Stellar

Chapter 5

A muffled gasp fell from Petra's lips. Frozen in place. A scream bubbled up in her throat but was stopped in its tracks.

"This is how you catch a pomole." A subtle whisper filled her ears. Like a familiar wind rustling the trees in a forest, she had heard this voice before. The hand loosened around her mouth. She turned her head slowly and confirmed her thoughts. The mint green hair that had been etched into her memory slightly covered the boy's face. His teeth on full show as his lips turned up at the corners. It was Kai. A smile grew on Petra's face mimicking the boy who had been on her mind the past few days.

Kai took a small piece of pink fruit out of the pouch attached to his grey tunic. He clumsily knelt down, one hand on the floor to keep his balance and the other holding out the sweet-smelling fruit close to the ground. He stayed motionless. A trap waiting to be triggered.

A few seconds passed before the silver speckled fur made an appearance at Kai's feet. The pomole grabbed the small piece of fruit from Kai's hand, took a few steps back and quietly chewed on it. Its cheeks full, like a hamster. Kai carefully picked up the pomole and gave it a few heavy-handed pats on its head.

"Let's get you back home," Kai said to the creature as he tucked it into his side and strode back towards the gateway. Petra followed him closely, dodging the branches that pinged back after Kai bulldozed through them.

"I could have caught it by myself," Petra said, lips pouting.

"You were doing an astral job earlier before you fell face first into the tree." A shade of scarlet covered Petra's cheeks and she lowered her head, staring at her feet. Noticing, Kai gave a low chuckle and tucked the pomole into his pouch as it started to wriggle in his grasp.

Petra spotted Ruby through the trees and gave her a small wave. Ruby stood up from her spot on the bench and stormed over to the pair. She stood next to them, her right shoulder slightly overlapping Petra's. Her eyes narrowed on the stranger before her. She threw her right arm in front of Petra as if to provide some sort of a protective barrier against him.

Petra put a hand on Ruby's shoulder, causing Ruby to flick her gaze to her sister. Petra gave her a reassuring smile before introducing Kai. Ruby's eyes darted between the two of them, Petra could practically hear her brain whirring, trying to figure out what to believe. Ruby's protective arm went slack, and she stepped aside. Her tense muscles seemed to relax but she kept a wary gaze on the boy.

The wind picked up. Hair danced in the air like it was attending a silent disco. Petra's hands brushed it out of her eyes, although it still seemed to dance to an unknown beat. Fallen leaves brushed passed her as if they were on their own path, not allowing anything to get in their way.

A giggle left Petra's mouth as she saw her sister's feeble attempts to keep her hair in a somewhat presentable state fail miserably. Ruby reached into her bag and pulled out 2 hair bobbles. She handed one to Petra who mouthed a thank you and tied her hair up.

The wind almost came to a stop. An eerie silence filled the air. Everything was still, a stark contrast to the busy movement the wind had caused moments ago.

Then, like an elephant stampede, the wind started again, bulldozing through everything in sight. It knocked Petra sideways into a tree. The rough bark scraped her upper arm as she made contact. Wincing slightly from her new injury, she flung her arms around the tree. Hugging it tightly, before the wind could catapult her anywhere else.

She tried to shout Ruby's name, but nothing could be heard other than the sound of the wind whistling through the forest. She felt a hand brush her ankle and looked down to see Ruby, who had been forced to the ground, and next to her holding onto a tree was Kai. Petra reached out to her but was struggling to bend down enough and hold onto the tree at the same time. They both stretched as far as they could, fingertips almost touching. Kai gave her a nudge, just enough so that she could grab Petra's hand. She pulled her up and both clung onto the trunk.