Hi, there! Hostfanatic is back with the third—and last—story in my trilogy. If you haven't read "Among the Lights" and then "Among the Gems" yet, then go do that and come back before you read this one.

Here we go, with the prologue of "Among the Stars!"

"Jeanette, I grow tired of asking."

"Then make this the last time!"

"Jeanette. You don't want to hurt anymore."

Jeanette froze at Adam's tone. It was…gentle? It seemed almost…caring.

"I can see in your eyes that you don't want to hurt anymore. If you went with me…if you were in love with me…then you wouldn't have to hurt anymore. Simon has caused you pain, Jeanette. I wouldn't. You belong with me."

His words were so soothing, so hypnotic…Jeanette opened her mouth and, smiling, whispered, "Yes."

"Jeanette?"

The voice was not Adam's.

She whirled to see Simon standing in the doorway. He was staring at her. His face suddenly crumpled in pain.

"Simon…" she reached out to him. "Simon, no!"

Simon turned and fled.

"Simon!" Jeanette tried to run after him, but Adam was there, holding her so tightly that she couldn't breathe.

"You belong with me," he whispered.

His evil, maniacal laughter filled the air, filled Jeanette's ears. It was everywhere, growing louder and louder…she couldn't escape it…

"No…no…"

"NO!"

Jeanette sat bolt upright, screaming.

She abruptly cut herself off, panting as she stared around.

Low walls…rocking motion…portholes…

It's okay, she soothed herself. I'm on the ship.

Panting, she flopped backward onto her pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Tears began to escape as she closed her eyes tightly and tried to get rid of the words burned in her ears. She let out a tiny sob.

Then there was a movement on the end of her bed, and in the next second, Simon was right next to her with his arms around her. He hugged her tight, soothing her with calm words in her ear as he did every time. She didn't care that she was making a fool of herself. She just hugged him tighter, sobbing into his shirt.

Finally, she managed to calm down and the tears stopped coming. Shaking slightly, she brushed the wetness away from her fur.

"Nightmares again?" Simon murmured. Jeanette nodded without looking at him.

"It's all right, Jeanette," he told her quietly. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you. Or anyone. You don't need to worry about Adam. Not anymore."

Soothed by his words, she was slowly lulled back to sleep.

Simon stared down at her. He reached out a hand and gently brushed a lock of her hair out of her face. Her expression was peaceful and dreamy now, and he knew that she wasn't having a nightmare anymore.

I wonder if she's dreaming about me…

He pushed those thoughts away. Anyone could see that he didn't deserve Jeanette.

But she loved him anyway…

He smiled. Then he remembered how she had cried and shook in her sleep, how shaken and afraid she had been. He gritted his teeth as he thought of the source of her fright and tears and pain.

Adam…

Simon clenched his fists, and then quickly tried to relax more as Jeanette stiffened in her sleep.

He was going to find a way someday to get Adam back for all the hurt and pain that he had caused Jeanette.

But right now, he was just content to sit in bed with her, hold her in his arms…oh, he had missed holding her. He had missed her gentle touch, her soft voice, her beautiful, beautiful eyes…he had missed her so much.

But she was here right now. She was with him, in his arms. And he would never let her go again.

Jeanette yawned and rolled over. She stretched, and then remembered the events of the past night. She sat bolt upright and frowned, blinking the sleepiness from her eyes.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," a gentle voice laughed, and she felt Simon brush some hair out of her eyes. "I thought you'd never wake up."

She blinked and looked over at him, trying to separate his blob from the rest of the shapeless blobs in the room.

"Morning," she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes with one hand and groping for her glasses with the other.

"Here," he said, amusement still in his tone, and she felt her glasses in her hand. She quickly put them on, and the room came into focus.

"Thanks for helping me last night, Simon," she said quietly.

"No problem," he told her gently, climbing out of bed and helping her down as well. "Want to go up on deck?"

"Is everyone else awake?"

"No, not yet. It's really pretty early. I was joking earlier when I said I thought you'd never wake up. You're getting up awfully early these days, Jeanette…and you don't go to bed until late."

"And I wake up a lot during the night, too," Jeanette sighed in chagrin. "I'm just not sleeping very well lately, Simon." She stretched some more and rubbed the purple jewel dangling from her necklace.

"Well, let's go up on deck and maybe see the sunrise."

They hurried out of their small cabin and went past Eleanor and Theodore's, and then Brittany and Alvin's, and lastly Monique's, before climbing up the stairs to the upper deck.

The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, a brilliant glowing ball of fire on the skyline. The two chipmunks leaned over the rail and watched it. Jeanette curled up against Simon, and he put an arm around her shoulder as they sat together and watched the sun turn all the clouds a light pink, then a brighter orange, and then a fiery red.

Jeanette sighed when the sunrise was almost over. Simon sighed slightly as well, smiling down at Jeanette. She leaned her head on his shoulder, watching the beautiful sky.

"It's gorgeous," she whispered.

Simon smiled. "It's very pretty," he agreed. "But I'd never use the word gorgeous. Not since you're here in comparison."

Jeanette blushed slightly. She stood up and hugged Simon quickly before saying, "I'm going to go up for a while."

He nodded.

She stood and walked over to the rail, peering down at the frothing, foaming waves. She shivered slightly, thinking about how hard and cold the waves must be.

She stared out at the sun, still rising.

Sometimes it was all just too much.

Jeanette was filled with despair…but she knew what could make it all go away.

She carefully climbed up onto the rail, making sure that Simon wasn't watching. She closed her eyes and flexed her legs.

Unexpectedly, her eyes filled with tears, but she tried to blink them away. She refused to look back down at the water.

She lifted her face to the rising sun, raising her arms gracefully above her head for a moment.

She smiled.

Then she leapt off the stern of the boat.

She fell gracefully down through the air toward the water. Her eyes were still closed, and the wind whistled through her hair. It was so peaceful for just a moment. She took a breath and smiled.

Then she rubbed the purple gem dangling from her necklace. There was a sudden bright flash of light.

And she snapped her wings open and began to fly.

She loved flying beyond anything that had ever happened to her. If everything in her ordeals had been horrible, at least flying was something amazing. She never got used to the feeling of wind rushing through her fur, soaring through her wings, hugging her body and cupping her wings like little air pockets, making her go higher and higher and higher. She loved it. She lived for it. And when she was filled with despair, flying WAS what made it go all away.

She laughed, giddy, as she spiraled up through the air, flapping her violet wings streaked with indigo. She twirled and spun through the air, the wind rushing past and making her fur stand on end. She shivered. It was a delicious feeling.

She spun and twirled and flew above the ship for a while, always keeping it in range. She knew that Simon was watching her somewhere down there, and she smiled to think of how much he loved her. She had missed him so much when she had been trapped underground in those caves with Adam. She was privately glad, though, that she hadn't had her powers yet. As a sky-dwelling creature now, she was desperately uncomfortable in underground places, places where she couldn't see the sky. The same way Brittany didn't like it when she wasn't around water, and the same way Eleanor was uncomfortable when there weren't any plants around. Eleanor wasn't doing the greatest on the ship, since there weren't any plants near, but Brittany and Jeanette were just fine due to the open expanse of sky and the open expanse of sea to fly in and swim in. The boys were all fine with their surroundings, because their powers were more like superpowers than the others'.

Jeanette spun and dove down toward the ship, pulling out of the steep dive just in time to perch on one of the masts. She leaned against the polished wood and stared off into the horizon…

She blinked.

No…it was still there.

She blinked again and squinted harder, but she could just barely make out a tiny speck on the horizon. She launched herself off the mast, beating her wings hard, and shot up much higher into the sky until the ship was just a small dot on the sea below. She peered at the speck again.

Then she made out what it was.

Her eyes widened, and she instantly tucked her wings in and went into a steep, fast dive down toward the ship. It was over in nearly two seconds before she shot her wings out and braked hard, coming to a clumsy stop and tumbling to the deck, hard.

"Jeanette, are you okay?" Simon ran over instantly to help her up. She winced and rubbed at the scratches on her elbows.

"What happened?" he asked urgently.

She grinned at him, breathless, her purple eyes sparkling.

"I saw land," she said.