Terran Knights: Chapter 12

“You know I didn’t believe him at first but these really are good,” Jack said balancing the strawberry filled pastry on his fingers. “It’s like the toaster strudels from when we were kids but you know. Adult.”

“You have a way with words. But I agree with you,” Sarah licked her fingers and then picked up her coffee sipping it slowly.

“Move over Marco. Better word smith boyfriend has arrived,” he said winking.

“You wish babe,” she blew him a kiss and leaned forward stealing a bite from his pastry.

“Hey come on,” he said shirking away and trying to hide it from his girlfriend. “I think we’re early by the way.”

“Not by much,” She pointed toward the door and it opened up with Kathryn and Cal walking in. They looked lost for a second but Jack was quick to hail them over. The pair had been sitting at a table near the window but had dragged over a couple of additional chairs for their coming party.

Cal and Kathryn walked over slowly and sat down on the opposite side of the pair. Jack sipped on his coffee as did Sarah. Cal and Kathryn were doing their best not to stare at them but it was strange being in such close proximity to people they’d just see in their dream.

“Have you guys stones done this yet?” Jack asked. He pulled his shirt down slightly and revealed a necklace. There was a thin cord around his neck, connecting to the red stone. It was like two materials woven together and it hung low enough to hide under his shirt. Sarah on the other hand showed her arm and it was bracelet with the stone hanging underneath her wrist with thick bands of the same material keeping it in place.

“Actually yeah,” Cal pulled his shirt sleeve up and his stone rested against his wrist like a watch and Kathryn showed her own as a choker. “Easier than just fumbling around for it right?”

“Exactly,” Jack grinned and then turned toward one of the glass cases. “Get one. They’re definitely good.”

“I think I’ll do that,” Cal stood up slowly. “The usual for us both?”

“You already know Cal,” she smiled then looked at the two of them. She watched as Sarah stole another bite from Jack’s. He let out a sad sound and she just giggled. “I think I remember you two?”

“Hm? You remember us?” Sarah repeated and Kathryn nodded.

“From the party. You two were one of the more active ones. You kept drinking guys under the table and got a following,” She smiled at Sarah and she looked at Jack for a long moment then blushed slightly looking away. “And I remember talking to you.”

“I bet you do,” Sarah said pinching Jack hard under the table. “I’m sorry if Jack said anything too forward. He’s house trained. Mostly.”

Kathryn shook her head, “He was just trying to make me laugh. He caught on that I wasn’t enjoying myself.”

“Parties weren’t your thing,” Jack smiled and winced as he felt Sarah’s gaze over at him. “I was friendly. I swear.”

“Uh huh. Watching you babe. But yeah that was us. I think I remember seeing Cal moving around as well. Well early on. Though I was definitely getting high with him upstairs. Him and a few other people whose faces are all gone from my mind,” she laughed and picked up her coffee.

“Yeah Cal rarely drinks but get him a blunt or a bump and he’s off to the races,” Kathryn sighed. “At least he was mostly chill that night. Ben would have kicked my ass if I let him do anything crazy.”

As if on queue the front door opened and Seth came in as Cal came back to the table with two teas and a few croissants. Kathryn took one of each as Seth took the final spot and shoved his bag under the chair. Everyone did their best not to stare but side glances were had.

“Didn’t expect you to be so pale,” Jack said and shrugged. “No offense. Observation.”

He winced as Sarah hit him under the table. “You really can’t help yourself can you?”

“Don’t worry. I’m used to it,” Seth replied rolling his eyes.

“I remember you,” Kathryn said looking at Seth. “Not from the party though. I think you came into my job the other day.”

“Yeah I think so,” Seth rested his hand against his head. “Needed something to get rid of the after party hang over.”

Jack grinned, “You were definitely partying as if you didn’t have another day left over.”

“Hey you were just as cross faded as I was,” Seth said remembering doing lines into shots. “Speaking of the party. Any idea as to why we were chosen from that party.”

“What do you mean?” Cal asked.

“There were what? Like fifteen or twenty of us there that night. But we’re the only five that got chosen by the celestial,” Seth leaned back in the chair. “Doesn’t make sense unless we did something special.”

Sarah leaned against her hand and thought back toward the end of the night. Before she’d fallen asleep. Before things got too hazy and before they’d just passed out. “Wait. Didn’t someone say they had something special. Like a special blend or some shit?”

“Yeah, I think I remembered taking a hit,” Seth frowned hard. “it hit almost immediately. Faster than anything I’d ever taken before.”

“I heard that,” Cal rubbed his head remembering the headache he’d had on Sunday. “Ben was taking care of me the whole day.”

“Yeah me and Jack took some too,” Kathryn said. “It was a girl who had it. I think. Might have been a guy. I don’t know really. Either they were androgynous or I drank too much.”

“That’s not saying a lot,” Cal teased as he drank from his tea.

“Don’t you start.”

“So, someone came around and we all took a hit from this stuff. And over the weekend we have a dream where we met an alien. And now we have super powers,” Jack shrugged. “What are the odds right?”

“There’s probably more to it than that. But I’m not trying to think too hard about it,” Seth waved his hand but Cal held his phone up looking at the team with wide eyes. “What?”

“There’s something going on. Weird light show at the radio tower outside of the city. Twitter is going off about it. Think it’s the Taq-Law?”

Jack stood up excitedly, “I say we go take a look and find out.”