The Fallen

Chapter 6 - Troublesome Whispers

Virgo bit her tongue, refusing to let her halted response slip. While she didn't particularly like Scorpio, she would have to work with him– at least for now. Setting her brow, arms akimbo, she said, "I hope you realize this isn't just some 'shard-thingie'; it's quite literally a piece of our universe. A token from our goddess, Scorpio."

Scorpio rolled his eyes. "Ugh, fine. Whatever you want to call it– I don't care. The sooner we get back up to the Celestial Plane, the better."

"Look, you two need to find a common ground or we won't get anywhere," Leo chided. "If this is going to work, we have to stick together and cooperate. No more petty arguments, insults, or accusations, got it?"

Scorpio and Virgo glared at each other scornfully, and while they nodded in agreement, Aquarius could tell they were most definitely not promising anything.

"Based on the storm over the bay, the shard has to be within the inner area of the town, right?" Aquarius piped up, attempting to cut some of the tension.

Virgo rolled her shoulders back and heaved a deep sigh. "Yes, and with its strength, we should pinpoint the shoreline and beach as our primary targets."

The bedroom door opened with an earsplitting creeeeeaaaaak.

The landlady popped her head in. "By the way, you kids never told me where you were from. You definitely don't look like you're from the UK..." She eyed the four suspiciously, "...and none of you have an accent."

Aquarius fidgeted with her fingers. "Oh... right. Well, we have an explanation for that–"

Virgo cut Aquarius off. "We're from New Zealand. Wellington to be specific." She did her best to flatten her vowels and bring up the end of her sentence, but even she could tell it wasn't an impressive accent.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Really? I would never have guessed... Well, I actually came here to ask you what school you were going to so I could give you a bus schedule. Starlight Bay is so obsolete on maps and the T-line runs only in the areas near Boston, so there is only one bus here. The high school is on the eastern outskirts of town, and the preparatory academy is in the opposite direction. The bus will pick you up on Main Street– there are signs that will tell you what direction it's going in. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," Aquarius answered.

The woman nodded and slammed the door.

The zodiacs were silent for a few moments, then Leo sucked in a breath through his teeth. "That was too close."

The door whipped open once more. "No alcohol or drugs in the house, and don't forget your down payment!" The old woman growled as she slammed the door again.

The group exchanged bewildered looks. There was a moment of silence before Scorpio spoke, "Huh?"

"She just means illegal and intoxicating substances," Virgo said.

"Got it," Leo replied, scratching at the back of his neck. "She didn't give us the schedule."

Scorpio ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. "Oh my stars, I swear if we don't stop wasting time I'm going to lose it!"

"Scorpio's right," Virgo stated. "We need to get moving."

The four zodiacs headed down the rickety set of spiral stairs. There was no railing, so they were forced to cling to the dingey, stucco walls of the townhouse.

Once they got to the main floor, they saw their landlady on a leather recliner, watching the latest broadcast of news.

"...the adolescents in question have been sketched based on the observations of a well-known local fisherman, Terry Whitman, who claims four roughly-seventeen-year-old minors fell out of the sky and into the bay at 9:43 this morning, just as the abnormal weather we're now experiencing began. We don't know much at the moment, but if anyone has seen these minors around Starlight Bay, please call..." The reporter read off a seemingly random series of numbers a couple of times and continued speaking.

Their landlady whipped her head up, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "Crazy world, isn't it?" Her face hardened into her natural scowl, "By the way, you only call me ma'am or Ms. Sullock– nothing more and nothing less. Also, make sure you come back to this building bone-dry, or else I'll have you four pay for warped flooring in that room. No water that isn't bottled, understood." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes ma'am," the zodiacs replied in staggered unison as they went out the front door.

Aquarius tugged at a strand of her damp hair. "I didn't even realize that we were still dripping wet from crashing at light-speed into a lake."

"It's not a lake, it's a bay." Scorpio corrected in an exaggerated version of Virgo's voice, mocking her.

Virgo felt a low growl bubble up in her throat but steeled herself to say nothing to provoke Scorpio. "Let's just hurry up and go home. I miss my library." Which was true– she missed her library, because if she were there, she could hit Scorpio over the head with her copy of The Encyclopedia of Infinite Astronomy.

The zodiacs fell into step with each other as they walked, their legs falling into sync. Aquarius pondered the group's argument about the past few hours, and she worried they might not complete their mission unless they found some way to work together.

"I think I heard something about a place where they give free clothes, or at least cheap ones. We do need to change, now that we're wet," Leo said.

The other three nodded. They slunk their way to Main Street via back alleys and between buildings and woodsy recreational areas between streets.

Aquarius pointed to a contemporary-looking sign. "Penny Pinchers, maybe?"

Scorpio gave a nod-shrug. "Might as well give it a shot."

The interior of Penny Pinchers was fairly tidy; the only person working was a weedy boy covered in freckles from head to toe with chestnut hair and round, thin-rimmed glasses.

He raised a curious eyebrow and narrowed his eyes when he noticed their faces and dripping hair. "Uh... may I help you?"

"Yeah," Scorpio answered. "We need some clothes. You got anything really cheap? We're new to this area and haven't gotten our currency transferred yet. One dollar to us is about 72 cents to you." Scorpio was impersonating a pretty believable New Zealand accent– he dropped his vowels and hitched the end of his sentence perfectly. Leo wondered how Scorpio knew so much about New Zealand, but he didn't voice his confusion out loud for obvious reasons.

The boy nodded questioningly. "Are you picky?"

Aquarius shook her head. "Not particularly."

The boy pointed to a large bin in the back corner of the shop, "There's a bunch of used clothes for free over there. There's also rejects in there, clothes no one buys. If you don't mind misplaced zippers, hems that were poorly sewn, and lack of labels, then feel free to take whatever you want."

Leo thanked the boy and the zodiacs walked over to the bin. Virgo uncovered a pair of faded form-fitting jeans and a black sweatshirt that was four times too big for her with damaged white accents on the sleeves that Virgo pulled off. Aquarius found a pair of floral print leggings and a blue spiral tie-dye T-shirt. Scorpio plucked an old, thick army jacket that was missing buttons on the pockets, and soft, black pants. Leo just grabbed a newsboy cap and a brown flight jacket. Reluctantly, he also picked out a pair of cargo pants and a tank-top; he missed satin trousers.

Before they stepped out the front door, the boy waved them goodbye. As soon as they were out of sight, he pulled the landline phone from the wall and began to dial.