"Where did you learn that?" Celestine inquired, regarding Stella with a look of astonishment. The two of them were alone in Chamber Three, fifteen minutes after Stella had fought Jon.

"Learn what?"

"The shield shrinking. I haven't taught you that yet."

"I just came up with it," she lied. The book taught her, but she could not tell Celestine that.

"That's some advanced stuff you came up with! Well, not advanced, more like intermediate, but not something you learn in your first two weeks. Or even first month." Pride pressed a pleased smile onto her lips. "You're a very good learner!"

"Ehm, thank you."

"Anyway, I'll go out for a while," Celestine said. "You can just wait here."

She briskly walked out of the room. Stella glanced at her hands. She was barely able to shrink a shield the night before, yet she did much better when she did it against Jon. Perhaps the stress of a fight improved her abilities. Stella raised her hands to her chest level, propelled them forward, and curled her fingers. Fshh. The shield was summoned. She rotated her hands and brought them closer. The force field's size decreased considerably. She pushed them closer to each other. There was still a large amount of resistive force, but nothing compared to when she first attempted. The force field lost about fifteen centimeters in diameter. Good enough for a rookie, she supposed. She stopped exerting effort. The shield vanished immediately.

Stella raised her hands to shoulder level and thrust them forward a little. A translucent wall appeared in front of her. She thrust her hands towards her sides. It began expanding. Stella pushed against the air, resistive forces acting against her. She glanced at her right arm. Her elbow was barely bent, its angle getting closer to one hundred and eighty degrees. She looked frontwards. The shield gained nearly three meters in length. Would it gain four meters if she fully stretched her arms?

"Did you also come up with that?"

Stella flinched. The shield disappeared in an instant. She glanced behind herself. Celestine was standing in front of the door.

"Yes," Stella said.

Celestine gave another look of awe. She reentered the chamber and summoned a whiteboard. However, she did not draw anything on it.

"Well, since you know how to grow and shrink shields," Celestine began, "why not we practice doing that? First, summon a surround shield."

Stella obliged. A surround shield appeared out of the blue and covered her on all sides.

"Now, expand it."

Expand a surround shield? How? She had never done that before. Stella opened her arms and twisted her wrists. Her palms were next to her shoulders and facing outward. She began stretching her arms. Bit by bit, the shield's diameter grew. Resistive forces pushed against her hands. Stella strained her arms, veins popping out of them. The force field continued to expand.

"Stop!" Celestine ordered her. "That's enough."

Stella dropped her arms and panted. The force field disappeared soon after. Celestine smiled and nodded her head.

"You are doing well," she remarked. "Now try expanding and shrinking different types of shields."

"Which one?"

"Any. Whichever you want."

Stella looked upwards once more. She thrust her open palms toward the ceiling. A roof force field hovered above her head. She pushed sidewards. It gradually grew. Stella spent the next hour shrinking and expanding different types of force fields.

***

Meanwhile, Jon and José were also focusing on force fields in Chamber One. However, instead of summoning them, Jon was being taught how to do the opposite.

"Force field," José uttered. A translucent wall, which glowed a faint blue, appeared between him and Jon. He then said in Spanish, "Force Field Summoning isn't merely the ability to make shields appear out of nowhere. When I saw you losing to Stella because she was able to trap you in a shrinking shield, I decided that I was going to teach you Force Field Removal. It's an advanced sub-skill, one that I learned when I was much older than you, but it is a very useful and important ability.

"Now, place your hands on the force field between us."

Jon obeyed his command. Though he had summoned shields before, he had never actually touched one until Stella trapped him inside a sphere shield. It felt bizarre—the shield itself was as solid as smooth glass, but it radiated an aura that made his fingers feel like they were engulfed in dry clouds of energy.

"Remove it."

"How?"

"You just feel it."

Jon squinted at the space between his hands. Nothing. He pressed his palms deeper into the force field, the area around it contorting like a thick layer of elastic. Still nothing.

"Don't push. Remove."

I'm trying, Jon thought. He narrowed his eyes at the area around his fingers. He visualized the force field fading. Soon after, a cold sensation ran through his fingers. Jon widened his eyes as he witnessed the shield evanescing, its blue glow becoming fainter and fainter and the shield itself feeling less solid. Jon glanced at his father. José smiled and gave him a nod of approval.

***

In Chamber Two, Edmond was practicing his flame-extinguishing sub-skill. He and Helene were standing on opposite sides of the room. Helene put one foot forward and raised her arms in front of her chest. Edmond did a similar stance. She took one step forward and punched. Fwoosh. A burst of bright white fire erupted from her fist. Edmond stepped backward and did a scissor block. The flames died the moment they touched his arms. Helene double-punched upwards. A fireball launched towards the ceiling. She swung her forearms downward, her fingers extended towards the ground. The fireball began its descent, expanding into a fiery cloud. He lifted his gaze, stepped forward, and did an upper block. The flames were extinguished before they could reach the ground. Helene bent forward and punched towards the ground. Flames rolled toward him like a wave. He swung his rear leg as high as he could, pointed his heel downwards, and slammed it against the floor. The wave died down in an instant.

"You will die."

The voice. Helene felt goosebumps running down her back—surely, Gobhastan could not reach Earth? Then why was she still hearing his voice?

"Eddie, did you hear anything?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, I didn't."

"You can't hide forever."

Helene scanned the room, using both telekinesis and her normal eyesight. There was nobody in Chamber Two besides her and Edmond. She walked towards the door and peeked into the antechamber. Nobody was there.

"Is there anything wrong?" Edmond inquired.

"I heard a voice," she answered him. She averted his gaze and muttered to herself, "He might be here."

"I will be."

The voice sounded louder in her ears, as though it was coming from right behind her. He was too near for them to be safe. She glanced at Edmond and told him, "Eddie, go to José and tell him to expect a call from me. I have to do something."

"Okay."

Helene sprinted out of the room. She trod up the staircase, exited Celestine's house, and slammed the door shut. She tried to recall the route. Straight, turn right, through the forest. She stood up and began running towards Old Port Warehouse.

She reached the area in less than ten minutes. From the outside, everything seemed to be fine. Helene genuflected and laid her right hand on the ground. She closed her eyes and scanned the building's interior. The wooden door was opening. A figure seemed to be caught between realms—it was not on Earth, yet also not on Otrâlmondé. Helene scrutinized the figure. Tattered trench coat. Battered boots. Rings with large stones. A face with no features. How did he open the portal? Helene stood up and raised her arms. A dome-shaped force field enclosed Old Port Warehouse. She reached for her gadget, held it to her mouth, and pressed a few buttons.

"José! Get the new trio to Old Port Warehouse ASAP!" she shouted. She pressed another button before she shoved the phone into her pocket and ran towards the building. She dove her hand into her other pocket and pulled out her cloak. She hastily put it on as she opened the metal door and ran towards the basement.

***

José's gadget beeped a split second later. José was in the middle of teaching Jon how to create ice shards when it sounded. He held up his open hand, signaling Jon to stop, and reached for his messenger bag. He retrieved his gadget and pressed a single button.

"José! Get the new trio to Old Port Warehouse ASAP!" Helene's voice boomed from the device and echoed across the chamber. José glanced at Jon.

"You heard her! Go!" José shouted.

Both of them sprinted out of Chamber One. Jon dashed out of the magical room, climbed out of the basement, and went out the front door. He halted. He did not know the way. Meanwhile, José dropped by Chamber Two. Edmond was busy practicing pyrokinesis.

"Edmond! Helene needs you at Old Port Warehouse now!"

Edmond immediately stopped. He extinguished his flames before leaving the room. José went to Chamber Three. Stella and Celestine were having a break.

"Stella," José said, "you have to go to Old Port Warehouse now! Helene needs you!"

"For what?" Celestine inquired.

"I don't know. She says she needs the new trio now! Stella, go!"

Stella sprinted out of Chamber Three. She ascended the basement stairs and dashed through the front door, closing it behind her. She could see the two boys waiting for her outside.

"Stella!" Edmond called out. "You know how to get to Old Port Warehouse?"

"Yes, follow me!"

Stella began running, with the two of them following her. From time to time she would point to a direction whenever they had to make a turn. Five minutes passed. Stella was already slowing down, the boys starting to overtake her.

"You tired?" Edmond asked her.

"A little. I'm bad at running."

"I'll help you." Edmond grabbed her hand and pulled her along. Just when she thought her heart was already racing, it began beating faster. Stella glanced to the right. They should turn soon.

"Right, right," she said, pointing. They made a right turn and raced down the street.

They reached the forest a few minutes later. The three were careful to not stumble as they passed through. Stella peered in front of her. She could see the building looming ahead. They were near! She pushed herself to run faster and faster.

They dashed out of the forest. Old Port Warehouse was standing in front of them, silent and solitary. The three of them bolted towards the building. Bump. The three bounced backward, with Jon nearly falling over, as a force field blocked them from going closer.

"How are we supposed to get in?" Edmond muttered, punching forward. His fist struck the force field and left a brief ripple effect.

"I think I can remove it," Jon said. "Let me try."

Jon placed both hands on the force field. His eyes squinted. His fingers were strained. The force field began to fade. The smell of ash and soot escaped the tiny opening. Jon spread his hands further apart. The hole in the force field expanded until it was large enough to let the three of them through. They gasped.

Chunks of rubble fell from Old Port Warehouse as a fire began consuming it from within.

✧ ✧ ✧

Fun Fact: In the first draft of the book, each member of the trio held many more superpowers than in this current version. Edmond also possessed super strength, Jon could also fly, and Stella used to have super speed, among other superpowers they once had.

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