Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Five: Plans

When the Clan Leaders arrived back on Earth, Jayler couldn't stop smiling. A few hours had passed, and he was internally thankful that he had remembered to text his mother before school got out to say that he was going to be hanging out with some friends. Of course, she hadn't objected in the slightest, glad that Jayler had managed to form such a lovely community, so he was more than fine with going back home without suffering any punishments for staying out so late. 

The sun was starting to set, and Jayler cringed as he realized how long they had been on Daragon. It really hadn't felt like too much time had passed, but he had been rather excited, so that likely distorted his view on the world around him. The rest of the Clan Leaders seemed just as shocked as him when they arrived back on the empty football field. Nobody was around, and they were able to walk away from the field without any issues. 

"I want to hang out tonight," Xia suggested as she shut the door behind the rest of the group. "I guess I'm excited about tomorrow. Plus, we can plan what we're going to be doing after we head back to Hyperion if we're all together."

"Any volunteers for a place to stay then?" Luke questioned. "I guess that we could come back to my house... My dad is working late tonight, so it would just be us. I don't think we'd need to worry about him overhearing us, because by the time he's going to be getting back, we'll probably already be asleep."

"That would be lovely," Ocean smiled. "Maybe we could all split up for a while to get our things together and then head over. Thank you for offering, Luke."

Luke beamed at her words before looking to the rest of the team. "Um... What do you all think? Is this okay with you?" he questioned. 

Nods surfaced from Gemini, Lex, and Jayler, prompting Luke to smile once again. "Alright... In that case, I suppose I'll see you all in about an hour or so. If you want to bring some extra money, then we could order pizza and share it while discussing a plan for tomorrow," he told the team. 

"Consider it a plan then!" Lex exclaimed, clapping her hands together excitedly. "I'll see you all then!"

Farewells rang out from the rest of the group as all six of the Clan Leaders went their separate directions. Jayler pulled his phone from his pocket to call for his mom to come and pick him up. She answered quickly and said that she was going to be on her way soon, giving Jayler a moment to gather his bearings and try to put on a mask of regular behavior before she arrived. He didn't want to seem too excited over seemingly nothing and risk making her suspicious. As a whole, Michelle Rose never pried into his affairs too much, but Jayler still thought that it was best to be safe rather than sorry. 

Jayler sat down on a bench outside the school after he had finished the call, cringing when he realized that his upper legs were covered in snow since he had forgotten to clear the space away before taking a seat. Jayler shook his head and thanked the group for coming up with the idea to split up and then regroup. The last thing he would have wanted to deal with was soaking trousers for the rest of their meeting. 

Still, Jayler shut his eyes, and he leaned back against the bench while trying to forget the uncomfortable sensation beneath him. He thought back to all that had happened that day, and he started smiling all over again. He was glad to have finally gotten the chance to go back to the Galaxy of Hyperion after all this time, but he couldn't help but think about what he had missed out on that first day. 

There was still something important that Jayler had to accomplish on the other side. He didn't know how he was going to pull it off, but Jayler simply had to figure out a way to reach out to the Silver Knight. It had been far too long since he was last able to see her in his opinion. Even if not that much time had passed since he was on Hyperion from a technical standpoint, it was still enough to bother him. He had been looking forward to meeting up with her again all this time, and he wasn't about to back down from it since Hyperion was finally within his grasp.