The Stargazers (10 page)

Being the member of the most notorious family in her homeland, Aster understood that all too well. “It’s hard to change people’s expectations of you, I guess.”

They stopped at an intersection and Ruby gave her a light punch on the shoulder. “So, when am I going to get to hear your sob story? I bared my soul back there and stuff.”

Aster laughed. “There’s probably a lot more to your soul than I’ve seen.” She looked up the block and saw a little brick building with a yellow sign posted on the front. A couple of young men in blue overalls and caps sat on stools out front. “Is that the Quick Lube?”

“Yeah. Maybe big bro
will
also give us a couple bucks for an ice cream cone. Let’s go.” They darted up the street. One of the boys sitting on a stool stood up as they approached.

“Yo, Bro!” Ruby shouted, her voice harsh but cheerful. Aster could tell Ruby loved her brother.

Onyx was heavyset but tall, with short black hair that matched his sister’s, but his scruffy beard and bushy eyebrows gave him a harsh masculinity. His dark eyes matched his namesake, and a closer look showed snake tattoos twisting up his forearms. “Uh-oh.  Here comes Jezebel of the G
lenn,” he said, but it was clear he was joking. He looked at
Aster. “Got a new member in the coven?”

Aster twitched at the word. She knew what that one meant.

“This is Aster. She’s from… somewhere. We haven’t gotten to that part yet. Aster, Onyx, Onyx, Aster.”

Aster smiled. “Hello
.”

Onyx held up a hand that was black with grime. “I’d offer a handshake, but filth is a hazard of the job.” He kicked the leg of the person who had his head buried in a magazine. “Hey, Bryon. We have company. Say hi or something.”

Aster looked down to se
e a pair of light hazel
eyes peering over the top of the words
Popular Science
. The color reminded her of leaves just kissed by fall. He wore a Quick Lube
cap, but Aster could see
dark blonde hair
poking out from
beneath it. A spray of freckles dotted his nose and cheeks. “Did you know your name means star in Ancient Greek?”
he asked.

Her langua
ge was different, of course. It meant “shining eye” in Ellemire.
Dahlia once said she picked it because she knew that all eyes would be on her daughter someday. “I think I’ve heard that before.”

Onyx snatched the magazine out of Bryon’s hand and slapped him over the head with it. “You’re such a nerd, man. You’ll have to pardon my young friend here. It’s not so much that he’s retarded… Actually, never mind I said that. He’s retarded.” Bryon shook his head and took
the magazine back.

Ruby cleared her throat. “Anyway, Bro, I wanted to see if we could have a couple bucks for some ice cream. And maybe some smokes. For me.”

Onyx sighed. “You just turned seventeen
, Sis. Isn’t it about time you get a job?”

“It’s the economy, stupid.”

“You don’t see me askin’ for h
andouts,” Onyx grumbled and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his front pocket. The word “Camel” was written on the front. He handed it
to his sister. “Remember, you have no right to have a vice unless you have a way to pay for it. Consider that some of my brotherly wisdom.”

Ruby grabbed the cigarettes and rolled the pack up in her shirt sleeve. “So I guess this means no ice cream for our town’s newest addition?”

Bryon cleared his throat and stood up. “Uh, I’m about to go on break. I could take you down there. My treat?” The whole time he spoke, he had his eyes on Aster, and her heart fluttered in a way it never had before.
But then she remembered that nothing good could come of such f
eelings, and her stomach soured
.

“That’s a brilliant idea, Bry.” Ruby clapped the
boy on the shoulder. “You
mind cutting your slave loose for a little while, Onyx?”

“Break time’s the government’s rule
, not mine. Later, ladies.” He
went back inside the shop.

Ruby took Bryon’s arm. “C’mon Aster. We got us a gentleman caller.”

The inside of Double Dips
, like so many things in this world,
was a wonderment of color and light. Shiny black and white tiles covered the floor and walls, accented with red and silver tables
with little vases of
yellow daisies
on
each one. Overhead, a lively song was playing about a man
proclaiming
all shook
up over something. Giant pictures
hung on the walls of men and women who looked too perfect to be real. One of them featured a blonde woman in a white dress who must have been caught in a high wind, because she was trying to keep her skirt from blowing up. Aster had never seen any women like her where she came from.

Ruby rested her elbow on Aster’s shoulder
and they looked at the picture together
. “M
arilyn Monroe. Sigh. The quintessential
woman, if you ask me.” 

Aster didn’t want to seem even more conspicuous by admitting her complete ignorance about this Marilyn Monroe person. “Yeah, I like her. She’s pretty.” She noticed Bryon hanging back. He hadn’t said much on the way over, instead just walking next to her with his hands tucked into his pockets.

“Marilyn was
all beauty but not a whole lot of brains,” he said. “Give me Kate Hepburn any day of the week.” He took off his hat to reveal a shaggy mop of curly hair that reminded her of Dahlia’s.

Aster smiled but said nothing. She wanted to change the subject before one of them as
ked her who her favorite person was
.

“What’s your flavor?” Bryon asked.

“I’m sorry?”

He removed a hand from his jacket to point toward the counter, where a plump older woman stood wearing a white cap, a black a
pron, and a pair of very thick spectacles
.
Bryon must have been referring to the ice cream. Luckily that was a subject with which she had more than
a passing fancy. Nanny Lily also had a good hand with freezing spells
. “Do th
ey have… uh… straw
berry, do you think?”
She’d almost said “pluckberry,” but she had a feeling they didn’t
have those over here. Pluckberry vines could only be pollinated and harvested by pluckberry faeries, and this world didn’t appear to have any such creatures.

Ruby laughed. “
Of course they have strawberry!
I bet they also chocolate or vanilla! Booooring.” She stepped up t
o the counter. “Hey Missus Crenshaw
. Can I get a banana split with black raspberry, mint chocolate chip, and peanut butter fudge ripple, with marshmallow topping, nuts, whipped cream, and three cherries?” She looked back at the others with a devious grin. “It’s that time of the month.”

“I’ll have a chocolate malt,” said Bryon.

Miss Green nodded and looked at Aster with a smile that made the corners of her eyes crinkle like Nanny Lily’s. “What will you have, dear?”

“Um. I’ll have what he’s havi
ng.” She glanced at Bryon and he
grinned.

Ruby rolled her eyes. “And they called it puppy loooove.” After Bryon paid for their ice cream, they took a seat at one of the tables. “So, Bryon, how’s life under my
overly Libertarian
brother?”

He shrugged. “It’s okay I guess. Onyx is a good guy. So Aster, are you from up in the city?”

Aster referred to the story concocted by Nanny Lily and Dahlia, but she also threw in a little of Ruby’s theory from last night for good measure. “I’m originally from out
west, but my father died
, and we moved out
here to live with my aunt. But m
y aunt was a terrible woman. Abusive. And my mom... She just couldn’t stand up to her. I think losing my dad broke her in some way, but I had to get out. I bought a ticket for the first train out of that place.
Ivy
saw me at sleeping at the
station and brought me here.”
Congratulations, Aster. You’ve become a world-class liar
, she thought.

“Sounds like typical Ivy,” said Ruby. The woman brought them their ice cream. Ruby moaned and dug into the extravagant treat with obvious relish. “This, you guys, is the reason we keep living.”

Aster took a sip of the malt. The creamy chocolate flavor made her taste buds cramp. While the fruit of this world tasted dull, the sugary treats were much sweeter than they were back home. She would love to learn more of the alchemy involved so she could take it with her. “This is amazing.
What is this called again?
”

“You never had a chocolate malt before?” Bryon asked.

“This is my first time.”

Ruby snickered. “Why do I have a feeling that’s the case for most things with you?” She plucked one of the cherries off her sundae and licked the whipped cream off it with a suggestive twirl of her tongue. “You know what I mean?”

Aster felt warmth creep into her face and she looked away.

“Knock it off
, Ruby,” Bryon said. “That’s none of your business.”

Ruby rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. We’re all friends here, right? Haven’t either of you ever hooked up with someone before?” She turned to Aster. “For the Amish among us, that’s a slang term for ‘sexual intercourse.’” Neither Aster nor Bryon answered and Ruby snorted laughter. “I should’ve known. Prudes, the both of you.”

“So I guess you’ve done it then?” Aster asked. The mere thought of the act still terrified her
, even though that was what she was sent over here to do
.

“Define ‘it.’ I’ve done a lot of things, but unlike you two, I’m not afraid to say I’ve never gone all the way. Don’t really want to either. One time I accidentally got into my brother’s porn stash when I was still living with him and I guess it ruined me.” She took another huge bite of purple ice cream covered in the white marshmallow goo. “I mean, it all looks pretty stupid if you ask me. Meat slamming against meat. Whatever.”

“Well maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet,” said Bryon, spooning the remains of his chocolate malt out of the bottom of the glass.

“Thanks for the offer, Bry. You’re cute and all, and you really know how to fill out those
c
overalls, but I don’t think you’re my type.”

“What is your type?” he asked.  “Other girls?”

Ru
by shrugged. “
If I feel something, I feel something
. I don’t think much about gender
.”

Bryon smiled. “So. Girls, then?”

“Whatever. Asshole.” Ruby smiled back, and Aster could tell they had no intention of really fighting. People had strange way
s of joking
here.

All this talk about sex made her nervous and she suddenly lost her appetite for her ice cream. Neither her mother nor Nanny Lily had prepared her for what the act itself would entail except to say it would be painful and that she wasn’t permitted to like it. “It’s a chore no more enjoyable but every bit as necessary as milking a cow,” Dahlia had told her.

Bryon looked at Aster. “So what do you like to do? Any hobbies or anything?” He held her gaze better than any stranger ever had, seeming genuinely interested in whatever she had to say and not at all ruffled by her eye color. Aster felt both flattered and flustered.

“Well… I love to draw and write.
But I guess my real interest is in plants and flowers. I spent a lot of time in the gardens back home, and there is a
garden at the Oasis house, which is nice
.”

He grinned. “That all sounds pretty great, but… those are all pretty solitary hobbies, you know? Didn’t you ever, like, go out with friends or do anything at school?”

Aster debated for a moment on how to answer that.
“My mother and gran
dmother schooled me themselves.
Where I come from, our family doesn’t really have a lot of friends.”

Bryon leaned forward on his elbows. “Oh yeah? How come?”

“Jesus, Bryon. What is this, 60 Minutes? It’s not like it’s all that unusual anyway. Everyon
e in this town hates my family.”

Aster could have hugged the girl.

“Not everyone,” said Bryon. “I don’t. Your brother’
s my boss, and he’s cool
. I don’t know you all that well, but you seem mostly harmless. Besides, I’m not exactly one of the popular kids either.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Bryon looked at Aster. “Trust me. When you’re on Science Olympiad, Astronomy Club, and Chess Club, you’re not exactly homecoming court material.”

Aster had no idea what any of those things were, but she understood what he meant. “I think we can all relate to being rejected in some way,” she said.

Ruby’s eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped into an exaggerated
O
. “Yeah! Oh I know! We can form our very own Breakfast Club! Aster here would be the perfect Molly Ringwald, only with pink hair. Bryon, you can be the nerdy guy with the lisp, and I’ll be that chick who makes art with her own dandruff.”