Stellar

Chapter 21

"What's that?" Petra eyed the newspaper on the Kitchen table, picking it up to look at the headline.

Man died in Tarley Wood amidst weather chaos

"Oh no," Ruby said, peering at the newspaper over her shoulder. "Someone's actually died?"

"Yeah." Petra flicked to the page with the full story, skimming it quickly. "He got hit by a giant pink hailstone yesterday."

"That's awful." Ruby's shoulders slumped, taking a step back from Petra.

"We should have stopped it sooner." Petra placed the newspaper back on the table and walked upstairs and plopped down on her bed.

"How were we supposed to know that something like this was going to happen?" Ruby followed Petra into her room. "This isn't our fault. We just need to stop it as soon as we can, so no more can happen"

"Yeah, you're right." Petra gave her sister a weak smile and picked up Kammie's research.

Petra and Ruby spent the evening reviewing everything they knew about the gateway and how Astral casting worked. Hoping to find a clue to how they might stop the gateway leaking all this magical energy without having to destroy it.

"This is useless," Ruby said. She was led down, head hanging off the bed while Petra sat on the floor surrounded by paper.

"I've gone over everything countless times. I just don't know enough about it to find a way to stop it without destroying the whole thing. Even then we don't know what will happen. We could make things a whole lot worse."

"There's no choice then." Petra pouted.

"We might find something at the lamp when we meet the others later." Ruby had optimistic note to her voice, but Petra knew that it was only to make her feel better.

The twins walked through Tarley Wood feeling like they were already in Silva Hollow. The trees had grown to great heights. Crystals covered them, twinkling in the sunlight. Their normal quick pace had slowed to an amble. Telling themselves it was due to having to forge their way through the thick forest. They both were wanting to put off the inevitable and savour the last few moments where they had the possibility of going to Silva Hollow.

Bang. Swift heads turning towards the sound. Pausing for a second to see if they can see the source of the bang. They couldn't see much past the dense forest though.

"That was weird," said Ruby, starting to walk again.

Petra had an inkling she should investigate the strange sound, but they were already running late to meet Kai and Three. So, she left it and followed Ruby trudging through the overgrown forest.

They finally arrived at the lamp and bench, covered in leaves and out of breath. Petra waved at Kai and Three. But they weren't alone. The two agents they had seen countless times were with them. 25 had a hold of Kai's arm as he struggled to get out of his grip. Kai stared at the girls and shook his head at them. Ruby grabbed Petra's hand and began to walk her out of the clearing.