The Angel's Stone

Chapter 14.

Natascha knocked on the door patiently, and slid her hands behind her back. In the chaos of it all, Austin had stepped from the crowd and seized the white collar of Marlene's jacket and dragged her from the scene, beckoning for the teenagers to follow. Trailing just behind her, Natascha thought it was the most insane she had ever seen Marlene. She had thrashed and screamed against her father's grip, then didn't say a word on the way home, just stared out the window, like an upset five year old who lost her temper. When they had gotten to the Institute, Marlene had gone to her room and refused to come out, not even for dinner. Though Natascha didn't know what the big deal was: she was just chaperoning while Natascha was there.

"Who is it?" The voice that replied was raw, and cracked. Natascha replied in her softest voice, "It's Natascha. Is everything alright, Marlene?"

There was a pause, and Natascha considered leaving, but then the door handle turned to the side, and with the two nails above it; holding it in place, it looked a little like a welcoming smirk.

Natascha knew if Marlene opened the door she would want her to come in, so she did, feeling as if she was walking on a tightrope, and if she made one wrong move, she would fall.

She hadn't known what she had been expecting- a room as plain as her own, possibly a bit neater. Either way, it was definitely not what she thought it would be. Posters of constellations, galaxies, and stars masked the wall. Books of Outer Space were stacked high on either side of the bed, and a small pile on her desk with a sticky note that labeled them 'Favorites' in Marlene's curvy handwriting. Even a pillow with a bright yellow star stitched neatly into it lay on the side of her bed, and, she noticed a tiny purple galaxy had been painted on the frame.

Angel had said Marlene rarely let anybody in her room. Now she knew why.

Natascha didn't see Marlene slumped in the chair of her desk until she had almost walked into her. When she did, however, she fumbled on words to say to her that would reassure her. How could she, when she didn't even know what was wrong?

After a few moments, she finally decided on, "I like your room." Marlene looked up with round, dark eyes, ringed with pink and a bit of blue. She looked as if she wanted to spill a million words to the girl years younger than she was, looked as if she expected the world in return. But all she croaked out was, "Thanks."

"I didn't know you liked stars."

"Oh, indeed I do." She stood up from her chair and strode to the posters, looked up at them as a peasant might a queen. "Stars, constellations. The whole sky for the most part." She jabbed a finger at a poster with a big wheel full of little tiny dots in it, but was careful not to touch. "When I was little, my parents were still arguing over what my middle name would be. My mother wanted it to be Felicity, but my father wished it to be Anna. They finally decided I should get to pick on my own." She laughed- "A very trusting choice to someone who was so little. But I turned to the stars and pointed one out. My father told me that one was called Lyra, right next to a big one called Vega. I liked the name, and that's how I got it." She sighed. "I don't know, Natascha. I just love the way they all look- how, how this random burst of energy and ten billion years can create-" she looked up at Natascha then, her eyes pleading- "this beautiful show of pigments and pinpricks of light." Her voice was overflowing with an uncontrollable passion that Natascha was left without words. Thankfully, Marlene continued on. "I once read a book that told us stars were itty bitty holes on a black cover up, letting in the light of heaven."

Natascha looked to the desk, where she saw Marlene had been designing some sort of machinery. "If thats true, it doesn't shine that bright, considering its from heaven."

Marlene laughed, a short, soft sound. "But if it were too close, it would burn us all to a pulp, nonetheless blind us."

Natascha glanced at her, hand feeling the gem around her throat. Her eyes were the color of her hair, only rimmed with green near the pupils, as if someone had carefully stitched them there. She said nothing, for how could one respond to that?

"Why did you come to my room?" Marlene asked kindly.

"Because I wanted to see what was bothering you so bad," came the reply, "and if there was anything I could do to help."

"I did not think you heard what the Consul said to me after I told him what I did," Marlene swallowed, her dark hair shielding her face.

"Of course I didn't," Natascha told her gently.

"He said some pretty dirty things about your family," she went on. "And that you were a cursed demon sent to kill us all. That your mother should have died in the one battle trying to protect me, and blah blah blah. Then my father came before I could fire anything back, and I let my temper get the best of me. As you can tell, I am not fully matured.."

Natascha looked horrified. "What a man!"

Marlene shrugged. "He's just mad that your mom gave the institute to my dad and not him, even when it was promised to him in the first place. Marissa had good reasons, though. Consul Trueblood wasn't trustworthy, and after what he did to Wayne.."

"What did he do to Wayne?"

Marlene smiled. "Such middle school girls, are we. Gossiping and such. I might as well tell you anyways. He gave sold all of Wayne's toys and crib when he was a baby, and barely fed him despite how much money he had. Eventually, he just couldn't handle a baby- or a screaming wife- so the Consul divorced and sent Wayne here. He was the skinniest baby I have ever seen, still to this day." She looked up, eyes brighter than stars. "Did you see at the Clave meeting how he refused to look at his father?"

Natascha shook her head, intently listening.

"Oh. Well, he never did." Marlene's stomach suddenly made the noise of a dying whale. Natascha looked up, startled, but the other girl just laughed. "Haven't had dinner yet. Come on, lets go get some."