Catching Stardust (2 page)

Zeus had sent her here.

Zeus—no-fashion-sense-even-if-a-design-climbed-up-his-body-and-sent-him-down-a-runway, Zeus.

Now it made sense. Zeus had sent her here. Of course he had. He was the only one with the ability to teleport people, with or without their permission. She couldn’t even count the times he’d thrown that little factoid back at her through eternity.

“I sent you to these stars and I can take you right back out of them, missy,” Zeus’s voice echoed in her brain. She should have known he was behind this. But why? Why send her here?

Why send me here with such an ugly bag?

“Zeus, you couldn’t conjure up something cute, huh? In the entire universe, there wasn’t one stylish bag you could have thrown my stuff into.”

She pawed through the bag—A single change of clothes, a couple of small toiletries, and a wallet. She flipped open the wallet and found a few bills and her credit card.

Well, at least he didn’t drop me here with absolutely nothing.

Maia stood and brushed the loose grass off her dress. She glanced around her at the few buildings she could make out in the darkness and made an educated guess at which direction she’d find Fifth Avenue. Now that she knew she had some money and a credit card, she could catch a taxi and find a hotel to call home.

Surely, once she spoke to Zeus and her father they could sort out whatever problem had made Zeus send her here and then they could teleport her back home. This was all just some kind of silly overreaction about something. It had to be.

She would go home, back to Pleiades. And then she would find Orion and beat him with his own club until he promised never to cause problems for her again. Starting with keeping his hands to himself.

***

Zander fiddled with the tiny knobs on the side of the telescope. He wasn’t sure what the kids had done exactly, but somehow they’d managed to completely throw the device out of focus. It wasn’t even aimed at the sky anymore.

He twisted a few more dials then looked through the lens to find the Pleiades constellation and finished focusing the telescope. The Stargazers Astronomy Club was currently learning about the seven sisters constellation and they weren’t going to learn much of anything if they couldn’t even look at the real thing—that was the whole point for bringing the kids and telescope all the way to Central Park.

As he gazed through the lens and adjusted the last dial, the telescope finally came into focus—on a woman. Somehow, he’d missed the stars completely. Hell, he’d missed the sky completely. Some astronomer he was.

The woman strode toward him from somewhere on the other side of the park. He couldn’t tell exactly where she was in relation to them since the telescope was zoomed in so close.

She must have been moving fairly quickly judging by how her long auburn hair flowed out behind her in the breeze. It rippled in the air like it had a mind of its own. The long tresses mesmerized him even through the telescope.

He focused the lens tighter on her face. She looked beautiful and—annoyed. Yes, deeply annoyed. Her eyes were narrowed as if concentrating hard on something in the distance. Her mouth moved as if she was speaking to someone, but she looked to be alone. Sad.

Perhaps this woman—as beautiful as she appeared—was suffering from some mental illness. It wasn’t unusual to see people roaming New York City talking to invisible friends, or enemies, in many cases. But it was always a little heartbreaking. Especially when the person was so young…and gorgeous.

Just then she stopped walking, looked up to the sky and yelled into the night while shaking her fist at the air.

He chuckled quietly to himself.
Oh yes, definitely lost her grip on reality.

Reluctantly, he pulled the telescope from the woman and turned it toward the sky. It only took a moment to find the right patch of universe and focus the telescope onto the tiny cluster of seven stars known as Pleiades.

“Come on Mr. Arius. Is it ready yet?” one of the children asked, tapping his arm with obvious impatience.

“Okay, kids. Who’s first?” A surge of middle-schoolers barreled up to the telescope. “One at a time. Form a line.” He laughed at their excitement. He loved the kids’ enthusiasm.

Tommy, one of the more enthusiastic young astronomers, put his eye to the telescope. “Can you see the seven sisters, Tommy?” Zander asked.

“I can see the six sisters,” Tommy answered, not removing his face from the telescope.

“I think you’ve missed one. Count again and then it’s Sasha’s turn.”

Zander smiled at the other kids as they all fidgeted in line, waiting their turns. Tommy needed to hurry up or they would all get even more restless.

Missing a star,
he laughed under his breath.

Tommy stepped back from the telescope and scrunched up his face at Zander. “Six, sir. Only six. I counted three times. Maybe you got it wrong and there’s only supposed to be six of ‘em.”

Sasha pushed past Tommy to take her place at the telescope. “Yep, six,” she confirmed after a moment of looking.

“Let me take a look,” Zander said, peering through the lens and counting the twinkling stars of Pleiades in his head. Damn it. They were right. Only six stars twinkled in the sky tonight. There was some gasses and dust in the constellation too, but not enough to obscure their vision of the seventh star.

Zander stepped back from the telescope, making more room for the kids as he contemplated what made no sense. Stars didn’t just disappear from the sky. That was absurd. So where the hell was that star then?

The familiar stirrings of curiosity and excitement swirled to life in his brain. This could be huge. Gigantic. A missing star could be a discovery of epic proportions—he just had to figure out where the hell it went. And collect the data. And factor in the possible causes.

No. Don’t do this again. It’s dust or a dense gas cloud or something. That’s all. Walk away and leave it be.

He needed to distance himself from this. Stop thinking about what a missing star could possibly mean. He couldn’t let another non-discovery ruin his life, like it almost had last time. Zander took another step away from the kids now trying to crowd around the telescope so he could clear his head, but was knocked to the side as something slammed into him. “Ouch,” he yelped, looking to the side to see what he’d been hit by. Turns out it was a “who,” not a “what.”

“Hi,” he stammered, staring face to face with the woman he’d spotted through the telescope only moments ago. Apparently she hadn’t been on the other side of the park as he’d originally thought.

She was even more stunning up close—her long hair a mess of auburn waves and curls falling down to the middle of her back. Small twigs and little flecks of grass sprouted from her head as if she’d barrel-rolled down a tall hill on her way to him. She wore a long, flowing sundress and sandals that looked like she should be on the beaches of Maui instead of in the middle of Central Park.

“Sorry,” she said. Her gaze met his and he could tell instantly her eyes were most likely her best feature, even if he couldn’t make out the color. His gaze flickered down the rest of her quickly, drinking her in before settling on the patch of skin peeking out at him from the deep, scooped neckline of her dress. Well, maybe her eyes were her second best feature.

“Sorry,” he said, meeting her gaze again. Her eyes had a quality about them that made it hard to look away, even when he knew how stunning the rest of her was. “I wasn’t watching where I was going. I was in my own world a little bit.”

“I wish I was.” Her gaze left his and darted around the park as if she didn’t know where she was. And of course, she still looked annoyed too. Although now that he saw her up close, something about her didn’t convince him she was crazy like he’d suspected when he’d watched her through the telescope. She simply seemed—distracted somehow.

“Is everything okay? Do you need help?” he asked. Maybe she was hurt, or lost. Maybe that’s why she’d appeared distraught.

She tilted her head slightly, leveling him with her intense stare. “I’ve had enough unsolicited help tonight already, thanks. Just because I’m a girl it doesn’t mean I need another random guy taking charge of things for me.” Her hands went to her hips like a defiant teenager—a pose he was familiar with after working with the middle-schoolers in the astronomy club.

“I was just being nice. I’m sure you’re perfectly capable of doing…whatever it was you were on your way to do.”

Beautiful, maybe, but damn, that attitude. Was it really so strange to think he might actually be offering to help out of the goodness of his heart and not because he was trying to take control?

“I’m on my way to Fifth to catch a taxi. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.” She brushed passed him.

She did need his help, even if she didn’t want to admit it. “Well, you’ll be walking for a while if you keep going that way. And you’re unlikely to find a taxi.” He smiled, reassuringly. He didn’t want to upset her more, since he still couldn’t decide if she was or wasn’t all there mentally. “Last time I checked, there weren’t any taxis in the sheep meadow. But I’m sure you already knew that, didn’t you? You know, since you don’t need help from a man.” He feigned indifference with a shrug.

The woman stopped walking and turned to face him, her annoyance clear. She scanned the area before settling on him, her shoulders slumping a little. “Okay, fine I need your help. Which way to Fifth?”

He pointed to his left. “That way. But you’re going to have to follow the pathways. It’s easy to get lost and end up heading the wrong direction. I can walk you to the street if you want.”

She looked him up and down and he suddenly wished he’d dressed better than his casual jeans and t-shirt. “How do I know you’re not a murderer or something?”

He laughed. “I’m one of the chaperones helping a bunch of kids look at stars in the park. Do you think their parents would let a murderer take them into the park?”

She studied the children for a moment before answering. “No, probably not. I guess it’s okay for you to walk me to the street.”

“Ruby,” he called to the woman standing with the kids, trying to keep them all in a single-file line while they waited for their turn at the telescope. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Don’t be long. I think they’re getting restless,” Ruby called back.

“I’ll be quick.”

“They might overtake me.”

“Feed them cookies until I get back.” He couldn’t help but joke with the poor girl. She was new to the Stargazers Club and dealing with so many kids at one time was a bit overwhelming.

“But it’s nighttime. Isn’t it bad to give them sugar after dark?”

He began walking, calling over his shoulder. “They’re kids, not gremlins.”

They strode through the park along the trail that would eventually lead them to the street. The woman beside him was quiet, but at least now she seemed a little calmer than she had before. She hadn’t yelled into the sky once yet. That had to be a good sign of improved mental health, right?

“So, I know this isn’t my business or anything,” he started, “but are you okay? You seemed a little upset back there.”

She grumbled something under her breath and he noticed her eyes flicker up toward the sky for a second. “You’re right, it’s not your business. And I’m…fine. Never been better.”

“Sure. I can tell, what with that cheerful smile on your face and all. If you need more help than getting a taxi, I’m here. And not in a weird, creepy way. In a nice, ‘I feel bad for the upset girl’ kind of way.”

She darted a glance at him out of the corner of her eye. “Thanks. I really shouldn’t be so rude. It’s just—” she sighed deeply, her shoulders rounding forward, “—it’s been a bad night and I really need some time to figure things out.”

As they neared the edge of the park, the sounds of traffic and people grew louder, breaking into the tranquil peacefulness the tiny bit of green space offered from the hustle and bustle of the city. She walked quicker the closer they got and a touch of sadness filled his chest, creating a dull, warm ache.

He’d known this girl all of ten minutes and suddenly he was sad to see her leave. What if he never saw her again? Why did it matter to him if he wouldn’t see her again? Sure she was beautiful, and intriguing, but so what? There were literally a million beautiful and intriguing women in this city. Why did this one matter so much?

He caught her gaze again, but only for a fraction of a second. Still long enough to confirm his suspicions. This girl wasn’t crazy. She was simply a pretty girl having a really bad night. Maybe he could make it better.

And as an added bonus, it would give him something to think about besides the stupid missing star, which shouldn’t be missing and should be investigated.

“Listen.” He cleared his throat. This was so unlike him, but he was compelled by something greater than his usual inhibitions allowed. “I know we just met, but do you want to grab a cup of coffee later? Say in an hour or so?”

She stepped off the curb and raised her arm to signal a taxi to stop. “I really can’t tonight.”

“Another time?” he questioned, realizing too late he sounded a touch on the desperate side.

“I won’t be here long enough for that.”

“I understand.” He shook his head, trying to make himself believe it didn’t matter he’d never see her again, even though he knew perfectly well it wasn’t true.