Episode 09

Dec 26, 2023

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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The vase on the table was full of red daisies, as though the one Ash had put in it earlier had spread its crimson beauty to the other flowers. He ate out of the foam food container quietly, a familiar meal in an unfamiliar place. Everything that had happened sunk in and smoldered in the embers of his mind.

Just yesterday he had been ruminating on community, what group of similarly enabled persons he could turn to for support. Apparently, such a group existed, and he had unknowingly been a part of it for some time now. He still had so many questions, he didn't know where to start.

Gayle and Lumina understood the need for silence, but Azalea didn't. She filled all the available airspace with her day at school, her friends, both good and bad, and the latest episode of her favorite TV show. Lumina smiled along and listened, sitting stiff and upright in her chair, with impeccable table manners. Gayle and Ash sat next to each other, which made it easier to avoid eye contact. Gayle was as amiable as ever, but Ash couldn't summon much more than brief responses when asked to pass the salt.

After finishing most of her food, Azalea brought Gayle and Lumina a piece of her birthday cake, then sat down with her own. A second later, she stood up again. "Whoops, we don't usually have company. It's nothing against you, believe me. I mean, if one of my friends got kidnapped I'd totally want a piece of cake, too."

Ash took it gratefully. It was a small consolation prize, but it was something. Chocolate cake with raspberry filling, strawberry fondant and slices of strawberry on top alongside blueberries and raspberries. "Thanks, this is great," he said, a positive endorsement despite his morose tone.

Azalea was still pleased. "Glad you like it. I grew those berries myself."

He felt his fire brighten up a little at the apparent paradox. "Only strawberries are in season right now."

"Well yeah," Azalea said, pulling an orange nasturtium out of her sleeve.

"Right…"

Gayle tried her best to smile. Azalea had texted her the mission was a success, Ash had been extracted from the library and delivered to the drop point of Lumina's room, and he was nice. It looked like they were getting along well already, which was good to see. She wanted to have a nice long chat, but it didn't seem like he was quite ready yet. She realized how quiet it had become.

"Hey Azalea," Gayle said. "We ain't sung you happy birthday yet."

She swallowed her last bite. "That's because my birthday was a week ago."

"Well, every time we eat your cake, we're celebratin', right?"

"Yeah, that's true," Azalea said.

"Alright then. I'll start us out." Gayle didn't move, she didn't stand up or wave her arms, instead she just glanced at the wind chimes hung up near the ceiling, and the air in the room shifted. The stillness of the indoor space was disrupted, the tablecloth fluttered and the hollow tubes of the chimes struck against the weights in the right order to produce the first few notes of the infamous Happy Birthday song.

Gayle and Lumina accompanied the chimes with their voices, and Ash found himself joining in the second half as well. "Happy birthday, dear Azalea…" His first reaction was indignation. His best friend had been abducted, and here they were celebrating a birthday instead of… The 'of what' was the part he hadn't gotten through yet. His second thought was this was the community he had found himself in. They were all concerned about Cascadia's welfare, to be certain, but that didn't mean they were going to be downcast the rest of the time. That seemed to be his job, for now.

At the end of the meal, when cake and celebrations were concluded, Gayle pushed away from the table. "'Bout time to get you home, hon."

Azalea pouted. "Aww, alright."

Lumina dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. "Tell your parents I said hello, please."

"You know her parents?" Ash said.

"Of course. Her family and I have quite the history."

Azalea stood by the door, backpack on and still wearing the cap she had not removed the entire evening. "Lumina's been like another grandma to me." She narrowed her eyes at Ash and smiled. "And that's why I have the cards to get down here totally legitimately…"

Ash mustered a small grin. "Got it."

Gayle slipped on her jacket. "Ash, need a ride too?"

He waited a moment to think about it. "No thanks, I'll take the late bus."

She hid her disappointment well. "Alright. I'll call you tomorrow mornin'. See y'all later then."

After they had left, Ash and Lumina were alone again, sitting at the small table. Ash spoke first. "So… what do we do now?"

"Now," she set down her teacup. "I attempt to find where Cascadia is located, and when I do, we attempt to extricate her."

"A rescue mission?" He raised his eyebrows. "That sounds pretty big."

Lumina lowered her voice. "There certainly may be danger involved. But, Gayle and Azalea are no amateurs. You will be safe with them, to be certain."

Ash was confused. Gayle and danger just didn't make sense.

She took another sip of tea. "Also, did you inform anyone other than Gayle that Cascadia was missing?"

Ash thought back over the last few days. "Yeah, a few people know. Her brother, who lives in Ireland with her family, and a lady who knows her from school. Oh, and one of my old friends too."

"Good, that is better than I had thought. Does her family have a full measure of the situation?"

It took a moment for Ash to realize what she meant. "Oh, yeah. Her parents know about her, and me too. Her brother's first reaction when I told him was that someone had taken her, actually…"

"Well, that will make it easier when informing him of what we've learned."

"Yeah."

"As far as your other friends, they are likely to get worried if you do not update them. We wouldn't want to get the authorities involved."

His fire flickered in fear. "I already filed a missing person report today."

"And I can almost assure you, it has already been erased by one of Drake's spies. Bureaucracy and paperwork are easily manipulated, but word-of-mouth is not. If they or anyone else starts opening up more dialogue, it could result in some sort of police action."

"Why would that be bad?" He sounded hopeful now. "We could use the help, right?"

She shook her head. "Those already in Drake's pocket would look the other way. Those who weren't would be severely unqualified to face a threat like two or three experienced Stars."

Ash was quiet. It was up to him to be the hero after all. But he wasn't alone, even now. "What do I tell them, though? I can only be up front with her brother. I don't wanna lie to our friends."

"Then don't," Lumina said easily. "If they already know her family is overseas, say that she had to go away for a while, suddenly and without warning. I'm certain you can find a way to allay their fears without telling outright lies."

Ash nodded. He was already starting to work out how to address the situation with each person.

"We will find her, please be assured of this. But for now, it's late, and you are probably quite worn out after a day like today."

"Yeah." He got up. "I should get going home."

She gestured to the hallway beyond the door. "Just follow the exit signs to get outside, the doors all open in that direction. And I do have a phone down here, please call if you need anything at all." She waited as he entered the number into his phone's memory, and as he searched his pockets for something to write his own on.

"Hang on," he said, digging into his backpack. He removed one of the fliers he had made earlier. "May as well use these. My number is on it."

Lumina took the paper with shaky fingers. "Oh," she breathed, gazing at the picture taking up a large portion of the paper. Cascadia stood at the railing of a bridge overlooking a vast lake. She had turned her body to the camera, her long braid lazily curled down her back, a brilliant smile on her face. "She's beautiful."

Ash couldn't speak. Agreeing with her would have brought up a bundle of other emotions he wasn't ready to deal with right then.

"Thank you. Have a good night, dear."

Ash wished her the same and made his way out of the labyrinth below the library and into the open air again. Part of him regretted not getting a ride with Gayle, but he needed the space to clear his head and let it all settle in. He had learned many things in a short time, and despite the dread when considering the difficulty of somehow rescuing Cascadia, he couldn't help but feel some sense of peace and relief that he didn't have to do it alone. God had provided exactly what he needed, and now it was up to him to make use of it.

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My first full day in captivity is coming to an end. I'm still not sure where I am, or who's responsible for this. The room I'm in is nicely furnished, and clean, although there aren't any windows and I can't hear anything going on around me. I found this notepad in a drawer in the bureau next to the bed, and a pen to go with it. They both look old, I'm not sure if They know I have them. But for now, I'll keep doing what I do best.

Other than the bed and the bureau, there are a couple of large chairs that are pretty comfortable to sit in when reading the books. There are twenty-seven thick books on a big shelf, the kind that seem old but were printed in the last decade. Most of them I've already read, but there are a few others I've been poking at. Mostly the classics, but also some newer ones that surprised me. There are even some crossword puzzle books, which is kind of gratifying I have something to do, but also surreal that they would be there at all.

There's a painting on the wall, nothing is behind it though. It shows a farmhouse by a pond, with trees surrounding it. It's like They are taunting me with freedom. There's also a television, which I am studiously ignoring, and a couple of big potted plants, and although they're fake (the plants), the pots are still filled with dirt. It's quite odd.

I have a bathroom with a tub, a toilet, and a sink. The cabinet under the sink is locked, which is really unfortunate since I could just burst a pipe and then get out of here in a few minutes. As it is, all the water fixtures are turned down very low, there's barely any pressure. The toilet takes hours to fill. And, the shower only runs for about two minutes, I have to be quick.

I'm still wearing the clothes I went to class in. There are some clothes in the other drawers of the bureau, they still have tags on them and some are in plastic bags, but I don't want to look through them any further. It creeps me out too much. I re-tied my braid in a different style I don't usually do, since it takes about forty minutes to go all the way through it. But now I have time…

Three times a day I get food, through the little room on the other side of the door. I'll admit, I was pretty hopeful when the door wasn't locked, only to be frustrated when I found the other door behind it, which was. Neither door has a keyhole I can force water through, it's all electronic.

I am being fed. I keep the inner door closed, and at six, noon, and six (There's a clock embedded in the wall, did I mention that?) the light on the wall turns red, then the inner door is locked. Once the light turns green again, I can open my door and food has magically appeared. Everything I've been served to drink has been really, really sweet, I can see sugar in the bottom of the cup. It's plastic of course, along with the utensils and the paper plates. Anyway, They must know it's harder for me to work with liquids with dissolved solids in them. Which sounds creepy, but not as creepy as how none of my meals have had meat in them yet.

I hope Chef is alright. I don't know if he's in a room next to me or somewhere else, or anything at all. If he's still free, I want him to know I'm safe, or at least relatively so. He's probably let my family know by now, since he can be open with them about things like this. I never wanted this day to come, but it seems like it finally has. Chef and I always talked about what we would do if we were captured by a shadowy government organization that wanted to experiment on superhumans. The SGOWES, we called it. Mostly the plan is to say as little as possible, to protect our families, and each other. Also, only agree to do black ops for the government or whoever if it was peaceful and good. I'll help irrigate crops in third-world countries, but not kill people with water bullets (Joke's on them, though, water bullets don't work. I've tried. Certain family members hated it).

I know this might sound ridiculous to most people, but it was the reality for us. We've been hiding for so long, and now the truth has finally caught up with us. Or me, at least. The man who covered me in all that dirt looked so familiar, I knew I'd seen him somewhere. Obviously there are more people with powers out there (other than us, of course). We'd always suspected it. But I still don't know what They want. No one has talked to me or anything yet. I guess I'll just keep waiting.

The Bible on the shelf is smaller than the one at home, but I don't mind. Having the Word with me makes this easier, so does writing out all my thoughts like this. I'm tired. I should finish my Rosary. My favorite one was in my bag, I don't know if I'll ever see it again. Good thing God gave us one built right into our hands. Overall, I'm just grateful I'm still alive. I can work with that.

This post was a little shorter than usual! If you’ve read this far, please take a second to leave a comment letting me know that you’re actually reading the story. Or if you can’t think of anything to say, just click the Like button! Thanks a lot.

Episode 09

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