Counting Stars

Chapter 2

August had heard the story before. One day, when he was three, his father just disappeared, along with his friend Endymion. There was no note, no goodbye, nothing. At the time it was normal for his father to run off on strange adventures but as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months everyone knew something was wrong.

That was all he was ever told before the topic of Bastion le Claire was closed. 

Now though, he was getting more pieces to the puzzle. The whole story, from none other than Endymion's wife.

He had never heard of Iris or Mal, but for years they had been in the background of every story, every memory for his family- and he hadn't even known. His mother had known though and so had Alex. That stung, that his family hadn't even shared a portion of the truth with him. Now he sat on the ground, trying not to pout like a toddler as Iris provided her side of the story.

"After Bastion and Endymion disappeared, I decided to go after them myself," Iris said with a weak smile.

"Why didn't you tell any of us," argued Alex. He wasn't mad but the open expression on his face showed his confusion. Alex was always trying to understand things, trying to see the logic in every action. It didn't take much to realize though that Iris hadn't been acting on logic. It had been something more emotional.

"You were just a child and Mina had her arms full with August." Iris shook her head, "I couldn't ask it of you Alex. Your family needed you more. I decided it was something I had to do."

"But... how?" August asked. He was still trying to catch up. The woman in front of him didn't seem like the type to just run off into space.

Iris gave him a sweet smile, "I may not look like it but I used to be one of the top aerospace engineers on the planet." She punctuated the statement with a quick wink, "And my husband had given me pieces of his technology before he left. It wasn't easy, but I managed to get his old ship up and running."

August blinked at her, trying to make sense of her words. "Ship? Like a boat?"

Iris frowned at him and then turned to look at his mother. August did the same. Neither she nor Alex would meet his eyes. His heart tightened at the sight.

"Mina," Iris began, "I... don't know how much you've told him about Bastion. But he should at least know the basics."

His mother bit her bottom lip and shook her head. "I just wanted him to grow up as normal as possible."

Alex put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "August," he started, "We never told you any of this, because my childhood wasn't exactly normal."

"I know," August said before his brother could get any farther. "Mom homeschooled you at the cottage." Their parents had tried to be hands-on in raising them. Homeschool, nature hikes, living off the land. It had been manageable with two parents, but after his father left, his mother needed more support. Plus Alex was getting to the age where needed to bolster his records in order to get scholarships.

Alex shook his head, voice hesitant. "That wasn't really the whole truth. We lived out there because mom didn't want anyone to notice..."

"Notice what?" he interrupted, something coiled in his stomach. A hot anxiety that he didn't know what to do with. His mind tried to remember their time on the mountain, but he had been just a toddler.

"That you boys and your father are different." His mother finally spoke up. She rubbed her hands over her eyes and took a deep breathe, "August, sweetie, your father isn't from this planet."

He couldn't help it, a laugh bubbled past his lips. "Yeah right."

"It's true," Mal said, speaking up for the first time. August looked at him and their eyes met from across the room. His smug smile from earlier was gone, he looked eerily serious. No one in the room was smiling. It was then his words from earlier floated back into August's memory.