Gravity: The Gravity Series #1

by A. B. Bloom

  "Why?" My fingers walked across the covers towards him.

  "I don't think I can." His lips pressed into that line again and I already knew not to press any further.

  "You could show me that light thing with your hand?" I suggested.

  "Was that what you were doing earlier? I thought it was Tai Chi or something."

  "Were you watching me?" My face burst into flames.

  "Bron, I told you even if you can't see me, I am still here."

  I scrunched my face. "Great."

  "Isn't it?" His tone was drier than I would have liked. "Do you want to hear what I know, or do you want to do some Tai Chi?"

  "Will you show me the hand thing tomorrow?"

  "Maybe," he said. I took that as a yes.

  "Tell me what you know, then."

  "Better get comfy, it's a long tale."

  I pushed back onto the bed even though it was nowhere near bedtime, and he stretched out next to me, careful to stop his body touching mine. I sighed with repressed desire. It rippled through me like a stone skimming the still water of a moonlit lake.

  “Stop it," he muttered.

  "You stop it."

  "Are you ready?"

  "Yes." Even as I spoke, waves of exhaustion washed over me. They threatened to pull me out to sleep, without me hearing his words. I fought it hard. This, I wanted to hear.

  My head ached as I got ready for school. My eyes unable to focus. My head pinched in the iron grip of an imaginary vice. I knew this feeling—it meant a migraine was coming. Nausea turned my stomach.

  "What's wrong?" Nick sat on the windowsill as I banged around my room. He'd kept me awake for hours last night with his soft murmurings about what he knew about me. If I'd expected it to make me feel any better, it hadn't. Now I felt sick, and he was back to keeping his distance.

  "Nothing." I snapped. My head vibrated with every syllable, as if my brain was rattling around in an empty cage.

  "Is this because I told you things you were unwilling to hear?"

  I pushed against the pine drawer of my dresser, which had got stuck at its usual skew angle. When it wouldn't budge, I gave it a hard kick. "No."

  "Here," Nick's voice was close to my ear and his hand reached out and smoothed the drawer shut. He managed it with none of the jerking movements that my endeavours normally created.

  "Thanks." I looked up at his face, his mouth set into that line, the corners turned down. I sighed. "I'm fine, I've just got a headache, that's all."

  Nick's head inclined towards me and I held my breath. I knew it was pointless, although I did it all the same. "Here." He grazed a hand against my cheek, his thumb running along my cheekbone. Where he touched, I felt instantly soothed but it didn't reach deep to the root of the migraine. It still throbbed despite his balm like touch. "You're weaker today." He shook his head and I could sense the frown hidden beneath the cap. "I don't understand it."

  "I'm a mystery," I said. Pushing away, I turned for the mirror. I looked weaker, my hair was thinner, my face more gaunt. How could that happen over night? I blamed my errant thought processes, which had refused to let me sleep, long after Nick had finished talking. All night, images of who my real dad could be had whirled through my head. I thought of my mum and the fact that someone had taken advantage of her. Not in a seedy way, but she hadn't known she was carrying a child that was half celestial. Nor had she known that my biological father was anything more than an average guy who would leave her high and dry with a baby. Nick assured me that my dad must have had a purpose. That star children were so valuable there was no way one would have been created and then left to fend for itself. But all I knew was that I'd never seen a hint of my real dad, and whatever I was, had been causing me nothing but problems.

  "You certainly are a mystery,” his words murmured low in my ear, ringing with a melodious chime. I could feel myself leaning in closer—it was impossible to resist the pull. He slung my bag up over his shoulder. "Shall I meet you outside?"

  "Well, that would be good, unless you want to pop down, say hi to my parents and grab a cup of tea and piece of toast?"

  "Stars don't eat." He didn't get my sarcasm at all.

  "Good for you. I'm hungry. I'll see you at school."

  He tilted his head to the side. "I don't think so, Bron. You're not yourself today. I'll make my myself scarce if you want but I'm not leaving you."

  "Gah! Just give me fifteen minutes alone." My words were harsher than I intended. "I'll meet you at the gates, you can pretend to be whoever you want at school. I need time to think."

  He hesitated. Torn. It was becoming ironic how quickly I was reading him. It seemed pointless him wearing the cap to protect me when I could see what he was thinking just by the angle of his body. "Okay. Fifteen minutes. Any longer and I'm coming to find you."

  I rolled my eyes. He was heading for the window when I called him back. "Nick?" He turned. "Did you resent always having to watch over me like a child you never expected to be responsible for?"

  His hand lingered on the window frame. "No, Bron. That never crossed my mind." And with his words, he dipped over the ledge and found his way down the side of the building.

  Sighing, I frowned. I felt bad for snapping, none of this was his fault. My whole body felt like a battery that was ebbing out of juice.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I found the kitchen empty. In the kitchen, I poured myself a mug of lukewarm coffee. I chugged it down and then swallowed repeatedly as I gagged over the liquid sloshing in my empty stomach. The entire lot threatened to come back up again.

  I only had fifteen minutes before he would come looking for me, and I knew he would. I ran up the stairs to my mum and Aaron's room where I flung open the wardrobe doors. There was a box that resided at the bottom of the cupboard, which I wasn’t supposed to know about, but I did. Even after she and Aaron had got married, she'd never disposed of what was in there. My hope was that it might contain something about my biological father.

  I could ask her? But then that would be a conversation that would border on the insane. "Hi, Mum. Did you willingly allow my real dad to thunderbolt you with his ultra potent plasma? Did you know I would grow up a freak or I could be killed before my sixteenth birthday?"

  The box offered a cloud of dust as I shook the contents onto the floor. Old papers, yellowed and wrinkled, fell onto my lap. I wasn't that interested in paperwork. I wanted a photo or something I could look at and hate. There weren’t any photographs, so I unfolded one of the papers. It was a receipt from the post office for a payment of ten thousand pounds into a saving account. Ten thousand pounds? The receipt was dated six months before I was born. What was this? A down payment on the due care of an unborn celestial child? I knew without a doubt that if I ever met my real father, I would punch him. Nick didn’t know who my father was. Apparently, it could have been one of two Stars of the highest rank. Both of them fell seventeen years before, and neither of them were ever seen or heard from again. The Stars didn’t know where they were but what one of them did in creating me was illegal. I was illegal. I was supposed to pay the price with my life. My headache thudded, my eyes blurring.

  The bang of the front door had me scurrying off the floor. My hands desperately pushed the now crumpled receipt and papers back into the box. I was putting the lid on when something caught my eye. Snagged in the deep pile of the carpet was a sliver of silver. Knowing time was short, I grabbed at it, shoved it in my pocket, and silently closed the door of the wardrobe. I crept out of the bedroom just as Aaron shouted upstairs. "Bron, you still here?"

  "Just," I called back. My voice was tight and strained which made him lean around the banister and watch me walk down the stairs.

  "You look terrible."

  "Why, thank you." I grimaced with my words.

  "Stay home, you don't need to go in. No one's asking you to prove anything."

  Steely determination worked its way through my veins like quicksilver. I knew I had something to prove to mysel
f. "I'm fine. I'll see you later. Are you working tonight?"

  "Yep, I’m afraid so. Will Lauren be here? I’m worried about you girls, the streets are getting rougher with every passing day."

  I flushed slightly when I thought that Nick would probably be with me whether I wanted him to or not. Aaron's eyes narrowed. "I'll check with Lauren." I sped out the door before he could question me further.

  By the time I made it to school, I was well over my fifteen minutes. Nick was pacing in front of the metal gates which stood in an imposing manner, his face was a black cloud, and I swallowed hard.

  "You took too long." His voice was harsh, his hands balled up at his sides.

  “I'm sorry, I went to look for something."

  "Something you couldn't look for with me? Seriously, Bron, that was uncomfortable." His body was tense, his shoulders squared.

  "Why?"

  He turned slightly, lifting his arms above his head. "If something happened to you . . ." His words trailed off.

  "If something happened, your little job of babysitting me would be over. I reckon that would please you."

  He refused to answer, glaring at me from under the peak of his cap. "If something happened to you then it would be a catastrophe."

  "Hm." I wanted to fight him further but my head was spinning and my ability to keep my eyes focused impaired.

  "Bron?" He stepped towards me but I recoiled away from him.

  "I found this?" Shoving my hand deep in my pocket, I drew out the necklace. I felt an unquestionable need to take it out and hold it against my skin. Through my hazy vision, I concentrated on the silver. It was the finest chain I'd ever seen. It looked like it should disintegrate with the lightest pressure, but at the same time, it was cool to my touch, strong, powerful. I felt a pulse of energy emit from my hand. Attached to the chain was a round ball of what looked like hardened dust.

  "Bron, where did you find that?" Nick's voice lifted and caught my attention, it cut through the static buzzing in my ears.

  "What is it?" I talked to the necklace, not to him.

  "It's a moonbeam. It's where Stars draw their power. That's why you haven't had yours. It's outside of you, not inside."

  His words made the universe spin. The world tilted and my body crashed towards the floor. "Nick, I don't think I'm strong enough to hold it." It seemed such a small thing—to hold a necklace in the palm of one's hand, but this wasn't an ordinary chain. I knew that. It was singing, humming through my veins, a song I didn't understand. It taunted me because I was too dumb to realise what it was trying to tell me. It made me know that I didn't deserve whatever secrets the necklace held. That I didn't deserve the hand that destiny had dealt me. I wasn't strong enough to handle it.

  Nick's arms came around me, lowering me onto his lap, his hands smoothing around my face. "Tara, don't you dare."

  Every cell in my body felt like it was catching alight. My skin burned with the scorching intensity of being flayed alive. My blood rang in my ears. In the far off distance I could hear bells tolling, over and over again. My hair, which felt like razor blades, was brushed away from my eyes. "Bron." His voice reached me and I noticed it sounded like bells that had been calling me to a far off destination. "Bron. Fight it, please."

  Dark embers pulled at me, threatening to split me apart. "Damn." The beautiful voice rang again. "Bron?"

  It was too late. I wanted the darkness to take me. I wanted it all to be over, the weakness, the broken bones, the tiredness. This would be how it ended. I felt strangely comforted that I wouldn't have to drag myself through another day.

  The softest pressure fluttered against my burning lips. "Bron." Cool breath brushed over my skin. "Bron?" The pressure against my lips deepened, it was deliciously elicit. With one of my last remaining thoughts I took pleasure in the fact that Nick, beautiful Nick, was kissing me. I relaxed into his mouth, my body relinquishing the fight. I opened my eyes and stared at his torn face, his violet eyes glowed with a power I knew I would never understand.

  "Nick." I breathed, and as I gave myself to him, a blinding white light overtook me. It engulfed me in cool flames that licked along my insides. My tired mind lifted and soared, and from within me, I saw Nick for the first time. The real Nick. The true Nick.

  My star.

  "You have so done it this time." The voice was chirpy. I couldn't understand why someone would sound that happy as they were chased by a swarm of bees.

  Maybe bees didn't sting in heaven. Assuming I'd made it up there. Either that or the incessant buzzing I could hear was the whirl of Satan’s whip as it arced through the air in the pits of hell. No, I couldn't be in hell. I'd done nothing that bad. Had I?

  "It wasn't intentional, I can assure you." The clipped response sounded familiar. For all its barbed denial, it sounded like a long distant memory that pricked at my senses. An uncomfortable wrench tugged at my stomach.

  "Connor's pissed."

  "Oh, I'm sure he is." The familiar voice sounded bored but I sensed an underlying restrained tension.

  "Thing is," there was a clicking sound followed by the flick of paper, "things aren't as straightforward as you'd like. Actually, they're a teeny bit complicated, my friend. So until it's sorted and she's chosen for herself, there isn't anything you can do."

  "I know that." The return was a feral growl. "You don't need to remind me, it's not like I'm likely to forget."

  There was a dramatic sigh. "When's she going to wake up, anyway?"

  There wasn't an instant answer and I strained for a response. Who were they talking about? Were they talking about me? I would not wake up. I exploded into a ball of white light. That wasn't something you could come back from.

  "I don't know." The melodious voice was quieter. "Soon, I hope."

  "For you or the cause, big brother?"

  "The cause, of course."

  "Good." If the chirpy voice was going to say more, the approach of footsteps stopped it.

  "Here she is." It was Lauren. I'd know her voice anywhere. Where the hell was I, then? I tried to open my eyes so I could tell her I was okay and that the white hot flames hadn't consumed me alive. After struggling for a long moment, I realised that my eyes were already open. I couldn't see. Cold prickles of panic spread across my skin, I tried to claw my fingers against a surface but I couldn't move. I was paralysed in the dark.

  "I can't believe this." It was Aaron. "I never should have let her go to school looking that ill. I'm to blame."

  "Did she even hesitate?" Lauren asked. "If I know Bron, which I'd like to say I do, she would have marched straight past you no matter what you said."

  "She hasn't been seeing anyone has she?" This question surprised me and I wanted to sit up and tell him to mind his own business.

  "No, not at all. Why would you think that? We were just lucky that the caretaker found her and called for the ambulance."

  Caretaker? That made little sense. Wasn't I with?.. Who was I with? I know I was by the gates and trying to talk to someone. That someone was pulling me towards them like a million weights were tying me down. But try as I might, I couldn't picture who it was.

  "When's Angie coming back?" Lauren asked.

  My mum. I would have cried if I knew where my eyes were. Where was my mum? I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen her.

  "Soon, hopefully." Aaron said. "Come on, Lauren, she's just sleeping. I'll give you a lift home."

  Sleeping? They thought I was sleeping? Despair ate away at my insides.

  "See you soon, Bron." Lauren whispered, and I couldn't believe they would leave me. That was rude.

  As soon as they left, I felt a stir in the air, it brushed cool over my skin. "Tara, for goodness sake, wake up." It was that familiar voice, the one I'd woken up to. I had no idea who Tara was, but I got the feeling she was a lucky girl to have someone egging her to wake up. "Come on, you've seen me now, you survived it, you will be stronger, you've just got to wake up." I felt a pressure against my forehead and I wanted so badly
to reach for it. I wanted to tell the voice I would wake up just as soon as I could find the way.

  Fingers grazed around my neck. "This is yours. You're strong enough now, Tara. You've just got to wake up and accept your destiny." The pressure pressed against the skin of my forehead one more time.

  "Don't leave me," I wanted to cry.

  "I won't leave." The voice said, and I took comfort I wouldn't be alone in the dark.

  The darkness lasted for three more days. I knew it was three days because Lauren came three times and told me about the days at school I'd missed. And the Saturday she'd had to survive at home with the twins without me.

  The voice had never left me. It was there all the time. I could feel it deep within me.

  On the third day, something happened that I wasn't expecting. As was usually the way when I came around from sleep, I took a moment to adjust to the darkness that filled my vision. It made my blood turn to ice every time, and I had to work my way through the panic the realisation brought about. On the third day, I opened my eyes to the darkness. Instead of a black as deep and as dark as night, I found a violet light sitting at my side. I blinked a few times and turned my head towards the light. It was mesmerising and so far beyond beautiful it felt like it would damage my eyes if I looked at it for too long.

  "She's getting stronger." The words came from the violet light but as there was no response, I assumed it was talking into a phone. It had been doing that a lot, discussing plans, strategies, and things I failed to understand, no matter how interesting they were. I'd wondered at one point if maybe it was an elaborate game of Dungeons and Dragons. That the caller was making his moves from wherever we were. Many references to a hunter had taken place, but these had always been under hushed tones.

  "Yes." The voice said, and sighed as it hung up the phone.

  I swallowed around my dry throat. I knew I could speak to the violet light if I dug deep and found a way. Breathing in and out, I concentrated on summoning the energy.

  "You didn't leave." My words came out so brittle they scratched like broken glass along my throat.