Luke and Vanessa hurried back to the clinic, their feet swift on the sidewalk. There was still plenty of daylight left, but the mountains had begun to darken as the sun prepared to sink behind them. Luke's hair was damp from his quick shower, and Vanessa carried her large bag, which now contained a Thermos filled with soup. 

"Celeste might be hungry," the nurse said, "and chicken soup will be easy on her stomach. Since you didn't have time to grab even a bite of dinner, you need to eat this." From her bag, she withdrew an energy bar, several months past its best-by date, and thrust it in his direction. 

Instead of arguing, Luke tore into the wrapper. The masks they wore inside the clinic made it inconvenient to eat or drink while working. They'd all become accustomed to taking their meals outdoors, where they could safely remove the respirators.

By the time they reached the back entrance of the building, Luke had polished off the energy bar. He was eager to meet his peculiar new patient and see how she was doing. 

Stepping into the exam room, Luke and Vanessa saw Celeste resting on the table, her eyes bright. A mask covered her nose and mouth, but she was clearly smiling at something Liam had just said. Graham had elevated the upper part of the exam table so the young woman wasn't lying completely supine. A white blanket was draped over her legs, and she now wore a pair of thick socks that Graham must have given her. The neckline of her dress had slipped a little ways down her shoulder.  

"Our patient's doing well," Graham announced. "Celeste, this is..."

"Dr. Luke," the woman said. Her light brown eyes filled with warmth. "Thank you for helping me."

Luke wasn't sure just what he'd expected of this stranger, but the way she greeted him, as though they'd known each other for years, was certainly a surprise. He'd anticipated encountering a sheltered, skittish girl who was oblivious to the ways of the world. And maybe she was. Still, she seemed well-adjusted for someone who'd spent her entire life in an isolated mountain community.

"I'm glad to see you awake," he told her, offering his own smile. "You had us quite concerned today. Have you ever had an episode like that before?"

Celeste shook her head, seeming to share his puzzlement. "No, I can't say that I have."

Luke went on to introduce her to Vanessa. "She's a nurse, and she's also the one who drew some blood from you today."

"I didn't feel a thing," Celeste quipped. That made Liam laugh; Luke noticed the young man appeared almost giddy now that his new friend was better. 

"Graham will take those blood samples to the hospital lab tomorrow for testing," Luke said. "Unfortunately, it might take some time to get the results, but once we do, we'll have a better idea as to how we should treat your condition."

"You must be hungry," Vanessa said, patting the side of her bag. "I brought you some soup." Looking over at Liam, she added, "There's enough here for you, too."

A few minutes later, Luke, Vanessa, and Graham gathered in the clinic's small breakroom. As Vanessa poured the soup into two bowls, Luke asked Graham, "Has Celeste said anything that might shed some light on her situation?"

Graham shook his head. "I mainly asked her how she was feeling, and if she remembered crawling under Liam's bed last night. She told me she didn't remember anything after falling asleep next to him."

Luke noticed how tired his friend and colleague looked. "Go on home, Graham. I can handle things here."

The man needed little convincing. Once Luke and Vanessa were alone, he took the tray from her hands. "You, too, Vanessa. Go home and get some rest."

She looked up at him, her eyes widening a bit. "But what if you need my help here?"

"I think I can manage Liam and Celeste," he replied with a wink. "And I'm plenty used to sleeping in my office."

Unlike Graham, Vanessa was reluctant to leave. "I guess it's pointless for me to tell you that I should be the one to stay, since you're about to fall over from exhaustion," she said. 

"I'm afraid so. Now, I want you to go home, eat dinner, take a shower, and then head straight to bed. Doctor's orders."

Before turning from him, Vanessa placed a hand on his arm. "I'll miss you tonight," she whispered.

"I'll miss you, too," he whispered back. The warmth of her palm seeping through his shirt and into his skin was enough to make him ache for her.

Back in the exam room, Luke offered the soup to Celeste and Liam, along with two cups of fruit juice. While they removed their masks to eat, he kept his respirator in place. In the breakroom, Graham had mentioned that he'd given Liam a rapid test earlier, and like Celeste's, it was negative. Still, Luke was constantly mindful of the virus's seventy-two-hour incubation period.

Taking a seat at the small desk in the corner of the room, Luke opened Celeste's chart. "I'd like to ask you some questions, if you don't mind," he said to her. "Just to get to know you a little better."

The spoon Celeste held stopped midway to her mouth. "Of course."

Luke glanced at Liam before focusing his attention on the woman again. "Do you mind if Liam is present for our discussion?" Though he wished for a bit more privacy, he sensed Liam wouldn't budge from his seat unless he was ordered to.

"I don't mind at all," Celeste assured Luke. "Liam's been so kind to me." She and Liam exchanged a meaningful look, their smiles conveying both shyness and infatuation.

"Liam mentioned your grandmother passed away very recently," Luke said in a low, gentle voice. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

The mention of Celeste's grandmother made the smile vanish from her face. She nodded while fighting back sudden tears.

"Can you tell me more about your life in the mountains? How did your family end up there?" Luke asked in the same soothing tone.

Once the woman started talking, it seemed difficult for her to stop. Sitting on the uncomfortable stool at his desk, Luke listened to her describe an existence that would be unthinkable to most people nowadays. 

"When my grandmother reached middle age, she started having visions," Celeste revealed. "By that point, she had five children, all daughters. My mom was the youngest at eighteen. Anyway, Grandma convinced my grandfather to buy that piece of land in the mountains. She also convinced my mom and aunts to move up there as well. Two of my aunts were married at that time, and their husbands came, too."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Your grandmother must have been very persuasive."

"She certainly could be!" Celeste agreed with a smile. "When my grandfather died, Grandma became our family's leader. Over time, word got out about my family living up there. Occasionally, a young man would show up in the hollow, hoping to make a life there as well. So, it started out as a small group that slowly grew. The men built the few houses, along with a barn, and they located an underground spring for our water. But I was the only child born in our community; Grandma called me a miracle."

"Do you think one of the young men who later joined your community was your father?" Luke asked while jotting down some notes.

Celeste hesitated a moment, which prompted him to look up at her. "I don't know," she said. "No one told me who my father was, and I never met any of the men. They were gone before I came along. From what I could gather, they pretty much up and left all at once. I'm not sure why. Mama only told me that my father came from far away, and she swore he'd be back for her one day. Seeing as how I didn't know any other kind of life, I never really questioned it all, but now..." Celeste looked around the room, as though it revealed a previously unfathomable universe to her. "I didn't go to school, but Grandma had once been a teacher, and she taught me how to read and write. I'm okay at math, too, but it was never my favorite subject."

Luke gave her an encouraging smile. "And how did your little community survive? You must have grown your own food."

"Oh yes, we had a large garden. We used to have some chickens and two goats. I often fished in the stream. And we canned our fruits and vegetables, so we'd have food in the winter." Her expression darkened as she looked down at her nearly empty bowl. "Of course, we had a lot more when my aunts were still around to help. But one by one, they left."

"Do you know where they went?" Liam piped up.

With her gaze still averted, Celeste shook her head. "Grandma said it was their destiny to leave, that they'd returned to where they truly belonged. Just as I would."

"But she didn't say where that was?" Luke quietly pressed. 

The woman's face was somber, her voice just above a whisper. "No. Mama left us last fall; one day she was there, and the next, she wasn't. Didn't even tell us goodbye. Grandma seemed to have been expecting it, but I..." The words caught in Celeste's throat, and it was a long moment before she could speak again. "I was devastated that she'd disappeared." 

"I'm sorry," Luke said again. Though he didn't know what to make of the woman's story, he easily discerned her grief.

"Grandma promised Mama was okay, and that I'd see her again." 

"And how old was your mother when she left?" he asked.

"She was born fifty summers ago."

Luke furrowed his brow at her odd phrasing. Was that the way members of their community kept track of the years? "Liam told us you're around twenty-four. So, your mom was close to the age you are now when she gave birth to you."

Celeste nodded, then took a deep, steadying breath and let it out slowly. As she did, Luke glanced at Liam and found the man had dozed off. Moments before, he'd been hanging on Celeste's every word, but exhaustion had clearly crept up on him without warning.

"You mentioned canning food," Luke said to Celeste, "but that requires supplies. And you needed fabric to make your clothes. Where did you get essential supplies if you never left the mountains?"

She shot a look at Liam. Seeing that he was still asleep, her shoulders relaxed a bit. Yet Luke wasn't sure she planned to respond to what he'd said. Not until her eyes locked with his, and she uttered a single word: "Orion."

He blinked at her in confusion. "Orion?"

Celeste's face broke into a smile; she was positively beaming. "Like the constellation. The one you can see in winter. Orion showed it to me in the night sky not long after he arrived. He said he came from even farther away than its brightest star."

"Wait, I thought you said there were no longer any men in your community." Luke tilted his head slightly, searching Celeste's face for a sign of deception.

"He didn't live with us," she replied, as if the very suggestion was ridiculous. "It was only last winter that I first met him, after Mama disappeared and Grandma and I were all alone. Grandma trusted him, though; she said he was the latest of several men who had helped us over the years. The ones before Orion would leave supplies at a certain spot on the ridge for my mom and aunts to retrieve. But the first time Orion visited, he came right to the house. Grandma said he and the other men who had looked out for us were like angels, and that she'd originally seen them in her visions. They were the reason she brought her family to the mountains."

Luke felt as if his stomach dropped a few inches before lurching back up into its right place. "And why did Orion decide to make himself known to you, when you'd never encountered the other men helping your family?" 

Celeste cast another furtive look at Liam, whose chin was nearly resting on his chest as he slept. "Grandma said Orion would be the one to take me home, where I belong. She told me it wouldn't be much longer."

Luke tapped the point of his pen against a page in the chart before him. Celeste's story was beginning to make a horrifying sense in his mind.

It was then that Liam woke, looking around sheepishly. "Sorry," he said, his voice still thick with sleep. 

Luke smiled at both him and Celeste, trying to hide his growing concern. "You two should get more rest. I need to go to my office for a bit, but I'll be back to check on you a little later." When he stood, he sensed Celeste's gaze lingering on him. 

In his office, Luke closed the door and called Vanessa. 

"Everything okay there?" she asked upon answering.

He sank onto the couch, closing his eyes for a brief moment. "Celeste told me more about her background," he murmured. "I think I'm beginning to understand what was going on in that mountain community."

Vanessa was silent a few seconds before urging him to continue.

"I think Celeste's grandmother suffered from delusions," Luke revealed. "Celeste called them visions, but they were powerful enough to make the woman convince her husband, daughters, and sons-in-law to leave their old lives behind and start a new one in the mountains. Celeste's grandfather died, and the rest of the men eventually left; I still don't understand why, since Celeste claims she doesn't know. She says she was the only child born there, and that one by one, her aunts left, too. Her mother disappeared last fall. But..." Luke stared at his darkened office window. He suddenly felt so tired. "She claims a man named Orion had been providing essential supplies to the family. And before him, there were other men. Celeste says she met this Orion figure only last winter, and he told her he was..."

"Was what?" Vanessa said.

"He said he was from outer space."

"Oh, you've got to be shitting me!" 

"Afraid not," Luke replied, his voice grim. "I think this family, under the sway of a very strong-willed and very sick woman, isolated themselves in the mountains like a sort of cult. I think they also fell prey to a group of male outsiders who fed the grandmother's delusions for their own sinister purposes."

"My God." Vanessa let out a heavy sigh. "Did Celeste seem... traumatized while talking about it?"

"Not at all. In fact, she looked happier than ever when describing Orion."

"So, what now?" 

Luke hesitated, already bracing for an argument from Vanessa. "I want to keep Celeste here in town for observation. Just for another day or two."

"She can't stay at the clinic, Luke. We'll have patients tomorrow, and—"

"I want to take her to my house," he said in a rush. "You and Graham can see to patients tomorrow. After that, the clinic will be closed for the weekend. If Celeste is still doing okay at that point, she can go back to the Hall place with Liam."

Vanessa again grew quiet. Finally, she said, "I don't know if that's a good idea, having her at your home. She's a patient."

"Yes, and she might require further treatment. What if I send her back with Liam, and she has another spell? What if he can't rouse her?" Luke heard the insistence in his words, just as Vanessa surely did.

Another silence fell between them. When Vanessa spoke, her tone was almost chilly. "Fine. You're the doctor. But Liam won't want to leave that woman."

"He'll have to," Luke said firmly. 

Minutes later, he headed back to the exam room, all the while thinking of how Vanessa's goodbye on the phone lacked its usual warmth. Luke had expected her disapproval, for this was something he never would have considered in normal times. 

But these were far from normal times.

Reaching the exam room doorway, Luke found Liam sitting next to Celeste, holding her hand. The two of them looked up at Luke expectantly. When he explained that Celeste couldn't remain at the clinic and would need to stay with him at his house, Liam immediately rose to his feet.

"Can't I go with her?" the young man asked. "I don't want her to be alone."

"She won't be alone," Luke patiently responded. "She'll be with me."

"But—"

"I must insist that you follow regulations currently in place and return to your own home. If Celeste is still okay this weekend, she can leave with you then."

Liam turned to Celeste, his expression entreating. Luke realized the smitten man was ready to put up a fight if needed.

But Celeste reached for Liam's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Dr. Luke has taken good care of me," she said gently. "I appreciate him wanting to make sure I'm okay. Don't worry, Liam; we'll be together again soon."

Luke gave the couple a few minutes to say their goodbyes before escorting Liam out into the parking lot. He sensed Liam's frustration at being sent away, and if Luke was honest with himself, he didn't know why he was being such a hard-ass about it. He only understood that Celeste had been more forthcoming in their conversation once Liam had nodded off. And Luke wanted to learn more about what had really taken place in those mountains. If Orion and others had preyed on a group of isolated women, they needed to be held accountable.

When he returned to the exam room after locking up and turning off most of the lights, he found Celeste waiting. Luke was relieved that she didn't appear distraught about Liam's departure. She'd even neatly folded the blanket and tidied up the room. 

He smiled behind his respirator. "Ready?"

Returning his smile, Celeste took a step toward him. "Ready, Dr. Luke."