One Thousand Wishes, One Thousand Stars (The Complex Book 0)

by Katherine Rhodes

  They all wanted what we wanted: to live in peace. To find love and to find happiness.

  Why had we fought? Why had millions of our people died when we wanted the same thing? I couldn't believe these people truly hated us simply because of our powers, or because we looked different. John and I could pass as humans. He had—which was where his trouble began.

  How had someone with wings managed to live here without scathing hate? Was Min the example we were all looking for? And it wasn't like she hid them—or even could hide them. They were as long as she was tall, and pure white.

  And she had lived here with her nephilium daughter.

  Maybe, this experiment wouldn't fail. Maybe it was going to work.

  The tree lined avenue of homes gave way to a more business feel of the buildings. I saw the numbers climbing on the outside of the buildings and knew we were getting close to the address. When the number just before the one we wanted appeared, there was nothing beyond but a drive and an expanse of grass.

  Looming over that well-groomed grass was a massive stone edifice, a fortress with windows.

  The sign by the driveway proclaimed, Raxu-East District Behavioral Home.

  Behavioral home. Another, more polite term for insane asylum.

  They had locked an angel in a mental ward.

  The breath John exhaled was more than a little displeased. “Just when you think there might be a shred of hope and decency in these Humans, you find something like this.”

  I stared at the massive building. What a cruel bastard Trill was, to leave his wife here and put a Meta in a Human-run facility like this. Was she even still alive?

  The door creaked opened on an electric eye as we approached. I had the lowest expectations as we walked into the lobby. The Human stories about places like this were terrifying. The building, the patients, the care, the food… there was a word the Humans had—bedlam—that meant utter chaos. It had been born from the name of one of these asylums.

  Humans just couldn't seem to get a grasp on their own health and wellbeing. No wonder their biology morphed when they mated with a Meta. We were just better at the biological thing.

  As we strolled up to the desk the attendant looked up. “May I help you? Visiting hours are over.”

  I cleared my throat. “We're hoping you may be able to help us locate someone.”

  “Sir, all records are kept confidential—”

  I sliced through her words. “An angel.”

  “Ah.” He cleared his throat. “Mini Samarad. I guess…” Blinking a few times, he pulled up something on the terminal in front of him, and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. A moment late he scribbled something down. “Mini left us about three weeks ago. They moved her to hospice care. There's... Well. She's very sick.”

  “Hospice?” John looked confused.

  “End of life.”

  Sucking in a breath, I looked up sharply at the attendant. “End of life?”

  “Nothing we did helped her… No meds, no therapy, no exercise, no procedures. She's just gotten more and more sick, and less and less responsive. We couldn't do anything more and had to make the heartbreaking decision to move her there.” He proffered the paper. “This is the home. It's a lovely place on the cliffs over the water.” He sighed deeply. “I have to tell you, the government lied to us about them. The Metas. Mini was nothing but beautiful inside and out. She was gentle, kind, but...so sad. Always sad. She said her husband left her, he took her daughter with him. She had no reasons to live.”

  After a quick glance at me, John asked, “Did she try and hurt herself?”

  “No, never. And never hurt a soul, either. She was a beautiful creature… Can you save her? Can you give her something to live for?”

  I pursed my lips. “I love her. I hope I can.”

  “She needs that.” The attendant looked up at the ceiling above him. “They all need that.”

  His plea was so earnest. I stared a moment, and considered him. “How would you help them if you could?”

  “Make them well, make them respond to treatments and medicines. Give them clarity of mind and drugs that help.”

  Jerking my head, I motioned John over. He understood and pulled the watch out of his pocket. “I will give you this for just a moment. Speak exactly as you just did, and then return it to me, speaking aloud you that you're returning it.”

  The attendant seemed confused, but took it and repeated exactly what he said.

  The real magic burst from every pore in my body, spilling and spinning into the air around us. It whirled viciously for a moment then shot out like a nova, spreading a layer across the floor, out the door, and around the corners until I felt the whole building above me. I reached down, and grabbed the magic, and threw it directly up at the ceiling. It shimmered and exploded, rocketing through the whole building, touching and binding to every soul within—including the attendant and the staff.

  Staring hard, the attendant put the pocket watch back in John's hand with a, “This is yours.” Which was close enough to return the lampmaster to John.

  I smiled. “It may not happen all at once, but everyone in here will keep or regain their health. And because your wish was sincere, you'll reap the benefits as well.”

  “You're a genie?”

  “A djinn, yes. You’ll excuse us while we go try to save Arahambramina.”

  While he was staring at the slight blue glow on his hands, John and I hightailed it out. I threw a little magic around us so the attendant didn't see us again. It was always dangerous to let anyone make a powerful wish. Their greed usually kicked in—or their altruism, which could be just as dangerous.

  John nodded at me. “Good call. He was earnest, but…”

  “Let's just get back to the ship. Though I'm grateful for their attempt, we need to hurry. We have to hope we can get to her in time.”

  The high grey cliffs stared down at the deep purple water. The home was a great white and red affair, with more windows, but not nearly as tall or imposing as the hospital had been.

  Comforting. Comfortable. Welcoming. Respite. All the words one associated with a peaceful death.

  An angel—my angel—relegated to a Human home for death.

  The ship set down in the lot,. and we headed out across the walkways to the tranquil aqua colored front door.

  The smell of the fresh ocean air hit me hard. I hadn’t been assaulted by that since I was a child. On Pinao, I didn’t live near the water, and didn’t have a chance to visit. But our home on Vaimm had been near the glorious, wide blue ocean and I remembered the salt tang to the air.

  The door didn’t open automatically this time; we had to pull it open. John and I walked to the desk where a matronly woman was seated wearing old fashioned glasses. I’d always been fascinated by the human corrective lenses known as ‘glasses’ and that people still wore them when they could have a procedure that would fix their vision in seconds.

  “Good evening, gentlemen. How may I help you?”

  I nodded in response. “We’re looking for a woman name Min Samarad.”

  The woman pulled off her glasses, a little surprised. “Mini? Yes, you’ve come to the right place. But she’s not…”

  “Human, but she is still a woman.” I finished for her.

  A nod conceded my point, and the woman tapped on a screen next to her. “Mini is very, very sick, gentlemen. We’re expecting full hospice in a few days. She’s…”

  “We know where her daughter and husband are—”

  The woman’s words cut through mine. “Please! Whatever you do, please. Don’t mention her husband. It’s one of her triggers. If you can tell her where her daughter is before we lose her.”

  “May we see her?” I asked.

  John shook his head. “No, Pili. You go. Alone. I will wait outside.”

  “You can have a seat in the waiting room.”

  With a smirk, John shook his head. “Ma’am it’s best if I’m outside. Trust me.”

  Of course. H
e was surrounded by food sources who soon wouldn’t mind if their life blood was gone. He was definitely better outside. I didn’t know how long this would take.

  The woman shrugged as she stood after recording my name in the visitor log and motioned for me to walk deeper into the building. “Mini came to us about three weeks ago. She’s been intractably depressed and has stopped eating. No treatments have even come close to working. Neither at the hospital or here. She—”

  “She’s an angel. She’s not going to respond to Human medicine. No offense, but Metas and Humans have different ways of curing their ills.”

  There was no missing her sidelong glance. “You are a Meta?”

  “As is my friend John.”

  She grunted, but kept walking. “We don’t know your medicine, and you certainly haven’t shared any knowledge with us. We don’t have many Metas here, at all. I’m sure you don’t have many Humans.”

  “We don’t, and we don’t contract the illnesses you bear. Our ills can be cured directly with what sustains us. John is a vampire, and his ills are cured with blood or synthoplas. His mate is a succubus. She needs sex. My friend is a naiad. She must submerge in water regularly. Without these, we die.”

  “Vampire?” She was distressed.

  “Don’t fear him. He loves Aura very much and has pledged to never feed from another except in an emergency.”

  “Feed from just her?”

  Well, there was more to their triad, but one heart attack at a time for this woman. “Yes. The vampire’s bite is very pleasurable.”

  “Oh…” She shook off whatever filthy thought went through her head at that suggestion. “And Mini? What is her sustenance?”

  “Love. Love in whatever form she can find it. You have an ancient language that chronicled all seven. Philia, eros, agape, pragma, philautia, ludus, and storge. Our angels had such words, but they are unpronounceable because of… well, because of the way they live if they don’t fall. Their sounds are different. And we never had to explain it to anyone until we met the Humans—met you, and you had the words already. It worked.”

  “So, what can you do for her?”

  “Show her she’s loved. Give her love. Remind her of love.”

  “That simple?”

  I shrugged. “Of course not, but it’s the best way to describe it. There’s power and abilities involved, as well. Not anyone can remind an angel of love. If that were the case, simply telling her each day would keep her safe. It’s more… complicated.”

  “Your magic?”

  “Abilities. It’s all biology.”

  We walked quietly down the hall, and the older woman was lost in thought. She led me down another hall, and to a door, stopping and studying me. “Mister Alvinad, please do not expect the Mini you knew. She has withered and weathered. Her feathers are not bright as I imagine they once were. She’s gaunt and withdrawn… the stage that we here at this hospice are used to seeing, but most visitors are not. I truly hope this is what she needs. I hope that you have what it is that she has lost.” She laid a hand on my arm. “Go lightly.”

  I nodded, and she knocked on the door. There was a faint call from inside and she pushed the door open, motioning me in.

  The room was pleasant, in shades of blue and pale yellow. The main room had a couch and bed, and an entertainment center, and beyond that was a small kitchen and bath. To the back of the room, the doors to the outside were flung wide and—I felt her.

  She was small and weak, not the shining beauty I remembered. I’d had her in my arms just once, for just a minute, but she had washed over me, dominated everything around me, and I almost couldn’t rise from there after she stood and walked...away.

  There on the porch outside she was barely Min. She was as far as one could be from being an angel. Arahambramina Oe was wilting, dying as a common human, when her legacy should have been one of a rare Meta. A gorgeous angel who could defy gravity with her great white wings.

  I walked slowly toward the doors, to the chair she sat on in the soft salt breeze. The woman who had escorted me shut the door and left me with Min. Mini. Arahambramina.

  The angel.

  There was a delicate cough and the woman in the chair turned toward me.

  She was so close to death.

  I swallowed hard and moved toward her. Death surrounded Min and an overwhelming sense of soul-crushing sadness emanated from her.

  “P’iliktus…”

  My name was like a knife through my own heart. Her eyes welled with tears, her head lolling forward as a sob wracked her body.

  Rushing forward, I knelt in front of her. “Min.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  I couldn’t answer right away. I’d forgotten just how amazing her beauty was. White blonde hair that rivaled silk, skin like the finest porcelain, and eyes as blue and deep as the oceans of Vaimm.

  My dusky coloring was a foil for her perfection. How did I ever think that I could catch and keep this beauty?

  “Brami…”

  “My daughter…”

  “You as well. I’m here for you.” My voice and thoughts came back. “I had to find you. When I found out you were left behind to die, I couldn’t let you.”

  She stared at me, her blue eyes curious and sad. “Why?”

  What could I say to that? “Your daughter needs you. No one should be left in a house of death alone.”

  “Pili. I don’t deserve better.”

  “Have you lost all of your love?”

  The gasp was weak. Tears welled in her eyes. “I’m irrelevant. There is no use for me anymore. I’m fool, Pili. Find my Bramisamarad, and keep her safe. Call her your own if you wish. I am too close to death.”

  I shook my head. “I did not risk my life to leave you here to die. I came here because I feared your death. I came here because your daughter needs you.”

  “There are people better suited to raise her.”

  “But they are not better suited to love her.” I slipped my hand into hers. “Storge. L’chhik dr’hhand. Love of child. She needs you.”

  This time, she shook her head slowly, her fine silk locks trembling and catching the breeze. “I know what you are doing, Pili. I have lost all love but my agape. And that cannot sustain me. Storge must go both ways, and no matter how much I love her, she is not here to love me.”

  “What happened to you, Min? Please. Tell me?”

  Her sigh was laced with a reluctance to tell the story of a life that was so close to the end. But she started anyway. “Trill charmed me. His words were sugar and honey to me. He knew what to say, when, where. He knew where to take me, where to meet me. He knew I loved to fly and let me all the time. And when he asked me to marry him, I said yes. I fell for him, I fell into his…”

  Her eyes opened wide with realization. “I didn’t fall into his arms. He wasn’t there to catch me at first…” The tears spilled down her cheeks. “I fell into your arms. You were there to catch me. You were the one who held me as I trembled and shook and slipped from the grip of the phase.”

  I knew what had happened, but it didn’t matter at that moment. She was so weak. “Go on. Tell me why you think you’re too far gone for love to save you.”

  “Because I’m a fool. I was used, Pili. Trill used me. He tricked me, seduced me, and used me for his awful schemes. We were all warned. Angels and djinn. There were Humans who worshipped us, who thought we were from their God, from their great beyond. Benevolent, powerful, the proof of their life. I know you heard the warnings too. They were right, and I didn’t listen. I just saw him. Handsome, Human. He adored me and let me know. He let everyone know. Everyone. Mother and Father came to me, trying to make me forget him, to step away from him. There were so many angels I could choose from. Even more Metas. But a Human they knew nothing about? It hurt my mother so much that I was in love with Trill.”

  “The Humans aren’t evil.” “Trill is.” The sharp tone in her words snapped off a warning that told me I didn’t know everythin
g she had to say yet. “Trill is very evil. Shockingly evil. I found out. And I deserve to stay here and die.”

  “No one deserve to die.”

  “P’iliktus. I’m a complete fool. Complete. There is no excuse and no reason for love to rescue me. If you know where Brami is, find her. Raise her as your own. Don’t spare another thought for the fool of an angel who was her mother.”

  I stood and didn’t let her hand go. “No.”

  She looked up at me. “What?”

  “Min, I didn’t come here to let you die. I didn’t come here to let you convince me to take your daughter. I came here for you. To find you, and bring you back to Brami, to the Metas who care for you and love you.”

  The baleful eyes stared through me. “Do you love me?”

  Gods, that question. “Does it matter?”

  “Yes.”

  My other hand found her soft, satin cheek. “I don’t remember a time I wouldn’t have given everything for you to fall for me. I knew when I caught you, you hadn’t fallen for me. I didn’t care. I was able to hold you for just a few minutes and see your beauty there. I relinquished you to the man who I knew you loved, and who I thought loved you as much as I did. Because I love you. Because I always will.” I pulled my hand away. “Shit. Damn it. I didn't come here to confess unrequited love.”

  Min pulled my hand back. “Confess anyway. I don't deserve it, but it will leave me in peace for my daughter's life.”

  “You do deserve it. You deserve every last bit of it.”

  “Your confession will not be able to save me. I am nearly dead.”

  I pulled her to her feet. She trembled, unsteady on her legs, and watched me, gaze unwavering. With her hand in mine, and another on her waist, I guided her frail, too-thin body to the room behind us.

  A touch of magic and the bed made room for us among the pillows and blankets. Making her comfortable as she sat, I pulled her sweater and shoes off. I toed my own shoes off, and with the gentlest of touches guided her to lie on her bed.

  While she didn't resist me—she didn't have the strength—she did protest. “Pili! What in the name of the gods and stars are you doing?”