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𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔴𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔶-𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔢

📍 San Antonio, Texas

⏳ January, 2023

"Please, I'm begging you! I need to go back!" I exclaimed over the phone. Leo and I had been arguing for about twenty minutes because I desperately wanted to meet with him and have him send me back to Camelot, but he was refusing to do it. "Astraea, we went through hell to get you back. And you want to throw it all away just 'cause you're having a rough time?" he asked, a scoff escaping his lips. I froze and tilted my head. "How do you know about that?" I wondered. "Your Uncle's helpin' me with the legal stuff, remember? I hear things," he replied. I huffed and ran a hand through my hair. 

"Is this some sort of 'Back to the Future' thing? Will I change the present if I go back? Is that why you don't wanna do it?" I blurted out many questions in a row. "What? No, Astra, it doesn't work like that. You can't change anything because you were always there. Y'know what I mean?" he replied. I understood enough, and that made hope rise in my chest. Though it was also kinda scary to think that my life may have already been written. But that didn't matter. I still wanted to return. "Well, then that's even more reason to send me back!" I raised my voice again. 

I heard the blond sigh on the other side of the phone. "Astra, your Uncle would kill me," he said. Ah, so that's what he's so afraid of. "Look, I'll make sure that doesn't happen, yeah? You just get me to the time-machine," I replied. My leg was bouncing up and down on my bed, where I sat. "It is not that simple, Astra!" he yelled over the phone, causing me to separate mine from my ear for a second. 

"Leo, either you get the machine to me, or I'll come to your school and get it myself. You know I'll do it." The time for negotiations was over, and the time for threatening had begun. "But–" he started, but I cut him off. "You have a week. Don't make me wait," I stated before hanging up. 

That went well. 

I stood up and went towards the mirror that hung from my bathroom door, frowning at the girl staring back at me. I couldn't recognise her. She'd lost at least a couple of kilograms, her skin was paler than usual – making her freckles stand out more; her dark brown hair was tangled and lifeless, her forest-coloured eyes were cloudy and sported big purple bags underneath, and her usual naturally red lips had lost all colour. 

She kinda looked like Void!Stiles. 

But that will change soon, I promised myself. Leo was gonna get me back to Camelot, and everything that had happened in the past few months wouldn't matter anymore because I'd be back home. 

With a sigh, I stepped away from the mirror and went to change out of my PJs. I threw on a black sweater with a horse's head stitched in white on it, light blue riding leggings, and my boots before going outside to spend some time with Dallas.