Lea Lexis- Ella Nova- Angel Allwood -

But Angel had already taken a bite. She didn’t fall or turn to ash. Instead, she laughed—a sound like wind chimes—and her shadow split into three separate shadows, each one dancing in a different direction.

The ground trembled. From the center of the substation yard, a crack split the asphalt. And from that crack, a tree began to grow—not wood, but something like black glass, its branches tracing the spiral pattern from Angel’s glowing dirt. It rose thirty feet in ten seconds. At its crown, a single fruit glowed like a newborn star.

“It’s not a weapon,” Angel said, juice running down her chin, her eyes now full of galaxies. “It’s a door. And it’s been looking for three keys: a skeptic, a stargazer, and a gardener.” Lea Lexis- Ella Nova- Angel Allwood

That night, under a weeping sky, the three women drove to the edge of town. Lea hotwired the substation gate. Ella set up a portable frequency analyzer. Angel knelt on the wet earth, pressing her palms into the mud.

“Don’t!” Lea shouted.

Angel opened her eyes. They were reflecting the phosphorescence now. “It’s not an object,” she said, her voice distant. “It’s a seed. It’s been waiting. And it’s about to root.”

Lea Lexis stared up, her expensive watch now ticking backwards. Ella Nova clutched her analyzer, which was now singing a lullaby in a language she’d never heard. And Angel Allwood simply smiled, stepped forward, and plucked the fruit. But Angel had already taken a bite

The last thing the security camera at Misty Hollow Substation recorded was three women standing beneath a glass tree—and then a flash of light so pure it erased the night. When dawn came, the tree was gone. The power was back. The crows flew in circles.

Then, together, they each reached for the star-fruit. The ground trembled