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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Azalea's high school was nestled in one of the nicest parts of town, manicured lawns and multiple stories abounded on the surrounding streets. The parish church sat invitingly nearby, the stained-glass windows above the entrance shining in the afternoon sun. Gayle parked across the street from the lines of cars and buses ferrying young people away from their education for the day. She got out of the car and sat on the curb to smoke, and after a minute, Ash got out to join her. She lent him another cigarette; he stood with his legs against the side panel next to where she sat, neither saying anything. They both felt like enough talking had been done for a while.
It was warm and pleasant out, the early spring leaves swaying in the slight breeze. Or maybe it was Gayle, he couldn't really tell. Not long after, he heard a familiar voice calling hello, and Gayle stood up, waving. Ash clenched his cigarette in his fist to put it out while Gayle crushed hers under her boot, and they got back in the car just as Azalea did.
"Hi Gayle, hi Ash," the girl said, dropping her heavy backpack in the back seat and buckling in. She wasn't wearing her frog beanie, so her tightly curled hair was visible, bouncing behind her head in a dark brown cloud. Most of it was kept out of her face with colored straight pins, and upon closer examination, Ash noticed they had little multicolored flowers on them. A glint of light around her neck revealed she was wearing a silver Miraculous Medal necklace as well. "This is great, Lumina called me on lunch and I'm psyched. It's been so boring lately."
"We'll see how un-borin' it'll be," Gayle said, as she waited for an opportunity to pull out. "How was school?"
"Oh my gosh, it was awful." She threw herself back on the headrest. "I tried to sit with Mary at lunch, but Kelsey gave me that look, and she was like no way, so I went to Kevin's table, he almost danced with me at homecoming, but Patty and Cindy were sitting with him already, so that was definitely a no-go. I finally ended up with Darby, but she only wanted to talk about some new movie I haven't seen yet, so I tried to ask what her favorite veggies were, and she looked at me like I was so weird, which is fine, because I am, but then…"
As she talked, little white oleanders sprouted out between her fingers, which she expertly braided together into a circle and hung around her neck. Abruptly, she stopped. "You two are so quiet, what's up?"
"Oh, you know," Gayle said. "Adult stuff."
Ash had zoned out for a minute, he blinked to reorient himself. "I agree."
Azalea laughed, sounding more like a child than she was, then launched back into her soliloquy.
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"We will need to wait until nightfall," Lumina said, switching the televisions in front of her between various exterior views of what looked like a plain, unassuming warehouse building. Ash stood behind Lumina's chair, Gayle sat beside her in another and Azalea curled up on the floor. The youngest Star was playing with a pea vine, complete with little pink flowers. "It will be far easier to move around then. I've appropriated a blueprint of the building—"
Azalea waved her vine. "Appropriate is a fancy word for steal!" Gayle picked up a water bottle from the floor and took a quick sip.
Lumina waited a moment before continuing, while Ash wondered if he should say anything or just roll with it. "There is one main loading door and one smaller side entrance, you'll be using that one. According to the utility records, it has heat, water and electricity, so it could very well be a Frost detention facility of some kind. I don't see communication lines, so any cameras may likely be closed-circuit."
"Awe-some!" Azalea cheered. "New mission: rescue Ash's girlfriend!"
"She's not my girlfriend," he said automatically.
Azalea didn't miss the beat. "Rescuing Ash's girl—friend!"
"Alright you two," Gayle cut in, standing up. "Come on Azalea, I'll help you with your math."
"Great," the girl said, jumping to her feet in a fluid motion. "I hate algebra."
"It hates you too, hon," Gayle said, as she led her away to the kitchen table.
Ash stood in front of Lumina. "Thanks for everything, by the way. I can't tell you how much this all means."
"You're very welcome," she said, smiling with her light gray eyes. "The worst thing in the world is to feel that you are alone, and you most certainly are not."
"I know," he said, thinking back to all the help he had gotten so far from people who were not immediately nearby.
"Now, about this little caper," she said, her voice becoming serious. "There are security personnel stationed around the warehouse. It's important that you let Gayle and Azalea handle them. Your power can be difficult to use in a non-lethal manner." Ash remembered the bully he had intended to send to detention who had ended up in the hospital instead. "You'll find your usefulness in other areas, I'm certain."
"And if Cas is… in there, should we come back here?"
"No," Lumina shook her head. "There is a safehouse, Gayle knows where it is. You will be able to get passports and plane tickets to get her to safety."
Ash snapped his fingers. "Her family overseas."
"That would work, yes. It would set Drake back years. Water Stars are apparently somewhat rare, I have only ever met three of them in all my years, Cascadia not included. That's likely why he was so intent on securing her."
"Okay," he said. He was getting more nervous by the moment, but also more excited. "This is just a lot." He cracked his knuckles, letting out tension. "Gayle and I did a little… training this morning, I guess, but I still don't know what to expect."
"Well, I can help you with that," Lumina said, while Ash sat back down in the chair Gayle had just vacated and turned to face her. She took on a sagely air. "Expect nothing, and you'll never be disappointed."
Ash chuckled. "Thanks for the wisdom."
"I am serious, though," she said. "Drake only has two other Stars in his employ, but they are highly skilled and highly dangerous."
"Those guys who kidnapped her?" He felt a swelling rage just thinking about them.
"Yes, indeed. You'll need all of your wits about you and all of the help from the girls to get through an encounter with either of them."
Ash shook his head. "I still don't get it. Gayle can jump and knock people around, but what can Azalea do in a fight?"
Lumina's eyes sparkled. "You'll see. She would be terribly cross if I told you."
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The constellation of Stars got comfortable to wait out the night. Gayle settled in with Lumina to watch one of her favorite western movies, which didn't interest Azalea or Ash. He found her sitting at the kitchen table, having changed out of her school uniform and into a pair of dark brown jeans and a short-sleeved shirt that was almost the same color. A gray fanny pack with multiple extra pockets sewn on hung over the back of her chair. She had put away the homework and spread out something familiar instead.
"Is that Card Knights?" he asked.
Azalea looked up from the little illustrated characters, a glint in her pale green eyes. "It certainly is. Do you play? Gayle says it's boring and Lumina can't keep track of all the rules. Which is kinda funny, because she can watch twelve TVs at once but not play a card game."
He sat across from her, still wondering why Lumina had called her 'no amateur' in dangerous situations. Gayle had said her aim was good, but what did that mean exactly? He shook his head. "I used to play, a long time ago. I think I still have all my cards somewhere. Lemurian Arthur was my best deck."
"Lemuria set?" she said, her eyes wide. "That was like, forever ago. There's way cooler stuff out now. Here." She quickly organized the cards into categorical stacks. "This is my best deck so far, Valor and Wisdom, with Winter Lancelot for offense and Joan of Arc for support. I've got this one too…" She dug in her backpack for a hard plastic box that she slid over to him. "It's pretty good, Honor and Might, mainlining Don Quixote and Saint George. I beat Rudy Firth with it twice, and he does mostly Wisdom units with spells and tower boosts."
Ash popped open the box and thumbed through the deck. "Woah, two hundred damage? That would have one-hit vanquished my whole deck."
"Oh, that's nothing, I read the next set has a Dark Mordred with three hundred and ten vitality!" Azalea felt the little flower in her heart bloom wider. "Let's play, right now. We can totally finish by the time the movie's over."
"Alright," Ash said confidently. "Have the rules changed much?"
"I don't think so," she said, rummaging in her bag. "These little rule books that come with every themed deck have appendixes for every old set, so you can probably figure it out." She tossed it to him, a stapled booklet emblazoned with King Arthur holding Excalibur aloft, surrounded by other historical cavaliers.
He leafed through it while Azalea got out the play mat and various colored tokens. "This looks the same as when I was a kid," he said. "Let's give it a try."
"Marvelous," Azalea grinned as she began shuffling her deck by laying out stacks of cards.1 "I won't go easy on you, either."
Ash cut his deck and combined the halves together with a quick motion. "That's good, because neither will I."
No matter what happened later, Azalea was confident that this night would be un-boring.
Gayle had seen this movie dozens of times; it had her favorite actor in it. It didn't seem like the Lord had accounted for a cowboy of her own, so this wasn't all bad. Lumina had watched it about half as much, so their film nights, as Lumina called them, were really just excuses to have gal time together. Once Gayle threatened to unplug the other TV's if she didn't stop watching the news at the same time, things went pretty smoothly. She heard Azalea giggling with glee at some well-played card, and felt an echo of that happiness herself. Her mirth died down again fairly quickly, though.
"What d'you think, Lumina? Should we have brought him and Cascadia on board sooner?"
Lumina turned down the volume without picking up the remote. "Perhaps. It would have made things somewhat easier when Cascadia was taken. He would have been spared the initial panic of not knowing, and not knowing whom to turn to."
"Yeah," Gayle said quietly.
"But, you said yourself they both seemed happy. Either frustration now or later, I don't see that it would have made much difference."
"I guess so." Gayle frowned, despite one of her favorite parts being on screen now. "I wish you'd've met her earlier. She's such a doll."
"I will have the opportunity, don't worry." Lumina put her hand on the arm of Gayle's chair and she took it gently.
Gayle nodded. "Yeah, I'll make certain of it."
Lumina squeezed her hand, which to Gayle felt like barely anything at all. "You are not the only one who will determine that, dear, and you know it. Don't take all the burden on yourself."
"But I got to," Gayle said. "I'm the leader, I gotta be responsible."
Lumina gave her a stern look, her gray eyes darkening a moment. "Azalea needed minding after for your first few excursions, but does she need the same attention now?"
"Well… no, she's doin' alright. When we got separated, on that job last month, she did just fine. Made her way back to the car all by her lonesome."
Lumina nodded. "You see? This may be Ash's first mission, but he will not require as much of your guidance as she did."
"How d'you reckon?"
"He knows his power well, and I trust he is responsible enough to use it. And, he's motivated to get Cascadia back by a very powerful force."
"What's that then?"
An odd smile crept over Lumina's face. "I think you know well enough what's between them."
The movie was over around the same time the players finished their game. The plucky sheriff drove the bandits out of town and won the heart of the schoolmarm, right as Azalea put the last spoil card in her vault and claimed the Grail. She congratulated Ash, he had come pretty close to wiping her out when he promoted his Galahad to Knight of the Realm.
"It's time to go, dears," Lumina announced.
Ash helped Azalea pack up her card supplies, then clean up the remains of the cheese and sausage sandwiches he had toasted for their meal. Azalea had provided snacks via a small planter pot she kept pulling carrots out of, as well as the products of a little green bean bush. When everything was prepared, the four Stars stood near the door, Gayle in the middle, Ash at her right, Azalea at her left, and Lumina across from them.
Lumina clasped her hands while still holding her cane. "I would like to say a prayer." Azalea had crossed herself before Lumina started speaking. Ash did so quickly and Gayle clasped her hands and closed her eyes. "Dear Lord, you have given us so many gifts, and we four in particular. Please watch over us as we strive for justice. Protect us in body and mind and let us never forget to do your will." She paused for a moment. "Amen."
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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The only proper way to shuffle trading cards.