Welcome to the 3rd part of my Aurora Saga. This story is set after the events of Aurora and you might find it helpful to read that story first. You can read it either before or after 'The Gift' as the events of 'The Gift' take place within Starlight's timeframe.

Although it is coded as Jake and Ness, that's mostly to be able to fix it on the site. This story doesn't explicitly dwell on those two, but they and the rest of the family do appear as the story unfolds. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Chapter One: Seeing Stars

"So how'd it go?" Bex made me jump as I passed her room. The coffee in the cup I was holding sloshed over the sides and only a timely curve out of the way stopped it from going down me. I wasn't expecting to see her in school this early and I looked at her blankly. "Hello? Earth to Stephanie? Last night's astronomy class?"

"Oh, fine thanks."

"That good, huh?"

"No, it was good," I asserted. "I enjoyed it."

"You don't sound like you did. So, it really was just a bunch of retired people? Bet you brought the average age down by about fifty years."

"No, there was a kid there."

"Oh great, more kids. Like you don't get enough of them teaching here." Bex rolled her eyes. "Catch you later; got to work out where I left that stack of grading."

I smiled as she randomly picked up piles of books and looked under them for the missing papers. Bex taught English and was slightly disorganised. OK, perhaps that was being generous. She was hopeless. Bex and I were very different creatures. If Bex Walton was Little Miss Disorganised; then I, Stephanie Chambers, was Little Miss Obsessively Neat. There'd be no way a stack of grading would ever go missing in my life. While I'd like to put that down to being good at my job, in truth it was because grading was pretty much all I had; along with class preparation, teaching, parents' nights, staff meetings and my cat, Lyra. I loved my job, I gave it my all, but I was very aware that it wasn't in my best interests long-term. If I didn't do something about it, there'd be a good chance of becoming a terminally single 'crazy cat-lady' by the time I was forty. But this year I was making the changes, I was getting a life.

Not that I didn't have a perfectly good life already. It didn't contain much that was bad and even less since I'd dumped Scott. It was merely a little dominated by work. I knew that I needed to do something more than sit at home each night, preparing classes, grading papers and keeping one eye on the TV.

Things had come to a head back in August, when Scott - my now ex-boyfriend - had decided that he'd rather stay in Seattle and work, instead of taking our planned vacation in California. I'd ended up spending two weeks in Laguna Beach with Mom and that was the last straw. After that, Scott and I were dead in the water. So very nearly was my mother; after she'd spent the entire time saying 'I told you so' in every possible way.

My Mom's dislike for Scott had been clear right from the start and she'd whooped for joy when I'd told her why I was inviting her to share my vacation. With hindsight, I should have gone alone. But there's nothing like your mother rubbing salt into your wounds, to make sure it never happens again. I'd arrived back from California with the determination that things were going to be different.

I'd made the 'we're through' call to Scott the very next day. I made it standing up, wearing my most expensive work suit, hair and make-up perfect and in my most vertiginous heels. I made sure that I was on the highest moral ground while delivering the parting shot to the bottom-dweller on the end of the line. Scott Lacey was ancient history and not the type I usually gravitated towards.

I taught High School History and I loved my subject, especially the medieval. I knew where I was with history, in a way that I never knew where I was with Scott. I could depend on history, piece it together from evidence and form a clear picture of what had happened. With Scott, there was no such clarity and I felt him squirm in my hands whenever I tried to pin him down. Did I think he saw other women? Absolutely, he was in Seattle, I was in Port Angeles. Was I deluded, thinking that I could somehow change him? No, I wasn't stupid. I knew he wouldn't change; but I'd never found the impetus to end it before. If truth be told, he was a bit of a life-line to the outside world and severing it meant I was on my own.

I wasn't scared of being alone; I was content with my own company and didn't need anyone to feel complete. But it was nice to have an excuse to go to Seattle now and then, or have someone to go to a movie or out to dinner with. And occasionally sleep with, there was that. I had needs like any other woman. But, there's only so much crap you can take from a guy and only so many times you can vacation with your mother. I was twenty six for crying out loud, I was too old for this.

I had clipped into my planner a list of things I wanted to achieve this academic year. September always feels more like the start of a new year than January ever does. I guess it's the side effect of being a teacher. At the top of my list was the big thing; I wanted to be out of my tiny apartment in Port Angeles. I shouldn't be a complete grouch against Mom; because after Dad died three years ago, she sold the house, moved into something smaller and gave me the money to make a decent down-payment with. But I'd done nothing with it. I'd taught near Mom in Oregon for two years while she found her feet after Dad's death, then I'd gotten this job in Forks a year ago. It had all been a bit of a rush. I grabbed an apartment where I could and disappeared into my new job for the year. California had been the first time I'd come up for air.

I'd enjoyed my first year here and it was as good a place as any to settle down in. I'd arrived with the intention of exploring Olympic National Park, but I'd not set foot on a hiking trail yet. Doing that was definitely on my to-do list this year.

The rest was a little predictable: Make some friends, get a life outside work, do something new and get out of the country on vacation, even if it was only up to Canada. I had an unused passport sat in a drawer that just begged to be taken out and used to go to all the places I yearned to see. Greece, Italy, Britain and Egypt were at the top of my list, but anywhere would do, anywhere that wasn't here. I really wanted to lose myself in another culture.

For my 'do something new' I'd decided on astronomy. I wasn't strictly new to it; it was something I'd done with Dad as a child. He'd been the amateur astronomer and had eagerly shared his telescope time; pointing out planets, constellations and firing up a love of the cosmos in me. Also, I loved the night, particularly midsummer nights; when the heat of the day abates and the cool darkness brings with it the scent of night-blooming flowers and the sounds of nocturnal creatures. There wasn't much heat to abate when you lived this far north, but southern California had been perfect. During my vacation I'd become almost nocturnal, relishing the beauty of the night.

It was by accident that I'd found an advertisement for astronomy classes posted on the Port Angeles website and it had taken me a full week to get around to replying. But I'd been in luck; he'd got one place left and the class had started last night.

I put my bag and coffee down on the desk in my room and rested against the wall behind me. I took a few slow deep breaths, preparing myself for the day ahead. I closed my eyes and allowed my thoughts to drift back to last night.

I'd come out of a four-year relationship, or what passed for one. If there was one thing I knew, it was that I wouldn't be dating evasive swamp-life ever again. I would be dating only nice men. Men who returned your calls, didn't let you down and never ever put work ahead of a vacation. I needed time to get the poison of Scott out of my system and a year's break from dating men seemed like a very good idea.

This part of the Olympic peninsula was a desert as far as men were concerned. Not once had I been remotely tempted; not even by Mike Newton the Biology teacher, who was the closest thing to cute this place had. I sighed; taking a year off was the plan, anyway. But it was as if a God I didn't believe in anymore had looked at my plans, laughed at them and despatched his most gorgeous angel to come mess with them. A scary angel; but nevertheless, an angel.

As a child my Mom had taken me to church. Now I knew why angels in the Bible said 'fear not' when they appeared to people, because I'd quaked in my boots at the sight of Daniel Mitchell. He was so attractive that it hurt to look at him. You could almost feel that he was something else.

I couldn't tell Bex about this, it would be around the school quicker than a lightning strike. She may be disorganised with student papers, but she knew exactly what to do with a piece of gossip.

I groaned. I absolutely couldn't do this. But everything was pulling me towards him as if I were teetering on the edge of a black hole.

"Oh shit." I said softly, exhaling with a sigh. I gave in and mentally escaped my warm Forks schoolroom for a cold, windswept viewpoint outside Port Angeles. I'd allow myself a few minutes to think about him.

"Stephanie Chambers?"

"Yes."

"Hi, I'm Daniel Mitchell, glad you could make it." We shook hands. The pair of us had solid blocks of ice for hands in this bitter wind. For mid-October it was unseasonably cold. I quickly forced mine back into my gloves to give me the opportunity to look away. I wanted to look at him, but didn't want to look at him and my mind was having trouble deciding which one. He was, without question, the most gorgeous man I'd ever seen; but my body didn't produce the usual responses. Instead of appearing friendly, approachable, or even flirty; I'd tensed up and my body had felt like it was on red alert. He was terrifying and beautiful all at the same time. If I was displaying this inner turmoil on my face, he didn't acknowledge it. He smiled at me and introduced me to the rest of the group.

There were five other people here and I was surprised to see that they were all roughly the same age as me. Not, as Bex had predicted, a bunch of retired people. Perhaps all these astronomy shows had made it cool to study the stars now? They'd certainly fired up my enthusiasm for the subject again.

First up, there was Will Randall and his sister, Jane. Both of them were blonde and Jane was giggly, in that way teenage girls are before puberty really hits and they lose the power of multi-syllable speech. Jane was constantly jumping up and down; she hadn't taken Daniel's email advice to wrap up warm seriously enough. I had and I was wearing most of my winter wardrobe under my coat. I hoped the session wouldn't end by going for pizza, as getting behind the wheel of my car had been enough of a struggle, without trying to slide gracefully into a booth in Pizza Hut. There was a big difference in age between Jane and Will. While she was in her early teens I put him at mid-twenties. But Will was another good-looking guy, if a little shabby in appearance. So all the gorgeous guys hung out at Astronomy Club, who knew? I'd been looking in the wrong place all year.

Next was Seth Clearwater, he looked Native American in appearance, perhaps from the Makah or the Quileute populations on the west coast of the peninsula. Bizarrely, even in this biting wind he was dressed only lightly and had hands so warm that I could feel the heat from them through my gloves, when he shook my hand. He excused his constantly chiming cell phone. He and his wife had just announced that they were expecting a baby and he was getting a constant stream of congratulatory messages.

"I'll turn it off when we get started." He said, grinning from ear to ear.

The last couple were a boyfriend and girlfriend in their late teens. I didn't know if they were going to untwine themselves long enough to look down telescopes. The guy introduced them both.

"Hello, I'm Anthony and this is Marie." His voice was smooth, formal and quite seductive which shocked me. He was no older than the kids I taught, perhaps even a senior himself for goodness sake. There was a slight smile on his face, as if he found something amusing. In addition to having a very attractive voice, Anthony was another good looking guy. Where Daniel and Will were blond, Anthony had darker hair.

Where Randall, Jane and Seth were devoid of warm clothes, Anthony and Marie had gotten the message and were as bundled up as I was. Marie kept herself pressed to Anthony and I wondered why they were here, if all they wanted to do was gaze at each other, not at the stars?

Daniel called us all to attention. It was a bit rich me talking about Anthony and Marie like that, because I'd like to turn my telescope firmly on Daniel Mitchell and gaze at him all night. Behind me Anthony snickered and I glanced around. He and Marie were rubbing noses like loved-up Inuits. He caught me looking and grinned. It was just a smile, but it sent a shiver down my spine. I felt suddenly cold and unsettled in a way I couldn't explain. Perhaps I was sickening for something? I pulled off a glove and put my hand to my forehead. No, I didn't feel any warmer than usual, colder perhaps in this wind. Maybe I'd caught a chill? I pulled my glove back on, stamped my feet and wriggled about to get my blood pumping. Daniel made eye contact with me and I froze, like a rabbit caught in headlights. I'd never suffered from lack of confidence around men, but perhaps this was a side-effect from being with Scott for too long. I definitely needed to get out more.

Daniel had my complete attention as he gave his introductory talk. I wasn't really hearing a word he said though; I was gazing at him as if he were the brightest, most beautiful star in the heavens. In the dark of the night he looked like a matinee idol from the days of black and white film, all perfection and sculpted cheekbones. I put him about the same age as Will and myself, mid-twenties, perhaps a little older. His hair was long on top, tapering in to his neck where it was shaved, just above the edge of his scarf. Even in the dark I could tell it was pale blond. Periodically, as the wind whipped it into his eyes, he ran his hand through it to scrape it back. He made even that simple gesture look sexy. Angel, definitely angel. Avenging angel mind you - he didn't look like someone you messed with.

I found myself seeking out the fourth finger of his left hand and thrilled when I found it empty of a ring. Sadly, that meant nothing these days. You couldn't know for sure unless you asked and even then they sometimes told you a lie. I mentally pulled myself up. What was I doing? I was here to learn about astronomy not pick up a guy! Had I forgotten the first rule about this year and it wasn't even the end of October yet? I returned to what he was saying and discovered that he was already half way through his explanation of how the telescope worked and that I was completely lost. I'd have to get him to explain it to me all over again. I bit my lip as a sudden wicked smile threatened to expose my agenda.

"Miss Chambers?"

"Hmm?"

Back in my school room a girl's voice ripped me from my daydream and back into reality. My eyes focussed on the chocolate brown eyes, perfectly clear skin and long bronze curls of Ness Masen, one of my seniors. She was looking at me with some concern.

"Are you OK?" She continued. "You look dazzled."

I hurriedly disengaged my brain from Daniel.

"That's a bad case of bloke if ever I saw one." From behind Ness peeked Jess Taylor. The two friends were inseparable, although opposites in personality and appearance. The shy Ness had hooked herself up with the most acerbic British girl that it was possible to meet. The pair of them, along with Jess's twin brother Dan, myself and Mike Newton had started at Forks High on the same day. Because of that, I'd always taken a particular interest in them.

"I'm fine, thank you." I replied hurriedly. "I was thinking about something."

"What's his name?" Jess grinned at me.

"Oh no," I dismissed her comment with a wave of my hand. "I was dreaming about a vacation next year. I was thinking of Italy."

"Yeah, right." Jess cackled and Ness grinned with amusement. "We'll believe you, millions wouldn't."

I reclaimed the conversation and smiled at Ness. "What can I do for you?"

Ness handed me three papers. "We're heading off at lunchtime for a long weekend; so we wanted to hand these in before class, because we won't be there."

"Going anywhere nice?"

"Idaho."

"That's a long way to go for a weekend!"

"It's a family thing. A birthday, anniversary or something; it's one of my cousin's family."

Ness had come to live in Forks last year after her parents were killed in an accident, leaving her with no other family. The authorities had managed to track down her cousin, but she'd come to live with the Police Chief Charlie Swan, when it became difficult to live in a tiny house with her cousin, his wife and their baby daughter. Her cousin's family had long left the area, but they cast a long shadow. Even now their name seemed to reverberate around this school like an echo.

"The Cullens?" Ness nodded, she looked nervous. It couldn't be easy fitting into a large family that she barely knew. "And you're all going?" There were three papers here, including one from Dan.

"Yes, I can take along a couple of friends for company."

"Well, you have a good weekend, thanks for these."

I watched the two girls leave. As they reached the door a look passed between them and Jess started giggling. No, she didn't believe me for one minute about Italy. If she could see right through me then I'd have to hide it deeper.

What did I mean 'hide it deeper'? Why was I hiding anything at all? I wasn't supposed to be going near men this year, so why on earth was I allowing this man to have such an effect on me? I placed the papers in the right colour-coded wallet on the desk and unpacked my bag. As I set my things out for the day, images of Daniel's face periodically stunned me. He was beautiful; terribly, terribly beautiful. But somehow; terribly, terribly wrong.