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The smoke from the lightning strike’s impact covered the entire Dimension Room like a thick fog. Dazed, Sophie got to her feet and looked around for her classmates.
”Is everyone okay!?” she yelled out. The only answers she got were weak sounds and coughs, but at least everyone responded in some way. Sophie started to breathe a sigh of relief before remembering the Grox. Had they defeated it?
She turned towards where the Grox had stood. Through the fog, she could see the vague outline of a tall being.
Sophie picked up a splintered table leg from the floor. She told herself that there was no way the Grox could still be standing after being hit by the lightning bolt, but she still gripped the table leg tight, ready to use it as a weapon. She walked slowly backward, never moving her eyes from the silhouette.
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Minutes passed, the silhouette still completely unmoving. And as the smoke cleared, Sophie finally realized why. It was the Grox, but it was leaning unconsciously up against a smashed-up bookcase.
Sophie let go of her table leg and rushed off to find her classmates. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, they just had a few scrapes and bruises.
The first thing they all did was make sure to neutralize the Grox. Mek petrified it, and Elva managed to gather enough energy to shape the broken wooden furniture into thick wooden blocks that then wrapped around the Grox’s body. When it woke up, the Grox wouldn’t even be able to move a muscle. While Elva and Mek took care of that, the rest of the class ran around putting out the fires that the burning books had started. When they were all finally done, the exhausted students all met in the middle of the room.
”Aren’t we missing someone?” Varis asked. Just then, Beto came sauntering in through door number one. When he saw the room, his jaw dropped several inches further than what Sophie thought was possible.
”My goodness! What happened here?”
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”You know, I’d like to know that as well,” added Mek.
They all sat down in a circle, and Sophie, Elva and Trom explained everything that had happened to them, how they’d used the wish from the book which had allowed the Grox to get in, and how it had chased them through the fourth door and back to where they’d all reunited. Once they’d finished, the students all looked over at the Dimension Door.
”Do you think Nimum’s still okay?” Trom asked. The sense of worry was obvious from his voice, and the rest of the students felt it as well.
Mek stood up. ”It’s no use sitting around and worrying about it. We need to focus on what we actually can do, and thanks to Sophie, Elva and Trom, there’s only one door left. So, let’s finish the last challenge so we can go help Nimum.”
The rest of the class all agreed with Mek. Beto reached the door first.
”And this time I’ll be there to help you!” he said, grabbing the door handle – but the door didn’t open. He tried again with the same result. Confused, he turned towards the others. “The door’s locked.”
”The fifth door holds the final challenge,” said the flying book. The startled students jumped at the sound of its voice. They’d all mostly forgotten the book was still there.
”Only those who have retrieved all the previous objects and who have been on both sides of all five of the previous doors may enter through the final one.”
”But that would just be Sophie and Trom,” Elva said.
”Weren’t you with them the whole way?” Mek asked.
Elva shook her head. ”No, they finished the second challenge without me.”
Trom had grown very quiet. He said nothing for a few moments, as the others started to look at him.
“… I think it’s probably better if Sophie does the final challenge alone,” he said, his ears drooping down to his chin.
“What? Why?!” Sophie asked, confused.
”I’ll just ruin everything like I always do,” Trom said sadly.
It was obvious that Trom was still haunted by his mistake with the book of wishes. Sophie was trying to think of what she could say to encourage him, but before she could come up with anything, Elva burst in.
”Are you seriously going to make me repeat myself!” Elva walked over to Trom, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and stared him furiously right in the face. Her usual elegance and aloofness had completely disappeared, replaced by intense frustration and anger.
”You can do this, Trom! You just need to commit for once!” She let go of Trom’s collar and took a deep breath. “I can’t say it any clearer than that. Trom, I’ve known you since preschool, and you’ve always had a head full of good ideas … heck, I’ve even envied you sometimes! But watching you do nothing with it is the most frustrating thing in the world. All you do is complain, when what you should be doing is act!”
“But I’ve tried-”
”Then you try again instead of just giving up! Exactly like Sophie told Loki! And what did Loki do? He got up and fought on!”
“We don’t even know if he succeeded, though,” Trom protested.
”And the only way you’ll find out is if you go with Sophie through that door!”
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