Cries of the Stars

One Happy Reunion

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My arms are sore

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Sweat is dripping onto the cold and hard marble-floor

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I jump up to my feet and look at the reflection of my bare chest in the mirror, I stare into my dark brown eyes and see nothing but endless nothingness. Someone knocks on the door and I turn around, the door opens and a blond man walks in.

"Is there any news of the lumens yet?" I ask him. He shakes his head and looks at his feet.

"Neither Ofelia nor Carter has reported since two days ago," he begins and I feel a small sting in my heart. "We're still holding on to hope but there's a great chance that they're not coming back."

"Thank you for informing me of the situation Heath," I say.

"No worries"

Before he walks out again he stops and looks me in the eye, "I'm terribly sorry about the lumen, Noha"

I take a shower and put on a black t-shirt and black pants before I leave my chambers and head to the common room. Heath stops me outside, he looks me in the eyes, searching for the right words to say. Panic. I'm sure that Ofelia's and the other's deaths have been confirmed. I remove his hand from my shoulder and open the door.

I stop in mid-step, she's here, sitting in one of the armchairs, one leg over the other, her hands in her lap. Avaline. She looks at me, her eyes are brighter than I remembered, her skin is pailer, her hair longer. She stands up. She's thinner than I remembered, much thinner, I can see the outlines of her ribs under her shirt, I can see the shape of the bones in her fingers. Before I can say anything Ofelia stands up next to her.

"We were followed into the woods," she says, "Avaline and I were on watch when they attacked, they were 15, maybe more, we didn't catch all of them,"

I look at the other faces in the room, I notice that one face is missing, "we lost Carter that night", Ofelia says. I nod, these things happen when you're at war, I try to tell myself, but deep inside my heart is mourning for all of those we've lost, now one more. Esmeralda stands up, "if it wasn't for Avaline we would all be dead," she says.

"And thanks to Avaline, we now know where the hunters will strike next," Ofelia says. I look up at her and say, "how?" Avaline picks up a piece of folded paper from the table and hands it to me, I unfold it with quick fingers and look at the signs and pictures on the map. "We need to give this to Heath," I say, "he's the only expert of signs we have."

I hand the map to Heath when I leave the room, I also tell him to fix a room for Avaline and make her feel at home, he asks me questions but I ignore them. I can't believe that she's here, I'm really in the shits now, aren't I?