By: Nina Huang

Well, today is the same routine. This girl’s name is Davina. Now, we can describe Davina as a real-life superhero. Her Zodiac stone is Aries. Here’s the catch, though: Davina is not an ordinary person—she was born with special abilities. Her Zodiac stone is different, too. Davina’s stone allows her to get the truth out of anyone. You may probably think of her as the next Wonder Woman. So, if you like action and chaos, just keep reading. Oh yeah, final note: Davina doesn’t know any of our previously-introduced characters, or so you might think ….

“DAVINA CALLISTO JAMES! HOW DARE YOU BREAK MY BEAUTIFUL VASE!” Davina’s mom shouted.

“Mom, you know I’m special! I’m not like the other kids in the village! I break through windows for a reason! So stop trying to make me fit in, because I don’t!” Davina protested.

“Davina, don’t argue back! You’ve broken half of our belongings—and you are very lucky I agreed to take you in,” Davina’s mom reminded her.

“What? What do you mean ‘took me in’? Am I adopted?” Davina shrieked.

“Yes, you are adopted—and being special doesn’t mean anything!” Davina’s so-called mom yelled.

“I’d rather go back to the orphanage, then. I hate living here! You starve me, and you lock me in my bedroom!” Davina shouted back.

“Fine, then leave.” Davina’s “mom” commanded.

“Oh I will, and I won’t come back!” Davina stomped out of the room.

Davina marched to her closet and grabbed a suitcase into which she piled all of her belongings. She grabbed her Zodiac stone and dragged her luggage to the living room.

“Lady, don’t lie. Where are my parents?” Davina demanded.

“Dead. They were cops and they died during an investigation—their patrol car crashed.” Davina’s faux mom explained coldly.

“Well, I guess I don’t have a family now,” Davina sighed as she exited the front door.

Davina ran for a few miles until she came to a city. She found a dumpster and burrowed down into the pile of trash inside it. Davina felt the air turn cold as she teleported to the Star Kingdom. She landed with a THUD as she felt the stars beneath her feet. She made her way to the nearest hotel, checked in, and locked herself in her room. Then there was a gentle knock at the door.

“Hello?” Davina asked.

“Davina? Is that you?” a voice asked.

“Who are you?” Davina asked, holding out her stone.

“It is I, Astra.” the voice replied.

“Sorry, I think you have the wrong room,” Davina sighed.

“No, Cousin, it’s me! Now let me in!” Astra commanded.

Davina unlocked the door and let Astra in. After a moment of awkward silence, Astra spoke.

“You don’t know who I am?” Astra asked sadly.

“No, but you’re so familiar … wait, maybe I saw you at the orphanage!” Davina realized.

“Yeah, you looked familiar to me, too, but just when I was planning to ask your name, my adoptive parents adopted me,” Astra sighed.

“Did you just call me ‘Cousin’?” Davina asked.

“Yes, we’re cousins. I need to tell you how your parents died, and how you and I ended up in the same orphanage.” Astra said.

“Go on,” Davina said as she fell onto her bed.

“Your birth parents were very loyal to King Night, just like mine. Your parents also had a very good relationship with my parents, since our moms were sisters. My parents were assigned a mission, and I was put up for adoption on Earth because the mission would take a long time to complete, and I was very young. Around that same time, your parents were being chased by star-scouts and they were captured. Somehow, they were able to escape, and they went back to Earth so it would never happen again. It is true that they died, but not in a car crash. Star-scouts tracked them down on Earth, and.…” Astra explained gently.

“Well, I’m glad I ran away from home,” Davina smiled. “My adoptive mom was single, and she was a horrible person!”

Suddenly, there was a loud BOOM! from the hotel lobby. Astra and Davina ran to find out what made the noise. There was a group of mean-looking star-scouts standing in the lobby. Remember how I told you that Davina was like Wonder Woman? Well, this is where I prove it to you.

“Get behind that desk!” Davina ordered Astra.

Davina charged at the scouts and barely got hit by a bullet that didn’t even leave a mark on her arm. She flipped onto a chair and taunted the scouts. While the men were distracted, Davina flipped into the air and landed behind the scouts. Grabbing a belt from her waist, she tied it around two of the scouts. The rest tried to shoot Davina, but she was faster. Next, Davina pulled a fire extinguisher from the wall and sprayed fire retardant at the scouts. At the same time, she grabbed a bracelet from her cousin Astra and fastened it around a third scout’s wrist. The receptionist at the front desk shrieked as she clasped her hands to her chest. Astra caught the woman just as she fainted. Davina was chasing two star-scouts just as King Night’s star-shooters arrived outside the hotel.

“Go inside! I’ll take care of the rest!” Davina yelled as she ran faster.

The scouts escaped into a cave through a dimly-lit passageway.

“Stop running so fast!” Astra huffed as she caught up with Davina.

“What are you doing here? You could be killed,” Davina said angrily.

“I’m not leaving my cousin to fight these scouts off all by herself,” Astra argued.

“Fine, but I want to see what these darned scouts are looking for,” Davina sighed. The cousins snuck into the cave behind the scouts Davina had been pursuing.

Inside the cave, the star-scouts stopped in front of a doorway and hung their heads.

“Master,” one of them said, “We failed to retrieve her stone. It was the only method of opening the stone door. Now we’ll never get in there, it seems.”

“My Zodiac stone? Does this have anything to do with the fact that I’m special?” Davina asked herself.

“Wait, it all fits together!” Astra exclaimed in a whisper.

“Oh my gosh! My parents built this cave to guard something. They wanted me to find whatever it was that they needed to protect! That’s why the scouts needed my stone! They’re looking for it, too,” Davina realized.

“Come on, there’s another door down at the end of this passageway. I want to see what’s inside.” Davina said as she ran to the second door.

“Look, there’s a hole here in this rock, and it looks like it’s about the size of a Zodiac stone,” Astra pointed out.

Davina grabbed her Aries stone and placed it in the hole. The door opened. The girls stepped inside, the stone door slammed shut behind them, and the cousins realized they were trapped inside a tiny stone chamber with two stone doors. One door was the one through which they had entered, and the other door, also shut tight, was on the other side of the chamber.

“Oh no, I’m claustrophobic! Help!” Astra yelled.

“Quiet! If the scouts hear you, they’ll be onto us.” Davina reminded her cousin.

“There’s something carved into this other door. It says, ‘Our bloodline connects us through this door, for you shall not enter and must wait forever more.’” Davina read.

“Put your hand on the door.” Astra commanded.

Both girls placed their hands on the door and it opened! Inside were two Zodiac stones and a note:

“Dearest Davina, we apologize that we weren’t able to fulfill your dreams of meeting your cousin. We built this cave to store our stones in, so that, should we die, our Zodiac stones will come into your possession. The reason you are “different” is because we come from an extremely strong and intimidating family. Once one of us is born, we start to grow stronger than the rest of humanity. At birth, we have the strength of a normal adult, and we continue to grow stronger and stronger,” Davina read.

“Hey! That’s ours!” a star-scout yelled.

Davina pushed Astra behind a big rock and ran to a corner of the chamber. She found an old rope, tied it tightly onto a strong tree branch protruding from the cave wall, and swung herself into the air. She kicked the scout in the head, knocking him out as she scooped up Astra, and the cousins landed roughly back in the passageway. They raced out of the cave with Davina’s parents’ Zodiac stones, along with the precious note, clutched in their hands.

So, I don’t really have much juice left, so let me recap before I run out. Davina was accepted as a hero and a star-shooter, she went to live with Astra and her parents in their Star Tower, and I guess they all lived happily ever after until the next chapter of our story.