In her senior year of high school, Natalie Hope reunites with her friends, Adam and Barbara, at the funeral of the fourth member of their once-close gang, Jake. They remember the made-up superhero game they played as kids called "the Astronites," wh...
Natalie stood on the sidewalk in a white, pajama-like gown — the same one her mother wore whenever she had to stay at a hospital overnight. A car passed by. Natalie got a quick glance at the driver. It was Jake! He was still alive! Natalie tried to chase him down, but Jake continued to drive away. Natalie's legs grew tired. Why couldn't she catch up to him?
Natalie turned over as her dream faded. Her bare feet slid across smooth linen. She adjusted the soft pillow supporting her head. I made it home, she thought. Jake brought me home . . . but Jake's dead, so how can that be?
Natalie immediately jerked forward. For a brief second, she thought she was in a library. The walls around her were lined with hundreds of books. To her left, a sphere of warm, yellow light hovered just above her bedside table. Above her was a glass dome, through which she could see the nighttime sky and the spirals of a red, yellow, and orange supernova. The sight of the celestial being first calmed, and then increased, Natalie's adrenaline.
This wasn't Adam's house.
Natalie flipped the blanket off and saw her black dress had been replaced by the same white gown she wore in her dream. She got out of the bed, but much to her surprise, her legs collapsed beneath her like wet spaghetti. She crashed to the floor with a thud! Natalie's muscles ached like she had just run a marathon.
The door opened, and a man entered. He wore a navy robe with gold stars imprinted on it.
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"That's interesting," he muttered before approaching Natalie. "Relax. You don't want to do that just yet."
Something about his voice was extremely familiar to Natalie. The man lifted her back into the bed. As he pulled away, Natalie froze with shock.
It was Mr. Eleph, only his bushy, silver beard was instead a cloudy white.
"Please, no sudden movements yet. Let me bring you something to eat first."
He disappeared out of the room with his robe waving behind him like a flag. Natalie thought she was dreaming. She had to be. None of this made any sense. The man quickly returned with a tray of cookies and a glass of milk. He set them next to a picture of him with a woman and a young, smiling girl by the bedside table. He then closed the door and pulled a chair up to Natalie.
"Star cookies and honeymilk! There's nothing like it!" he cheered.
"Mister . . . Eleph?" Natalie managed to ask.
"Mister Eleph? I haven't heard that in a long time. It's always been Dean Eleph, Professor Eleph, or just Aleph, but everyone's got a preference! Listen, it's been a long time since we saw each other. Please eat first. Don't strain yourself."
Natalie's instinct was to stay away from this man pretending to be her elementary school teacher. "Who are you?" she firmly asked. "Where am I?"
The Mr. Eleph imposter laughed. "I'm Aleph Eleph. You're on my home moon."
