“You’re anything but innocent,” Tristan murmured, taking a step closer to me.

I backed away, recognizing the glint in Tristan’s eyes and not understanding where it came from. My back bumped against the white brick wall of the gym, while he trapped me with one arm over my head. I stifled a groan, knowing this was Tristan’s way of letting Seth know that he might have won the race, but he wasn’t about to win whatever contest involved me.

“Tristan, what are you doing?” I asked, a giggle bubbling up before I could stop myself. Tristan’s eyes swept over me, and he ran his free hand over his sweat-soaked shaved head. I knew I should be completely grossed out by him, but something about the way the sweat ran down his neck and over the hollow part at the base of his throat caused my eyes to linger unexpectedly.

“I just want to know if you have plans tonight?” he asked in his most innocent sounding voice. “We still have two free nights of winter-break left and I want to take full advantage of the whole no-homework thing.” His dark green eyes reminded me of the color of grass at night and they blazed with an intensity I had seen before, an intensity that remained between us even before Seth showed up. He dipped his head, and waited for my response.

I could feel Seth’s eyes on us and couldn’t stop myself from repeating in a low, careful voice, “Tristan, what are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” He picked his head back up and blinked his eyes like a confused puppy dog.

Which reminded me, “You are not a dog and I am not a tree. This is so not going to work,” I lifted my hands to his chest bare chest and pushed him back. His hands clasped down on mine and held them to him.

“I know that, Stella,” he all but growled.

My eyes flicked to Seth who stood there bouncing on the back of his heels, his jaw clenched tight and the glow under his skin burning like hot embers in a building fire.

“You know that I love you, don’t you?” I turned my eyes back to Tristan and softened my tone.

“No, I don’t know that,” Tristan complained, it was his usual response whenever I confessed my platonic love for him.

Even if he didn’t want to hear the truth in my words, I knew I had gotten through to him, that it would only take a few seconds before reality set in. I had always been Tristan’s, ever since they were little. Other boys didn’t ask me out, everyone in our small town accepted whatever was between us was marriage material, even though we both knew there was nothing. There could never be anything. And so, I waited for his expression to relax and his testosterone level to drop before I continued.

“I’ll text you later, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything tonight. My parents are getting back later and we have to have the whole, ‘what happens now’ talk,” I sighed, afraid of the future conversation and the consequences it would have on my life.

“Oh that’s right,” Tristan laughed. “I almost forgot the future of mankind now rests on your shoulders.” He released my hands and pulled me into a completely friendly, but disgustingly sweaty hug. I laughed against his chest, thankful he could take everything in stride. “But you’ll text me later?”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Now get off of me, you’re so gross!”

Tristan let go of me and we gathered our warm ups to slip on before crawling back through the locker room window and out into the late winter afternoon. Seth stayed silent until the two of us were alone again in the beat up Jeep that still needed to get them home.

“I don’t think I like him,” Seth admitted as he watched Tristan’s big white pickup pull out of the parking lot.

“I don’t know where I went wrong,” I sighed. “I was sure you two would be best friends.”

Seth laughed too at that, a deep, throaty laughed that made me smile even wider. “It probably has something to do with that pretty blonde head of yours.”

Knowing he was right, but not wanting to admit it, I threw my arm out to smack Seth in the chest. He reached up to block me, and nearly dropped the door that he still held firmly in place next to him, since it no longer stayed connected to the vehicle. We both started laughing and what blossomed between us was more than a new friendship, but a well-rooted trust that was solidly planted in the base of our souls. We were partners now; this world needed us both if it was to survive. And likewise, we needed each other if we hoped for the same fate.

Chapter Five

My parents were already home and sitting at the kitchen table with Jupiter when Seth and I walked through the back door. The early sunset left the outside world dark by the time we drove home and I couldn’t help but feel chills of the Darkness nearby. I convinced myself that since Seth seemed unbothered, they were in my imagination and nothing more. I had been shaken up the night before, and that’s all.

Once inside the kitchen, I left all fears of impending doom behind me and ran for my parents, thankful they were once again home safe from one of their missions. My father stood up first, enveloping me in his muscular arms and holding me tightly to him. Micah Day, whose name meant Angel of the Divine Plan, was one of the fiercest Angelic Warriors alive. He stood towering over me at 6’5 and because of his muscular frame and chiseled, god-like face seemed invincible to not just humans, but many Angels alike. He was an intimidating man to meet, and an ironic contrast to many of the other farmers in the area who were aging and overweight from spending too much time sitting on combines and eating too many steak and potato dinners. He did his best to hide his stature by wearing thin-framed glasses and keeping his light brown hair slightly askew, but I knew the Clark Kent rouse only confused humans.

“I’m sorry we left you Stella-bean,” he apologized huskily in my ear.

I shivered, trying to stop the sob that threatened to explode from me. I hadn’t taken the time to really think last night through, and hadn’t really wanted to. But hearing the fear in my father’s voice sent reality crashing around me, clattering to the floor of my stomach and vibrating through me.

“I’m Ok,” I promised, lifting my head bravely to meet my father’s pale blue eyes, the same ones I had.

“I know,” he sighed with the resign of a father knowing he was raising her daughter for Fate’s purpose.

“My turn,” Celina Day announced, me from my father and into her own loving arms.

I was obviously Celina’s daughter. There was no question when we stood next to each other. Our golden blonde hair fell in the same curled-at-the-end waves, and our slightly upturned noses, and full mouths reflected each other like mirror images. Our only striking difference was the color of our eyes, where I had inherited my father’s ice-blue color, Celina’s glowed a deep gold that matched the color of her hair and skin; she masked the oddity of their color with contacts when on this planet, but having just returned from a mission they glowed with the light buried inside of her. She had been a Sun elsewhere in the universe, with a whole galaxy of planets in her charge, before duty called her to Earth and her husband, to raise her baby to inherit the responsibility of the Earth.

Stars and Warriors were the lowest level of angelic beings. They’re base was on the lowest level of Heaven, but their task to protect life kept them mostly away from home. Rarely did a Warrior and Star actually get to spend significant amount of time together, but instead chose to procreate in responsibility to their race. Boys were born Warriors, and girls were born Stars, although the titles merely differentiated jobs and genders, both sexes were capable of the same fetes of supernatural.

My own parents had been chosen for Earth because of their great skill in battle, and their relatively human-esque looks. It was important for a Star raised in the human world to look like a human, meaning her hair color needed to be one of the natural colors of Earth and the same with eyes. Since I had blonde hair and blue eyes, I fit the qualifications perfectly; pair my looks with the genealogy of battle-success in my family and I was an obvious choice for Earth.

Not that I wasn’t still a little freaked out by my future…. but at least the Elders had faith in me.

I knew Seth was chosen for the same reason, but his parents had been killed when he was still young, probably in battle. Celina and Micah still had responsibilities to their battalions, and although they were allowed to fight together, they could not stay on Earth for long periods of time without being called back to fight. That was something Seth and I would never experience, we would never be called from this planet, never fight amongst our fellow Stars, never feel the emptiness of space or the thrill of battle formations.

But we did have hope. Hope that the forces of heaven would stand against the evil of hell and win; that our fellow Stars would light up the universe and keep the Darkness at bay and that the Fallen would not get the chance to turn this planet into a desolate feeding ground like every other planet that once inhabited the expanse of space. Only Earth remained. And only Seth and I had been charged to protect it on the frontlines of battle.

“What are you thinking about?” my mom interrupted my thoughts and pulled me back to the kitchen.

“What it will be like to be the Protector,” I mumbled truthfully.

“Sit down, we need to talk about that,” my dad directed, putting a strong hand on my shoulder. I sat down next to my mom, while my dad took his seat at the head of the table. Seth and Jupiter sat silently across from us, waiting patiently for the conversation to begin. “Seth, it’s good to meet you by the way,” my dad reached out a hand to Seth and the two Warriors met with hands clasped tightly against each other’s forearms. “I’m Micah, and this is my wife, Celina.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Seth replied respectfully.

“We were just talking about your futures,” my dad confessed, looking at Jupiter before continuing. “What happened with Nisroc and Sidra was unexpected. The Elders are…. concerned that there is a spy in their midst. Besides the Elders themselves and Jupiter, no other Warrior or Star knew the whereabouts of their hideout, not even the Stars closest to Earth.”

“Callisto,” Jupiter spat and it sounded very much like a curse word. “Then it is what we suspected, a spy is the only reasonable explanation,” Jupiter growled.

“We cannot be for sure, but yes, it does look like that. It would explain how they found Stella too,” my dad finished gravely, glancing at me with the regret only a father could hold.

“So, what is the plan?” Seth asked, more meekly than I had ever heard him talk. He lifted his eyes to meet mine and they were etched with concern. This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen, or how the Elders planned our purpose on Earth.

“To stay put,” Micah said firmly, which caused every eye to turn to him. “The Elders have decided that to move Stella now would be a sign of weakness. She has not received the fullness of her powers yet, but she is still a threat to the Darkness. If we move now, there is no guarantee they won’t follow us and we have built lives here, this is the fulfillment of the plan, we cannot give up on it now. Seth, you and Jupiter will move here too and we will finish your training together. You might have already guessed this part, but it’s more crucial than ever that you two stay together and learn to fight together and protect each other. Until Stella and Seth turn eighteen, the Elders have sent a replacement Star, Serena and her Warrior, Nathaniel. They will carry out your duties until you two finish high school and Stella receives the last of her abilities at eighteen.”