Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Chapter Five

After I finished memorizing the Beguiling rules Dame Alina had sent me, I got ready for star mapping. Grabbing three pairs of thick gloves and a map of the stars just in case, I told my parents I was going to go do homework with Biana and left. Sophie had told me to leap to her house because Dex had a special place in mind for the three of us to go to. Havenfield, Sophie's guardians' estate, was beautiful, and I loved spending time there. Animals were a passion of mine, and there were plenty of them at Havenfield. I always stopped to say hello to my favorite, Verdi the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

"Hey, girl," I told her as I petted her neon green feathers through the enclosure. Animals always trusted me, for whatever reason. Verdi had never tried to hurt me.

"Verdi really likes you, doesn't she?" The sound of Grady, one of Sophie's guardians, made me jump. He chuckled.

"Sorry, I thought you'd seen me. Are you here to see Sophie? It's a little late," Grady observed. I stepped away from Verdi's pen.

"Sophie, Dex, and I are going to do our Universe homework together tonight. The assignment has to do with stars, so..." I indicated the beautiful, glowing night sky.

"Ah," Grady said, handing Verdi a treat. "Well, Sophie's inside."

"Thank you," I told him before giving Verdi one last pat and walking off to the Ruewen's front door. Edaline, Grady's wife, opened the door with a beautiful smile on her face. I really liked her, she was always very kind to me.

"Hello, Cassia. Sophie's almost ready," Edaline told me. I heard a loud crashing from inside, and a few seconds later Sophie appeared at the door, looking slightly disheveled. Edaline fixed her hair and jacket, looking concerned.

"I fell down the stairs," Sophie said matter-of-factly in way of explanation. "Look, there's Dex. We'll be back soon, Edaline!" So the two of us went to join Dex, Edaline waving goodbye to us from the doorway. Dex was carrying a small stellarscope.

"So, where are we going?" I asked him.

"Moonglade," he told me. "Lots of people go to Siren's Rock, but the view of the stars isn't as good there." I usually just did it with Keefe's help somewhere on the Candleshade grounds.

"Cool," Sophie said. "So, if everyone's ready, let's go!" Sophie and I each grabbed onto Dex and light leaped away. Light leaping was an Elvin talent we could all do, every molecule in our body latching onto a beam of light to transport us somewhere. Kids had to wear gadgets called Nexuses to keep all of their cells together until their concentration was strong enough to leap on their own. I'd already gotten my Nexus off-the youngest elf to do so.

Moonglade was beautiful, an enormous meadow filled with flickering fireflies and the bright light of the stars. Dex set up the stellarscope, and I handed the two of them the thick pairs of gloves I had brought.

"What are these for?" Sophie asked. Dex looked perplexed too.

"Proper starlight-bottling procedure. It protects your hands from being burned," I explained, wondering how they didn't know that. Dex shrugged.

"Okay, let's do mine first." The assignment was a special one. Each prodigy received a list, and each list had six stars that fit some sort of pattern. Every prodigy was supposed to bottle a sample of starlight from each star with a stellarscope, figure out what the pattern was, and select a seventh star that fit with the others. Dex read his list.

"Amaranthis, Rubini, Orroro, Azulejo, Cobretola, and Indigeen." The three of us quickly captured the starlight and figured out the pattern: the colors of the rainbow. Soon, green light from Zelenie was collected as well. It was my turn. Starlight in shades of beige, taupe, ivory, tan, charcoal, and umber lay in front of us.