Cosmic

The Power Crystal Study

"I think this is it." Halo said as the girls stopped on the sidewalk in front of a house. It was a cute two story white cottage with a powder blue garage door. The front of the house had a manicured lawn and by the porch were meticulously cared for garden beds full of vibrant beautiful flowers. Skye looked at the picture Mindy had texted her of her home and nodded.

"Yup, this is it!" Skye said. "It's adorable." All the other girls nodded in agreement. The house was adorable, with it's cute little window boxes full of colorful tiny blooms and the charming little cobblestone pathway leading up to the porch, Mindy's house looked like something out of a fairytale. The girls all walked up the cobblestone path and stepped up onto the porch.

"They have a swing!" Nova said, pointing to an oakwood porch swing suspended by ropes from the ceiling and had a bright orange-and-white stripped overstuffed cushion on and comfy colorful pillows and a cozy looking knitted quilt arranged on it. Faye nodded at it approvingly.

"It looks so comfy." Lyra nodded in agreement.

"It also looks like a great spot for meditation. You have a perfect view of the garden." Lyra said. Skye knocked on the bright red door and rang the doorbell and sniffed the air.

"Do you guys smell something cooking?" Skye asked the group. Selene tilted her head and sniffed the air and then nodded.

"Yeah, it smells good." Vela sniffed the air as well.

"Honestly, it reminds me of cosmic ferment cheonchenamul guk." Vela said. She licked her lips and sighed wistfully. "I haven't had a bowl of that in ages."

"Technically," Halo said. "You haven't had a bowl of cheonchenamul guk in a year." Vela slumped.

"It's felt longer than that." Skye rang the doorbell and then knocked on the bright red door.

"Just a moment!" A voice yelled from inside the house. The door opened and a woman poked her head out. The woman looked like an older version of Mindy, though her features were much softer than her daughter's more angular ones. The woman and Mindy did share the same inquisitive looking brown eyes. The woman was dressed in a cozy looking powder blue sweater with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and medallion yellow paperbag pants with bright yellow flowers and dark green leaves printed on them.

"Oh, you must all be Mindy's new friends." The woman said. She held the door open wider. "I'm Mindy's mother. You can call me Mrs. Lewis." She smiled at the girls.

"Mindy talks about you guys all the time." Skye, Nova, Halo, Callisto, Maia, Faye, Estella, Selene, Lyra, Rhea, Juno and Vela all looked at each other, surprised. That was news to them. Mindy hadn't really seemed like the type of person to talk about school unless it was about a subject that interested her.

"She does?" Skye asked, pleasantly surprised. Mrs. Lewis nodded.

"The last time her mother and I heard about classmates of hers, Jack, Sally and Marcus became regular guests here." Mrs. Lewis laughed, a nostalgic look on her face. "That was back in kindergarten." Mrs. Lewis waved them in.

"Mindy's in her room." She pointed at a shoe rack by the entrance. "Shoes off please. We keep the guest house slippers on the second rack." Halo, Skye, Faye, Estella, Maia, Rhea, Lyra, Nova, Selene, Callisto, Juno and Vela all took off their shoes and slipped their feet into the provided house slippers. Mrs. Lewis headed back to the kitchen.

"Mindy's room is upstairs, second door to the right. Make sure you knock before you enter. Mindy startles easily. Especially when her nose is buried in a book." Mrs. Lewis said. The Star Darlings all headed upstairs and following Mrs. Lewis's directions, found Mindy's door. There was a poster of some kind of sci-fi movie taped to it. Selene knocked on the door.