It was ten in the morning and everyone had gathered in the Information Center. The room was large, just like all the rooms of the keep. Chris had went to Destiny and Cara to take them there. 

Destiny saw the walls of the keep; they were ancient. As they turned from one corridor to another, she became more confused. This keep was gigantic and very confusing, indeed. 

“Chris—” 

“I know what you’re going to say, Des. I'll give you a map of this keep.” 

Destiny relaxed. She coughed a little, “Yep, that'll be great. By the way, can I get a phone? Just, I will give it back in a minute! We need to call our mothers.” 

Chris hummed in response and gave his cell phone to her. “You can’t call your mothers though. Calling to another realm isn’t possible.”

“They must be worried sick!” Cara railed. 

Chris gave her a sweet smile. “No, sweetheart, they aren’t. Scar took care of it.” 

“What did I take care of?” Scarlett made her way out of the huge metallic door in front of them. 

That must be the Information Center, Destiny guessed. 

“I was talking about their mothers, Ava and Alice.” 

“Oh, yes! I did take care of them. They were so worried, my god.” 

Destiny wanted to run away. “What happened? What did you do to them?” 

Scarlett smirked. “I just put them under an illusion. They think you both are still with them.” 

Cara almost choked. “Hell.” 

Scarlett tugged at Cara’s hand and dragged her inside. Destiny followed Chris. The Information Center was made with pure metal. It was almost as big as a vast field. There were like more than ten doors in that room. Destiny used all her mathematical skill to figure out the perimeter and area of the room. 

“Destiny?” Seth questioned and she blew back to reality. “Pay attention.” 

She nodded her head.

Rude! She muttered under her breath. 

“The situation isn’t favourable for us. Time’s ticking and Elias is getting stronger by the second.” He looked at Cara and Destiny. “But firstly, I want to welcome Destiny Stevens and Caramille Johnson to The Sequinned Potential.” 

A huge round of applause erupted in the entire metallic surrounding. Almost hundred people were gathered and still it looked as if the room could accommodate some more. The girls smiled awkwardly, hiding their embarrassment. No one had clapped and cheered for them like this before! 

“We all know of the current state. The ball of light given to us by the beings of Meyercliffe is fading. Evangeline can’t hold it with her magic for much longer.” He paused. 

“The green crystal is stolen. Everything’s falling apart. But we know up to this. We don’t know about the history of the green crystal.” He fell silent again and nodded his head at Evangeline. 

Destiny noticed there were some things only Evangeline and Seth knew and others didn’t. 

“The green crystal belonged to Mellius, the king of Meyercliffe who ruled this realm thousands of years ago. He was benevolent and noble. He was a demi-angel. His father was an angel and mother, a human.” 

“But you said there wasn’t any human civilization here?” Destiny looked at Evangeline. 

“There wasn’t when we came here. Thousand years ago, there was.” The old woman smiled. 

Seth coughed. “According to the history of Meyercliffe, the king and his family was brutally killed. The reason isn’t written in the ancient book of Meyercliffe. The civilization was completely ruined. Except for this keep.” 

“The invisible beings decided to mend their realm. They built it again and ever since, they are here. Someone attempted to steal the green crystal that time but before that, the beings shielded it with a powerful protection spell and buried it deep inside the ground.” 

“When we came here,” Evangeline said. “we were able to discover the crystal by chance. Since then, we kept it in the most powerful locker protected with magic. But now, it’s gone.” Her voice seemed to crack with relentless sobs. 

Destiny and Cara listened to everything intently. The whole room held its breath at the revelation and only released it when Seth continued again. 

“We need to do something! Evangeline can only conceal the location of Meyercliffe for one month. She had sealed the gateway to this realm as soon as the crystal was stolen, but how much longer?” It sounded like a question, even to him. 

“How did we come here if it was sealed?” It was Cara that spoke. 

“I only sealed the portal for people who chose darkness. You guys chose light that’s why you’re here.” The old woman wearily answered. 

Destiny could sense Evangeline's tiredness and surrender. She wanted to sleep and let go of all the challenges. But Destiny could also see the unwavering faith in her tired eyes. 

“We have information that Elias lives in The Burning Vale.” Everybody stopped breathing. “We haven’t met him face to face but we've seen what he has done! He has wrecked havoc in most realms and now he’s reaching for the human realm.” Seth's voice faltered. 

Evangeline’s face scrunched in fear and disgust. “I have seen him, up close. Destroying and decaying everything that came in his path. We predict that the green crystal is stolen by him.” 

“There is a traitor among us who’s working with Elias. We’re going to find him or her, anytime soon.” Chris said in a serious tone. 

The hall cheered again. But Destiny had questions. “What if we can’t?” 

“Yes, we don’t know anything. We've just came here. We can’t do it.” Cara begged animatedly. 

Evangeline sighed. “We are humans. Elias isn’t. He doesn’t have boundaries, he isn’t held back by limitations. We are. We all know that. But The Sequinned Potential is my squad. After David, I’ve taken care of everyone here. I know their potential.” 

“I know your potential too.” She looked at Destiny and Cara. “I know you both are dazed. You were forcefully brought in here. You don’t have any idea what’s going on. And I'm so sorry for causing trouble in your lives. But we know you can.” 

Seth descended down the raised platform from where he was talking and stood in front of them. He took out two watches from his pocket and gave one to each of them. 

“These are smart watches. Here you will get all the updates: the emergency meetings, scheduled meetings, practice, sudden attack threats and urgency alerts!” 

Destiny wore the smart band around her wrist and helped Cara wear hers as she was unable to do that herself. 

“It’s okay, Cara. Breathe.” 

“Officially, welcome.” Seth said and Destiny swore she could see a little smile playing on his lips. 

The entire bunch of people vanished by tapping at their watches. Except for Seth and Chris. 

“Make an intention of going to your room and tap at your respective watches.” Chris smirked, tapping his own and vanishing away. 

Cara did the same thing and disappeared into the air. Destiny’s head reeled forward as she calmed her raging heart. A few days back she wouldn’t have believed if someone said there were ghosts or demons or angels. But now she was standing in a realm called Meyercliffe among other realms, realizing her powers, trying to be a part of a freaking hero-squad and preparing to fight against the darkest wizard. 

Unbelievable, she mused. 

“This watch can take you anywhere in Meyercliffe. But don’t use it always.” Seth authoritatively spoke and vanished in the same process. 

Here we go again, Destiny thought. She was always the last one to try these weird magic hacks or whatever they were. Shrugging off fear from her system, she tapped at the steely black magnetic band but nothing happened. She was still in the Information Center. 

Did she miss something? 

She tried again but failed. 

Then she noticed a switch in the band. It was just below the dial of the watch which was actually a mini mobile screen. She clicked that switch and simultaneously thought of her room. 

Whoosh! 

She opened her frightened eyes and saw Cara plopping down on the bed. “Hey. Took you long enough!” 

Destiny scrunched up her face and dismissed her cousin’s statement. She headed straight to the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief. She needed to be alone. She’d got her dream job a few days back and now she’s in the middle of nowhere with a squad called ‘The Sequinned Potential' that she’s a part of. She splashed her face with water, thinking it would cool down her restlessness but it didn’t.

It didn’t help a bit.