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Star could hear the beats of her heart ringing in her ears, she felt it in the tips of her fingers as she swirled them together. She was so impatient it was distracting.
"They'll be here," Gerald assured her, glancing over to Val and Leo who were in his bedroom.
Star met his eyes, forcing a smile.
"It's okay to be nervous," he said lowly, sitting next to her on the steps.
"Thanks." She didn't know what else to say.
"Um," Gerald began, "Look, Duch, I wanted to say — "
"Nope, " she interrupted. "We don't do that."
Gerald's lips quivered and he looked down at their laps, "You and Tessa my family."
Mentally, Star commanded her tears to revert back into their ducts. Sniffing, she retrieved an envelope from her pocket. Folding it into halves, she reached for Gerald's watch, accessing his storage. She hovered the envelope parallel to the grid, and it yanked from her grasp, into thin air. "For when you're having a bad day," she said. "I love you, kid. You're gonna do great out there, don't you ever think you don't deserve the good things in life. You're gonna make it."
He scoffed, looking away. "Yeah, right. That's not — "
"Hey, look at me," she turned his chin towards her. Ever since he had his first breakdown, when they realized they couldn't leave, they became each other's anchor. They became family. All they had were one another until Tessa came along. "You are an intelligent, strong, funny, brave young man, Gerald. For some as young as you are, you are filled with so much light and optimism. You were the one getting us by before Tessa, not me. Before Tessa, I was a fucking wreck. But you ... you were always the one to take care of me. You got me through it here, Gerald. I want only the best for you."
Gerald looked away, nervously smiling as the tears streamed down his face, "I don't know what Imma do without you. "
"You're gonna do just fine." She chuckled, "As long as you lay off the ashberry avalanche."
Gerald bit his bottom lip in embarrassment, "I'm telling you I barely drink, Lina was peer pressuring me. It was peer pressure."
"No one told you to dance on the table while whipping your shirt around — "
"There's no need to relive that moment. I've seen the videos."
Suddenly, Star heard the sound of a portal behind her. Looking of her shoulder, she saw Gabriel and Tessa with Orion, her son, entering their living room from thin air. Standing up, Star rushed over to Gabriel, the two embraced. He felt warm, she saw specks of sand in his hair. Pressing her lips onto his, for a brief moment she forgot this would be one of their lasts. "You're okay," she exhaled, holding his face in her hands, committing every feature to memory.
"I'm okay," she said. "You okay?"
She nodded, "Yeah, I'm good."
He nodded, pressing his forehead onto hers. "We'll talk later, okay?"
"Yeah, okay," she pulled back to turn to Tessa. "What's Orion doing here?"
Tessa glanced over to him across the room, talking to Gerald, out of earshot. "Don't worry, we have a plan," she assured.
Following Tessa's gaze, Star followed Gabriel to Gerald's room, where Leo and Val sat around the bed where Carolina laid, still held under with frost on the cracks of her lips and the rims of her nostrils. Her eyelashes kept her lips frozen shut.
"Everyone, this is my son, Orion," Tessa announced. Orion awkwardly held up his hand, waving to everyone who were stood coincidentally in a circle. "Orion hasn't been seen on the map in over six years. Since Val is currently the first person in line for the access to the Whein, she can bring Gabriel with her, by Jumping. "
Tessa pulled up one half of the map, Star the other.
"The entrance of the of the castle is only open for six minutes every four hours," Orion explained. "Gabriel is going to Jump Val and I to this room on the west wing."
Star and Tessa honed in on the fourth floor of the castle, a wine cellar .
"Val will acquire the real diadem, handing it to Gabriel who will Jump to Tessa and she'll awake to write the rootkit RL. I'll pretend to be the winner of the game, masking this necklace as the diadem." Orion held up a ruby necklace he retrieved from his pocket.
"Why can't I just mask as the winner? Since I'm actually winning it?" Val asked. Star noticed Leo glaring at her.
"This way I can Jump the diadem straight to her," Gabriel informed. " Val you've been experiencing some glitches, right?"
Her brows furrowed, "I guess, yeah, I mean does that make a big difference?"
"If there's a glitch, there's a possibility only pieces of it will deliver or maybe none at all." Tessa added.
"But why can't Gabriel just — "
"It works, let's just not overthink this, please, I'm ready to go home," Orion blurted.
Tessa deactivated her watch, and Star followed. She and Gabriel exchanged glances and she followed him out onto the balcony. "I have probably ten seconds to say this since the six minute window starts in four — "
"I don't want you to say anything — "
"But I haven't seen you in forever," he paused, probably realizing how cheesy that sounded. "I know it was awkward earlier but we don't have much time — "
"Gabe," she grabbed his face, caressing the tips of her thumb along his cheekbones. "You have all the time in the world."
She watched as his eyes widen, the blues and whites growing brighter, almost impossibly neon. Star turned to look across the Grove to the Mainland, where a beacon of light streamed from a tower of the Whein.
"What was that?"
"Val got the diadem," he replied.
She turned to him, "But she's in house."
He smiled, playing with the ends of her hair. "This is the fourth time I've tried to say this, but the timing's never been quite right. I've been keeping it to a minimum, like you said."
"When did I say that?" She saw the look on his face. "Oh."
"Yeah," he drew out.
"Where are you from?"
"About an hour from now."
"Fuck," she sighed.
"You have to tell Val or she's gonna rip this place to shreds."
"So?" She asked, "Isn't that what we want?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because your conscious can still survive."
She froze for a moment, trying to think and piece things together before her mind could communicate with her mouth. "No , Tessa would have — "
"You are connected to every single mind in Sweven, Star. You have no idea how selfless you are to be willing to die for the sake of living thousands of people all at once. Tessa didn't want to tell Val without being rational about it, she didn't want an emotional opinion but we know it works and I wanted you to know before you choose death."
Star took a step back, letting go of him. "No," she heard herself say. "This isn't real. No matter how long I've been here, my reality is lying on a gurney doped up on a deceptor. That kind of life isn't real either. I don't want that for myself, Gabe. I'd rather not exist if this life becomes my reality. I want substance."
