Children of the Stars

Chapter Twelve

The next morning as we sat in a dark, cozy corner of the Chipped Cup Cafe in Lux, I watched Meg the Leo begin working on her seventh donut in ten minutes, her feet on the table and her chair reclined back. She smirked at the seven of us, who sat around the large round table in relative silence. Kaylin had her head resting on the coffee-stained surface, staring blearily at the entrance on the other side of the building with an empty teacup beside her, Kitch was casually sipping her black coffee, looking grumpier than usual, Nyota was chatting in a hushed tone with Riley while watching Meg devour her donut, Riley was counting her money, and Maria  had hardly touched her coffee, instead holding a hand over her pale forehead.

"All of you," Meg said, gulping down the last bite of the chocolate coated donut. "Look like shit. Like, good lord. What even happened to the lot of you?"

She reached over Maria, sitting on my right and flicked my cheek where the gauze still was. If I wasn't so tired, I would've swung at her for touching my wounds. Instead, I merely groaned and ducked away, leaning against Emma, who was almost asleep on the tabletop in her state of drunkness that she was still stuck in. Her head jerked up and she let out a louder noise than I did before pushing me away and mumbling something incoherent against her arm.

"Kitch and I got into a fight," I muttered, running my cool fingers over my hot, heavy head. I wasn't too badly hungover, just tired. "Speaking of, where did you even disappear to?"

Meg shrugged. "I have other friends, too. We left earlier and went to their dorm to watch movies."

"But you left your First?" Kaylin muttered from the table. Her Pride member shrugged.

"Nyota was there and I knew she was capable of making sure you were okay." She threw her feet back on the ground and dragged the plate with the remaining five donuts on it towards her. She examined each donut before picking a jelly filled powdery one and beginning to work on that.

"Do you ever stop eating?" Maria snapped. "Those donuts were for all of us, and now you've gone and eaten all of them!"

The Leo girl flicked her chin length golden hair away from her face and chuckled at Maria's annoyance. "Well what can I say? I'm hungry like a lion! And all of you decided to sleep in till eleven, so I missed breakfast." She winked at me and then pushed the plate back into the middle of the table. "Feel free to help yourselves."

My Pisces friend's face when from pale, to green. "I'm going to go throw up," she mumbled in a dignified manner before running for the washrooms.

"I'll go check on her in a minute," Kitch said with a yawn.

"Exactly my point," Meg said under her breath. Turning to Kaylin, she continued. "Speaking of lions, I heard you found yours."

Without saying a word, Kaylin's eyes gleamed and she stood from the table, immediately melting into the strong, powerful form of her copper-colored lioness. Suddenly, the barista standing behind the ancient oak counter looked up with sharp eyes and glared at my friend.

"You, Leo," she shouted. "You've gotta be human to be in this place. I can't have you freaking out the tourists or kids."

Kaylin resumed her human form with a smile, and as Maria returned—looking slightly more alive—we delved back into our comfortable silence. Meg threw her feet back onto the table and snatched another donut.

"You're despicable," Maria scowled. We all chuckled to her grumpiness and basked in the lazy, warm light that drifted in through a small skylight above us.

***

When we returned to HUNT, via a school bus which did round trips twice a day, Jason, Sky, Kai and the other House Heads stood at the front doors, each separated into their own element by the color of t-shirts they wore and looking excited. Students milled around their House Heads, looking just as excited.