Orion: A Heroic Novel

by Travis Johnston

  So, where was her stone? It couldn’t be anywhere at the school, that would be close enough to keep her from passing out. The only other place I assumed she left it at was her house.

  I reached under Angela and picked her up, her body drooping between my arms. My body ached while holding her, but fortunately my powers made her feel as light as a toddler. I turned my attention to Mr. Gerald and the students and teachers that surrounded me. They looked awestruck as they watched me, as if they were waiting for a speech or some sort of an explanation.

  They were going to be disappointed. I had nothing to say. I just wanted to help Angela.

  I leaned into a run, and bolted out of the school. I groaned as I ran, my ribs screaming at me to stop moving. Not yet, I thought. A little bit farther. Angela’s house was just a few miles away.

  Why did Angela leave her stone at her house? Maybe she didn’t know how important it was to keep her stone with her while using her powers. Or maybe she just wasn’t expecting to use her powers at all today.

  Something was off with that idea, though. Something about how extraordinary Angela’s powers were. She could summon a force field made of glass-looking wings for crying out loud! She looked way more experienced with her powers than I did. So, if she were so experienced, why wouldn’t she keep her stone on her? How had she not figured that out yet?

  I slowed down as I approached her house’s doorstep. I had to double check to make sure it was her house since it looked like every other tan, stucco house in the neighborhood. The door was locked. Her dad wasn’t home. She said he’d be getting home later tonight. I gave the door a superhuman shove and broke it open, splintered wood falling on the floor.

  Her house smelled like burnt fish sticks—probably what she'd been living on while her dad was gone—but at least it was dry and warm. I carried her to a couch in the living room and draped her on it. I gasped. My ribs did not like that movement. I stood there for a moment, waiting for the pain to slowly subside.

  I didn’t know where her stone was in the house, but she should be close enough to it by now to pull from its powers. She was still out cold, though. No sign of waking up. I didn’t know how long it would take for the stone to recharge her.

  I found a tissue to wipe the blood from her nose and a blanket and some towels to dry her off and warm her up. She slept peacefully.

  My eyes drooped. I was exhausted. I slumped into a nearby recliner, trying to find a position that didn’t hurt my ribs so much. I kept my powers on. The tingling feeling was concentrated on my ribs, as if it was healing them as fast as possible. I felt the cool touch of my blue stone in my pocket, silently thanking it for keeping me alive today.

  And then I swiftly drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 27

  Ray

  My eyes fluttered open. All I could see was the sky, half of it covered in clouds, half of it sparkling with stars. I could see the Draco constellation. My symbol.

  I tried to get up, and then quickly changed my mind. I had a splitting headache! My skull throbbed in a steady rhythm, matching my heartbeat. I scrunched my eyes as I waited for the pain to slowly pass.

  “You’re going to want to take it easy for a while.” I recognized that voice. I turned my head and saw Mark, slouching on a motorcycle. I didn’t know he owned a motorcycle. He gazed down at me, looking bored. “Looks like you got hit hard.”

  “How long have I been out?” I cringed. My head hurt when I spoke.

  “Half the day,” he answered. “The sun just barely set. I found you a couple minutes ago. You’re about a mile out of the city. Good thing I saw you soaring this direction, so I knew where to look for you.”

  I reached my hand into my pocket and sighed in relief when I felt my red Star Stone there. I stoked my powers. My headache didn’t disappear, but it was definitely more bearable. I slowly sat up and took in my surroundings. I’d been lying in a small, man-made crater. The ground was muddy from the rain. Desert shrubs surrounded us in every direction. Mark had to have gone off road to find me. The city glowed a mile away.

  Mark straightened his posture, gripping his motorcycle’s handlebars. “So, tell me what happened. You obviously lost the fight.”

  I glared at him. “I didn’t lose,” I croaked, my voice feeling raspy. “There was an interference. It wasn't fair. I would’ve beat him if it weren’t for what’s-her-face-new-girl.”

  I told him about my fight with Stoner. Mark spoke up when I told him about the crazy balls of light coming out of Stoner’s hands.

  “He tapped into his Second Degree,” he said, scratching his beard. “Good thing he didn’t know how to use it. The Orion Starling is very dangerous in his Second Degree.”

  “Didn’t look dangerous to me,” I said. “Just a fancy light show.”

  Mark scoffed at that, but didn’t say anything as he looked off into the distance.

  “I’m pretty sure I reached the Second Degree too. My hands literally caught on fire. I actually threw a huge fireball at Stoner.”

  Mark’s expression turned serious. “I told you to bring him to me alive. Were you trying to kill him?”

  “No. I didn’t meant to…. I was just so angry. I couldn’t stop myself.”

  He rolled his eyes and huffed with a sigh. “I don’t want you to kill him. Not yet anyway. You’re improving quickly, but you still haven’t mastered the Second Degree. With some training, you’ll be able to tap into it on a whim.”

  “Sweet.” I honestly looked forward to that training a lot more than I had before. There was a noticeable shift in my powers when I’d reached the Second Degree. I’d felt on fire! (Pun intended). The burning sensation in my gut had shifted to another level, like a volcano erupting within me. I didn’t know that I could chuck fireballs, but in the moment, it’d felt like pure instinct.

  “So, who interfered?” Mark asked.

  “It was the new girl,” I explained. “I think her name is Angela. She apparently has powers too. Another Starling.”

  Mark’s eyes widened.

  “I threw my fireball at Stoner,” I said, “and then all of a sudden she was there. And she blocked my fireball with some sort of force field. A force field made out of glass-looking wings. It was weird. And then she hit me hard with those wings. At least I think so. It’s all a little fuzzy. I blacked out after that.” I rubbed my temples, trying to soothe my headache.

  Mark leaned forward on his motorcycle with his mouth half open. He looked shocked, like he just found out his best friend had died or something. “It’s her…” he said under his breath.

  I groaned as I made my way to my feet. My head throbbed the whole way up. I was thirsty. And hungry. And sore. And tired. “What do you mean, ‘it’s her?’”

  He didn’t answer. I don’t think he even heard me. He looked deep in thought, like he was making a plan of some kind.

  “So, that explains where the third Star Stone went,” I said. “She must’ve picked it up. Probably the same night Stoner found his stone.”

  Mark shook his head, but kept his gaze on the Tucson lights. “No… someone else has the third Star Stone.”

  “What? How do you know?”

  “Because I met the person who has the third Star Stone today. And it’s not her.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows. “Wait. What?”

  “He found me,” Mark said. “He’s been watching me train you. He decided to approach me today for the first time. He’s a quick learner. Nearly mastered his Second Degree on his own.”

  So many questions bounced around my mind, it made my head hurt. Or maybe that was just my headache. “What? You’re training someone else? Who is he? What can he do?”

  “I don’t think you even know him.” He still wasn’t looking at me. He seemed half in the conversation as he gazed at the city, his dark eyes darting back and forth. Something about the news about the new girl made him go all trippy.

  “So, if this guy you met had the third stone,” I said, “then… how did New Girl get her
powers?”

  Mark kicked down on his motorcycle, its engine roaring to life. “It's Alexandria,” he said, determination in his eyes.

  “No, I thought her name was Angela. But, I don’t know, I might be wrong.”

  Without another word, he revved his motorcycle and took off down a dirt trail toward the city, leaving me in a cloud of dust. I watched him speed away for a moment, so confused with what’d just happened.

  “Okay,” I said to nobody. “Don’t worry about me. I'll be fine. I’ll just walk home.”

  Chapter 28

  Michael

  When I opened my eyes I noticed a beautiful angel smiling down at me. I died and went to heaven! I thought. But, then the angel’s smiled transformed into a scowl and she slapped me across the cheek.

  “Wake up, Michael!” Angela said. “We’ve got to talk.” The tone in her voice was very stern, like a parent who was about to tell her child what punishment lay in store for him for burning the curtains down.

  I groggily sat up in her recliner and winced. My chest throbbed with pain. My powers may have sped up the healing process, but not at the rate that I’d hoped. I noticed that my powers were off—I guess you can’t keep your powers on while you’re sleeping. I surged my powers, letting the tingling sensation wash over me. I sighed in relief. It was like a natural painkiller… well, except that it wasn’t natural at all. It was a superpower granted from the stone in my pocket. That’s not natural. Or is it?

  Angela stared at my glowing eyes, her expression cold. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it, and just glared at me.

  “What?” I said. “You didn’t tell me you had superpowers either.”

  “You never asked,” she said. “I did. And you lied to me! Multiple times!”

  “If I had known you had superpowers too, I would’ve told you!”

  “Why would that make a difference?”

  “Because…” I stammered. “I didn’t know if you would share my secret with the world, like what Doug Cooper did to Ray!”

  “You really think I would do something like that? Don’t you trust me?”

  “Well I don’t know. I just found out—” I looked out the window. Night had fallen. We’d slept through half the day. “—several hours ago that you can summon force-field wings out of thin air! Yeah, I think keeping a secret like that from me lowers your trustworthy status!”

  She looked hurt. “I wouldn’t share your secret, Michael! I wouldn’t sell it to the news stations like Doug! I know more than you will ever know about how to keep a secret!”

  Angela got up from the couch, done with the conversation, and left the living room. I tried to do the same thing, but the pain in my chest kept me from standing up. I just sat there, fuming.

  How could she blame me for not telling her the truth when she kept the same exact secret the whole time? She was being hypocritical. This could have all been avoided if she’d just told me that she went and found the third stone. Why did that have to be kept a secret? She knew I had a stone too, and had already deduced that it gave me powers. Probably because her stone gave her powers too.

  After a few minutes, I slowly stood up and looked for her in her house, stepping softly to keep the pain down. She was standing in the kitchen, looking out the window. It was still raining. Water drops drizzled down the window. Angela folded her arms and kept a stern expression.

  As I gazed at her, my mood lightened. Memories of the first time I met her at school flooded into my mind. When she made fun of my eye. When we went stargazing together. When she challenged Ray to a fist fight. I smiled at the thought.

  “Hey, Angela,” I said slowly. She didn’t look at me. “Something I really want to say is… thank you. For saving my life today.”

  She turned to me.

  “I know you were mad at me for lying,” I said. “But, thanks for stepping in anyways. I would’ve been toast without you.”

  I saw a hint of a smile on her. “You’re welcome,” she said.

  “That was pretty amazing, what you did. With the bird wings and all. You showed Ray a thing or two.”

  “Swan wings,” she corrected. “Cygnus, the swan. That’s my constellation. And yours is Orion, right? That was you who saved that missing girl last weekend?”

  I nodded sheepishly.

  “That’s pretty cool,” she said.

  I tried to hide a blush. “And Ray told me his is Draco. That explains the fireball.”

  Angela nodded. We both looked at each other for a moment. She suddenly got a huge grin and sat in a chair at her kitchen table. “Oh, Michael, I’ve been waiting years to finally share this with someone! I still can’t believe this is happening! You! And Ray! Both of you have powers like me! It’s all so bizarre and… magical at the same time!”

  “Yeah, it’s—” I stopped myself. “Years? You said you’ve been waiting for years?”

  “Pretty much my whole life,” she said. “Nobody knows about my powers except for me and my dad. And now you.”

  “Your dad knows? I—” Something wasn’t adding up. “Angela, didn’t you just find the third stone a little while ago?”

  She tilted her head. “Third stone?”

  “You know, the third meteorite that landed the night we went stargazing? One landed near Ray, one near us, and a third one not far from where I found mine.”

  “Oh yeah. I was definitely going to check that out, but I wanted to wait for my dad to get back. So, I was right then, wasn’t I? The glowing meteorite you found—it gave you your powers?”

  “Yeah. But, when…” I sat down at the table with her, determined to solve this puzzle. “How did you get your powers?”

  “I was born with them. Can’t remember ever not having powers.”

  “So, you don’t have a stone of your own?” I pulled out mine. She reached for it like a cat to yarn, gazing at its blue, glossy surface.

  “Nope,” she said. “It is strange, though. Random meteorites drop from the sky and give you and Ray the same powers that I was born with? I thought I would always be the only one in the whole world who had these powers. Always alone. No one like me. That’s why I was so shocked to see the news about Ray. And when I saw you stand up to him… with powers of your own… I could hardly believe it!”

  I reflected on how alone I’d felt when I’d first discovered my powers. That loneliness only lasted a week until I learned about Ray. Angela had felt that her whole life. She was right when she said she knew more than me about how to keep a secret.

  Still. If we both got our powers in different ways, then why were they so similar?

  “Angela,” I said. “Why did you pass out after you saved me?”

  “My powers are limited,” she said. “I can only use them for a short time before fainting. But when I was a kid, I remember using my powers all the time without hurting. I even remember flying. But, I don’t know if those are actual memories or just dreams.”

  I thought for a moment. “Is that why whenever you make a wish, it’s always that you can fly?”

  She smiled and nodded. “I’ve tried it a few times. It’s very dangerous. My dad gets ticked when I do it. I can jump really high, but I pass out after about twenty feet up. I attempted to fly a couple times over a lake and my dad had to swim out to get me after I fell into the water. It was pretty stupid of me. But I just can’t get the idea out of my head. Especially now, that I’ve seen Ray fly.” She looked up at me, an eager twinkle in her eye. “Can you fly?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t think I could, but I guess I haven’t really tried.”

  “And you’re powers aren’t limited like mine, right? Otherwise you and Ray would’ve passed out while fighting.”

  “Sort of,” I said. “And that’s the weird thing, Angela. It all depends on my stone. If I have it with me, I’m fine. But, when I use my powers while my stone is more than a mile or so away, my body gives up on me, and I pass out.”

  “Just like me when I use my powers….” She se
emed to follow my thinking, her eyebrows knitted. “Michael, do you think that I have a stone—and it’s just too far away for me to use its powers?”

  “Yeah. That would make perfect sense, but there’s a problem with that.” We were both gazing at my blue stone on the kitchen table. “This meteor shower happened just last month. You say that you’ve had your powers your whole life. If you have a stone… where did you get it? Was there another meteor shower like this before? And why don’t you remember?”

  She shrugged. “Newell’s comet only orbits the sun every two thousand years. I don’t have any memories of a—.”

  The front door burst open, causing us both to jump to our feet. A guy had barged in, wearing a wet, tan jacket, and he was aiming a gun right at us.

  I raised my hands out of reflex, but then I remembered who I was and ignited my powers, ready to block bullets.

  “Dad!” Angela said. “What’re you doing?”

  Mr. Johnson lowered his weapon in a flash. I lowered my hands, feeling dumb for not recognizing him. He pointed at the splintered doorframe with his pistol. “Someone broke into our house!” he said, his voice booming.

  “Uh. No sir… that was me,” I said. He glared at me, unfazed by my glowing eyes. I gulped. “Your daughter was hurt, and I was trying to bring her home, and the door was locked, and well… I—I sorta….”

  He raised a hand to stop me. “Thanks for bringing her home, son.” He closed the door—mostly closed it; it was busted after all—and strode into the kitchen, metal briefcase in hand. His stomps shook the house slightly. I still think he looked too buff to be a scientist. He slipped the gun into his jacket pocket.

  “Dad,” Angela said. “Some crazy things have been going on lately. We need to talk.”

  “Yes,” he said. “But not now. We’re leaving. Moving again. They could be here any minute.”