Reaching The Stars

A/N: Well, folks, here's the latest installment of 'Reaching the Stars'. This is where the story begins to take a darker turn, and with the advent of the next chapter, you'll learn plenty more about our hero. As always, don't forget to review! Comments and criticisms are always appreciated.

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: Just to keep all the bases covered, Pembroke-style, I don't own V.C. Andrews.


Reaching The Stars
Chapter Eight: Light Star, Dark Star


Christina slowly opened her eyes, her head spinning and her body sore and aching all over. Rising to sit, she rubbed her backside and realized she was sitting in an elegant mahogany canopy bed.

“I was beginning to think you’d never wake up,” a voice said to her. She turned to her left and beheld the woman she had seen with Kimberly and Tessara.

“…Alanna?”

“Yeah, Christina, it’s me,” she replied. “Kimberly should be back soon. She was getting worried about you when Jack called her to talk about something.”

“Did she mention what?”

Alanna shook her head. “Julie just told her to see Jack as soon as she was able to walk.” She chuckled once, the smile on her face fast fading.

“How did you know about this place?”

“Through a friend in the company,” Alanna said. “Pembroke Enterprises has a ‘No Secrets’ policy for all employees…”

Christina nodded. “I know. Jack’s told me as much.”

Alanna grinned. “Shortly after Kimberly changed locations, I was hired on to replace her. Some of her old co-workers were still there, and, knowing me through her, made me feel welcome.” She sighed. “One day when we were at lunch, one of her friends brought up her relationship with Julie. Kimberly never wanted to talk about it, and I respected that, but at the same time I wanted to know why she never talked about Julie.”

“What did Kimmy’s friends say?”

“They took me to Julie. She openly and honestly answered all my questions.” Alanna looked away. “Hearing about this place and the things that went on here made me curious. It haunted my dreams, took up my thoughts. It wasn’t long before I went behind Kimmy’s back and asked Julie to take me here.”

“And…?”

Alanna shivered. “It chills me to say, but I’ve never felt so liberated.” When Christina didn’t press her with another question, she went on. “In my life, I’ve always had to take the initiative in any given situation. The guys that I went out with before I came out were pretty inept when it came to pleasing a woman.” She grinned. “To be honest, I’ve never felt so great.”

“You don’t think any less of Julie, do you?”

Alanna snorted. “Why would I? Normally, Julie isn’t the reckless type. She’s told me as much. She’s also confided in me before that she’s too cautious in and out of work. The Nebula is the only place where she can let her hair down.”

Christina smiled. “What about Kim?”

“I don’t think any less of her, either. Kimmy became the one to take initiative when I met her, and I’ve never, ever seen her show any sign of weakness.” Alanna smiled inwardly. “I’m glad that she’s there to take the plunge instead of me, but it’s also good to know that someone can overpower her.”

There was a knock at the door.

“It’s open,” Alanna called out. The door slowly swung open and Kimberly and Julie stepped into the room.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re awake,” Kimberly said, rushing to hug Christina. “I was getting really worried.”

“I’m okay,” Christina said, “though I feel like I’ve been through the wringer.”

“Your first time here will feel that way,” Kimberly said with a smile. “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“Kimmy…”

Kimberly turned to look at Alanna. “Alanna, I’m sorry. I never wanted you to know…”

“I work in Pembroke Enterprises. I would’ve found out sooner or later,” she said with a shrug and smiled. “I don’t think any less of you.”

“Where’s Jack?”

“He’s upstairs in his office right now,” Julie replied. “He offered Kimberly what you needed to decipher everything, but she turned it down.”

“It’s not my right to know, much as I’d like to,” Kimberly said honestly. “He wasn’t sure if you wanted to talk to him, which is why he called me.”

Christina nodded and tried to move off the bed, but she couldn’t move. She looked around sheepishly. “Can you guys help me up? My legs feel like gelatin.”

Julie smirked. “After what went on downstairs, I wouldn’t be surprised.”


* * * * *


Jack sat at his desk, cradling a silver photo frame in his hands. In it was a picture of a smiling young woman in a sparkling blue dress and a diamond tiara, her smile as vibrant as the sparkles on her dress and the diamonds on her tiara. He sighed, his thumb brushing over the hand of the young woman. He looked where his finger passed over and looked at the lone sparkle of gold on the woman’s hand that the flash of the camera caught.

Reluctantly, he set the frame back on his desk, setting it beside a small square frame of a little girl that shared the same vibrant smile as the young woman. He stared at the brown eyes of the little girl longingly, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He set the photo back down beside the silver frame and got up to walk to the balcony, still topless from earlier.

“It’s unlocked,” he called out as he opened the balcony doors and looked out at the sleepy city. He heard the door creak open and close.

“They can stay,” Jack said, still not turning to face them.

“…How did you know Kimmy and Julie were with me?”

“You needed help to walk,” Jack replied matter-of-factly, still looking out at the city. “I’m sure you just got up and you’re still feeling sore.”

Christina blushed as she sat down on the black couch near his desk. She looked out the open balcony doors at Jack and gasped as she noticed the large black tribal tattoos on his back.

“I’ve never…”

“No. No one outside of the Nebula has ever seen them before,” Jack replied. “Well, no one alive, anyway.” He took a deep breath and turned to face the three women. “Look, Christina, I’m really sorry about what happened down there. I knew you were coming, I knew that you would’ve persuaded Kimberly to let you come here.” He looked at his feet as he leaned on the rail. “I should’ve just let you pass…”

“…And let everyone else take their grabs, Jack?” Julie piped up. “Jack, you’ve never doubted yourself before. You did the right thing to single Christina out.”

“She still shouldn’t have come,” Jack continued. “I could’ve just given Kimberly the decrypting program…”

“…And Christina would have found out about this place, anyway, and would have come herself,” Kimberly finished. “And then what you said to Christina earlier would have been true.”

“I know!” he exclaimed angrily. “…I know. It’s just…” He crossed his arms. “This was something that Elizabeth wasn’t accustomed to, either. I never wanted to make that mistake again.”

Christina just happened to glance at Julie as something in her eyes flickered. “Who’s Elizabeth?”

“Elizabeth was my first serious girlfriend and my first wife,” Jack replied. “She and I were friends for as far back as I can remember. My mother and her parents often thought we’d get married and have kids.” He walked over to his desk and picked up the silver picture frame. “Then my father was adamant that he, my mother and I move out of Pembroke Manor, to live our lives outside of Uncle Kenneth’s shadow.”

“There was no love lost between our father and his mother when he agreed to let them go,” Julie chimed in. “He fully respected Jack’s father’s wishes.”

“I moved back to Pembroke Manor when I finished high school, two years after my parents died.” He put the picture frame down. “Elizabeth and I were reunited again, but not before finding out that she and Michael had been an item…”


* * * * *


Christina stared hard at the jewel case she held in her hand. This is the key to Jack’s entire life, she thought. Her face screwed up in annoyance. She let out a low, throaty noise.

“You’ll understand in time, Christina,” Kimberly said from the driver’s side of the car. “You may not see it now, but Jack’s doing the right thing. He’s giving people jobs and donating to charities and societies that need the money.”

“I don’t know,” Christina said warily. She still couldn’t get over the heated argument that occurred only minutes ago…


* * Begin Flashback * *


“I have a four-year-old daughter.”

“You have a daughter?”

“Yes,” Jack replied. “Her name is Karen-Elizabeth Pembroke-Ainsdale.” He looked at Christina, chestnut eyes firm and stern. “Michael is the only person unaware of her existence, but if word got out that she’s my child, he could use her to blackmail me to get the fortune.”

“You’re keeping her in hiding to keep seventy billion dollars in your pocket?”

Kimberly tried to quell the rising in her friend’s voice. “Christina, you’re making it sound too harsh…”

“I thought you cared more about people than money!”

“Of course I do!” he shouted. “I care more about my daughter than I care about myself. I care about you more than I care about myself.” He shook his head angrily and turned around to lean on the balcony rail. “You know my history, Christina. My uncle knew that I deserved to own anything with the Pembroke name on it. I never expected to inherit it, never even wanted it initially.” He took a deep breath then continued. “I always thought that because I was his only nephew, he invited me to that conference out of respect to his only sister, but I was wrong.

“For better or for worse, I am the leader of the largest company in the world. I know that with this money, I can give homeless people shelter, can give people living in fear some ease at night, even give a kid that doesn’t have the internet the opportunity to finish a school project. My uncle started that trend, and I intend to continue it.”

“But what about your daughter?”

“Karen is my weakness, Christina. If Michael ever found out about her, he’d threaten her to get to me. My uncle’s company would go to ruin if I gave up everything I hold right now…”

Christina stood with a bit of a quake in her legs. “You’d call your own daughter a weakness?”

Julie put a warning hand on Christina’s shoulder. “Christina, calm down.”

“I thought you were the nicest person I’ve ever met, Jack, but what you’ve said tonight has to be the most insensitive, cold-hearted…”

“Christina, that’s enough!”

The shout slashed across the room like a scythe in a wheat field. Christina stood, stunned, as Jack leveled his crimson gaze right at her, breathing heavily. There was something suddenly different about Jack, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but every alarm in her body was blaring, warning her of imminent danger.

“Kimberly, the three of you should leave,” Julie said quickly. Christina thought she detected the slightest hint of fear in her voice. “You have to leave now.”

Alanna looked to Jack, and back to Julie. “You’re sure? You’ll be okay?”

Julie nodded and quickly ushered the three women out of Jack’s office. Christina could still feel Jack’s laser-like stare, and how it reminded her of Andarius…


* * End Flashback * *


“There was something scary about him,” Christina said as the final recollections faded away from her mind’s eye. She caught Kimberly and Alanna glancing at each other with worried looks. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Kimberly replied. “We’re just worried about Julie, that’s all.”

Christina looked from one friend to another. “Why? What’s up with Julie?”

Once more, the two women sitting in the front seat exchanged looks.

“What is it, Kimberly?”

“There’s something I want you to look at once we’ve installed that program into the computer at home,” Kimberly said with a sad sigh. “It’s about Jack and Julie.” She stopped at a red light. “Let’s stop talking about it, please. I don’t want to think about it.”

Alanna reached out and gently laid her hand on Kimberly’s shoulder. “She’ll be fine, Kimmy, you’ll see with your own eyes tomorrow.”

Christina’s eyes widened, suddenly realizing, after hearing Alanna’s words, why she was so scared just before they left The Nebula. Jack’s eyes turned from brown to red when he yelled at me…


* * * * *


“Jack, she didn’t mean what she said.”

“I know, Julie,” Andarius replied. “I know.”

“Then why don’t you revert back?”

Andarius was silent for a moment, his crimson eyes glancing at her briefly. “I can’t right now. I’m still mad at myself for the decisions I’ve made.”

“You can be mad at yourself as your normal self, not as Andarius. If you keep it up, you’ll tear the place apart.”

Andarius’ body seemed to relax as he sighed.

“See?” She walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders and chuckled. “It’s good to know that I’ve never lost my calming touch.”

Jack looked at her with a mischievous grin, a sparkle in his chestnut eyes. “Liz was better.”

She slapped him on the shoulder playfully. “Yeah, that’s because you loved her. You and I are still joined in a way that can never be sundered.”

He sniggered. “You make it sound like incest out of a V.C. Andrews novel, Julie.” He straightened up. “You’re right, though. Uncle Kenneth did the right thing letting us do what we did.”

“It’s getting late, Jack,” Julie said with a comforting smile. “You should probably head over and give Karen a goodnight kiss, hmm?”


* * * * *


Christina stayed up all night, poring over each and every file on each and every folder on the three discs she had been given earlier that day. Kimberly installed the decryption program when they got home, and Christina’s eyes remained glued to the monitor as she read every journal entry and watched every video. Kimberly walked up to her in a fluffy white terry robe and set a steaming mug of chicken noodle soup on a coaster by the keyboard for her.

“How’s your research going?” Kimberly asked with a smile. She glanced at the clock on the wall over the computer desk. “It’s three-thirty in the morning, you know.”

Christina bit her lip. “Now I feel like a total idiot.”

“Chrissy, you need to relax. It’s okay to have your doubts about somebody. Hell, I know I did when I was going out with Julie.”

A spark of recollection flickered in Christina’s eye. “That reminds me, you said earlier that you wanted to show me something?”

Kimberly froze and her face nearly drained of color. “Yes, I do,” she said gravely. “Open up that folder titled, ‘Project Dark Star’.”

Christina found the appropriate folder and revealed a series of numerically categorized files. “These are all sound files.”

“They’re voice logs,” Kimberly corrected. “Click on that first one, Log 081620XX.”

Christina double-clicked the first file and her media player activated…


* * *


This is the first of many logs of a project that I volunteered to be a part of, known as Project Dark Star, or the Hyde Surfacing Program. I will describe in this initial log entry all that has been told to me by my uncle, Kenneth Pembroke.
The aim of this project is to see if this project would be useful for rehabilitative purposes on psychotic killers and other possibly imbalanced criminals by manifesting their darkest thoughts and inner voices and isolating those thoughts from the actual person, if we are able to.
What we will attempt to do is bring the figurative Edward Hyde of the subjects, myself and one other unknown to me, into existence as an alternate personality through hypnosis; something along the lines of induced multiple personality disorder. At that point, the hypnotist will attempt what was described to me as a ‘personality switch’. This personality switch is a figurative tripwire in my mind that will trigger a switching of personas upon reaching a certain chemical, physical, emotional and mental limit in my body. Supposedly, the aim of this first session, which will begin once I have finished my recording, is to manifest my own Hyde, as I’ll call it for now, and thus create a personality switch.
I must say that I’m quite nervous. The only instances of people with multiple personality disorder I have seen have been on television, crime dramas specifically. They are fine one moment, and when pressured, they become this other, most of the time more aggressive, person. Despite my uneasiness, Uncle Kenneth has told me that this first session is necessary so that we can establish a switch and work to avoid tripping it.
Aside from unease, I feel…excited. I’ve always been behind the one-way glass when I observed these projects, and now I know what it feels like to be on the other side. I suppose there is some extent of danger here, seeing as we’re bringing out my Hyde, but I knew what I was getting into when I asked to volunteer for this…


* * *


“What does that mean?” Christina asked as she switched the computer’s media player off.

Kimberly said nothing. “I’d tell you to listen to more, but you have to turn the computer off, Chrissy. It’s almost four, and you’ll only get six hours of sleep if you’re lucky.”

Christina yawned. “You’re right, Kimmy. Let’s go…”

The lights flickered, and the entire apartment was shrouded in darkness.

“Chrissy?”

“Dammit!” shouted Christina, her voice mixed with annoyance and fear. “Stupid circuit breaker’s gone on the fritz again.” She found the top drawer of the desk and pulled out the flashlight, turning it on and waving the beam around the apartment.

The two girls jumped when they heard a shrill tone.

“Jeezus!” Kimberly said with a start. “That’s your phone, Chrissy.”

Christina nodded and got up, aiming the flashlight on her purse on the couch and picking it up before the voice mail got it.

“Sarah, it’s three in the morning! You’d better have a good reason for calling!”

“I know very well what time it is, Christina.”

Christina froze, her blood chilling. “K-K-Kevin?”

“Ahh, so you remember my voice,” the slightly garbled tone said, “I just wanted to call to let you know I’m back in town. Maybe one day, sometime soon, I hope, we could meet up and talk about…” There was a brief silence. “…Old times.”

Hang it up! Get that voice away from you! He raped you! Her inner voice screamed out at her, but her ear was glued to the phone.

“Kevin,” she said with a shaky breath, “go away. I don’t want to see you. Never call me again.”

“I’m afraid that’s not an option for me, Christina,” Kevin said calmly. “You see, because of you and your friends, the cops found me out. Didn’t your friends ever tell you that I was arrested and put to trial?”

Christina’s skin drained of color. “…No.”

“They never told you that I was put away?”

She shook her head. “Why wouldn’t they tell me?”

“Ask them tomorrow, Christina,” Kevin suggested. “I’m sure they’ll be able to give you the answers you want. Now, I better put the power back on in your building. You need to have your alarm set to go to work tomorrow, don’t you?”

There was silence on the other end of the line, and immediately, the power came back. Kimberly gasped when she saw Christina’s ashen face fixed with fear. She immediately ran to her and held her close.

“It’s okay, Christina,” Kimberly said. “I heard the whole thing. I won’t let that bastard get near you.”

Christina relaxed against Kimberly, sobbing uncontrollably and holding her roommate tightly. “Don’t let him get me, please, Kimmy. Don’t let him come.”

“I’ll call the Shaky Java and the others first thing in the morning,” Kimberly said. “Including Jack.”

Christina nodded. She wanted him to hold her now more than ever. “Yes,” she whispered into Kimberly’s shoulder. “…And Jack.”

=[ End of Chapter ]=

A/N: Ooh, I love throwing crap like this into the mix! For the next few chapters, I'm going to be starting them off with a log entry, similar to the one found in this chapter. You know, just to keep things unsettling. As we go on, we'll learn more about Jack, Julie, and who Andarius and Tessara are. Reviews keep me writing! Hope to hear from me again soon!