Starfall

by Michael Griffo

  “Tell me!”

  “I’m so sorry if you misplaced your daughter, Nadine, but are you sure you were having twins?” I ask. “I mean, maybe you just gained a ton of weight during your pregnancy and were carrying really, really big, so it looked like you were expecting twins.”

  Between the shrieks of laughter from the kids and the shrill ringing of the class bell, I can’t hear Nadine’s reply even with wolf ears. Still, I’m pretty sure her comments wouldn’t get anything lower than an R rating, and that’s if the ratings people were in a super-magnanimous mood.

  By the time the bell stops ringing, it’s only Nadine and me left in the hallway; the rest of the kids have run off to class. So much for my perfect attendance record. And so much for trying to avoid a confrontation on public turf.

  “You may think you’re funny, Dominy,” Nadine remarks. “But you have no idea how powerful I’ve become now that I’m a mother.”

  Hmm, maybe I have competition for worst math student of the century.

  “Really? I thought the triumvirate needed three participants,” I reply. “If you can’t find your daughter, that just leaves you plus your son, which equals two.”

  “Where is she?!” she screams, ignoring my mathematical formula.

  “And with only two of you, you really have no ammunition to make Luba step down from her throne,” I state. “Which means you don’t have as much power as you would like me to think. In fact, with Luba still in charge, you don’t have any power at all.”

  Enraged by the truth, Nadine raises her hand, and I instinctively brace myself for some sort of attack. But instead of seeing beams of energy shooting out of the palm of her hand, I watch in fascination as her entire arm becomes wrapped in golden sunshine. I turn to my left, expecting to see Jess floating in the middle of the hallway having come to my rescue once again, but it looks like a supernatural upgrade has taken place.

  “Mr. Dice?” I ask.

  Actually, he’s dropped his professor shtick and is floating in the center of the hallway in full Okami garb. Physically, he looks basically the same as he always does, except that his hair is longer and pulled back in a ponytail, but he’s wearing the most gorgeous kimono that’s about twenty-five different shades of yellow. I haven’t seen him wear this before, so maybe this is some special occasion, but regardless, the robe hangs to the floor and then sweeps back in a train that continues for as far as my wolf eyes can see. It’s stunning, and I’m sure Jess has done her best to coax Dice to let her try it on, though I’m not sure if clothes swapping is allowed in their dimension. Speaking of what’s allowed, I didn’t think Okamis could interfere with mere witch ’n’ were fights. Has someone thrown out the supernatural rulebook?

  “You’ve caused enough death and damage within these walls, Nadine,” Dice declares. “I will not let you bring any more pain into this school.”

  His voice is so deep and baritoney that it slams into the lockers and echoes down the hall. If I didn’t know he was on my side, I’d be as nervous as Nadine looks.

  Her shoes squeak loudly as she shifts her body, trying to break free from Dice’s Okamihold, but he’s too strong for her. It’s intriguing to see Nadine look frustrated. She’s not exactly afraid like she was around Vera; she almost looks like a little girl who can’t understand why her mother won’t let her have a third slice of cake. If only Nadine had had a mother who didn’t indulge Nadine in her every whim or let her do whatever she wished or encourage her to treat people despicably, maybe she would’ve turned out differently. But I witnessed a flicker of change in Melinda, so perhaps there’s hope for her daughter.

  “By the power of Orion, I compel you to let go of me!” she screams. “Or I’ll have the Hunter unleash a thousand horrors in your realm!”

  And then again maybe not.

  Dice laughs so uncontrollably at Nadine’s feeble threat that his body starts to shake, the train of his robe rippling like a golden dragon behind him. Nadine is so infuriated that she isn’t being taken seriously that she can’t enjoy the sheer beauty of the image; then again, I have a feeling this visual display wouldn’t be considered beautiful in the eye of this bee-holder. She’s more about making things die than having things come alive.

  “You have so much to learn, Nadine,” Dice replies, still laughing. “Orion is powerful, but even His regime has boundaries.”

  “His power knows no limits!” Nadine retaliates. “It’s as vast as the universe.”

  And sometimes you have to choose your words carefully because your opponent can use them against you.

  “And in the universe, my friend,” Dice says, in full patronizing teacher-voice, “a cluster of stars is no match for the power of the sun.”

  To prove his point, Mr. Dice rips off the sash holding his robe together, an action that frees Nadine’s arm, but before she can retaliate in any way, he opens his robe to unleash the full force of his Okami sun god power into the small space of the hallway. Once again, Nadine and I view this revelation in completely different ways.

  Wave after wave of glorious sunlight passes over me. I should be blinded by it, I should be burnt to a crisp, but instead it feels like I’m being transported inside a new world, a place I never had the mental capacity to imagine. I think I’m getting another small taste of where Jess lives.

  Nadine, however, is reacting as if she’s suddenly been thrust into the fiery pits of hell. Screaming and shielding her eyes, she cowers on the floor and is literally trying to crawl away from the sun slaughter. Every time she crawls a foot away, she’s dragged back by golden ropes wrapped around her legs, only to attempt escape again with the same results.

  Like any good teacher, Mr. Dice recognizes when a student is unwilling to learn or just incapable of comprehending previously unknown concepts and ideas, so he closes his robe to extinguish the extreme sun display from the hallway. But like the good teacher he is, he never gives up on a student.

  “Learn from this, Nadine,” he says kindly. “Power comes in many forms, so be careful what you wish for.”

  Ooh, an ominous Okami! With that final word, Dice disappears, taking the sunshine with him. I wish I could go with him, even if it means spending an hour in calculus. It would be better than being stuck here with Nadine.

  Awkwardly standing over her still crouched body, I know I should help her up, but I’m relishing this vision of her. It’s sort of the flipside of when she watches me as a wolf.

  “If you don’t want to answer my questions here,” she hisses, “then we’ll do it at my cabin.”

  She always wants to play on home turf.

  “Fine,” I reply. “If that’s what you want. But I’m telling you right now, I have nothing to say to you.”

  As she finally stands up, I have to hold back a loud string of gigglaughs, Nadine tries to strike a menacing pose, but she’s barely able to gather her dignity.

  “We’ll see about that,” she announces. “I want to know what role you played in my daughter’s kidnapping.”

  Like Mr. Dice said, be careful what you wish for, Nadine.

  “I’ll see you there tonight,” I say.

  “No,” Nadine replies. “Tomorrow night will be much better for my schedule.”

  Before I can disagree, Nadine disappears in a flash as quickly, but not nearly as flamboyantly, as Mr. Dice did.

  “But tomorrow night is a full moon!” I shout.

  “Do you have something against full moons?”

  Twisting around, I see someone who fills me with more happy sunshine than Mr. Dice and all his Okami magic could ever produce.

  “Caleb!” I squeal. “What are you doing here?”

  “I have two words for you, Domgirl: ‘spring break,’ ” he replies. “Where else would I be but next to my girl?”

  All thoughts of Nadine and Mr. Dice are yanked out of my brain and in their place are images of Caleb and me naked, kissing and holding each other and whispering the most heartfelt words we can think of in each other’s ears. I run tow
ard him and throw my arms around him in a full girlie-girl, big-screen, end-of-a-rom-com moment and give him the kind of welcoming he deserves.

  I can feel his body come alive in our embrace, and when we finally stop kissing I look up into his face as if I’m seeing him for the first time. Brown eyes, blond curls, smooth complexion with just the smallest amounts of stubble on his chin and upper lip—once again Prince Caleb has come to the rescue.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” I confess.

  “We just chatted last night on the phone,” he says with a laugh.

  “In my world that feels like years ago!” I reply. “You have no idea how much can happen in a day around here.”

  “I haven’t been gone for that long,” he says. “And I caught a little bit of the tail end of your confro with the bee. She wants to meet tomorrow night?”

  “Yes, in order for me to tell her all the details surrounding the birth of the twins,” I convey. “And what happened to her daughter.”

  “Then you have no choice,” Caleb says. “You’ll have to meet her.”

  “But it’s a full moon tomorrow night,” I remind him. “Don’t you think that’s a bad omen?”

  “It would be if you were going alone,” he replies. “But you’ll have your Wolf Pack as backup. Me, Arla, and, of course, Winter.”

  And here’s the part of the reunion where I get to break my boyfriend’s heart.

  “There’s something I have to tell you about Archie.”

  As we sit on some rocks outside Nadine’s cabin, the air feels chilly, but not freezing. March can be so unpredictable, like friendships. Caleb thought he was coming home for a couple of weeks of lighthearted fun; he had no idea he was walking into an emotional minefield. Well, that may not be entirely true. As my boyfriend, he’s learned to expect the unexpected. But things have been much more easygoing for him in the role of Archie’s best friend. Until now.

  “What did it feel like?”

  Archie doesn’t look up from the ground when he answers Caleb’s question; he keeps staring at the snow circles he’s drawing with a twig.

  “Exciting,” he replies. His voice part ashamed and part relieved at the chance to explain himself. “Invigorating, completely natural.”

  If he were describing his first date with Napoleon, I would be thrilled, but he’s not; he’s describing Winston’s death. Thankfully, I filled Caleb in on what’s been going on with Archie—physically and mentally—so Caleb isn’t blindsided; he was prepared to hear this news. Still, I can tell, by the way his hands remain shoved in his jacket pockets and his eyes remain glued to Archie’s face, that he’s both mesmerized and disgusted by our friend’s comments.

  “Had you thought about killing Winston or anyone before he started badmouthing Napoleon?” Caleb asks.

  His twig stops moving, but Archie keeps staring at his artwork. “No.”

  “Then it sounds like Arla and Domgirl are right,” Caleb deduces. “When you heard Lundgarden disparaging Napoleon, it triggered something inside of you, and some other force took control of your body.”

  Finally, Archie drops the twig and turns to face Caleb. “But I didn’t stop it. I never even thought about reeling it in. I just wanted to kill.”

  “Because it was the first time,” Caleb replies. “Just like with Domgirl. But now that you know, now that you’re aware of what this energy inside of you is capable of, you can prevent it from ever taking control of you again.”

  Archie is smiling and shaking his head at the same time. I’m not sure if he’s amused or annoyed by Caleb’s questioning. “You make it sound so simple,” he says.

  “Winter, it is simple,” Caleb affirms. “If you want it to be.”

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

  Caleb takes his hands out of his pockets and grabs Archie by the neck. It’s an old-man gesture, and in an instant Caleb ages before my eyes. His words and his actions possess a maturity I’ve never seen before.

  “You’re the strongest guy I know, Winter,” Caleb says, his voice soft and direct. “And if you make the choice to beat this thing, to overcome it the next time it wants to control you, you’ll succeed. It’s your call.”

  A gust of wind blows Archie’s hair around to reveal that the black roots still haven’t gone away. Despite Archie’s protestations, Nadine’s evil presence is alive and well and living inside of him. And the problem is, I don’t know if Archie wants to rid himself of the intruder.

  I look up and see the moon rising in the sky. For the first time in months I actually wish the moon were already full and reigning so I could escape all of this. When Nadine opens the cabin door, I hesitate before following my friends inside. A part of me just wants to run through the woods and lose myself in the forest, but Archie isn’t the only one who has to make a choice. Besides, there’s no way I’m leaving Caleb and my friends at the mercy of Nadine, since when it comes to mercy, the girl is bankrupt.

  “We need to make this fast, Nadine,” I announce once inside her cabin. “The moon is almost full, and we all know what that means.”

  “Then tell me where my daughter is,” Nadine replies.

  “Don’t you find it the least bit odd that your grandmother didn’t tell you?” Arla asks. “Or that woman who calls herself your mother?”

  “And what would you know about the relationship between a mother and a daughter?” Nadine retorts. “Chat with lesbmom lately?”

  “Leave her out of this, Nadine,” I say. “This is between you and me. Vera took your daughter.”

  A black silhouette appears around Nadine’s body. She’s angry, but in control.

  “I knew it!” she shouts. “How? How did she do it?”

  “With my help,” I admit.

  The silhouette grows a few inches, so she looks like the depiction of a revered saint.

  “Tell me what you did!”

  “I worked with your grandmother,” I say. “If it weren’t for Luba, I could never have done it.”

  The silhouette is gone, and the midnight-black snakes are back. They’re writhing and flailing about Nadine’s body. It’s a wonder she isn’t having a seizure from all their activity.

  “Explain it to me!” she screams. “How exactly did you do it?”

  “You mean we, how exactly did we do it,” I say, correcting her. “I found out you were having twins, and I shared your secret with Luba. She wasn’t thrilled to find out that you were lying to her, but she had suspected you were plotting something.”

  “You had no right!”

  “I had every right!” I roar. “Because if you had both your children now, you would be in the position of ultimate power. There would be no need for Luba, and you’d have killed her just as easily as you killed your brother! I may not be valedictorian, but I’m not stupid!”

  Nadine starts to pace the room like a wild animal, black streaks and curlicues traveling behind her. “I knew my grandmother was too stupid to figure it out on her own,” Nadine rails. “She thinks she’s so untouchable. She thinks that no one could be as smart or powerful or cunning as her. She’s always underestimated me, but no more. Where is my daughter!?”

  “I told you, she’s with Vera!” I shout. “She and Orion will raise your daughter and keep her far away from you. Forever.”

  “She should be with me!” Nadine screams. “I’m her mother! How dare you intervene?!”

  “You should be thanking me!” I cry. “If it were up to Luba, your daughter would be dead!”

  “That isn’t true!”

  “You don’t believe me, ask her yourself!”

  “Tell me the truth, Dominy,” Nadine seethes. “Or I swear on my brother’s life I’ll kill whatever’s left of your family and all of your friends!”

  “Haven’t you killed enough already?!”

  When Nadine hears her brother’s voice, I expect her to react the way her mother did, but I couldn’t be more wrong.

  “Shut up, you fool!”

  “What more do you have to
prove?” Napoleon asks.

  “I told you to shut up!” Nadine cries. “I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”

  No, Nap’s vocal appearance isn’t going to make Nadine show remorse or reflect upon her actions; it’s going to make her take action. All the tendrils of black light floating around her body fuse into one long stream and shoot out from Nadine’s body directly into Arla’s mouth. If it weren’t for Caleb’s grabbing hold of Arla just as she starts to collapse, she would be on the floor.

  “Napoleon!” Archie cries, rushing to Arla’s side. “Please don’t go.”

  “Stop whimpering, you idiot,” Nadine chastises. “My brother’s dead.”

  He may be dead, but he isn’t taking things lying down. Just as Arla wakes up, the fireplace erupts; flames burst in every direction almost as wildly as Nadine’s energy. After the initial explosion, the flames begin to shrink, and puffs of black smoke appear in between the red and orange fire. Napoleon is not happy with his sister’s threats.

  “And when I get through with all of you,” Nadine declares, “my grandmother’s going to join him for betraying me!”

  Suddenly the flames lose all their color, and a huge chunk of black smoke fills the fireplace. It levitates and frees itself from the confines of the hearth to move into the center of the cabin, filling the room with the smell of rotting eggs. I can’t believe Nadine’s words are getting her brother so angry; he’s never reacted like this before. When the black smoke disappears, my confusion is justified. The smoke wasn’t housing Napoleon; it was Luba.

  “It’s time for you to find out exactly what I’m capable of!” Luba shrieks, wisps of charred smoke tumbling out of her mouth when she speaks. “And if you think you’re any match for my power, child . . . think again!”

  Clearly frightened, Nadine holds her ground and lashes back at Luba with the same rage. “You plotted against me! How dare you?!”

  “How dare you think you’re worthy of taking my place!” Luba wails. “You want to defy me? You want to steal my power from me? Perhaps it’s time that you suffered for your hubris!”