Beyond the Empyreal Stars

17.

17.

Though Duke's eyes were on his phone, his mind was up in the sky where the Terrian ship was hidden from view. There, he knew, Odette would be, no doubt preparing for the meeting between Earth's leaders and the Worlds Alliance that would take place in just a few hours' time.

But now, sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs behind Clark's house, he was reading and watching all the news feeds on his phone, almost all about the Terrians and other alien races of the Worlds Alliance that would make their big debut on Earth for the first time. Already, major news outlets from all over the world were beginning their broadcast from the Ellipse, which was where the Navigator would be landing once again.

The news feeds went two ways: those who were curious about the Alliance and how Earth would be affected once it was brought into it, and those who suggested using military force to keep the aliens away from the planet. By that time, the entire world had seen Comae's message to the Terrians, but those who opposed the Alliance's help apparently thought Earth could take on Comae by itself. They were definitely wrong.

Duke, as well as his father and the rest of Earth's leaders, knew otherwise. With access to the Alliance's feeds on Comae and the Whispians, they were able to understand more about the alien race, though they didn't share it with the rest of the world just yet. That would come in time, though...and that time was going to be soon enough.

Scrolling through the other news feeds, another topic was of Duke himself, mostly about his recent absence and – even more scrutinized – his relationship with Odette.

It hadn't taken everyone long to know who she was, along with Nova, Bas, and Padric. They dug as much information up about them as they could, which was everything Duke had known before – Padric's friendship with Clark and working at Mugs, Odette, Nova, and Bas arriving just a few months before and going to the same school as the President's youngest two kids, and, even more heavily watched, Duke's relationship with Odette.

They knew before something was going on between the two of them, but luckily Odette really hadn't been watching the speculation like Lizzie had, who they informed Duke. It had been going on practically since they'd become friends. A photo of them going into the Library of Congress became the main focus that first week and many more had surfaced after. Duke hadn't realized they'd been photographed so many times, but then again, he'd been paying more attention to Odette than anyone else around him.

But those photos weren't anything special to him. His mom thought the one someone had managed to get of them dancing at the State Dinner was, getting it printed so she could frame it.

No, it wasn't a professionally shot photo he loved of the two of them. It was the one he kept folded in his wallet, one Padric had candidly taken at a Monday night Mitchell family dinner. He'd given to him randomly the next day without so much as an explanation. Duke had his arm draped across the back of Odette's chair, his head thrown back in laughter, and Odette was looking over at him with a slight smile. He remembered that smile of hers had grown just a moment later before she smacked the back of his head for laughing at an embarrassing story Padric had been telling.

But now, pictures of her in her Paragon uniform were popping up on his screen, along with the speculation as to how she'd gotten so close to the president and his family. They'd finally put two and two together and figured out that something was going on between her and Duke. However, most believed it was some kind of mind control, though Duke knew it was anything but.

No, he was falling in love with her naturally, a friendship growing into something more and a kiss that cemented his ever-growing feelings in place. To him, there would never be someone so special as her.