Star-Charmed by Maya Verjee
Prologue
A girl was running through the woods, right to the edge of a cliff. She turned around and leaned back off the edge. Right before she hit the water below, she paused in mid-air. She floated a foot above the water, a triumphant look on her face.
“Yes!” she cried.
She dropped into the water, causing a small, rippling splash.
“I can use telekinesis on myself! I just need to concentrate.”
This girl’s name was Cae. She was a werecat (half cat, half human) with brown hair that had green highlights. Her eyes were a bright yellow like the sun.
Cae had many powers, telekinesis was just one of them. It had been nearly 15 years since a magical supernova formed her body from stardust and sent it to Earth. She had practiced and mastered every one of her powers. She had practiced her abilities of cloning, telekinesis, and teleportation, as well as her ability to manipulate electricity, fire, and water. She also had immortality. She was very excited for the day she officially became Earth’s heroine.
Cae waded out of the lake and conjured a flame with a flick of her wrist. She used it to dry off her short green dress and dark blue pants. After she had dried herself off as much as possible, she walked to the small cottage she had built for herself.
“I can’t wait for this month to end,” she sighed as she sat down on her bed.
Cae soon fell asleep, exhausted from that day’s training.
She had a bizarre dream. She was fighting someone who looked like her but with blonde hair. The blonde-haired girl seemed to have the same powers as Cae. But that was impossible, right?
Chapter 1
Cae woke up to someone screaming, “Cae! Cae, where are you?”
“I’m here, Nyx,” she said sleepily.
“Get dressed quickly! Someone’s set fire to the school!”
“What!? I’m coming!”
Cae had been protecting Earth for 100 years now, but she still looked like she was around 20 and had the agility of a teenager.
Nyx was her best friend — her only friend. Nyx was a human, so she got bullied by werewolves and werecats. That’s how Cae and Nyx had met. Nyx was getting bullied by a werewolf named Ein. Cae saw it and helped Nyx stand up to Ein. Nyx was forever grateful to Cae for that, and she always said she’d repay Cae someday.
Cae jumped out of bed, threw on her teal super suit, and ran downstairs. Nyx was waiting for her.
The two girls vanished in a puff of green sparkles and reappeared at the flaming school building. The English teacher, Ms. Chanelle, hurried up to them.
“Oh, Cae! Nyx!” she cried. “Thank goodness you’re here.”
“What happened, Ms. Chanelle?” asked Nyx.
“I don’t know,” the teacher replied.
Cae blasted water from her hands onto the school building. The flames gradually died down. Once they were fully gone, she turned to the other two.
“Did you see anyone do this?” she asked Ms. Chanelle.
“Now that you mention it,” Ms. Chanelle said, “someone who looked like you was running away from here a few seconds after the blaze started.”
Cae gasped. She remembered the dream she’d had so many times about a blonde-haired villain with Cae’s powers. Had the dreams been a warning? If so, this would be the toughest villain she’d ever face.
Chapter 2
“Which way did she go?” Nyx asked, bringing Cae out of her trance
“She went that way,” replied Ms. Chanelle, pointing towards the town.
“Come on, Nyx,” said Cae, pulling her friend in the direction Ms. Chanelle was pointing.
“Thank you,” Nyx called over her shoulder.
When the two girls got to the town, everything was blazing with fire. The girls were coughing from all the smoke.
“Nyx, get everyone out of here,” said Cae. “I’ll find the person who did this.”
“Be careful,” Nyx warned her friend.
The two separated. Cae looked all over the town for the girl she had seen in her dreams. In alleyways, shops, restaurants, and even near the fountain. Then, as she approached the flaming theater, she saw her.
The girl did indeed look like Cae but with noticeable differences. For one thing, this girl was a werewolf, not a werecat. She also had blonde hair instead of brown.
Even as she inched closer, the blonde-haired girl turned and saw her.
“Well, well, well,” she said softly. “Look who we have here, it’s Earth’s little hero.”
“Who are you?” Cae demanded. “What do you want?”
“My name is Holly, and I’ve come to claim Earth as mine,” said the girl.
“Why do you look like me?” Cae asked.
“Well, I’m like you. I was born from a nebula. You were born from a supernova, were you not?”
Cae was shocked. She thought she was the only star-charmed girl. Holly, however, clearly had the same powers as Cae. How would she defeat her?
Chapter 3
Cae’s shock must’ve shown on her face because Holly laughed.
“You thought you were the only special one?” she cackled. “Wow. You’re dumber than I thought.”
“Are there more of us?” asked Cae.
Holly lowered her eyes a bit.
“I don’t know,” she mumbled.
“Ha,” Cae smirked. “Who’s dumb now?”
“Hey, I knew about you,” Holly retorted. “And you didn’t know about me.”
“True,” said Cae, rolling her eyes.
“Let’s just get this over with, shall we?” said Holly, conjuring a flame.
Cae teleported to a small clearing away from the town so no civilians would get hurt accidentally. The trees whispered to her in the breeze as she waited for her opponent to find her.
“There you are,” said Holly, appearing before her.
“I’m ready,” said Cae.
“Good,” Holly smirked.
She hurled a fireball at Cae, who ducked just in time.
They fought back and forth constantly, throwing fireballs Cae was starting to get tired. Holly was a fearsome opponent. But then…
“Cae!” cried a voice suddenly.
Cae and Holly looked for the source. It was Nyx. She was running towards them.
“Nyx, get out of here!” Cae yelled desperately.
“No,” said Nyx firmly. “I wanna help.”
Holly, seizing her opportunity, threw another fireball at Cae. Nyx jumped in front of Cae. The force of the fireball flung her against a tree. She slid to the ground, unconscious, with her shirt flaming.
“Nyx!!” Cae cried. She rushed to her friend and doused her in water. The fire on her shirt was extinguished, but Nyx didn’t wake up.
Cae turned to face Holly, grief and anger written all over her face.
“What have you done!?” she shouted angrily.
Chapter 4
“It’s not my fault!” Holly shouted back. “She got in the way!”
Cae multiplied and attacked Holly from every side. Her clones were doing as much damage as possible to Holly, who seemed to have given up under the force of Cae’s clones.
The real Cae, the one with immortality, bent her head over Nyx’s chest. She could hear Nyx’s heart thumping a faint but steady beat.
She tried to revive her friend’s consciousness, but nothing worked. Tears were gushing out of her eyes like a waterfall. They landed on Nyx’s chest and ran down her body as Cae sobbed over her.
Then, Nyx’s body glowed a beautiful orange. Cae’s clones stopped beating Holly and they all watched in awe as Nyx’s body rose off the ground, emitting orange sparkles. As it came back down, Cae noticed something. Nyx had cat ears and a tail; she was a werecat!
As it rested back on the grass, Cae’s clones faded into the real Cae. She bent over Nyx’s chest — she heard a strong, steady heartbeat!
Cae stood up, her face shining with happiness, and once again doused Nyx with water.
Nyx stirred. Her eyes popped open and she sat up.
“Cae?” she said sleepily, looking up at her. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure,” said Cae. “But you’re alive!”
“Yeah, I guess I am,” said Nyx happily.
She stood up, and she and Cae walked over to where Holly knelt, defeated.
“I’m sorry, Nyx,” said Holly softly. “I meant to hurt Cae, not you.”
“Well, I’m glad you apologized at least,” said Nyx.
Cae teleported Holly to another planet in another galaxy so she would never hurt anyone on Earth ever again.
“I’m glad that’s over,” said Nyx.
“Me, too,” Cae replied.
“What now?” asked Nyx.
“Well, we need to put out the fires in the village.”
“Oh, right.”
“Come on!”
The two girls teleported to the village.
Cae stretched out her hands and closed her eyes. The flames froze, then slowly lifted into the air and shrank into a tiny fireball. The fireball floated down gently into the fountain and went out with a hiss.
“There,” said Cae. She turned around to see Nyx watching in awe.“What?” Cae asked, giggling.
“That. Was. AMAZING!!” Nyx shouted.
“Well, thank you,” said Cae, smiling.
The girls laughed. They went off into the village, arms linked.
Epilogue
It had been two months since Holly came to take over Earth. Life was good. Cae had many more friends who, little did she know, had a surprise planned for her.
“Cae! Cae! Where are you?” cried Nyx.
“I’m here, Nyx,” said Cae sleepily.
“Get dressed and come downstairs, quickly!”
“Why?”
“Just come!”
“Alright, alright.”
Cae got out of bed, put on a flowing green and blue dress, and put her hair up in a ponytail.
She hurried downstairs. The lights were turned off. As Cae turned them on…
“SURPRISE!!”
“W-what?”
All of Cae’s friends were there. Nyx was closest, holding a green-frosted, triple-tiered birthday cake with 117 turquoise candles.
“HAPPY 117th BIRTHDAY!!” everyone shouted.
Cae didn’t know what to say.“T-thank you e-everyone,” she stammered.
“Now blow out the candles and make a wish,” said Nyx.
“Honestly,” said Cae, “everything I could ever wish for is right here.”
“Awww,” said everyone.
They all surrounded Cae and hugged her tight.
Cae leaned into Nyx and sighed happily. “Thank you guys,” said Cae.
