The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 30: Love is Irrational

Part 2/6

“Okay. Okay I’ll come with,” Samuel confirmed.

“Great,” Skyler said with a smile, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go to sleep. Perhaps I’ll get another message from the dragon. Moonflight.”

Skyler pulled her arm away from Samuel and walked inside her hut, leaving Samuel to breathe in and out, and he began to look around nervously.

The only person who had known about his implant secret was Aurora.

And now another person who he didn’t trust that much was added to that list.

“No, no it’s going to be FINE,” Samuel thought, “She sees me as an asset, not a liability. I’ll be fine. My smarts make up for my lack of an implant. I'll be fine.”

Samuel decided that he needed to relax, like Skyler claimed. It would soothe his nerves. Although Samuel didn’t know why he was thinking that, he never worried.

Samuel trotted over to the campfire, where most people were talking amongst each other about stories, both the ones they were reading and the ones they were writing. Chris seemed to be having his own fun time petting his pet Dodo, while Gary was feeding his sabertooth, Lynx, some meat which he probably got from his taming expedition. Paige was applying more black lipstick onto her lips, and Neddy was eating a weird sandwich that was two slabs of meat that had a bunch of those purple berries stuck in between. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Despite everything we’ve been through,” Samuel thought, “Even though I didn’t call him a friend.”

He looked over at Ruby, who was talking to Bobby and Simon about something. Bobby nodded along with what she was saying, and then he reached into his pocket and took out a chunk of some sort of black, shiny stone. Obsidian. Then he pulled out a few crystal shards and handed them to Ruby, who bowed toward them and walked away out of sight.

No matter how much Samuel denied it, he couldn’t help but feel alone.

“I wish Nova were here,” Samuel thought sadly, looking down at the grass, “Maybe then I wouldn’t feel so alone.”

A squawk rang throughout the air, and Samuel turned around to see a dodo bird standing beside him, looking at him oh-so-silently. She glowed just a little bit, but it was Star. Samuel smiled, forgetting all he had thought and reaching down to pet the bird.

“At least I have you,” Samuel said, scratching the top of her head. Star closed her eyes and let out a smile, ruffling her wings and shaking her body. Samuel looked down at Star’s claws and saw a piece of paper wedged in between. Samuel raised his eyebrow.

“Hey, how’d this get here?” Samuel asked, gently taking the paper out of her claws. The paper looked like it had been torn out of a book (Wink wink), and it was blank, but when Samuel turned it around he saw a bunch of weird markings on it.

“What… is this?” Samuel asked Star. Star didn’t say anything. All she did was wink. Samuel gulped, looking at the weird scratches. It looked like it had been drawn on with a piece of flint, and there were many horizontal lines and dots, separated by vertical lines. But at the bottom of the page, it was signed with the symbol of a five-pointed star.

Samuel looked at Star with an agape mouth.

“Did you- did you do this?” Samuel asked with amazement. Star smirked and nodded eagerly. Samuel, astonished, began to walk away to the campfire, inspecting the weird markings with wonder.

“What could this mean?” Samuel thought as he sat down on a log. As he looked over it, trying to comprehend what it could’ve met, he felt someone peering over his shoulder.

“What do you want?” Samuel sneered with a glare.

“Nothing,” Ben replied, “Just curious. What you got there in your hand?”

“No idea. That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Samuel answered honestly. Samuel turned around and looked at Ben’s face. His eyes which once contained sparks of enthusiasm and joy had faded away, and his smile had disappeared. He looked all business.

“Doesn’t look like much to me,” Ben said as he stared into Samuel’s eyes. Ben just looked into his eyes for a bit, and Samuel squinted at him.

“What are you trying to do?” Samuel asked with a confused look on his face. Ben blinked his eyes, and that spark returned.

“Oh, well sorry about that! Heh,” Ben said with a grin, “I just think you had eye boogers on your face.”

Samuel rubbed his eye, and sure enough there was some crud there. Samuel flicked it away and thanked Ben, but couldn’t feel like Ben was looking into his eyes for some other reason.