Choices, Star/Zan
Mar. 2nd, 2010 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sirona_ficsThis was my entry for the Metanoia Hallowe'en fanfic contest on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
riverside_hq a couple of years back.
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sirona_gs
Title: Choices
Summary: When Gina falls victim to a spell a whole canfull of Celtic-mythology-flavoured worms gets opened in Riverside HQ.
Word Count: ~5,000
Warnings: AU as pertaining to the story arc so far
Rating: PG-13 for some swearing and discussions of sex and violence.
Disclaimer: Metanoia characters and universe are property of Jesse Hajicek
Beta: Myself, two years or so later.
Choices
Zander was sitting cross-legged in a spring meadow. He had no idea how he’d gotten there, so he was pretty sure he was dreaming. He looked at his hands – he was holding something. A doll, it looked like. Suddenly he wasn’t sure he had the right to hold the doll. It felt fragile, like fine lace made of snowflakes. He felt deeply uneasy.
“You have to wake up now, love.” The voice appeared of nowhere and sounded vaguely like himself, only clearer and much more resonant. Z? No, he didn’t usually come into his dreams, they were his domain to imagine and inhabit, the only personal space free of his Angel. But he heeded the voice and moments later his lashes fluttered on his face. He felt like he hadn’t rested at all; the sense of unease from his dream had followed him into wakefulness. Reluctant to open his eyes just yet, he rolled over. He felt more than saw a presence by the side of his bed, leaning over him. Startled, he flinched away. It was only then that his brain registered a familiar scent that followed him everywhere these days, insinuating its way into his perception of reality until it was intertwined with his life like a Damocles knot.
“What do you want, Star?” He groaned. It wasn’t a good awakening for all the wrong reasons – he should feel disgruntled that he had to get up mere hours after crashing into bed bleary-eyed and sick at heart. What he did feel he only just managed to shackle before he overstepped himself. A powerful urge gripped his arms, his back muscles tensed and prepared to pull Star into bed with him, just roll over and hold him, a warm weight against his chest like a mix between his favourite teddy bear and his most beloved tool. He scooted over to the edge of the bed and held tight to the rails to prevent his arms from reaching out. Desire lent his temper a sharp, keen edge of despair and a finely melted frustration. Only just stopping himself from screaming at Star - just standing there in his cargo pants, hair ruffled from sleep - his logical mind finally kicked in over that alluring scent to snap him out of the dream. He remembered the unease with a sickening thump of his pulse in the leaden pit of his stomach. “What’s wrong?”
“Jane called. Something’s gone wrong with Gina. She asked that we go over to the patch-up room. She seemed to think we can help.”
Short, sweet and to the point. Zan stared at Star for a minute. No quips, no swearing, no allusion to his flinching in the bed. Shit, something really bad must have gone down. His adrenaline kicking in, he rushed from the bed and into his clothes.
Star left the room to pull his T over his head then headed for the door, Zander at his heels. He felt unsettled, and that wasn’t entirely due to Zander’s expression when he had woken him up. Star hadn’t had his usual nightmares, but something had felt wrong just the same. He had woken from his sleep with a tingling in his hands and skin itching at the base of his spine. Deeply bothered, he had walked like a zombie hither and thither in the flat, busied himself making a pot of industrial-strength coffee and when that didn’t help, finally settled before the TV and switched on the news without taking in a single word. Something was coming. He could feel the tension like a steel rod before a thunderstorm. Something was coming, and it was coming for him. Then the phone had rung, and he would never admit it, but he had shot from the sofa spilling his coffee and shaking like a junkie missing his hit. The second he had heard Jane’s voice he’d known it was no longer coming. It was here. Oh, Jane had been calm as anything, if you discounted the note of fear buried under the control of her voice. So he’d gone to wake up Zander, too rattled to make his usual comments, much as he loved baiting Angel Boy. They were walking down the corridor, and every step was an effort. He was faintly shocked that he was losing it so badly. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened, post-Jaime.
They walked through the door of the room Jane had selected as ground zero. Jane stood from where she was kneeling by Gina. “Something woke me. I didn’t know it was Gina, but my Angel took me to the disturbance we’d sensed. Zander, we can’t get through to her. J tried dreamdiving, but couldn’t feel her way through. She says there’s just mist and the smell of the sea. I think Gina’s had a vision and it’s taken her under. I want to try dreamdiving again, with Z as back-up. Becky and Edward are on their way. We’ll try a more massive attack if the two of us still aren’t enough.”
“Sure, whatever you think would help.”
“Star, go fetch Lexi and Kevin. If this fails, we’ll have to try other ways of reaching her.”
Star nodded and left the room. Gina had not looked good. She looked like she had a fever, sweat beading on her face and dripping into her pillow. He was no stranger to shock – admittedly mostly in other people – but this looked like a fight of some sort going on inside her head. She… she had looked like Jaime that last night, only without the ramblings. He walked faster.
“OK Zander, let’s give this a go.” Jane kneeled on one side of the bed, Zander on the other. They both put their hands on Gina, one on her forehead, one on her chest. Closing their eyes, they let their Angels probe.
…A sense of vastness, thick mist obscuring everything from sight, and the smell of the sea, the sound of waves flowing and ebbing, over and over. Nothing there but the mist and what is lost within its folds. Searching now, sensing for anything at all in the bleak landscape – nothing… nothing… noth- wait! Something there, a vague presence of some sort, but nothing specific, who is that? Gina? Calling out now, sending thoughts out, and the slightest of glimmers in response. She is here, but unreachable. Pushing, pushing, pushing at the mist with no effect of any sort. Pull out, there is nothing to be found here yet…
Zander took a deep breath at the same time as Jane. They looked at each other as their eyes gradually stopped glowing. There was something in Gina’s head that was preventing Gina from coming out of the vision.
“We’ll need to wait for Becky and Edward. Zan, I don’t think we can do this with just the two of us. We need more energy to push at the barrier.”
“Jane, do you know what is going on?” Zander asked, his voice betraying a small shakiness. He was really thrown: Z had not even made a dent in the mist. That had never happened before.
“I think it is some sort of spell linked with Gina’s visions. Like when she goes into a vision of a particular time and place, she can’t come out of it or share what she sees in the usual way – you know how she sleepwalks. Someone out there is making damned sure that she doesn’t tell us what she’s seeing right now. Which can only mean one thing.” Jane looked at Zander and saw her own understanding reflected.
“The War!” – Zander breathed. “She is seeing what’s to come. Jane, we must break through that block before she wakes up and forgets everything she’s seeing!”
Jane sighed. She felt Zander’s impatience; she herself would give her arm to get to that inside info. The question was simple: were they willing to risk Gina’s mind, her sanity by breaking through the barrier that confined her visions to her dreams, in order to get the vital heads-up? She knew the risks. Gina had a gift that had been of use more times that she could count. She knew what would happen if they broke the barrier: Gina unable to distinguish reality from visions; visions powerful enough to tear through her sanity like a spider web. Gina, forever locked up ‘for her own protection’, while they used up every scrap of info she passed along until she was no longer useful. If that is what it came down to, Jane knew she would fight to her last to let Gina remain as she is, visions be damned.
When Star next came through the door the four hosts were kneeling by the bed, their hands on Gina, their faces showing the strain. As Lexi and Kevin filed in the four seemed to come to themselves, pulling away from the still figure on the bed.
“Unbelievable! Still nothing!” Jane’s frustration was indicative of everyone else’s expressions.
“I can feel a glimmer of Gina in there, but she’s swamped. I… I very much fear we can’t reach her before she wakes up on her own and the vision is lost. If she does wake up, that is.” Edward stood up, stretching his shoulders as if they itched.
After briefing the newcomers, Jane hesitated, then offered, “I think there is something else.” She stood up as well and turned to address the room. “I think whoever put that spell there may be hoping that we’d be so desperate for the intel that we’d break through the spell and damage Gina’s mind to get to it.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still haven’t ID’d the spell. Let the professional take a look first before everyone panics.” Lexi sauntered towards the bed and looked down at Gina. “Hmm. I’m gonna need my spellbook and a bunch of ingredients. I, uh, I want to have a word with Emily as well. This reminds me of something… Can’t remember the details, though, maybe she can dig something up for me. You lot can chill for about an hour. Kid, don’t be cocky,” he threw at Kevin, who had walked to Gina and placed a hand on her forehead. “You don’t know what it is, so no messing around and making it worse!”
Kevin looked back at Lexi, but did not back off. He closed his eyes and leaned towards Gina. People milled in the room behind him, Lexi going off to get the stuff he needed, the four hosts murmuring tactics in one corner and Star leaning against the wall in another. He took a deep breath and concentrated.
Star felt like a spare. Everyone around him seemed to be doing stuff, even if it was pretty pointless from where he was standing. He still couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that had swamped him earlier. It rankled that he felt useless when in reality he was the most efficient killer in the room. If only there was something he could shoot, he was sure he’d feel vastly better. After what felt like hours, but must have been minutes, Kevin called out to him: “Star, could you come over here for a minute?” Relieved to have something to do, he moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Kevin.
“Put your hand on Gina’s forehead next to mine.”
“I’m not sure that’ll do anything, you know I’m no good at the magic psychic shit,” Star protested, but did as Kevin asked, since he could think of little else to do. Then Kevin grabbed his hand.
Suddenly he was being sucked through a gaping hole into a space of nothing but mist and whispers. He hardly had time to look around when he heard his name being whispered. He looked around and saw Gina standing to his left, twitching with tension and effort. “How?” he stumbled.
“Star? Star, where am I? There’s all this fighting, and everyone’s dying, and I don’t know what to do!” Gina was almost crying. Star felt distress and grief pouring through the air from the girl as if they were living creatures. He didn’t know how to comfort her, so he tried the facts.
“You’re having a vision, Gina, but someone or something seems to have put a sort of lock on you so that you can’t tell us what you’re seeing. Look, I can’t explain it any better, but Zander and Jane and Becky and Edward are out there, and Lexi’s gone off to get his stuff. Can you try to wake up?”
“I can’t wake up until I’ve seen everything the vision must show me. How long have I been asleep? My visions usually don’t last more than a few minutes.”
“Uh, it’s been a while, Gina, at least 3-4 hours. Can you tell me anything that might be useful in getting you out of here?”
“Um… no, I… Star, can you smell the sea? I can hear the waves, am I on a beach?”
Star could see that Gina wasn’t making much sense. How long before damage started to her brain, he wondered?
Suddenly Gina whipped towards him again and wailed, “Star! No, Star, you mustn’t! Promise you won’t do it! There is another way to save him, you mustn’t do this, you’ll lose yourself and not even he can bring you back afterwards, and that’s what they want, don’t you see? They’ll have you then, and we need you for the last! Promise, you must promise not to!” She was almost frantic now.
Star was struck dumb, but only temporarily. “Gina, calm down, I can’t fucking promise to not do something I don’t know anything about!”
Her outburst had evidently been too much for Gina; her form started to flicker and lose shape. “I’m going to the beach now, Star, I’ll see you later! Bye-e-e!” She flickered off and Star got one last glimpse of the mist-filled plane before he was yanked back out and stood panting and leaning on the bed. Kevin stood next to him, holding his arm to keep him upright.
“What the hell did you do to me, man? Get away from me!”
“Star, calm down. I tried to tune in to Gina’s thoughts, and it was like something was telling me that to hear I need… something like headphones, or speakers or something, and I just knew that you would be what I need. Do you… are you something like an empath?”
“What? How the fuck do you know that? No one knows that! Well, I mean, no one knew, until bloody Zander went pushing his nose where it doesn’t belong!” Star was furious with being outed like that. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the way he worked, and now he’d have to figure it out in front of fucking everybody! Shit!
“Um, I just sort of knew I needed you to hear her, and I acted as an amplifier for your ability. I’m sorry if you aren’t comfortable with it, but Gina felt desperate to me. So, did you speak to her? Did she say anything that might help?”
“Hang on, hang on. Empaths only feel other people’s emotions, so how could he have spoken to Gina?”
“Well, Janey, he ain’t psychic, but Kevin said he was turning up Star’s mojo, so I guess that way it works just fine!”
“Right, thank you Becky. Star, is there anything you can tell us to help get Gina out of there?”
“Uh, gotta tell you she’s not making much sense in there. She may be starting to slip. She, uh, said some stuff, but I don’t think it would help you. I’m not even sure if she wasn’t rambling.”
Zander reached over and touched Star’s shoulder. “Star, anything we know at this point is a bonus. Please tell us what she told you.”
Star looked mutinous for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. It’s something she said about me. She… she wanted me to promise her that I wouldn’t do something, but she didn’t say what that thing was, so I have really no idea what she was talking about. The relevant info – she said that she couldn’t wake up before the vision was done showing her what it wanted to show her. She got really weak at the end and flickered out. She kept talking about the seaside, that she was going to the beach. I don’t know what that meant. “
“She isn’t far off, you know,” Lexi said as he walked back into the room, Emily at his heels. “I think we’re onto something, but I must check it out first. If it is what I think it is, we may have a way of lifting the curse with minimum damage.”
Jane stirred restlessly. “You’d better hurry, Lexi. Star has managed to have a word with Gina; she seems to be losing herself.”
“Didn’t I just say I’d get right on it? Everybody chill. Jane, Bill called. He wants a lowdown on what’s going on. Kevin, give me a hand to arrange this stuff. We’ll be able to find out if we’re right almost straight away.”
Zander felt it was his turn to lean on a wall out of the way. Star looked three parts pissed off to one part shit scared. It probably hadn’t been easy for him to be shoved into that little trip like that. Zander wasn’t sure how he felt about Star having such a strong connection with Kevin; he looked at everyone else milling and held his tongue. He had wanted to go to Star and comfort him, but was pretty sure he’d be doing him a poor favour to call attention to the fact that he needed comforting at all. Zander moved his gaze to Lexi and Kevin, who were efficiently but noisily positioning the props while arguing about their usefulness. Jane had gone off for a chat with Bill while Becky and Edward were sitting by Gina, holding her hand on each side. He knew they were trying to keep her anchored using their Angels. Star was sitting in the corner opposite the one Zander had claimed, seemingly watching the proceedings with interest. Finally Lexi and Kevin were done arranging and Lexi started his ritual. Almost immediately mist started appearing from Gina’s mouth; the smell of the sea suffused the room. Lexi called things out to the mist, which danced this way and that with no apparent purpose; Lexi seemed to get it though because he was nodding to Emily happily enough. She looked interested and immediately started leafing through one of the several volumes she had brought with her. Finally Lexi performed a simple banishment and turned around.
“Right then. Yay for Emily for being right and yay for me for proving that she is. The spell that has been placed on Gina is something called Manannán’s Cloak. According to Celtic mythology Manannán mac Lir was the god of the sea. Being one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he had loads of power as well as quite a few magical objects. One of the most powerful was his cloak, which had the power to change a person’s destiny with one sweep. Also, Manannán had the ability to envelop himself in mist that made him invisible to his enemies. What the spell does is invoke the power of Manannán to change someone’s life and the rules that bind it together – in Gina’s case to prevent her from sharing her visions with us to the point of locking her inside her own mind. The mist is a way to disguise the spell so that it cannot be removed with a mere counterspell. Manannán’s powers are greatest near any bodies of water, so pretty much we’re smack in the middle of his territory. My guess is that whoever placed the curse of Gina did it from somewhere close to this building, which is why we were all affected when the trap sprung on little Gina.”
Jane stopped pacing for a minute to ask, “You mentioned something about the spell being easy to remove? From what you’ve said, it’ll be a bitch to lift. Gina doesn’t have that much time.”
Lexi grinned. “Not if one happened to be in possession of the Sword of Light, it isn’t.”
“The what-now?” Becky wrinkled her nose.
“The Sword of Nuada, Claíomh Solais, the Sword of Light, or for those of you who haven’t brushed up on your Celtic mythology lately, more commonly known as the sword Excalibur. The Sword of Light in the hands of draoitheach, or more commonly druids, possesses the ability to remove spells and provide protection. It was the prototype, if you will, for the Arthurian sword of legend.”
“Thanks, Emily. So there you have it. It just so happens that it is held by one of ours, and here’s the cherry: a powerful seer last week Saw that his help would be needed here this week, so the lovely man is as we speak travelling towards us from Belfast where he lives. He should be here within the hour.”
“Jesus, you can’t make this shit up,” Star muttered.
*****
An hour and a half later they were being introduced to Rhys, who had quickly made his way from the airport to Riverside HQ. After saying a brief hello he was hauled off to Gina’s room by Lexi, hotly pursued by the rest of the team. Rhys sat cross-legged in meditation for 10 minutes or so. Everyone knew it was working when the sword started glowing softly towards the end. Rhys suddenly stood up, flowed to the bed where, holding the sword, he chanted something in Old Irish and swept the sword over Gina from head to toe. Then he took her hand and carved a rune into the back of it using the tip of the sword. The rune flashed the palest golden colour as it disappeared into Gina’s hand. Rhys stood aside and pronounced himself satisfied.
Five minutes or so later Gina began to stir; within half an hour she was sitting up. She had a little trouble focusing at first, but then chatted easily enough with Jane. The difficult part came when Edward asked her if she remembered anything of the vision. Her eyes swimming, Gina whimpered, “I’m truly sorry, but it’s pretty much gone. All I remember was that there was so much death, everyone dying, and… oh, God, something about Zander being taken… and then Star going after him… I honestly can’t piece it together any longer.”
Everyone assured her that she was safe, and not to distress herself trying too hard and that everyone was happy she was OK. From his seat in the corner, Star watched the performance with unease in his heart. He knew that if Zan was ever taken, no power could stop him going after him. Was that what Gina had wanted him to promise not to do? If so, good thing she didn’t remember, because hell would freeze over before he gave another promise he would want to break with every breath he took. Whether Angel Boy wanted it or not, he was under Star’s protection now. Star couldn’t let anything happen to him, because now Zander mattered. He could about as easily not care about his trigger finger.
A pair of long, lean calves entered his vision. He looked up to find Rhys standing over him.
“Mind if I sit down?” Rhys murmured in a soft Irish brogue.
Star shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Rhys dropped gracefully to sit next to him. “I heard that you were the one who got through to Gina earlier. I wanted you to know that I admire that. Kevin mentioned that he sort of pushed you through it, so. Wouldn’t have expected it, seeing him now. But you went with it, didn’t push back. It was likely what held Gina to herself. ‘Twas a good thing to do, Star.”
Star felt shivers run down his spine when Rhys said his name. In that voice, it sounded as if it meant so much more. There was power in the lithe Irishman, that much was evident, and it didn’t all come from the sword. Star eyed that now. It looked no more than a piece of metal, ornately carved as it was. He guessed it would only work for someone with power in themselves, in their blood. He wanted to touch it, but at the same time didn’t. Rhys noticed him looking. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then seemed to reach a decision. He offered the sword to Star, hilt first.
Star hesitated. He could feel the sword’s energy resonate around the room, bouncing off the walls, bed and chairs with small amounts being absorbed by the people. His hand hovered over the hilt. Pull yourself together, you pussy. His hand slid over the hilt; the second he touched it the energy coiled inside spread through his arm like it was greeting a long lost friend. A gaping hole of need for closeness echoed from the sword. Power, strength and the loneliness that comes from true strength; pure energy in need of someone to channel it; someone with the power in their blood to yield it. Ambiguity streamed through Star: good and evil were balanced perfectly in the sword, so the path it would follow was chosen by its bearer. The energy swirled through Star and coiled in his chest a friendly pet, its soft fur made of spun light tickling Star’s soul in recognition of kindred.
“You have the blood, Star Tyrian. You are kin to the bearers of the sword; it would never have recognised you so if you weren’t. You are young yet, still not in possession of your true name. When you are ready to learn more about who you are and where your true path lies, you come and find me. I will always be ready to teach you, as long as you come to me ready to learn.” With that Rhys gently removed the sword from Star’s grip, stood and walked away to take his leave of the group.
Star sat as still as he could make himself, don’t move and it won’t get you. He was having one hell of a day, he reflected; he wasn’t sure he could take any more of the metaphysical bullshit. He was drifting and needed to ground himself. That meant either going out to a bar, getting wasted and scoring a fuck, or going over to the storage unit and strumming for a few hours, or… or he could just go home with Zan and spend a few hours dispelling the tension, getting high on coffee and games, bantering with Zan about the truckload of crap this day had provided. Hmm, choices, choices… He looked across the room. Zander leaned on the wall looking thoroughly drained. Star remembered Zan hadn’t had that much sleep the night before, and that brought him to thinking about when he’d gone to wake him up, and for a minute he had thought that Zan would snap, he’d looked so brittle and full of need, his eyes glittering with tension, and Star had to close his eyes before he embarrassed himself when he stood up, screaming his own need, blood rushing decidedly away from his brain and into other, much more sensitive and demanding areas. The bar was looking the best bet by the minute.
A few minutes later, when he was sure he could get up without said embarrassment, he levered himself to his feet. Rhys was just leaving; at the door he turned and looked at Star with eyes the colour of the sky at sunrise, palest blue burrowing into Star’s soul. A nod, a slight lift of his lips, and he was gone, the others following, in awe of this extremely powerful, addictive individual. Star didn’t respond beyond a nod of his own. He had no idea how he felt, what he thought about his own exchange with the Irishman. It would take some time to get to the bottom of it, but he was still too raw from the trials of the day to be able to think with any clarity. He started for the door himself. Right outside he almost ploughed into Zander, and the added sensation almost stripped him of any good intentions he had left.
“Star, I’m just gonna go back to the flat, I’m wiped. I’ll see you there.” He walked away. Star stood still again to give himself time to get his reactions under hand. The bar it was. Anything to keep him from thinking. He started after Zander, intent on getting his stuff and getting out of the building. He just hoped he could make it out before being cornered by anyone else intent on doing his psychoanalysis for him. God, all he wanted was to fall into bed and sleep for a week, which was an excellent plan if he thought for a second he’d be able to just go to sleep, not toss and turn for hours.
He went into the flat and straight to his room, gathered his things and started back to the door. It was then that he registered the smell of coffee and looking over saw a mug left out for him, no doubt fixed just the way he liked it. Zander was sprawled on the sofa before the TV with several DVDs in his hands.
“I’ll let you choose this time Star. ‘Leon’, ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ or ‘Hot Fuzz’?”
All Star’s intentions flew out of the window of his mind as the comfort of having someone wait for him just this once overwhelmed him. Sod the bar; this was just what he wanted, no needed, to unwind.
“Put ‘Hot Fuzz’ on, I could do with a laugh.”
riverside_hq a couple of years back.Author:
sirona_gsTitle: Choices
Summary: When Gina falls victim to a spell a whole canfull of Celtic-mythology-flavoured worms gets opened in Riverside HQ.
Word Count: ~5,000
Warnings: AU as pertaining to the story arc so far
Rating: PG-13 for some swearing and discussions of sex and violence.
Disclaimer: Metanoia characters and universe are property of Jesse Hajicek
Beta: Myself, two years or so later.
Choices
Zander was sitting cross-legged in a spring meadow. He had no idea how he’d gotten there, so he was pretty sure he was dreaming. He looked at his hands – he was holding something. A doll, it looked like. Suddenly he wasn’t sure he had the right to hold the doll. It felt fragile, like fine lace made of snowflakes. He felt deeply uneasy.
“You have to wake up now, love.” The voice appeared of nowhere and sounded vaguely like himself, only clearer and much more resonant. Z? No, he didn’t usually come into his dreams, they were his domain to imagine and inhabit, the only personal space free of his Angel. But he heeded the voice and moments later his lashes fluttered on his face. He felt like he hadn’t rested at all; the sense of unease from his dream had followed him into wakefulness. Reluctant to open his eyes just yet, he rolled over. He felt more than saw a presence by the side of his bed, leaning over him. Startled, he flinched away. It was only then that his brain registered a familiar scent that followed him everywhere these days, insinuating its way into his perception of reality until it was intertwined with his life like a Damocles knot.
“What do you want, Star?” He groaned. It wasn’t a good awakening for all the wrong reasons – he should feel disgruntled that he had to get up mere hours after crashing into bed bleary-eyed and sick at heart. What he did feel he only just managed to shackle before he overstepped himself. A powerful urge gripped his arms, his back muscles tensed and prepared to pull Star into bed with him, just roll over and hold him, a warm weight against his chest like a mix between his favourite teddy bear and his most beloved tool. He scooted over to the edge of the bed and held tight to the rails to prevent his arms from reaching out. Desire lent his temper a sharp, keen edge of despair and a finely melted frustration. Only just stopping himself from screaming at Star - just standing there in his cargo pants, hair ruffled from sleep - his logical mind finally kicked in over that alluring scent to snap him out of the dream. He remembered the unease with a sickening thump of his pulse in the leaden pit of his stomach. “What’s wrong?”
“Jane called. Something’s gone wrong with Gina. She asked that we go over to the patch-up room. She seemed to think we can help.”
Short, sweet and to the point. Zan stared at Star for a minute. No quips, no swearing, no allusion to his flinching in the bed. Shit, something really bad must have gone down. His adrenaline kicking in, he rushed from the bed and into his clothes.
Star left the room to pull his T over his head then headed for the door, Zander at his heels. He felt unsettled, and that wasn’t entirely due to Zander’s expression when he had woken him up. Star hadn’t had his usual nightmares, but something had felt wrong just the same. He had woken from his sleep with a tingling in his hands and skin itching at the base of his spine. Deeply bothered, he had walked like a zombie hither and thither in the flat, busied himself making a pot of industrial-strength coffee and when that didn’t help, finally settled before the TV and switched on the news without taking in a single word. Something was coming. He could feel the tension like a steel rod before a thunderstorm. Something was coming, and it was coming for him. Then the phone had rung, and he would never admit it, but he had shot from the sofa spilling his coffee and shaking like a junkie missing his hit. The second he had heard Jane’s voice he’d known it was no longer coming. It was here. Oh, Jane had been calm as anything, if you discounted the note of fear buried under the control of her voice. So he’d gone to wake up Zander, too rattled to make his usual comments, much as he loved baiting Angel Boy. They were walking down the corridor, and every step was an effort. He was faintly shocked that he was losing it so badly. He couldn’t remember the last time that had happened, post-Jaime.
They walked through the door of the room Jane had selected as ground zero. Jane stood from where she was kneeling by Gina. “Something woke me. I didn’t know it was Gina, but my Angel took me to the disturbance we’d sensed. Zander, we can’t get through to her. J tried dreamdiving, but couldn’t feel her way through. She says there’s just mist and the smell of the sea. I think Gina’s had a vision and it’s taken her under. I want to try dreamdiving again, with Z as back-up. Becky and Edward are on their way. We’ll try a more massive attack if the two of us still aren’t enough.”
“Sure, whatever you think would help.”
“Star, go fetch Lexi and Kevin. If this fails, we’ll have to try other ways of reaching her.”
Star nodded and left the room. Gina had not looked good. She looked like she had a fever, sweat beading on her face and dripping into her pillow. He was no stranger to shock – admittedly mostly in other people – but this looked like a fight of some sort going on inside her head. She… she had looked like Jaime that last night, only without the ramblings. He walked faster.
“OK Zander, let’s give this a go.” Jane kneeled on one side of the bed, Zander on the other. They both put their hands on Gina, one on her forehead, one on her chest. Closing their eyes, they let their Angels probe.
…A sense of vastness, thick mist obscuring everything from sight, and the smell of the sea, the sound of waves flowing and ebbing, over and over. Nothing there but the mist and what is lost within its folds. Searching now, sensing for anything at all in the bleak landscape – nothing… nothing… noth- wait! Something there, a vague presence of some sort, but nothing specific, who is that? Gina? Calling out now, sending thoughts out, and the slightest of glimmers in response. She is here, but unreachable. Pushing, pushing, pushing at the mist with no effect of any sort. Pull out, there is nothing to be found here yet…
Zander took a deep breath at the same time as Jane. They looked at each other as their eyes gradually stopped glowing. There was something in Gina’s head that was preventing Gina from coming out of the vision.
“We’ll need to wait for Becky and Edward. Zan, I don’t think we can do this with just the two of us. We need more energy to push at the barrier.”
“Jane, do you know what is going on?” Zander asked, his voice betraying a small shakiness. He was really thrown: Z had not even made a dent in the mist. That had never happened before.
“I think it is some sort of spell linked with Gina’s visions. Like when she goes into a vision of a particular time and place, she can’t come out of it or share what she sees in the usual way – you know how she sleepwalks. Someone out there is making damned sure that she doesn’t tell us what she’s seeing right now. Which can only mean one thing.” Jane looked at Zander and saw her own understanding reflected.
“The War!” – Zander breathed. “She is seeing what’s to come. Jane, we must break through that block before she wakes up and forgets everything she’s seeing!”
Jane sighed. She felt Zander’s impatience; she herself would give her arm to get to that inside info. The question was simple: were they willing to risk Gina’s mind, her sanity by breaking through the barrier that confined her visions to her dreams, in order to get the vital heads-up? She knew the risks. Gina had a gift that had been of use more times that she could count. She knew what would happen if they broke the barrier: Gina unable to distinguish reality from visions; visions powerful enough to tear through her sanity like a spider web. Gina, forever locked up ‘for her own protection’, while they used up every scrap of info she passed along until she was no longer useful. If that is what it came down to, Jane knew she would fight to her last to let Gina remain as she is, visions be damned.
When Star next came through the door the four hosts were kneeling by the bed, their hands on Gina, their faces showing the strain. As Lexi and Kevin filed in the four seemed to come to themselves, pulling away from the still figure on the bed.
“Unbelievable! Still nothing!” Jane’s frustration was indicative of everyone else’s expressions.
“I can feel a glimmer of Gina in there, but she’s swamped. I… I very much fear we can’t reach her before she wakes up on her own and the vision is lost. If she does wake up, that is.” Edward stood up, stretching his shoulders as if they itched.
After briefing the newcomers, Jane hesitated, then offered, “I think there is something else.” She stood up as well and turned to address the room. “I think whoever put that spell there may be hoping that we’d be so desperate for the intel that we’d break through the spell and damage Gina’s mind to get to it.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still haven’t ID’d the spell. Let the professional take a look first before everyone panics.” Lexi sauntered towards the bed and looked down at Gina. “Hmm. I’m gonna need my spellbook and a bunch of ingredients. I, uh, I want to have a word with Emily as well. This reminds me of something… Can’t remember the details, though, maybe she can dig something up for me. You lot can chill for about an hour. Kid, don’t be cocky,” he threw at Kevin, who had walked to Gina and placed a hand on her forehead. “You don’t know what it is, so no messing around and making it worse!”
Kevin looked back at Lexi, but did not back off. He closed his eyes and leaned towards Gina. People milled in the room behind him, Lexi going off to get the stuff he needed, the four hosts murmuring tactics in one corner and Star leaning against the wall in another. He took a deep breath and concentrated.
Star felt like a spare. Everyone around him seemed to be doing stuff, even if it was pretty pointless from where he was standing. He still couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that had swamped him earlier. It rankled that he felt useless when in reality he was the most efficient killer in the room. If only there was something he could shoot, he was sure he’d feel vastly better. After what felt like hours, but must have been minutes, Kevin called out to him: “Star, could you come over here for a minute?” Relieved to have something to do, he moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Kevin.
“Put your hand on Gina’s forehead next to mine.”
“I’m not sure that’ll do anything, you know I’m no good at the magic psychic shit,” Star protested, but did as Kevin asked, since he could think of little else to do. Then Kevin grabbed his hand.
Suddenly he was being sucked through a gaping hole into a space of nothing but mist and whispers. He hardly had time to look around when he heard his name being whispered. He looked around and saw Gina standing to his left, twitching with tension and effort. “How?” he stumbled.
“Star? Star, where am I? There’s all this fighting, and everyone’s dying, and I don’t know what to do!” Gina was almost crying. Star felt distress and grief pouring through the air from the girl as if they were living creatures. He didn’t know how to comfort her, so he tried the facts.
“You’re having a vision, Gina, but someone or something seems to have put a sort of lock on you so that you can’t tell us what you’re seeing. Look, I can’t explain it any better, but Zander and Jane and Becky and Edward are out there, and Lexi’s gone off to get his stuff. Can you try to wake up?”
“I can’t wake up until I’ve seen everything the vision must show me. How long have I been asleep? My visions usually don’t last more than a few minutes.”
“Uh, it’s been a while, Gina, at least 3-4 hours. Can you tell me anything that might be useful in getting you out of here?”
“Um… no, I… Star, can you smell the sea? I can hear the waves, am I on a beach?”
Star could see that Gina wasn’t making much sense. How long before damage started to her brain, he wondered?
Suddenly Gina whipped towards him again and wailed, “Star! No, Star, you mustn’t! Promise you won’t do it! There is another way to save him, you mustn’t do this, you’ll lose yourself and not even he can bring you back afterwards, and that’s what they want, don’t you see? They’ll have you then, and we need you for the last! Promise, you must promise not to!” She was almost frantic now.
Star was struck dumb, but only temporarily. “Gina, calm down, I can’t fucking promise to not do something I don’t know anything about!”
Her outburst had evidently been too much for Gina; her form started to flicker and lose shape. “I’m going to the beach now, Star, I’ll see you later! Bye-e-e!” She flickered off and Star got one last glimpse of the mist-filled plane before he was yanked back out and stood panting and leaning on the bed. Kevin stood next to him, holding his arm to keep him upright.
“What the hell did you do to me, man? Get away from me!”
“Star, calm down. I tried to tune in to Gina’s thoughts, and it was like something was telling me that to hear I need… something like headphones, or speakers or something, and I just knew that you would be what I need. Do you… are you something like an empath?”
“What? How the fuck do you know that? No one knows that! Well, I mean, no one knew, until bloody Zander went pushing his nose where it doesn’t belong!” Star was furious with being outed like that. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the way he worked, and now he’d have to figure it out in front of fucking everybody! Shit!
“Um, I just sort of knew I needed you to hear her, and I acted as an amplifier for your ability. I’m sorry if you aren’t comfortable with it, but Gina felt desperate to me. So, did you speak to her? Did she say anything that might help?”
“Hang on, hang on. Empaths only feel other people’s emotions, so how could he have spoken to Gina?”
“Well, Janey, he ain’t psychic, but Kevin said he was turning up Star’s mojo, so I guess that way it works just fine!”
“Right, thank you Becky. Star, is there anything you can tell us to help get Gina out of there?”
“Uh, gotta tell you she’s not making much sense in there. She may be starting to slip. She, uh, said some stuff, but I don’t think it would help you. I’m not even sure if she wasn’t rambling.”
Zander reached over and touched Star’s shoulder. “Star, anything we know at this point is a bonus. Please tell us what she told you.”
Star looked mutinous for a moment, then sighed. “Fine. It’s something she said about me. She… she wanted me to promise her that I wouldn’t do something, but she didn’t say what that thing was, so I have really no idea what she was talking about. The relevant info – she said that she couldn’t wake up before the vision was done showing her what it wanted to show her. She got really weak at the end and flickered out. She kept talking about the seaside, that she was going to the beach. I don’t know what that meant. “
“She isn’t far off, you know,” Lexi said as he walked back into the room, Emily at his heels. “I think we’re onto something, but I must check it out first. If it is what I think it is, we may have a way of lifting the curse with minimum damage.”
Jane stirred restlessly. “You’d better hurry, Lexi. Star has managed to have a word with Gina; she seems to be losing herself.”
“Didn’t I just say I’d get right on it? Everybody chill. Jane, Bill called. He wants a lowdown on what’s going on. Kevin, give me a hand to arrange this stuff. We’ll be able to find out if we’re right almost straight away.”
Zander felt it was his turn to lean on a wall out of the way. Star looked three parts pissed off to one part shit scared. It probably hadn’t been easy for him to be shoved into that little trip like that. Zander wasn’t sure how he felt about Star having such a strong connection with Kevin; he looked at everyone else milling and held his tongue. He had wanted to go to Star and comfort him, but was pretty sure he’d be doing him a poor favour to call attention to the fact that he needed comforting at all. Zander moved his gaze to Lexi and Kevin, who were efficiently but noisily positioning the props while arguing about their usefulness. Jane had gone off for a chat with Bill while Becky and Edward were sitting by Gina, holding her hand on each side. He knew they were trying to keep her anchored using their Angels. Star was sitting in the corner opposite the one Zander had claimed, seemingly watching the proceedings with interest. Finally Lexi and Kevin were done arranging and Lexi started his ritual. Almost immediately mist started appearing from Gina’s mouth; the smell of the sea suffused the room. Lexi called things out to the mist, which danced this way and that with no apparent purpose; Lexi seemed to get it though because he was nodding to Emily happily enough. She looked interested and immediately started leafing through one of the several volumes she had brought with her. Finally Lexi performed a simple banishment and turned around.
“Right then. Yay for Emily for being right and yay for me for proving that she is. The spell that has been placed on Gina is something called Manannán’s Cloak. According to Celtic mythology Manannán mac Lir was the god of the sea. Being one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, he had loads of power as well as quite a few magical objects. One of the most powerful was his cloak, which had the power to change a person’s destiny with one sweep. Also, Manannán had the ability to envelop himself in mist that made him invisible to his enemies. What the spell does is invoke the power of Manannán to change someone’s life and the rules that bind it together – in Gina’s case to prevent her from sharing her visions with us to the point of locking her inside her own mind. The mist is a way to disguise the spell so that it cannot be removed with a mere counterspell. Manannán’s powers are greatest near any bodies of water, so pretty much we’re smack in the middle of his territory. My guess is that whoever placed the curse of Gina did it from somewhere close to this building, which is why we were all affected when the trap sprung on little Gina.”
Jane stopped pacing for a minute to ask, “You mentioned something about the spell being easy to remove? From what you’ve said, it’ll be a bitch to lift. Gina doesn’t have that much time.”
Lexi grinned. “Not if one happened to be in possession of the Sword of Light, it isn’t.”
“The what-now?” Becky wrinkled her nose.
“The Sword of Nuada, Claíomh Solais, the Sword of Light, or for those of you who haven’t brushed up on your Celtic mythology lately, more commonly known as the sword Excalibur. The Sword of Light in the hands of draoitheach, or more commonly druids, possesses the ability to remove spells and provide protection. It was the prototype, if you will, for the Arthurian sword of legend.”
“Thanks, Emily. So there you have it. It just so happens that it is held by one of ours, and here’s the cherry: a powerful seer last week Saw that his help would be needed here this week, so the lovely man is as we speak travelling towards us from Belfast where he lives. He should be here within the hour.”
“Jesus, you can’t make this shit up,” Star muttered.
*****
An hour and a half later they were being introduced to Rhys, who had quickly made his way from the airport to Riverside HQ. After saying a brief hello he was hauled off to Gina’s room by Lexi, hotly pursued by the rest of the team. Rhys sat cross-legged in meditation for 10 minutes or so. Everyone knew it was working when the sword started glowing softly towards the end. Rhys suddenly stood up, flowed to the bed where, holding the sword, he chanted something in Old Irish and swept the sword over Gina from head to toe. Then he took her hand and carved a rune into the back of it using the tip of the sword. The rune flashed the palest golden colour as it disappeared into Gina’s hand. Rhys stood aside and pronounced himself satisfied.
Five minutes or so later Gina began to stir; within half an hour she was sitting up. She had a little trouble focusing at first, but then chatted easily enough with Jane. The difficult part came when Edward asked her if she remembered anything of the vision. Her eyes swimming, Gina whimpered, “I’m truly sorry, but it’s pretty much gone. All I remember was that there was so much death, everyone dying, and… oh, God, something about Zander being taken… and then Star going after him… I honestly can’t piece it together any longer.”
Everyone assured her that she was safe, and not to distress herself trying too hard and that everyone was happy she was OK. From his seat in the corner, Star watched the performance with unease in his heart. He knew that if Zan was ever taken, no power could stop him going after him. Was that what Gina had wanted him to promise not to do? If so, good thing she didn’t remember, because hell would freeze over before he gave another promise he would want to break with every breath he took. Whether Angel Boy wanted it or not, he was under Star’s protection now. Star couldn’t let anything happen to him, because now Zander mattered. He could about as easily not care about his trigger finger.
A pair of long, lean calves entered his vision. He looked up to find Rhys standing over him.
“Mind if I sit down?” Rhys murmured in a soft Irish brogue.
Star shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Rhys dropped gracefully to sit next to him. “I heard that you were the one who got through to Gina earlier. I wanted you to know that I admire that. Kevin mentioned that he sort of pushed you through it, so. Wouldn’t have expected it, seeing him now. But you went with it, didn’t push back. It was likely what held Gina to herself. ‘Twas a good thing to do, Star.”
Star felt shivers run down his spine when Rhys said his name. In that voice, it sounded as if it meant so much more. There was power in the lithe Irishman, that much was evident, and it didn’t all come from the sword. Star eyed that now. It looked no more than a piece of metal, ornately carved as it was. He guessed it would only work for someone with power in themselves, in their blood. He wanted to touch it, but at the same time didn’t. Rhys noticed him looking. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then seemed to reach a decision. He offered the sword to Star, hilt first.
Star hesitated. He could feel the sword’s energy resonate around the room, bouncing off the walls, bed and chairs with small amounts being absorbed by the people. His hand hovered over the hilt. Pull yourself together, you pussy. His hand slid over the hilt; the second he touched it the energy coiled inside spread through his arm like it was greeting a long lost friend. A gaping hole of need for closeness echoed from the sword. Power, strength and the loneliness that comes from true strength; pure energy in need of someone to channel it; someone with the power in their blood to yield it. Ambiguity streamed through Star: good and evil were balanced perfectly in the sword, so the path it would follow was chosen by its bearer. The energy swirled through Star and coiled in his chest a friendly pet, its soft fur made of spun light tickling Star’s soul in recognition of kindred.
“You have the blood, Star Tyrian. You are kin to the bearers of the sword; it would never have recognised you so if you weren’t. You are young yet, still not in possession of your true name. When you are ready to learn more about who you are and where your true path lies, you come and find me. I will always be ready to teach you, as long as you come to me ready to learn.” With that Rhys gently removed the sword from Star’s grip, stood and walked away to take his leave of the group.
Star sat as still as he could make himself, don’t move and it won’t get you. He was having one hell of a day, he reflected; he wasn’t sure he could take any more of the metaphysical bullshit. He was drifting and needed to ground himself. That meant either going out to a bar, getting wasted and scoring a fuck, or going over to the storage unit and strumming for a few hours, or… or he could just go home with Zan and spend a few hours dispelling the tension, getting high on coffee and games, bantering with Zan about the truckload of crap this day had provided. Hmm, choices, choices… He looked across the room. Zander leaned on the wall looking thoroughly drained. Star remembered Zan hadn’t had that much sleep the night before, and that brought him to thinking about when he’d gone to wake him up, and for a minute he had thought that Zan would snap, he’d looked so brittle and full of need, his eyes glittering with tension, and Star had to close his eyes before he embarrassed himself when he stood up, screaming his own need, blood rushing decidedly away from his brain and into other, much more sensitive and demanding areas. The bar was looking the best bet by the minute.
A few minutes later, when he was sure he could get up without said embarrassment, he levered himself to his feet. Rhys was just leaving; at the door he turned and looked at Star with eyes the colour of the sky at sunrise, palest blue burrowing into Star’s soul. A nod, a slight lift of his lips, and he was gone, the others following, in awe of this extremely powerful, addictive individual. Star didn’t respond beyond a nod of his own. He had no idea how he felt, what he thought about his own exchange with the Irishman. It would take some time to get to the bottom of it, but he was still too raw from the trials of the day to be able to think with any clarity. He started for the door himself. Right outside he almost ploughed into Zander, and the added sensation almost stripped him of any good intentions he had left.
“Star, I’m just gonna go back to the flat, I’m wiped. I’ll see you there.” He walked away. Star stood still again to give himself time to get his reactions under hand. The bar it was. Anything to keep him from thinking. He started after Zander, intent on getting his stuff and getting out of the building. He just hoped he could make it out before being cornered by anyone else intent on doing his psychoanalysis for him. God, all he wanted was to fall into bed and sleep for a week, which was an excellent plan if he thought for a second he’d be able to just go to sleep, not toss and turn for hours.
He went into the flat and straight to his room, gathered his things and started back to the door. It was then that he registered the smell of coffee and looking over saw a mug left out for him, no doubt fixed just the way he liked it. Zander was sprawled on the sofa before the TV with several DVDs in his hands.
“I’ll let you choose this time Star. ‘Leon’, ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ or ‘Hot Fuzz’?”
All Star’s intentions flew out of the window of his mind as the comfort of having someone wait for him just this once overwhelmed him. Sod the bar; this was just what he wanted, no needed, to unwind.
“Put ‘Hot Fuzz’ on, I could do with a laugh.”
