77

The house feels quiet as you sit eating breakfast. Arctus got you out of bed as usual, and she seems perfectly happy scarfing down something near your feet—but things still feel quiet.

In a weird way, you wonder if the feeling has something to do with the way Tobias knocked on your door last night, only to turn and disappear before you could answer. It's a little like somebody started to ask a question, but fell silent halfway through. You're still waiting to hear what he was going to ask.

Yeah—it's just a little too quiet. You feel like you need some way of filling the silence.

With a flash of your hands, a swarm of lights scatters about the kitchen—and soon little glittering wings start to unfurl all around you. You watch as the pretty, colorful lights flutter around your head before going to dance near the ceiling like morning stars.

They start to blink out of existence after a few minutes, once you get tired of conjuring them—but the thought of being able to light up the room with just a click of your fingers makes you smile.

With that done, you carry on with breakfast—and at the same time, you open your grandma's laptop.

Next

As always, you check the news—and the first thing you see is that the number of people in town who oppose the Alberobello Developments is at 47%. You stare at the number for a moment, eventually realizing that as of this morning, the week that stood between you and this Thursday's vote when you first arrived in town is now halfway gone. In some ways, it barely feels like any time at all; especially since, in all those days, the town seems more or less as divided as ever on the issue of the developments.

Looking down, your eyes land on the main article: a piece about the demonstration happening today outside the Town Hall. Below the headline you see a picture of Rana with the rest of her organization, complete with a quote: "If we don't do something, who will?" You also see a short interview with Rana in the article itself, which ends with a request for extra volunteers to help set up for the protest a little later today. According to her, "The more people we have, and the better organized we are, the more the Council will take us seriously. They need to understand that we can't sacrifice our environment to patch up the town. If the environment suffers, the town suffers as well. Maybe they should ask why the town is struggling in the first place before they look for investors to help."

Then, a little further down, a later paragraph catches your eye—in particular the line that informs you that, in response to the demonstration, Mr. Clarence has requested a meeting with the Town Council in order to discuss certain concerns about his development plans. The article doesn't elaborate on what those concerns might be, but you can see from the lively discussion happening below the article that readers are more than willing to speculate. One quote that does stick out to you, however, is from Mr. Clarence himself, right at the bottom of the article:

"What seems clear to me is that something needs to happen in Silvertree. There's been vandalism, attempted theft, even people breaking into old, probably dangerous buildings. And even putting that aside, there are simply things that need fixing, houses that need building, whole streets that need renovating. People in town have known this for a while. And it's my belief that all the benefits these developments will bring to the town will also benefit the town's natural surroundings. After all, if we can help entice visitors to Silvertree and the beautiful Alberobello Forest, they'll be far more invested in preserving their future so people can keep on visiting."

Looking at the screen in front of you, you don't think you've seen so much tension brewing in one place since the Town Meeting. You realize that even though that meeting was intended to alleviate a lot of people's worries, there's still so much confusion and uncertainty that no amount of statements from the Town Council about "wanting to hear everybody's perspective" have managed to untangle. You have to wonder whether today—with Rana's protest on one side and Mr. Clarence's discussion with the Town Council on the other—could offer some much-needed clarity about what the future might hold.

And if it does—what are you hoping for?