“You’re sure you have everything? We’re not coming back if you forgot something. And don’t think I can teleport something across the sea of clouds.” Maverick crossed his arms, his tone serious.

  “Yes, I’m certain. We’re only going for a few days, after all,” I answered.

  “And you?” Maverick glanced at Marge.

  “I’ve been on plenty of vacations before. I have my clothes, my backup clothes, my backup, backup clothes… My pocket knife, my shoes, my other shoes, my other, other shoes, my stuffed wharrack, the wharrack’s family—” Marge was quickly cut off.

  “Yeah, you’re not bringing all of that.”

  “What do you mean?! These are my standard travel items!” There was a fire in Marge’s eyes that I had never seen before. When she had heard the five of us were going to Caelut, she insisted on coming. I honestly couldn’t be happier. I had missed her during my time on Earth, and part of me felt relief she was coming.

  I had been looking forward to this trip to Caelut ever since I found out we were going. Still… There was something bothering me. When we told Sylvis where we were going, she seemed against the idea. Vehemently so. Yet when we asked why, she couldn’t give us a clear answer. For some reason, she didn’t want us going there. Maverick played it off as her being jealous we were going on a trip without her, but it couldn’t have been that simple, could it?

  I shook my head, focusing on the task at hand. We would be leaving in just a few minutes, assuming Marge’s collection of items didn’t hold us up.

  Maverick opened Marge’s suitcase and was attempting to bargain with her to leave some stuff behind. On top of this suitcase, she had three others. I think she managed to beat out Finn. Speaking of Finn, I noticed him sliding some of his own stuff into her suitcase when neither were looking.

  “Why the hell do you have cologne?” Maverick held up a bottle of cologne Finn had snuck in.

  “That’s not even mine!” Marge shouted back, snatching the cologne, sniffing it, and immediately glaring at Finn. “Did you put this in my suitcase?!” She hurled the glass container at Finn with no restraint. He failed to catch it in time as it collided with his stomach, and he keeled over—a mumbled grunt being his only response.

  “Yes, he put it in there,” I answered for him, figuring he wouldn’t be speaking any time soon.

  “Then I don’t apologize for returning what’s rightfully yours.” Marge smirked. I never knew she could be so devious. She turned back to her suitcase, tossing multiple items in every direction without a care for who or what she hit. “This isn’t mine, this isn’t mine… Oh, goddess no, this isn’t mine.” I wanted to see what that last item was, but it flew out of her hand and out the window with record speed.

  “I-I need that,” Finn said, his words hoarse.

  “By all means, go and get it,” Marge replied, not bothering to look away from her suitcase.

  “You threw it out a w-window!”

  “So? The ground still exists, doesn’t it?”

  I facepalmed, not believing the interaction I was witnessing.

  “W-why exactly is there a limit on how many suitcases we can take?” Aidan asked.

  “Because each thing I have to teleport uses more magic.” Maverick dug into Marge’s suitcase, pulling out her stuffed… wharrack, I’m assuming.

  Marge slowly turned to face Maverick, steam emitting from her hands. “Put Lance down.” Her words were slow and dangerous.

  The wharrack dropped back into the suitcase as Maverick held his palms up, taking a step back.

  “That’s what I thought.” Marge turned back to her suitcase just as slowly as she had before. I was starting to think I didn’t know my friend at all.

  “If Marge isn’t willing to part with anything, I’m willing to lend you some of my ether,” Zephyr suggested.

  “Mmm… I’d rather have Elaina’s.” Maverick turned to me and licked his lips.

  “Not with that attitude you won’t.” I crossed my arms.

  “Are there any last-minute preparations you want to make?” Zephyr asked, glancing at each of us.

  “Did you say goodbye to your girlfriend?” Aidan mumbled to Finn.

  “Hm? Ella’s coming with.” Finn smirked.

  Aidan’s face turned red as fire seethed out of his fists. “Y-you know I meant Aqua! Y-you’re not even dating Ella!”

  “I said goodbye to Aqua.” Finn smiled, enjoying Aidan’s rage. Boys.

  “Then I believe we’re all set. Maverick?” Zephyr turned to the person in question.

  “Don’t blame me if something goes wrong teleporting all of these suitcases.” Maverick rolled his eyes before snapping his fingers. Next thing I knew, we were… somewhere pitch black.

  Aidan and Finn both opened their palms, revealing a ball of fire.

  “D-dude! You know fire’s my thing!” Aidan snapped.

  “I literally have a fire lance!” Finn replied.

  “Hm? You have a fire version of my— Oh right, your weapon.” Marge quickly corrected herself.

  I opened my palm, also summoning fire, hoping it would shut the two boys up. Even with all our fire, it was still difficult to see where we were.

  “I thought you said you would teleport us to the capital?” I asked.

  “I thought I said not to blame me if something went wrong teleporting these suitcases?” Maverick smirked at me.

  “You did this on purpose!” I shot back.

  “Do you think I wanted to end up… wherever we are?”

  “To prove a point? Absolutely.”

  He rolled his eyes at me. “If I did it on purpose, I’d at least know where we are.”

  “And do you?” Marge asked.

  “No!” he shouted. “Because I didn’t do it on purpose!”

  “Based on the echo of Maverick’s shouts, I’d assume we’re in some sort of cave. Or otherwise spacious area,” Zephyr proposed.

  Stolen story; please report.

  I sighed. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  Everyone more or less nodded as Aidan and Finn led the way. I froze as what looked like a lizard with the head of a lion ran past me.

  “Splizor,” Marge whispered to me, noticing where I was staring. “They’re not hostile unless you step on them or otherwise irritate them. Their bite hurts more than being flung into a wall with wind magic.”

  “Good to know…” I chuckled nervously.

  We continued down the cave, the number of splizors only increasing. One of them brushed against my ankle, which made me scream and accidentally throw my ball of fire near Maverick’s head. He stopped and turned to look at me. “Careful with my hair, please. I don’t have magical hair regenerative magic.”

  “You’re more worried about your hair than me taking off your head?” I blinked.

  “I worked hard for these luscious locks.”

  I could hear Aidan and Finn snorting up ahead. A fireball proceeded to wiz by their heads, instantly shutting them up.

  I couldn’t believe this was the conversation we were having. I tried to recall if any of the boys at my high school were this concerned about their hair. I know there was one boy who swiped deodorant at the start of every class and another boy who wore mismatched socks every day. He literally freaked out once when he realized his socks “matched.” One was white and the other was off white. Nobody was worried about their hair.

  Eventually, light started pouring through the cave, allowing Aidan and Finn to put away their fireballs. I hadn’t even bothered to resummon one, deciding I’d rather not see the splizors.

  We made it out of the cave and onto lush green grass—vibrant, yet dark enough to hint that rain had been abundant recently. Tall fir trees lined the path, and my breath hitched in my throat as I took in the view in front of us.

  We were standing atop a hill overlooking what I assumed to be the city—the capital that Maverick and Zephyr spoke of when planning the trip. The city was huge! Which I guess is typical for the capital of your kingdom… Large waterfalls poured on every side of the cliffs surrounding the capital with a reservoir to catch the water. The buildings were made of beautiful white and pink stone, including a large ornate building that reminded me of a castle—its details more curved and soft. There were also many layers—ground and buildings were spread out in the air thoughtfully to ensure sunlight still reached the bottom layer. The large building was of course positioned up top. The roads and bridges reminded me of the big highways we would drive through back home. I wonder what Dad would think when I told him—

  Right… I wasn’t going to get to tell him…

  A loud noise reminiscent of a whinny startled me, and I stumbled back, just for Marge to grab my wrist to keep me from falling. I glanced up to see what I could only describe as a pegasus flying several feet above my head. My mouth dropped in awe at the majestic beast, wishing I were its rider, my fear of heights be damned.

  “I’m sure you’ll get to ride one.” Finn turned to me and smiled.

  I smiled back and nodded.

  “Shall we?” Zephyr beckoned in front of us.

  To my surprise, there wasn’t a road. I squinted at the city and couldn’t seem to find any roads protruding. “Where are the roads?” I asked.

  “With pegasi, I imagine not many people travel on foot,” Zephyr explained.

  I nodded my head.

  We traveled down the hill towards the city. I decided I preferred the feeling of grass under my feet (shoes?) as opposed to dirt or gravel. Seriously, why did we ever create roads? Right, horses… cars… other reasons that I probably slept through during my history classes…

  We finally arrived at the city—the smell of water overtaking my nose immediately. It reminded me of any time I would visit the lake not too far from my house.

  The first thing I noticed was the people. Many of them had pointed ears and darker skin. While Meridia was fairly diverse but still had a majority of fair-skinned people, it seemed to be the reverse here. Their clothing was far more elaborate than I was used to, and ranged from long dresses to ornate pants.

  “It’s rude to stare,” Zephyr whispered in my ear, and my cheeks heated up. Crap, I hope nobody caught me.

  My social anxiety immediately started to ramp up being in an unfamiliar place with a lot of people who I was staring at! My mind raced with a million thoughts. The thought that returned the most was, where do we go?

  “Halt!” Two guards stopped us—one male and one female. Both wore ornate helmets that covered the top and sides of their face, but left the rest of their heads exposed. Both wore a black long-sleeved shirt and pants, a yellow fabric tail protruding at their sides from the brown sash wrapped around their waist. Interesting choice of battle gear.

  “Yes?” Maverick answered, sounding bored. I really hoped he wouldn’t escalate things if they tried to make him do something he didn’t want to. Like listen to them. That would start a fire, I was sure.

  “All visitors must report to Empress Avaline at the palace. We will escort you.” The woman bowed to us, turning to lead. The man kept his gaze on us, ensuring we’d follow. We all kind of glanced at each other before following the woman.

  My eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as I had to fight the urge to run towards the fountain nearby that had flowing lava! I wondered if anyone had fallen in before… No, Elaina! That’s a terrible picture! I shook my head and hurried my pace to keep up with the others. The man who still held his gaze on us glared at me, making me very grateful my magic no longer betrayed my feelings. My hands would be ice right now.

  We approached a rather small building with what looked to be an elevator. Unlike the SSETF, this one shot us up so fast I screamed, much to the guards’ annoyance. Well, you try being launched into the air for the first time! I wondered what their first time was like.

  Once the elevator stopped trying to kill me, the doors opened to the highest level of the city. As we approached the palace, I realized that the water from the falls turned into clouds. How were clouds falling? How did they respawn? Where was the water coming from? Where did we come from— Oh right, Meridia… Hahaha, I need a vacation from my vacation… I hope we’re not getting arrested. I didn’t like the elevator.

  Inside the palace, the walls and flooring were marble white, not unlike the upper floors of Sylvis’ manor. Unlike the manor, it was actually decorated with golds and reds, making it look less like Sylvis’ asylum. I hoped she’d never learn I’d thought that.

  We were led through a hall, up some stairs, and through another hall before arriving in what must have been the throne room. This room was quite unlike what we had seen from the rest of the palace. Red curtains, blue vases, green plants, a brown rug, and golden fixtures. Not to mention the pink sofa, purple statue of… who knows what that godforsaken animal was, and a framed picture of orange pants. I wondered what the story behind that was. I could see Marge’s eyes twitching, and she seemed to struggle to look in any one direction for longer than a couple of seconds.

  In front of us, sitting on a gold throne, was who I imagined was the empress. She had long blonde hair, light copper skin, and a long dress—the right side white and the left side black. Interesting choice of attire.

  “Welcome to Vafir, my guests,” she greeted with a humble bow of her head. “Or what I suppose the rest of the world knows us as—Caelut.”

  Vafir... Of course the country had its own name for itself.

  “Empress Avaline, I take it?” Maverick was just as casual as ever. It made me wonder how many rulers he had met before.

  “Yes,” Avaline replied through pursed lips. “You came here from Meridia? All but one of you.” She looked directly at me.

  “That is correct, your imperial majesty,” Zephyr replied this time, bowing in return.

  Avaline’s smile quickly returned, seemingly pleased with Zephyr’s way of addressing her.

  “What brings you here?”

  “We’re on vacation,” Maverick replied.

  “Vacation?” Avaline's brows furrowed—her tone implying she felt insulted. “You’re an awfully long way from home for this… “vacation” of yours,” she mocked Maverick’s tone.

  “It was my idea, your imperial majesty.” Zephyr bowed again. Taking the blame for me, I see… It was appreciated.

  Avaline looked towards me and Marge, who seemed pale, before looking back at Zephyr. “Very well. If you’re here for something so frivolous, you may enjoy yourselves to your hearts’ content. Magic here is abundant, so don’t feel the need to hide it away as Sylvis commands you to do in her kingdom.”

  So the two did know each other. More interesting was the fact that she referred to Meridia as Sylvis’ kingdom. Last I checked, it was the lords and ladies who held authority.

  “Thank you, your imperial majesty.” Zephyr bowed, and the rest of us followed suit, including a reluctant Maverick. “Might you recommend a place for us to start?”

  “Why, the capital, of course! You’re already here!” Avaline replied with grandiosity. “Once you’ve finished exploring the capital, I would suggest visiting the mountains to the east. Pegasi are abundant in Vafir hould you wish to ride one, all you need do is but ask any Soother.”

  “Soother?” Maverick asked.

  “Our pegasus tamers.” Avaline forced a smile.

  “Will do.” Maverick nodded.

  With that, Avaline dismissed us, and I could feel myself breathe again. Kind of. We were escorted out of the palace and a decent bit away from it by the same two guards from earlier. They didn’t want us anywhere near the palace, it seemed.

  “So… Where to?” I asked.