The Power of Mortals

By Morgan Straughan Comnick

Book three in Morgan Straughan Comnick's YA paranormal series: "Spirit Vision:"

You are the beacon of the Lord’s two worlds, but how can you protect them when you have lost your shining light?

When Stary Moon, the Spirit Warrior, awakes on the lunchroom floor of her school, battered and bloodied, she cannot recollect how she came to such a state. Stary ignores the concerns of her best friends, Chloe, Rin, and Lauren, and continues to go on with her life, but no matter how normal her days and Spirit Warrior duties are, she feels a lingering sorrow like someone is missing from her life. Her friends discover some shocking truths about Stary and realize they’re the only ones who remembers Umbra—Stary’s boyfriend who has mysteriously gone missing. Stary’s universe crashes around her and the fate of the world rests on her shoulders. Her objective is clear, but when she leaves on this mission, there is no turning back, and she will lose one of her worlds—the mortal world of her family and friends, or the spiritual world of her duty and missing someone, for good. Still, Stary has a point to prove to this dark presence that is threatening to consume the planet: there is power from those one least expects, and Stary is prepared to risk everything on this claim.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Morgan Straughan Comnick
• Release date: May 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370819072

Morgan Straughan Comnick

Educator of young minds by day, super nerdy savior of justice and cute things by night, Morgan Straughan Comnick has a love for turning the normal into something special without losing its essence. Morgan draws from real life experiences and her ongoing imagination to spark her writing. In her spare time, she enjoys doing goofy voices, traveling to new worlds by turning pages, humming child-like songs, and forcing people to smile with her bubbliness. It is Morgan's mission in life to spread the amazement of otaku/Japanese culture to the world and to stop bullying; she knows everyone shines brightly. For more information about Morgan and her works, check out her website, which also have links to all her social medias: http://morganscomnick.com

Book preview

Prologue

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A Word from a Mortal who is Immortal

"H ave you ever considered giving up your life for another? A stranger or loved one? I know we all say ‘Of course,’ but when that final second ticks and the fires are blazing, do we honestly know how we will act? Saying and doing are entirely different.

"I know it hurts to die with all the confusion, the regret, the pain. I also know it’s just as agonizing to be left behind, the movie playing the same horrific second over and over. You can’t rewind; you can never go back. And your fast forward button is broken until you find the will to fix it.

"You love with all of you. It’s buried deep, like treasure. That’s why when your love is gone, the knife wound fits too nicely in the space. But, I would never give up my life. It’s a sacred gift I only receive once. I would struggle for my love’s life, but never lose it, because, if I died instead of him, the shock would destroy him body and soul. He would be stuck with that guilt and broken remote. I could never do that to him.

"All those classic couples who assume killing themselves would cure the pain when they lose their loves, like Romeo and Juliet or Pyramus and Thisbe. What a waste! What terrible role models for unselfish love! Heaven is always open; I should know. Your love will wait for you, as painful as it is. Life is a gift to handle with care. Yet, I understand it’s hard to be a ghost in a living body.

There is no real winner, but regardless, I will never give up my life. At least, that’s what I thought.

1

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The One Who Watches from Above

"I f I have to wait for Lauren for another second, I’ll go bald!"

Sophomore Chloe Dew grunted this loudly in her skull, examining the spilt ends of her blond, wavy locks. What disgusted her most was that her constant tugging on her strands were the cause of her new split ends. She balled a length of her hair in her fist, tangling it and squeezing it for dear life, damaging it, but it was better than chewing on it like a toddler like she was yearning to do.

The young maiden’s nerves were shot, a rocket with no fuel. Her mind began to wander, spin in a cycle of unease as she recalled the events that led to this crashing position. The previous day, she had found her best friend of two years, Stary Moon, sprawled face down on the floor, her body having tiny prickle holes like she was a pincushion, blood lazily springing out of each mark. Stary’s sock was dyed in crimson, stained with her own blood. Chloe shuttered at this section of the flashback, rubbing her hands over her bare arms to control the chilling goosebumps. The sight of blood had always made Chloe ill and now, allowing more captured moments to be glued.

She swallowed, allowing more pictures, captured moments, to be glued to the scrapbook of her mind. Chloe was lucky her friends, Rin Fortune and Lauren Flower, had found Stary. Rin had a unique sensitivity to the vibrations around her and in nature. At times, this included people and beings from the other world, although her abilities were not nearly as sharp. A pull from the air had called to Rin, one with such a driving force that she grabbed their strong and dependable, always sensible friend Lauren with her, clawing her wrist in the process.

Chloe whimpered in her hair, stirring the faint scent of her Strawberries and Cream shampoo, Rin is so rough and gruff. If she was going that mad, if she was that concerned about Stary’s well-being…Then what choice do Lauren and I have other than to believe her now? In the past, it was Stary who believed Rin about her powers; Chloe and Lauren were not for it or against it, just…cautious to believe anything. But now, things have changed.

Other than Stary being physically hurt to the core and being understandably disoriented and weak, the sentence uttered when they questioned where her protector was rattled Chloe to the core, Stary’s haunting words flying around her like bats that plunged into nightmares…

Who’s Umbra?

Umbra Rowe.

Umbra had transferred to Planterville High School in May the previous year, when the girls were freshmen. This still rubbed Chloe the wrong way, the odd timing, the oddity making her even now bite her lip until it felt like the spot would blister. Whereas Stary is sweet, innocent, hardworking, and cheery, Umbra was crud, mysterious, edgy, and blunt. Stary was light. Umbra was dark. Even his dark, handsome looks that included a spiky head of hair and black attire (along with obsession with Harley’s), make him stick out against Stary’s colorful wardrobe and long, princess silk hair. It didn’t make sense to Chloe, Rin, and Lauren to why Stary liked him so much, or how they even met, or how they connected at such a different level.

Rin had observed, Chloe remembered, that since April, Stary had had strange lights and auras following her, clinging to her and one felt similar to Umbra. She was able to tell this with her skills in reading feelings and shifts around auras and people. The problem was, when the girls had met the dashing storybook knight in real life that first day of school, Umbra’s aura was dull, but Rin knew that was a recent development. Since Stary and Umbra had started dating, Stary had been acting strange as well—staring into space like she saw something, hiding in the library more than usual—and the air around her was foreign.

But there was one point in all this semester’s craziness that Chloe could not deny: no matter how much they did not want to admit it, the fact Umbra loved Stary with all his soul, deep into his essence, was undeniable.

On that near traumatic day, the girls had spotted Umbra’s backpack in the corner of the al la carte counter, informing them that he had been there with Stary sometime during the incident. So, when Chloe had asked Stary the day before when they found her so wounded in the cafeteria why Umbra had not been with her to defend her, Stary had replied to her best friends: Who’s Umbra?

Those two little words ensnared Chloe, circling her in a mimicking mantra, a dance set to burn your sanity from the inside. Chloe, deflated and defeated, lowered her head on her cool desk, letting the rest of yesterday’s event after Stary’s horrible question pop in her brain, like a lit firecracker that could not be snuffed out. That question…that one question Stary had uttered, had left Stary’s normally dazzling-as-the-shining-sky eyes become vacant, bleak…lifeless. Chloe allowed the images to unfold like a horrible fairy tale she knew she had to finish:

With this statement, these two words, a feeling of a cold waterfall had drenched the three overwhelmed girls, chilling their bones in place. Stary’s proclamation rang in their ears, the pitch too hard to block out of their minds, but they each responded differently. Lauren almost dropped the backpack to the ground, her hands suddenly clammy. A dread hit her stomach, making her grip slip from sweat, a new sensation for her. Rin’s tarot cards buzzed, banged, burned to be noticed in her pants pocket, only heightening her emotions of alarm. Her heartbeat spiked to that similar to a hummingbird. Chloe’s heart had the opposite reaction to Rin’s; it began to break, shatter, the shards sinking into her shrinking soul. All she knew was gone, Stary’s lack of positive nature, goofy smiles, warmth for life, zapped her hope from her. All three of them never realized how Stary’s attitude and presence affected them so.

Lauren coughed loudly, making herself almost choke, but she had to break the tension that was squeezing their group like an invisible noose, Stary, do you recognize this backpack? She carefully handed Stary the contrast bag as if it was made of explosive glass. Stary reached for it, grunting under its weight, making the girls give her a small smile at her charming, usual clumsy nature.

Stary inspected the backpack with the eyes of a curious kindergartener, but thoroughly like someone who inspects a shipment of antiques to apprise them for a living. As she was doing this, Chloe twiddled her fingers by nervous impulse. It took her a few strained breaths to find a voice, "Stary, I’m not sure what happened, but you know if I was in this situation, you would tell me that pretending Umbra doesn’t exist isn’t healthy. He—well, he—is your first boyfriend…"

Stary threw her head back and hooted, loudly, deeply, the echo vast in the lunchroom. The others stared at her, stunned. It was an honest laugh, but it had no cuteness in it. Instead, it held a bitterness that left a sour taste in Rin’s mouth, especially since, once again, no light at all entered Stary’s ocean eyes. Stary’s back was turned from Chloe as she rubbed her thumbs over the mysterious backpack, but she tilted her head slightly so Chloe could hear her better.

HA! Boyfriend? Oh Chloe, that’s so funny! You know I’ve never had a boyfriend; you’d be the first one to know if I did. I’m not really interested anyway. My daddy would give any boy a hard time right now and since the whole Credence thing, how he used me to get into Kevin’s gang, there’s no need for crushes right now. Thanks for trying to cheer me up though. She waved her hand in the air dismissively and strode off slowly, limping, to the corner of the cafeteria to unzip the backpack in peace and get over her laughing spell.

Ha! A boyfriend! Ridiculous! And Umbra?! What sort of Star Wars type name is that? Stary’s mind mocked.

Lauren stepped forward, her hand in position to touch Stary’s shoulder, but it was stuck mid-air. All this strangeness was straining her. Stary, you remember what Credence did to you in this room last April when we had the sundae party?

Stary snorted and blew a loose strand of hair from her face as she dug through the backpack. She stuck her hand down further, biting her lip as she obtained a glossy black pencil at the bottom of the bag. This search, although it had no point to her, was becoming a fun treasure hunt. Yet, the backpack did have a smell that made her heart swell. Of course. He made me get on stage at the spring dance and then hit on the girl in front of me. It was so humiliating. Then, at the talent show, he tried to drop a sandbag on me while I was singing, but he got hurt on stage. Mark helped solve the mystery of what he truly was and I told him off. Sort of hard to forget that Lauren, no matter how banged up I am at the moment.

Lauren blinked several times, hoping the dancing dots in front of her pupils would bring Stary back, her loyal friend since third grade, but alas, to no avail. She continued searching the backpack for the thrill of a hunt, none of the personal items Umbra used phasing her.

A voice cut through the atmosphere, crackling in everyone’s ears although her voice was merely a whisper, Do you remember Maren Rowe?

Stary stopped in her tracks. She hugged the backpack suddenly, but not with affection or to protect it. A guilty feeling crawled up her skin, like she was stealing the backpack, sneaking it away from the scene, but she got busted by Officer Fortune. Lauren and Chloe stared at Rin, asking her in dumbfounded stares where on Earth that came from. Rin’s harsh glares and determined face made them back up as she looked into Stary’s eyes that were as timid as a deer, but as dull as an abandoned building. The heart of Rin’s cards was guiding her, leading her, using her as a medium to ask this question.

Stary answered regardless of the randomness, The dead girl who was found in the janitor’s closet in April? Of…of course I do Rin. It was so tragic and I…I felt like I knew her. Stary’s voice was clogged with emotion and moisture was hinting to break away from her eyes, making them glossy, but, still, no light entered. This confirmed a notion Rin had suspected for a while now: Stary has communicated with Maren in her afterlife. Rin swore she thought Umbra was involved based on his aura, but, if Stary could remember Maren, why not him…?

In one of the side pockets of the nightshade-toned book bag, Stary pulled out a rubber band bracelet. It was black with silver crescent moons and stars all over it in a scattered pattern. Chloe held her breath. She recalled when Stary was given this gem by her library aid partner and she wanted to give it to her love to think of her in his studies. When she spoke of it to Chloe, her smile was so pure, her blush so darling, and her happiness so massive that it seemed to affect the whole world. Chloe swallowed, remembering the panic butterfly feeling she felt to see her so helplessly in love with a boy. Now, Chloe prayed Stary would have that reaction and become herself—bright, sunny, shining, once more.

Stary twirled it between her fingers, her baton twirling skills kicking it, eyeing the little markings with interest for a split nanosecond, but she flicked it off her hand, emotionless, and tossed it heartlessly in the backpack, zipping it up with a finality that ripped the little hope left in the girls out of their chest with a force that could blow a mighty oak down. Their Stary was here…but also gone…

Casually, Stary placed the backpack in the lost and found near the a la carte counter and hobbled over to her pals, leaning on Chloe for support. She shrugged, apologizing with her youthful grin that she did not solve the mystery. Sorry. I’ve never seen that backpack before. I’m sure the owner will find it. But, now, I think I need to get this bloody, no pun intended, inspection over with so my friends don’t miss any more class due to my klutziness. She ruffled the back of her head, still beaming with her eyes closed.

As the four girls walked on, although Stary’s smile was bold and bright, it was the saddest thing they had ever seen, adding a heavy weight on their shoulders, a burden branding itself in their hearts. Glancing at each other, the trio silently vowed to crack this case and rescue the damsel who did not know she needed saving. Unknown to the group, but known to the one who watches from above, on the final steps of the girls’ journey, before they entered the hall to the nurse’s office, the last connection to Umbra vanished into a smoke of vines, his backpack blinking out of sight and out of mind, a phantom of Plantersville…

Ms. Dew? A wailing pitch jolted Chloe out of her dazed, motionless state, her jump making her whack her elbow with a loud thud to the delight of her classmates. Her advanced math teacher had spoken to her, waving a pink slip in her sleepy face like a small, taunting flag. But, to Chloe, this note was grander than the keys to Atlantis. She gingerly grabbed the note from her teacher’s hand and tried to contain her desire to sprint out the door, the mere five feet it took to walk to this far too sluggish of a quest. Once the door was closed, Chloe was greeted with the wise, lush-spring-leaves-colored eyes of Lauren. The two nodded a silent code and walked to retrieve Rin. Their pact would be instated now for their precious friend named after the beauties of the night time skies.

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What do you mean there’s no Umbra Rowe at this school?! Chloe shouted, slamming her sparkling orange-nailed hands on the secretary’s desk. This was so out of character that the secretary slid her chair back and grabbed her chest, close to fainting, her eyes becoming egg shaped. Lauren had to pull the growling like a German Sheperd Chloe back with force. Rin was one percent away from tackling the office worker to the ground, her irritation rising as a vein in her pasty forehead bulged, her nostrils flaring from angry heat. Now that Lauren was preoccupied, Rin was sincerely considering when to sick them.

Lauren heaved Chloe out of way, looking at the freighted secretary, Mrs. Pride, who was now biting her fingernails in a twitter with pleading, apologetic eyes. Lauren’s forest green gaze stressed from all this chaos that ensued on top of Stary’s pandemonium. Mrs. Pride, I apologize for my friend’s lack of courtesy, but this is a very important issue to us. We are trying to locate a sophomore who attends Plantersville High, his last name Rowe… She chewed on her lip, her mind reeling to recollect the name Umbra’s birth certificate actually held. Chloe twisted her hair in knots, annoyed as her downcast stare was searching for Umbra’s school name on the shiny chocolate tile colored floor.

Gary. Gary Rowe. Geez, you guys are useless and I never understood why that moronic Goth wannabe choose such a loser sounding name. Idiot! Rin fumed, her streaming breath near visual as if burning coals had been placed under her mouth, molding and melting her sharp sword of a tongue. Her glare made Mrs. Pride shiver more as she searched in the school’s database once more, but again, the results were blank. She ducked her head animatedly in her chair as she repeated the disappointing news to the ladies who were not acting like one.

Lauren crisply sighed, placing her fist under her chin in thought. Her glasses began to fog up from her deep thinking and the tension in the office. How can that be? Granted, Umbra suddenly moving was our best guess in our discussion over the phone last night, but his records disappearing? It takes weeks for the moving school district’s process to happen and every school is required to keep the file of every student until they leave that building, so Umbra’s files, by law, have to be in the system until he graduates high school and, although he is intelligent, his files would still be here until May.

This riddle was becoming harder and harder to solve, a real Sherlock Holmes mystery laid in front of Lauren’s feet. She should have been thrilled, knee deep into a mode of investigation, but seeing how overly happy Stary was, even for her, and no light, no brilliance, no uniqueness no longer in her eyes took the reward out of it. And for a person to simply vanish, their existence almost wiped clean like the beach lapping the sandy shore, was intimidating, scary, maddening to think about.

This could be something much worse than we imagined, Lauren pondered.

Rin snapped, a rubber band stretched way too thin, Look! I’m usually not disrespectful to adults to their faces, but we’re in a crisis here! Someone can’t up and go disappear from everyone’s mind! You have folders, permanent records, of all the students, right? Why don’t you get off your behind and go fetch them?

With a yelp that sounded like a toy dog being nipped at, the secretary shuffled away and rummaged through the file cabinets in the back. Just then, Principal Sea emerged from his office, his curly hair looking clownish, matching his reddish nose and irritated face. Rin stomped, prepared to charge him, her finger wagging in the air like a weapon. Lauren had to jog to restrain Rin with her arms and drag her short, but full of spunk friend literally kicking, cursing, and at one point, biting, away from the principal. The gentleman just stared mincingly, but unmoving, at the girls. Once again, Lauren broke into a sweat with all the tugging and shouting she had to be heard over Rin in a vain effort to calm her. When did I become the zoo keeper and ring master of this circus of heck?

Principal Sea straightened his gray suit jacket and cleaned his glasses, his voice roaring over the girls angry commotion with ease, I would prefer you not threaten my secretary, Ms. Fortune and Ms. Dew. Since I am in a generous mood and it’s both of you young ladies first time even in my office, I will let that be a warning.

A weight was lifted off Lauren’s shoulders (partly because Rin stopped fighting to get out of Lauren’s iron clad grip a little), her relief as large as her spreading smile. Thank you, sir. We greatly appreciate your generosity and we did not mean to disrupt your work. We did come in here for an urgent cause.

Principal Sea stoked his smooth chin, Ah, yes Ms. Flower. I heard you mention something about Stary Moon. Her father was one of the best teachers I’ve ever had the honor of working with in my twenty-eight years. She is a fine young lady and I’ve known her since she was four. Has something happened that I can be a service to, as long as your friends stay sane, of course?

Chloe stood in her spot, swaying to a song in her head. With a loud grunt, Rin broke from Lauren’s wavering from tiredness grasp and stomped to the corner of the office, arms crossed, ignoring everything but the ticking beat in her heart that told her they had to hurry. Lauren took this as an agreement and rehashed the story to the principal. He helped Mrs. Pride look through the files, searched his memory of enrolling such a spiky haired young man, and went through his files, but, it was all anon. No memories surfaced. No files found. No records. It was like a balloon the size of Texas had popped loudly, their shattered dreams leaving pieces behind. They left the office and returned to class feeling like red F’s were tattooed on their foreheads.

The rest of that school day, the girls observed Stary like hawks, clinging to her, their eyes glued to her every move, emotion, word. She was a perfectly happy Stary, laughing when Mandy tried to pop a grape in her mouth and it hit her eye, brushing off a snarly comment Barbara made, giving Allen advice in private and winking slyly at Chloe a few times. This made Chloe blush slightly. How she wished she had normal worries right now, like wondering if you should date a boy that liked her?! Hard to believe that encounter was yesterday! She noted.

Stary was an average girl, singing The Pokemon theme song in the hall, skipping to class with her friends, reading a manga and ignoring the your book is backwards comments from the jocks in her homeroom. The only thing that had changed was her chilliness towards Credence, but Chloe did not discourage this in the slightest. All was just like before Stary had met Umbra, but it seemed…wrong. Umbra, Chloe concluded, was the light in Stary’s heart, her nature, her smile, for all these years; they all, even Stary, were waiting to discover this shining star, this ray of sunshine, this beckon of darkly clothed hope.

Umbra was Stary’s light, in her soul, her heart, her eyes.

None of them could adjust to the dead stillness in her eyes, even when she grinned like a moron, laughed sweeter than sugar, helped someone in need, or had a cute, clumsy moment. Only the eyes allowed everyone to see past the disguise, the mask, Stary was forced to wear so well. But…how could a person be erased from records? From minds of everyone but her, Rin, and Lauren? It was like something out of a movie, a movie Chloe wanted no knowledge of seeing.

It was the start of seventh hour, an hour before school was out for the day. Lauren and Rin strode over to a fidgeting fingers Chloe in the cafeteria, their faces stern and solemn. Chloe jumped out of the plastic seat like there was a boiling pot under it. She ran towards them, her balled up nerves making it impossible for her to stay still. Her head was spinning, her hair frizzing like she was becoming psychotic. Well? she blurted, high-pitched and impatient.

Lauren shook her head sadly, her ponytail whipping her arms as if punishing her. Rin’s face was set in stone, her thumbs absentmindedly rubbing her pocket with her tarot card deck, although they were quiet, chilled, as if mourning for all the dead ends in their epic quest.

Adjusting her glasses, Lauren replied, None of Umbra’s professors remember him. They were kind and let us look through notebooks and journals for his name, but again, nothing. No homework samples and his classmates said they would have recollected a boy with black spikey hair dating Mr. Moon’s daughter. I could not argue that unfortunately.

Rin huffed, a wave of her sandy bangs feathering to the side in an odd cowlick fashion. Her voice was informative and crackling with a pinch of displeasure, I interviewed all the little boys on the track team and although they didn’t know what the cracker jacks I was blabbing about, which for idiotic boys is not surprising, they want me to let them know when this amazing Umbra comes to our school because he sounds like a ‘god!’ Blah! She stuck her tongue out in disgust, whitening out the images of the tripping, gushing, jock boys from her mind. She went on:

I talked to the track coaches as well, the ones who bowed at Umbra’s feet for him beating all those track records, and, again, blank stares, mouths hung open to catch flies. It was gross. I checked the plaque for this year, the one that had his name plastered all over it last week when they revealed it. Surprise, surprise: Mr. Uses-Too-Much-Hair-Gel is not there.

Chloe’s face fell, her last ounce of hope zapped, sucked forcefully out of her. Umbra was gone. How at the start of the year, she selfishly wanted this, but now, it was a slap in her face. Lauren and Rin exchanged glances, their feelings mirroring their blonde friend’s. As Chloe swallowed down a hard sob, leaving a bitter aftertaste, she questioned Rin, Are…are your cards saying anything to you?

Chloe and Lauren really did not believe in Rin’s tarot cards like Stary, but Rin had been right about many things that seemed out of their normal realm, the natural world, another world beyond life it seemed at times. This year had especially held true. She had sensed when Stary was in danger or harmed and now…the girls were desperate, wanting to believe in any sort of miracle.

A look of sadness washed over Rin’s face, her rough frontage sinking with the color in her cheeks. She adverted the pair of eyes pleading full-heartedly with her and her powers, skills she never understood, focusing on her jean pocket, tapping the cards cradled within the fabric in a comforting rhythm, hoping to wake them up deep down inside her being, There is surely something sinister in the air, mostly here in the lunchroom, but it’s fading quickly, my cards now so used to it that they can tune it out. They’re making popping like popcorn noises and get static at times when I’m around Stary, but, right now…they are normal cards. That worries me. Either we are all trapped in a nightmare only the three of us can see or something is powerful enough to drain their ability to sense. That honestly frightens me.

Rin, tough as nails, the one to tackle any obstacle head first, get her fists swinging, her fiery passion ablaze, admitting she was frightened with this declaration made it all too clear to ignore, a huge sign in all their faces: They were out of their league. They had only one other place to visit to see if this was something none of them wanted to admit, out of their world, literally. If this failed…what option did they have to save their precious Stary Moon?

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Rin, Chloe, and Lauren walked swiftly across the lawn after school, observing the old black Ford truck parked on the left side in front of their neighbor’s basement entrance, the massive red roofed country enclosed porch greeting them like Santa trying to hug you when you least expect it. With a gulp and her two companions stationed like pillars behind her, Lauren knocked on the door, the pounding vibrations stirring the four darling, yapping pups they knew were inside.

I doubt they’ll answer. You know the rules; we have to call first and have a day planned to see her at least two weeks in advance. A random visit is like a sin here. Chloe squeaked, wringing her hands together as if she were cold, but instead, she made them chapped. "This whole disarray is going to mess up my delicate skin and then playing my flute will be a…"

Shush! I hear voices! Rin hissed, making the girls freeze.

They waited, the buzzing of fall bugs and calling of birds being their ticks and tocks in this endless clock dance of waiting. After three minutes, or, to them, until they felt the strain in their toes, they took a breath and exchanged glances on what to do. Chloe looked like she swallowed a lemon whole, defeat sticking to the roof of her mouth. Rin’s eyes turned into slants, her churning emotions blending inside her chest too jumbled for her to read. Lauren let out a sigh, allowing it to ascend to the heavens. She was at a loss: a loss of answers, of what to do, of how to carry on. It was a sensation she would adjust to, but for the first time in an extremely long while, Lauren felt…useless, a problem she could not explain or solve taunting her. And it was all due to the slide of hand that fate suddenly handed her in the result of a dim Stary, a fact she was not sure she could allow.

I think we should go guys. They would’ve come out by now. It was worth a shot though. Lauren confirmed in a monotone, mustering courage she knew was false.

Mopping away, heads down from the heaviness of this task and the glaring sun, the girls ventured slowly down the porch stairs in the pursuit of their homes. That was, until out of nowhere, a click flew into their ears, then, a few heartbeats later, a head as golden as a field of wheat barely revealed itself from the stop-sign-colored door. The trees rustled, whistled in a wind, a calling that told the girls to wait a few moments more and sure enough, they were graced with a pair of timid, unsure eyes they knew well; deep, stormy ocean blue, the small amount of light in them as refreshing as a lighthouse to a ship lost at sea.

However, the twosome of eyes belonged to the wrong Moon, a younger Moon: Link. Normally, he snubbed the girls like they carried the plague (he was eleven, so this offended none of them). To him, they were merely Stary’s overly giggly, silly, boy nuts gal pals, but his stare, his youthful face of innocence, was begging for help today. Still, a shyness overwhelmed him, stopping his plan the second he absorbed their surprised faces.

Chloe stepped forward two steps, giving Link a small smile to reassure him. Hey Link. Sorry to bother you so unexpectedly. We were…we just wanted to check on Stary, but everything must be okay, so we’ll be heading out. Sorry to make you open the door. She waved like a queen in a parade, that tiny, sincere grin still plastered to her face as she backed into her original spot, signaling the girls it was time to truly depart. Link may have been an annoying little brother, but there was no sense in getting him in trouble or worrying him.

They went down the three snow white steps that led to the front yard, the hollowness of the wood rattling their bones, echoing the beats in their chests. Before getting more than a yard on the grass, they heard running steps pattering on the paneling and a question that halted them: Are you here to ask about Umbra? Link’s voice was rushed, his eyes bulging out of his skull, making his moonlight-colored skin even whiter, bleaching with his blowing hair.

Chloe’s eyes filled with moisture begging to be released, but she dare not now; her mind was defensive, assuming it was an fantasy, a wish, an answer to a prayer that someone else knew that name, Link, you know…you remember…Umbra?

Rin and Lauren were on pins and needles, staring at the boy, mouths trying to hinge.

Link nodded, his pupils sad and confused, "It’s hard to forget a guy who had spikes more prickly than Sonic the Hedgehog and looks like the walking mascot for Hot Topic, without the piercings. A guy who actually liked my sister seemed less likely than her dream of becoming the next pink Power Ranger, but here he was in all his Harley riding, tattooed glory!" he rolled his eyes, his mop top making the rotation with them.

Tattoo? Rin said with an arch in her pitch and eyebrow, her mind assessing the possible locations and look of such a secret, but she should have figured he would have one.

Lauren shoved Rin out of her way to look Link square on. "Link…if you remember Umbra, then have you noticed anything…different about Stary?"

The twinkle from his playful description of Umbra blacked out, a power outage in his eyes, but waves flickered inside them, pure sadness trying to consume the shores of his vision, Yeah…She woke up this morning all Miss Mary Sunshine, kissing the top of my head. It was pretty sickening! I asked her if Umbra had given her the smooch of the century or something, but she stared blankly into space, a darkness covering her whole face although the sun was streaming through the window. When she smiled at me again, chuckling on how she was never allowed to have a boyfriend, her eyes were…vast, blank. It was as if Umbra’s absence zapped everything out of my sister’s eyes.

Did your parents notice? Chloe asked gently, afraid of breaking the boy.

He shook his head, his hung head falling lower. I asked if they thought Stary and Umbra had a fight and if she was maybe pretending to not remember him, but mom and dad stared at me like I had grown a second head, which would be rad! Anywho, I explained the whole dinner fiasco and it went over their heads. It was as if Umbra had been stripped from everyone’s minds.

What’s Stary doing now? That pipe came from Rin, her gaze protective.

"She’s doing her homework, humming Sailor Moon theme songs, but they seem so empty, meaningless; everything she does today seems like she’s playing the act of the perfect Stary, but it’s beyond her control. She told me she was going to go to bed at seven, which is about two hours earlier than her normally abnormal bedtime! It’s like she, unknown to her, wants to sleep the empty space away…"

Chloe’s heart twisted, yearned to hug Stary, cry for her until all of this was fixed. But, could it be fixed? How could Umbra be a fading memory only recollected by a few, so easily to slip out of grasps of those who interacted with him, looked up to him, depended on him? How cruel this all was, fate making Umbra and Stary some sort of fantastical Romeo and Juliet!

Chloe decided to tell Link their mission; the more allies who loved Stary, the better. She spoke the only message pulsing in her mind’s eyes, ringing in her heart, Link, the three of us remember Umbra, but no one at school does: classmates, teachers, his landlady. All his records have vanished, his name off of the track record plaque. Something is tremendously wrong here, and…well, as silly as it sounds, we are running out of real world explanations. We need to start considering…beyond our realm of understanding options.

The youngest Moon member did not show any expression of shock or lunacy towards the young determined women in front of him. In fact, he nodded with confidence, a bond flowing in his veins at Chloe’s words, Stary has been strange for a while now, but I agree with you. I know that Stary is, well, the only way to explain it is…special. After dinner, I…I saw her and Umbra hugging good-bye and these lights surrounded them. Umbra and Stary were playing with them and then they began to— he shook his head fast, banishing the image from his head, a power of his sister’s he was not meant to know. Even though they fussed, he loved her and had to keep some of her secrets.

The girls did not pressure him, but clasped his hand, making a vow that the four of them would watch over and protect Stary, seeing what they could do for her. Four guardians, of blood and love, dedication and purpose, pleading to bring the light back to the maiden of the Moon house, a princess who affected them far more than they ever expected. The wheels of fate began to turn, watching, moving their clogs