The Star Caster (4 page)

The silence is comforting. I focus on the things that welcomed me to my new home: the oil lamp that still swings in an invisible breeze, the scent of polluted water, barbed wire. There is nothing around me that can harm me now, except for the betrayal of my own body and mind. So, I must stay strong; I must not allow my mind to fall into a dreamless sleep. I won’t let it happen. No matter how weak I am, I will not sleep.

My eyes flutter a moment later and I glance at Sterren’s sleeping figure before letting myself rest. My body stays in that rigid position long enough for me to fall asleep and dream for a moment.

A sharp pain rouses me from my sleep. I sit up and pull myself together, thinking that it has something to do with the barbed wire. However, it doesn’t, and I’m stuck holding my head in my hands as I am overcome with a huge headache. The feeling of someone hammering a knife into my brain overwhelms me. I grit my teeth, trying not to scream out. Whatever, this pain is, it’s something that I’m going to keep hidden from the men that are somewhere above me. I will not let them know about it.

The sharp pain subsides for a moment, and I gather the strength to whisper Sterren’s name. He wakes up gently; once he spots my disheveled appearance, however, he moves quickly. His hands grip the outer edges of my cage, and he is telling me that everything will be fine. I nod my head, pretending to listen as another flash of pain explodes behind my eyes.
I literally see stars, and I press my palms against my eyes to block it out.

“Hold it in,” Sterren says to me. “Don’t let them hear you.”

The pain fades again and I sit there, panting. “I can’t take it,” I whisper. “I can’t. I can’t hold it in.” I look up at Sterren then, and catch him looking at me in wonder. A small smile forms across his lips.

“
It won’t be much longer,” he says. “You didn’t cause much of an issue when you were born, did you?” he asks.

I shake my head instead of answering, because another round of the debilitating pain pushes its way into my left eye. I bit
e my tongue to keep from screaming, because I swear that some creature is clawing my eye out. There’s no way that I can survive this.

As this newest pain ends, I let the tears fall.
This is hopeless. All of this mess. Even Sterren can’t help me now.

“
Don’t cry,” he whispers. “The pain will end soon. I promise you.”

“How can you be sure?” I ask him. My voice trembles as I do this, and my lower lip quivers as I realize that I can’t keep my pride right now.

“Look at me,” Sterren says.

I do as he says and watch as his lips smile even more. “One or two more should do it,” he says as the smile fades. “That should be all. I swear.”

This time, large tears slide down my cheeks. I shake my head back and forth. I know that I probably look hideous right now, but I don’t care. One or two more times and that’s all? No more times would be so much better than that.

It hits again, but this time I feel it splinter my spine. It traces down my side and wraps around my hips.
I begin to whimper, but manage to contain my screams because Sterren pushes his hand through the barbed wire and squeezes mine. His hand is warm, comforting, and it takes away some of the pain. I squeeze his hand right back and am glad that he can take the pain from me. When this flash of pain ends, I look up to see that he is panting as well. My brow furrows in confusion, but raise up when he reaches up to trace my left cheek. He smiles at me, his teeth perfect and white, his lips sensuous, as always. His thumb rubs over my cheekbone, right underneath my eye.

“I can’t believe it,” he whispers. “It really is you.”

I blink, not understanding any of this. “What are you talking about?” I ask, even though I do not get an answer.

Sterren pulls away as I ask the question; the barbed wire
claws at his delicate skin but he doesn’t seem to care that much. He’s on his feet a moment later and he’s pulling a knife from the inside of his jeans. “We need to get you out of here,” he says as he begins to climb up the wall of wire. His jeans snag against the sharp edges, and I wonder how his hands can handle it. When Sterren reaches the top, he leans over so that he can reach down.

“You have to stand,” he says.

I look at my surroundings, at the barbed wire that stays so close to my body. I can’t stand up. I’ll be carving shallow designs into my skin as the wire cuts me, and I’m so tired from the wretched headaches. I know that this new pain, no matter how small when compared to my previous pain, will end my barely contained sanity. So, I shake my head.

“You have to trust me, Danika. I
will tell you everything, but you have to trust me.” Sterren reaches down further. “I need to get you out of here now.”

I sigh but release my legs. I pull in a deep breath and clutch the barbed wire. The needles pie
rce my skin but it’s not that bad, and when I finally stand up and reach for Sterren, the pain goes away almost completely. That happened twice now, and it couldn’t be a coincidence. No, this was part of the magic he told me about.

Sterren’s grip on me tightens as he pulls me in order to help me climb up.
It doesn’t take more than a minute to navigate my way to the top, and I pretend that I’m a child again, climbing up the jungle gym. It’s much better than facing my reality right now.

“
Take my other hand,” Sterren instructs as I reach the top.

This time, I do as I’m told without hesitating. I’m learning to trust Sterren.
However, when Sterren grabs my hand, I can tell that he is avoiding my eyes. I feel myself begin to sink into myself, almost as if I’m afraid or alone. And I realize that without Sterren, I am alone.

Why mu
st I feel this way? I have spent so long being independent and by myself. I never wanted friends. I was focused on school, on getting out of the horrible existence my so-called parents led. Why am I now worried about losing Sterren? It was because of our connection, his answers to my questions. Which brings me to this: would I still want Sterren around if he couldn’t help me? I don’t know.

A moment later, I am free from my cage. Sterren’s hand is on my waist, balancing me as I swing my right leg over the top of the encasement.
I wait there for a moment while he reaches up to cut the oil lamp so that we can take it. It’s dimming now, and I wonder if they planned on refilling it at all.

“I want you to follow me down, Danika. Step where I step, and grip where I grip. Okay?” Sterren
says.

I nod and he goes ahead and moves.
I do as he says, with him guiding me along the way, pulling or pushing my feet in the right direction. I am so glad that my feet are tiny, and that my Vans are thin; without them, I would have been too clumsy.

We are nearly halfway down when the sound of intruders hits my ears. Below me, Sterren is assuring me that we are safe, that there is no reason to panic, but I know that he’s just talking so that I don’t fall down.
I continue moving at my same pace, following Sterren below me. When we reach the bottom, a moment later, he grabs my hand and pulls me into the darkness, leaving the oil lamp behind him. I turn and watch as the light fades in the distance, comforted only by Sterren’s hand in my own.

We walk for another minute before I hear the voice in my mind.
Come back.

I stall. Sterren keeps walking but stops when he tugs on my arm; he turns to face me, a look of concern is painted across his face. “What?” he asks me.

“I can hear his voice,” I say. My lower lip trembles as I fight to turn. I can feel his voice pulling me, a hook attached to my belly button, tugging me toward him.

Sterren’s hand grips mine tighter. “Fight it,” he says to me.
He squeezes my hand so that he can hold me there, and I close my eyes, letting him stabilize me. “You can fight it,” he whispers as he brings his other hand up and rubs my upper arm. The gesture is simple but it pulls me from whatever hold the other man has on me, and I open my eyes, free from his grasp. How could he do that? How could he control me?

Sterren’s lips curl into another dashing smile, and I nearly swoon. Now
he
was controlling me? Well, he’s not really controlling me, but it’s weird to have this weak feeling in my knees. This isn’t normal for me, and it’s easier to pretend that he’s controlling me.

“Come on,” he says as he pulls me along. I almost stall; my poor heart is freaking out right now. This definitely isn’t normal, this connection I have with Sterren.

We reach a brick wall and Sterren reaches out to touch it. He begins mumbling to himself, and I just wait.

“You don’t listen,” the man says from behind us.

I jump and turn around to face the man with the cloak. He is standing before us, his hands clasped together in front of him. His lips are a straight line, tight and angry.

For a moment, I don’t know what to do. I’m frozen, stuck in place because of his gaze. When I shake my head to rid
myself of the man before Sterren and I, the feeling of hazy dizziness fades into the background, a quiet thrumming. I pull myself together and stand straighter so as to appear stronger. I look up into the man’s eyes, a hard, shattering black that swirls like the evil night sky.

The man steps back and gasps. His hand moves to his mouth involuntarily, and then a smile pulls at the corners of his horrible mouth. “It has been done,” he says.

“Leave her,” Sterren orders.

The man before us chuckles. “Do not forget your place, young Sterren. She is not yours to keep, you
rs to protect. She will be ours,” he says gleefully. “Come,” he says as he turns his gaze to me. The man holds out his pale, bony hand and waits for me to take it.

I shake my head
frantically.

“You, Star Cast
er, will join us.”

“I will never join you. I will nev
er be your possession,” I state.
Star Caster?
I think. What the hell is he blabbering about now?

The man looks into my eyes and nods. He turns to Sterren and I almost see a literal connection. This magical man stays locked on Sterren’s eyes. I watch as Sterren begins walking forward, pulling me with him. We walk back toward the dim light of the oil lamp; we walk as I struggle to free myself from this zombie version of Sterren.

“Sterren,” I whisper into his ear when I figure out that I can never pull myself from his impossibly strong grip. “Please stop this. Don’t listen to him. Don’t do what he says. Be stronger than that; you are stronger than that.”

He is weak in comparison to you.

I snap my head back to see the man laughing at me. “Shut up,” I say to him. “Leave him alone. Now,” I order.

“I will not and he cannot,” he says with another laugh.

“Why not?”

“My twin and I made it so,” he answers. “Sterren will be with us for all of eternity.
Until the end of all time.”

“How can that happen?” I ask him as we step into the light. “People don’t live forever,” I explain to him. He must be delusional or much worse.

The man laughs once more. “Sterren,” he calls, “I need you to explain your kind, or what used to be your kind, to little Danika here. She has no idea.”

Sterren stops walking and turns to me. His eyes are slightly out of focus and I bite my lip, not wanting to cry out to him. I know that it would be pointless; he’s not the same Sterren any longer.
He is being controlled by this crazy man.

Sterren, or what used to be Sterren, begins to speak in something just shy of a robot
’s voice. “During catastrophic times, human genes mutate to adapt. In order to survive, humans have become superhuman, stronger than they were before. These adaptations ensure that the human race survives in the long run. This is why we, as a species, have never become extinct. This is why you are alive today, right now.”

“Wait,” I stammer. “What are you talking about?”

Zombie-Sterren pauses, not knowing how to continue. He sputters over his thoughts, almost like he has been conditioned to give his speech, but not to take any questions.

“Fine,” the hooded man shouts as he throws his hands in the air. “You may tell her yourself. However, I order you not to leave this place.”

“What are you doing?” I ask him.

“I am going to get my twin. It is time that you’ve met us both.” The man turns away swiftly and disappears.

“Sterren?” I ask as I continue watching the weirdo’s retreating figure. “Are you okay? What’s going on? What are you talking about? Humans adapting?”

Sterren stops me by putting his hands on my upper arms; his hands move down until they grasp my hands. My heart flutters in my chest. “
Shh,” he says. “Let me tell you what you are before going into all of that.”

“What I am? Don’t you mean who I am?”

Sterren shakes his head. “You are a Star Caster,” he says.

My mouth drops open but I watch him as he moves his hair away from his golden eye. He lets me look into his eyes as he waits for me to calm down enough for him to continue. When I put my jaw back where it belongs
, he goes on.