Starbright (The Starbright Series) (8 page)

             
With another sigh, only this one sounding more disgruntled and angry than happy,
I threw the covers off
and sat up in bed. With men downstairs, it was probably a good idea to get dressed before
breakfast. That would mean a bra. Definitely a
bra
. Although a part of
me
rebelled against the idea of wearing
anything but sweats
while e
ating chocolate chip pancakes, I
didn’t see much other choice.

             
Just like
my
future.

             
Ok, get a grip.

             
I
laughed a little,
and forced myself to
smile again.
I
was being absolutely ridiculous about the whole thing. Whatever happened would be for the best,
I
believed that, it was just easy to forget and
I
didn’t want to wallow in self-pity. That wasn’t who
I
was, or
who
I
was born to
be
.

             
Besides, I
didn’t actually know anything for certain and
I
wasn’t going to get any
answers
staring into
my
closet, willing them to appear.

             
With a final, determined decision to face whatever the next step of
my
life was
going to be
with a good attitude
,
I
stood up and walked into
my
narrow
walk-in
closet.
I
chose the workout outfit
I
would wear later in the day, no sense in dirtying more clothes than necessary. And then shimmied into track pants over
my
short, red running shorts. Adding a zip up jacket over
my
nylon tank top,
I
pulled
my
golden hair into
a loose bun on the nape of my neck
without brushing it.

             
Deciding makeup was not necessary this morning,
I
left
my
room for the bathroom and a quick wash of the face. Staring at
my
self in the round mirror,
I
wondered if
I
looked any different
now that the Protectorship was technically mine
.
My
skin tone was the same flawless bronze that Seth’s was, a byproduct of
our natural inner light
; even without actually glowing
,
we
still kind of glowed
so to speak
.
The girls at school envied me for my
great skin, and
I thanked them leaving out the
fact that it was a byproduct of fighting demons.
My
eyes were still frighteningly pale blue, like the color of really frozen ice, not just the cubes,
more
like
polar ice caps.
My
eyes were
my
least favorite feature; they were too pale… to other-
worldly
. And they were so
freaking
big! Why did they have to be so big?
I
was convinced
I
looked like a tan dead person
or the big bad wolf
.

The b
etter to see you with my dear….

             
Splashing more cold water on
my
face
I
wondered if other Stars worried about the shade of their eyes
or were embarrassed of their skin tone
. Or maybe
, born and raised in the lowest level of
H
eaven, and then sent to light up the galaxy and protect the universe,
they had never even seen their reflection in a mirror.

             
Huh.

             
Vanity was surely not an asset they possessed though
, not something they lived with
. And with that thought
I
left the bathroom in search of the traditional Sunday breakfast Annabelle always made for
me
. Other than saving humanity,
eating
chocolate chip pancakes had to be
my
second favorite event
ever
.

             
I
bounded down the servant stairs and into the kitchen expecting to greet Annabelle’s happy face and a plate full of steaming hot chocolate chip pancakes, like every other Sunday morning of
my
life when
my
parents were out of town. The chocolate chip pancakes were there, but Annabelle’s face wasn’t
so
much happy as it was terrifying and angry.

             
The whole atmosphere of the kitchen felt ripe with an awkward confrontation on the verge of a cataclysmic explosion and
I
immediately tensed with anxiety.
I
hoped Annabelle wasn’t mad at
me
, although
I
worried now that maybe Annabelle didn’t remember
me
coming to her room last night and was very surprised to find a house full of men when she woke up this morning.

             
“Good morning,”
I
greeted Annabelle who was at the stove with her back
to the res
t of the room, rigid as a pole.
Jupiter
sat at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and reading the Sunday morning newspaper. When no one answered,
I
tried to encourage more conversation. “Annabelle do you remember me coming to your room last night? I don’t know if you had a chance to meet Jupiter this morning, but he’s is a friend-“

             
“Oh, we’ve met,” Annabelle cut
me
off with uncharacteristic shortness. She was usually direct and alarmingly to the point, a personality trait that had taken
half
my
childhood
to get used to. But
we
had such a strong relationship now, that
I
couldn’t imagine what had set her off.

             
Jupiter grunted then, a disgruntled snort of disapproval and it dawned on
me exactly
what the problem was. Annabelle half turned around to say something, but then seemed to think better o
f it. Shaking her spatula in the air irritably, she
focused her attention back on flipping pancakes.

             
“Stella, how many pancakes would you like?” Annabelle asked, her frustration masked with a
forcefully
sweet tone.

             
“Um, four. No, wait, five,” Annabelle loaded up
my
plate with her perfectly fluffy, delici
ously chocolaty pancakes and
I
couldn’t help
my
self but call out again, “Wait! Six. I want six pancakes and no more!”
I
finished dramatically, waving
my
hand
in the air as if Annabelle was the one
forcing
me
to eat so many.

             
Annabelle delivered the hefty plate to
the table
, along with a bottle of warmed up maple syrup.
I
eyed
my
breakfast with a ravenous hunger,
my
eyes gleaming with gluttony. This time when Annabelle smiled down at
me
, her expression was real, shaped with true affection and amusement.

             
“Don’t worry,”
I
explained to no one in particular, in between
delicious
mouthfuls of carbs. “Tristan and I are running later, so I’ll work this all off.”

             
“Who’s Tristan?” Jupiter asked, already positive he wouldn’t like the answer.

             
“He’s my best friend,”
I
answered quickly, squirting more hot syrup in between
the
thick layers of pancakes. “And Annabelle’s grandson,”
I
added.

             
“A human,” Jupiter grumbled, disdain marking his tone.

             
“What else would he be?” Annabelle retorted from the stove.

             
“A pet,” Jupiter mumbled soft enough that only
I
, with
my
intensified hearing could make out his nasty comment.

             
“Jupiter,”
I
gasped, still not sure what to make of
my weapon’s trainer. He tossed me
a look that
cautioned
not to bother him
again
and
I
decided to heed his warning.

             
“Stella, were you planning on going to church this morning?” Annabelle asked, turning off the griddle and emptying the spatula of the last perfectly made pancake onto a plate with identical others.

             
“Oh, I
meant to tell you, I kind of…. m
y
Jeep
is kind of out of commission right now, so I was going to suggest someone else pick you up for church today,”
I
tried to skirt around the truth, hoping Annabelle just didn’t
ask too many questions
. It would be hard enough explaining how
I
accomplished
that much damage to
my
vehicle and then walked away, let alone how the car got righted again and why on
E
arth
I
went ahead and picked up
my
supposed family friends after all that
I
would have
allegedly
gone through.

             
“Oh, that’s al
l right, I’ll just have
Trenton
come after me then,” Annabelle moved the griddle to the sink and immediately started on her dishes. “And if he’s coming after me anyway, I might as well head on home after service. Your parents will be back tonight and with your guests, I really don’t think you’ll need me around today.” A muscle in Annabelle’s jaw twitched, tightening the wrinkled skin around her mouth.
I
noticed the
subtlety
and decided not to argue.
I
hated it when Annabelle left, she felt so much like part of the family, but
I also
knew
Annabelle was a polite woman
, proper and gracious and everything she thought a woman should be.
Her behavior was super out of the ordinary for her and it was probably driving her crazy.
I
bit
my
bottom lip to keep herself from smiling at this same well-mannered woman
just barely holding back her restraint from letting Jupiter have
what could be decades of pent up sassiness
.

             
“Ok, if you have to go, then you
have
to go,”
I
sighed, standing up to kiss Annabelle on the cheek. “I’ll finish these, if you want to go get ready.”

             
“Will you call Tr
ent
for me too?” Annabelle l
ooked thrilled at the chance just to
leave the
kitchen;
I
could hardly imagine what transpired before
I
entered the scene
.

             
“Sure,”
I
smiled and pulled
the
cell
phone
from
my
running pants.
I
pounded out a quick text to Tristan, explaining his grandmother’s wishes and then waited for a reply, tapping
my
fingernails on the counter in a m
easured
rhythm.

             
“Is that another human friend of yours?” Jupiter asked dryly.