Episode 14
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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In the car, Gayle checked over the map with the overhead light. Ash noticed the route she was tracing and spoke up. "Hey, my apartment is on the way, can we stop there real quick?"
"Sure, hon."
Azalea had plugged into her CD player and was bobbing her head along in the backseat. She checked through the pockets on her fanny pack, from time to time pouring the contents of a paper packet into one of them.
Gayle kept her eyes on the road. "Are you nervous?" she asked.
"Yeah, pretty scared. I feel like… I dunno. Like I'm in a movie. Like someone is gonna yell 'cut' and we all go back to our regular lives."
Gayle wished that was the case. She wanted a re-write of her script, a real hero for her leading man, like the dashing sheriff.
"And when we win," Ash was saying, "when we get Cas back, then what? From what Lumina says, Frost isn't going to just let us walk away. We'll be on the run until, when, he dies? But what if someone takes over the company who is just as bad as he is?"
"Well…" Gayle said, thinking it over. The idea came to her all at once, it surprised her. "You know, I hear Ireland is real pretty. We could start a little farm, us five. I know how to do cows, Azalea can grow us food. We'll get Lumina a few dozen TVs. You can cook for us and Cascadia'll make sure the well don't run dry."
He laughed at first. But the thought lodged in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like a pretty good plan.
Ash pointed out the front window as they pulled into the parking lot. "It's over there, we have one of the garages."
"Plenty of room for boxes in there, I'd reckon."
"Heh, yeah. I'll just be a minute."
Azalea took out her headphones as Ash got out of the car. He unlocked the sliding door and made his way inside the cramped storage unit. The old fluorescent light took a minute to work up to full brightness, but he knew where he was headed. Most of the boxes were Cascadia's, or rather her family's, things her parents wanted to keep in the States when they relocated overseas. The ones in the back were Ash's, assorted family mementos and winter clothes. Things for a specific season or purpose.
He cut open a box with his pocket knife and rooted around inside. Big thick jackets, he never needed those. Going without a coat in the winter was one of those things he never had to worry about explaining. At least he didn't go around wearing flip-flops and shorts during a snowstorm. The box behind it was the right one.
Ash emerged from the back of the garage feeling ready for danger at last. Inside the car, Azalea breathed "Cool…." Ash had put on a gray firefighter's turnout coat, with a flexible hood sewn on the collar. His pants were made from the same thick material, and he had traded his comfortable sneakers for tactical combat boots.
He got back inside, setting his rolled-up red jacket at his feet. Azalea wasted no time. "Look at you, mister. Don't tell me you used to be a firefighter too," she said, pointing to the patch on the lapel that read 'Grisarco.'
"No, it was my uncle's. I got it from him when he retired, thought it might come in handy someday."
"Lemme guess, you may be fireproof, but your clothes aren't, right?"
Ash chuckled. "You got it." He plucked at the fabric of his coat. "Plus, this stuff is really tough, like body armor. I figured I should get promoted from Errant to Vassal Lord sometime," he said, pointing at Azalea.
She scoffed. "I think you used Clerical Exception to skip to High Champion, dude."
Gayle smiled. She enjoyed when Azalea was this happy. Excited, always, but not this genuinely pleased. The regret she had felt having to rope Ash into all of this finally started to float away. But, for something to float away, she had to let go of it first.
The crew rode in silence for a little while, which was somewhat painful for Azalea. "Okay, weird question time, Ash."
"Huh?"
"Your skin is fireproof, but what about your hair? Have you ever burned it all off? Inquiring minds want to know."
"Uh, no. If I cut it, then the cut hair will burn. Don't ask me how I know that. But if it's still attached to me, then it won't."
"Weird…" Azalea said, gazing out the window at the nighttime city. "It's like, 'you' are the thing that's fireproof." She held her cupped hands in front of her, encompassing the being in the front seat. "The hair on your head is still 'you,' but when it's cut, it isn't anymore. Your 'you-ness' ceases to apply to it. I don't get it!"
Ash murmured to Gayle: "Is she always like this?"
Gayle nodded. "Always."
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The station wagon moved slowly through the dark spaces between the warehouse buildings near the river. Gayle killed the headlights to avoid attracting attention. According to the map Lumina provided, they still had to walk about a quarter mile to get to the building itself. But that wasn't so bad considering the potential goal.
Azalea put her backpack in the trunk, then strapped on her gray fanny pack. She completed her ensemble with a dark gray hoodie, but pulling her favorite frog beanie out of the pocket and tucking her curls underneath it. "We have to leave the doors unlocked," she said, "so anything you want safe should go in here." Ash peered in, it was full of cardboard boxes and fabric bags, hand tools and a shovel and what looked like a rolled-up tent. "We rigged it so it doesn't open without the key."
Gayle was rummaging through the supplies and slipping a few things into the pockets of her olive green jacket. "True enough. Remember that time we had a hobo campin' out in the backseat when we were gettin' that equipment at the train yard?" She had a cigarette in her mouth and handed one to Ash without him asking.
Azalea wrinkled her nose as he lit up, it was gross but pretty neat watching him light it with just his fingertip. "Yeah, the poor guy. I'm glad I got to give him a bunch of carrots before we kicked him out."
"Bet he ain't never had that for a handout before."
Ash was watching this exchange with amusement, trying not to let his nerves get the better of him.
"Alright," Gayle said, closing the bag she had been checking through and standing up. "Time for some rules. First of all, I'm in charge. Every team has to have a leader, and I'm it." She pointed with her cigarette at Ash. "Any objection, you can stay in the car."
"Yes ma'am, Gayle ma'am!" Azalea saluted her. Even though this lecture was for Ash, she wanted to show her support.
Ash just nodded and smoked.
"We stick together unless I say otherwise. Follow me close. If somethin' goes wrong, I cain't jump you out unless you're right beside me. Next, if someone has a Frost logo on their duds, don't worry about hidin' your power from 'em." She shook her head. "The folks in these places have special trainin' on how to deal with Stars. Real classified, but 'course Lumina found out about it. They know what we are, so don't hesitate in front of 'em."
Ash suddenly had a memory, which felt so far away now, but was what, four days past? Sabotage at key facilities by so-called vigilante eco-terrorists. "You've been giving them a hard time for a while now, huh?"
"Yup," Azalea said proudly, putting her little hands on her hips. "Remember when they had to shut down their research facilities two months ago? Turns out they had rose bushes growing inside their computers." She flashed a mischievous grin, her white teeth a contrast against her dark skin. "Who knew?"
"Lumina's doin' all she can to stop 'em workin' on the Prism," Gayle said, breathing out smoke and directing it upward, away from Azalea. "We've helped out where we can, but…"
"We can only do so much," Ash finished, chewing on his cigarette absently. "Any more rules? I'm feeling pretty pumped."
She smiled her lopsided grin, then shut the trunk door. "Nope, let's mosey."
Gayle walked swiftly down the alleyway, staying close to the side of the building. She was quiet on her feet, almost gliding along the ground. Azalea followed her, staying low. Ash brought up the rear, feeling more comfortable in his uncle's old turnout coat than ever before. He kept his hands and arms much warmer than he usually did, the Star inside him burning brightly. It was still so odd to see Gayle striding in front of him, the kind, pensive waitress who was also the determined commander of this little expedition. He was already developing a persona of his own: fretful line cook by day, armored firebug by night.
Azalea kept up a stream of conversation, either she was addressing her nervousness or just really liked to talk. "So, there's a bunch of water here, what would happen if you fell in? Would you, like, fizzle out or make a big cloud of steam or something?"
"No, I can swim okay," Ash said tersely. "The water just makes it hard to get heated up."
"Cool, pun kind of intended. Don't worry about Gayle, she can hold her breath for a super long time, I think she got up to ten minutes once, that was really fun to watch. I mean, not the holding part, that was boring, she just sat there, it was when the timer went off."
"Huh, I'll remember that."
"And I like swimming, it's super fun, unless I have to dive under. I float really easily, I don't even have to do anything, I'm not really sure what it's supposed to mean. If I ever get in a shipwreck, I'll be totally fine, don't worry."
"I won't."
Ash was almost too distracted by the conversation to notice a glint on an eave up ahead. "Hang on," he whispered to Azalea. "Gayle," he whispered to her. She drew up, Azalea flattening herself against the wall behind. "I see a security camera," he said, pointing.
"Don't worry about 'em," she answered. "Lumina can do more'n just spy on the feeds."
"She's amazing," Azalea confirmed.
"I hear somethin' though," Gayle continued, holding up a hand. "Around there, go."
The trio scurried around the side of the building they had been hugging, or at least two of them did. Having to move so quickly, Ash sort of stomped around the corner while the girls barely made any noise.
"Geez," he whispered. "Maybe these boots weren't the best thing to wear tonight."
"Nope, not this kind of mission," Azalea whispered back. She wiggled her toes in her soft black tennis shoes. "That's why these are called sneakers, you know."
"Hush now," Gayle said, and a few seconds later, a uniformed security guard came strolling by, wearing glasses and sporting a small mustache. Ash peered out over Azalea, who grinned. "Go for it, hon," Gayle nodded.
The girl was giggling as she got into position. From her jacket pocket she drew out a slingshot, a modern metal one with a brace for her small arm, but Ash wouldn't have been surprised if it was a carved stick and a rubber band. She took a thick seed from her utility belt and pinched it in the pocket, then drew back, took aim, and fired.
To the casual observer, it would have looked like she had fired a pumpkin out of a slingshot, an eight-inch gourd plowing into the poor fellow and sending him sprawling to the ground.
Gayle sped over to him, Azalea motioning Ash to follow. Gayle applied a plastic cable tie to the guard's wrists, turned off his radio, popped the cartridge out of his taser, tossing it casually over her shoulder, then sending it spiraling skyward with a blast of air. She accomplished this in less than ten seconds, including tucking his glasses back in his shirt pocket. Ash couldn't help but whistle. But quietly, of course.
"I'm glad Lumina didn't spoil that for me," he said.
"Good thing too, huh?" Azalea said.
Gayle stood up, dusting off her hands. "Nearly there now." As they filed by their fallen opponent, Ash looked down at his belt, and sure enough, no handgun holster. That, at least, was a relief.
Only one more guard was on duty that night, a young man with frizzy, sandy hair visible after Azalea knocked his cap off with a well-placed gourd. The pit in Ash's stomach continued to grow as they rounded the building and approached the small, plain door. It faced the backside of another building, with a section of open water nearby. A single bright light bulb glared at them from above; Azalea shot a potato at it, but it bounced off the protective casing. She shrugged, then turned to the door, or more accurately, two doors connected together with a chain and padlock.
"Can you pick it?" Ash said to Azalea, while Gayle watched their backs.
The girl looked at him quizzically. "Why would you think I can pick locks?"
He shrugged. "I dunno, it just fits in with the whole espionage thing."
She glanced back and forth. "Yeah, it does. But I don't think I even need to. Wouldn't it be great if we could just melt right through the chain?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Allow me," Ash said confidently. The ladies stood far apart as Ash grabbed a section of the chain with both hands and burned. The metal in his fists glowed, first red, then orange. At that temperature he could have broken it with a good whack from a hammer, but he didn't bring one and didn't think Azalea's veggie shooter would be much help. He turned up the heat even further, the orange turning into a pale yellow. He was glad he had worn the turnouts, his regular outer clothing might have combusted by now.
When the paint around the door started to bubble, he gave the chain a hard yank, and a link popped free."Wow," Azalea said, watching from behind as he pulled the chain out of the handles.
Ash pulled the whole mess to the edge of the water and threw it over, steam rising as the metal cooled. For the hundredth time that day, he missed Cascadia. She could have soaked the hot chain and cracked it open much faster.
"You've done that before," Gayle observed.
Ash nodded. "Couple times." He held the heated doors open casually.
"Let's be careful now," Gayle said, as she led the crew inside.
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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Ha ha, I love the pumpkin sling shot scene in this episode! 😊