Page 36 of Saving Stella

Stella did enjoy the evening, and she got to know more of Charley’s cousins, aunts, uncles, and extended family. She also no longer felt eyes on her—Cliff’s, to be specific. Since she didn’t find any trace of him anywhere, she assumed he had left.

She told herself she wasn’t disappointed—just that the thought that she might have done something to offend him that made him leave early niggled at her. But, she didn’t want to let that put a damper on her remaining time with Devon and Charley.

They stayed at the mansion that night, and the next day, Devon rode back with her to JFK so she could take her flight back to Vegas. When they pulled up to the departures area, he pulled her into a hug.

“I’m sorry I can’t go in with you.”

“You didn’t have to come all the way here.” Her heart felt heavy at the thought she wasn’t going to see him again for a while. “Will you come for a visit?”

“I will.” He kissed her forehead. “I have a couple of West Coast stops on my tour; I’ll get away as soon as I can.”

“Just give me call. Bye, Devon.”

“Bye, Stella. Safe flight.”

After one last hug, she let herself out of the limo and thanked the driver as he handed her her bag.

The flight home was long, but uneventful at least. As soon as she entered her house, melancholy washed over her. She should be glad she was home, in her own house, surrounded by her things, and that she’d be sleeping in her own bed tonight.

But things were different now.

“It’s not right,” she muttered to herself as she plopped down on her couch.

Lord help her, things weren’t the same anymore. How could she pretend things were all right, that she could go on with her life, knowing her twin sister was out there without a clue that she and Devon existed. What if she wasn’t as lucky as Stella? What if she’d gone into the system like Devon? While Devon’s life hadn’t been as easy as Stella’s, girls who went into foster care usually had it worst.

I have to do something.

Something Lizzie said last night had stuck in her brain. About the one surefire way they could find her sister—or at least the modern, more efficient equivalent of a missing persons poster.

Mind made up, she grabbed her purse, took out her phone and placed it on the coffee table so the screen and camera faced her. Pressing the record button, she sat back and began to talk.

“Hi, my name is Stella, and I’m an adoptee. Recently, I found out that I have a twin sister, so I was hoping someone out there could help me find her …”

* * *

For the next two days, a sense of foreboding followed Stella like a dark cloud. She hadn’t told anyone she knew about the video she uploaded to various social media sites—not her parents, and definitely not Devon or Charley. Consulting any of them would have made her chicken out, but she had been careful to never mention Devon or about them being found in the train station in LA so that no one would make the connection.

She wasn’t even sure if anyone had seen the video yet. Though she had had her social media accounts since college, she stopped being active on them when she started her job at Crestholm. There were a few shares from her old classmates, but that was about it.

On the third day, however, something must have happened—perhaps the right people saw and shared one of her videos because when Stella woke up that morning, she suddenly had thousands of views and dozens of DMs in her socials. There were some obviously fake ones pretending to be her sister or family, a few nasty and gross ones, but overall, she was touched by some of the messages that offered their support or help. With so many messages coming in, it would have taken all morning to respond to each one, so she put her phone on mute and got ready for work. She would deal with that later this evening, and she could forget about it for now.

News must have traveled fast, however, because as she walked down the busy hallway of Crestholm’s main building, Stella could feel the stares and hear the whispers around her.

“… dude, that’s definitely her ….”

“… adopted ….”

“… the music teacher ….”

Devon had mentioned that as soon as he found out he was a Lycan, his supernatural began to kick in. He and Charley had warned her about enhanced senses—she actually wondered if the reason she had perfect pitch was because of her Lycan abilities—but she didn’t realize that amplified hearing would have a downside.

Hopefully, that video was not a mistake.

“Hey, Stella,” Tyler greeted from where he stood by her desk in the faculty offices.

Oh Lord, help me.

She had gone straight into her classroom after arriving this morning, hoping to avoid any of her colleagues, but then she remembered she had left a workbook she needed for her fourth period class at her desk.