Chapter 21

~[]~Stella's POV~[]~

We had been hiking for so long, my legs were aching and blisters had appeared by the time we had approached the waterfall. I quickly stripped my shoes and disgusting socks off my feet, sighing in content when they hit the cooling pool of water.

"There will be an immense duty to fulfill whenever we decide to look for Coventina, but for now there is ample time to set up a camp," Betasy said, and everyone groaned in agreement at the thought of a full night's sleep.

*****

Once everyone had awoken, we began to eat. As I bit into a delicious piece of guava, I reeled back in surprise.

"My dream!" I exclaimed into Leo's mind. "I think my orb was sending me memories or something!"

"What is it?" Leo replied, probably seeing my devastated expression.

"Coventina isn't actually our sister. In the prophecy, there are seven siblings, which is you, me, Glacia, Aquilo, Briar, Terriana, and Acorus. But in Stelliana's letters, we also have to join Coventina. That would make eight siblings, right?"

"Yes," Leo said, sounding extremely confused,"But how is she involved with us if we're not related to her?"

"That's the thing!" I said,"Coventina isn't our sister, but she is the half-sister of the others! Leonardo was her father, but her mother's name is Alcinda, who was a light goddess. When Leonardo died, she was heartbroken, and went into a year-long coma, which somehow delayed her pregnancy, and that's why Coventina's younger than us even though she was conceived before us."

"Wait...WHAT?" Leo shouted into my head, making me wince,"Sorry, but hold up. If Leonardo is Coventina's father, that makes us her half sister, too, not just the other five! I think you're going off the deep end, Stella,"

"No no no, that's the other thing!" I just realized that this unloading of information must be very confusing for Leo, even though it had been so clear to me in my dream,"We aren't Leonardo's children. Stelliana is our mom still, though. She knew that to preserve the future, she would have to bear seven children. When Leonardo died, she was desperate! We are the twin children of Stelliana, the most powerful sorceress in the world, and Lucianus, the last djinn to ever live!"

"That means we're the half-siblings of the five people we are traveling with, and Coventina isn't even related to us?"

"Yes, that's what I just said, pay attention!"

Leo gasped loudly, and we were brought back to our group of people. Everyone was staring at us like we were insane, which I guess we kind of are.

We quickly explained to everyone our relations {and non-relations} to Covie (we'd made up a nickname--her name was such a mouthful!). Even though almost everybody was still confused, we decided to finish explaining when we'd actually rescued Covie.

I led the way along with Leo to the waterfall, and we all ran through the cascading water into a small cave-thing. My orb glowed and tried to float out of my pocket, and when I looked around, I could see everyone else's orbs following suit. I took it out of my pocket and let it zoom up to the ceiling, where is collided with Leo's already-released orb.

Suddenly the cave filled with a luminous explosion, and everyone disappeared except Leo and I. We looked around for a bit, slightly panicked, when we heard a high-pitched voice.

"Stella, it's me! I'm your orb! I can talk, I can talk! I can read your mind too! By the way, in order to rescue your mom, you guys are gong to have to die! I'm so happy I can finally talk!!! The others are safe, well not really, but they're where they need to be. They just have to rescue Coventina--Covie, excuse me, I heard you making up a nickname and I think it's quite clever, I mean her name really is a mouthful and I agree that she needed one, but what if she doesn't like it? I mean, it would be her name and everything so she should have some say in it but I also think no one should be forced to call her Coventina I mean what if she was in danger everyone would have to say her mouthful of a name when really all they need to say is jus--" I cut my orb off quickly.

"Look, orb, I'll call you Obelia, but you need to quit rambling! Why did everyone except us disappear? AND WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL US WE'D HAVE TO DIE IN ORDER TO SAVE STELLIANA?!?"

"YAY I HAVE A NAME!!!!" Obelia screeched excitedly and danced around,"But you're right, I need to stay on track. I'm just so excited I can talk and now I have a name and--sorry. Okay, anyways; You two are not currently destined to free Covie, so while everyone else is off freeing her, you'll have to do something else. I hope you guys packed your bags, because you're going on a trip!"

"Where?" Leo and I harmonized in both excitement and confusion.

"To your adoptive families!"

"Wait...WHAT?" We mind screamed at each other.

"Goodbye!"

*****

I landed in the middle of Grand Central Station, dazed and confused.

"Stella! Hellooo? Are you okay?" Tracey waved her hand in front of my face, and I startled, looking at her.

"Phew, you like totally blacked out for a bit there, I was getting worried! C'mon, we're about to miss our cab!" she grabbed my hand and we ran outside, quickly spotting the cab we'd scheduled ahead.

When we'd reached the apartment, Stevie jumped into my arms. "SISSY, SISSY, YOU'RE BACK!" I squeezed her tightly, lifting her in the air and spinning her around.

"Hey, Stevie! I bet you didn't even miss me! I sure didn't miss you, I was having lots of fun with Tracey!"

Stevie pushed me away, playfully pretending to pout.

Mom decided to walk in then, her heels clacking out of her bedroom as she pushed in a pair of earrings.

"Stella! I'm so glad you're home!" She enveloped me in a crushing hug, and I breathed in her delicious vanilla perfume.

"I am, too, mom," I dug my head into her shoulder, loving the way I felt so at home in her arms.

Tracey walking into the kitchen, joking,"If you're not going to make me any food, woman, you'll have to relinquish your poptarts!"

"NOOO!" I screamed, tackling her onto the tile and laughing. Mom ran out the door, saying something about running late and leftover casserole in the fridge.

After dinner, we all went to bed, Tracey calling her mom while I read a bedtime story to Stevie. I was dreading school starting again, there wouldn't be any more sleepovers at Tracey's cousins farm, or late night ice cream dates in the Square, or raiding the free samples at Sephora... oh well. I decided to make the most of the week left before it was time to return to that prison of boredom.

*****

"Stella! Are you there? Can you hear me?"

"WHO ARE YOU AND HOW DID YOU GET IN MY MIND?" I screamed.

"It's me, Leo, don't you remember? Do you know why Obelia sent us here?"

"Look, Leo, I don't know who you or Obelia are, but since this is probably a dream, I'll let you explain yourself before I punch you in the face, wherever you are,"

"Stella, I'm in Illinois, I don't know about you, but we need to figure out why we're here!"

"Oh, I see, so you want the birds and the bees talk, huh? Well, it started when Mommy knew she was in love with Daddy, and the-"

"STELLA! Oh my gosh, NO! Stop joking around!"

"I'm not joking around! I have no idea who you are, and if you don't get out of my head, I'm going to ship myself to an asylum!"

Leo filled me in on what my dream was going to be about and how I was supposed to save the world alongside him and our five other siblings, but I wasn't really feeling into it. I decided to tell him that this wasn't a very fun dream.

"Whatever, Leo, but I'm not really getting this vibe. I'm going to wake up now, I'm too bored."

"NO STELLA STOP!! This isn't a dream, this is real life! And if you don't find your orb, we'll never get back or be able to save the world!"

"Bye!" I politely chirped.

*****

When I woke up, I was glad to see that Leo wasn't inside my head anymore, and I yawned happily.

"STELLA DON'T GO!"

Scratch that. I'm still insane.

"Why aren't you gone yet? I already woke up!"

"I told you, you have to find Obelia and save the world with me!"

Okay, this guy in my head was crazier than me, and I had a guy in my head!

Oh, no. My life outside of the mortal world came crashing back to me like a chilling wave. If I went with Leo, I would die!

"Leo! I remember now! We ARE supposed to save the world!"

"Yes! I knew you had to remember! Wherever you are, you need to find Obelia and get the quickest bus to Sigel, Illinois!"

That seemed like a lot of work. Plus, I'd have to save a whole universe once I returned. How would I be able to explain this to my family and Tracey? This whole thing seemed a bit far-fetched anyways, I probably just dreamed it all.

"Leo, I don't think I want to save the world right now, I'm having fun in the mortal world! Maybe mind link me when school starts."

"Stella, you can't be serious! C'mon, quit kidding around!"

I really like it here, I have so many wonderful relationships I hadn't even realized I'd been missing out on while we were gone, and I don't want to die! I would rather stay here and remain happy, than forget about my life and die trying to save the world.

"I'm blocking you from my mind, Leo, I don't want you convincing me I want to die in a crazy alternate world!"

"NO, STEL--"

Ahh. Finally, some peace and quiet. Now I have some time to think.

Wait... should I go with him?

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I, MLB998, have received tummypitlovr's permission to post her chapter here.

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Hey, guys! It's me, @tummypitlovr! Sorry for the wait, I couldn't send my chapter with italics from my mobile so I had to use my laptop. Turns out the italics aren't working anyways so just WHENEVER LEO AND STELLA TALK TO EACH OTHER IN THEIR MINDS IT IS IN ITALICS SO ITS NOT CONFUSING!!!! Okay, done with that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I wrote a really long and crazy one so i hope the next person has fun writing it, I think it can really go in any direction at this point. Check out my other stories, or not... they're not very good, but you can see if you can inspire me to make new amazing chapters or something. Okay, thanks for reading this chapter! I'm rambling now, but it's fun so byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

~{BrOoKe}