Zora felt a pit forming in her stomach.
Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.
She fumbled into her pocket and yanked out her phone. The screen was spiderwebbed with cracks — probably from when she got tossed across the alley. She pressed her thumb to the scanner.
Nothing.
Again.
The screen finally flickered on.
She swiped — and immediately sliced her thumb on the jagged glass.
"FUCK!" she hissed, shoving her thumb in her mouth. Panic bubbling up
He's okay. He's okay. He's okay.
Gritting her teeth, she tried again. The screen was barely responsive. She squeezed the phone tighter, holding back a scream.
"Useless piece of—"
She cut herself off and forced a breath. "Hey Siri."
One of the stars floated down and blinked at her. "How do you know my name?"
It was the younger one — the one with the cocky teen voice.
"No—not you. I was talking to—"
Her phone dinged softly. Listening...
Zora held up a finger to silence the star. "Call... Moon."
The star exploded into laughter. "Moon!? That's what you call him?!"
Zora's face burned. She curled up, burying her face in her knees.
Calling Moon... chirped the phone, and the call rang.
Her heart thundered in her chest.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
Each tone a dagger of anxiety.
Then—click.
"TARIQ!? TARIQ, IS THAT YOU!?"
Zora felt irritated after talking to Tariq.
I call him worried, and that's the best he can offer?
She imagined punching him over and over again.
"Yessssss," she hissed, smiling at the thought.
"Ahem… I think now's a good time to introduce ourselves," said the older male voice — one of the stars.
"Right, right," she muttered, forcing her focus back to the alley. "So… who are you? And what are you?"
The first star floated down — the one with the childlike voice.
"Hi! I'm Spark! I control gravity!" he chirped excitedly, zipping circles around her. "I helped you first, so I have to be your favorite!"
Zora giggled. "Of course you're my favorite."
Spark zipped back up, satisfied. Another star descended, this one with a teenage girl's voice.
"I'm Siri. I can, like, move really fast — between space and stuff," she said coolly, and floated back with a flick of light.
A third came forward, glowing slightly warmer. Her voice was that of a calm, older woman.
"Hello, dear. I'm Nexus. I control the elements — earth, fire, water, air. Unfortunately, right now, you can only access fire. But don't worry — you'll get there."
She gave Zora a motherly nod and floated away. Then came a star with a confident, younger man's voice.
"I'm Aegis. Husband to Nexus and father to those two brats," he said, gesturing at Siri and Spark. "I'm your armorer. I can enchant weapons, clothes, whatever you need."
Finally, a gruff voice growled as the last star floated lazily forward.
"Name's Ricochet," he rumbled. "I absorb and redirect kinetic energy. 'Course, I like it loud when it hits. I'm the father to aegis and grandfather to the little rascals over there."
The five stars circled her in sync, pulsing gently.
"Well... nice to meet you all," Zora said, glancing around. "Are there more of you I should know about?"
The stars froze mid-spin.
"Well… there is one more," Ricochet muttered. "But she spouted some nonsense about not belonging to you and refuses to come out."
Sensing the tension, Zora quickly changed the subject.
"So… what are you guys, exactly?"
Nexus let out a warm laugh.
"Oh, that's easy. We're you, dear."
"Riiight… So I've had magical talking stars living inside me this whole time?" Zora deadpanned. "Makes total sense."
"What my wife means," Aegis began, "is that—"
But he was cut off.
The air thickened. Zora's breath caught. Heat bled in from the alley's edge — oppressive and primal. The stars immediately shrank behind her.
Zora stood up on instinct, her chest tight, her limbs tense. Slowly, she moved to the entrance of the alley, careful to avoid the charred remains from her earlier fight.
"It's close…" Aegis whispered. "Much closer than before."
Zora peeked around the corner.
In the middle of a field across the street stood a man.
The ground around him was scorched black, still sizzling. He was laughing — loud, unhinged. She recognized that voice.
Tariq!?
All around him stood people. Some looked normal. Others… grotesque. Mutated. Twitching.
Hundreds of them. No — thousands.
"YOU CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO LIVE!"
Zora's head whipped around. She knew that voice too — the corpse-controlling man. The same one she barely escaped.
She turned back toward Tariq — and he was gone.
Her eyes darted again, searching. Then — there. Tariq had the man by the throat, one hand lifting him clean off the ground.
Zora watched in frozen horror as fire erupted around Tariq's arm. The man's body blackened. He tried to scream, but no sound came.
The mass of flesh behind him went still. The heat burned it into silence.
Crack.
The corpse controller's neck snapped. His body slumped. Tariq tossed him aside like trash.
It was a massacre.
Anyone who fled was caught. Anyone who fought was incinerated. Twenty at a time. More.
And the whole time… he was laughing.
Not enraged. Not crying.
Laughing.
Who is that?
Zora stared at him.
Tariq isn't capable of this. He reads books. He geeks out about myths. He—
"Dear, we have to go," Nexus said softly. "Your parents are waiting for you."
Zora nodded, numbly.
She turned from the alley — from the carnage — and began the long walk home.