Interstellar Ross

Chapter 11 Wade In The Water

Witch Pocket Realm

Month of the Hare

"What were you two doing?" Tiberius asked suspiciously as he piled salmon and vegetables onto plates for dinner.

"Not what you're thinking." I stepped out of the way of a lioness on my way to the dinner table.

"Shame." He gave me a tight smile as he handed me a steaming plate.

"For you." Bryn made a face in his direction.

I took my seat, Dimitri taking his place beside me at the table.

"Are you getting bored of my realm yet?" Circe asked as she sat down opposite me.

"Not at all." I internally sighed at how easily my knife slid through the flesh of the salmon.

"Good, because I think you might need to stay here for a few weeks." She revealed.

"Are you serious?" Tiberius wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Nobody knows that Interstellar has been found yet, I know this because I received correspondence with some friends of mine in different Realms. You're safe here until you leave." She fed morsels of her food to the felines that had gathered around her seat.

"So I'm just gonna hide here?" I didn't particularly like the sound of being a coward.

"It's only temporary." Dimitri attempted to ease my frustration.

"So's life." I quipped.

"I'm only saying that when you do all choose to leave this place, you need to be ready for the uproar Interstellar is going to cause in resurfacing after hundreds of years of being missing in action." Circe addressed everyone with her luminous hazel eyes. "I do not doubt there are thousands of people around the galaxy who have been planning your execution since you went missing." Her gaze finally landed on mine.

"Am I supposed to be scared? Because I ain't." I truly wasn't. "When we leave this place, I'm gonna show everybody, just who Interstellar really is."

"Amen." Bryn lifted her glass in toast.

"For all our sakes, I hope you will be ready." Circe tone was weighted in seriousness.

After dinner I started making my way back to my bedroom, stopping on my way outside the bathroom door. I stared long and hard at the wooden door that was painted with a pair of swans dancing lovingly with each other in a river. The scene appeared very idyllic, if not for a creature with golden yellow eyes lurking in the reeds behind them.

I turned back, listening to the faint conversations between everyone downstairs before opening the bathroom door and locking it behind me.

I gave my reflection in the mirror a challenging look as I graced over the tiles to the bathtub.

"Stay here my arse." I turned the hot tap aggressively until the faucet gushed water into the tub. "I do what I want." I glanced at the closed door, catching a second reflection of myself in a small circular mirror fixed to it. I noticed steaming heat warming my side and I looked back to see the tub was on the verge of overflowing.

I turned off the tap, sitting down on the edge of the tub, watching the bubbles simmer and fade. I looked down at my clothed self, about to undress when I noticed that the water was beginning to bubble and change colour. Shapes and blurred figures were refracted before me, a world away.

I leapt into the tub fully clothed and hissed as it scalded my skin. "Shit." I clenched my teeth as I gripped the edges of the tub. "Fuck it." I sucked in a big breath before pushing myself down to completely submerge myself in heat.