When the Stars Align

Brendan or Will?

"What do Josh and Avery control?" I asked as we went to see how Jase was doing.

"Josh controls water and Avery controls earth," he replied.

I thought that if I could choose, I would probably pick water. Mostly because no one could find me if I just went to the bottom of the ocean and sat there for hours. "What about Brendan?"

Will tensed when I said his name. "Ice," he said grudgingly.

Jase had just finished up class when we arrived.

"How was it?" I asked him.

"It was awesome! We got to throw knives!" he replied.

"Did you do okay?" Will asked.

He nodded. "I wasn't the best in the class, but I was pretty good." He said puffing out his chest a little. I couldn't help but smile. A petite girl with blond hair about his age came up behind him.

"Oh yeah, this is Carrie, Carrie, this is my sister and her friend," he said. "There's another class down in the gardens in about five minutes for self defense that we were going to go to."

"Is the instructor Josh? He was talking about having a class sometime today," Will said.

"Nope, it's actually Brendan," Jase replied. Will seemed to go rigid all over again.

The two disappeared down the stairwell. I glanced at Will. He looked like a fallen angel. I wanted so badly to be able to touch him, to kiss him, to run my fingers through his hair. He caught me staring at him and I looked away. I could see him smirk out of the corner of my eye.

"Carrie is actually Avery's little sister," he said finally.

"No wonder, they have so much resemblance to each other," I replied.

"Do you have something against Brendan or something?" I asked him, this time locking eye contact.

"No, it's just complicated," he said vaguely.

"Complicated how?" I asked.

"It's just that, me and Brendan have always been competitive against each other. He's the best fighter in the Hotel. We're not exactly best friends or anything," he explained.

I nodded. "I get it, but regardless, I'm going to watch Jase, if you want to come."

"I would, but I actually have a herbs and medicine class in 10. And that's not just an excuse not to go, I swear," he added.

I raised one eyebrow. "Herbs and medicine?"

"You'd be surprised to find that we learn more skills than just fighting," he replied.

"Okay, well I'll see you later, I guess," I said as I headed downstairs.

"I guess you will," he mumbled.

Once I got down to ground level, I went through a side door that a bunch of other kids were going through and followed them to the gardens, if you could call it that. Most of the plants were dead, and the ones that weren't were at least wilting. Brendan was standing in front of a row of bushes. In front of him were a bunch of kids around Jase's age standing in front of him chattering lightly. Brendan spotted me and beckoned me over.

"Hey, I just came to watch Jase," I said spotting him amongst the kids with Carrie.

He nodded. "I'm glad you came. I can't let you participate of course since it's for ages 8-10, but you might could learn a thing or two by watching."