happening. They spent the next few hours trying to accomplish this seemingly easy, yet apparently impossible task.

  It was well into the afternoon when Paul, Alicia and Amber returned and little progress had been made. So far all she was able to do was project; the way many Ange could. Even with the aid of the glowing star, which was meant to amplify these types of abilities, she was miles away from solid.

  "Time for a break." Alicia announced as she strolled through the office doors, wearing a white business suit, and carrying a fluffy white cat in her arms.

  "What is that?" David asked.

  "It's called a cat." Alicia said, flashing a wink to Genevieve. "You know, it's actually quite common for humans to share their homes with domesticated animals."

  "Uh-huh," David said, obviously not appreciating her sarcasm.

  The kitty purred, Alicia scratched its head, encouraging David to do the same. David shook his head slightly, then grimaced, as Alicia kissed its furry head.

  "This one's name is Lucy," she said.

  "Lucy?" Gen stood.

  "Uh-huh." Alicia responded as though she knew all about Lucy – Shawn's Lucy. "Paul found her, and then we had to drive all the way to Santa Cruz to get her."

  "Is Paul here?" Gen wanted to thank him, and apologize for the intrusion of her nightmares.

  "I think he's in the kitchen."

  Gen practically ran to the kitchen, interrupting a passionate lip lock between him and Amber when she entered.

  "Sorry," she said, biting her lip, trying to suppress her tears.

  "Aww, it's okay, Cupcake." Paul smiled at her.

  "I'm going to go change," Amber informed, making a quick exit.

  Paul was wearing a sling now, but he put his free arm out to her. Gen threw her arms around his waist, and leaned her head on his chest.

  "Is that really Lucy?"

  "That's really Lucy."

  "Thank you, Paul."

  Paul gave her a squeeze. "I have an update for you."

  She lifted her head, but kept her arms wrapped firmly around him.

  "Royal Crown's been top news, Brett heard about it early this morning. And he's been at Nick's ever since, Ashley too. Nick told Brett you weren't dead."

  "Why would he do that?"

  "Good question. Brett thinks he's in denial."

  "How did you find all this out?" she asked.

  "I'm just that good," he nodded, looking smug. "Fine," he relented. "Erin told me."

  David entered, looking grim. He was carrying Gen's borrowed purse in one hand, and the pager in the other.

  Gen shifted nervously, letting go of Paul and turning toward David, but Paul kept his arm around her.

  "You got a page," David said. "Both locks have been successfully encoded," he read; adding emphasis to the word 'both' then set the pager on the counter. Then he took the almost matching keys from her purse and laid them on the counter next to the pager, and slid them towards her. "So I guess you're holding all the keys now."

  "I guess I am." She pulled away from Paul and picked up the keys, twisting them in her fingers. "This was your father's," she said, handing one of the keys to David. "Now it's yours."

  David hesitated, pain etched across his furrowed brow as he took the key from her.

  "This one belonged to my father." She set the other key on the counter. "Will you see that it'
s returned to him?"

  David nodded.

  "David, I am only encoded on one of the locks."

  David shook his head, confused, and concerned. "Then who—?"

  "Nick is encoded to the other lock."

  David's brow lifted, his face paled. "Nick Grace?" he croaked. "The researcher?"

  "I was wearing his hoodie, it had a bit of blood on it from a paper cut," she explained.

  Paul swayed slightly beside her.

  "Are you okay?" she took hold of his hand.

  "Yeah. Wow." Paul shook his head. "No, I'm good."

  She turned back to David who was still partially catatonic. "David?"

  David shook his head, struggling to find the words. "That's not going to go over well," He ran his hand over his face.

  Clearly she was missing something here. She turned to Paul for an explanation.

  Paul cleared his throat. "Nick's a human, Gen."

  Actually, Nick was only mostly human. She still didn't get it.

  "Star Souls are kind of like the Pawns on a chess board," Paul started. "They're important players, but they're also—,"

  "Expendable?" she offered.

  "Not what I was going to say."

  "Less valuable?"

  "No," Paul shook his head. "Okay, maybe chess isn't a very good example."

  "There has always been a very clear pecking order," David explained. "First Ange, then the Daémon, and then Followers. And that's just the way things are."

  Gen folded her arms and turned to Paul. "Well that sounds delightful. Where do I sign up?" She shook her head, grabbed her purse and started out of the kitchen. She stopped briefly at the door and turned back. "There are three souls who know who the bio-locks are encoded to. Make sure it stays that way."

  She found Alicia and gave her the pass code and pen, explaining how they worked and asking her to find the location indicated in the coordinates. Alicia agreed. Gen thanked her and continued to the pale gauzy room where she stayed for the rest of the day, trying, on her own, to wake the soul within.

  What was the use? So what if she did? Then what? All she'd have accomplished was to unleash a monster that could make people kill themselves just by suggesting it, and get herself out of going to places — like Italy.

  At 5:28 the next morning, her desire for normalcy in the chaos had her rifling through the closet until she found clothes she thought might be suitable to run in, and a decent pair of running shoes. The clothes were more fashionable than practical but they would do the job. She pulled on Nick's hoodie and quietly snuck downstairs.

  The front door was far too obvious, which probably made it the most ideal. She carefully and quietly unlocked and opened it. A red light began flashing on a panel near the front door.

  A security alarm.

  Great.

  She had no idea what the number was. But maybe it was worth guessing. She tried the house number....

  The red light went solid, but a new light came on next to it, this one was green.

  Safe or no, this was her chance.

  A spark of light danced across the wall in front of her. Fire Light. She couldn't help but smile as she reached her hand out toward the little spark.

  It leapt from the wall to her hand, flickered across her fingertips and alighted into the air.

  Gen pulled open the front door, the tiny little sparks parted the way for her, and she walked through.

  She'd managed to find a way down to the beach and was enjoying the brisk sea air, the feel of the sand under her feet, and the lulling crash of waves hitting the shore.

  She hadn't been running very long, when an odd sensation overcame her. It was the distinct sensation that something was wrong. Something was very wrong... like a mouthful of mayonnaise wrong, but worse.

  She halted her pace, casting a look around the desolate beach. She saw primarily ocean, sand and rock. Several sets of winding stairs zigzagged along the steep shore walls to the cliff-side manors above. One of them might have even led to David's house.

  Maybe she should have let someone know where she was going. She wasn't sure they would have let her go, which is why she hadn't, but maybe she could let them know now.

  "Paul," she focused her concentration on him.

  She felt the familiar sparks. Paul and David were standing in the foyer. Paul was worried, nearing panic, trying to calm himself and remember his training. How in the hell had she gotten passed the wave? "Genevieve." His words echoed in her head and a sense of relief washed over him as he felt the sparks of their connection. "Something's wrong," he said to David.

  Paul was worried, but what she had felt, what Paul was feeling through her now, it wasn't an echo of what they were feeling, it was something else.

  She was consciously keeping her awareness close to her, making sure it was directed linearly and not expansively, but she knew it was the only way to find the answer.

  Paul's level of concern shot outward at an incalculable rate as he realized what she was about to do. "Fuck." He braced himself, knowing nothing he did would stop her.

  She took a breath, and then—

  Going, get going, getting going, trying to get going. Coffee. The masses were waking.

  She tried to focus on what was wrong. Suddenly worried that it might have been the Hunter. She waited for his threats, expected them, but nothing came.

  And then—

  Jenny? The thought was soft, like the whispers of Fire Light, but she knew it was directed at her, she could feel it all the way to her core.

  She concentrated on the thought, on the heightened emotions attached to it.

  Scattered thoughts flittered through the ether, broken and scratchy, as if the connection were weak.

  She's alive. ...

  Not what you think. ...

  ...Leonard...

  Leonard. Marcus Leonard?

  I'll take you there. ...

  ...Something's not right, Mike.

  Mike?

  No. It wasn't Mike. It was, he was there, but it wasn't Mike. It was... Davin.

  "Davin," she said his name out loud.

  "He's mine now!" the Hunter screamed, crystal clear in her thoughts.

  A dark shadow formed in front of her, quickly taking on the form of the hollow-faced Hunter. His mouth smeared into a snarling grin and he began to laugh his sickening, dark, laugh.

  He reached out to her.

  She took a step back, stumbling, but it wasn't enough.

  He caught her around the neck with his ill formed fingers and began to squeeze.

  She grabbed at his arm, his hand, but it was like trying to grab handfuls of a non-Newtonian substance. His form was too fluid to hold a grip, and her fingers slowly slipped right through.

  He was going to kill her.

  The more she fought, the harder he squeezed. The world lost its sound, and her vision began to tunnel. She felt a surge of heat rush through her, followed by an overwhelming sense of calm.

  "Not yet," the Hunter rasped and released his grip on her.

  She fell, helplessly to the ground, sucking desperately at the air.

  The Hunter loomed. His hollow mouth stretched wide, like his eyes. She forced herself to meet his vacant gaze. His face contorted, sneering, "Soon enough, you will be mine. Soon enough you'll lie lifeless at my feet, and I will crush your bones along side every single soul who dared to keep me from ending you sooner." He stepped away from her, turned his face skyward and then he was gone.

  As she collapsed onto the sand, she caught her breath, and tried to calm her thoughts that were swirling now with an insatiable rage, centered on a deep loathing hatred for the hunter.

  She shut her eyes to the world around her and opened them in the foyer of Nick's house.

  Peaches mewed at her as she came trotting down the hall from the back of the house.

  She sent her awareness out. Ashley and Brett were in the family room, sleeping.

  Nick was in the shower, his tension piqued as he sensed anothe
r soul in the house. A traveling soul, different from the one he'd felt last night.

  Last night.

  Whomever it was, it hadn't been her.

  It felt wrong to know his thoughts. She pulled her mind away from his.

  She made her way into Nick's office. Relics from her life as Jennifer Hollis lay strewn about his desk.

  Among them, practically front and center was Jenny Taylor's obituary, and Mike's phone number, scrawled onto a piece of paper.

  She had practically handed Mike and Davin over to them — to the Hunter.

  Nick was approaching.

  She was tempted to stay, but didn't. She turned away before he came into view on the stairs.

  "Cousin," David's voice sounded urgent. "Genevieve."

  She opened her eyes. David looked like a Greek God leaning over her, backlit by the dawn, his white silk robe billowing in the wind.

  "Help me up," her voice was weak and raspy.

  David pulled her to her feet, steadying her as she tried to find her balance. He helped support her weight briefly then swept her up into his arms and carried her up the towering switchback stairs, interlaced into the craggy cliff side.

  One of the benefits of being able to share your mind with another is the level of communication. It goes way beyond words. She had pulled her awareness in, freeing Paul from her prickly mind-meld, but she knew that he had gone to find Marcus, and with him Mike, Davin... and the Hunter.

  It was a dangerous move but she knew there was no point in trying to stop him. Not acting on information like this was simply not an option for Paul.

  Alicia came running to meet them on the stairs. "Paul sent me," she explained.

  Unlike the other day, she wasn't willing to take Gen's raspy "I'm okay," as proof that she actually was. Alicia stayed close for the next few hours, even after Gen's voice returned and she was sure that everything was healing appropriately.

  "Just because you heal faster, doesn't mean you heal better, or correctly." Alicia told her, as they ate lunch together on the terrace.

  Gen had changed into her blue jeans and a white top but she still wore Nick's hoodie; Alicia wore a pink sundress.

  "Isn't all of this a little weird to you?" Gen asked. "Or maybe I should be asking, why isn't all of this weird to you?"

  Alicia sipped her drink concoction of tea and strawberries as she contemplated. "It was at first." She shifted her weight, leaning closer to Gen. "There are many steps along the way to becoming one of David Xavier's Cherished. All of which I failed, but I desperately needed this job, so I refused to give up, I refused to quit and I refused to let David fire me." She took a slow breath. "David is the most unusual man I've ever met, but he is also generous and kind. And most importantly, he was willing to let me continue working for him despite my judgments. After a time, I came to see that all the things I saw as weird, or bizarre, or crazy came from having a limited understanding. The more I learned, the less strange it became." Her gaze drifted toward David's office. "Apprehension and repulsion were replaced with curiosity and wonder. My eyes were open and I wanted to know more — to know everything."