"The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself."
~Carl Sagan

Lilly

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in what appeared to be a hospital room. I wasn't hooked up to any machines, but they were there. Pushing myself up, I glanced around. The room itself was mostly dark, the only light filtering through the blinds.

My body ached as I stood up and moved to the window. I peered out the window, a bustling city below me. The buildings surrounding me were unfamiliar, which meant I most certainly wasn't in Denver anymore, leading me to the question: where the hell am I?

Someone knocked on the door, and I whirled around. A tall guy, probably not much older than me, entered the room. He smiled kindly. "Hey, I saw you were up. Thought I'd check on you. I'm Caleb. Caleb Queen."

"Where's Vivienne? What happened? Where am I?" I asked, trying to sound intimidating, but my croaky voice betrayed me.

"Why don't I bring you to Vivienne while I explain everything?" Caleb motioned for me to follow. I hesitated before doing so. "To to answer your first question, Dylan finally convinced Vivienne to go eat something. She wouldn't leave your side since you got here. You've been out for ten hours. You got here about six hours ago. You had a panic attack, and Chad injected you with a substance that knocked you out."

"What drug is it?"

"Nothing you have on Earth. It's highly protected here. Only certain people can use it; people like Chad, Dylan, and other Searchers, and only certain people, like me, know how to make it. Right now, you're in one of the hospitals in our capital city, Alexandria."

"As in Alexandria, Virginia? Please be Virginia," I said.

Caleb scratched the back of his head. "Ah, no. You're in Alexandria on Vasileia."

"So being kidnapped and going into space on a spaceship wasn't a fever dream?"

"Afraid not." Caleb smiled at me sympathetically. "I know it's a lot to take in. Let's get you to Vivienne, and when you're ready, I'll explain everything else."

We entered a mostly empty dining hall, which, based on how many occupied rooms I passed on my way here, I found odd. Surely there'd be more people here for their family and friends?

"Lilly!" Vivienne exclaimed, capturing my attention instead of ogling my surroundings. I only saw a flash of blonde before being tackled into a hug. "You're okay! I was so worried! You are okay right?"

"I think so. I'm freaked out. You okay?"

"Better. You're never going to believe what people can do on this planet. It's insane!"

"What can they do?"

"Allow me," a guy said, stepping forward and bowing to me. I remembered him as Dylan.

"You knocked me out," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

Dylan shifted on his feet. "Yeah, sorry about that. You weren't going easily, and we needed you. I really do apologize for that."

"And the second time?"

'That was Chad. You had a panic attack, and I didn't want you to hurt yourself or us, so I ordered him to do it. I would've, but I was flying the ship. Sorry, Lilly."

I glared at him. "It's not appreciated you knocking me out."

"Lilly, you probably should eat," Vivienne said, tactfully changing the subject. She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the buffet line.

"Get whatever you want, Lilly," Caleb told me. "It's on me."

I hesitated before grabbing a plate. I got two slices of pizza, some fries, a cupcake, and water. I didn't entirely trust the other drinks they had there, even if it looked like the stuff we had on Earth.

Caleb paid for my meal, and I spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out how expensive the meal was. I didn't understand their currency system whatsoever.

"So earlier you said these people could do weird things," I said when we sat down. "By weird, I assume you can do stuff other than kidnapping people?"

"You're not going to let us live that down for a long time, are you?" Dylan replied.

"No."

He smiled mischievously. "You're so blunt. I love it. We're going to be great friends Lilly Snow. I can tell already."

"How do you know my last name?"

"Viv here told me. We've been talking while we were waiting for you to wake up. Now, to answer your earlier question since we seem to keep getting off-topic about it, allow me to demonstrate." Dylan stood, and I watched as he went from being a regular person to a human torch in less than a second. I stared at him with a mixture of terror, amazement, and curiosity. Then as soon as he'd caught on fire, he was done. He grinned. "At least you didn't throw water on me."

"I'm sorry!" Vivienne exclaimed, blushing.

I continued staring at Dylan, glanced down at my food, back at him, back at my food, and then slowly pushed my plate away. Caleb slid it back in front of me, saying, "It's not the food making you see that. I promise."

"How on earth is that possible?" I asked.

"To be honest, no one has really been able to figure out how we can do what we do. We don't know if we have some genetic mutation in us, or if someone experimented on people and it's become genetic, or if our bodies merged with dark matter, or if there's something in our atmosphere allowing our powers to manifest. There's definitely something to do with the atmosphere suppressing it on Earth if your powers haven't manifested before you go there. As for developing them here, we have no idea."

I took a bite of my pizza. It tasted perfectly normal and delicious. "How long are we going to be here? We have family that's going to be wondering about us back home, we have pets that need to be taken care of-"

"I've already managed that," Dylan replied. "We have liaisons on your planet who are taking care of your pets and your location. I mean they're telling your parents a lie about where you are, but it won't cause them any alarm. You can trust them to do their job well."

"Why can't we at least have our pets here? What about clothes? Makeup?"

"You and Vivienne think a lot alike, you know that?"

"There's a reason we're roommates." I pushed my empty plate away from me, having devoured my meal. Who knew being kidnapped made you starving? "So, what happens now?"

"We wait for your power to come to light, and Vivienne works on hers," Caleb answered.

I turned to face my friend. "You already have your power?"

Vivienne nodded eagerly. "I'm a Healer! I can place my hand over a wound, and it heals! I can only do small wounds right now, like paper cuts and bruises, but I'll be able to heal broken bones and massive wounds one day. It looks like my calling on Earth was my calling here! Speaking of, I kind of told Melissa I'd go see her once you'd woken up to set up a practice schedule. Will you be okay if I go?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I said.

"I'll show you around if you want," Caleb offered. "We can go to my lab. I can help you understand more about the powers there. I think you'd like it. Dylan, you'll show Vivienne to the places she needs to go to?"

"Of course," Dylan said.

"Good. Be nice, and don't scare her."

"Once! I scared her once!"

"Twice," Vivienne corrected. "Once when you kidnapped me and once when you caught yourself on fire."

"Right... come on, let's go! It's a gorgeous day, and the sooner you get to practicing, the sooner you can get to going outside and exploring!" Dylan exclaimed. He stood up with Vivienne, pushing in their chairs.

"Hey, Dylan, where's Chad?" Caleb inquired as we got up from our chairs. "He disappeared after the mission."

Finally, Dylan's overly cheerful demeanor came to a halt. "He went to see his brother."

"Why the hell did he do that?"

"He's been asking for him."

Caleb shook his head but said nothing. I fully intended to find out about Chad's brother later. I wanted to know what kind of person could make Dylan shut down like that.