Wormhole Wednesday

Every Wednesday at 3:14 PM, a portal opens in the janitor's closet at Brookside Elementary. Twelve-year-old Nova has been secretly visiting alien worlds — but this Wednesday, the portal won't close, and something from the other side wants to come through.

Nova Chen loved three things: science, space, and secrets. She was twelve years old, had a notebook full of star charts, and wore a watch she had programmed herself to beep every Wednesday at exactly 3:13 PM.

That one-minute warning was important. Because every Wednesday at 3:14 PM, something impossible happened inside the janitor's closet at Brookside Elementary.

'Impossible,' Nova murmured to herself, tapping her pen against her notebook. 'Except it happens every single week. Which means it is not impossible. It is just unexplained.' She smiled. Unexplained was her favorite word.