~London, 1999~
It wasn't a twinkling star.
It was the computer, a screensaver to be exact. That one with a multitude of stars, like hyperspace from Star Wars.
That was how that first night began. Wendy awoke with a start. All was quiet, apart from the distant sound of cars outside. It was a crisp fall night, and her bedroom window was ajar. She sat up in bed. She did not know whether the voice was being carried on the wind outside or from somewhere else.
But no, it couldn't have come from within the flat...could it?
She slowly peeled back her blanket. Her room looked like it usually did. Desk askew with textbooks and paper. Bureau aligned with stuffed animals on the top shelf and a myriad of makeup and cds. Now that she was in high school, Wendy was more concerned with looking pretty and getting the attention of boys than she used to be. Her parents had promised her a proper vanity for her next birthday, although that was still nearly seven months away.
She slid her feet onto the floor, the carpet as cold as the hardwood in the common room. She shivered. It wasn't just the November chill. Something was blowing through the flat, something urgent. A window to somewhere had opened. And it didn't lead to Regent Street.
Wendy made her way down the hall.
John and Michael were still asleep in their room, she could tell from the way the still darkness emanated from their cracked door, indicating neither of them was awake past their bedtime reading or playing Gameboy.
She followed a flickering light toward the living area. Her parents were not home. It was not a school night. She was responsible for every everything: her brothers, the flat. Now that she was fourteen years old, they no longer needed a babysitter. Before, her parents had always hired one. Now it was just her and their not-so-vigilant Saint Bernard who was lying curled up on the throw rug before the computer desk, which cast an unnerving strobe across the room.
"Nano?!" Wendy tried to shake the dog awake as her gaze darted up and down toward the screen. "Ugh, you're hopeless."
She made for the desk, shaking the mouse back and forry to try and clear the starry screensaver, but it was unresponsive.
The voice still came through, seeming to keep the stars in place.
Wendy…
Wendy gasped. Whatever it was, it knew her name. It sounded wispy, boyish...ghastly. Yet, gentle. And at the same time, it seemed to be warning her. Of what, she did not know.
Then, all of a sudden, one star shone brighter than the rest, at the middle of the screen. It was coming closer and closer. Wendy found herself leaning into the monitor, leaning on the nearby computer tower for support. She blinked away the brightness as the object grew bigger and bigger until it blotted put the stars and overtook everything.
And then, it came through the screen.
She started with a yelp as something round and glowing inflated, popping out of digital space like a soap bubble, tumbling into her arms. Instinctually, Wendy caught it.
The screen had gone back to normal, she could tell. But she was more focused on the fragile weight of the object now coddled in her arms.
She moved her hands to hold it gently, lifting it up to her face in the light of the monitor.
It was an egg.