Welcome to the cereal serial version of Octave of Stars! Episodes will release every Monday and Thursday. If you’re finding this story for the first time, be sure to start at Episode 01 for maximum comprehension, or check out The Index for all available Episodes.
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…I'm still not sure what happened, exactly. It just felt like everything… ran out, or was used up, or something like that. I still have my talent, of course, I kept a little water from the faucet and could still shape it just fine, so maybe it was just the sheer exertion? I don't remember ever using my power that much and that quickly before. I guess the analogy of a muscle is more accurate than I thought, since those can get tired easily too. But if—
Cascadia stopped writing; the door to the hallway opened up, and it wasn't time for her meal. She sat up on her bed, listening to the voices.
"Through here." That was Rand.
"Hey, we don't have to move her, the right one is on the other side." That was the other guard, Yin.
"Looks cozy. Do I at least get a TV?" Her heart leaped in her chest.
"Yes, there's one in each suite," Rand replied, "but if you melt it, don't expect us to replace it."
"Don't worry, I'll be good."
Cascadia wanted to bang on the door and scream, but she was sure that wouldn't be helpful. She hardly breathed while the voices moved down the hallway and stopped right beside her wall. Her heart was brimming with prayers of gratitude. Ash was safe, he was alive, and he was just beyond that door.
Right as she was thinking of a way to communicate with him, she heard a motor whirring to life and a screeching metal noise. The wall she had thought was solid rolled upward into the ceiling, revealing metal bars behind it, an actual prison cell. As it got higher, she could see the wall on the other side was undergoing the same process, and slowly Rand and Yin came into view, one looking concerned and the other smug.
Yin spoke first. "Hey, you've finally got some company," he said tauntingly. "Too bad he's over there, though." He and Rand walked back toward the door, and when he was out of sight he added: "Ooh, I can feel the angst from here!"
Cascadia ignored him, because nothing either of them could say could interfere with what she saw before her. The man she had been longing to see for days stood there with his hands in his pockets, wearing a firefighter coat, and different somehow. More sure of himself, and more confident.
Ash let out a breath. She was wearing new clothes, her hair was braided a lot more intricately, but there she was. The same bright blue eyes, the same way she stood with her hip out to one side. Instead of happiness or joy, though, she looked like she was about to cry.
"You weren't supposed to get captured too!"
"Hi Cas," Ash said, a warm smile on his face. "I missed you too. And, believe it or not," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "this is part of the plan to get you out of here. I don't know if they're listening or not."
"Oh, I'm sure they are," Cascadia said at normal volume. "So let's not talk about that. Let's talk about how you got here. Where have you been? What have you been doing? This is like catching up after the weekend, except a lot more intense."1
"Yeah, no kidding," Ash said, gazing at her appreciatively. "But first, I gotta do something. Hang on, okay?"
"Alright," Cascadia said, sitting down on the floor in front of the bars before her legs gave out from the stress.
Ash crossed his cell to the television sitting there, the same model as the one that Cascadia hadn't touched yet. He turned it on, brightly colored children's programming flooding the room, then just stood in front of it, concentrating. He chewed his bottom lip and appeared to think very intense thoughts.
"What are you—" Cascadia began, then held her hand over her mouth.
Ash held up a finger toward her, but said nothing. After about a minute, he walked up to the set and turned the volume down to silence, then sighed and turned back to her. "Sorry, that's hard, I just learned it last night." He stood in front of her and put his arms through the bars to rest against them. With the ease he did it, Cascadia got the sense he had done it many times before. "So yeah, let's get caught up. I like your hair, by the way."
Cascadia blushed, her freckles disappearing for a moment, then gave him a wry grin. "Thanks." She twirled her red braid. "You were in the hotel, weren't you?"
"Oh yeah." He grinned back. "I nearly got to you, too, I think. Gayle was really mad, but we worked it out."
Cascadia stared. "Gayle? Like, our favorite waitress Gayle? She's the friend that's been helping you?"
"One of them, yeah. I can't wait for you to meet the others."
"But how?" she snapped. "Unless? Oh, wait!" She brightened. "Why don't we," she whispered again, "wait until everyone is asleep, and then you melt the bars on your side, and then let me out too!"
"That sounds great," Ash said normally, "except for those." He pointed upward, and she followed his finger to examine the walls and ceiling of his cell, which she hadn't noticed in her fixation on its inhabitant instead. They were covered with small whitish squares, arranged in a scale-like pattern. "Those are heat reflectors, like the ones they put on the space shuttles. I'll bet if I try to heat anything up, it'll cook you instead. Yin said something about me being in the 'right one,' after all. They must have done this on purpose."
"Darn," she said. "And I don't have enough water in here to stay cool, they're drying me out." She looked down at the floor for a moment. "But anyway, back to Gayle! So she knows about us?"
"Knows, and knew, and everything," Ash said. "She's been so much help through all this, you have no idea."
"But how did she even get involved?"
"Well, it was on the day you went missing…"
Ash related the tales of his fretting in his apartment with Óscar Mario, then frantically searching the university and running into Gabrielle, ultimately ending with Gayle learning of the situation. He recounted the day he met a vibrant young girl who was good with plants, and right after that, the erudite lady who secretly lived in the library.2 He told stories of the battle of the warehouse, and attending the gala, then crashing it shortly afterward. Yesterday had been spent in peace, as was fitting, and then he had arrived to stand before her.
For her turn, Cascadia regaled him with stories of her being tailed by Rand between classes, the short scuffle she had with him in the alleyway, then of the time she spent in solitary confinement in the hotel. She told of her attempted escape in proud detail, and her second tangle when the sprinklers came on. It was a shorter story about her time in the Tower, and the incident that had happened last afternoon, during which Ash's face showed the most concern. Cascadia thought of just showing him her notes she had taken down so far, but wasn't quite ready to share some of the more personal missives. She found herself quoting extensively from her memoirs, however.
Once they were both up to speed, they took a little while to let it all sink in. Ash had also sat down on the floor of his cell, wanting to be as near to her as possible.
"I'm really glad to see you, Cas," he said.
"Me too. I'm so grateful we can be this close at last." She closed her eyes. "I was always afraid something like this would happen, that we would be found out and captured and experimented on, and most of that has come true. But…" She shifted around and reached out through the bars, feeling the slightly more humid air. From this, she drew out a sip of water and rested it on her fingertips.
Ash got out his trusty tinder lint, reaching out also and lighting it to hold vigil with her in the hallway.
She started the prayer: "When you pass through waters, I will be with you, through rivers, you shall not be swept away."
He finished: "When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, nor will flames consume you."
They withdrew their hands and their talents, her watching as the drops of water evaporated into nothingness, him putting out the tiny candle and brushing the remains on the floor. The unspoken 'amen' echoed around the room between them, penetrating their hearts.
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"Oh man, what a busy day," Yin said, staring out the window of the Security Office. "First, we had to make sure the Fire Star didn't burn down the lobby, or the Boss' office, then I had to fill out all that paperwork to get him his food and whatever. I'm beat already!"
Rand was sitting at the table, checking his phone's messages. "Does that include the time you spent this morning preening?"
He turned to his superior. "What's that mean?"
"Primping, polishing, getting ready."
"Oh yeah," Yin smirked, confident Rand hadn't just insulted him. "Gotta make sure I'm ready when I'm on duty here, there are way more ladies around than at the hotel. I think I'll have lunch with Chloe today…"
Musing about this potential event, he gazed out at the city. Even though they weren't as high up as Frost's office, he could still see a good distance across the downtown skyline. About two blocks away was a large parking garage, built into another towering building, but visible from their side. While zoning out, envisioning what kind of car he wanted for his dream vehicle, he caught a glint of light coming from one of the upper floors of the garage. The first time he dismissed it as nothing, but then it came again, like a regular pattern. Like some kind of message…
"Hey Rand, do you know… what's that called, the code with the flashing lights?"
Rand looked up at him. "Morse code?"
"That's the one."
"Um, no. Why, is that how you want to send a lunch invite to the lobby receptionist?"
"No, there's just this weird light outside, and you know how we need to be on the lookout for those. Hang on, I think I have some binoculars around here somewhere." He turned from the window and rooted through the file cabinets against the walls. None of these held files, but instead all kinds of implements required for security professionals: tear gas, brass knuckles, several ready-made knives, flashlights, lighters, a frying pan, and finally, a pair of binoculars in a nylon case.
He went back to the window, got a bead on the location, then smirked as he focused closer. "Oh, this is just too good. You've gotta see this," Yin said.
Rand frowned. "What now?"
"The sylph and the dryad are on the roof of that big parking garage. They've got a telescope, and a lantern thingy!" He chuckled. "They must be trying to send a message to the salamander and the undine." He lowered the binoculars and handed them to Rand, who had gotten up to verify this outlandish claim. Yin continued: "This is too easy, we're gonna have a full house tonight!"
Rand squinted at the spot Yin had pointed to, and indeed, Gayle was standing on the roof of the garage with a large white telescope pointed directly at their building, talking to the Wood Star girl, who was excitedly working the shutter of an antique signaling lantern.
"C'mon, let's go get 'em!" Yin said. "You and I can take them both easy."
Rand shook his head. "Did you forget how Gayle can fly? As soon as she sees us coming, they'll be gone."
Yin bit his bottom lip. "Right… Hey, how about we make it so they don't see us!" He snapped his fingers. "Doc Chaudhary just finished working on a new kind of cloak, made to stop the Witch from blinding us all when we capture her. She said because of the darknessy-M, or whatever, that it makes whoever wears it hard to see, even in daylight. We'll offer to test it out, and everyone's happy!"
Rand tilted his head at Yin. "That has to be one of the most reasonable plans I've ever heard you come up with."
Yin puffed up his chest and smirked even harder. "I know, right?"
Within the hour, Yin's Reasonable Plan was put into action. Doctor Chaudhary was glad for her new creation to get a field test, but was disappointed she couldn't also come along because of the inherent danger. Rand and Yin debated on the walk over to the garage who would get to wear the cloak, bundled up under Rand's arm with plain black cloth. After a spirited game of rock-paper-scissors, which Yin won because Rand tried to be different and not play rock for once, and Yin pulled actual scissors out of his sleeve, the decision was made and he slipped the heavy mantle over his shoulders. They were prepping in an alcove behind the elevator, not knowing what sort of cover they might have on the top floor.
"How much dirt did you bring?" Yin asked from inside his new outfit. "I didn't see any planters up there or anything."
"Enough," Rand said, patting his vest. "A little goes a long way."
"Good deal," Yin said. "So, you hold the sylph down, I'll knock her out, then get the dryad once she can't escape. Sound good?"
"It does. If you miss, can I make fun of you for not using a tranquilizer gun?"
Yin twirled around two of the hollowed-out darts in each of his hands. "Sure, why not? This is way more stylish, anyway."
"Whatever you say. I never thought you would be the one calling the shots for something like this, though."
"I'm feeling more clever than usual today," Yin said, as they stepped into the elevator. "I dunno why, maybe one good victory deserves another, you know?"
Within minutes, the two security officers crouched behind a parked car. Yin had his darts ready, Rand had his dirt pooled into a mound at his feet, bound to his hand like a dog on a leash. Rand peeked cautiously around the trunk of the car, ensuring they hadn't been spotted yet. Gayle and the girl were just continuing on with their motions, although they must have been whispering to one another, he couldn't hear anything they were saying. He nodded to Yin, then sent out his dirt trap, rolling across the floor toward Gayle's feet. Yin slipped out and ran through a shadow from the tall building, the cloak swirling around him. Rand had to admit, if he hadn't been looking right at Yin, he might have missed him entirely.
Yin ran swiftly up to the pair, and as soon as the dirt had encircled Gayle's feet, he threw a dart with a flourish of the cloak. His aim was true as always, but he stopped short when Gayle didn't fall down unconscious, or notice the soil around her feet, or anything at all. The darts passed right through her, and neither girl turned to acknowledge their attacker. Confused, Yin drew out a length of chain to tether her with, but didn't count on the edge of his cloak brushing against the telescope next to her. Or, what appeared to be a telescope.
Yin cried out as a blinding flash of light issued forth from the spot where they had appeared to have been standing. As Rand rubbed his eyes also, he scolded himself that things which seem too good to be true, usually are.
Octave of Stars is currently airing on Substack for free, with two of the 45 total posts per week. It’ll be fully released at the end of April 2024. If you don’t want to wait that long, you can get the entire story right now, in either Ebook or paperback. Every purchase supports the ZMT Books mission of family-friendly entertainment.
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It has been ten whole episodes, after all!
Which is better than her secretly living in your home…