Bright Star (17 page)

“Others fell in love with her. They begged for a glance, a touch of her hand. They offered their lives, which she greedily accepted, for a mere taste of her lips. They willingly damned themselves at her request to lie with her once. You see, Burn could not stand the touch of another on her conscience when she was made for Guard, so she murdered them all. And yet, Guard despised her for it, and he still did not want her.

“One night, Burn grew bold and slipped into Guard’s bed. She presented herself to him in an earnest and sincere sacrifice. Guard turned away from her without a word and left her alone.

“The next day, Burn lured one of her young lovers out on to a cliff. The one you’re sitting on, actually, the tribesmen believed,” she gestured to the narrow outcropping. “The young man thought they were coming there to make love, but Burn had long since become bored, angry and disillusioned from lying with anyone but Guard. No, instead, she brought him to the place where Guard spent the majority of his time. This is the one place that overlooks the entire island. The one place where he could both be alone and keep everyone close and safe. Burn wanted Guard to find her with her lover and become jealous. Instead, her lover became angry and humiliated. His betrayal of Guard was a living, palpable thing. And so the young man jumped over the ledge, dragging her with him.”

“Guard saved them…” Jackson mumbled absently.

“Yes,” Bright Star confirmed, nodding excitedly. “Yes, he saved them both. It was his duty and yet it was more than his duty. It was the one time Burn had ever seen him feel passion. And that passion had been for her.”

“Not her.” Jackson contradicted firmly.

“You didn’t let me finish. The passion was for Burn
and
for her lover. The passion was for life. It was his only passion.

“But that passion didn’t last. Nothing happened in this sleepy little village. Nothing.”

“If nothing ever happened,” Jackson asked considering her words. “Then why did they need Guard?”

Bright Star did not answer this question. In fact, she continued as if she had not heard him. “Because the village was sedate, tranquil, at peace, Guard was uninspired. Burn never saw him gaze at her with anything more than acknowledgement that she was present. Burn was no longer the recipient of Guard’s passion. But, as was her nature—at least the nature these people believed in—she was destructive and she craved Guard’s attention. She started covertly endangering the lives of all of those around Guard, one by one, so that she was always with them as he saved them. She wanted to bask in his glory even if it wasn’t directed at her. As became her namesake, the beautiful goddess finally burned the entire village, the entire island in an ultimate bid for Guard’s attention.” Her voice had gone deep and hoarse. She floated before him, an ancient goddess limned by waning sunlight.

Jackson called to her. He barely believed her to be more than an apparition, “What did Guard do?”

“Guard did as his nature dictated.” Bright Star finally smiled. Her eyes finally dimmed. Her hands finally came to rest and she was in her own clothes again, sitting beside him once more. “He saved the village. He saved the island. But then he locked her away in a place on which the villagers never dared speculate. Then, he followed her, locking himself away as well, leaving the village forever unguarded.”

“Why?” Jackson asked, amazed at his truly visceral reaction. Amazed that he was physically horrified by Guard’s action. Bright Star cocked her head gently toward him in a question. Jackson asked the question again, “Why did he lock himself away, too?”

“It can only be because he had, in truth, loved her.”

“But that’s not what the villagers said?”

“No,” Bright Star glanced away from him and her fingers began to work again. “The villagers say that he followed her because, had he stayed, she would have only found a way to come back to him and destroy them all over again. It was more than her will. It was what she was created for: to be with him in all worlds, this one and the next.”

Jackson asked her, “Why did they allow you to leave alive?”
Because they weren’t strong enough to stop you
instantaneously emblazoned itself on Jackson’s mind.

Bright Star’s eyes sparked for a moment, then she responded. “I assured them, Jackson, that I would never, ever be responsible for the devastation of this world. I assured them that they had merely misunderstood this tale and had misunderstood it since the beginning of their recorded history. They didn’t comprehend that I was not a bringer of destruction, but a soul of devotion and determination. I did not argue against their prophecy because it was at least partially true. I knew who their God was. I knew who would bring an end to their suffering. It was Rush. Jackson, you have to believe my sight,” she held his face between her palms. “I would give it to you. I would give it to you freely right now if you would but accept it and he would but allow it. But even if you will accept it, he won’t let me give it to you.”

“It doesn’t matter, Bright Star. It doesn’t matter.” Jackson studied the horizon. “Without Burn’s actions, the village would have continued to be at peace.”

“Jackson, you don’t understand. What is peace? What is happiness? What is tranquility? They are all wonderful things, but they do not urge innovation, change, improvement of the… the…”

“Human condition?”

“Human condition,” she agreed. “If only you could see it, could see how much
more
everyone and everything can be.”

She grew silent and Jackson was lost in the blazing aquamarine eyes that held him so intently.

“Why did they believe you?” Jackson asked, wanting this zeal, this intensity to end, wanting to think of nothing less mundane than the cocktails and henna tattoos being served on the very beach they hovered over.

“Why would they argue?” she demanded defiantly. “I showed them my power. I showed them who I was at the heart of me. I became her before their very eyes. How could they deny me?”

“You became…”

“I became the woman Rush wanted from the start. That woman happened to be the same woman these people had wrongly feared and persecuted for thousands of years.”

“He didn’t know, Bright Star,” Jackson told her, wanting, pressing, pushing the words into her mind. He didn’t have the strength for a full suggestion, but he subtly added High Energy to his words. “He didn’t know what would happen when he sent you here. You know that he sent you here to die.”

“If he didn’t know, Jackson, then think of the Providence that led him to bring me to this place of all places in the world.”

Jackson did think of it, then stopped thinking of it. This he couldn’t handle. Not now. Instead, he asked, “And they let you leave with only that as an explanation?”

“You were right when you thought that, quite simply, they couldn’t stop me. And, you were right to wonder why they would believe my declaration of faith and innocence.”

Jackson tried desperately to ignore the way his stomach dropped at her statement.
When you thought
… not when you said.

She grinned quickly and licked her lips. Cocking her head to one side, she seemed to be framing the words in her mind. “They still believed I would bring destruction. Even in the end… But, I promised them something they would never be able to pass up.”

“What’s that?”

“I promised to bring Guard to them. I promised to bring him back one day so that he could be their salvation.”

“What makes you think you can deliver that?” Jackson demanded.

Bright Star didn’t answer. She merely smiled again and tapped her temple next to her eye.
I can see
. Those were the words, in her voice, that rocketed through Jackson’s mind.
I can see
.

*

He did not need to seek Rush out when Bright Star returned him to their home. Rush was already waiting for him in his room as had become the custom. His brother did not spare even the slightest glance for Bright Star.

To Jackson, Rush appeared tired. There was a taut crease between his brows. There were lines around his mouth. His dark garnet lips were compressed and his jaw ticked. There were dark puffy circles beneath his eyes. He looked like a different person from the man who had joked and mocked Jackson the night before. Jackson didn’t readily understand why Rush was so different, and he didn’t ask.

“You know what she showed me today?” Jackson asked, though it wasn’t, in truth, a question.

“I don’t,” Rush surprised him by answering. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes with a sigh.

“But you have to know what she experienced in the time she was on that island you banished her to,” Jackson pressed.

“Banished?” Rush exhaled roughly. “Jeez Jacks, you’re starting to sound like her.”

Unconsciously, Jackson shook his head as if attempting to rid himself of what might have been undue influence. Rush would never put it past Bright Star to use her Talents on his brother.

“Looked like I wouldn’t be able to convince you on my own,” Bright Star explained without shame as she hovered in the doorway.

“My brother will not be a part of this game,” Rush told her without opening his eyes, raising his head.

“This is no game, my world,” Bright Star countered.

“Even though I wish it weren’t so, you are right, Bright Star.” Rush sighed heavily, then rose from his seat. He started out of the room needing to get away from the both of them. There was no luck for him this day, because the both of them followed.

“Rush,” Jackson pleaded, chasing after him. “Please, can we talk about this?”

“No,” was the blunt response as Rush rounded the corner to his room.

“We have to,” Jackson insisted. “I have to tell you what she went through when you sent her away.”

Rush turned around so fast that Jackson stopped in his tracks. The exhaustion was gone. The only thing left was an animal, a predator unleashed. Rush’s coal black eyes flashed with fury. He was so tightly wound that muscles bulged in the sides of his neck. His voice was a deadly whisper. “You don’t have to tell me anything! I know what happened on that island. Do you think I could have sent her away and not kept track of whether she would be saved or not?”

“But she was saved,” Jackson pounced on the opening. “And if you monitored her, then you know what she has come to believe and why.”

“If you listened to that story, Jackson, then you should have believed, as I did, that nothing good could come of any of this. As an intelligent, reasonable adult you would understand that none of this could end well. Bright Star came away from it ignoring the outcome, not giving a damn about it, wanting to actually perpetuate it.”

Bright Star shook her head violently but remained mute.

Rush ignored her.

“Then why don’t you do something?” Jackson breathed.

“Do what?” Rush’s hands fisted at his sides. Bright Star’s eyes focused on them and they were washed in an aqua glow. It was as if she waited for him to strike. “What makes you believe I can
do
anything?” he roared, then stormed out of the room.

“Rush,” Jackson forged ahead, following despite his brother’s incredulity and obvious anger. “Rush, she believes what she has told me. She’s shown it to me. Please know that if I could chalk this up to a hoax or someone making up stories, I would. But these kinds of coincidences do not happen normally. Not when we are all in balance.”

“Jackson, there is no such thing as a coincidence. I believe as strongly as she does. Still, how we choose to interpret the things we know is extraordinarily variable. What she sees and what I see are the same. They are exactly and without fail the same. However—and it is important that you understand this—the way we interpret and act based on that interpretation are different. I don’t know how to explain this to you.”