I hate them. I hate all of them. Every one of them. I want to kill them all: New Boy, Tanya, Melissa, Michael, Gloria, all of them. I hate them. I want to kill them. I want to see their lifeless gray eyes and white faces and all their sharp pointed teeth crooked and their white skin covered with black blood. Wait... what am I talking about? No! Not the humans! Them. The hunters of the stars. The... no. I will not say their name. They are dubbed 'the Unspeakable', you cannot speak of them.

It's a week before the festival and I haven't went to school for quite a long time. In fact, I haven't been to school since I confronted Tanya Goode. Mono is also staying at home. Pole always comes back home early to visit us, but Nashira is always at school. "Giggling off with her girlfriends," Pole had said, "I can't believe Nashira's being idiotic! She was always very cautious!" I had to agree, that time, but now I realize that, at school, Nashira has always behaved like an idiot. What if she likes a human? That was illegal for some reason. I know why. If you like someone, it will be too easy for you to spill your secrets.

Tonight, I plan to visit the stars. I need advice from Mother. And from him. He seems more knowledgeable than me. More experienced and less impulsive. I'm sure he doesn't have mismatched eyes like me, or fiery temper. If he as yellow skin, then he would look good in it, not like a freak! Anyways, Mono is bringing me some snacks. "Mono, what's that?" I ask, pointing to a small bottle of silvery liquid. Mono smiles, "It's Mercury. Mother told me it gives us extra energy and gets you powered up." I take from the tray he's holding and take a sip. Now, to you humans, I strongly advise you not to try this at home.

Once I taste it, I get a blissful feeling of calm but burning energy, waiting to be released. It grows violently like wild fire and it feels like it's burning into me, firing me up. The tips of my fingers, ears and toes tingle as my whole body grows warm, then hot and cold at the same time. Like you are lying of hot coals and someone gives you a blanket of freezing ice which covers you're entire body. It wakes me up with a jolt. It's startling, but pleasant. It's a unique feeling, as if new power has arose.

This feeling all happened in one second.

It was also the best feeling have ever had.

Mono grins when he sees my face, "I know, it's awesome, right? Pole can drink it. You can drink it. I can drink it. Nashira... not so much." I'm immediately very alert. "What do you mean?" Mono sighs, "When she tasted it, she had a blissful look on her face, which quickly changed into agony. She started convulsing and dropped to the floor. Then she started rolling around like she was having a fit. After five minutes, she finally stopped and regurgitated it. Then, when she spoke, it was throatily and like her lungs and eyes and nose had been burnt away. Her skin was slightly black and the expression on her face was hideous! Pole and I couldn't figure it out." I can't help but giggle. Then I straighten my face, setting it to 'grim mode'.

"I think I know what's happening to her."

*

When I reach above the clouds, I can't find him, only Mother. Mother walks forward, a peaceful look on her calm face, mouth in a calm, straight line. "Mother!" I cry, "Did he leave anything for me?" Mother smiles mysteriously. Her pretty lilac-y eyes shine with the starlight and her white-gold-blue skin and hair. She says nothing, just holding out a piece of paper and a fortune cookie. What is this all about? No idea. Haven't a clue. She walks towards me in a steady pace, eyes closed, the tips of her lips curved upwards. I wonder why she's acting like this. She stops in front of me and opens her eyes. She places the cookie and the paper sheet in my hand. "Your friend is pretty smart, Chara."

I crack open the cookie first. Inside, there is a piece of paper. I catch my breath as I read it, wondering what it means. Then I look back at the other slip of paper. It read:

My sister is coming to meet you. She's the queen who wards off evil and storms. I am not naming her in case this falls into the wrong hands.

                                      -A

I'm puzzling over his sister's name when my mother speaks up.

"The queen-Alcyone."

I'm confused. "Alcy– oh, that's her name!" realization dawns unto me. I thank my mother who smiles and dissipates into wisps of smoke. I return back to my room, where I had fled after confessing my suspicion. I'm still trying to figure out what the message means. If it has a meaning. I'm fairly sure it does. I briefly figure it out when Pole bursts into my room. He's panting and looking frightened. "There's a... invader... outside... doorstep... knows... star names..." he pants, bending forward and clutching his knees. I feel kind of shocked. An invader? Or a visitor? One of Nashira's giggly girlfriends?

I rush out and I meet Mono, whose face is kind of bewildered. "Who is this girl?" he asks no one in particular. I look over to Nashira who had probably came back from school. Her face is etched with humanlike jealousy. "She's so pretty!" she spits out, disgusted. I'm disgusted. Is that why she's jealous? Unlikely.

Now I'm sure it's not one of her friends.

There is a knock on the door and I carefully push it open. Then, on a doorstep, stands a girl about my age, face expectant. I inhale sharply. She  had shoulder-length, bushy golden hair and yellow(ish) skin (like me), with a slender frame but noticeably strong arms. She stands with one hip cocked out.  One lock of hair is curled on her cheek and this makes her look both inhumanly beautiful and inhumanly cute. Her eyes, silvery blue, smile up at me and I immediately feel a warm sense of security, protection. When she speaks, it sounds like the voice itself was protection personified.

Pole is next to me, "Who are you?" he demands. I already know the answer. It had to be her. She even looked regal.

"I am Alcyone," the star replies. "The queen who wards of evil and storms."

*

We're in my room now. Alcyone had wanted to talk to me privately. I had already poured out my troubles and opinions and problems in school to her.  "I used to be like you," Alcyone says softly, plopping down onto my bed. I cock my head as she goes on. "I also had mismatched eyes and was quite ugly and was disliked by many people. So was Al. My other, older sister, Alkaid, was very pretty, like your sister Nashira is now. But this is the reason why she should not go to school." Only now am I confused.

"Why?"

Alcyone fiddles with her fingers nervously, like I do. I try to imagine her with mismatched eyes, changing colors. She still would look quite pretty. "Because she was pretty, it made her popular with humans. So she became more humane. She was trying too hard to act like a normal human, but people treated her though she were the queen, the leader," Alcyone says this quietly, not bitterly. "But you are the queen," I point out. She smiles grimly, "Yes, but Alkaid was the leader." She lies down on the bed, sighing.

"But everything changed when my eye color changed, last month. Suddenly humans swarmed around me, wanting to befriend me, kiss me and be my best friend. They kept saying thing about looking 'hot' and acting 'cool'," Alcyone continues. "But I knew better. The way they treated me before was locked in my mind. I knew everything was an act. They liked me for my looks, not for my personality. I had a feeling they wouldn't like it much." I nod. My personality: deadly. I've killed before.

Something she says interests me. "You eye color changed?" I ask incredulously, "Does that mean-" She cuts me off. "Yes, your eye color will change, too. It will most likely be lilac, indigo, violet, periwinkle or amber. The rarer colors are silvery blue, gold, silver and bronze. Our eye colors will change permanently, when we are about sixteen to eighteen millennia. Yours should change soon, as well as Monoceros'" I nod, taking out the slip of paper. She takes it, somehow knowing that her brother gave it.

She nods, "You know what it means?" My eyes move to the floor, then back up, "Briefly." Do you? I want to say. She smiles as if she could read my mind. Maybe she could.  Alcyone's silver-blue eyes pierce through me and I'm sure she can. "I can mind-read thing that are public, but not private. I also have telepathy, though only with my siblings and color-changed stars. None of your family have been color-changed yet." I open and close my mouth. "But-but Pole and Nashira-" "Still have color-changing to do. For you and Monoceros is your eye. For Nashira and Polaris, it is their skin. In the end, though, everyone will have same star features. In addition, you get extra powers when you color-change. I got mind-reading and telepathy. Alkaid got control over heat."

I smile mysteriously. "I sort of have that, too." I casually point my hand in the direction of a peice of firewood on my table and it bursts into flames. I make a cutting-off movement and the flames dissapate. Alcyone is impressed. "Mine is different. Look here..." Two flaming balls of fire appear, one in each hand. Laughing, she throws them at me and I catch both of them, dramatically diving for the second one. I purposely miss it and it sets the corner of the bed ablaze. I wave my hand and the fire vanishes, leaving the end of the bedsheet charred and black.

"So, what does your brother's message mean? The best things often come with curses. I've figure it out, but not quite...." I trail off. I jerk my head up. "Does that mean Nashira?" Alcyone winks, "Not just Nashira. Everyone. Humans and Stars. Only for stars, the curse is a lot worse. Remember, there are only two types of personality groups. Not girls and boys. Only humans and stars. Remember that." I nod cautiously as Mono enters the room holding two small bottles of mercury. I take both of them and give one to Alcyone. Mono smiles and says, "You might not want to talk so loud." He shuts the door firmly. "This is mercury," I hold up the bottle. "The metal, not the planet."

Alcyone stares at it blankly, "Metal? But it's liquid! What- oh, it's mercury. Liquid metal. Do we drink it?" I laugh, "Of course, but very slowly. It's quite nice, actually." She nods and takes a sip. Then her whole body stiffens. "Oh my..." her eyes are wide. "This is great!" I let out a laugh, "Of course! I would say little of it would be good, like marijuana for humans." Alcyone laughs, too, lots of tunes combined into one sound, like ringing bells.

Mono comes back into the room, "Pole wants to play S.P.Y later on. Wanna join?" Both Alcyone and I nod. "But... on who?" I ask, knowing the answer. "Nashira, obviously!" he says, rolling his eyes. He shuts the door, again, as Alcyone makes random comment. "So I'll enroll n your school. Don't think I'll make any friends. I'll just be cold and glare all the time. I'm very good at glaring." I smile and she starts glaring at me. I lift my hands up, laughing, "You still look pretty when you glare, Alcyone." She frowns jokingly, "It's so scary, isn't it?" I nod, pretending to tremble and stutter. She doubles over and rolls on the bed, clutching her stomach.

"Back to color changing. So, do you feel anything at all when you color change?"

Alcyone nods, brushing a lock of hair in front of her ear. "It hurts like mad, you know. A searing pain on the skin or in your eye. To make things worse, color changing happens quite slowly. It's torture, but after a day or two, it'll be better." I frown, "After a day or two? You say that like it's nothing. My gosh, two days of torture just to look pretty!" Alcyone smiles at my horrified expression. "It just starts as an itch, but soon it'll become wild fire, like it's burning your eyes up. You won't feel the heat, but you feel the pain. Don't worry, you're still resistant to fire."

I scowl, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"