The Cross in Our Stars

Chapter 12

Silence fills the room before a flurry of questions and exclamations erupt from all, except Ria.

"What?!"

"That doesn't make sense. We were born here!"

"Are you absolutely sure?"

At the last question from Louis, Ren nods once before turning his attention to answer Josh's question. He takes out a necklace with a small gold charm on it, shaped like a lantern. Its embellishments are intricate, even on a miniscule scale. With a bit of concentration, it glows a lilac color. Everyone leans in to get a closer look.

"When I search for other Wish Souls, it glows white. It only glows another color if a Wish Soul or Guardian from another planet is near." The glow ends and he tucks it back under his tunic. "Just because you're born on a planet doesn't make you native to it. Not until native genes dilute yours after a few generations could there be such a possibility."

With the lull in conversation, Nira switches colors before finishing off the notes so far from the meeting. Wish Souls were always a story of legend. To know they're real, and that her best friend is one, gives a whole new perspective. "So what happens after Wish Souls are used?"

Both Ria and Ren glance at each other with guilt and worry before Ren answers. "They return to their infant stage and grow up again."

Another batch of silence, this one far more tense at the question on everyone's mind. Nira braves asking it. "And their memories?"

Ren, looking troubled as eyes move to him, keeps his gaze at a spot on the floor in front of himself. "I've heard stories...of how those who were Wish Souls regain most of their memories. Sometimes only a portion. Rarely...none at all." This was the part of being chosen as Wish Guardian that he hated. Loneliness is either your friend, or your enemy.

Watching as Ria goes to sit next to Ren in support, Josh could understand Ren's absence, if his body language and voice are anything to go by. Understand, but couldn't agree with it. He threads his fingers together, leaning over with elbows on his knees and mulls over the information. "Is any of this related to the kidnapping yesterday?"

Nira steps into Ria's previous spot to view the whiteboard from a different angle. "Honestly, it's too early to say, but I know who's behind it." Immediately all heads are fixated on Nira, who places her hands into the pockets of the hoodie. "Her name is Lunaria. We were childhood friends. We've lost contact ever since I came here, but even before, we drifted apart towards the end of our schooling."

"If she's resorting to kidnapping, and double crossing whomever she hired to do it, then she's definitely fallen into the wrong crowd," Ria replies, disdain at the recent memory.

"That I do not doubt." Nira is sure that whatever Lunaria is involved in, she's in deep. "She couldn't have survived what you did to her, though."

They turn to Louis as he lifts up a finger. "I went back to the Grimbush, to see what the police had found. They're short one body from the explosion, and all the armed abductors are accounted for."

Ren, Ria, and Nira look incredulously at Louis. "Struck by lightning three times in a row, caught in an explosion, and she's alive?" Ria could only roll her eyes. "She's gonna be a problem."

As they discuss a few matters amongst themselves, including trying to decipher some of the doodles upon the board, Ria pulls her phone out of her pocket after hearing a chirp. She unlocks the screen, eyes bulging as she continues to stare. "Oh...shrap."

Pausing in their animated discussion over the notes, the group leans in to read the screen presented to them. 'Evervalley's Newest Power Couple!' The title in big, eye-catching letters certainly does its job. A picture of Valja placing a hand over Nira's during a private moment at the charity dinner last night, captured for all eternity.