Rising Shards

Stella leaned forward, gripping the steering wheel tightly as her phone informed her that she had missed another turn.

“I would be of more help, but I don’t know this area at all,” I said.

We were once again in Stella’s big city hometown, driving around one of the big entertainment districts.

“Just let us lead the way Dr. Diast,” Zeta said from the backseat. “We’re the city slickers.”

“Can do.” I saluted.

“Actually, where are we?” Zeta said.

“We’re…right where we’re supposed to be.” Stella said, wincing as she heard another “recalculating route…” from her phone.

”That’s what Stella always says when she’s lost,” Zeta informed me.

”Quiet, you.” Stella said.

We found the right spot soon after, a funky little place called Den of Gamers: Where You Can Buy Food and Play Games.

Zeta stretched once she was out of the car. “I will be handling all the Raina Starlight questions,” She announced. “You two are backup, and I’m entrusting the old pop culture to you.”

“Was that an age dig?” Stella asked, pretending to smack her sister.

“No! Just that you’re both older than me so you know the classics better,” Zeta said.

“Classic is a better word,” I said.

“Classic still makes us sound old, Evy,” Stella said. “We’re still in our primes.”

The two were still a bit shaken after the incidents over the last few weeks—hell, I was too. But shakiness manifested itself a bit more overtly in the Faleur sisters. Lots of jolts at slightly surprising things like phones going off or people turning a corner abruptly; it felt like they were braced for their parents to pop out at any time. Hopefully a fun outing would help deal with that.

I was tempted to go to the arcade of the bustling Den of Gamers, but we were here for a trivia competition and it was starting soon. We registered our team, took our seats in the dining area, and ordered dinner.

“It’d be nice if Pippi were here,” Zeta said. “She probably knows a bunch. And Oka would crush any musical questions.”

Stella wasn’t answering, I assumed she was just tuning out her little sister but she had a pretty intense glare as she looked across the room.

“You good there, Stel?” I asked.

“Why is she here?” Stella said.

Zeta followed Stella’s gaze and flinched when she saw who she was staring down.

“Oh crap…” Zeta said.

“What, not something like…” I wasn’t sure if me saying ‘your parents’ would set them off, but Zeta understood what I meant.

“No, nothing that serious…just…” Zeta sighed.

“Valda Ingram.” Stella said, venom in her voice.

“She’s in Stella’s acting group,” Zeta explained.

“Was in my acting group,” Stella said. “After the worst directorial performance my hallowed theater had ever experienced, she at least had the common sense to never show her face there again.”

“Should we go? Is she a huge jerk? Is this gonna ruin the night?” I asked.

Stella clenched her fists as an older woman with short, gray hair rose from her seat and approached us. Zeta shrunk down in her chair. Valda sneered as she reached our table.

“Stella ‘fuller’, my pleasure.” Valda said, mispronouncing Stella’s last name. “Haven’t seen you since…why, I can’t even remember the last time I saw you perform. You didn’t give up on your little shows, did you?”

“Valda,” Stella said, sounding like she was doing everything she could not to blow up at this lady. “Are you a regular here?”

“I regularly win, yes,” Valda said. “The team I carried to victory in fourteen consecutive weeks of trivia night here at the Den of Gamers.”

“Thirteen more weeks than The Magician’s Magnificent Ocean of Worlds lasted.” Stella muttered.

Valda’s upper lip twitched. “Would you care to repeat that one?”

“Nothing,” Stella said. “It’s wonderful to see you. Good luck with the trivia.”

“I’d say the same to you, but…” Valda looked at me and Zeta. “I don’t think with your little sister and whoever this chick is that you have a team good enough that luck would do you much good.”

“What a wordy one liner.” I said after Valda returned to her table, tempted to write that word salad down on a napkin and try to break it down. “So are we bailing, then?”

“Awww.” Zeta said.

“We don’t have to. It just seems like Stella is majorly pissed here and that we should cool that situation off a bit.” I said.

“We can stay,” Stella said. “Because I refuse to let her win.”