Flames and Starlight
ELEVEN

After a quiet week with no other dangerous events occurring, the RCU campus was back open and students were allowed to come back and resume their classes in the building. Even though things were still tense, it was good to have some normalcy back in their lives.

Laura was glad to be back in the building and be with her friends and professors, but she’d still been nervous, expecting another incident to happen but it never did. In fact, there were no more sightings of the hooded figure, no more red skies, no more shapeshifters falling dead from the sky but of course that didn’t mean it was over but life had to continue.

Laura was finished with her classes for the day and was waiting for Ruben to

finish then they would visit Peter’s and then go home. She smiled when she thought of the last part. She loved how Ruben and Mark’s house felt like home already. She loved spending time with Mark who was the uncle she wished she had and she loved waking up next to Ruben every day. She wished she’d done it sooner.

She sat in the RCU cafeteria at an empty table where she and Ruben agreed to meet. She silently willed him to hurry. She was glad to be doing her classes in the building but was still on edge.

“Hey, Laura.”

She looked up in surprise at the sound of her brother’s voice. Derek was

standing beside her.

“What are you doing here? You graduated last year.”

Derek sat down next to her and grinned. “Can’t I come by and see my little sister? I knew you’d be here.”

They reached over and hugged each other. Despite her relationship with her sister, Laura had always been close to her brother. He was her best friend and the only family member she was close to. He was still living at the family house after his apartment building had burned down and was, unfortunately, dealing with the drama at home. She had felt slightly guilty for leaving when Derek was still living there but he was going to be moving out soon and was so busy with work he was barely home. At least he wasn’t around it too much.

“I wanted to check on you,” he said. “We haven’t talked much lately.”

“Yeah, things have been crazy lately.”

“Definitely. How’s it been living with Ruben?”

“Really good. I’m really happy with him.”

“That’s great.” Derek looked away for a moment before looking back at her. “Are you going to talk to Mom or Alison anytime soon?”

Laura compressed her lips together and looked down. “Not sure.”

“They miss you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“They really do.”

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“No, they genuinely miss you and wish you would talk to them.”

She looked away.

He gently took her hand. “That’s one of their arguments, how they drove you away and it’s why you haven’t spoken to them.”

She didn’t know what to say so she said nothing.

“You should come to family dinner this Saturday.”

“No.” The very idea made her tense.

“I know you’re mad at them, and you have every right to me, but I think it would help if you came.”

“Help what?”

“Help things settle down between Mom and Alison.”

“Things weren’t okay when I was still living there and when I tried to stop the fighting. I don’t see how me being there is going to help anything.”

“Like I said, they fight about you leaving. They blame each other. You being there could ease the tension between them. You could also talk out your differences with them and be on speaking terms with them.”

“Derek, I don’t think I’m ready. I was miserable because of them and it’s going to be a while before I want to talk to them.”

“I understand -”

“I don’t think you do.”

“If not for them, for me, because I want everyone to get along again. Just promise me you’ll at least think about it.”

“Derek. . .”

“All I’m asking you is to think about it. That’s all. Can you do that for me?”

She closed her eyes and threw her head back, groaning. He wasn’t going to let up. “Fine. I’ll think about it.”

He grinned. “Thank you.”

She shook her head at him and wondered how she would try to talk herself out of going. She knew he would keep asking when she was going and she had to come up with a good excuse to skip it.

She sensed someone approaching and looked up and was surprised to see Hannah standing there. She hadn’t seen much of Hannah lately.

“Hi, Laura,” Hannah said softly. “Am I interrupting anything?”

“No, you’re fine. It’s good to see you, Hannah. This is my brother, Derek. Derek, this is Hannah. I met her a couple of weeks ago. She just moved here to the Eternal World.”

Derek stood up and shook Hannah’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Hannah blushed and shook Derek’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Ruben appeared and fist-bumped Derek. They’d been good friends before Laura had started dating Ruben. “Hey, Derek, how’s it going?”

“Good. I was just trying to get your girlfriend to come to the family dinner on Saturday. You should come, too.”

Ruben made a face. She knew he wouldn’t want to go as much as she did. “Maybe.”

Derek didn’t comment on Ruben’s obvious reluctance and instead said, “It was nice meeting you, Hannah. I hope you like living in the Eternal World.” He turned to Laura. “I need to go to work but I’ll catch you later. Please think about what I said. It would mean a lot.”

He walked away and Laura watched him leave. Complex emotions filled her as she thought about what it would be like if she did go to dinner on Saturday.

Ruben put his arm around her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Laura looked over at Hannah, who was sitting there quietly. “Peter was discharged from the hospital yesterday and he’s at his apartment. Ru and I are going to visit him in a sec. Do you want to come with us and talk to him about the visions?”

A small smile passed over Hannah’s face. “Yes.”

They left the campus and took the bus to Peter’s apartment. In the shadows, the dark entity was watching.

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