Nearly

Act One

I didn't see Hanre's text till I got out of the shower.

meet up at starbucks? see you in a few

It was just the first day of Thanksgiving break, and Hanre was already taking up my bum time. I guess that's what friends are for.

Thunder weaved about the clouds outside my bedroom window, and the air was energized with prospects of rain. The AC barely masked the crushing weight of the inevitable storm. Being Obloha, I was particularly sensitive to energy and pressure extremes.

Celestials, powerful beings born when the light of the stars first reached Earth, passed on their lavnis to chosen relatives before they died. This tradition continues to present day, and their Obloha descendants still get their powers from the stars.

I pattered down the steps and slid in my mix-matched socks.

"Good morning, Mom," I said, passing through the kitchen where she was scrolling through her phone and slurping coffee. My mom was Zeme, meaning she didn't have any energy-manipulating powers like I did. When my aunt gave me my lavni last year, she made me promise not to tell my mom about my powers or the world of the Obloha. Even after a near-death encounter with an Otvor, I kept my promise and my mom continued her oblivious life.

"Good morning, Vez." She looked up. "Where are you heading so early in the morning?"

"Hanre texted me to meet him at Starbucks," I replied, zipping up my favorite combat boots over my skinny jeans. "He sent the text fifteen minutes ago."

My mother grinned. "That's what you get for taking long showers!"

"Whatever!" I sang back as the front door swung shut behind me. There were too many times I wished I could just tell her. I never lied to her as a kid. Now being Obloha was my life, and my mother doesn't even know.

*****

I didn't really care for coffee though Starbucks was one of Hanre's frequents. We made it our official meeting place last summer when we befriended Max, a total geek who worked the afternoon shift there.

It only took five minutes to get to Starbucks from my house, but when I entered the shop, Hanre was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he already left. I texted Hanre.

sory running late, he replied.

I cringed at his spelling. You'd think I'd be used to it with the five years we've known each other.

I texted back, Did you forget you were the one who asked me to come? I was sure he had a good reason, though, for being late.

I looked up from my phone. I could feel their presence before I even saw their glowing heads enter through the door. They must have noticed me, too, because the girl immediately caught my eye.

It was so rare to see other Obloha. Over the years, many have lost their lavnis to Otvor—the equivalent of a black hole. When the light of an Obloha's star no longer reaches Earth, his power is withdrawn, and he instinctively draws on the life source of other Obloha for power. The only gifted locals I knew were Hanre and me.

"Hey, Max," I greeted the girl behind the counter, "Can I get a small hot chocolate...with extra whipped cream, please."

Cyberpunk Max was one of the few unaffiliated Zeme who knew of the Obloha. She had found out when she secretly installed a thermal setting for Starbucks's security cameras for an independent research project last August. She noticed that Hanre and I were white-hot on the camera and told us that it wasn't safe be running such a high fever.

We eventually had to tell her about our heat-producing lavnis. Max took the new information well, claiming she already had a conspiracy blog about Celestials anyway.

"Are you guys new to town or are you here for Thanksgiving?" I asked when the mysterious new Obloha arrived at the counter. The guy was taken aback that I approached them so casually.

"I don't meet many Obloha so this is an exciting experience for me," I explained sheepishly. Then he eyed Max who was now fiddling with the whipped cream dispenser in the back. "She already knows," I explained further.

The girl answered, "Yea. We're here for Thanksgiving. You know Velma Borealis?"

Aunt Velma, as everyone called her, was Hanre's Matka—the person he got his lavni from. She still pops in from time to time to check up on Hanre and show him new tricks. When my aunt gave me my lavni last year, I started to drop in on their practices, too.

I nodded.

"She's our aunt," the boy said. Weird. Hanre didn't tell me he had any other gifted relatives.

"Cool! I'm actually here to meet her grandnephew. Let me text him to hurry up— "

"No," the girl interrupted, "He's never met us before so it'd be better if...he met our parents first. They're actually on their way there right now."

Suddenly, my phone dinged a texted from Hanre, got caught by aunt velma. she wants me to stay and practice with my lavni

I texted back, It's alright. I'll stop by later before my grandparents arrive.

I looked back up to ask if the siblings had needed a ride to Hanre's, but they were nowhere to be found. Aren't they gonna order?

"You know Vez, I saw something really weird the other day when Hanre came in," Max said as she plopped my hot chocolate on the counter, "I usually know when you guys come by your heat signatures, but this guy was blue and purple all over."

Max looked at me expectantly, but I was as baffled as she was. No living human shows up blue on a thermal camera, much less an Obloha.

"When was this?"

"He dropped by Friday after school. He seemed perfectly normal otherwise."

"Maybe your camera— " But Max cut me off, "Everyone else was burning a healthy orange." Max leaned in. "Do you think it's his gift acting up?"

I didn't want to commit to any theories yet, especially considering how dangerous Hanre is if my current theory is true. "Thanks for telling me, Max. I may not be an expert on all this Obloha business, but I know who is."