After Erick had finished answering all the questions, he led the warriors downstairs to have their waiting breakfast. It was Ursula's first time to see the place downstairs in the daylight, which unexpectedly spread in the basement through small, near-the-ceiling windows. Unlike the night before, the place looked empty. Only Alfred, his wife, his daughter and Melvin were there, and all the restaurant’s chairs were leaning against the tables, indicating that the restaurant was closed to customers. A long table was set for Erick and the warriors, which was in fact four tables standing in a row.

    ‘Have a seat,’ Erick invited the warriors as he took his seat at the head of the table. Ursula and Claudia sat opposite Neil and Virginia. Leo found an empty seat next to his sister and next to him sat Mellissa and Linda. The breakfast was served by Brita and her daughter. It was a breakfast that the warriors had never seen before. Plates of what looked like crushed nuts with tomato juice dressing lined the table along with piles of pie with juicy, orang custard dripping from inside, which looked like dessert. There were cups full of violet liquid, which Erick referred to as Tagolen juice and tasted quite sour. In the middle of the table, there was what looked like the main dish, which none of the warriors dared to touch. There, lying on a big plate garnished with lettuce and citrus slices, was a strange, seven-legged creature that looked like seafood. Everyone started and finished with the dessert, which seemed to be the most delicious and the most edible. After they all had finished their super-sweet meal, Crystal came in with a teapot and her mother distributed big wooden cups to all those who were sitting at the table.

    ‘No thanks,’ said Andy to Crystal who was about to fill his cup, raised his book back to cover his face and gestured rudely for her to leave, ‘I don’t drink tea.’

    ‘This,’ started Erick who clearly didn’t appreciate Andy’s attitude, ‘is not like any tea you’ve ever had.  It’s special. This one is recommended before a long trip. It gives you strength and keeps you awake.’

    ‘But it certainly looks like tea, it smells like tea, so it’ll probably taste like one too, and I don’t like tea,’ said Andy refusing to be friendly. Erick nodded for Crystal to leave.

    ‘I hate the way he speaks to people,’ said Ursula to Claudia privately, ‘he thinks he’s better than everyone.’

    ‘Would you like some more?’ Crystal offered more tea to Leo, whose cup was still full to the brim.

    ‘Uh, no thank you.’ He smiled.

    ‘Oh!’ She smiled back and blushed. ‘I forgot that I—Ooh!’

As embarrassed as she was, Crystal accidentally pushed Mellissa’s teacup with her elbow. ‘I’m so sorry. I’ll get you a new cup.’ Crystal apologised over and over to annoyed Mellissa, and then, she took the empty cup and placed it on its side on the table next to the spilt tea. Strangely, the spilt liquid came together like mercury, streamed across the table and went back inside the cup. The young warriors opened their mouths in shock as they watched the tea retreat from the table, leaving it dry and spotless.

    ‘How did you do that?’ asked Leo. ‘Is this your talent?’

    ‘No.’ Crystal laughed, looking flattered. ‘That was the tea. It’s the original Marny tea. We have a friend that brings it for us every year from Shadownoka.’ Seeing that Leo was not following, Crystal clarified. ‘It’s another cosmic country. This is practically the only thing that grows there.’ She then smiled, blushed and went away. Ursula rolled her eyes.

    ‘What is she doing?’ said Ursula to her friend. They giggled as they watched Crystal reluctantly walk away looking back every few steps while Leo followed her with his eyes not bothering to hide a stupid smile on his face. ‘She’s going to give him a big head, he already thinks he’s something,’

    ‘I can do what she did with the tea with almost any kind of liquid,’ said Claudia seriously.

    ‘You mean, spill it?’ asked Ursula. Claudia laughed.

    ‘No. Move it around without touching it.’ 

    ‘Wow!’ Ursula was impressed.

    ‘Ursula, this is what I was trying to explain to you yesterday at school,’ said Claudia. *

    ‘I understand why you thought it would sound crazy,’ said Ursula.

    ‘So Andy was right to suspect that you burned his grandmother’s hair after all.’ Claudia smiled mischievously.

    ‘He was, but I couldn’t admit it for the same reason you didn’t want to tell anyone about your gift, and also because it’s not right to burn someone’s hair.’

    ‘I think Andy had seen it before, that’s why he knew it was you,’ said Claudia. ‘Fire is probably acting strangely around him too.’

    ‘How do you know?’

    ‘He’s a Sagittarius. His birthday is in two months and he was already inviting the class to his party,’ said Claudia.

    ‘With his popularity, two months are not enough to find guests for that party,’ said Ursula. As the girls laughed quietly, Erick cleared his throat and called everyone’s attention.

    ‘I see that you all have finished your tea and tea chats, I think it’s time for us to leave.’ Erick nodded to Alfred, who was standing in the kitchen corner. Alfred took a huge keychain from his pocket and walked between the tables. ‘As you can see’— Erick explained as Alfred went to a small, iron-barred gate concealing a dark opening in the wall at the end of the restaurant—‘behind this gate, lies the most important discovery in the Hozafian history: the Dark Tunnel. It is the one tunnel that connects Curtlane town to our cosmic world.’

    ‘What’s the cosmic world?’ asked Patrick.

    ‘It’s a world of many kingdoms like Hozafia, and most of them are ruled by gifted people such as yourselves. A world that is totally concealed and unknown to the non-cosmic, regular world you’re used to,’ said Erick. ‘Unfortunately, the Dark Tunnel is very narrow and no carriage can go through it. So, we’ll have to walk before we reach a network of tunnels where we will meet with Chief Josephy our coachman who is probably waiting for us, now as we speak, on the other side of the Dark Tunnel. Now, everyone please put on those hooded cloaks—you must not be seen.

    ‘In Hozafia, warriors wear their uniforms with pride and honour, some will hate you others will respect you, but until you understand the full weight of being a warrior, it’s safer for our pack to stay hidden for now.’ Maurice came in carrying a pile of poor-fabric cloaks similar to the one Erick was wearing but those were in four different washed-up colours; red, light blue, indigo and green. The warriors put on their cloaks as Brita handed Erick two lanterns. ‘As you might have guessed from its name, the Dark Tunnel is dark so we’re going to need these.’ Erick offered one of the two lanterns to Terri. ‘I’ll go in first, and Terri, I want you to be at the back,’ said Erick.

    Meanwhile, Ursula noticed her brother standing thoughtfully by one of the high windows having one last look at Curtlane town. She went to him and looked out of the window. They could see the early morning sunlight covering the street. Leo watched, almost longingly, as some children climbed up their school bus.

    ‘What’s the matter?’ She asked. Leo didn’t answer. ‘We’re not leaving for good Leo, we’re coming back.’ Ursula held his hand which made him smile.

    ‘Yes, we will,’ he said.

    Inside the Rest House, everything was ready for their journey, but before Erick could go into the tunnel, he remembered one last thing he had to say to Alfred and his family. ‘Oh! Of course, I can’t stress enough how important it is that you do not mention to anyone what kind of customers you had last night, not until we reach Zodia safely.’ Alfred and Brita nodded solemnly. 

    ‘You don’t need to worry,’ Alfred reassured him as he opened the gate of the dark tunnel.

    ‘Please everyone, follow me,’ said Erick, but as all the warriors were moving towards the tunnel, Linda, who didn’t put on her cloak, was retreating to the back of the restaurant.

    ‘No, I don’t think I want to do this,’ Linda announced and stopped Erick from taking another step towards the tunnel. Erick turned to see who was talking.

    ‘Linda, you can’t mean this, I know you’re worried, but you’re safe with us so please follow me and don’t fall behind,’ said Erick almost impatiently, but Linda kept retreating to the back of the restaurant and away from the dark, narrow tunnel, the sight of which obviously scared her.

    ‘No you don’t understand,’ said Linda who was holding on to her cloak with both hands. ‘I don’t think I can go through with this. There’re a lot of things that I don’t understand and that scares me, okay?’

    ‘We all fear what we don’t know, but gradually, it won’t be such a mystery. You must trust’—Erick thought for a moment—‘your parents on that. They did what it takes to become warriors, and they’ll expect the same from you.’ Linda was not convinced. ‘Maybe I wasn’t very clear on this part,’ Erick continued, ‘but since you’ve been selected to be one of the twelve yearly chosen students of Zodia, you are not free to choose otherwise I’m afraid.’

    ‘Look!’ Linda was getting aggravated, Ursula could not blame her since she too did not appreciate the fact that they had no say in this. ‘I don’t want this gift and I don’t want to learn more about it, okay?’

    ‘You can’t give it back you were born with it,’ said Erick calmly, ‘and now is the time for you to learn how to use it. It’s what we all have to do at some point.’

    ‘I’ve had enough of this. I’m leaving,’ said Linda and turned towards the wooden elevator. 

    ‘That’s not how you leave the Rest House,’ said Erick, when Linda heard that she stopped, she probably felt trapped too like all the other warriors suddenly did.

‘You will tell me how to leave this place, right?’ Linda asked bravely. There was a deafening silence inside the Rest House. Even those whose expressions revealed how much they sympathised with the young girl, like Alfred and Brita, stayed quiet. 

    ‘I would but where would you go? There is no place in Curtlane town where you can escape from who you truly are,’ said Erick wearily. ‘Besides, if you return home now, I’m positive your parents will send you back because no warrior wants their child to be known as a deserter. Deserters may spend time in prison, I’m sure you wouldn’t want that either,’ Erick finished and Linda was almost shaking with frustration yet looked too shocked to cry. Virginia waited but it didn’t seem that Erick was going to say anything that would make the young girl feel any better, and no one from those standing around seemed to know what to do as Linda stood frozen in her place, so she decided to intervene.