Chapter Twelve: Stella

Pluto 4 May 21st

There’s a feeling like I’m floating, sinking, being crushed, and being stretched all at the same time, then I land with a thud on the sooty floor of an alleyway. Looking at my SmartWatch, I notice that I’m somehow on Pluto 4, and it’s 21 May. Wait, WHAT??? It isn’t 21 May, it’s 20 May! I shake my head in confusion, then look out into the road. There’s a blip in the air, like a ripple, then a group of people, some from Venus 5 and some from Earth 5 (what, I research), appear in the middle of the road, looking confused and shaken. What the heck? I’ve known about black hole travel for ages, but I’ve never seen it in person. I watch a boy, startled by their appearance, run off, then the group just stands there for a moment. Then the boy comes back with one other person. Another blips into appearance.

The group of three includes the boy and two girls. One of the girls, who I hear introduce herself as ‘Arx’, seems familiar somehow, but I can’t put my finger on it. The other girl is Lauren, and the boy is Miles. In the new group, there is Marcus (who introduced himself as Marc), Bunni, Misti, and Lucki. Finally, I step out of my hiding place. Arx looks a little surprised to see me, which I guess anyone will.

“Hi everyone. Since I know all your names, you might as well learn mine. I’m Stella,” I offer.

“Where did you come from?” Marc asks, confused.

“The alley, but first my bedroom on Mars 4,” I answer.

“When did you come from?” Arx asks in a demanding voice, which seems a little confusing to me.

“Um… according to my memories, yesterday, unless I spent a day in that stupid black hole thingy.”

“Interesting,” is her reply. Miles and Lauren both look shocked that she even brought it up, the time thing. Maybe Arx was time transported?

“Arx, were you time transported once?” I blurt out before I can stop myself. Miles and Lauren freeze, and I realize that I’ve just asked the one unaskable question. Everyone has one, even I do, and if someone asks me, I ignore them, yell at them, or run away. Arx just stands there, staring. She’s breathing hard, like she’s angry and about to burst, barely holding it in. Finally she gives me such a dangerous look that I instantly regret asking. “You weren’t in the black hole for a day,” Arx says in an uneven voice. “You were instantly transported here.”

“Umm… I won’t mention that again,” I gulp. “So-o-o… what exactly have we all been sent here for?”

“You’re being hunted,” Arx deadpans. She starts to pace, obviously processing something.

Brilliant, I think. But I say “Hunted? By who?”

“Multiverse Control,” a familiar voice answers. Everyone whips around, and I see Kallie sitting on top of one of the roofs. Arx curses silently. “I’m Kallie, by the way.”

“Kallie!” I shout with joy. She smiles, hopping off the roof. I run to her and we embrace.

“A-hem,” Arx interrupts. “Do you know each other?”

“Yeah, Kallie’s my best friend!” I reply. Arx nods slowly, eyebrows raised, as if something is still wrong.

“Your only friend,” Kallie teases. Then she stiffens. “Turn around, slowly.” Very slowly, I turn around. Standing atop a gross pile of rotting bodies is a group of people who are obviously Multiverse Control. Arx nods in their direction, her gaze dangerous. “I knew this was a trap.”

“Then why did you come?” A man steps out in front of the Multiverse Control. “I am Leo, by the way. And you are going to die.” At these words, the MC guys all raise their strange guns and point them at us. I flinch, and one of the MC’s smile. A strange lady in a red and grey dress steps up to stand by him.

“If you will like to do this as peacefully as possible, I suggest you put down your weapons and simply take us captive,” Arx says in a loud voice. “Our group has no weapons and it will only be fair.”

“No weapons. HA!” Leo smiles evilly. “Oh, you have weapons. You all do. You have the Mutations!” I see Marc stiffen, and I can tell that Bunni , Shock, and Misti react as well. Bunni’s… appendages are pretty obvious, and from what I’ve seen, Misti gets around too easily for someone who said she was blind. Lucki looks completely confused. Of everyone, only Miles, Lauren and Arx seem unfazed by the comment. “It’s a blessing and a curse,” Miles says. Lauren nods her agreement. Lucki speaks up.

“But I don’t have the Mutation...” he trails off.

“I must argue, my dear Charli,” Leo smiles and Lucki flinches at the mention of his real name. Leo continues, unfazed. “My Mutation detector says otherwise.” He holds up a device, like a phone, with flickering dots on it. There are quite a lot around us. Actually, there are as many dots as there are people that aren’t guards. “These dots are the people in the vicinity with the Mutation.” The largest dots are Leo, Roki, Bunni, Lucki, Arx, Miles, Stella and Kallie, though Kallie’s dot was a bit smaller than the others. Leo’s dot was huge, and Roki’s was the next largest, though Bunni’s was close to hers. “Power corrupts,” Arx mutters, staring at Leo’s dot.

“Woah,” I say, blinking. The dots all flickered at different rates, Leo’s and Roki’s the slowest, and everyone else faster. Kallie’s flickered by far the fastest of all of them. Mine was flickering pretty fast too.

“The flicker is potential,” Leo explained, “Which is why I have to kill you. Can’t have you getting in the way.” Misti looks as if she’s going to faint. Bunni looks apprehensive, and Lucki looks nervous, then determined. I feel a bit wishy-washy about the whole thing, but Kallie looks excited, like no one’s ever told her she has potential. I can actually almost see the energy crackling around us all, and then I realize what no one else has noticed: Leo actually has a glowing energy field.

“Come on, let’s get them out of here,” Lucki whispers to Bunni. I scoot closer so I can hear them.

“I thought that you didn’t have the Mutation,” I hear Bunni whisper back.

“All my life I felt that something was missing, that there was something more. This explains it. It explains a lot, actually,” Bunni nods and they focus, a small black hole popping up and sucking everyone in, one by one. Since Bunni and Lucki have gone through, I don’t know how the portal is holding itself open. Then I realize that I feel strained, tired. I’m holding the black hole open. For a moment Arx stays behind, giving Leo a triumphant and cocky look. “I’m surprised it didn’t read it,” she says, and opens herself a portal and jumps through. Giving Leo one last triumphant look, I fall into the portal, not knowing where I’m going, and knowing that I can never go back to the life I left behind.