"That's a suicide mission," seventeen year old Staria OceanRose said stubbornly, looking at her mother. Staria's irises shifted to dark purple and flashed brilliantly.
Her mother, Andromeda, winced. "You're chosen Staria. You know that."
"Was Daddy chosen?" Staria demanded. "Tell me mother. Was he?" Shaking her dark head angrily, Staria went on, "They tortured him! They showed him no mercy. And it's a wonder they don't do the same to us! We're freaks as it is. We'd have to be crazy to antagonize them!"
Andromeda's blue eyes filled with tears at the mention of her deceased husband. Her soulmate. And, of course, her daughter was right. They were freaks, by the Night World's standards. Andromeda was half human, half lamia. She had never known her own mother who, as a human, had been brutally slain when her daughter was only two. And Andromeda's father had never gotten over it.
Probably the only reason Andromeda was allowed to live was because of her father's Redfern name. But it wasn't the Redfern name Andromeda was proud of. It was her first name. Andromeda. Her mother, from what her father had told her, loved the stars and named her after the galaxy.
Andromeda had only one picture of her mother, the one her father had given her seventeen years before when she had given birth to her own baby girl. Her mother had been pretty, not inhumanely beautiful, but very, very pretty. She had dark shiny hair that fell a little below her shoulders in waves. Her bangs were a little long and touched her eyelashes, which were thick and framed sparkling blue eyes. Her mother had been smiling in the picture, her face lit up from within, and she was wearing a cool breezing flowered dress.
Andromeda's father had been a little teary when he had given it to her, pressing his index finger to his lips then to the picture quickly.
Andromeda had been a little teary herself, wanting more than anything for her mother to be able to give her a hug.
She didn't know the details of her mother's murder. Andromeda had been born about halfway through the Night War, the war at the Millennium. The War had lastest about a year and a half longer. Afterward....
The Night World had won and a whole new world order had been set into motion. And all the humans were rounded up to be put into pens - like cattle. Except those that worked for Circle Daybreak. All those humans had been killed at one point or another.
Andromeda sadly ticked off the names that she knew. Eric Ross. David Blackburn. Rashel 'The Cat' Jordan. Hannah Snow. Maggie Neely. And they had all had soulmates. Lastly, her own mother. The details were sketchy at best, her father never elaborated. But Andromeda knew that it had been bloody. That there had been a struggle. And, worst of all, that her father had been forced to watch, unable to help, while she was killed.
Just now, Andromeda looked up at her daughter. "You have to go. You have to change it. And you can."
Staria's face hardened, her eyes turning black as night as she scowled. "It's too much of a risk."
"You might be able to bring your father back. Your grandmother. Please Staria," her mother pleaded.
"And I might just screw everything up worse," Staria pointed out. She went over to the window, wiping at the cool fog with her palm. It seemed to always be rainy these days. Almost as if the clouds were crying...
"Incidently," a male voice said from the doorway, "you might be able to bring back Cory."
Staria turned quickly, dark hair flying. "Granddad!"
It was hard to picture Ash Redfern as anyone's grandfather, much less a seventeen year old's. He didn't look a day past twenty-five, the year he had stopped aging at. His ash blond hair was thick and shiny as ever, his face unlined and kind. But his eyes were filled with pain and rarely shifted color from the dark gray they had been since he had lost his soulmate.
Ash looked at his granddaughter. "What's this I hear about you not wanting to accept your responsibilites?"
Staria frowned. She loved her grandfather more than anyone else and he had always been there for her, almost like a second father, after her own father had been killed when Staria was eight. But if he was going to be stubborn about this.... "It's a crazy idea granddad. It'll never work."
"How do you know if you don't try," Ash replied. Then he sighed. "Staria look outside."
Staria tilted her head to the side quizzically, then obediently turned to look out the window.
"What do you see?" he asked.
"Gray," Staria answered. "A bleak gray sky. Just the way it's always been."
"Wouldn't you like to see a blue sky. Oh yes," Ash went on, cutting Staria off with a brief smile, "we had blue skys. Clear blue skys. Why at night..." he got a faraway look in his eyes as if remembering something long forgotten. "Your grandmother would go out and starwatch. She loved the night sky. Almost as much as she loved your mother." Ash paused to smile at his daughter.
Andromeda blinked back tears at the reference.
"So Staria how about it," Ash continued. "Circle Daybreak will take care of you. And so many of our counterparts will be there. You'll feel right at home."
"What makes you think that I can change anything! You'd have to send me right in the middle of the war. And noone would like to a seventeen year old anyway." Staria very nearly stamped her foot in frustration.
Ash reacted calmly. He closed the door and gave his granddaughter a look that clearly told her to sit down and listen. So Staria sat down.
"Staria, the main reason that Circle Daybreak lost was because of the deaths that Maya and Hunter Redfern staged for themselves. Daybreak didn't realize that they were the driving force behind the Night World. If they had..." he trailed off. "We're going to send you back in time to when I was only nineteen. Then it's up to you to let them know and help them take care of Maya and Hunter."
"But why me," Staria threw back. "Why doesn't someone else do it. I always manage to screw everything up anyway. I don't see why you'd want me to do it."
"Staria, it's the prophecy," Andromeda reminded her. "You know that." "
One from the future, who lives in the night
A walker through time, able to bring the past clear sight," recited Staria dutifully. "So what. That could be anyone."
"You've already displayed your power to be able to visualize past events as though you were actually there," Ash explained. "Now we just have to get you to tap into your power. To have you go to these past events. Physically."
"And what if I can't."
"Then we were wrong," Ash said simply. "And the prophecy isn't about you. But either way we have nothing to lose."
Staria looked ready to object again. But Ash broke in quickly. "Every one of us in this room has lost our soulmate to violence. Staria, if you succeed, you can have Cory back."
Staria's breath caught in her throat. There was his name again. Oh, how she longed to feel Cory's arms around her. To feel his lips pressed to hers. But every memory she had of him was laced with blood. The dark sticky blood that had seeped through her fingers as she had tried to cover his wounds with her own hands. Cory had been a mixed breed too, half werewolf, half lamia. He never knew his father, but his mother, Astral, was on of the nicest people Staria knew.
Cory had been brutally attacked by a lamia gang who had been threatening Staria for being a 'mutt.' She had tried to stop Cory, telling him that it wasn't worth it. But the fight had been inevitable and ended with Cory being staked right before her eyes.
To save him... to bring him back... She blinked back tears. Staria OceanRose didn't cry. But the thought was too enticing to ignore.
Staria looked up at her mother, then met her grandfather's gaze directly. "I'll do it. I'll try."
Staria looked at the witch, with gray streaks running through her yellow hair. Her brown eyes were kind. Staria struggled to bring up a name. Harman... Thea Harman. That was it.
Thea must have been approaching 60, but her hands were young looking and they moved deftly over a pot of herbs. She shook the final mixture into a velvet pouch and pressed it into Staria's hand. "This is a charm for enchancing your powers."
Ash gave Thea a grateful look. "We don't know what we'd do without you."
Thea smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I suppose everything I do is for Eric. Goddess bless his soul."
The corner of Ash's mouth turned down. "Yes," he agreed. "Those are things that get us through day to day."
Turning to look at Staria, Thea said," Do you have everything you need?"
Staria nodded once. "Then I send you off with the blessings of the Witches Of Light," Thea told her.
The Witches of Light were those Hearthwomen who refused to live by Circle Midnight's code of honor. 'We might obey Night World law,' they said. 'But we will not compromise our beliefs.'
All in all, it was an honor to receive their blessing.
"Ok Staria. You know what to do," Ash said quietly. "Picture the place, the time. And just..." He trailed off and shrugged, unsure of how her power worked.
Staria looked around the room one last time. Because this could quite possible be the last time she was here. Ever.
"Staria..." Ash said, breaking into her thoughts. Staria glanced at him and almost gasped. His eyes had shifted color. Not much, they were still mostly gray. But his irises were tinted with blue.
"Yes granddad?"
"Say hello to... Mary-Lynnette for me?" He stopped and focused on the ground, almost as if he were trying to keep from crying.
Staria had to hold back tears herself. "I will. I promise," she said before shutting her eyes and picturing a scene from the past.
Images swirled around her, faster and faster blurring into one another. Staria felt dizzy. And then she was falling. Falling where, she didn't know. She should have hit the ground. She didn't.
The images swirled faster now, beating in time to some unknown rhythm. And then, she felt something solid beneath her. Staria couldn't see anything now. She was surrounded by darkness.
Then she opened her eyes.
**Note** The song in this part is Merril Bainbridge's "State Of Mind"
Disclaimers ~ Part Two
