Twilight's Spell

An Infinity Stone

I decided it would just be for the best to hide from everyone. Peter's "guests" don't seem to like us (or each other) that much, and I'd rather not get caught in the crossfire of any fights. Luckily I keep books hidden in remote areas of the ship for situations similar to this. Of course, those situations usually revolve around Peter and some girl sleeping together, but whatever. This book is an old one from the Kree talking about old beings known as the Celestials. They were an ancient race that predated the Asgardians (the Norse gods of Terra as I read in another book).

"I was gonna put it in a box," I hear Rocket yell. I roll my eyes and place my book back in its hiding place. I might as well try stop everyone from tearing each other apart. I arrive in the main room just as Rocket picks up Peter's present from Mom out of a box. "How about this one?"

"No!" Peter yells, taking the present from Rocket. "Woah! Hey! Hey! Leave it alone!" He puts it back. I still have no idea why he's never opened it. I wish he would so I could open mine and my sister's. I have hold of them both (Mom trusted the three year-old over the eight year-old when it came to her new baby's gift) and I've never had the heart to touch them without knowing Peter was ready to move on with his life.

"Why?" Rocket questions. "What is it?"

"Shut up," Peter snaps. His attention moves to something else. "What is that?"

"That's for if things get really hardcore," Rocket says. He continues more nonchalantly. "Or if you wanna blow up moons." That perks my interest. Blowing things up for no reason sounds really fun right now.

"No one's blowing up moons," Gamora calls from the cockpit.

I whine a little. I really need to do something besides read, otherwise I'll be out of books soon. "You just want to suck the joy out of everything," Rocket mutters. He gets me. I take a seat beside him.

Peter starts up a conversation with Gamora about her buyer's location, but I decide to talk to Rocket instead of listen. "I'm really sorry Peter snapped at you," I apologize. "He's just really protective of things from Terra."

"It's no problem," he responds, continuing with his work. "It would be a little better if you could tell me what that is though."

I sigh. "That was the present my mom gave Peter just before she died. He's never had the heart to open it, so I've never opened mine either." I pause for a second. "Not that it matters much anyway. Despite being raised on the Ravager ship, Yondu gave me a pretty good childhood. He's a pretty cool dad." I smile.

"Sounds like you're close with him. Do you have any friends that aren't your brother or Yondu?"

"I have Kraglin, but I guess he's sort of like a second dad to me in retrospect. I guess that means that I don't really have any friends."

The others start to get a little louder in their conversation. "Put it down, you fool!" Gamora yells at Drax. "You'll destroy us all."

"Or maybe just you, murderess!" Drax yells back.

"I let you live once, princess!"

"I am not a princess!" They're actually yelling in each other's faces by this time.

"Hey! Nobody is killing anybody on my ship!" Peter says, stepping between the two. "We're stuck together until we get the money."

"I have no interest in money," Drax says as he leaves. Poor guy. All he wants is revenge, but then what will he do.

"Great," Peter says. "That means more money for the three of us." Groot whimpers. "For the four of us." I cough to get his attention. "Fine, five of us. Partners."