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.

She stepped on one of the rungs, held the other one, and began her descent. José glanced at Celestine. Neither of them said a word.

Celestine walked towards the hatch and began climbing down the shaft. Stella followed her. Though the rungs were smooth enough to be shiny, they were not that slippery. She slowly climbed down the ladder, looking down as she did so. The floor was not as far down as she expected. Stella climbed down about twenty more steps before jumping off the ladder and landing on the floor.

She glimpsed the area. Smooth tiles were laid beneath her feet, joined so seamlessly they seemed to be a single unit rather than separate pieces of porcelain. Unlit lamps with brass stands jutted from the limestone walls and were suspended from the flat ceiling. Stella walked further into the room. A soft rug was spread over the floor of the chamber. Resting on top of the rug were coffee tables, two tufted sofas, and matching armchairs. On the left side was a shelf that towered over her, holding books, boxes, and other objects she did not recognize. A few potted plants kept to the corners of the room, though Stella swore she noticed one reaching towards her when she was not looking.

She strolled a little more. Up ahead was a stairwell that descended into the floor below her, its brass railings matching the rungs that were attached to the walls of the shaft. Not far from that was a balcony. The left and right walls each had a framed painting hung on them—one was a portrait of a man and a woman, both of them with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin; the other was a painting depicting the Realm Seekers, Helene, and two other women. The illustrations were so realistic, Stella had to blink twice to make sure they were not alive.

"Where did you get this?" Celestine's voice echoed throughout the chamber. Stella turned around. Celestine and Helene were standing in front of the latter painting.

"That was from Parafiso," Helene answered her. "Don't you remember?"

"From Parafiso?"

"It was in the palace, after Countess Lune's coronation. Remember after they gifted you the books, they wanted to make a portrait of us?"

"I remember the books, but not this painting."

Stella heard clonking from the other side. She turned her head. José had landed on the floor, his shoes making a loud sound as their soles met the tiles. Jon and Edmond were still climbing down the ladder. José turned his head to his sides as he walked towards Helene and Celestine.

"Nice place," he commented.

"José, do you remember this painting?" Celestine asked him. José glanced at it.

"I remember that! That's after we saved Countess Lune, right?"

"What's going on?" Jon inquired, jogging from one end of the room to the other.

"It's a painting of your dad and his friends," José answered him, "after they rescued a countess and helped her overthrow her evil twin."

"Anyway, let's gather in the living room, shall we?" Helene suggested.

They gathered in the living room. Stella, Jon, and Edmond shared a sofa while the adults sat on individual armchairs. Helene beckoned with one finger. Behind her, a box rose from the shelf and levitated to her. She placed it on her lap and opened it. Inside were three black cards, about the same size and thickness as a credit card, and three devices, each one closely resembling a flip phone.

"Remember last week when I posted a card on the wall that became a door to a magic room?" Helene held up the cards. "These cards are just like that, except that they're the smaller version. They're called Portable Practice Rooms, or PPRs. The card I used leads to four rooms, but these cards only lead to one room each. I'll be giving one to each of you so that you can practice your powers anytime and anywhere—just make sure that nobody catches you. Also, they're very easy to use. Just post it on the wall and it will grow into a door. If you want to remove it, just tap on the edges and it will shrink back into its original size."

She opened her palm. The cards floated above her hand before flying towards the new trio. Helene raised a few fingers. The devices were lifted off the box and hovered in the air. She said,

"These are inter-realm communicators, or 'inter-coms' as we call them. You'll be using this to communicate with people like me, who may not always be on Earth. I know they may look like normal phones but try not to use them as such."

She flicked her fingers. The phones flew into the trio's hands. The box then levitated back to the shelf. Helene went on,

"Remember that even though yesterday was our last day of training together, you can still continue practicing on your own. Jon, your father will continue to mentor you. Stella, Celestine will give you her magic book and you can use it to continue learning. As for Eddie, I'll send someone to train you. You'll find out soon.

"Anyway, enough serious talk. Let's just chat and have fun, shall we?"

Helene initiated a conversation with José and Celestine while the trio began conversing amongst themselves. After a few minutes, the latter group decided to hang around the balcony instead of sitting together on the sofa. Since the area was rather small, Edmond opted to stay indoors while the other two stood on the balcony. As they chatted, porcelain cups filled with hot beverages levitated up the stairwell and into each of their hands. Stella sniffed it—it was reminiscent of mint and flowers. Its color was a soft brown, like dark tea. She sipped it. It was bittersweet, a bit minty, and tasted like petals.

"How is it?" Helene hollered from across the room.

"It's good," Stella said.

"It's called tchan. It's a tea from Otrâlmondé," Helene told them. They continued to converse as they sipped their drinks.

"By the way, can we exchange phone numbers and stuff?" Edmond asked.

"Sure," Jon and Stella replied simultaneously. The three of them carefully placed their cups on the floor, reached into their pockets, and pulled out their cellphones. Jon and Stella had flip phones; Edmond had a smartphone.

"You have an iPhone?" Jon said.

"Yeah, I got it for Christmas," Edmond said casually. "Jon, what's your full name?"

"Juan Blanco Castillo. Castillo is C-A-S-T-I-L-L-O."

Edmond tapped on his phone for a while as he keyed in his name. He showed him his screen.

"Is the spelling correct?"

"Yes. What's your last name?"

"Delacroix. D-E-L-A-C-R-O-I-X."

"It sounds different from how you spell it," Jon said.

"Well, if you don't read it the French way, that is," Edmond said, shrugging.

Jon and Stella then exchanged contacts. In addition to adding phone numbers, the three also shared their social media usernames. After that, the trio put their phones back into their pockets. They resumed their conversation as they drank tchan.

"By the way, what should we call ourselves?" Jon asked.

"What do you mean?" said Stella.

"I mean, my dad and his friends called themselves the Realm Seekers. Shouldn't we have our own team name?"

"What about Second Seekers?" she suggested.

"Sounds nice," Jon remarked.

"I agree, but I don't think we're seeking anything right now. What about Tri-O, as in the prefix 'tri' and a capital letter O and pronounced the same as 'trio'? Since there's three of us, we first met in Oppidula, and the first realm we went to was Otrâlmondé."

"Or T3AM, but replace the letter E with number three, since we're a team of three?" Jon proposed.

"Maybe we can decide later," Stella said.

The three of them continued chatting. From time to time, Stella would gaze over her shoulder and observe Otrâlmondé from the balcony. The waterways that served as roads, the pale purple sunset, the people who channeled their powers through magical jewelry—Otrâlmondé was like a dreamland, but it was not. It was a real world. Another world. A world whose existence very few humans knew of, and she was one of them. She smiled and gulped the rest of her tchan.

Stella glanced towards her left. The adults were already on their feet. José and Celestine strolled towards the ladder while Helene strode towards the trio. She flicked her fingers. Their empty glasses of tchan flew out of the trio's hands and landed on the coffee table.

"You guys having fun?" she asked.

"We are," Edmond said.

"Great. Come on, let's go—we're going for a gondola ride."

"A gondola?" Jon asked.

"The boat you see on the canals here," she elaborated. "Don't forget your stuff here, by the way. We're not going back to my house."

Stella opened her sling bag to check if all her belongings were inside. They were. She zipped it shut and followed Helene as they climbed up the ladder and onto the rooftop. Once there, Stella peered at her right side. One of the canals widened gradually until it was twice its size. From a distance, she could spot a small dock stationed along it. Helene leaped from the roof and softly landed on the ladder street. She then gently brought them down using her telekinesis. They strolled down the street, made a right turn, and headed towards the quay.

Ten gondolas, painted in dark and glossy colors, lined the dock. Two booths were set up at opposite ends of the dock, while a metal fence lined its edges to prevent anyone from falling into the waterway. Helene walked up to one of the booths while the rest waited near the fence. While waiting, Edmond pulled out his phone and opened the camera app. He held it up with both hands.

"No photos!" Celestine said, outstretching one arm. "We forgot to tell you guys—you can't take photos of the other realms because if you lose your phone or camera, people might see the photos and our secret will be out."

"Oh, I see," he said. He pocketed his cellphone.

Helene walked up to them a moment later, having acquired two passes. She gave one of them to Edmond. "You, Jon, and Stella will take the same gondola. Once you get in, there's a small box at the back with a slit at the top. You insert the ticket there."

"Okay," he said. "Which one?"

"Any. Whichever you three want."

The six of them then headed to the gondolas. Helene, Celestine, and José boarded the gondola at the very front of the dock. They had just departed when the three teenagers were still deciding on which boat to pick.

"Can we ride that one?" Jon pointed at the gondola nearest them, which was painted a leafy green.

"The seats don't look comfortable," Edmond said. "I think we better go for the third or fourth one."

The third and fourth gondolas had cushioned seats, whereas the others had wooden interiors that were simply covered in thin fabric. They settled on the third gondola, which wore a shiny coat of midnight blue. Jon entered the boat first, sitting at the right side. Edmond boarded next. Stella neared the edge of the dock and glanced towards the ground. There was a rather wide gap between the dock's wooden surface and the gondola itself.

Edmond held out his hand. "Careful."

She grasped his hand and set her right foot on the boat. It leaned a little towards her direction. She felt his grip tighten as she boarded, releasing once she had settled.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Stella took her seat opposite Jon whilst Edmond made himself comfortable at the back of the gondola. He inserted the pass into the small box next to him. Hum. The boat moved away from the dock and began its journey across the waters.

✧ ✧ ✧

Fun Fact: This book—and the series it is a part of—was born from a dream I had in seventh grade.

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