〚FEATURED + WATTYS SHORTLIST 2021〛
Someone tried to kill him. Someone nearly succeeded.
A traitor walks among them.
The question is, who?
⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒
"A sky full of stars and he was looking at her."
He was a man with a deep and profound love for the stars...
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THE TABLE SITS IN TENSE SILENCE, AS STELLA SIPS HER TEA.
"This is nice," she comments conversationally- breaking the quietness, "I haven't had a cup of tea in a long while."
"A long while?" Axel says while trying not to make his gawking obvious, "How long is a long while?"
A hundred and seventeen years, Stella thinks, but she only smiles in response with a shrug as she places the tiny teacup down, looking back up at Corban.
"As I asked before," she says, with a curious gleam in her eyes, "How do you suggest we begin?"
There's still an irritated tick in Corban's jaw, but he seems a lot more accepting of the situation. "I can only give you more information once we return to the unit, and you sign a non-disclosure agreement."
"Understandable," Stella nods before lifting a finger to touch the petals of the potted plant's tiny flower. "Pretty flower, isn't it? Beautiful colors, if I say so myself."
Four pairs of puzzled human eyes glance at the potted plant in the center of the table.
"Am I tripping," Bea says finally, with a confused frown as Stella's finger toys with its' petals gently, "or was that flower drooping when we got here?"
They blink at it.
"I'm pretty certain it was," Corban murmurs slowly, looking at its bright, upright petals with a perplexed frown.
"Was it?" Stella's face takes on a concerned look, "Poor thing."
Axel looks at Stella at the corner of his eyes suspiciously.
While it was true that apart from the faint glow she seemed to be emitting there didn't seem to be anything else out of the ordinary- he couldn't help but think it was iffy.
There wasn't any crackling energy traveling down her fingertips, into the plant- neither was there a sudden change in the energy of the air. It didn't seem like there was any zipping life traveling down its spine either.
But he was sure that the plant looked a lot more alive than it did when they had gotten there. He didn't even know if that was possible- but it was bobbing its little head almost unnoticeably, and he could've sworn it was leaning towards her.
Could she be-?
A hand suddenly appearing in front of him, had his attention switching back to the present.
"Here ya go," the waitress winks at him, leaning closer to him in the slightest, "I've left a little extra something on the receipt, just for you."
Axel's blank expression doesn't waver even as he pulls out his wallet and slaps a fifty-dollar bill onto it. "Thank you."
"Oh uh-" the waitress falters, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her ear, "No- No problem."
