Episode 7: Trouble At King5!—Or, the Sailor Scouts, Appearing and Disappearing!
Carmen stuffed the bag with shirts, shoes, snacks, and the last of her allowance. With her phone completely destroyed, she had to print off the map, which she stuffed into the bottom of her bag. She didn't want anyone to see it if they happen to see her on the way out. Her father had already left for work, meaning the house was painfully quiet. On the refrigerator's sticky pad, she left the note. Then she just left.
Invidia moseyed into the throne room of the Moving Palace, arms crossed. Lupido was such a smug piece of solid waste. Peering over, she saw the wide plates of her Lady's eyes glimmering. Why did he have to get all the attention in their communion? Other people were working hard too. She was working hard.
Lady Pandorana sat back. "That one seems to have his own agenda."
"I noticed as well, my lady," said Elpis. Such a suck up. "He didn't seem too upset that his fellow agent had died."
He was right about that. Lupido may have believed he was slick, but anyone could see through his "this is so sad" act.
Lady Pandorana slowly turned her head to Elpis. "I'm not sure how much we can trust him anymore. I believe we may be in need of a backup plan."
Invidia's not-heart leapt when her Lady's attention turned to her. She straightened, saluting. "Invidia, why don't you take position in the city as well? I know you've been searching for a way to prove yourself."
Invidia couldn't believe her luck. Lupido had better watch out—he wouldn't be hogging the spotlight anymore.
"I would be honored, my Lady. I'll get started right away."
Invidia thought they were going about this all wrong, anyways. She had a new strategy for locating those Sailor Soldiers that she was sure would bear fruit.
Rory trod down the street, slowly making her way to school. She was more tired than she usually was, even for a Monday morning; she didn't even attempt a free run. Even with everything that had gone on the previous evening, nothing felt resolved. Maybe we should have gone after that guy after all. It was morbid, but she felt as though she would have felt better if she had actually seen him turn to dust.
Celene padded alongside her. "These attacks are getting more and more sporadic."
"Yeah," said Rory. "I remember when we were getting these things only a couple times a week." Getting an odd look from a passerby, she brought her hand up to her ear. "It seems like it's everyday, now." Rory frowned. "I just wish we knew what they wanted the crystals for. Maybe that would help us anticipate their moves."
It was early enough that birds were singing, but the edges of the sky were still dark blue where the sun hadn't yet reached.
Celene glanced up to her. "The Star Souls are incredibly powerful. If they're seeking them, I would assume they need that power for some reason. To fuel something, or for some spell? It's hard to tell."
Rory turned the corner. "What we really need is to get one of those guys in a captive area. We could take them in for questioning." If only they could get the police involved in this. They didn't exactly have any kind of cell in which to keep a hostage. Or any way to capture them.
Pulling her phone from her pocket, she shot Narma a text.
You heard from Carmen this morning
Nope. Not a word.
I emailed her, but she hasn't responded
Her friend did get hurt. Maybe she'd still at the hospital?
*she's
Stfu
Rory frowned. Maybe. They needed to try and get together soon. They still had a lot to talk about.
She came up on the electronics store. The news was on as she passed; she slowed down to watch. She had a few minutes.
"And we, of course, invite everyone to join in with the Ronald McDonald House charity fundraiser this afternoon, taking place just outside King5 station headquarters. Dozens of vendors have signed up to sell baked goods, crafts, and host games, with all proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House. If you have some time, please stop by to support this great cause. We look forward to hearing from you."
That's nice. Maybe she'd stop by; it would be good to get her mind off of things for a bit. She began walking again.
"In other news, scientists continue to monitor the tumultuous activity in the Trappist-1 star. There are major concerns that the star may be going through a similar shift to the one seen in star HR 8832, whose disappearance has baffled—"
Rory froze.
She slowly turned to look at the image playing on screen through the shop window. There was a red-tinted star, which wasn't especially interesting; it just looked like a star. In the same image, though, there was a macaroni yellow planet, just in-frame.
Covered in red-orange peaks, like spots.
"Celene." Rory stopped, and the orange tabby, who was still going, turned back to look at her. She pointed to the image on the screen. "Look at that."
Celene followed her pointing finger, "Aurora?"
"I think that's it," Rory said. She stared at the planet on screen, even as the image shifted to show different angles of the star. "I think that's my planet."
Her gaze drifted down to the tagline:
SOLAR UNREST IN TRAPPIST-1?
During her bridge class, she managed to convince her teacher to let her go to the computer lab. Yes, she could have waited until she got home, but this felt too big to wait. And a smartphone for research like this? Not ideal. She needed to print this ish out. She needed a dang folder.
Initial searches on Trappist-1 yielded a surprising amount of information. The star system was 39.6 lightyears away from their solar system—Rory didn't really have a concept for how far away that was. It had several earth-sized planets, and, according to all knowledge, no moons anywhere.
This…was all interesting, and Rory was glad she had discovered where they were getting their powers from, but it wasn't really helpful. It didn't answer most of the questions she had had before about how they were accessing their powers, or what the "Agents" wanted, things like that. It didn't even answer the first question she'd ever asked.
Scientifically speaking, the planet she identified as her own was named "Trappist-1 B," A, she guessed, being the star. It was just like Celene suggested: the planets had not yet been given a name by the scientists there on Earth. She slumped in her computer chair. She'd thought before that if she just knew what her planet was, maybe she would be able to do some of that "remembering" Celene was always talking about, however that worked. But no dice. Maybe the others would remember something.
She needed to talk to Celene about this. Maybe she would be able to tell her more. That morning, they hadn't really gotten the chance to talk about it before she'd had to get on to school.
Rory printed the web pages she had found and logged out of the computer. She really needed to figure some of this out. The last pithos attack had resulted in some major injuries, to several people. They had to be stopped.
"What cha' looking at?"
Rory jumped, before turning around in her chair. There stood Eddie—she hadn't seen the guy in person since the pep rally. She was sure he was busy with the newspaper, given everything that had happened at the school over the past couple weeks. "Oh, hey Eddie." She turned back to the screen, which was now black, but the papers in her hands had some up-front-and-center shots of Trappist-1B. She stuffed them in her backpack, then felt stupid. What was he going to learn just from seeing some science articles? "Just doing some research for my astronomy class. How bout you? Your article raised quite a stir in the school the other day." She grinned, cringing internally. Just don't look to far into that vein, Eddie.
His eyes lit up. "Yeah! It got a lot of attention. I've actually got some bigger companies interested in my article, so that's cool."
Oh. Great. Ha ha. More attention. "That's great!"
He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. Sorry if this seems weird. I just never got to check on you after the attack in the gym. Did you find your friend?"
Rory's tension softened. "Yeah! Yeah, I did. No worries, we both made it out fine."
"That's good." He looked away, out the computer lab, vaguely in the direction she knew the auditorium to be. "Things just keep getting crazier and crazier." His eyebrowed raised, as if he were just remembering something. "Hey, I'm letting people know—there's a fundraiser downtown today, outside King5. It's going to be a lot of fun. The Garfield Times is volunteering. You should stop by."
Huh, Sometimes, Seattle actually felt pretty small. "Yeah, I was actually already planning on going."
Eddie shot her a finger-gun. "Then I suppose I'll see you there."
She laughed, grabbing up her backpack. It was just about time for her next class, so she needed to get going. She winked. "Well, maybe you will."
He grinned. "Cool. See you then!"
Even with everything going on, she couldn't help but be a little excited.
Invidia touched down in the city. Unlike the other Agents, this was her first time being down on Earth—she'd seen things through the monitoring system, the tracking logs, but she couldn't have imagined what it would be like in person. She stood in the middle of the intersection, taking in the busy noise on all sides. The buildings stood enormous all sides, shining with a reflective material. Lights shown from every structure, with screens displaying pictures and videos. Even so, greenery hung from each the highest points in the space. Such a complex environment, for creatures so inherently tainted.
"Hey, move it lady!"
Invidia's attention shot to the space in front of her, where one of the humans sat in one of its arcane vehicles.
"You're blocking the road!"
She hissed at him, stomping off to the street side. She had other places to be, anyways.
Now, to employ her strategy. Observing the space around, she took in images these humans seemed to covet most. There were strange glass bottles with humans in compromising positions, human food glistening in unnatural splendor. It seems they will admire anything. Internally, she seethed. It should be us they are praising. We are the ones transforming the universe into something beautiful, even in all its decay!
Her eyes caught on two similar images—peering back and forth, she discovered it was the same human. The human had large teeth and hair that stood up like some sort of crown. Tune in to Laura Washington, with the King5 Evening Report. (Annual fundraiser, Monday, April 6, outside King5 studio.)
This human—the others seemed to have iconized them. Surely, a human of such renown would be the perfect suspect for a Sailor Soldier.
A human passed her; she grasped their arm. "Hey!"
"Tell me," Invidia narrowed her eyes. "Where can I find this 'Laura Washington?'"
The human's face scrunched. "I don't know what your deal is, Lady, but if you're looking for Laura Washington, I think she's going to be at that fundraiser tonight."
"The 'fundraiser'…is that some sort of…gathering?" She could use context clues.
The man's irritated expression flattened out. "Yeah. Over on 1st street this afternoon."
1st street. She could surely find this place. "Understood." Releasing the man, she marched down the street, ready to find this 'fundraiser.' She could find these Sailor Soldiers without anyone's help, she was sure of it. Then, they would be one step closer to purifying the galaxy.
It was too bad, really, that they couldn't get to this star system sooner. It seemed rife with corruption.
One thing at a time.
I know you're upset. There's more I can tell you, if that would make you feel better!
I just found out something BIG.
No response. Rory had tried contacting Carmen several times throughout the day, but she hadn't had any luck. Either she didn't want to talk to them, or her friend was still on the hospital. Neither was good news. She shot Narma a text.
Anything?
Nothing.
I think we should check on her. I'm probably going to her house after the King5 fundraiser. Are you going?
Nah, I got work.
Rory peered down to the phone's screen, moving aside for the other pedestrians on the sidewalk.
You got a new job? When?
I'm back at the aquarium. I figure I keep running into these things all over the place anyways. The aquarium wasn't even that bad, the bruises are almost gone.
Rory frowned. She knew that first attack had affected Narma more than she wanted to admit. Girl got aggressive when she was upset, and the last two times she had ravaged those pithos.
I mean, hey, I might as well get paid.
Meet you at the crossing after?
Deal.
Rory peered up from her phone, resuming her walk towards 1st avenue. Even though it was getting late, the sky was still bright blue. Weird that a place could look so normal and be filled with monsters and girls with superpowers.
As she moved down the block, she heard the commotion of partiers laughing and chattering. The street outside the news station was laden with balloons and stands where people were selling all sorts of things. Wow, there's a lot of people here. Folks were jammed in along the road like a bunch of crayons in a Crayola box.
It seemed some people had volunteered to perform: a band played up on the little stage as the crowd gathered in. They were playing an imperfect cover of some kind of rock—not Rory's cup of tea, but any kind of music was infectious in a crowd. Looks like a pretty good turnout.
As she neared the event, an operator came up to her, holding a basket. "Admission is free, but we are accepting donations from anyone who attends."
Rory fished in her pocket. "Yeah, hold on." She pulled out a one and deposited it in the basket, and then entered the event.
There were stalls of all kinds, and Rory immediately gravitated towards a baked good stand selling brownies. She peered back at the crowd behind her as she paid for her snack. "It's really gotten crowded out here. I'm surprised there aren't more people in line for the stands."
"Yes," the baker woman pressed the brownie into her hand. "The news team is supposed to be joining the event soon; I think some people are hoping to be on TV."
"Thanks." That made sense. Their local news didn't do stuff like this too often, so she wouldn't be surprised if there were some photo bombers waiting in the wings. Rory pulled open the plastic wrap, taking a bite. Man, she needed to bake at home more often. Cake mixes were only like a dollar, right?
Peering around, she slowly finished off the brownie. She wondered how many of these folks had seen their news clips? It was kind of cool to think that some of these strangers might know who she was (even if they didn't really know,) especially considering how well-known Sailor Moon was. At the same time, it made her kind of nervous. The more people knew about them, the more careful she was going to need to be not to give anything away.
She balled up the plastic, tossing it in a nearby recycling bin. She wondered how Lisa was doing? She would have to check in with her sometime. All of the exposure might tempt her to say something.
"Hey, Rory!"
Rory turned to see a familiar sandy-haired guy running in her direction. "Hey Eddie. How goes it?" How involved was he here, actually? He hadn't really told her much.
"Great." He sounded out of breath. "You know. Just getting some shots." He gave her a thumbs-up. "A good reporter never rests."
She laughed. He really was a goofy guy. She had to admire how passionate he was, even so. Wish I had any idea what I wanted to do with my life. "Yeah, okay." Though, I guess what I do now is fight monsters. Doesn't exactly pay the bills. She couldn't keep working at Clarke's forever. The commotion behind them in the crowd seemed to pick up. Everyone seemed to be coming together. "Any idea what they're so excited about?"
He leaned back against the stall. "Yeah. Some of the reporters are going to be out to speak any minute now." He paused, pulling his camera from the strap around his neck. "This is a pretty good angle, actually. Oop, wait, here they come."
A trio of hosts climbed up onto the make-shift stage, the band giving them the space back. "And a big thank you, to the Polar Shifts." The audience clapped. Rory recognized the woman speaking as the main local news host, Laura Washington. "Thank you all for coming today. We aim to have a lot of fun and, most of all, raise money for an excellent cause. I didn't grow up in the most stable situation, and the Ronald McDonald House was there for me and my family when my sister was in need of medical care, so this cause is one particularly dear to my heart. I hope you enjoy this beautiful evening; we'll be stopping in throughout the event to cover the night's proceedings. But before that, we have a representative from the Ronald McDonald House here to say a few words."
Rory clapped. It was good to see so many people getting together just to help out other people. It almost distracted her from the fact that one of her fellow Soldiers had yet to answer any of their texts.
Almost.
Maybe, if she was being honest with herself, she was feeling a little bit guilty. her stomach twisting in on itself. That was silly, she knew; she hadn't asked for these powers, hadn't given them to Carmen. Even so, she wished she could apologize for Carmen's friend's injury. She wished she could have stayed around to help.
She just needed to put it aside for now—she would talk to Carmen later, with Narma, and they would try to make some of this better.
Invidia lurked in the backroom of the station. It had taken her forever to locate this place; all of these human structures looked the same to her. They were all nothing compared to the Moving Palace.
From her dark spot in the corner, she waited for her target to come back into the building. It seemed like every human alive had congregated outside. What was so great out there? She needed to get work done.
She listened. Some time had passed—she watched the human time-telling device turn from 5 to 6—but still, she could be patient. Eventually, her patience was rewarded, and the loud clambering of something came from the front of the studio. "Ow, dammit," she heard the exclamation.
Creeping forward from her dark spot, she was thrilled to see her target walking into the room, lit on one side by the light from the screens behind. Perfect.
Waiting a moment to make sure no other humans were behind her, Invidia crept up close enough to get the human's attention. "You."
The woman turned, the click-clack of her heeled shoe missing a beat. "Excuse me?'
She didn't get to speak further before Invidia shoved her hand into the woman's chest, the appendage leaking smoke. A star soul would be resistant to the summoning; this will be my definitive proof. "Appear, now! Show me your corruption!"
A burst of black wisps erupted from the origin point of her soul. Invidia scowled, defeated—this was not a star soul. The purple-black smoke writhed, twisting up to overtake the woman's head. The shape elongated into the air like a long coil, a second head emerging at the end.
Invidia yanked her hand back out, flicking the wisps away. "Disappointing."
"—Laura? Are you—oh my god!" Invidia's eyes shot to the two suited humans who had entered the room. Blast. She had to make herself a path. '
Extending her hand out, the two humans seized, falling as the corruption took hold in their chest. The same serpentine growths engulfed their heads. Time to get out of here.
The crowd clapped as the most recent band left the stage. Down at the end of the street, someone in a Ronald Mcdonald costume was handing out balloons to kids.
Eddie turned to her. "After all the bad press moving through this city, it'll be nice for the people to get something nice like this in their news feed."
Rory scratched her shoulder, where the bandage from the first Agent's stabbing was finally becoming unnecessary. "Yeah, no kidding." She eyed his camera. "You getting a lot of good footage?"
His faced brightened, peering down at the screen. "Oh, yeah. I'm planning to upload it to the paper's webpage, for anyone who couldn't make it."
Jeez, I didn't know they had a webpage, either. They need better advertising.
Eddie fiddled with some sort of setting on the lens. "Honestly, I should probably get out there—try and get some more varied shots." He squinted his eye, pulling out $2.00. "But before that…I bet I could beat you at the bean bag toss."
She narrowed her eyes. You're dealing with a superhero here, bub. "Oh, you're on."
Eddie grinned.
There was a scream, a little ways off. Eddie stopped smiling. "What was that?"
Rory tensed, hand moving down to the scepter in her pocket. Guess we spoke too soon.
They emerged from the news building. They looked like people from shoulders down, but above that a gruesome snake grew out of where their heads should be. Their bodies were as thick as a human neck, their wide heads bobbing several feet above the bodies they inhabited. What the heck?
"Holy crap!" Eddie backed away, but held onto his camera. "I've got to get a better shot of this!"
Rory eyed him, before scanning the crowd. Dang it, Eddie.
The crowd was charging away from the event at what probably would have been top speed, but they were so clumped in together that they weren't really getting anywhere. Rory was quickly squished into the fleeing mass. I have to find a way out. But where can I go?
"Out of the way!" One person cried, pushing through the mass of other bodies towards the exit, the only way out of the other end of the street.
Eddie was being swept away, carried by the horrified mosh in the other direction. Nearby, Rory could see the snake pithos lashing out into the crowd. She…couldn't see the effects of their attack; she almost didn't want to. They moved through the sea of the crowd, coming closer and closer.
Behind all of them, the news station stood abandoned. Maybe if I could get in there—her heart pounded as the shadow of the beast had moved over the crowd like a target. If she stayed still, she would be a sitting duck. She knew how those things got when they were near a star soul.
Pushing more forcefully through the crowd, Rory ducked as the creature's neck swung over head. She shoved her shoulder into the hip of anyone who was in the way and managed to work her way through the crowd.
Another shadow passed nearby and, gritting her teeth, Rory managed to maneuver past it. With a whoosh of free air, she fell out into the open space and crouched again, crab walking along the news station steps.
She could hear a gradually loudening hissing as she finally made it through the front door. The screaming of the crowd was immediately muffled, and she hurried into the darkened space, looking for the first secluded space so she could transform.
"Star soul detected," the woman's gravelly voice came from across the room.
Rory froze. Slowly turning, she saw the familiar suit jacket of one Laura Washington, the woman's head totally subsumed by snake body.
Oh no. The creature stared her down, the limp body of the reporter almost dangling from the new appendage. Rory didn't move. What's the chance that this thing is motion detecting and it won't see me if I stand still?
The pithos struck out. She shrieked, diving to the side to avoid its enormous shadowy jaw. What would happen if you got bitten by one of those things? She really didn't want to find out.
Not to mention that she was still decked in her civilian clothes. She couldn't do jack like this. She needed an opportunity to transform. If the light didn't blind this thing, like it sometimes did with the others, she would be serving herself up on a platter.
The creature struck again. It was like the reporter wasn't even walking; her body just jolted forward as the creature struck out. Freaky.
Rory spotted what looked like a movie star's dressing room. Maybe this was where the reporting staff got ready for their takes? Regardless, it was somewhere to go. Booking it for the room, she slipped along the tile, falling into the room as she slammed it behind her with her foot. She heard the pithos smack into it, and held her breath, expecting it to bust in any second. But it just kept slamming.
These guys must not have super good motor control. It explained why this one hadn't joined her other companions outside in assaulting the crowd. They must have followed someone out.
Breathing hard, she saw her opportunity—she pulled the Beta scepter from her pocket, lifting it to the air. "Crystal Power Beta, Make-up!"
She felt the uniform close around her.
Sailor Beta opened her eyes, examining the door.
The pithos couldn't open it. If she opened it straight out, though, it was absolutely going to bite her. She spied some thread on the countertop—someone's jacket must have ripped—and a heavy-duty trashcan in the corner.
She could get creative.
Carefully, she tied the string around the door's handle, and she stepped back, pulling the liner out of the can and placing the bin over her arm. Worse come to worse, it's going to have a hard time getting to me. She stepped back to the corner of the room, ducked down, and pulled the string.
The door opened.
The snake barreled in. It was immediately smacked in the face by a big metal trashcan. Beta darted back out into the studio, knowing she needed room.
Disoriented, the snake followed. Beta held her scepter out, seeing her chance. "Dire Stellar Gust!"
The wind swept into the pithos, the shards assaulting the limp host as the serpent closed its eyes. The wind died and it opened its eyes, hissing.
Beta's eyes widened.
It struck. She dove behind one of the studio's small partitions. Why hadn't it worked? Was it like the lion pithos, and it was resistant? There was nobody else here!
She saw the shadow looming and she jumped back, onto the desk near the front. It approached, and she watched the shadows shift in its coil. Of course!
From the top of the desk, she pointed the scepter again with both hands, but higher this time, at the snake's self-propelling head. "Dire Stellar Gust!
This time, the snake hissed, but the wind chipped away at the solid mass as if it were losing scales. It evaporated, Laura Washington slumping to the ground.
"What—" Laura squinted her eyes, as though her head ached. Whoops, probably my bad. Rory was pretty surprised the woman was still conscious. "What happened?"
The reporter opened her eyes and immediately gasped.
"Don't worry," Beta said, holding a hand out. "Someone will be in to help you in a few minutes. There are more outside." No time to be courteous, Beta left out the door and re-entered the crowded street, wondering how long it would take her to catch up to them.
Not long, because apparently one of the snakey guys had pulled the old "I'm gonna' trap you" maneuver, and herded the crowd into the space just outside the studio.
Beta ran out into the street, the creatures not noticing her right away, still distracted by the crowd. "Hey!" She shouted out to them. "Big, dark, and scaly!"
The pithos stopped moving, then abruptly swiveled in her direction. "Star soul detected," it hissed.
"No dip," Beta shot back.
The crowd yelped, shuddering as the snakes abandoned them to their new target. Beta shifted on her feet, getting ready. Good; they're moving away from the civilians. "That's right—come at me."
The serpents jolted towards her in their unnatural lurch, and she leapt back. She heard exclamations from the crowd, and tried to ignore them. She'd never been made such an obvious spectacle before. Regardless, she needed to get somewhere the pithos couldn't reach her easily.
Quickly she scanned the space. She spied a fence outside of the news building. If they wanted to get to her there, they'd have to skewer themselves. She ran for the gate.
In the background, she heard a Midwestern drone began over the crowd. "This is Alice Tan with King5 news, here at the annual King5 fundraiser, where visitors stand in shock and awe as, at this very moment, monsters have invaded the event—only to be driven away by a woman in uniform—"
Beta gritted her teeth, leaping behind the fence before the pithos clanged against it. Their heads were too large to fit through the bars, and they couldn't open the gate. "Eat this!" She fired a Dire Gust out through the bars, the shard's metal scrape making a horrible grinding noise. The pithos screeched, the attack smacking both of them in the face, where they began to disintegrate.
Whoa. Either the attack had gotten stronger, or their heads were more of a weak point than she had realized.
The bodies of the newscasters collapsed to the pavement. As she turned back around, clapping erupted. Beta froze, turning to the crowd as she moved from behind the fence.
She had the crowd's full attention. In the background, the broadcasting newscaster was still speaking: "—some sort of magical attack, apparently freeing the newscast which had been somehow affected. This is unprecedented. A medic is being called as we speak—"
She couldn't really blame them. She probably would have reacted the same way if she had seen someone perform real magic a few months ago. Still, she had no idea what to do.
Calm down, she told herself. You don't look like you. But then she just wondered who was speaking, inside her mind.
"What's your name?" someone yelled from the crowd. But…she had nothing to tell them.
Her planet had never been named.
At a loss, she said, "I don't have one."
Turning, she fled, free running up onto the top of the building just as the ambulance sirens began to ring out over the crowd.
She didn't go far. At least, from the ground, anyone from the event wouldn't be able to see her, so she just found a nearby rooftop. She needed a few moments to breathe. She hadn't imagined being in front of a crowd like that would be so nerve-wracking.
Not to mention those new pithos. She had never seen ones that looked like snakes before. Did that mean there was someone else controlling them? That seemed to be the theme, from what she had seen so far. And what about those wolf pithos from before? She hadn't seen them since.
They may not have been very difficult to defeat, but those snake pithos were the most disturbing of all the ones she'd fought by far. It actually looked like the parasite it was. The others had been able to feign being a normal human, back at the aquarium. What was the difference?
Rory sighed—it was a lot to think about. And it just added one more thing onto the list of things she needed to explain once she saw the others again.
She had told Epsilon—no, Narma, what the heck? That she would probably be leaving the event at around 7. Judging by what the clocks had said inside the studio, she probably had a few more minutes before she needed to go meet her. She peered out over the cityscape. Man. Seattle was such a pretty city, but was it ever gonna be peaceful again?
She heard a clamber beside her, and she stood. Was there a pithos she'd missed? She hovered her hand over the scepter in her waist-sash, ready to fire off another gust.
But then she was treated to the particularly de-ja-vu-y sight of Eddie, clambering over the roof's edge where the fire escape began. Eddie? How did you follow me here?
"Excuse me," he said, sounding out of breath. "Ms. Superhero. I was hoping I could speak to you for a few minutes."
Beta had to admire his persistence. Guy was really gonna get to the bottom of this whole superhero thing, huh? She straightened. Still, somehow, she couldn't find it in her heart to shoot him down. "What did you need?
He settled his footing, now fully on the roof. "I was honestly just hoping to meet you! A lot of people are trying to act like you don't exist, but I knew I had seen something that day."
Beta narrowed her eyes. "Do you…remember? What happened that day?"
Eddie shifted, rubbing his hands together. "I…I guess I do now. I was like one of those reporters back there, right? One of those monsters…was it controlling me?"
So he did remember. That was certainly a little different from the account he'd written in the paper.
Then again, she couldn't mention the paper, or he would know they went to the same school. "Yes," she said. "I think you were the first one in this city."
Eddie frowned. "What are they? Why are they here?"
Beta kept her distance. She wanted to stay close to the roof's opposite edge just in case she should need to flee. "I can't answer that. Not because I don't want to, we're…still trying to figure that out."
"So you don't know." Eddie peered away from the roof top. This interview was probably not going the way he hoped. "Well…what can you tell me about you?"
Beta smiled. Of course, he would just go for it. "Now that, I just can't tell you."
"But you're like Sailor Moon, right?"
Would could it hurt to share that much? Not like the guy knew any more than she did. They'd both probably seen the same videos from Japan. "Yes. We are Sailor Soldiers."
Eddie gave a fist pump. "Yes! I knew it!"
Rory eyed him. "What I can tell you, I guess, is that those things are dangerous, but we're working to get rid of them. People should know at least that much. You got it?"
Eddie saluted her. "Yes ma'am!"
Whoa, weird. Though, she guessed he was technically correct? What was the etiquette for addressing space soldiers versus earth soldiers? Didn't really matter, even so. She was just beginning to learn this stuff. She saluted back, satisfied with what she had given him. That should give him something special for his next article. She turned to leave, positioning herself to leapt to the next rooftop.
"Wait!"
Beta paused, glancing back to him.
Eddie stared across the rooftop with hopeful eyes. "Will I see you again?"
Rory had often been accused of being soft-hearted. Her lip twitched upward. "Maybe we'll run into one another again sometime."
She took off.
Once she had found a place to turn back, she climbed down and walked the rest of the way to the crossing of Easton and Pike, between the news station and the aquarium where Rory had routinely met with Narma after work. She wondered where Celene was—she hadn't seen her during the attack. Maybe it was too far away from her house. It was a long walk.
Narma walked up after a few minutes of waiting. "Hey. I heard people saying something happened at the fundraiser. What's going on?"
"More pithos," Rory sighed. "They weren't like any of the ones we've seen before. Big ugly things that looked like snakes. It was a mess."
Narma stuffed her hands in her pockets, looking unnerved. "These things just keep coming out of the woodwork. You should have called me; I would have found an excuse to leave early."
Rory shook her head, pulling out her phone. "Nah, there was no time. It happened really fast." She pulled up Mapquest. "Were you able to get Carmen's address?"
"Yeah," Narma sidled up beside her, pulling a scrap of paper out of her pocket. "I told the nurse I had a headache, and found her contacts in the computer while she was getting me in icepack."
"Incredible," Rory joked. Peering at the paper, she plugged the address in, and began walking in the direction it pointed them in. "Hey, I found something big today."
"Yeah?"
Rory eyed her. "I think I know what our planets are."
Narma stopped walking. "You're shitting me. How?"
Rory licked her lips. Was there a way to explain this without sounding weird? "Do you ever…have dreams? Like, about another universe?"
Narma leaned in. "No! Why, do you?" She jerked her head back when Rory nodded. "And you're just sharing with the class now?"
Rory shrugged, continuing to walk. "Girl, I didn't know it meant anything! I thought I was just having weird dreams because of everything that's been happening lately." She thought back to the news broadcast. "But then, this morning, I saw the planet I've been dreaming about on a live broadcast in the news. It's in a star system called Trappist-1."
Narma held her arms out like are you serious? She sighed. "Well, shit."
Rory grimaced. "They don't have names."
Narma laughed. "Of course not."
They turned the corner.
Narma put a hand to her chin. "You know, I think that even sounds familiar. They've been talking about it in the news a lot. The star has been doing some crazy stuff. They don't know what's wrong with it."
Actually, now that Narma mentioned it, that had been what the broadcast had been about, hadn't it? She'd been so focused on identifying the planet that she hadn't paid attention to that particular news piece. Dang. Should have looked it up.
Rory bit her lip, having to stop herself from reaching into her pocket to make sure the scepter was there. "That's got to have something to do with it, right? This star gets in the news, and suddenly we're getting a bunch of powers? That can't be a coincidence."
Narma pointed out the house a ways off. It was huge and impeccably white, hedges on all sides and a large security camera catching their motion from the porch, turning to look at them. "It is weird. We should probably ask your cat."
Rory gave her a look. "She's not my cat." She's more like a space cat spirit guide.
They moved up the walkway, ringing the doorbell when they reached the mat. Rory couldn't help but feel out of place, and honestly a little embarrassed by how different this was from her own neighborhood. She'd never even been to a friend's house that was this nice. Her eyes fell to her vintage Goodwill jacket and her worn-in Walmart jeans. She felt underdressed.
No reason to be so fancy all the time, anyways. After a point, it just got extra. At least Carmen wasn't as pretentious as this house was.
…she needed to stop being so judgmental.
There was the sound of footsteps, then the door opened.
It was Carmen's father, not wearing the suit anymore, but a white button-up and black slacks. There were bags under his eyes. "Yes? Can I help you?"
Narma spoke up. "Yes, sir. We're friends of Carmen. She'd didn't come to school today, and we wanted to make sure she was okay. Is she here right now?"
Mr. Rodriguez frowned. "I see. Well, I'm afraid you've missed her. Actually, I would appreciate it if you could check on her. Here. Step inside for a moment. "
The morning was dark, the starlight pinpoints off in the distance.
It had turned out that the main reason Celene had not come rushing to the attack was that she was trapped in Rory's room. Rory hadn't seen her at the window when she'd gone home from school before heading to the fundraiser, and so she'd assumed she wasn't there. In reality, Celene had slipped in behind her and had gone for a nap under her bed, sleeping through Rory leaving again.
She felt bad for locking her in, even though it wasn't really her fault. It seemed to make Celene really anxious when she couldn't be there for a fight. Out on the porch, she stroked Celene's fur, drinking her tea. "Did you want to come with us? I know Narma wants to talk to you. I need to ask you some things too, once we're all together again."
Celene idly whipped her tail, peering sleepily out into the yard. "If you don't think I would slow you down."
She scratched between her ears. "You're a fast cat. You'll be fine."
She emptied out her backpack. Inside, she put a change of clothes, some snacks, her phone, and the scepter, just in case. She placed the books under her bed, where they wouldn't be seen.
"Meet me out front," she told Celene. "Don't let my mom see you."
As morning rose and the sun was just peaking. Rory grabbed some toast and headed for the door.
"A little late for you, isn't it?"
Her mama was standing in the hall in her night robe. Her eyes were still squinted with sleepiness.
"Yeah, I think I'm taking the bus today," Rory made up on the fly. Though, not untrue. "I'm feeling a little sore today."
Her mama frowned. "Well, I could drive you."
Her heart thumped. "No, no, I'm sure I'll be fine."
Mama blinked slowly, a coffee mug steaming in her hand.
"By the way," Rory said, "there's an after school event today, so I might be a little late coming home."
"…okay." Her mama apparently bought it, turning back to the hall. "Have a good day."
Time to go.
She left the house, crouching to let Celene jump into her backpack. She walked to the bus stop, standing with Narma as they waited for their ride.
"You get everything you need?" Rory adjusted her strap. Subtly, she opened her bag and let Narma see Celene blink from within.
"Yeah, Hey, here it comes," Narma gestured to the city bus rolling up to the line.
"This afternoon, I found a note from her saying she's gone to our cabin in the mountains," Carmen's father told them, exhaustion in his brow. "She's no longer in the city."