A Night without Stars

by Sabrina Albis

  The only one that turned back to look at her, was the towering grey wolf.

  30

  “All I remember is doing the ritual while she fought off Bianca.”

  It was Saturday evening, one week after Eric’s spell had been cast. He was recounting his adventure to Arabella and the others. After the cave was empty, he used the spell to protect it from evil returning to it.

  “She was amazing,” Eric gushed. “This woman used magics I have never seen before. She had all the elements mastered. Most people can only use one or two, max, but she was fluent in using earth, wind, water and fire magics.”

  Autumn felt a tiny tug inside her stomach whenever Eric’s beautiful savior was mentioned.

  She had been replaced by this mysterious, nameless woman who had pulled Eric from the scorching coals of death. She hated to think she was jealous, but a small part of her was.

  “She finished off Bianca and just left me there,” Eric said. “I have to find her and thank her.”

  He winked at Autumn knowingly and she frowned. She couldn’t help but think he was enjoying making her jealous a little too much.

  “So this beautiful sorceress basically saved your ass, and I saw none of it because that demon bitch used her magics to impede my scrying sight?” Arabella interrupted with a smirk on her face.

  “Exactly,” Eric said, looking wistful. “You really missed out Ara. I have never seen anything like it before.”

  “You mean anyone like her before?” Arabella teased.

  Eric rolled his eyes while crossing his arms over his chest defiantly.

  “I never said a word about her, specifically, just her magical talents.”

  “Eric, you have told this story every day since we left the caves,” Rick said, as he took a chip from the giant bowl on the coffee table and flipped it into the air. He caught it in his mouth, looking proud.

  “Face it dude you are smitten,” Mandy said as she looped her arm through Nathaniel’s.

  “Can I go on with the story?” Eric asked, ignoring the jabs from his friends.

  “Why? It always ends the same. The pretty witch kills the evil demon queen. Everyone lives happily ever after,” Arabella muttered, looking mildly bored.

  “Well not everyone Ara,” Eric said, looking sullen. “I wish I could’ve saved Renee and Caleb.”

  “I just wish they weren’t stupid enough to get themselves killed in the first place,” Arabella said bluntly. “They were never my favorites, but they didn’t deserve to die.”

  “Says the woman who just called them stupid,” Eric said, looking at his sister, displeased.

  “I can hardly call them smart now can I?” she said, throwing back her shoulders haughtily.

  “Besides, no one actually found their bodies. Maybe they ran off together to some place where bonking your cousin is legal.”

  Eric frowned, preparing to chide his sister but the sound of a clanking glass distracted him.

  Nathaniel was standing up, holding his flute of champagne into the air.

  “Everyone, I have some words,” he began, cheeks flushed from the alcohol.

  Mandy sighed deeply and took a swig of her drink.

  “I told you not to let him drink,” she muttered under her breath to Eric, who looked rather amused.

  “I want to say that what we did to help Whitan, is probably the least selfish thing we will ever do,” Nathaniel said, his face solemn. “I can’t speak on behalf of you guys, but I have always admired superheroes. They constantly put their cities, their people, their families and friends, before themselves. Why? Because that is what a true hero does. I never imagined that I would save anything in my life, let alone the people in this town.”

  “Watching you all that night, I was proud to have friends who are so brave and selfless standing with me on the battlefield. You guys didn’t care what risks you had to take to help Eric on his mission.”

  He paused, looking around the room, misty-eyed.

  Autumn had learnt that compassion, and sentimentality came to Nathaniel naturally.

  Mandy, not so much.

  “This toast is to you all. Eric, you faced the fears you’ve had for years. Rick, you fought like a noble knight with your sword. Autumn, you went in there with very little training and still killed it. And you got the closet to that awesome grey ninja wolf. And Mandy, even though you are tiny, I have never seen anyone filled with so much rage.”

  Mandy looked at Autumn and sighed exasperatedly, but she was wearing a huge smile.

  “And?” Arabella asked, eyes narrowed at Nathaniel.

  Nathaniel looked at her, his brow furrowed with confusion.

  “And what?” Nathaniel asked, dumbly.

  “Didn’t you forget to acknowledge someone?” she coaxed.

  Nathaniel looked thoughtful before shrugging his shoulders.

  “Nope. I don’t think so.”

  “Me!” Arabella said, her fists clenched and her eyes ablaze. “I was helping you know! Before that demon queen messed with my magical mojo!”

  “Oh yeah!” Nathaniel said, his eyes brightening like a light had flickered on in his head.

  “And this toast is for Arabella too. For watching over us from the safety of a living room.”

  Arabella looked at Nathaniel, unimpressed. “Touching. I will have those exact words scribed on my tombstone when I die.”

  “Awesome!” Nathaniel said obliviously before going back to his speech.

  “So as I was saying. We were all superheroes that night. Even if we needed saving by the wolves, or some really smoking hot witch, we still didn’t back down. We kicked demon ass. We made Whitan a safer place to live. As the saying goes, we went, we saw, we conquered. So to us,” he raised his glass once more. “And the many new adventures that hopefully lie ahead.”

  Everyone raised their glasses then took sips of Eric’s expensive and imported champagne. The sound of applause filled the large room, and Nathaniel bowed before sitting back down.

  The many new adventures that hopefully lie ahead.

  Autumn wondered what Nathaniel meant by this. Though somewhere deep inside herself she already knew. She had been warned by Eric, when Rick became obsessed with training and vigilantism, that he knew his plight.

  “Even though I was never a vigilante per say,” he had said. “I know the addictiveness of power. Doing magic, the temptation is there every day. So I can see how enticing it is, to want to be more than just the average person, to want to spurn change, to make a mark in our world.”

  “And you think Rick will have a hard time walking away from this?” Autumn asked. It was almost foolish. After all, she knew Rick better than anyone. She knew seeing evil lurking in the shadows of the world had changed him. He would see the immoral not as something to ignore, but something he would change.

  “I think all of you will have trouble being normal teenagers after this,” Eric had said. “It isn’t something you can just tuck away and forget. The world of the supernatural has been revealed to you. You can’t just close your eyes to it now.”

  It was the feeling of Rick’s hand on hers that brought Autumn back from her reverie.

  “Aut,” he said, sounding miles away. He pulled her back yet again. Her precious anchor.

  “Are you okay?” he asked gently. “Have you had too much bubbly?”

  He grinned. It was the familiar Rick smile she had loved her whole life.

  “Try not enough,” she joked and took another deep sip. One thing she could say for the expensive imported champagne was it made everything seem a lot less terrifying in its wake.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked her, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

  “You look lost.”

  Rick usually had a knack for reading her thoughts, so much so it was uncanny, but not tonight. They were al
l different people now, in some way, shape or form. They were all wild cards. Their stories had begun, but many pages were still left blank.

  “I was just thinking, about what Nate said. About having more adventures,” she began almost cautiously.

  Rick’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the mere mention of adventures, and Autumn instantly knew Eric’s prediction had come to fruition.

  Rick was hooked on the hunt.

  “I was thinking the exact same thing as him! We could go out and save more people!”

  He paused, looking at her, blue eyes bursting with hope.

  “Why? Were you thinking the same thing Autumn? That it isn’t over yet? That we have so much more left to do?”

  Autumn wanted to say something to deter to him, because she knew what they did was dangerous. Death had brushed against them so close she could still feel its bony hands on her throat.

  Still, she couldn’t look into the twinkling blue eyes she had stared into since her youth and tell Rick this.

  She couldn’t crush his dreams, not yet, not tonight. So instead Autumn just smiled and took Rick’s face into her hands.

  “I don’t think it’s over Ricky. Not by a long shot.”

  About the Author

  Sabrina Albis was born in Ontario, Canada, and began writing in her childhood. In college she majored in print journalism and wrote for the school newspaper. After graduation, she worked as a freelance writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines before pursuing a career as a novelist. She lives with her husband and their cat, Martin, in Canada.