Fortune Cookies

"Take this!" Rosie yelled as she slammed her bow down on one of Ludo's monsters head.

She turned her attention to Star and Marco and yelled, "Star! Marco! One arrow, six monsters knocked down! Ready?"

"Aim!" Marco yelled as Rosie leaped to the roof of the Diaz house and pulled the string back on her arrow.

"FIRE!" Star yelled next.

Rosie smirked as she released the single arrow. The thorn tipped arrow flew through the air aiming at a particularly large monster that with four eyes. The arrow pierced it's shoulder making the monster roar in pain and lose it's balance. The five smaller monsters behind him noticing the swaying beast, but before they could get away the large four eyed monster fell on top of the smallers ones pinning them down.

"Oh yeah!" Rosie cheered and gave Star and Marco high fived.

Star hopped on top of a cactus, "Off the cactus, over the tree! Nothin' but net!" She shot a blast of magic with her wand and it ricochets off the cactus and hits the back of the giraffe monster's neck.

"Nice one!" Rosie praised after swinging her bow at an incoming monster.

"Told you I could do it." Star smirked down at Marco.

Marco smiled at her and just as he placed a dollar bill into Star's hand, he noticed the long line of monsters lined up behind him. He smirked and took the money back, "Double or nothing! One kick, seven monsters!"

Star gave him a smile and bowed, waving her arm as a gesture to try.

"Hiii-yah!" Marco kicked Buff Frog in the chin knocking him back and like a domino effect, knocking the other monsters back with the last monster landing on top of Ludo.

Marco crossed his arms wearing a victorious grin, "After a victory like this, there's only one thing to do: get Chinese food!"

"Ooh, Chinese food!" Star exclaimed as the trio began to walk away from the groaning monster pile, "I have no idea what that is."

"This is so delicious!" Rosie exclaimed as grabbed another bite of noodles with her chopsticks.

"And it's so fun eating with these tiny wands!" Star made laser noises as she played with her chopsticks.

A chinese waitress dropped a plate of fortune cookies on their table and walked off.

"Oh, there's cookies too!" Star gasped and stuffed a cookie into her mouth. She chewed for a few seconds before sticking her tongue out in disgust showing a piece of paper on her tongue, "Bleh. I don't like the filling."

"You got a..um…" Rosie reached over and took the paper off Star's tongue, "There you go."

Marco grabbed one of the cookies, "These are fortune cookies. They can magically read the future."

"What?! No way!" Star and Rosie gasped.

He cracked the cookie open and opened up the small white paper reading the content aloud, "A friend will greet you with a smile."

"Aww how sweet." Star smiled at him.

Marco gasp, "See? The cookies know all."

"Oh come on, that's just a coincidence." Rosie scoffed crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair.

"No, it can't be." Star cracked open another cookie and read her fortune out loud, "Think positive and good luck will come your way."

The chinese waitress walked by their table again holding a box of fortune cookies. Star jumped out of her seat and ran towards the waitress, stopping her from throwing the box of cookies out.

"More cookies!" She excitedly yelped.

"They're stale." The waitress stated.

"Gimme!" Star demanded.

"You're a weird girl." The waitress said as she handed Star the box of cookies and left.

"Wow Star. Good luck did come your way." Marco teased.

"It did! It did!" Star smiled brightly hugging the box of cookies against her face, "These are incredible!"

Noticing the frozen smile on her face, Rosie sighed and gave an annoyed look to Marco, "See what you did?" She then turned to Star and took the box away from her.

"Hey! Those are mine!" Star yelled trying to steal the box back from Rosie.

"Star these cookies don't actually tell the future." Rosie stated, "Just to prove a point, I'll read one right now." She grabbed a cookie and handed the box to Marco. Cracking open the cookie she grabbed the white paper inside and read her fortune, "A familiar face from the past will bring you distress." Rolling her eyes she threw the paper over her shoulder and crossed her arms, "See? Nothing happened. These cookies are-"

Ding!

The chime of the door opening caught their attention and Rosie let out a gasp as she saw who was leaving the restaurant. A teen wearing a black hoodie and dark jeans with black hair turned his head and revealed those bright green eyes that still haunt her dreams. His eyes flashed yellow before he turned his head forward and left without a sound.

"Ja-Jasper?" She whispered in disbelief and stood frozen.

"Ha! See the cookies are magical!" Star pointed at the frozen teen before snatching the box back from Marco.

"Jasper!" Rosie snapped out of her shock and ran out of the restaurant. She looked left and right down the sidewalk, but couldn't see him at all.

"You okay Rosie?" Marco questioned after stepping out of the restaurant, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You saw him didn't you?" Rosie turned to him with disbelief, "He just left the place. Jasper was here, Marco!"

"I-I didn't see anything Rosie." Marco answered looking at her a bit concerned, "Maybe you're seeing stuff."

Star came out with the box of cookies still in her hands, "No, her fortune came true!" She poked Marco in the chest, "A familiar face from her past will bring her distress." She recited before pointing over at Rosie, "Jasper showed up and look how distressed she is!" Star then realized what she said and looked at Rosie in concern, "Oh my gosh, Rosie are you okay?"

"Far from it…" Rosie admitted with a shaky breath.

"Look let's just head home now and rest." Marco suggested.

The next morning came and Rosie hardly got any sleep that night. All she could think about was Jasper and why he suddenly came back to Echo Creek. These thoughts still ran wild in her mind as she sat at the dining table while Marco was cooking up a batch of nachos and Star was praising the fortune cookies.

"Oh wise and powerful cookies, bestow your sugary prophecies upon me." Star begged as she rested her head on the table.

Rosie snapped out of her thoughts at the strange sight and gave Marco a look to fix the mess he created.

Marco put the tray of freshly made nachos down and came over to Star's side, "Gotcha Star! Those fortunes aren't 're put there by people in a factory."

Star lifted her head with a smile, clearing not believing him, "Next you'll tell me that's how they get the snow in snow globes." Her smiled dropped as she continued, "It's clear they're the work of dark wizards."

"I'm serious. They're not real. They're just vague so you can read things into them." Marco said and grabbed a cookie.

Star snatched the cookie from his mitten grasped and tore it open, before reading the fortune out loud, "An unexpected visitor will soon arrive."

"Oh please, don't let it be Jasper." Rosie begged slamming her head onto the table.

Turning her chair towards the door, Star smiled eagerly as she kept her eyes trained towards the door. Marco wore an unamused look on his face as he walked over to the front door and began to open and close it repeatedly.

"See? No one is here." Marco said as he kept closing and opening the door, "Now who wants nachos?"

"Did someone say nachos?!" Ferguson appeared out of nowhere at the front door with his arms in the air.

Star walked towards with a smug smile, "Well, hello, my unexpected visitor."

"Oh my corn, these cookies really are magical." Rosie realized as she held her head in disbelief.

"No they're not!" Marco glared at Rosie before looking at Ferguson, "Ferguson, Star thinks fortune cookies are magical and is now getting Rosie to believe too. Will you please tell them they're not?"

Ferguson's eyes widen and put his arms towards Marco, "Now woah, man, woah. Woah. Cookies are magical. Once, I ate one from the floor of a cab, and I met my spirit animal that night."

"And what was it?" Rosie raised an eyebrow.

"A wolf." Ferguson answered raising both his brows up twice before walking off into the house.

Star looked over at Marco with a frown, "Why are you suddenly a non-believer?" She opened another cookie and read the fortune out loud, "Reach for the stars and achieve your dream."

Before anyone knew what she was doing, Star aimed her wand at the ceiling and shot a blast of magic at it. Marco pushed Star out of the way from the falling debris,

"Are you okay?" Rosie called out as she leaped out of her chair. All she got was a groan from Marco in response. Shaking her head Rosie began walking towards the front door, "I don't have time for this. I need to find Jasper and get some answers from him."

"Wait help…" Marco reached out weakly to her.

Star waved her goodbye, "Bye! Call me if you need help from the cookies!"

Slamming the door shut behind her, Rosie started making her way back to the place where her troubles began...the Chinese restaurant.

When she made it back to the small restaurant, she went inside and glanced around the many customers to see if any of them was with Jasper.

"Not in here…" She muttered slightly out of breath from running the whole way. She walked back outside and sat on the curb with a thoughtful look on her face, "If I were Jasper, where would I be?"

"Not sure, but I definitely wouldn't be hanging around a Chinese restaurant that serves stale fortune cookies to anyone who asks for it."

Rosie stiffened and turned her head slowly to see Jasper sitting next to her on the curb with a cheeky smirk on his face, "Ja-Jasper! You, here, how?!"

"Well I saw you sitting here, looking like a lost puppy, and knew you needed a white knight to guide you." He teased and let out an amused chuckle, "I am only back for one day and somehow you've gotten yourself lost in the town trying to find little ol me."

Not in the mood for his teasing, Rosie punched his arm harshly, "Where have you been?! I've left you so many messages and you never once sent me something to show you're still alright!"

Jasper rubbed his sore arm and frowned apologetically at her, "I know, I know and I'm sorry. I've been...having family issues lately so I had to leave for a while to deal with that. Now my dad got a new job here, so I'll be back to stay."

The anger in her eyes faded and replaced with a new emotion, "Oh Jasper, I am sorry. I shouldn't have been so mad, if I had known…"

Jasper shushed her and placed a finger against her lips,"But you didn't and that's okay."

She looked to the side as a small crept on her face. Jasper moved his finger away and the two stared at one another for a few moments.

The moment was then shattered by the sounds of monster growls and Marco screaming in fear.

Rosie leaped onto her feet and ran over to the alleyway near the restaurant and saw Star hugging a monster and the rest of Ludo's crew chasing after Marco.

"Oh my goodness, they need my help!" Rosie exclaimed and a determined glare rested on her face as she placed her hand over her thorn bracelet, "Jasper stay here and-" She turned her head and noticed the male was gone, "Jasper?"

Smash!

Rosie's eyes rolled back as she fell forward unconscious. Shards of glass laid around her head and a broken bottle soon dropped next to her.

Jasper stared down at her body with a blank expression before pulling out his phone and bringing it up to his ear. He waited a few seconds before he spoke, "Hey dad...she's out of the way."

A pounding sensation was the first thing she felt when she began to gain consciousness. She let out a low groan and slowly tried opening her eyes.

"Hey guys, she's waking up!" Star's voice rang in her ears.

"Ugh...what happened?" Rosie questioned once her vision cleared and saw Star, Marco, and Jasper looking down at her in concern.

"Jasper found you totally passed out!" Marco explained.

"We came as soon as we got rid of Ludo's gang." Star added helping Rosie sit up.

Rosie nodded her head and looked over at Jasper, "What happened? I remember us talking and then suddenly I heard the sound of a bottle breaking before blacking out."

Jasper eyed her in concern, "Some looney guy was running from the cops and knocked you out with a glass bottle as he passed by us."

She nodded her head and looked over at Star and Marco, "You guys are okay though right? You mentioned something about getting rid of Ludo's gang?"

Marco grinned, "Yeah we totally kicked their butts!"

Star gasped and wore an excited grin on her face, "Oh! We got more cookies from the nice lady at the Chinease restaurant!"

"Star, those fortunes…"

"Are fake I know!" Star interrupted, "But the last fortune we got was so funny I had to share it with you!"

Rosie let out a small chuckle, "Alright let's hear it."

"A great evil has been unleashed." Star said before she and Marco burst out into laughter, "How funny is that?!"

Letting out a forced chuckle Rosie glanced briefly at Jasper's amused face before looking back at her Star and Marco, "Y-Yeah, hilarious."

'I want to laugh, but for once I think that fortune might be onto something.'

End of Chapter 9