Page 91 of Supernova

Millie squinted, but still her hands stayed around the mug. “That pretty bauble was not there the last time I saw this bracelet.” Her mouth quirked teasingly. “I’d almost forgotten about the boy I’d seen then, the one who fixed the clasp. Now that I recall his face…”

“I know,” said Nova, feeling heat rise up her neck. “It was Adrian Everhart, but I didn’t know it at the time. That’s just a coincidence.”

Millie chuckled. “Once you’ve seen as much history as I have, you won’t believe in coincidences anymore.” She took another drink of wine, this one almost a gulp, like she was fortifying herself.

She sighed and set the mug on the floor beside her chair.

Finally, she held out her palm.

With a twinge of nervousness, Nova dropped the bracelet into her hand.

Millie jolted upright. She glanced at Nova with surprise. It was a brief look, and without explanation, she cupped her other hand over the star and shut her eyes.

Nova watched with mounting curiosity as Millie’s features went through a series of transformations. Sometimes her brows would rocket upward, other times they would furrow deeply. Sometimes her lips would move as if she were speaking to herself, and sometimes she would laugh inexplicably or clench her teeth with concern.

Nova said nothing through it all. After the first minute, she pulled a rickety wooden chair from the room’s corner and sank down onto it, fingers drumming on her thighs.

Five full minutes passed before Millie’s eyes popped open, slightly unfocused. She seemed to be waking from a bewildering dream as she scanned the room.

“Well,” she said. “That answers one question at least.”

Nova leaned forward.

“You sense a connection between this bracelet and your uncle’s helmet because they aredeeplyconnected. They were crafted from the same raw material, taken from the same source.”

Nova peered at Millie’s hands, still clasped around the star, shielding it from view. “And that material is what, exactly?”

Millie giggled. “The stuff of stars,” she whispered, almost mockingly, and Nova realized that she must have seen some of Nova’s conversation with Adrian as they discussed the impossible star in his jungle.

She bristled. She knew it wasn’t a star. Stars were suns, billions of light-years away.

This was a fancy marble.

But what was she supposed to call it?

“You seem skeptical,” said Millie. Cradling the bracelet in one hand, she bent down and picked up her wine with the other. “Tellme, Miss Artino. Are you familiar with the Monteith Theory of Prodigy Origin?”

Nova’s skepticism grew. “Let me think. Is that the one that says all prodigies are descendants of ancient gods? Or that we came here aboard alien spaceships? Or, no, no, that’s the one that has something to do with radioactive sludge, right?”

“Actually, Dr. Stephan Monteith was an astrophysicist who speculated that all prodigy abilities are the result of our physical systems reacting to a cocktail of biological chemicals and the stardust that lies dormant in our physical makeup.”

Nova snorted. “Stardust. Right. I’ll go with the sludge, myself.”

“Don’t be so quick to judge. I have traced the history of several prodigy artifacts back to the very star from which their mystical abilities seem to have originated.” Millie leaned forward. “Consider that every chemical in our world is formed from stars that long ago exploded. From the salt in our oceans to the cobalt in that teacup’s paint.”

“You can’t be namedNovaand not know about supernovas,” Nova said, growing weary of this conversation. “Are you going to tell me about the bracelet or—”

“I am, if you care to listen.”

Nova bit the inside of her mouth.

“According to Monteith,” Millie continued, pausing to take another sip before going on, “the particles from one particularly powerful supernova reached our solar system many centuries ago. They came to our planet—an invisible invasion—settled upon our dirt and in our oceans, and took up space in the very air we breathe. These particles, thisenergy, would become the substance that your father could detect in our world. This raw energy is everywhere, but only visible to a lucky few.”

Finally something Nova could relate to. “The energy my father could see,” she said, scooting to the edge of her seat. “I saw it, too. Or, I think I did. When the star first attached itself to the bracelet. And again, once, when I put the helmet on. Like, beams of light, all around me.”

“Now, consider,” said Millie, “that this energy isn’t simply in the air. It is inside us. Every human being on this planet has trace amounts from this supernova inside of them, and that raw energy contains the potential for great power, but only if it’s awakened by a chemical reaction. That was Monteith’s theory. Everyone has the potential to become a prodigy, but for those who are not born with this inherent power already awakened, their powers will only reveal themselves in the face of great trauma. Monteith believed the chemicals released into the bloodstream during extreme duress create the conditions necessary to awaken our latent abilities.”

“Ooookay,” said Nova, trying to disguise her disbelief. “So a big star exploded, its tiny little particles crashed down to earth, and now we all have the potential to be superheroes? Sure. Great.” She pointed at Millie’s clasped hands. “What does this have to do with my bracelet? Are you telling me thatthisis the central core of that star that exploded or something?”

---