- 28 -

Lilith bounded up the steps two at a time, Pandora following close behind. She wasn't sure why she was so excited to visit the first-class observation deck. How much better could it really be than the second-class version? Still, her heart had been beating faster ever since Pandora suggested they go.

Lilith pounced up onto the landing and looked around. A short wood-paneled hallway sat to her left. She skipped down it until she reached a large door at the end. Lilith swung the door open and stepped out into the open night air. She was worried it wouldn't live up to the expectations it had somehow garnered in her mind.

But it had all been worth it.

Brilliant lights shone down on Lilith from across the universe. She ran across the deck, eyes glued to the sky. The air burst from her lungs when she ran into the railing. She thought she had a few more steps before the edge. Gripping the railing tight in hand, she climbed up onto the bottommost rung, lifting herself just a few inches closer to the night sky.

"Be careful!" Pandora called from behind.

"Look at how clear the sky is tonight," Lilith said turning back.

Pandora was still in the doorway. She was so far behind considering the trip had been her idea. Lilith turned back to the sky and marveled at each light that broke up the sea of black surrounding it. How were there so many stars?

A hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back down to the deck. Slowly, Pandora loosened her grip, then said. "Please don't lean over the side like that. There's not much I can do to help if you fall overboard."

Lilith brushed past Pandora's concern. Her focus had been captured by the night. "Aren't you excited? There's so many more stars than usual."

Pandora raised an eyebrow, then cocked her head up to the side. "Are there?"

"Definitely!" Lilith points, trying to guide Pandora's eye from place to place across the night sky. "Look, there's Orion. Canis Major and Minor, with Monoceros in between."

Pandora's face scrunched up at the guided tour. Lilith sighed, but did understand. Even with a book illustrating the connections between the stars, constellations don't look like much. Without a guide, Lilith was doing little more than pointing and saying names.

"What I'm trying to say is I recognize a lot of stars. I would look up at them through my bedroom window each night. But there are even more in the spaces between. Stars and constellations I've only seen in books. I thought they were impossible to see without a telescope."

Pandora laughed, then leaned back against the railing. "I'm surprised you could see any stars at all. In my experience, Brittania only has two types of weather. Raining and about to rain."

"If you had stayed a little longer you would have seen snowing and about to snow."

Pandora giggled. "Damn, shame I missed it. Anyway, I'm sure the difference is just down to the light pollution from Lunden. Even though Coventry didn't have electricity it's close enough to Lunden to dim the sky a bit."

"Err, what I mean to say is... If I noticed the city's light washing out the night way out in the middle of nowhere, it must have been bad. Living in Lunden, I'm surprised you could see any stars at all." Pandora rushed through her explanation like she thought Lilith would be upset for being excluded. Even if she hadn't unknowingly been describing the same sky, Lilith would have still wanted her perspective. Learning how different people experience the world was exciting.

Pandora looked to the sky and her normal calm demeanor returned. "Eden's the same way. No stars at all... Better enjoy them while you can."

The beginnings of a smile formed on Lilith's lips and she turned back toward the sky. "I think I'll take that advice. After all, they're beautiful aren't they?"

"You are."

---

Did she just say...?

Lilith was certain she had misheard but Pandora's piercing blue eye had gone wide and a blush had grown across her face. She parted her trembling lips and then, regaining all her composure, said, "Look, a shooting star!"

Sure enough, A deep white line cut across the night sky like a scar. Lilith watched in wonder as it passed overhead and continued on the way they had come; towards Brittania.

I wonder if Fennel is watching the star too. I hope she's doing well.

Just as Lilith started to sink into her sorrow, Pandora placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Make a wish. Quick, before it disappears."

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A wish? If only they were real. Lilith could think of a million changes that could make her life better; she just couldn't hold out hope for any of them to come true. But looking back to the tender smile on Pandora's lips made her heart ache. Even if she didn't believe, what was the harm?

Lilith watched the streak of light as it sunk toward the horizon. I wish someone would love me for who I really am; know the truth and still accept me.

She finished her wish in time to watch the trail fall into the horizon and disappear. She turned back to Pandora and asked, "Do you think it landed near Brittania, or did it fly out past the edge of the world?"

Pandora brought a cigarette to her mouth and left it hanging from her lips. "If the legend is true, it would have to land somewhere on the earth or it couldn't be collected again. No one has ever made it past the edge after all."

"Collected?"

Pandora froze, a confused glare pointed at Lilith. The match she had lit hung just short of lighting her cigarette until it burned down into her fingers. "Ow, fuck!" She shook her hand against the cool night air. The jolt of pain looked to have returned her senses.

"Sorry, I've heard that one so many times I thought everyone knew it." Pandora took a second attempt at her cigarette; a puff of smoke evidence it was successful this time. "I guess the myths are different out this way."

"I've heard of making wishes when you see a shooting star, but I didn't know there was a story behind it. Will you tell me?" Lilith inched closer, instinctively rising to the tips of her toes. Letting her excitement show so openly— how must she look to Pandora? Probably like an annoying child.

"Story isn't the right word for it. There isn't any plot or characters. It's more like a rumor. There's a set of magic stones, seven of them apparently, spread all across the earth. If anyone can find them and collect them all in one place they can have any wish granted, but afterward, the stones rise into the sky and scatter across the earth again. Once hidden, they recharge their power waiting for the next person to collect them and start the cycle over. That's why we wish on shooting stars. Supposedly, it's one of the wishing stones returning to the earth, and if you make a wish before it's hidden again the wish will come true."

The backstory was almost as ridiculous as making the wish in the first place. If you needed to collect all the stones to get a wish, and they needed to recharge afterward why would seeing one-seventh of a drained stone have any power to change reality? But for some reason, Pandora had asked her to make a wish anyway.

"You don't believe any of that, do you?"

Pandora seemed to think it over before letting out a long string of smoke. "I don't know, maybe. When you kill things that don't make sense for a living your idea of what's impossible twists in on itself."

That was hard to argue with. The world was vast and full of phenomena that most people couldn't envision, let alone explain. Who was Lilith to write them off as impossible? She was just another anomaly living outside explanation.

"So what did you wish for then?" she asked.

Pandora turned away. "You're not supposed to say or it won't come true."

Lilith thought for a moment she had seen red on the hunter's face. Was Pandora blushing?

"But... I made a promise a long time ago. I said I would never lie about my feelings again." When Pandora turned to face Lilith, the blush on her face had grown deeper. She pulled the cigarette from her mouth and dropped it to the deck, stomping it out as she closed the distance between them.

"Lilith..." Pandora placed her hand on Lilith's cheek; the warmth of her fingers melting into cold skin. "I wished you would be my girlfriend."

Time stood still.

A thousand incomplete thoughts rushed through Lilith's mind before the world began to move again. Her chin was lifted into position. Pandora closed her eyes and leaned in, but stopped short. The warmth from each of the hunter's breaths tickled her skin. Their lips were so close, yet painfully far apart.

Lilith's heart beat so fast that it ached. She felt that if Pandora didn't kiss her soon she would die. The anticipation only made her heart beat faster. But then Pandora's lips drifted away. Not far, but in that moment millimeters felt like miles. Lilith's breath caught. Why? Was she hesitating? Had she changed her mind? She couldn't let this moment disappear.

Lilith pressed herself up onto the tips of her toes, closing the distance between their lips. At the moment of contact, hands wrapped around her lower back and pulled her up, locking the connection.

The cool metal of the railing pressed into Lilith's back as Pandora leaned into her. Even trapped in between, Lilith pulled against the firm muscle of Pandora's shoulders, desperate to somehow pull their bodies even closer.

For just a moment, Lilith's worries melted away. The fear, anxiety, and self-loathing all disappeared. There was only her, and Pandora. And she wanted it to stay that way. For the passion they felt to somehow last forever.

But then came the visions. Lilith saw herself standing at Pandora's side, only she wasn't fully there. She was a ghostly visage clinging to Pandora's right hand. And at her left was another woman, more solid than even Pandora herself appeared. A woman wearing a distinct pointed hat.

Lilith pushed Pandora away, breaking the kiss. She knew in an instant what had happened. It had to be an effect of her succubus heritage. Back when she had kissed Joshua she had envisioned their bodies wrapped together. She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but it was his truest desire; sex. Now the same thing had happened with Pandora. Lilith was sure she had just seen Pandora's ideal partner. She had seen Renna.

Pandora's lower lip quivered, then her head sank. She looked deflated. Lilith's heart dropped as she became aware of the look of horror on her face. A look that Pandora must be attributing to herself. Lilith tried to say something, anything, to clear up the misunderstanding but her voice wouldn't come. She felt locked in her body, unable to stop what was about to happen.

Pandora's voice came low and shaky. "You... You're right. That was stupid. I... I'm sorry." Then she turned and ran.

"Wait!" Lilith was finally able to squeak out, but it was too late. She tried to follow after but her limbs trembled, refusing to move forward. She had been paralyzed by the reminder of exactly what she was. It did make one thing clear. Lilith was sure now that Pandora didn't know about her. No hunter would willingly kiss a succubus.

As soon as Lilith regained control over her body, she rushed back to the room. She threw open the door ready to apologize, but Pandora wasn't there. And neither were her bags. Lilith collapsed onto the bed and curled up into a ball. She tried to tell herself that this was for the best, that she and Pandora could never be together. Really, it was good that this happened!

But the more she tried to convince herself, the easier the tears came.