Beyond the Empyreal Stars

o5.

o5.

"What are you doing here this early?" Clark asked after he unlocked the front door of the coffee shop. "You do realize it's five in the morning, right?"

Duke shrugged as he headed in from the chilly morning air. "Couldn't sleep much. Plus, it's Monday and I've got a chemistry test...which I'm totally going to fail, so I thought I'd come and study some before I head to school."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Clark laughed. "You always say that before any test. The teachers like you too much to give you a failing grade. And it doesn't hurt being the president's son either."

Duke rolled his eyes and walked behind the counter after tossing his backpack on his regular table. Grabbing the biggest cup, he filled it up with coffee and took a breakfast sandwich off the tray Ava had just brought out. She smacked his hand, but let him take it anyway, and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Where's Padric?" Duke asked after taking a bite of the sandwich. "Doesn't he usually open on Mondays?"

Clark was still concentrated on positioning muffins in the bake case. "His sister and her friends start school today, so I gave him the morning off."

Duke nearly spewed his coffee all over the counter. "They're already here? And starting school today?"

"Yeah?" he answered, looking confused. "I thought I told you they got here last Sunday?"

"You haven't said a thing, Clark."

His older brother grinned guiltily. "Well, then...they got here last Sunday. I met them Monday, actually. They seem nice. His sister's quiet, though. Serious. That might just be because she seems like she's thinking about something."

"What do they look like?"

"Pretty much like Padric, minus the blue hair and tats. Blonde, blue eyes, fair skin." He grinned then and gave him a wink. "I think you're really going to like his sister, even if she is quiet. Her friends Nova and Bas seem to be together."

"Yeah...not looking for a girlfriend at the moment."

Clark laughed, shaking his head. "Well...whatever. Aren't you supposed to help them at school today? You told Padric you would."

"Another reason you should have told me they were already here. Maybe we could have met up so I would seem like an idiot today."

"You're an idiot every day, baby bro," he laughed. "But if you really wanted to meet them, they've been in here a few times since they got here. Yesterday being the last time they were."

"But I was here yesterday."

"Yeah, and you left right before they came."

There was no use in arguing with Clark. Not when he'd had a reason in getting up so early. But studying was far from his mind when other things had suddenly occupied it.

"So what are they like?" he asked as they sat down at their regular table. He took a bite of his breakfast sandwich before continuing. "Are they just as weird as Padric was?"

"Even more so," he laughed. "They're so...prim and proper is all I can describe them as. They're very polite. When I first met them, they were quite, but they've gotten used to everything pretty quickly and loosened up some. Well...Nova and Bas have. Odette, Padric's sister, really hasn't opened up. She's always watching and listening or reading something on her iPad. It's like she's trying to learn everything at once, or at least understand more. Who knows, though? Maybe once she gets to know you and Lizzie, maybe even Carson and Maeve, she'll relax some. Making new friends in a new environment can be a little nerve-wracking, so I get it."