When Stars Fall(The Last Star trilogy #3)

Amara Aries

“We’re hopeless.” Lewis decided. He naged is head on the table until Anthony grabbed him by his collar and lifted him up.

“We’re getting somewhere,” he said. Lewis put on his glasses with a frown.

“We can’t give up, we have to do this for Lyra.” I said as I approached. The table we had set outside was rusty, covered with a cloth for that reason and piled with books, papers and notes. Our research table was right next to the training area, a few steps away from the bathroom and behind the tent which Anthony, Lewis, Tristan and Nathan had occupied.

“So far, all we know is that each Gemini twin had opposite personalities.” Lewis quoted from memory as if he had those words embedded in his brain. Which we all did thanks to days of reading it over and over, in the hope to decipher it into helpful information.

“Even a fool would know that given that Gemini traits include opposite personalities.” Anthony spat.

“But it doesn’t include a split personality.” I pointed out, speaking as if it were something new and useful.

I sat on one of the wooden chairs and started flipping through one of Lewis’ books while Anthony read notes and studied a file titled: Gemini: Constellation, Stars, Traits, Personalities and More.

Lewis rested his head on his hand while looking over my shoulder to the training area where Raelynn was having a sword fight with Nathan, and she was winning no doubt. Lewis sighed and drooled on our sheets and stared at her. I rolled my eyes and huffed.

“Hey, a guy can dream.” Lewis noted my expression and spoke defensively. Anthony laughed quietly while I balled up the sheets drenched in Lewis’ saliva and threw it at his face. That snapped him back, sort of.

“Eww!” he exclaimed. “What was that for?”

I bit my lip. “For drooling on our notes,” I said. “Here’s some advice: Get your head out of the Stars. We have a war to win and you can worry about Aquarius later.”

“She has a name,” Lewis said defensively.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said apologetically.

“What’s the point of this?” Lewis said and pushed away the books. “We need professional help. We can’t do this with a few science textbooks and by studying Lyra and Lyla’s daily life. That always brings us back to where we started.”

“I don’t care,” I spoke confidently, though I was losing hope myself. “We will find something.”

“You’re delusional.” Lewis decided.

I narrowed my eyes at Lewis and turned to Anthony. “Back me up, Cancer.” I said. But he was busy with his books. I shook the table, that didn’t work. Lewis tossed me the ball of paper with his drool damping one side.

“You know what to do.” he whispered.

I threw the ball at Anthony and he got up so fast that he knocked over his chair.

“Gross.” he threw the ball over his shoulder, eyeing Lewis suspiciously.

“It wasn’t me!” Lewis held up his hands.

Anthony turned to me, “What is it?”

“Our friend here wants to stop research.” I rested my head in both my hands.

“He’s not wrong but we have to at least try.” Anthony muttered.

“See!” I turned to Lewis.

“Yeah, well, some people have nothing better to do than study weird disorders about girls.” Lewis retorted. I thought of a good comeback but Anthony cut me off.

“Yes, and some people have nothing better to do than dream about and drool over girls!”

I clapped my hands for Anthony. Lewis’ mouth fell open and he narrowed his eyes at both of us.

“Get your head out of the Stars.” Lewis muttered to himself as he took one last glance at Raelynn. I looked over my shoulder and I could almost see her blushing and lowering her gaze, curtaining her face with white hair.

“Love is complicated.” I decided. Anthony made a sound deep in his throat, maybe a laugh. Lewis pouted.

We spent hours and hours reading books, Lewis even volunteered to go spy on Lyla to study her changes but I had done that dozens of times and had multiple lists of change in characteristics.

“I’ll be right back.” Lewis announced as he got up.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Anthony grabbed the hood of Lewis’ orange jacket, pulling him back in his seat.

“Isn’t it enough that you stalk Raelynn?” I teased with a smile.

“Yeah, we don’t want you to freak out another girl.” Anthony agreed.

“Seriously?” Lewis looked at him, annoyed. “Come on, guys! I’m not trying to be creepy on purpose.”

“We know,” Anthony grumbled, eyes fixed on the book.

“It’s a built in thing for you, really.” I added with a giggle.

Lewis groaned and left.

“You think we overdid it?” I turned to Anthony.

“He’ll come around.” he shrugged. “We’re sitting close to the training area where Raelynn is and wherever there’s Raelynn-”

“There’s Lewis.” I finished.

Lewis returned after a while, soaked. He took a seat across from me and sniffed.

“Did the tap in the bathroom finally break?” I wondered.

“Or did Raelynn throw you in a puddle for following her around?” Anthony joked.

“No, no.” Lewis said casually. “This-” he pointed to his clothes. “-is sweat.”

Anthony and I wrinkled our noses.

“I don’t want to know.” Anthony shook his head and went back to his book.

“I want to know but I guess you don’t want to talk about it.”

Lewis rested his head on the table and I heard his muffled sobs. A fight had broken out in the training area and I prayed to Aries that Lyla wasn’t the cause of it. Lately, the Stars haven’t really been responding so of course Lyla started it.

“I’m going to take a break.” I said and retreated to the tent. My mind wandered off to Aries, my province and the Constellation it was named after.

I almost cried for Ardin’s Mansion, my home, crafted out of white bricks and red rooftops, with the head of a ram carved out of stone decorating the single tower overlooking the huge green garden. It had all types of flowers, mostly lotus and I insisted we plant Stargazer Lilies, the national flower of Stellaregno but it’s main place of growth was Virgus. We have an area for sheep, especially ram, the symbol of Aries. In Aries we breed the sheep and care for it but we’re not permitted to harm or slaughter it. We are ordered to sacrifice it but those traditions are only applied to the citizens if Aries and obviously the blood successors of the Constellation.

I pictured the army Dad would send after me if he didn’t already have to use his soldiers and weapons on the war. He didn’t become leader of Aries since Mom’s brother took over after she went to medical school and got married to an army officer, Dad. My brother could be the heir but our cousins are enough and besides he has no interest except games and sports. We were both raised in Hydrus and lived there until a few months ago when I finished high school. My brother had just finished college and had no idea what to do with his life, always doing mischief and making a mess on our side of Ardin’s Mansion, he’s lucky that half the family or even the entire province doesn’t pressure him to become a doctor like his mother, unlike me. I was perfectly fine in Aries until that old man showed up and begged Dad to let me go to Crimsyn State, he locked me up in my room for days and when he finally let me out, I was sent to Hydrus to study. Mom wanted me to join her old school in Aries but Dad insisted that I leave. Great thinking Dad, send me away since there are more chances of not joining a rebellion if I’m on my own and free to do what I want.

He would be furious with me, and Mom too. I just prayed that the news hadn’t given Mom or Grandma a stroke but then again we do have a doctor in the house. Here I have Belle and Lyra to worry about. One had been forced into marriage and the other had lost her sanity. Just thinking about the fact that Belle was half Hydra was so absurd and hard to stomach.

Tristan had not come out of the boys’ quarters in Crimsyn State after Alfred broke the news. He said that he communicated to the Star Spirit of Virgo and she told him that Belle had been married to Alec. Though it was expected, none of us took the news well. Anthony, Lewis and Nathan mostly helped Tristan get out of his funk. After demolishing the training area and her family’s compartment in Crimsyn State, Phoenix cried in anger and burned with rage until we set up camp near Hydrus and she was hyped by the sound of gunfire and bombs detonating in the distance. Raelynn was mostly aloof and after Belle left she was even more quiet, one day I had heard her muffled sobs in the bathroom. Alfred decided that it was time to leave Crimsyn State, he got approval from Hellen and the next day we were out. I had to knock some sense into Tristan, when he realized we’re one step closer to Belle he seemed to beam with joy. Young love...disgusting. I’d rather stay on my couch and play video games for aeons instead. But alas, my two friends have other plans, even though they may not admit it.

“Next time I’m going to dunk your head in the toilet!” Phoenix yelled as she and Lyla entered the room. Raelynn was holding the two away from each other. Lyla was covered in dirt, her milky skin now the color of soil, like Lewis.

“Your lucky it was mud and not poop.” Lyla screamed. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have an arm right now!”

I sighed, “What now?”

“The usual.” Raelynn shrugged. At this point were used to Lyla versus Phoenix matches.

“I thought you didn’t mind getting dirty,” Phoenix spat. “Lyra was the clean freak.”

My head snapped up at her name, I stared worriedly at Raelynn who was just as terrified as me. She pushed away Phoenix but Lyla was already screeching with her nails digging into her scalp. I rushed to her side. We tried to calm her down but she screamed and yelled until Lyra’s voice died out in her head, threatening to come back.

“Don’t mention the opposite to either of the two.” Raelynn quoted. We had discovered that Lyla would hear Lyra’s voice in her head if she was ever mentioned while Lyla was occupying the body, and vice versa. the symptoms included: constant headaches and indecisiveness.

“Huh?” Phoenix knitted her eyebrows. Her black hair was a mess with crimson and scarlet streaks, sweat dripped off her small nose and mud stained her diamond shaped face.

“Don’t speak of Lyra in front of Lyla.” Raelynn whispered.

“And vice versa.” I added. Phoenix narrowed her eyes, blue in the middle and green at the corners.

“You could have mentioned that sooner.” Phoenix said in a loud whisper. Lyla was changing in a corner of the tent, trying to conceal as much skin as she could without making it look embarrassing. But she was blunt unlike Lyra who was subtle and had shame.

“I’m changing in the bathroom,” Phoenix said as she grabbed her clothes, eyed Lyla and stomped out of the tent. Raelynn and I sighed in unison. She bit her lip and played with a strand of scarlet and white hair, her eyes were still bright in the dimly lit tent. The right one, green and purple, the left, turquoise and grey. I restrained myself from staring at them, unlike Lewis who could do that for hours. I had tried to tell Raelynn about Lewis but she had ran off at the mention of his name, out of embarrassment and avoided me ever since. The sky was orange and mostly purple, since there is no Sun and the Stars helped regulate as much time as they could, we relied on the colour of the sky and the Starlight.

Orange and rose gold: early morning, yellow and green: daytime, pale blue and navy: evening, violet, caramel and amber: night. The Constellations tend to get brighter around evening and night, another way to tell the time. We work our clocks according to that. Judging by the sky and Stars, right now it’s evening. The Starlight makes up for sunlight, doing as much as it can, we have to sprinkle stardust on crops and plants to keep them alive. But that was a much bigger trouble during the Early Times, when our ancestors founded Stellaregno and were crowned under each Constellation.

I read by the torch light, Lyla snored next to me and Raelynn smiled in her sleep. Phoenix was mumbling curses and thinking about bloodshed in her dreams, I huffed at her. My phone was right next to me but I only used it to play video games, which I haven’t done in a while since Project Gemini isn’t going anywhere and Anthony has me and Lewis worked to death. There was a slight chance that him and Lewis were still out there and the muffled argument I heard was confirmation. Smirking, I got up and left the tent leaving my overexerted friends.

“What are you guys doing here?” I said groggily.

“Your break is over.” Lewis fumed. I bit my tongue, remembering that I had taken a break two hours ago.

“Sorry.” I shrugged. “Lost track of time while breaking up a fight.”

“Lyla?” Anthony asked. I nodded and he whistled.

“Did you find something?” I turned to Lewis. They were both a mess, Anthony looked better though. Lewis was radiating sweat and his skin could blend in with the caramel and amber sky.

“Yes, actually.” Lewis answered, surprising both of us. Lewis picked up a notepad and read outloud, “Study shows that Project Gemini has taken a new turn-” he flipped to another page. I felt a spark of hope but Anthony was just confused. “-most recent discovery is that...” he paused for effect, then threw the notepad over his shoulder. He marched over to me, grabbed my shoulders and yelled, “We found out that this is hopeless and study shows that we should give up!”

Anthony sighed, “Lewis...”

“How disappointing,” I cut him off. “I actually thought you were on to something.”

“I thought Sagiitarius liked studying and learning and knowledge.” Anthony clicked his tongue.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Lewis held up a hand in defense. “I do like to learn. Which is exactly why I am quitting Project Gemini. Because I’m wasting my brain space on something that’s predictable.”

“Predictable?” I repeated. Anthony shot Lewis a death stare and Lewis laughed nervously. “What do you mean ‘predictable’?”

Lewis scratched the back of his head, “Well...”

“I found something useful,” Anthony continued. “But I’m not sure if it’s true. I need to look into it more.”

“Can’t you at least tell us what it is?”

“Oh, I know!” Lewis raised his hand. Anthony gave him a death stare. Lewis pouted dejectedly.

“No, I can’t,” he answered.

“You told Lewis but you can’t tell me.” I sighed.

“The only reason this one knows-” he pointed at Lewis. “-is because he peaked at my notes.”

“I was bored.” Lewis whined.

“Don’t worry, I doubt he saw the whole thing.”

“Lewis,” I started. “Stop acting like a child.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” he agreed.

I sighed in relief, “Thank you.”

“Because that’s Nathan’s job.” he added and doubled over, laughing. I tried to keep a straight face but I guess a good laugh is what I needed to take my mind off all the bad news. Unfortunately, it only lasted a few seconds.

“I’m going to look into this.” Anthony said, recovering from the awful joke.

“If you need help, you know where to find me.” I said and retreated to the tent.

I started reading and halfway through the book, I heard loud whispering outside our tent. Raelynn flinched in her sleep.

“Amara!” This time he didn’t whisper. Phoenix’s eyes flew open but she dozed off in seconds.

“What is it, Lewis?” I demanded quietly. He hesitated. The implication hit me, “If you interrupted my reading time to ask me if I can help you sneak a look at sleeping Raelynn then you better start running because I am about to knock the life out of you.”

“No, no!” Lewis goraned, irritable. His expression changed, “Though that is a good idea.”

I slapped his arm, “Firstly, that’s creepy. Secondly, I am not helping you get alone time with an innocent girl.”

“Are you implying that I’m not innocent?” Lewis put a hand over his chest dramatically.

“Yes, yes I am.” I snapped and grabbed his ear. “Guilty as charged!”

“Oww!” Lewis yelped. I let him go and he rubbed his ear. “If you meant, guilty for being awesome then yes. I am guilty, guilty as charged.”

I rolled my eyes and huffed. “You’re impossible.”

“You’re realizing this now?” Lewis knitted his eyebrows and smiled.

“No,” I shot back. “I was just baring your stupidity for the past...well...how long has it been?”

“More than I can count.” he yawned.

I counted off on my fingers. I’ve known him since I was five years old. “Eleven and a half years.”

“Wow,” he clapped, stretching the last letters.

“So you can’t really count much, then.” I teased.

“Oh, you girls are so troublesome.” he decided.

“Hey! That’s my word.” I complained, sounding like a toddler.

“I don’t see your name on it.” he said.

“Lewis, you have sixty seconds to tell me the reason of my disturbance.” I crossed my arms.

“Huh?”

“Just tell me why you’re here.” I begged.

“Anthony is calling you,” he said finally. We rushed to our research table.

“I got it!” Anthony snapped his fingers.

“You got what?” I asked. Curiosity burning inside me.

“Please tell me it’s good.” Lewis prayed.

“That’s the thing,” Anthony spoke. “I don’t know if this is good or bad.”

“For the sake of Aries, just tell us what it is.” I begged.

Anthony hesitated, fidgeting with the corner of his book. I couldn’t see him in the dark but he had lit up Cancer to create a spotlight on the table. Bright enough.

I huffed, fists clenched. “Uhhh, Anthony you might want to hurry with your answer.” Lewis said.

“What’s wrong with her?” he noticed the anger and rage displayed in my expression.

“She’s just curious.” Lewis answered, rubbing my back. My breathing fastened and I could hear my heart beating.

“Curiosity kills the ram!” Lewis whispered loudly.

“Oh, I’ll just show you.” Anthony said and motioned for us to come near him. He handed me a notepad with neat, cursive handwriting.

“This is just a rough page.” he coughed. I eyed him enviously.

Lewis snorted, “He calls this rough.”

“I know, right?” I snapped. My expression faded as I read through the paragraph.

“Are you sure?” I looked at him. I put the pad in Lewis’ hands and he read through. I flipped Anthony’s books and other sheets of paper, they all connected.

“It could be true.” Anthony breathed, his breath turning to mist.

“And you’re sure?” Lewis chimed in.

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “I’ll go over it again. I just connected the dots and...I got an answer.”

“But, why does this happen?” I wondered.

“I’ll tell you after you both promise not to tell anyone.” Anthony said strictly. “Especially not Lyra.”

“Anthony,” I snapped my fingers in his round face. “We can’t keep something like this a secret.”

“And we won’t.” he insisted. “Once we’re sure about this, we will consult Hellen and Alfred.”

“Okay.” Lewis sighed. “I swear I won’t tell anyone.” Sagittarius shined in the sky. I repeated the sentence, making Aries glow against the purple and amber sky. I rubbed my chest where my rib felt like someone had tried to dislocate it.

Then he told us.