The Fallen Stars (A Star Child Novel)

by Stephanie Keyes

  Whipping up my hands, I knocked him off his feet with a flame that propelled him several hundred yards away. As he was hit, he protected himself with some sort of outer shell, so he wasn’t dead, but it had been enough to break his hold on the rest of the group.

  Sparks flew all around us as a battle began to start. A tugging on my pants leg distracted me and I looked down to see the small faerie that had first sided with me. His voice sounded firm as he spoke. “We will hold them off. You need to get to the portal at the top of the mountain. It’s been sealed so that only someone from this side can open it. We need your father’s help, young goddess. To get it to open, you only need to say ‘Open’, and it will open for you. Go now!”

  I ran. And ran. My breath came in quick gasps as I found myself running faster than I ever had. My feet led me deeper into the woods to avoid detection. Glancing up at the sky, my brow furrowed. Why hadn’t dawn broken yet? It still looked like midnight outside. The moon still hung in the sky. It seemed that time stood still.

  My lungs burned with the chill air rushing in and out of them. Though I had no concept of what the temperature might be, it had gotten colder. This could not have been good for my new mortal body. My stomach growled loudly in the night, begging for food. Food, however, would be a long time in coming.

  Kellen. Thoughts of him kept coming back to me, along with the phrase “oh, if only”. Oh, if only we’d had more time. Oh, if only we were together.

  Regardless of my own internal penchant toward self-pity in that moment, I would not give up. If I had any chance at all of helping him, I would. But how would I do that? the small voice in the back of my head persisted, the one that also reminded me of Kellen. In truth, I had no notion of what I was supposed to do when I got to the top of the mountain and opened the portal. What if another army waited there for me?

  “One step at a time, girl.” My own voice surprised me, as I’d been running alone for so long. Stumbling, my right leg seized up then, and I covered my mouth as I forced myself not to howl in pain. Grabbing at it, I rubbed the sore place but it only seemed to make things worse. Biting my bottom lip, I stood up and started running again. Though my legs burned with every step I took, I would not stop. I wouldn’t stop until I reached the portal and got help.

  Hope flared in my heart as I imagined seeing my mother and father again. They would be there waiting for me and everything would be all right. They would help me save Kellen and we would all be a family again. They would fix this.

  You are a fool, Cali. If there was one thing that I’d learned in my time as a mortal, it was that I’d been nothing more than a pampered princess before. Everything I ever wanted, I received. If I made a mistake, then my father would always fix it for me. But some things couldn’t be fixed, even by my father. Some things—

  “Ahh!”

  Falling, falling…down into the darkness I went. The only sound was the otherworldly cry of a bird in the distance as I fell.

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  KELLEN—LIES

  “Kellen! Kellen! Wake up! Please!” The voice annoyed me. I wanted it to go away and let me sleep. It had been so long since I slept. Hadn’t it? I couldn’t remember. My arm had gone numb and my inability to move it made me want to go back to sleep even more. Moving it seemed like too much of an effort.

  “Kellen!”

  I could hear frantic scurrying around. Someone shook me, patting my face gently with something cold. I seemed to be floating somehow, detached from my own body.

  “Should I make him some tea?” a voice asked.

  “That would probably be a good idea,” came a second voice, vaguely familiar. The voice tempted me to open my eyes, to see its owner.

  More shuffling about as the person went to get tea, I guessed. Shifting my arm, I realized that I wasn’t numb; I’d just been wrapped in several blankets. Another heavier blanket had been placed on top of me.

  “What do you think is wrong with him?” My mind started cranking into gear.

  “He’s in shock, I think.”

  That’s when I remembered. Stephen, his car, my escape…My eyes shot open and immediately fell upon the concerned face of Stephen St. James, my father.

  When I caught Stephen’s eye, he took in a large breath and let it out. “Kellen, thank God you’re all right. We’ve been so worried about you.”

  “Huh?” That was about all I could muster. Stephen had never worried about me once in my entire life. He’d treated me little better than the dirt underneath his shoe, and now he feigned concern?

  Stephen sat down on the sofa where I lay. “You must be starving. Can I get you something to eat?”

  Jane, the housekeeper, walked in with a tea tray and cookies. “Ah, Master Kellen, you’re awake!” She smiled at me in greeting.

  Staring at both Stephen and Jane, I found that I had no words. My mouth hung open, displaying my coolness factor for all to see.

  Stephen sounded friendly. Jane seemed happy working for him. What sort of alternate universe had I landed in? There’d been a time when Jane hated Stephen almost as much as I did.

  “If you were of age, I’d make you a hot toddy.” Stephen’s voice sounded serious. “But maybe that’s just what you need. Jane?” Stephen looked up at Jane and she nodded.

  “Right away, Master Stephen,” Jane said. Wasting no time, Jane bustled out of the room and into the hall. Stephen placed his hand on my own. “Son, I’m so sorry I scared you. I just didn’t want you to leave yet. I just wanted to tell you a few things before you went back to school and it all went horribly wrong.”

  Back to school? I didn’t trust myself to speak yet, so I suppressed my questions.

  Swallowing, I surveyed my surroundings. We were in the library, which also doubled as Stephen’s office. Too many times had I been in this room for the delivery of a punishment or bad news. Sometimes I’d be brought in so that Stephen could share, often with undisguised enthusiasm, that he’d decided to send me somewhere, whether to a camp, a class, or boarding school. He sent me away whenever he could.

  Now I sat in that very room. Though the physical location was the same, the decor looked so different that it perplexed me even more than Stephen did. I’d expected to see the same dark maroon walls and cold hotel-like window dressings. However, the place had gone through a sort of mini-makeover. Gone were the maroon-and-gold-brocade curtains and plush furnishings that radiated wealth. Gone were the diplomas and honors. Gone were the walls of psychology books.

  Now the room had shifted in décor to tones of yellow and blue, my mother’s favorite colors. Where once there were no reminders of my mother in the entire house, now her likeness graced every surface, as well as pictures of Roger and me as kids growing up.

  On one wall, behind Stephen’s desk, a wooden plaque read Addison and Stephen—A Forever Love. Below it hung a poster-sized picture of Stephen, Roger, and myself that looked to have been taken recently, though I hadn’t seen my father since before the age of ten.

  The place looked exactly like one of the magazine clippings I’d saved as a kid. After my mother died, I would look through magazines that Sarah, the cook, had in the kitchen. With her permission, I would cut out clippings of places that looked like real homes. Homes where they had both a mother and a loving father. I kept them, first in an envelope and then later in a journal, the pictures clumsily pasted onto the pages.

  Every night I would write in my journal or look at the pictures and pretend that I lived in one of those houses with the happy people. It got better after I got sent to boarding school, but that place still had an institutional feel about it, despite the staff’s efforts to cheer it up. At least there, I didn’t have to deal with Stephen or live in his house. However, I’d always wanted a happy place to come home to. My familial home looked exactly like those images from my journal now, as if the design had been plucked from the childhood version in my memory.

  What was up with that?

  I struggled to free myself from the blankets
and managed to sit up on the couch. “What the hell is going on?” I demanded, looking at my father. My mind flashed back to Cali. Cali. Cali. Cali. Cali. Her name repeated with my heartbeat now.

  Stephen reached his hand up and I instinctively held up mine to block him. Cocking his head to one side, he stared hard at me. “Kellen, are you sure you’re all right? I’m just trying to feel your forehead, to make sure you don’t have a fever.”

  Jane returned with the hot toddy then. Though I accepted it with thanks, I would not drink it. Alcohol in my system wouldn’t improve this freak-fest. This was too bizarre.

  “Hey Kell, wassup?” Roger walked into the room then and playfully punched me on the arm.

  “Your brother has had a bit of a shock. He almost hit me with the car,” Stephen said to Roger.

  “Cool! I bet we could do some damage to those trust funds, eh, bro?” Roger winked at me. He touched my shoulder then. “No, seriously, you okay, little brother?”

  Holy crap! Roger, my own brother? The one who’d made my life a living hell as a child, being nice? Roger joking with me, acting like we were friends?

  “I think he’s all right now. Some rest would do him good. So off to bed, eh?” Stephen’s voice magnified concern and he touched my forehead, his hand cool but certain.

  My mind spun and a wave of exhaustion hit me. Cali. Cali. Cali. Cali.

  None of this made sense. Only minutes ago I’d been on Grandda’s porch, and now here I was in Stephen’s house and he and Roger were acting normal, like real people. Not only that, they were acting like I’d only just gone outside for a walk or something.

  What was it I had to remember, again? Something about an offer I couldn’t refuse?

  Oh, right. Cali. The prophecy.

  Pushing my weariness aside, I stood and stared Stephen down. “You’re ridiculous. What is this about? You’re acting like we’re a family? Like any of this is real? You’re a murderer. You murdered our mother!”

  Stephen’s eyes widened and then he pulled back a bit. After a moment, he and Roger burst out laughing. “What a weird sense of humor you have, Kellen!” Stephen said.

  In that next moment, the front door opened and closed, accompanied by the sound of keys as they were hung on the hook. The color surely must’ve drained from my face, as I sat, unable to move, remembering that familiar sound as though I’d just heard it yesterday.

  There were footsteps in the foyer and her voice called out, “Boys, are you home?”

  “In here, love,” Stephen said. A smile had already morphed his face into a different one, one that I had never seen—to one of a man in love…

  Then around the corner came my mother, plucking at the sides of her exercise pants as she walked. As she entered the room, she looked at each of us, a wide smile breaking across her face like dawn on the brightest day. “There are my guys!”

  Stephen stood, walking to her, pulling her into his arms. “Don’t you look adorable?” Quickly he kissed her on the mouth. “How was yoga?”

  When the blackness came, I didn’t even feel my head hit the cushions.

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  CALI—FLIGHT

  Pain seared my shoulder. Gritting my teeth, I tried to get up, get out, but all I could see was the sky above me. I realized that I’d fallen into an opening in the ground. All I needed was for one of the faeries to find me and I’d be in trouble.

  Kellen, where are you? Mentally I screamed this question over and over. I’ve let you down.

  I’d never been so afraid in my life. As an immortal, I’d never been in pain or felt the desolation that an injury brings. My mind flashed back to a thousand different memories. Many of the stray thoughts came from the dreams that I’d once woven into Kellen’s mind. Though it had always been the same dream—the first time that we met—every time he had the dream I would see him. Over time, he’d aged. He’d turned from a lost little boy to a lost young man, and finally into the man I loved today. One who seemed more in control of his experiences and his direction, despite the challenges that he faced in life.

  It was nothing short of amazing how much Kellen had grown over the years. His time in Faerie had made him stronger and Kellen had become a fine specimen of a man, both morally and physically…though my mind kept wandering to the physical part.

  “No.” Shaking my head vehemently, I stood, moving toward the edge of the pit. “I will not die in this pit like a coward. I will save the man I love. I will.”

  Missing my night vision, I searched along the edges of the small space for anything that might have a lower grade that would allow me to climb up. The feeling of dirt embedding itself under my fingernails put me off, but I pushed forward.

  Within minutes, I’d inspected the entire space. The walls were too steep. “Somebody help me!” The cry escaped me before I could stop it, but I quickly got myself under control. A battle waged on that I had initiated. If I was too loud, I’d alert them to my presence and then I’d be caught. What would I do then?

  Sitting down on the frozen dirt, I put my head in my hands and tried not to think of my injured shoulder. The pain scared me; I hated admitting that even to myself. The vulnerability associated with my mortal state crashed down on me once again.

  Movement above me diverted my attention and I looked up to see a large bird flying above. Though I couldn’t see its face, I didn’t need to. It cried out in soft tones, as though it too was conscious of the nearby battle. With what appeared to be the utmost care, it lowered itself into the pit with me. Though I would have been willing to wager that its eyesight allowed it to see more than I could, it was still pitch black in the pit. The bird probably found that unnerving in combination with the enclosed space. I cautiously took a step closer.

  “Okay, I’ll admit that this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind,” I said, looking closely at the bird which now occupied the confined space in which I’d been trapped. Inching forward, I leaned toward the bird’s face. The bird regarded me with seemingly kind, patient eyes.

  I realized that my decision was a simple one. I couldn’t possibly get out of the pit without the bird’s help. I needed him. Forcing back gasps of pain, I hopped on its back, awkwardly. My good arm went around the bird and my knees dug into its sides. As it shot out of the pit and into the air, my lungs expanded and I felt filled with relief. Part of me wanted to fly away with this bird, just take to the skies and be free, never look back. But I wouldn’t leave Kellen and I’d never stop looking for him.

  Snuggling close to the bird, I let its warmth seep into me. “Can you take me to him? Can you take me to Kellen?”

  The deep rumbling of the bird’s voice startled me, nearly unseating me in the air. “Kellen is on his own journey. You and I both know of the second part of the prophecy. We cannot interfere now. It has been set into motion.”

  “But Kellen would never—”

  “We have yet to see what path Kellen will choose.” The bird’s voice held a note of despair to it. Yet something was familiar about it that I couldn’t place, and I searched my memories for a match.

  “Father?”

  “You honor me, but no.” The bird’s chuckle calmed me.

  Tears choked me as my frustration mounted. “Is there nothing we can do to save my love?”

  The bird seemed to expel a large breath, almost the way a mortal would sigh. “For now, we wait. However, you must know that I will do all that I can to protect him. Your part is to open the portal for your family. We all have a job to do. You must do yours.”

  After what seemed an eternity but truly only lasted a moment, the bird touched down on the top of what I guessed was Cadillac Mountain. Little could be seen from the rocky peak in the dark, but I only needed to see the portal. The wind whipped fiercely here; a storm brewed.

  Gingerly I dismounted, careful of jarring my hurt shoulder. Looking up at the bird, I touched his neck. “Thank you for saving me.”

  “You are most welcome, my lady.” The bird seemed to bow, its aristocrat
ic head nearly touching the ground as it did so.

  Letting my fingers drop from his neck, I wrapped my arms around myself, wincing as my shoulder was tugged in the process. “What is your name?”

  “They call me many things, but most commonly an cosantóir.” The bird seemed to bow majestically again before it turned and shot once more into the sky.

  Dillion’s restoration of my memory earlier hadn’t restored everything, but it certainly made it easier to recall things if I tried. My mind worked to translate the Gaelic term. Finally, my memory found the words: The Protector.

  Looking to the sky again, I noticed that the bird had gone. Now to find the portal. The Protector was right. I had a job to do.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  KELLEN—BETRAYAL

  There was no way I could ever allow myself to wake up again. I’d had the most wonderful dream. It had been beyond anything that I could ever hope for. My mother lived, my parents were together, and they loved me. Not just my mother, but also both of my parents. They even seemed to love one another. And Roger had been nice to me.

  Surely, it ranked up there as the most wonderful dream of my life, one of the very best moments. I wanted to soak up every bit of it for all it was worth. But then I remembered where I’d been before the dream. Trying to get back to Cali.

  “Kellen? Sweetie, wake up.” My mother’s voice broke my concentration.

  My eyes shot open and I found both of my parents standing above me, concern evident on their faces. Scooting back against the headboard, I fought the wave of emotions that overwhelmed me. This couldn’t be a dream, this was really happening. Arawn had tricked me and some part of me had known it all along.