by Ahmet Zappa
The downcast faces of the other Star Darlings mirrored the way she felt. Disappointed. Scared. Guilty.
Gemma’s heart sank. “This is terrible,” she said. “Clearly Lady Stella has not forgiven us.”
A few of the other girls nodded. “She doesn’t want to talk to us,” said Tessa. “Not that I can blame her.”
“Wait a minute,” said Astra. “You mean you think she rejected the message? I’m thinking that it means she’s unavailable.”
Clover nodded in agreement. “I don’t think she’s blocking us. If she was, it would have read ‘Holo-message rejected.’”
There was silence as everyone tried not to look at each other, wondering why anyone had ever seen fit to block a message from lovely Clover. But she wasn’t offering an explanation. Perhaps that was a story for another starday.
“Our message probably didn’t even go through,” said Sage. “Otherwise we’d have gotten a message like this one.” She stood, holding out her Star-Zap. An image of her mother, clad in a lavender cape, popped up. “I’m sorry,” her mother’s holo-self said, “but I am away on a business trip and cannot be reached. Please try again.” Even in hologram form she was beautiful, an older and taller version of Sage with the same large violet eyes, pointy chin, and lavender hair.
“You’re right,” said Vega. “Lady Stella’s Star-Zap should have an outgoing message like that one.” She looked more closely at Sage. “Is something wrong?”
Sage took a deep breath. “I know I shouldn’t be worried,” she said, “but I am. My mom has always been available for calls from us, even on her most classified business trips. This just doesn’t feel right to me.”
Her roommate, Cassie, reached up to put a comforting hand on Sage’s shoulder, and Gemma noticed that it seemed to almost instantly calm the girl. Sage thought for a moment and brightened.
“Hey, I have an idea!” she announced. “We should go tell Lady Cordial the good news. She’s been such a mess trying to hold this place together. I mean, it took her star ages to figure out how to start conserving energy on campus. And now she’s totally fixated on Starshine Day when it’s obvious it needs to be postponed so we can spend our time concentrating on coming up with new and better ways to save energy. I’m positive this will be a big relief to her.”
“I like that idea,” said Gemma, glad for an opportunity to speak up. “I think that will make Lady Cordial feel so much better.” Poor Lady Cordial. She simply wasn’t headmistress material, and she had been thrust into the role after the disappearance of Lady Stella. She was quite clearly trying her best, but that wasn’t cutting the ballum-blossom sauce, as they said on Starland.
“Shall we go now?” asked Sage.
“Sure,” said Leona, jumping to her feet. She grabbed Scarlet’s hand and pulled her up. Gemma was surprised that the girl didn’t reject the help. But those two had been getting along surprisingly well lately.
Sage pulled open the door, and she, Astra, and Leona led the way as the rest of the girls fell into place behind them, Gemma and Piper taking up the rear. They stepped on the Cosmic Transporter, and Gemma half expected it to start moving them along, as it usually did. But the power to all nonessential machinery had been cut after students had begun to protest Starling Academy’s wasteful wish energy practices during the crisis. Now Bot-Bots were set in sleep mode unless absolutely necessary, food choices were limited in the Celestial Café (much to Tessa’s chagrin), and doors were opened manually, to name but a few changes.
CONSERVE WISH ENERGY: LEVITATE OBJECTS ONLY WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, a flickering holo-sign read. Another proclaimed SPARKLE SHOWER WITH A FRIEND and showed two smiling Starlings showering in bathing suits. That one made Gemma smile, as it was intended to. A little Starlandian humor in the face of an overwhelming situation.
Gemma turned to Piper. “This is good,” she said. “I bet Lady Cordial can help us find Lady Stella now that we know she can be trusted. They’ve been working closely for a while now. She could have an idea of where she might be.”
“Mmmmm-hmmm,” replied Piper distractedly. In the bright sunlight, her dimmed glow was more apparent to Gemma. She didn’t even want to see her own reflection. Sparkle shower rationing made everyone less vibrant. It was disheartening.
Silence fell over the excitedly chattering girls as they pushed open the heavy doors to Halo Hall. The starmarble corridors, usually crowded and bustling, were empty and quiet on this Babsday. Gemma even missed the roaming Bot-Bot guards, which she realized gave her a sense of security. The girls’ footfalls echoed ominously in the empty hallways, which suddenly seemed full of looming shadows.
“This is weird,” Gemma whispered to Piper, who didn’t acknowledge that she had been spoken to.
Apparently, the rest of the group felt the same. Wordlessly, they walked to Lady Stella’s—make that Lady Cordial’s—no, actually, make that Lady Stella’s office. Leona raised her hand to knock, but Sage boldly slid the door open and stepped inside.
The rest of the girls filed in behind her. Gemma was right behind Piper. But Piper held back for a minute. She turned and grabbed Gemma’s arm. “Should we be doing this?” she asked. Her eyes seemed clouded and her brow was furrowed. “I—I’m just not sure about this.” She bit her lip. “Maybe it will just confuse her more. Maybe we should handle this on our own.”
Gemma considered that. But the girls were energized and positive for the first time in a while. It felt good to be doing something, taking action. And they were already there, for stars’ sake. She shrugged. “It probably can’t hurt,” she said.
“Okay,” said Piper, though she still looked a bit doubtful. She faced forward and glided through the doorway. And with a deep breath, Gemma stepped inside and pulled the door shut behind her.
SHANA MULDOON ZAPPA is a jewelry designer and writer who was born and raised in Los Angeles. She has an endless imagination and a passion to inspire positivity through her many artistic endeavors. She and her husband, Ahmet Zappa, collaborated on Star Darlings especially for their magical little girl and biggest inspiration, Halo Violetta Zappa.
AHMET ZAPPA is the New York Times best-selling author of Because I’m Your Dad and The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless. He writes and produces films and television shows and loves pancakes, unicorns, and making funny faces for Halo and Shana.
