The wedding venue was beautiful. It was outside the rebuilt Blackthorne Academy in the grass. There were chairs set up and a with white petals spread on either side and simple white cloth spread across in a looping pattern. In short, it was simple but pretty.

The ceremony was beautiful. She found it kind of ironic yet meaningful that they were keeping the ceremony in the place where they fell in love. She was thinking about the past about how sad her mom must have been when her dad had died and how long she must have felt that way and suddenly Astrid’s face was wet.

“Hey… you alright?” asked Lia.

“Yeah, I am happy for her,” said Astrid.

Ben sidled up next to her with a smile on his face as Astrid wiped away tears.

“I suspect those tears are more than tears of happiness for your parents,” said Ben.

“How… how did you know?” asked Astrid.

“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” asked Ben.

“Yeah… but it can’t happen. It’s not safe for either of us,” said Astrid. “At least, not until this is over.”

“But you’re not happy with him,” said Ben looking in the direction of Luis at their table. “Are you?”

“I am… being with Luis is just easy. With Nightfall, everything is so complicated and scary but also new and fresh,” said Astrid. “And he understands me. Nightfall, I mean. My sister mentioned something like that earlier.”

Astrid checked out most of the night not wanting to exert too much energy as she was still in recovery. She leaned against a tree outside fiery blue eyes watching the crowd dancing.

The night ended later than expected and her muscles were aching so much by the time she made it to the floor that she shared with her sister in their new house.

“Are you okay?” asked Cammie.

“I’m fine,” said Astrid. “Tired, is all. How about you?”

“Tired… but at least we will have the house to ourselves for these few months,” said Cammie.

“Actually, you will have the house to yourself,” said Astrid. “For more time than me. I plan on heading out soon as soon as all my injuries have finished healing.”

It was then, at that moment, that Cammie saw her scars as she reached for a t-shirt. Astrid could see it on her face when she saw the many, cuts, bruises and burns that littered her body.

“When you said, this wasn’t the first time a terrorist organization threatened you or came after you,” said Cammie. “I did not exactly think that they got to you and did these things to you. Have-have you talked to anyone about it?”

“Easton knows and so does his whole unit, my partner, Ben and well, Joseph does too but I don’t really like to talk about it brings back painful memories,” said Astrid.

“That’s not healthy,” commented Cammie, sitting up in her bed. Now, in the light of their bedroom. She could see the many marks and lacerations on her back from the torture, she winced imagining her sister in that situation. “When you said this wasn’t the first time that an organization has threatened you or targeted you. I was hoping you weren’t telling the truth. You don’t even have to tell me but how many times has a rogue organization threated you?”

“I’m not sure you really want to know the number,” said Astrid. “But this is probably their fiftieth attempt to come after me. They nearly got lucky on their fortieth.”

“Wait, you got sniped,” said Cammie.

She knew she was not supposed to tell anyone this, but she was tired of having secrets within her family. She wanted Cammie to know about what happened.

“If I turn around, do you promise not to freak out on me?” asked Astrid hesitantly.

“I… I don’t know if I can promise that. I mean did just learned that my sister got sniped,” said Cammie. “I will try my best not to freak out, though, I promise.”

Astrid turned around to reveal the bullet scar really close to her heart. Cammie stepped forward and ran her hand along the scar. She suddenly felt so bad at being mad at her sister initially for leaving.

“The bullet hit actually three inches above my heart,” said Astrid. “The doctors say the bullet just missed my heart.”

“Does it still hurt?” asked Cammie.

“Not that much anymore,” said Astrid.

“Ari… I’m sorry I was ever mad at you about leaving.”

“Cammie don’t apologize to me. I deserve what you said. When I came home, I intended on staying but the assignment I had worked on came for me,” said Astrid as she pulled on her t-shirt. “I… also didn’t want to come home after what had happened. It felt impossible for me to breath or do anything. I guess I was stuck in the trauma of the kidnapping. I don’t know.”

“Hey…” said Cammie as she gently turned her sister around and then pulled her into a hug. “If you ever need anyone to listen to what happened, I am always here for you. And… it’s okay if you needed some space after that. After what happened with the Circle for me, I couldn’t sleep in my room. I couldn’t sleep at all. I would roam the halls of the school. I completely understand not being able to return. Just know… that we are here for you.”

“Thank you,” said Astrid. “I mean it. I am so lucky to have a sister like you.”

She pulled the cover over shoulders and turned off their lamp by their beds with a smile on her face. For the second time now, she had a sleep without nightmares.

“What are you doing up early?” asked Cammie.

“I didn’t feel like sleeping in,” said Astrid. “Did you sleep well last night?”

Astrid was wearing black and white striped t-shirt with white polka dots and was wearing light blue denim jeans. Her dark brown with hair with purple highlights was loose today with hanging over shoulders.

“Thanks for telling me last night about what happened to you,” said Cammie.

“It was about time I told someone,” said Astrid. “Do you mind being at home alone for a while? I have a check-up with Dr. Daniels.”

“Wait a minute, your physician is Ben’s dad,” said Cammie.

“Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?” asked Astrid as she pulled her jacket on. “I will be gone for a couple of hours because I also have physical therapy.”

“Hey… before you go,” said Cammie.

She hated her doctor’s appointments but at least Dr. Daniels being someone she was familiar and comfortable with, made the process easier.

“Good morning, Astrid,” said Dr. Daniels. “How are you feeling? You haven’t had any symptoms lately, have you?”

Right… the symptoms. When sentinels used their abilities below the healthy limits, we get sick. Like illness sick. It was the equivalent of the human flu.

“No symptoms,” said Astrid.

“Great,” said Dr. Daniels. “Is your bullet wound bothering you? Are you in any pain currently?”

She again shook her head.

“Good,” said Dr. Daniels. “You are recovering fairly well. I am glad you got that much needed rest. I know I can’t convince you to do nothing, so wherever your next adventure takes you, I wanted to wish you good luck.”

She came home around lunch time with some food she picked up from her favorite restaurant. Her sister had left a note that she gone to class.

She plugged in the flash drive that she had gotten from his office. She only had pieces of what their plan was going to be. Her cousin, Alex, lived with them when they were not on a mission.

“You know… I think found something that might interest you,” said Alex. He was keeping an eye on what was going on Montrovia. “But you would have to come here for me to explain what is going on?”

“I can’t leave until next week, Al,” said Astrid. “I got cleared by Dr. Daniels today, but I don’t think I can leave this week.”

“Aunt Katherine and Joseph are on the honeymoon, right?” asked Alex.

“Yeah, a month… I promised Cammie that I would stay for at least a week before I got back to work,” said Astrid.

“Makes sense,” said Alex. “Well, come whenever you can make it.”

Her sister texted that she would be staying on campus, so she offered to come meet her sister’s friends on campus. She pulled on some leggings and a breath-on pullover hoodie while she worked on decoding the flashdrive.

The week went by fast and before she knew it. Her sister agreed to let her get back to work.

“Call me,” said Cammie. “I don’t want a call from the hospital again telling you got severely injured or something like that… this phone can’t be tracked. So call or text, whatever suits you but do manage to do it.”

“I promise,” said Astrid.

“You should also tell Luis and Nightfall you are leaving temporarily to take care of the explosive situation,” said Cammie.

To clarify, Cammie’s real name was Cameron. Cammie was only a nickname that Astrid had adapted over the weeks they had been together.

“I texted Nightfall,” said Astrid with a sigh. “He wished me luck and promised to watch over the city and not to overuse his powers because it’s the only way for us to stay under the radar for now. I texted Luis… he hasn’t responded back.”

“He will,” said Cammie. “Good luck out there and umm… don’t die.”

“I’ll come back in one piece,” said Astrid.