The Secret Land of Otrâlmondé [1 | The Other Realms Series]

Chapter Seventeen

It had been eight days since the fight at Old Port Warehouse. Stella fidgeted with her fingers as she waited in the living room of her aunt's house. She turned her head and glimpsed the wall clock; it was thirty minutes to nine o'clock. She then faced the stairs. She had not seen her aunt at all that morning. Is she still asleep? Stella ascended to the second floor, approached her aunt's bedroom, and gently knocked on the door. Not a sound. She waited a few moments before she knocked again. Again, not a sound. Creak. She opened the door a little.

Celestine was still fast asleep.

"Zia?" Stella called out.

Celestine rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's eight thirty."

Celestine's eyes widened. She sprung out of bed, raced towards the closet, and snatched whatever clothes laid at the top of the pile.

"Thank you for waking me up!" she said. "Have you eaten breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Can you prepare for me please?"

"Sure."

Stella descended to the first floor and prepared her aunt's breakfast while she headed to the bathroom to shower. They were all set eleven minutes later. Stella and Celestine bolted out the door and raced towards Old Port Warehouse. When they arrived, Celestine checked her watch. It was 8:59 a.m.—they were almost late. Stella opened the metal door and stepped inside.

To say that Old Port Warehouse was merely rebuilt would be an understatement. Everything was exactly like how it was before the battle—shipping containers, hidden under white cloths, lined their left and right; the walls did have cracks, but they were minuscule, like the chips in the off-white paint that coated them; the floor, though obviously old, was relatively smooth. If it weren't for Helene's contacts, the first floor would be non-existent, the walls would be blackened and covered in cracks, and heaps of scrap metal would be all that was left of the rusty boxes. It was as if nobody had ever set foot in the building since it was abandoned.

The two women descended into the basement. Like the first floor, everything seemed to be intact. Stella glanced toward the portal. Unlike previously, the cloth that covered the portal was attached to the top of the wall instead of being suspended from the ceiling. José shot them a very wide grin; Helene kept a straight face; the other two were merely glad to see them.

Helene checked her wristwatch. "Right on time," she noted.

"Yeah, I woke up late," Celestine said awkwardly.

"It's fine. If we were training today, I would've pulled you," she chuckled. "But we're going to my new house. Come on."

She lifted the curtain, pressed the handprint, and they crossed to the other world. Stella looked to her sides as they walked the same route they used to go to the gymnasium. The canal slithering between streets of stone, the low-rise shops and apartments that lined their sides, the round bridge that served as a junction of six lanes—they were already familiar to her. The group ascended the ladder street and halted after climbing a few steps. Helene faced the apartments on the left side.

She ran a few steps before leaping into the air and propelling herself using fire. She landed on one rooftop, her soles clonking against the surface. Helene lifted one hand. Forces heaved the other five off the ground and onto the same rooftop. Stella turned her head as she took in the view around her—she had never been to a rooftop garden as beautiful as the one she was on, a garden with waterfalls cascading from tier to tier and flowing through fountains.

Helene snapped her fingers. A hatch opened in front of them. A column of lights built into the shaft automatically lit up, revealing a ladder.

"Careful," she cautioned them.