Fall Out Boy Is Family

I couldn’t say anything. The feel of it had me frozen. It was like he was actually holding a welder to my neck. Pete’s eyes were closed tight, so I guess he hurt as well. After about five seconds, though, it was done, and both of us started breathing a little heavily in shock and relief. Well, I don’t know what he was feeling, but I was definitely feeling relief.

“What did you do?” I asked him quietly after a couple seconds.

He swallowed. “Look in the mirror.”

I did as told—after giving him a weird look—and walked over to a mirror over a dresser, switching a light on as I did so.

“Uh, Pete, I look the same as always.” Same straight black hair, same pale skin, same ridiculously skinny body, same mismatched eyes.

“Look at the back of you neck.”

Okay, then. I turned around, swept my hair aside and blinked a few times to make sure I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing.

“Pete…why do I have a silver spot on the back of my neck?” And that was exactly what I had. It was about the size of a nickel, and smack dab in the center of the back of my neck. Silver, shiny, smooth and completely out of place.

“It will let me know things about you. It sort of…connects us. But it’s not complete until I show you the last thing I said that you’d like.”

I let my hair down, turned the light back off and rejoined Pete on the bed. “Okay. Hit me with it.”

He smiled gently at me, then opened the window. The screen was out because I think someone had meant to put an air conditioner in, but forgot about it or decided to do it tomorrow—or is it today? I don’t remember how long I was with Pete.

Pete reached out the window, and just let his hand sit there, palm up.

Beginning to feel awkward after maybe half a minute of silence, I asked him carefully, “What are you doing?”

He glanced at me, then looked back out the window, at the stars. “You’ll see.”

I sighed, but watched the stars with him. Then, I started to frown. “Pete, I think I
just saw a shooting star.”

“Did you?” he asked, not sounding surprised at all.

“Did you see it?”

“No, but I think the question is, did YOU see it?”

I blinked. “Yes. Of course I did.”

He laughed very quietly. “Okay. If you’re so sure. Just watch some more, and tell me if you can find your ‘shooting star’ again.”

I looked back at the heavens, and gasped. “Pete, is that a meteor?”

He smiled. “Depends on who you are, and what you believe.”

The shooting star was getting bigger and brighter. It could only be a meteor coming down to Earth. Was Pete summoning it? Why would he think that I’d like to be blown up by some out-of-this-world rock?

Wait a minute…

“Pete, that isn’t…”

“Isn’t what?” He didn’t even glance at me, just kept watching the shooting star/meteor.

“Is that a fairy?”

He shrugged. "Depends on who you are, and what you believe.”

This guy was unbelievable.

“Why are you summoning a fairy?” I asked, nervous yet excited.

“You’ll see.”

“You’re a bundle of help.”

He smirked, but still watched the progress of the brightly glowing silver ball shooting toward us.

“God help me…” I whispered, and backed away from the window as the fairy came close. I couldn’t see anything in the shooting ball of light. Nothing that looked like Tinkerbell. I shut my eyes when the light became to bright, and even covered my face with my hands while backing right into the wall. I stood there for maybe ten seconds before I heard Pete say, “Sam, it’s okay. You can open your eyes now.”

I did so slowly, and peeked through my fingers like window blinds.

“Oh…my…gosh…” I said slowly, taking my hands away from my face and just staring at what lay in Pete’s hands.

She was a gorgeous little thing. Her hair, in dark blue waves and ringlets cascaded over her tiny shoulders like little rivers down to her calves. She was probably about four inches tall, and every molecule in those four inches was packed with beauty. Her skin was pale but had a silver look to it, obviously not human. Her features were…elfish. There was no other way to describe them, except for beautiful. Her wings looked translucent and smoke-like, like they weren’t actually there but just some illusion. She wore a loose slightly tattered dress that just covered the tops of her thighs. It had a bunch of strings all overlapped at the top that held it onto her. It rippled whenever she moved, and dark blue slippers that matched her hair enveloped her feet. They looked sort of like moccasins, but they looked good.

“Isn’t she pretty?” Pete asked me, motioning for me to come back to the bed.

“She’s gorgeous,” I said back, and crawled to my position across from him. “Does…does she have a name?”

Pete nodded. “Starling.”

It fit her. She was looking at me inquisitively with deep blue-purple-silver eyes that seemed to hold the universe in them.

“Can…can I…hold her?”

Pete nodded. “She’s yours, now. She’ll be with you so you can communicate with me at all times, but neither of you can reach me without the other. So…”

He pulled something out from under his pillow and passed it to me. I took it and studied it by the light from the moon and the stars.

“It’s a locket,” I said in wonder, taking in the sleek silver chain with the large heart with hinges on it.

He nodded again. “It will be Starling’s home.”

Now her eyes were closed, and she was starting to snuggle up on Pete’s hand.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he said softly to her. He tapped the middle of her back and she stubbornly kept her eyes closed. “Come on. You can’t fall asleep now. I know it was a long journey, but you need to stay awake just a little longer. Two minutes, okay?”

“Does she understand you?” I asked, while trying to pick the locket open.

“No duh, dumbass,” I heard in my head, and saw Starling staring at me with her unfathomable eyes.

“Oh. So you’ve got a sense of humor too, eh?” I thought in my head but said nothing.

“And what if I do?” I heard in reply.

I dropped the locket and said out loud, “You can hear my thoughts?”

“That’s how she communicates,” Pete told me while he finally got Starling to stand up again. She had a faint silvery glow emanating from her that had faded when she tried to go to sleep.

“Well, I still want to hold her.”

Pete smiled warmly at me and held out his hand a little, with Starling standing like a perfect miniature model on top. I moved closer and put my head next to Pete’s sliding my hand palm-up over his so Starling could stop onto my fingers no problem.

Flash!

My eyes were blinded for a moment, then I heard a laugh. It was different then Pete’s, but familiar.

“Patrick! You ass!” Pete proclaimed, using the hand that wasn’t holding Starling to cover his eyes.

“Pat? Is that you?” I asked, doing the same as Pete. “If it is, you’re positively dead.” Then, my heart froze. He had just seen Starling.

If I’m not mistaken, this means deep shit.