Nova's Dawning
Chapter 13

Together we had decided to dedicate our Friday’s to help Thea on the ship. The good thing about it, is that not only were we able to help, but we also were able to use our powers for good. Jack was a part of gathering things they need like equipment and such, so he would conjure cameras and lights and even small pieces of the set they were building.

Each act had a different set or background they wanted so it was our job to help create them as precisely as possible. Thea was good at giving commands, but for some reason I noticed her eye balling Jack the way he had been eyeballing her yesterday. Thea and Sam were pretty close at that point, so I asked.

“Hey, Sam, is something up with Thea and Jack?” Sam instantly snickered. I tried to hide my surprise, but I was not very successful. She pulled me aside, away from prying eyes and sat down in the far back seat. She leaned forward intensely.

“Okay, so. The other night, you know how you and Osiris have been staying at your place?” she said is a hushed voice.

“Well, yeah.” I said, sitting next to her.

“Okay, well, the other night, we all decided that we were going to have a bit to drink. We felt good about it, right?”

“Oh no.” Instantly I was thinking about all the terrible things that could have happened.

She laughed quietly. “Well, Thea got a little bit too tipsy, like she was swaying on the floor, and Mowgli was the first one gone, trying to kiss up on Jack, well Jack wasn’t as drunk as them, probably about as drunk as me, and to deflect Mowgli making out with him he started KISSING Thea. So now we think she’s got this like baby crush on him and he feels bad because that’s not what he wanted, but we were all pretty wasted.”

I smacked my forehead hard, and it echoed throughout the theater.

Sam sat there rolling in her seat with laughter and I just sighed in disappointment.

“I leave you guys alone for a few nights and you all lose your minds.” I got back up, trying to make it look like I was doing something productive at least.

“It’s okay, Star. We’re all fine, well maybe not Thea and Jack, but.” Sam shrugged, with that wicked smile on her face, and we headed back down to where we had been working before. Thea approached us upon our return.

“Everything all right guys?” she asked.

“Yeah.” we said, Sam trying not to laugh and me shaking my head at her. Thea gave us a small smile and then went back to her work in the corner. I wanted more details, so I followed her to see if I could maybe help out.

“So, Sam told me about the other night.” I wasn’t one to hold back from the truth usually.

She smiled. “What about it? It was just a onetime thing. We already talked about it; I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t doubt that, Thea, but I am here if you ever need anything, okay? Now. I’ve finished my previous job so what’s next?”

The plan for the show was simple, there was an area above the theater, kind of like a projector room, where we had our powers that way things could be tested out with powers. Mo, was the special effects guy, he still had a couple weeks before we could begin testing the effectiveness of that plan, but he was excited. We all were.

I decided to go home with them that night, to my surprise Thea went back to the house as well, which led me to believe that my hunches about them trying to get drunk again were right, however no amount of pleading stopped them. By the time the moon was high up in the sky they were drunk as can be. Now that I wasn’t drinking and I was watching I could tell that Mowgli was the instigator, and the worst drunk in our little group. I watched as he sloppily crawled his way into everyone’s lap trying to kiss them on the head.

“You’re my best friend.” he said to Jack as he rested his cheek on the top of Jack’s head. Mowgli was almost asleep when Jack kicked him off and grabbed Thea onto his lap, that way Mo couldn’t climb back on. Mo’s eyes were half closed due to drunkenness, but he still managed to clench his face up into what I assumed was his classic angry pouty face.

Mo then made his way over to Sam, who very quickly shot him with a tiny zap of her power, and he slunk into the corner with the now empty bottle of rum. Osiris couldn’t help himself and he laughed. We were watching a movie as our friends continued to act silly, and we started to hear something strange.

“Is that the movie?” I asked.

“No... Definitely not.” He was turned around and when I moved to look low and behold it was Thea and Jack, making out, with us right there with all the lights on.

I sighed and Osiris laughed again, this time louder, but they didn’t even stop.

I got up and pulled Thea off of his lap. “Alright you two, if you want to keep this up, you’re going to have to go on a date and get a hotel room, you hear me?”

Instantly, Thea started to cry. We thought maybe she was just over upset because of the drinking, but she began to swat at the air in front of her.

“Go... away... Get out of here!” she said, but she was pushed to the floor.

Jack in all of his stupid, drunk stupor, materialized a camera, and not just any camera, one of those special ones that can sees in infrared and on different spectrums. It was big, but he handled it well and immediately started clicking away at the buttons.

“Make it stop!” Thea was even more distraught now, and Osiris had gone from amused to pissed. He shoved Jack back onto the couch and snatched the camera away from him.

I pulled Thea into my arms, not really sure if I could really do anything, but I tried to think about Bee, and how relaxing she was. Thea stopped waving her arms, but the crying continued.

“God Jack, you’re a freaking idiot, you know that? Were you just using her for that shit, because that’s so shitty of you man. You better make this up to her or I swear to god I’ll unleash a world of hurt on you.” Osiris was tearing Jack a new one, and he finally refocused in on the situation. He saw Thea crying and me holding her with anger in my eyes and I watched as his face went from shock to regret.

“Man, I didn’t mean for any of this... I just...” he looked at the camera and it disappeared, and in his hands formed a flower. He dropped down to in front of us, and he held the flower out to her. “Thea, I hope you can forgive me... I... I’m scum, and I know it, but...” She wasn’t moving, or even looking at him. I released my hold and he set the flower down in front of her, sighing deeply. “I’m going to bed now... Sorry, Thea.” He took one last look at her and then disappeared into his room.

“What a mess.” Osiris said as we viewed the room with our friends. Mo and Sam were already dead asleep, and Thea had gone from crying to sniffling. I helped her up onto the couch and after getting a blanket she was out. Osiris and I cleaned up, turned out all the lights and found a spot to sleep on the floor.

When I woke up, I had a bad feeling, and I noticed that Thea was gone.

I shook Osiris awake. “Babe, where do you think Thea went? Do you think she went home or to Violet?”

“Star, calm down, let me wake up.”

“But...” he grumbled and for the first time I felt like something was very, very wrong.

I got up and went to Jack’s room, however, that’s where I found Thea. They were still fully clothed and it didn’t look like shenanigans had occurred, but I was still suspicious. I closed the door, and then went back out to the living room. By then Osiris was sitting up, his shaggy curly hair sticking up in a billion places.

“Good morning,” he said, yawning.

“Morning... Sorry about waking you... I don’t feel that great.” I sat down on the couch, and my vision blurred for a second.

“Star? What’s wrong, are you okay?” He jumped next to me, but the pain was making me so nauseous that I squeezed my eyes shut.

“I have to ground myself. I have to ground myself. Ground myself. Grounded.” I repeated it over and over again, but whatever wanted to show itself to me wasn’t holding back. Suddenly the pain was gone, and I very carefully opened my eyes.

I was in a parking lot, a small yet nice parking lot. The building was lit up with only a few signs in the windows. “Serving Now” “Now Hiring” “Open Late” etc. A woman stumbled out of the door, a handsome man holding her upright.

“Dear.” the word was endearing, but his tone was not. I walked towards them and noticed that a newspaper was on the ground. The date was eight years in the future. As I got closer to the couple, I realized it was Thea and Jack, although they looked much different. The pink was gone from Thea’s hair, and it was short, like a pixie cut. Jack had lost all of the current baby fat and replaced it with what looked to be hard muscle. As they descended down the stairs a gust of wind almost sent Thea tumbling down the stairs, but Jack grabbed her and pulled her against him. In that moment a lot of stuff happened. He stared at her with love for the first time, and she looked at him the same, but what really caught my attention was she had called him by a different name. Immediately I tried to understand how that could have happened; was it a nickname? Or was I in another false vision? The more I thought about the new name, the less I could remember it, until suddenly I was being dragged out.

I knew that if I forced myself to stay, I could hurt everyone, including myself, so I let them pull me out of this world I wanted more of.

When I came to, I was in shock. An entire hour had gone by in that short amount of future. “What did you see?” My friends were all wide awake by now, and Osiris looked like he was about to attempt to carry me out with Jack.

I sat up, very slowly and I rubbed my face. “Can someone get me some water?” Osiris nearly broke everything on his way to the kitchen to get me a glass of water, but I thanked him wholeheartedly.

“What did you see, Star? Was it bad? Is someone going to die?” asked Mo.

I shook my head. “No, it was actually just a false vision.”

“How do you know it’s false?” Osiris asked me.

“Well, Thea and Jack were dating.” I kind of expected one of them to protest, but the anger actually came from Sam.

“That’s a bit rude.” she said, sitting down on the floor.

“No, no. It wasn’t just that, they had different names. I can’t remember their names, but it wasn’t Jack and Thea I can tell you that. False visions are pieces of the past or future that could have been, but that never will be, making them false.”

They all nodded and Thea and Jack seemed to be keeping a healthy distance from each other.

Osiris rubbed my back and I rested my head against the couch. What I hadn’t mentioned to my concerned friends, was that the feeling that something was very wrong had remained, and I did not think it would be going away for a very long time.