Passage 1

Passage 1: When Stars Align

A meteor shower is something that wasn't supposed to impact me. The only way it should have affected me is if it were extra credit.

I locked the scope on the roof of the Hartley Observatory, blowing small puffs of air as I focused. The campus was empty below me at this late hour of two in the morning. Practically everyone sane was in bed. But Professor Chen had offered extra credit for observations of the Draconid meteor showers, and I had flunked the last quiz on stellar evolution.

“Come on, come on,” I whispered to myself, for the hundredth time checking my phone for the indicator for the beginning of the peak viewing period.

The first meteor flashed across the sky like a bit of silver string being drawn through black velvet. Then came another and another. And soon the sky was as if diamonds were being thrown about.

I rummage through pockets for the camera, nearly dropping it in excitement. “This has never happened before. This is light going out into the world.

It was not the glow of meteors, but a light bright enough that it was as if the night had turned to high noon. No, no, this was no ordinary light, and my reaction was to throw my arms out to my sides and shut my eyes, but it was as if this light was piercing my eyelids anyway. First, a wave of heat washed over me, and there was a brief moment where I imagined myself turning to vapor from a stray space rock that had somehow flown under the radar with NASA.

Then, quite suddenly, it was all over.

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, and spots swirled before my vision. I tried to lower my trembling hands. The telescope was lying on the roof. My notes were scattered all over the rooftop. But felt funny. Like I'd stuck my finger in a light socket. But without the pain. And with pleasure.

"What the hell was that?" I whispered.

The sky did not react. The meteor shower went on as if nothing was amiss, with brief flashes of light along the courses of the meteors. But something was different. I could not quite define it, but I felt it, this new sense.

The next twenty minutes crawled by as I hunted for scattered equipment with shaky hands, attempting to reassure myself that I was just being spooked. Perhaps a meteor had burst in the atmosphere much closer to me than it ever had a tendency to do. Perhaps I had just witnessed a wacko display of plasma energy.

“Always a scientific explanation existed.”

It's not until I finally returned to my apartment that the adrenaline kick had worn off, and I was left feeling drained and dazed in its aftermath. I fell asleep in my clothes and was too drained to brush my teeth.

But sleep had come quickly, despite its fitful nature. I had been dreaming of stars and strings, of a pattern of light that was almost meaningful.

But of course, the morning came just a little too early, waking me out of a sound sleep with the annoying alarm on my cellular phone blasting some annoyingly cheerful melody. I hit it until it quit blasting, and then I lay there, confused as to why nothing seemed quite right.

Yes. Then, of course, comes the elusive space flash.

I slowly sat up, wondering if I would feel any changes in myself. But it seemed to be all right. Normal. Perhaps a little hung over from staying up so late, but all right. I flexed my fingers on my hand. No odd tingling sensation. No fabulous powers. Just me, Celeste Monroe, astronomy major and dedicated overthinker.

It lasted only until I managed to stumble into the bathroom and catch a reflection of myself in the mirror.

Reflecting back at me in the mirror was my normal set of brown eyes, a messy black head of hair that clearly needed brushing, and a glowing string erupting out of my chest.

I screamed.

And then I blinked. And it was gone.

“Okay,” I told my reflection, squeezing the sink.

“Okay. You're just tired. You've been worrying about midterms. You're seeing things that aren't there. This is fine. Everything is fine."

Believers definitely wouldn’t recognize my reflection.

I wet my face with a little water, brushed my teeth, and attempted not to think about the radiant yarns. When finished with dressing in clean clothes and retrieving the backpack, I was almost able to fool myself into thinking the events just transpired.

I stepped outside, and everything went askew in my world.

Threads.

Everywhere

Gold strings of light connecting people, like strings in a game of Cat's Cradle. Couple of people walking by had strings connecting them to each other; it was a strong gold string. Couple of friends sitting on a bench talking had strings connecting them to each other, and they were silver strings. These strings were smaller and strong too. Even people I didn’t know had strings connecting them to people around me as well as people very far from me.

I was “frozen in shock on the steps of my apartment building with my mouth open” as the “invisible became visible.” It “took my breath away. It terrified me. It was impossible.”

"No," I whispered. “No, no, no. This isn’t real. This can’t be real.”

“Oh, it’s real, starlight

The voice came from right behind me, and I turned around so quickly that I nearly toppled down the stairs. Reaching out to catch me was a hand, and before me was the prospect of the most gorgeous man I had ever clapped eyes on.

He was a tall man with white-oil-colored hair and eyes whose blue depths shaded into purple in a way that was like an oil slick on water. His clothes were black from head to toe: his jeans and his boots, each item radiating the confidence of someone who had never doubted himself for a day in his life. His smile was his confidence in his own good looks.

In other situations, I might have been.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" I snapped, trying to pull back from the hand that was holding me in place. "And what is it that lets you sneak up on me like that?"

His smile grew wider. "I did not sneak," he said. "You were too busy freaking out over the fact that you have superpowers to notice me," he continued as he leaned an infinitesimal amount of distance closer to me while tilting his head to the side as he sized me up. "Though the bathroom scene was quite entertaining," he teased on.

My face grew warm with embarrassment. “Spying on me? That's creepy. That's very, very creepy. I'm going to call the police.”

"And tell them what, exactly?" he asked, an eyebrow raised. “That weird man is pestering you about the magic strings only you can see?” “I'm sure that will go well,” he said.

I simply could not endure the fact that he was right. And further, I simply could not endure his face.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to be braver than I felt.

He moved closer, and I saw, for the first time, the thread that was trailing out of his chest. The rest all looked vastly different brighter, more solid, and full of colors that I couldn't even begin to name. But all of them were headed in one direction: mine. This one, specifically, was headed directly to me.

Not a chance.

"I want," he said, his voice dropping into a range that was close to gentle, "to welcome you to a world you didn't know existed. I want to tell you what's going on with you. And I want to introduce myself properly."

A hand was placed upon his heart, and a slight bow of the head wasgiven. It was a gesture that was right, yet mocking.  “I am Orion. Astral mage of Sevheart, enth House, guardian of the celestial gates, and as of last night, when you finally awakened, your destined mate.”

I gaped at him. He gaped at me, grinning at his reflection.

“My what?”

“Fated mate. It’s a magical bond, connecting two souls across”

“I understand the words,” I interrupted. “I'm protesting the idea. Fated couples do not exist. Magic does not exist. And you are clearly insane.”

“And yet you can see the threads.”

Shoot. Looks like he got me.

Orion's smile transformed into a meaningful one, and I had the sudden need to remove it from his face. “Why don’t we go there, across the street, and I’ll tell you everything that’s going on? I promise I’m not as annoying as I’ve been acting,” Orion offered, pointing at a coffee shop.

“You look frightfully conceited.”

“Then I promise I’m exactly as insufferable as I seem, but in an adorable way.” He offered his arm as if he were some kind of old-fashioned gentleman. “Come on, starlight. Don’t you want to know why the universe thinks we should be together?”

I considered the radiant thread that united us. And at the   the web of connections, which was a whole world unto itself, a whole world that had been lurking behind my back all these years as well. And at this absurd-looking man with his silver hair, at this magician, if one chose to tell the truth, who was far too pleased with himself for pulling off the impossible.

Every rational thought in my brain was telling me to just walk away. To go to school. To pretend that none of this was happening.

“But I had seen the threads. I had felt the shift. And despite my best efforts, I was curious.”

“Okay,” I responded, ignoring his gesturing arm to walk me across the street on my own. “But you’re paying for the coffee, and if this is some kind of joke, I’m going to turn you in to campus security.”

His laughter echoed back at me, warm and deep. “Deal. But I warn you, once you know the truth, there’s no going back to thinking the world is an ordinary place.” I looked back at him, at this impossible cord between us, at all the other cords and threads I could see with eyes newly opened. “I think we’re beyond ordinary already,” I said, shaking my head. “Good,” Orion continued, falling into step beside me. His infuriating smile was still on his face. “I’ve always thought ‘ordinary’ was a bit dull, myself.”

It was the kind of weirdly quirky coffee shop that college towns were renowned for, with wildly incongruous furniture and artwork on the walls, as well as a blackboard menu scrawled out in difficult, looped lettering. There were just a handful of customers in the coffee shop at nine in the morning.

I had reserved a table in the corner, as far away from any other customers as was possible. Just what this conversation has to do with more talk of magic and fated mates. Well, that’s a conversation that can happen without an audience, if you ask me.

Orion was only a couple of minutes before returning with two cups of coffee. He placed my coffee in front of me and then sat down in the chair opposite me with a container that had what was like cinnamon but was clearly not my coffee.

“Did you know what I would want?” I asked inquisitively.

"It was luck," he said. His smile didn't hint at a belief in luck.

I decided to go ahead and take a sip regardless. Just the right temperature and sweetness. This was very irritating to me, as I was looking forward to complaining about all that was happening in this situation.

“Okay,” I said, putting down my cup. “Explain. Starting from the beginning, since I am roughly two seconds away from realizing I’ve had a complete mental breakdown.”

Orion leaned back in his chair, and the old wooden chair somehow transformed into a throne. “The start. Okay then. What do you know about parallel dimensions?”

"This is already going great."

“Humor me

I sighed. “Theoretically? Oh, yes. There are theories of physics that involve parallel universes, alternate dimensions, or the multiverse. But these have never been proven.”

“This is because your scientists are searching in the wrong places."

Orion continued, tracing the rim of his cup with a finger. “There is another world, a world that exists side by side with yours, overlapping yours in fact. What we call the Astral Realm. This is where the source of magic can be found, where people like myself reside, and where the patterns you recognize now also exist.”

“Being’s like you,” I repeated. “You mean you’re not human.”

"I’m human enough. But I was born in the Astral Realm, raised with magic, and trained in the old ways.″ The way he says it, it’s like he’s moving to a new state. “My people have existed on the same planes as yours for ages. We just figured out a long time ago that it was easier to keep a low profile than to have to contend with the torches and pitchforks.”

Anyway, I was listening. It may be the coffee. It may be the fact that I can see the link between all of the people in the coffee shop and the obvious fact that something impossible was going on. It’s the way that Orion was speaking with me as if it was absolute truth as opposed to attempting to convince me of it.

"Okay," I said slowly. "Fine. Well, let's just say that I believe you about this thing with the parallel dimension. What does it have to do with me, anyway? I'm just an ordinary college kid who just happens to be interested in stars."

‘You were normal,’ Orion went on. ‘Until last night, during the meeting of the Draconid meteor showers with the astral planes. The areas where the planes crossed were thin enough for your soul, being in the right place at the right time, to be overwhelmed by the energy emanating from the astral planes.’ He indicated the place where I was trying not to look the place where the string was extending out from me. ‘It awakened your hidden skills,’ he said. ‘The sight,’ he referred to it. The ability to ‘see the soul threads linking the souls.’

“Latent abilities,” I repeated. “You’re telling me I always had this in me?”

“In theory, at least. There are smatterings of astral power in most humans. But it sometimes takes a little nudge to bring it out, and it will occasionally activate by accident.”

A thoughtful expression crossed his face. "Although such accidental triggering was rare, and very rare, at that."

I should have been intimidated. Or questioning. Or just plain something other than fascinated. But again, I found myself moving in. “What about the strings? The colored ones?”

This realization made Orion’s eyes twinkle with amusement as he realized he had one eager teacher and one reluctant pupil. “These threads symbolize the bindings of souls. Gold threads symbolize binding relationships or ties that exist between lovers who are destined to be and are referred to as true lovers. Silver threads symbolize binding friendships of souls that are referred to as pure and platonic relationships. Red threads symbolize binding ties that exist between family relations, referred to as familial ties. Blue threads symbolize professional ties or mentor ties.”

I thought of the threads I had seen. Threads of gold that held the pair on the street. Threads of silver that held the friends. It actually worked. Kind of.

“Ours?” I asked, immediately repenting my words as soon as they left my lips, as he grinned smugly at me.

"Our bond is amazing. It changes colors; it has many facets; and it is a lot more fascinating than a one-way binding thread. This is the way it is with predestined lovers the universe itself has assigned their souls to each other." His eyes and his face bridged the distance I had tried to put between us in order to make our table seem infinitely small in comparison. "The greatest good fortune in the whole Astral Realm is the discovery of your predestined, your fated partner," he continued. "Some never acquire it in an entire lifetime."

“Which you do.”

““This I've had since birth. I've had the power of seeing our thread all these years, starlight. I just couldn’t find you.””

His features relaxed, and his arrogance became more sincere. “The thread started in your world, but interdimensional travel is not an easy feat. And prior to your awakening, even if I could enter your world, you wouldn’t have been able to see me. Just another person you wouldn’t give a second look at in a crowded room.”

There was a note in his voice that tightened my chest. “Not even. So you've been stalking me in another dimension?”

“Looking,” he corrected. “There's a difference. And now that you're able to see me, see the threads, now everything is different. You can hone your skills. You can go to the Astral Realm. You can “

“Stop. Wait. Stop. This is all a bit much. Yesterday, I was a normal woman concerned with passing my astronomy exams and finishing the laundry that I had wanted to get done. And now, you’re telling me that magic is real, that I have these powers, and that the universe decided to form a connection between me and some guy that I met yesterday, which, quite frankly, is a bit arrogant for his own good."

” ‘Appropriately confident.’ Not ‘confident.’ ‘I prefer ‘appropriately confident.’ ” Orion spoke cautiously, but he wasn’t convinced by his own gaze. “I know this is a lot to take in. But trust me, if there were another way”

“It would have been more straightforward to just refrain from watching me freak out this morning and then surprise me at my front door,” he pointed out.

““. I wasn't ambushing. I was waiting for the right time to introduce myself. It's a difference.””

"Not a very big one."

We glared at each other across the table. The string that connected me to him vibrated with colors I had not yet been able to decode, and I was not grateful for the reminder of it now or of him and the brightness of his stupid silver hair or the intelligence squirming behind his eyes or the caps of his shoulders tightened as if he did not have the aplomb he showed.

"Look," he said finally, his tone not so abrasive. “I mean, I understand. This is just. weird, scary, and then suddenly some stranger appears asking you to accept something that defies all your ideas of how the world works. But the awakening occurred just the same. You possess the gift. And what this means is that whether or not it’s what you want, you’re connected to the Astral Realm.”

I wanted to argue. I wanted to storm out and pretend this conversation never occurred. But he was right. The threads were still there, and they were visible to me. I could sense this buzzing energy that had never been inside me before last night. This golden cord of our connection.

“So what if I don’t want this?” I asked. “The powers, the connection, the whole thing. What if I just want my regular life back?”

There was a moment of silence from Orion. "I don't know if it is possible," he finally said. "The sight, once lit, is not something that will simply go away. And our bond." He gestured to me and himself. "Fated mate bonds are eternal. None of us will be made to fall in love, or something like that. But the fact will be there."

“Perfect. Just perfect. Cosmically connected to a man I’d met only twenty minutes before.”

“Insane,” I muttered into my hands. I buried my face.

“Welcome to my world.”

He was laughing, but it had this softer part to it, too. “Tell me, to be honest, neither had I. And, thus far, it’s not exactly been what I’d envisioned it might, finally finding you. What I’ve always sort of envisioned telling you all these years was, ‘you seem utterly insufferable.”

But I still laughed. I mean, I let out a little hysterical laugh, but it was a laugh nevertheless. "What did you expect?"

“Uh, yeah. Recognition. Wonder. Maybe even swooning,” he said with a joking tone. “Definitely not accusations of creepiness and delusionalness.”

“You should have begun with better stock, then.”

"I'll remember this for the next person's fate in the universe," he said.

I looked up to see him smiling at me, and it wasn’t the patronizing look he’d been giving me before, but something even better than that, something real. And, all right, all right, perhaps he hadn’t been entirely annoying to be around. Perhaps he even had charm, in a supremely annoying way.

"So what happens now?" I asked.

“Now, you have a choice. You can choose to ignore all this and hope it blows over, although I have to warn you that usually doesn't go so well. ”Or” He stopped speaking and let me watch him. “Or I can help teach you. Teach you what your powers are and how to control them. And if you're feeling particularly adventurous, maybe I could take you to the Astral Realm. Let you see whence I come.”

“That sounds ominously like you’re inviting me on a date.”’

"Date would be dinner and a movie. I am offering you an entire other world and magic training. Something vastly different."

"Uh

He grinned with mischief. “But if it’s what you want to put on it, I’m not opposed. I’ve been searching for you for a very long time, starlight. Just because it involves danger doesn’t mean I’m not interested in combining the two.”

The nickname had better have irritated me. But then, I was doing a smile. “You’re trouble, aren’t you?”

"Of course," Orion replied by standing up and offering a hand. "Well? What do you say? You game to see how deep the rabbit hole is?"

I looked at the hand that was extended before me. At the connections between all of the people in that coffee shop. At this impossible, beautiful, terrifying world that was now laid out before me.

Every rational bone in my body was shouting the obvious silliness of all of this to me. Me? Walk away? Get on with the astronomy and with life? Just discount the magic and the mates as a function of the imagination?

The thing was, I had never been that good at walking away from a mystery. And if I was being honest with myself, it was because I wanted to know. I wanted to understand.

I reached out and took his hand. His skin was warm, and as our skin touched, the thread of connection between us was bright enough that I had to close my eyes to protect myself from its radiance.

"Fine," I said. "Teach me. Show me. But if this is in any way your method of killing me in another dimension, I will be very, very annoyed."

Orion’s laugh was jubilant. “Deal. And, just for the record, I mean, if I actually wanted to, you know, murder you, I’d be way more creative than that.” ”‘That’s not as reassuring as you think it is.’” “Come on,” he encouraged, pulling me towards the door. “There’s a lot of ground to cover, and I can promise you, by the time this day is finished, you’ll be looking at the world with different eyes.” As we emerged into the sun, the threads all glittering around us, I realized he had to be right. I just wasn’t sure if that was amazing or terrifying. Maybe a little fromelems