The Star Caster (13 page)

“I am here today,” he continues without so much as pausing, “so that I can
become powerful enough to incite pain.”

“You can do that without a wish,” I say calmly. “Why do you need another wish? Why did you have to kill your father? Why do you want me to stay with you for forever? I don’t understand you at all.”

Vick sighs. He’s becoming content with our conversation, now that he’s winning. He’s content enough to forget everything and everyone around us. “Well, the pain is a rush, and I wanted to see my father dead. It was about time. Besides, the pain of betrayal mixed with fear is the best I’ve tasted. I need you to stay with me so that I am not lonely. You see, I enjoy talking with you.”

“You enjoy tricking me,” I argue. “You enjoy controlling me, too.”

“Your pain is magnified by your power. Why would I want to give that up?”

Uh oh, so he wanted to harm me forever. He wanted to torture me and cause me pain forever. How wonderful.

The soft sound of grass moving pulls my attention behind Vick, but I keep my eyes on him, wanting to entice him further. “So what next?” I ask him.

Before he gets to answer, though, Val pounces. He finds himself, once again, attached to Vick’s neck. For a guy that doesn’t look like he
exercises much, he can jump, and he can hang on, too. He’s crazy – but I already knew that.

Vick, who was completely unprepared, doesn’t falter. Instead, he bends at the middle and dumps Val onto the ground.
Val is closing himself into a ball now, but I can sense that he isn’t afraid of Vick. Unfortunately, Vick thinks that Val is afraid, and he straightens up to laugh at the pair of us. His laughter rings around us easily, and I can tell that he is absorbing our pain and humiliation.

Smartly, Val lunges forward. When he
slams into Vick, I can tell why he had been huddled together. Red liquid begins pouring out of Vick’s midsection, indicating that Val had been keeping a dagger in his cloak. I watch in horror as Vick falls to ground. He clutches his stomach, and his mouth hangs open. The look in his eyes scares me, and I subconsciously step forward to examine the fear in his dark eyes. “Help,” he whispers as he falls forward. I look up and see that Val has taken the opportunity to stab Vick once more. This time, the blade sticks out of Vick’s back, a symbol of Val’s strength.

“Thank you,” I breathe.

Val answers me by looking at me greedily. I see that familiar glint, and know that he isn’t going to waste any time with “your welcomes”. Instead, he’s going to take his three wishes. Val plans on taking them now.

Behind me, Sterren stirs. He’s finally waking from the hit he took from Vick, and I don’t blame him. If it had been me, I would have been down much longer.
The fall had been nasty, but I had been too busy trying to protect the unconscious Sterren to focus on what had happened to him. Now that I’m seeing it, I can barely look. The wound across his eyebrow mimics Val’s, the way it is angled and cuts across his eyebrow proves that there will be a scar. His lower lip is swollen and bloody as well. But he doesn’t look pitiful or weak; he looks stronger.

Sterren makes his way in front of me, and I watch his slow determined movements. A flash of something worse than anger crosses his features when he looks at Val’s approaching figure. I can tell that this fight will be epic. Unlike any fight with Vick – where his sheer body weight would hurt anyone – this fight is fair. Val does have an advantage, though; he’s pulling the blade from Vick’s back.

I stand, somewhat behind, somewhat beside Sterren. His hands are balling into fists, and his anger is drawing out my own. How dare Val do this! I was tired and weak from Vick’s cruel wishes. Why did he need his wishes now? Why did he need them before the sunrise? And then, his cold, hard glare and drunken smile hits me. He thinks I can bring his brother back.

I reach out and gently place my hands on Sterren’s shoulders. “He wants his brother,” I whisper fearfully. I do not want to bring someone back from the dead, someone who wants to capture me and use me until the end of time.
At least without Ego, Val is someone hopeless, and I don’t have to worry about his decisions. He was never the one that made them.

Val lunges forward suddenly, and runs
toward us. Sterren is watching his every move, and he pushes me back, just in case something bad happens. And it does. Something bad does happen. Val tosses the dagger in the air, and it pushes through Sterren’s body, lodging itself in Sterren’s shoulder.

I scre
am as Sterren stumbles back and falls to his knees.

Val approaches Sterren and pulls the knife from Sterren’s body. The sound is wet and painful, and Sterren falls forward, clutching his arm.
I am alone again, and this time I am seriously afraid. That dagger means business; it’s killed one person and has wounded another. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Val was trained or something. I start to step back, trying to increase, or at least keep, the distance between us.

I’m starting to feel like things are hopeless, but I
hear a soft voice mumbling something. It takes me a moment to understand what the voice is saying, but when I finally do, things change and escalate.

“Cast me a star,”
Sterren murmurs.

I blink, forcing my brain to move faster, to understand what he’s saying. And it hits me. My mother wished upon a star, and she had been a Star Caster once. He could do it, too. And he would wish for good things.

I step back and dodge Val’s attempt at catching me. I run away as I pull a star from my cheek. I toss it into the air and nearly shout the words. They come out jagged and rough; I’m not used to running.

Then, just as quickly, Sterren stands and says his part. Afterwards, his first wish tumbles out as he fights to stay standing. “I wish to change Val’s intentions from evil to good,” he says.

I stop and turn, feeling the power thrum through my veins once more. It sparkles inside of me, and I nod before feeling the sparks break through my skin. I find myself pointing at Val as I feel the power of Sterren’s wish erupt like lightning. It flashes and changes Val.

I watch as Val stops where he stands. The look on his face is different, healed almost.
It doesn’t show defeat or hatred. It shows a hint of regret and gratitude. It paints the picture of a different man. “What are you doing?” he asks me.

“Saving you from yourself,
from your untimely death,” Sterren says.

Val turns around and stares at Sterren, his eyes large. “
Heal yourself,” he says slowly. “Your body is weakening and you are losing too much blood. Take the wish and heal yourself. You still have the third.”

“I can’t,” Sterren says. “I can’t lose the second and third wishes. I need them both.”

“You can’t walk away from our bond if you can’t walk away,” Val says. “I can sense your weakness in your thoughts.”

Oh no, Sterren wanted to wish away the control that Val has over him. But he couldn’t do that if he wished for his health. But what was the third wish? What would he wish for? What
could
he wish for?

“I wish to sever the bond between my master and me,” Sterren says strongly.

The power courses through my entire body and it leaves in a rush of wind and cleansing rain. I watch as an invisible weight is lifted from Sterren’s shoulders. The wind rushes around and over him and his hair blows away from his golden eye, revealing the fact that the faint outlines of the stars are growing in color. He is becoming a Star Caster again.

When the magic ends, Sterren collapses. I rush forward and throw myself on top of him. Large tears fall down my face as I observe his shallow breathing, the beads of sweat that cling to his hair and forehead.
He is dying now.

“How is he dying? How was that injury that bad?” I ask Val desperately.

Val bites his lower lip. “There was a poison on the dagger, a poison that brings death to all that encounter it. That was how I was able to slay Vick.”

I feel a flash of anger, but know that it isn’t at him. It’s toward Sterren. He wouldn’t give up his wishes. He wouldn’t save himself. He was too busy protecting me.
He was too busy being stupid and ignorant. “I can’t believe he did this,” I say sadly. My hands trail over his chest and I pull his head in my lap as more tears fall.

Val sighs. “I wish I could take his wish. I wish I could wish for his life, his health. I wish I could do something.”

Sterren’s shallow breathing stops as he struggles to lift his hand up. I think that he is reaching toward my face, to touch me one last time, but he pulls a star from his cheek instead. He whispers the words as he pulls it into his hand. And he finds the strength to throw it into the dark sky.

I lift my head to watch it fly across the night, a beautiful trail of light and magic. It is more magical to see his star finally soar away
from us, and fresh tears tumble down my cheeks.

“I wish to
see my Star Caster’s health,” Val says after repeating the rhyme that I now know so well. He smiles as he speaks, and I must admit that I kind of like this new version of him. I think that I would even like to be his friend at some point. And I look into his eyes, thankful for using his wish for Sterren. He didn’t have to do it. He had no reason to be kind to us. The only things that changed were his intentions. There was no talk about his heart or mind. There was no reason for this change of heart. But I’m not going to argue, and I’m definitely not going to bring it up either.

Val shrugs. “It’s the least I can do,”
he says to both Sterren and me.

I bite my lip to keep from hugging him tightly. I don’t want to scare him off or freak him out.
And I hug Sterren instead. He’s trying to sit up, but I don’t let him. I practically lay across him as I hold him against me, and he laughs. The sound is deep, and it rumbles against my chest. I do love the feeling of him against me. So, I lift myself up and press my lips to his.

When I pull away a second later – because I didn’t forget about Val – I let Sterren up.
He sits up immediately, and turns to Val. “Before I ask my last wish, do you have another?”

Val’s lower lip quivers. I know what it is, and I sigh inwardly. Do we even have the power to do this? How is Val supposed to ask this wish?
Is it illegal, too?

Sterren sighs. “I can’t do that,” he says.

Val nods once. “I don’t want to be lonely,” he admits. His voice is soft as he says this, and I feel the urge to lean over and hug him again.

“Wish to meet someone,” I suggest. “What about a woman?”

Val shakes his head.

“
What about another relative?” I ask this time.

Val perks up
. This idea sounds good to him, because he’s only looking for a companion, someone to spend the rest of his life with. But, his face falls once more. “I am immortal,” he says a second later. “I will always be lonely in life.”

I sigh because I can’t think of anything else.
What are we supposed to do?

“I’m ready for my second wish,” Val says suddenly. His eyes hold a glint of determination, and my heart begins racing.

Sterren nods, knowing that he cannot cast illegal wishes like I can. He casts his star and waits for Val’s words. Unfortunately, he uses his words to his advantage.

“I wish
for the other Star Caster to end my life so that I may spend my eternal life with Ego,” he says slowly.

My jaw drops, but Sterren’s soft power reaches my body. I am forced to do this, to end another life tonight, and I’m not ready.
Once more, I’m crying, and the power within me lifts my hand so that I’m pointing toward Val’s heart. The lightning bolt leaves me, and Val falls in another moment. His dark cloak covers his body; the only thing I can see is his translucent hand reaching toward me. He seems to have been reaching out to thank me, and I whisper a thank you to him.

Sterren moves toward me and hugs me from behind. His hands wrap around my waist, cool and comforting in the night air. “I’m sorry that all of this happened to you, Danika. I never meant for it to end like this,” he declares. Then he sighs. “Can you cast me one last wish tonight, though?”
he asks. His voice is sheepish, and I know that he feels bad for asking me right now.

I sigh but nod my head.
I turn around and press my lips to his before looking up into his eyes. I push his hair away from his eyes to see the three stars that shimmer underneath his golden eye. They are beautiful and I trail my hand across them. I bite my lower lip as a wave of desire courses through my veins, and I pull my hand away so that I can focus. I step back and cast the last star into the sky, and am shocked to see it fly in a rainbow of colors across the fading night. This is different than the other stars I’ve cast, and my jaw drops as I watch it race away.

“What in the world?” Sterren whispers.

I shake my head. If he doesn’t know about this, then it must really be something special. I don’t have time to focus on the star, though, because Sterren’s voice rings out as he states his wish. “I wish to end the Star Casters, to end the time of humans using humans to get what they crave, while keeping the memory alive within the oldest of us.”