by Ahmet Zappa
Something caught in Adora’s throat.
Odd, thought Adora. Am I coming down with star pox?
She pushed the possibility out of her mind and concentrated on Lady Stella.
She’d been reserving judgment on the headmistress, determined not to brand her innocent or guilty until all the evidence was in and the findings were incontrovertible. Still, thinking about Lady Stella’s powerful, dignified presence made Adora long for her to be innocent.
One olive-colored house caught her eye. It stood in a far corner, tucked between two rare and beautiful kaleidoscope trees that were constantly shifting colors. Its lines were simple yet elegant, its color understated but glowing. A calm golden-white light radiated from its windows.
“That must be it,” she whispered. Libby and Gemma nodded.
Adora took a holo-pad out of her coat pocket and quickly sketched a flutterfocus. “This can be our cover if we see anyone else,” she added.
“On the farm, Tessa always chased flutterfocuses.” Gemma began to prattle, as if they were really working on a class project. Adora let her talk as they skirted other houses. But when they drew closer to Lady Stella’s home, she held up a hand for silence. Then she pulled them behind a kaleidoscope tree.
“Hush. We need to be quiet now. Lady Stella knows too much about our classes and homework for the flutterfocuses to work.”
She peered through the color-shifting leaves. Lady Stella was nowhere to be seen.
“Are you sure this is her house?” whispered Gemma, beginning to panic once again.
“Shhh! Do you hear that?” Adora hissed. Straining to listen, they caught the faint click-clack sounds of snipping scissors.
“It’s coming from the backyard,” Libby said in a low voice.
The three girls nodded at one another. Then they crept along the side of the house until they reached a corner. Peering around, they saw Lady Stella.
She was standing in front of a large, lovely garden ringed by goldenella trees. Glittery yellow calliopes mixed with orange chatterbursts. Coral-colored roxylinda flowers twined around the purple zelda blooms. Glitterbees buzzed between rows, and a sweet fragrance wafted through the air.
A glowzen pairs of scissors hovered near Lady Stella, as if at rest.
Lady Stella sipped from a tall glass of sparkle juice. Then she waved one arm at the scissors. The scissors seemed to bow, then flew from flower to flower, snipping off brittle leaves.
Lady Stella worked at a leisurely pace, directing the scissors while more tools hovered nearby, ready to work. Clearly, the gardening had just begun.
“The garden is huge,” Libby whispered. “This could take a very long time.”
Adora agreed. “Lady Stella won’t be going to her office at all this afternoon. We need to tell the others. To the hedge maze!”
“Okay, who had the bright idea to meet here?” asked Gemma, pouting a bit.
Adora, who was standing next to Gemma in front of the maze, held back a smile. “It was me. Bet you wish you had paired with Vega now.”
Somehow, Vega always knew her way around the maze. A world-class puzzle solver, she actually enjoyed taking tests and figuring out answers. Adora had tried to get Vega’s input on an experiment or two over the staryears, but Vega had made it clear she didn’t like the guesswork involved. She liked tried-and-true answers, resolutions that had been studied for eons.
“Don’t worry,” Adora said, trying to reassure Gemma and Libby, neither of whom had spent much time in the hedge maze. “We’ll find our way sooner or later. It’s all a matter of trial and error.”
Linking arms with the younger Starlings, Adora led them through the maze entrance.
Inside, the tall hedges seemed to tower even higher. It was impossible to gauge location or get a sense of direction. Paths curved this way and that, twisting and turning at every step.
Should we go right? Adora wondered. Or left? Forward? Or back?
It didn’t matter that she’d visited just the other starweek and had found her way in two shakes of a glion’s tail. The maze changed constantly. One starday you could guess correctly and walk straight to the center. But the next, the same path would take you stars knew where. At least with the Glowin’ Glions game going on that day, it would most likely be empty.
Star-Zap mapping functions didn’t work there, and not everyone enjoyed the challenge. If you panicked—like Gemma was about to, Adora guessed—you could pick one of the red flowers that were placed strategically on every wall and open an exit.
Adora, Gemma, and Libby wandered aimlessly, Gemma growing more fidgety with every dead end.
“Let’s head back to the entrance and start over,” Adora said, turning everyone around. The next thing she knew, they were standing in the center of the maze.
Vega and Piper were already there.
Piper was relaxing in a comfy lounge chair with a headrest of soft pillows. She reached into a deep pocket of her long flowing dress and took out a sleep mask.
Why does she always carry sleep masks? Adora wondered. Why close your eyes to the worlds when a universe of possibilities stands right in front of you?
Vega, meanwhile, sat stick-straight on a stone bench, staring at them with a relieved expression.
“You’re finally here!” she cried, jumping up. “Piper and I have been here so long she’s falling asleep.”
“Not quite,” said Piper, taking off the mask. “I’m just using the time to regroup.” She turned to Adora. “I’m getting a strong vibe: the others are close by.”
Vega hurried toward the path. “I’ll poke around and see if I can find them. Be back in a starsec.”
Adora had barely settled into a seat when Vega returned with the rest of the Star Darlings.
Leona flung herself onto the lounge chair, squeezing in next to Piper. “Scoot over, Piper. I need to rest my weary bones.” She lifted one foot to examine the sole of her delicate golden sandal. “Scarlet and her combat boots would have done better tramping all over Starling Academy and through this maze. I am so done!”
Piper adjusted a pillow for her. “Star salutations,” Leona murmured.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Adora warned. “We should move quickly. Lady Stella is busy at home, but—”
“We have to tell you about the faculty housing,” Libby said excitedly. “It’s so starmazing.”
Sage looked at Libby eagerly. Everyone else regarded her with amused expressions. “We’ve all been there,” Astra said.
“Well, how could we be sure?” Gemma asked. “Adora—”
“Let’s get back to Lady Stella,” Adora said quickly. “She’s gardening. I’m not sure when she’ll finish. And we don’t know who else may be near her office. So we should divide into small groups, again, to avoid suspicion.”
She noticed Gemma and Libby edging closer to Vega.
“We’ll all leave the maze together,” she added. “Vega, you go first.”
With Vega leading the way, it took only a starmin to exit the hedge maze. Outside, Adora decided to stay on her own. It seemed simplest; that way she could avoid any complicating opinions or outbursts.
She made a wide circle around Halo Hall, not seeing a glimmer of another Starling. She thanked her lucky stars for the star ball game. Quickly, Adora ducked into a side entrance. Glancing over her shoulder—still no one in sight—she hurried down a gleaming starmarble hall. She had just turned a corner when she spied Leona and Sage ahead. Might as well stick together, she thought, rushing to catch up.
Just as she reached the others, a Bot-Bot swooped over their heads, stopping to block their path.
Adora caught her breath. Was it a security guard?
“Mojo! What are you doing here?” asked Sage.
Mojo? That didn’t sound like any Bot-Bot name Adora had ever heard before. Not willing to say anything aloud in case the Bot-Bot was recording, she turned to Sage and raised her eyebrows.
“Oh, Mojo is really MO-J4, but that sounds so…um�
�robot-like!” Sage finished. “He was my tour guide when I first came to school. And we’ve developed a bit of a…um, friendship.”
The Bot-Bot seemed to smile.
“That’s so cute!” said Leona.
To Adora, this was quite startling. All Bot-Bots were polite and—she hoped—programmed to be well meaning. But she’d never seen one with a personality before.
“I’m on security detail,” Mojo explained. “Are you girls here to look for a lost holo-textbook? I spotted a few in the Astral Accounting lecture hall.” He winked. “I won’t tell your professor. Promise.”
“Star salutations!” Adora said before Sage could say a word. “We’ll look there right now!” She pulled Sage and Leona down the hall.
“Wait!” called Mojo. “Astral Accounting is the other way.”
Adora hit her head. “Of course, you’re right!” The three girls turned in the other direction and kept walking until Mojo was gone.
“You didn’t need to lie,” Sage complained. “Mojo is totally trustworthy.”
“You never know,” Adora told her. “We need to be careful.” Still, it pained Adora to lie once more. Even little light lies went against her scientific, accurate-to-a-fault mindset. But right then it seemed necessary.
Adora glanced around cautiously. “And if there’s one Bot-Bot guard, there’s bound to be more.”
The three girls pressed themselves against the wall, then continued toward Lady Stella’s office. The other Star Darlings were quietly moving up behind them as they neared the door.
Adora grinned. Almost there. Just a few more steps.
Suddenly, she spied another guard, coming from the opposite direction.
She stopped short. “Oh!” cried Sage, bumping into her from behind. A chorus of “ohs” followed as, one after the other, the still-moving Star Darlings bumped into the ones who’d stopped.
“We’re like a clown act from the circus!” Clover joked. Everyone laughed—until they saw the guard.
“What are we going to do?” cried Gemma.
“Calm down and go back around the corner until it’s all clear,” said Adora. “I’ll try to distract it.”
As the Bot-Bot neared, Adora slipped away from the others, running up and down halls to make a U-turn and approach the Bot-Bot from behind. She carefully took out the test tubes she was carrying, mixed them together, and threw them against the wall, knowing there would be an explosion.
Bang! It worked!
The Bot-Bot swiveled around. It swooped to the wall, examined the broken glass and liquid mixture, and took a sample before it all disappeared. Good, thought Adora. It would take the specimen to the school lab for analysis. That should take some time.
Meanwhile, Adora raced back to Lady Stella’s office. By then the girls were crowded around the door. Each girl placed her hand on the scanner, and each time it beeped and turned red.
Of course the door is locked, Adora told herself sternly. Why didn’t I think of that earlier? And the Bot-Bot was already back, flying toward them once again. She needed another distraction.
But she’d used up her bag of scientific tricks. Now what?
“Halt!” the Bot-Bot guard called out to the Star Darlings.
In her head, Adora ran through a list of ideas, explanations of why they were there. Then she logically discarded each one. Finally, she had it.
“How about a starring role in ‘Fainting on the Floor While Searching for My Homework’?” she whispered to Leona.
“I accept,” said Leona.
Quickly, Leona strode to the center of the hall, away from the other Star Darlings, and clutched her head.
“Moons and stars!” she cried. “All of a sudden, I don’t feel well. I was trying to find my Astral Accounting holo-textbook…but now I don’t know where I am. Everything is a blur!”
The Bot-Bot snapped to attention.
Leona staggered farther from the girls—and the door—then collapsed on the floor.
Meanwhile, Adora led the others around the corner to hide.
“Do not worry. I am programmed to aid in emergency situations,” said the Bot-Bot tonelessly.
“Please, please,” Leona said softly as it hovered above her. “Get help.”
“I will not leave you. I will call for more Bot-Bots.”
“No!” Leona sat up quickly. Then she realized her mistake and lay back down. “No, please,” she whimpered.
“I’ll give her a gold star for acting,” Adora said, watching from her hiding place.
“I need you to get help,” Leona continued. “Make sure the EMBs bring a stretcher. Don’t signal them—bring them here so there’s no misunderstanding.”
That’s good, Adora thought. Getting Emergency Medical Bots might take a while. Of course, that was what she’d thought about taking the explosive mixture to the lab!
“Bring them…” Leona paused. “And my mother.”
“Your mother,” the Bot-Bot repeated.
Adora clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.
“Where is your mother located exactly?”
“Probably in the shoe store,” Leona gasped.
Adora knew Leona’s family worked in the shoe business—not show business. Locating that one tiny shoe store would prove difficult for the guard. Leona really was a starmendous improviser.
“There are no shoe stores in Starling Academy.”
“It’s in Flairfield.”
Adora elbowed Clover. Flairfield was floozels away.
Leona shut her eyes and lay very still, barely breathing.
“Miss?” said the Bot-Bot. “Miss? I am not programmed for these kinds of decisions.”
Leona stayed quiet.
The Bot-Bot floated above her uncertainly, then took off in the direction of Health Services.
Immediately, Leona popped to her feet. She met Adora and the others back at the door.
“We don’t have much time,” Adora whispered loudly. “Who knows when that guard will come back?”
“And what if it actually brings my mother?” Leona added.
Adora didn’t answer. She and the others stared at the door. There didn’t seem to be much else to do.
As every Starling Academy student knew, individual wish energy manipulation didn’t work on locked doors.
Still, Adora thought, they didn’t know for a fact that a group of nine advanced students, working together, couldn’t open one small locked door.
“Let’s try doing this all at once,” she suggested. Everyone stared hard at Lady Stella’s office door. “On the count of three,” she continued. “One, two, and—”
All the Star Darlings focused, seeing in their minds’ eyes the door whooshing open.
It didn’t move a star inch.
They tried again and the result was conclusive: they couldn’t do it.
Astra pulled Adora aside. “When Libby and I were on Wishworld, we got locked out of the auditorium, and she used her Power Crystal to open the door.”
Adora rubbed her hands excitedly. “Good thinking,” she said. Adora faced the group. “Okay, anyone who has a Power Crystal, take it out now and we’ll see what they can do.”
Libby, Astra, Sage, Vega, and Piper hurriedly took out their crystals.
“Show-offs,” muttered Leona, stepping back.
Get over it! Adora was about to tell her. So your Wish Pendant burned to a crisp while you were coming home after your mission. So you didn’t bring back wish energy or receive your Power Crystal. Figure out what you can do now!
Instead, Piper spoke up. “Leona,” she said almost sternly, “you should be sending positive thoughts. That could be your way to help.”
Adora did believe in positive energy; she’d seen its effects for herself. Once, when her star-sewing machine had some sort of breakdown, she’d visualized it rethreading, concentrated fiercely, and somehow the machine had righted itself.
“Gemma, Clover, and I will add our positive thoughts, too,” Adora said. So
five Star Darlings placed their Power Crystals on the door while four others sent out positivity vibes.
The door stayed shut.
The girls tried again and again, but each time their energy grew weaker. Finally, they gave up.
“Well,” said Leona, “guess those little old Power Crystals aren’t as powerful as you thought.”
“You’re right,” said Adora dejectedly. Why do the Power Crystals work on Wishworld, but not on Starland? she wondered. That is very curious. She examined the door one last time, just to make sure. It was still closed tightly.
She gazed out the window and saw a group of Bot-Bots heading toward the building entrance. They carried a stretcher.
“The EMBs are here,” she told the others. “We need to leave and come up with another plan.”
She heard a noise, a soft thud of some sort, close behind them. She whirled around to see Leona giggling—in front of the open door!
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“I leaned on it and it slid open!” said Leona.
“This way,” the guard called to the other Bot-Bots. “The student is around the corner.”
Adora peered inside the office. “It’s empty,” she whispered. “Hurry!”
Quickly, the girls slipped inside and closed the door behind them.
“Where is the student in distress?” one EMB asked in a level voice. On the other side of the door, Adora raised a finger to her lips, signaling the others to keep quiet.
“I do not know,” said the guard.
There was the sound of some movement. Maybe the EMBs were putting down the stretcher to search the area.
“She was here just a few starmins ago,” the guard added.
“GR-D3,” the EMB said, “you just returned from a technical support appointment, did you not?”
“Maybe,” said the guard.
“You cannot even answer that. Clearly your rewiring tune-up was faulty.”
“Yes,” the guard agreed. “Star excuse my false report.” Then there was silence.
“They left,” Adora whispered. She glanced around the office. There was the familiar silver table, where they’d gathered many times for Star Darlings meetings.
There were the huge picture windows and the holo-bookcase. And there were the other Star Darlings, of course. But the room seemed empty without Lady Stella. It was uncomfortable—maybe even wrong, Adora considered. It was almost a lie to be there without permission, and it was strange not to have Cassie, Tessa, and Scarlet with them.