Toffee's Trick

Chapter 23

Once they were outside the room Marco's screams were muffled.

Star raced back to her bedroom and grabbed her dimensional scissors- now they knew where Toffee's castle was, they could use them. She also snatched up a small bag. She didn't hesitate in slicing open a rip and clambering through, pulling Tom with her. She had had enough. She wanted this over.

The dining room was empty of monsters. All that was there was the sandwich that Star had upended on the floor, and-

"There it is!" Tom yelled. He sprinted over to the tiny pile of ash.

Toffee hadn't regenerated.

"Wow," Star breathed, appreciating the true power of Tom's magic.

She opened the small bag she had brought and scooped the ash into it, cringing at the thought that she was touching Toffee himself.

"Got it," she said, closing the bag with a sigh of relief and pushing it into Tom's hands. "I hope it's enough. Now, we can't afford to waste any more time," she told him, "so you go back and I'll get my wand and follow along."

Tom nodded. He knew how urgent the situation was and didn't argue.

Star cut open a rip for him to climb through. He looked over his shoulder and said, his eyes bright,

"It's going to be alright, Star. He's going to be okay."

Star didn't answer. She didn't want to allow herself to feel any more hope in case it was going to be snatched away from her, so, without even looking at Tom, she sealed the rip and set off running through the castle.

After half an hour of searching every nook and cranny of every dingy room and dark corridor in the castle, Star was almost ready to give up. She sighed heavily and ran her hand through her hair, willing her magic to reach out and search for her wand. She strained with all her might...

Suddenly, she made contact.

Relief flooded through her, warm and somewhat foreign due to the recent situation.

But now she knew where it was. She could almost see it, as though she was casting the Seeing Eye spell.

She set off running again, rounding a sharp corner so fast she almost fell down a flight of steep, narrow stairs. She caught her balance and stared down at them. She couldn't see the bottom because it was so dark and the walls on either side were rough and shadowy, devoid of brackets or torched.

Star took a deep breath. She knew this was the way.

Her wand was down there.