Wish upon the Stars chapter 34

I found Callie sitting in a nearby apartment with the door partly  open. She was sitting on the bed, staring at the floor. It was strange  to see her so...meek. She was usually so in your face about everything. I  knocked on the frame, but she just grunted without looking up. I stood  there for a minute, just waiting for her to speak, before finally  saying. "Well, that was dramatic." She snorted out a laugh at my  understatement, breaking out of her mood a bit.

Heaving  a long sigh, she slid over and patted the bed, and I walked over to sit  down, still waiting for her to respond. She bit her lip. "He's doing  this on purpose you know." I raised an eyebrow, and she must have been  looking at me out of the corner of her eye because she seemed to get the  implied question. "My father. He's doing this on purpose. I made  friends here, so now he's offering you a spot at the capital when I  explicitly told him to fuck off for years because he knows that either I  go with you guys or I have to watch the only people I spend time with  leave."

That  confused me a bit. "You have other friends Callie. People you met on  your undercover ops, the other executives. What makes us going such a  big deal?" She looked up at me, hurt, and I put my hands up defensively.  "Not that I'm going to accept! Just...if I did would it really matter  that much to you?" I felt so...awkward, asking that. Naked. But I really  wanted to hear her response. Even if Callie was WAY out of my league it  was still nice to know she cared, even as a friend.

She  looked at me like I was an idiot. "First of all, you will ABSOLUTELY  accept. I won't have you cripple yourself because you think it'll make  me sad. Second of all, yes, moron. I would care if you left. Not just  you, Jessie too. Hell, Ian is the closest thing to an actual peer I have  here. All the other executives are years older than me. This is the  first time I've had friends my own age. He KNOWS that. He knows I'll  want to stick with you guys and he knows it means I'll be going to the  capital, where he wants me, and I HATE it."

I...didn't  know what to say to that. Tell her not to go? Tell her I wouldn't go?  The first wasn't my place and the second she had already shot down. She  huffed out a laugh. "Annie knew what she was doing too. Because for some  reason she thinks that if she can reach out enough times I'm just going  to get over it. That we'll go back to being best friends and I'll have  some small scale seizure and forget that she only got close to me  because my father asked his fucking mistress to keep an eye on me."

Her  eyes were wet now, not just with sadness, but with anger. "And you know  the worst part? I want to. I want to hug my best friend again, to tell  her all the things she missed. To go to the ice cream place down the  street where she used to take me after patrols to talk about our day.  But I can't. Because she ruined it. All of it. Because every time I look  at her I see my mothers face when HE told her that he was leaving, and  taking his girlfriend and their new baby with him. I see the shame on  her face as she waited outside for him."

She  was crying for real now, actually weeping, albeit silently. "So yeah, I  know she misses me, and she feels bad, and part of me wants to forgive  her, but I just can't find it in me. And now HE's found a way to turn  the first real friends I've made against me. To use you guys as a weapon  to force me to do what he wants, and I'm going to have to see her ALL  the time. Not to mention I have to either leave mom or make her move to  the same place he lives, and I can't do that to her."

I  kind of wanted to comfort her, but I got the feeling this was one of  those conversations where she just needed to vent and I was supposed to  shut up and listen. Her chest was heaving with anger as she kept  talking. "I don't blame you guys, obviously, and I'm always blaming him  for everything anyway so the only real person to direct that anger at is  me for being so fucking gullible that I'm falling for his manipulative  bullshit AGAIN!" I put an arm around her, slowly, not sure if that was  welcome and ready to back off, but after a slight stiffening she leaned  into my shoulder a bit.

I  thought about what to say. About my experience with my own dad, and how  that cold detached manipulation could hurt. My dad was always a frigid  person, all about the letter of your word, even before he disowned me  after I got my ability. I finally settled on something I wanted to say  to myself more than once, and I hoped it would help. "Fuck em'." She  turned to look at me in confusion. "Your dad, Annie, fuck them both. Who  cares what they want? Who cares what anyone wants. You just do what's  right for you. Let him spin his webs or whatever. Ignore his bullshit."

I  was on a roll, and I kept going. "He thinks he can just move you around  like a piece on a chess board, but you're getting stronger all the  time. You'll be F rank soon, then probably E rank within a few years,  and someday you'll pass him up, and all his petty tricks and bullshit  schemes will be useless because you'll be stronger than he is. No one  will remember who Midknight even was, except as a brief note in your  biography. So let him play his power games. He's an old has-been who  barely made it to E rank and you're going to go so much further than  that."

She  gave me a wet, toothy grin. "Ah, the old 'you're way better than him and  he's going to eat your dust' pep talk. A classic, but still very  effective. I give you a C for originality, but an A for passion, and an A  plus for being a good friend." I blushed a bit at the light teasing in  her tone, and looked away, but she reached up to turn my head back  toward her. "By the way, some of that sounded like it might not have  been aimed at just me. No pressure, but if you ever want to talk about  YOUR dad, I'm always here to listen."

I  smiled softly back, staring into those bottomless blue eyes of hers  when I heard a throat clearing from the still open door. We both jumped,  and Callie pulled her hand back like she'd been burned as we scrambled  away from each other, both of us realizing we were sitting on a bed with  her stroking my face and how that probably looked. Jessie gave us a wry  smile, her voice filled with mirth. "I came in here to check on you,  but clearly someone else had it handled, I can go if you want to pick  that back up." She gestured to the door. "Door closed? Open? What?"

Callie  hurled a pillow across the room at the tiny blonde, who ducked it with a  giggle, before standing up to smooth out her black leotard. She glared  at Jessie. "You know, I think I liked you better when we first met, back  when you were all meek and fangirly." Despite her tone and narrowed  eyes though, her lips were quirked up in a small smile. "But we never  asked how do you feel about the offer. It's a big change."

Jessie's  smirk wilted and she frowned a bit, shrugging. "I...I don't know. Alan  would have been so excited for me, and honestly leaving behind this city  where everything reminds me of him might be good for me. I'd miss  Lindsey though." She blushed. "And Maria is still two years younger than  me so it's not like she can go with me, we just started talking more."  She bit her lip. "I'm glad Shadowthorn gave us time to think about this.  I don't want to rush it."

That...was  a good point damn. I'd been so psyched to go I hadn't considered what  I'd be leaving. I was pretty sure I could bring Benny. He was eighteen  and despite the isolation it should be easy for me to just make bringing  him along a stipulation. He was going to be an Ascendant soon anyway,  not that they knew that, and being initiated at the capital branch would  help him get into the academy. Plus I was pretty sure I could give him  points if he wished for them without spending my own permanently, though  it would be slow and really expensive.

I  wasn't actually positive about that, but since being an Ascendant meant  having Impact and I could make him one I should be able to give him  other stats., or at least partial stats like I'd already done. I didn't  think I could do a second point of Impact, since apparently it got  exponentially harder to get those with each point, but I could  definitely help him rank up faster than most. Probably best to make sure  that bringing him was feasible though. "Callie can I bring a friend  with me? Assuming they can leave on their own I mean. Even if he isn't  an Ascendant?"

She  shrugged. "There are a hundred billion people in the capital, not all  of them are Ascendants. It works out to around one percent same as here,  everyone else is mortal. Moving between cities is a pain in the ass  normally because of the information curtain, but up is easier than down  for that exact reason, so yeah, you should be able to bring someone with  you. Just mention it to the guild master." She winced. "Speaking of, I  don't think Ian will be coming along, which is a shame, it would be nice  to keep the team together."

It  would have been nice, but I could see why she thought that. Ian was  Stella's son and we most likely being groomed to take over as the local  guild master. Plus he was too old for the Academy, and it wouldn't be  fair to drag him along. I sighed. "Well. I think I know what I'm doing,  you guys need to make your own choices, but if you decide to come I'll  be glad to have friends with me." I smiled at Callie encouragingly, and  expression she returned. The I clapped my hands and stood up. "In the  meantime I think I could use a bite."

I  held both elbows out to the girls, who rolled their eyes and ignored my  gallant gesture, prompting an offended gasp from my lips as they stood  up to get ready to head out. I assumed they wanted to go to the  cafeteria, but before that could happen I smiled a bit. "Hey Jessie, I  know how much you love ice cream, I heard about this new place nearby  from a friend, want to try it?" Callie's eyes widened and snapped to my  face, and I gave her an encouraging smile. She swallowed hard and gave a  shaky one back.

Jessie,  for her part, either missed the looks, didn't care, or was tactful  enough not to mention it, because she just cheered excitedly. "Of  course! I haven't had ice cream since we went out with Benny and Maria!  Hopefully you're hungrier this time.' She gave me a skeptical look. "For  such a big guy you sure don't eat much." It was hard not to glare at  the bottomless pit in the shape of a girl as we followed her out of the  room, but I think I managed.