Flames and Starlight
FIFTEEN

There was one thing that would never change. No matter what realm, no matter what time, no matter what universe, there was one thing that always seemed constant.

Midterms and finals.

Hannah had hoped and prayed when she started her classes at RCU that she would be able to avoid the miserable midterms and finals that took place at school in the Human Realm. And as always, her prayers were never answered.

She’d been at RCU for a month and had to learn centuries’ worth of history about the Eternal World. She had to learn about all of the twelve territories in the Eternal World, the history of their political system, important political figures, how the school system was. . .

Hannah found it all very interesting and would have enjoyed learning about all of this but she was too stressed out about her midterms to feel anything but joy. She felt like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. Of course, as everyone kept assuring her, that she wouldn’t fail the midterm, and worst case scenario she would have to retake it but she took school seriously. Sometimes too serious.

At the moment, she was over at Laura and Ruben’s house along with Peter as they helped her study. All of them had flashcards about each of the twelve territories and wrote down the main information about them. They’d been at this for three hours and she felt like she wasn’t getting anywhere.

“So,” Laura said and gazed down at the notecard. “What are the twelve territories in the Eternal World?”

Hannah closed her eyes and dug through her memory. “Raven City, Ocean Falls, Silver Moon City, City of Skies, Forbidden City, Shadow House Area, Silver Queen Area, City of the Sea, Ethereal Village, Winter City, Eternal Forest, and. . .” She trailed off, struggling to remember the twelfth one.

“It starts with a C. . .” Laura helped.

Hannah squeezed her eyes shut tighter. “Don’t tell me. . .”

“Do you want another hint?”

“Just one.”

“It also ends with a C.”

Damn it. It was right there. It was right there. Right there. There it was!

“Crooked City!” she practically shouted when it came to her.

Laura grinned and high-fived her. “That’s right!”

Hannah exhaled in relief and fist-bumped the air. “Finally!”

Peter sighed and leaned back on the couch, setting down his flashcards. “Can we take a break now? We’ve been at this non-stop for five hours. I’m starving.”

Hannah shook her head and grabbed another set of flashcards. “No. I’m on a roll. I need to -”

Laura leaned over and snatched the cards away. “No. All of us need a break. You especially. You’ve been doing great. Let’s order a pizza and chill for a while.”

Hannah’s brows nearly shot up to her head. “You have pizza here?”

The three of them gave her an incredulous look.

“Uh, yeah,” Ruben said. “It’s one of the best foods here.”

“We have them in the Human Realm too. It’s popular there. It’s one of my favorite foods and - Aah!”

She yelped and leaped to her feet as a huge, blue spider scurried across the floor. She screamed and jumped on Ruben’s coffee table while the others burst out laughing.

“Kill it!” she screamed and screamed even louder as Laura held out her hand and allowed the spider to crawl up her arm and onto her shoulder. “Laura, get that thing away from you!”

“Relax,” she said, still laughing. “It’s a winter spider. They’re very friendly and sweet. And cute.” Hannah curled her lip in disgust as Laura gently patted the spider on its head. “They won’t hurt you. They actually bring good luck.”

Hannah slowly climbed down from the table, still eying the spider with disgust. “From where I come from, those things are nasty and get stomped on.”

Laura rolled her eyes and set the spider gently on the floor. It scurried to the front door and crawled under it. Good riddance, Hannah thought to herself.

Ruben picked up his phone and said, “I’m ordering pizza.”

After the pizza was delivered and they ate, they decided to do one more hour of studying before they’d call it a night. She knew she was driving everyone crazy but she needed to make sure she did good on this test.

“Okay,” Peter said, holding up one of the flashcards. “Who is the current ruler of the Eternal World?”

“Queen Lilith,” Hannah replied without missing a beat.

“How long has Queen Lilith been ruler?”

“Thirty years.”

“How are rulers elected?”

“By the votes of the Eternal World’s Elite Council.”

“How many members are in the Council?”

“Thirteen.”

Peter tossed the cards into the air. “You’re going to nail it.”

Hannah thought of something. “What does Queen Lilith look like it?”

“No one knows.”

Hannah frowned. “You don’t know what the ruler of your world looks like?”

“No one typically sees the rulers of the Eternal World. The rulers are selected from a class of elite supernaturals who are raised in the High Council headquarters and trained to become rulers or a part of the Council. They need to keep their identities a secret for safety.”

“What about after they become ruler?”

“Even then.”

“Doesn’t that bother you? Not knowing the being who rules your world? Making the decisions?”

“Hey!” Peter snapped and it took Hannah aback. “All of our rulers have done a great job looking over our world and keeping us safe. Our world is -”

“Peter!” Ruben interrupted. “Chill out, man. She’s not used to our customs here. She was just asking a question.”

Peter winced. “Sorry. Don’t know what came over me.”

Hannah gave him a small smile. “It’s okay.”

She started gathering her stuff. For some reason a wave of sadness overcame her. She felt overwhelmed and homesick despite being miserable in the Human Realm. She thought of her family and thought of how different it was. She knew it was going to be different when she moved here but it still didn’t make it any easy.

“I’ll walk you to the bus stop,” Peter said and got up as well.

“You don’t have to -”

“I insist.”

“Okay.”

They said goodbye to Ruben and Laura and left.

He walked her to the stop. Their footsteps filled the empty air. The sun was starting to set and it was good she decided to stop their study session. Curfew was after dark and she didn’t want to have to stay the night at Ruben and Laura’s house and she doubted Peter wanted to do the same. She liked hanging out with Ruben and Laura but she wanted to be in her own bed.

“I’m sorry about snapping at you,” Peter said as they walked. “We’re just protective of the Queen here but that was no excuse.”

“It’s okay,” Hannah said. “I just feel like I’m not fitting in.”

“You are.”

“I really don’t. I jump at the smallest things and I’m struggling in all my classes. I sometimes think I made a huge mistake coming here.”

Peter was quiet for a moment. “Do you want to go back?”

“No. That’s the thing. I do miss my family but I was miserable there and I never want to go back there. But I feel so lost here. I know I have my aunt and you and Ruben and Laura, and I know that’s a lot more than others who moved here have, but it’s still so hard.”

As she walked they arrived at the bus stop. She’d been so wrapped up in what she was saying she hadn’t realized they were already there.

“I think it’s an adjustment,” he said. “You’re going through a lot. You’re trying to get used to this place and made a big decision that a lot of us would’ve never had the guts to make. Just stay strong and know me, Laura, and Ruben, and your aunt is with you.”

She smiled and for some reason felt tears spring to her eyes. Without thinking, she hugged him and said, “Thank you.”

There was a brief hesitation before he hugged her back. “No problem.”

Realizing what she was doing, she felt her face turn bright red and quickly stepped back and couldn’t look him in the eye. “Sorry about that.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.”

Fortunately, the bus pulled up and she exhaled in relief. She couldn’t believe she hugged him like that!

“See you,” she said quickly and rushed up the bus stairs and almost knocked someone over to get her seat. She didn’t look out the window at him, embarrassed for acting like that.

She forced her mind from him and thought of her family. She thought of their messages on her phone and wondered what they were doing at the moment. For the first time since she arrived at the Eternal World, she felt ready to talk to them.

She made a decision.

She got off her bus stop and walked to her aunt’s house. When she walked into her aunt’s house she found Mary in the kitchen, reading over documents. She smiled and looked up as Hannah walked in.

“How was your study session?” she asked and Hannah sat down across from her.

“Good,” Hannah said. “I did well. They helped a lot. I’m overwhelmed and trying to cram everything in and stressed to the max.”

“You’ll do great. You’ve always been good in school.”

“Yeah. I just get so worried. But I want to ask something.”

“What’s up?”

It took her a moment to work up the courage to voice her request but she ended up saying, “I want to see my family.”

Mary went still, a look of concern passing over her face. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Is everything okay? Before you were against the idea.”

“I just miss them and I want to see how they are. I think I’m ready to see them.”

“Okay.” Mary slowly rose. “I can get the mirror. To talk to them -”

“I don’t want to talk to them. I just want to see them.”

“Okay.” Mary left and got the mirror then came back. She handed the mirror to Hannah and said, “Close your eyes and think of them. Clear your mind and think only of them.”

Hannah did what her aunt said. She thought of her parents. She pictured their faces in her mind. She felt her heart beat faster as the conflicting emotions she felt for them swirled inside of her.

“There it is,” Mary said.

Hannah opened her eyes, surprised at how easy it was. She peered in the mirror and saw her parents. Her heart raced even faster and her breath caught in her throat.

Her parents sat at the kitchen table, eating robotically in complete silence. Carrie wasn’t with them. Her parents seemed miserable and depressed as they ate. She felt guilt swirl inside of her. She knew they were miserable because she wasn’t there. She did this to them. She did this.

She didn’t want to see them anymore. She closed her eyes and thought of her sister Carrie. She and Carrie had been close when they were little girls but grew apart as they got older. They were extremely different and often clashed. They would fight daily but Hannah missed her and knew, despite their differences, that Carrie missed her. She knew Carrie had taken her leaving hard based on the furious calls and texts she’d sent her. She wanted to see how Carrie was coping with all of this.

She opened her eyes and saw the mirror had switched to Carrie. Carrie was sitting on her bed with her best friend, Regan, who’d she known since the first grade. Hannah felt a huge range of emotions flood through her when she saw Carrie and her best friend sitting there and they were painting each other’s nails. Hannah smiled for a brief moment, knowing painting nails was one of Carrie’s favorite things to do though it quickly wiped away when they began talking.

“Are you okay?” Regan asked tentatively.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Carrie asked nonchalantly though Hannah detected the hurt in her voice.

“It’s been a month since Hannah ran away.”

Hannah listened intently to what Carrie was about to say next.

“I mean, she left and she’s coming back,” Carrie said and Hannah felt her heartbreak at the anger and sadness in her voice. “She made the choice to leave. She chose to leave a freakin’ note instead of being a woman and saying goodbye to our faces. So I really don’t care about her anymore. She left without saying goodbye so good riddance.”

Hannah knew Carrie was only saying that because she was angry but it still hurt.

She decided she had seen and heard enough. She set the mirror down and Carrie and Regan disappeared.

Mary set a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?” she asked gently.

Hannah shook her head. She wasn’t. She turned and hugged her aunt, tears streaming down her face. She felt so confused and conflicted she didn’t know what to do.

After Hannah left, Ruben turned on the news and the headlines were about an attack that took place at Silver Moon City. It was a brutal attack and one of the worst that had ever been seen. It was getting worse. All of it was.

He felt Laura shudder and he pulled her closer beside him. A feeling of dread overcame the reporter who listed how multiple vampires and shapeshifters broke into houses and attacked families. Luckily, no one was killed but lots were injured. It was similar to the attack he suffered from.

He could feel a war coming and he was wondering what was going to be done about it.