I immediately went to Aidan’s shared room after we returned to the palace, wanting to check in on him. I knew it was his choice to stay behind, but something about leaving him out just didn’t sit well with me. But when I arrived at his room, he wasn’t there. All three beds were neatly made, and there was a servant sweeping the floor in her golden attire. “Where is Aidan?” I asked.

  “I haven’t seen him.” She bowed gracefully to me. Great. This palace was huge, and he could be anywhere.

  So began my search of checking every single room. I didn’t care who or what I disturbed—every decoration disturbed me. Not to mention the owner of the palace was the biggest disturbance. I sure was glad Avaline isn’t a mind reader.

  I opened every door, not bothering to knock. I admittedly did walk in on… some activities between the servants that would scar me for life. I had no idea so many people at once could— Well, that wasn’t important. I would immediately close the door and hope that I would forget what I had seen. I sure hoped Aidan wasn’t in any of those rooms…

  I eventually made it to a long, wide hallway, decorated with golden couches that appeared to be in the shape of a lion or tiger of sorts, with red seats. Not being able to resist touching fancy things that didn’t belong to me but did belong to a snob I cared nothing for, I sat on one. I sat there and felt proud. I will never own something this expensive, but I’m glad I got to experience it before leaving.

  I glanced up at the painting in front of me. Five beautiful women stood in a circle, their hands joining together in the middle. Two of the ladies I couldn’t make out their faces as their backs were towards me; another face was obstructed by one of the ladies’ big heads. They each wore flowing pastel dresses in blue, pink, green, yellow, and red. I wondered who they were supposed to be. Avaline’s daughters? Sisters? Some other people entirely?

  “What are you doing?”

  I screamed, jumping off the expensive couch and stopping myself before I knocked over a no doubt expensive golden vase. “Finn… don’t scare me like that.” My breathing was heavy and fast as I tried to even it out again. “Especially when you already know what I’m thinking.”

  “I thought it would be polite and less scary than sneaking up behind you, replying directly to your thoughts.” He shrugged.

  “But you still kept the sneaking up part.”

  He chuckled airily at me. “I tried to make my footsteps louder, but that’s hard to do on carpet. Not to mention, you were so focused on the painting, you probably wouldn’t have heard.”

  “How did you find me?” I asked. Zephyr and I had arrived first, but there was something he wanted to take a look at, so I went off in search of Aidan.

  “Cloritha, the servant taking care of my room, said you were looking for Aidan. I just followed the path down.”

  “Makes sense… Do you know where he could be?” I asked.

  Finn bit his tongue as he glanced away from me. He knew something. “I’d check the throne room.”

  My stomach had that same unsettled feeling it always had when someone said the last thing I expected them to say. Why would he be there? Was he planning on asking Avaline for help with his light magic? But she wouldn’t be able to help with that, would she?

  “We should go. Now.” I dug my heel into the ground and pushed off, walking faster and faster until I was practically running. Why hadn’t I checked there first? Why had we agreed to let Aidan stay behind?

  I yanked the doors to the throne room open as Finn held off the two guards standing watch in front of it. “Hurry!” he called out to me. I raced inside, my head darting every which way until my stomach dropped.

  He wasn’t there.

  I raced back out, hoping to lend Finn a hand, but the others had already caught up. The two guards lay unconscious on the floor.

  “What are you guys doing?!” Maverick asked, both concern and annoyance present in his tone.

  “We’re looking for Aidan. We can’t find him anywhere,” I explained. “How did you find us?”

  “The ether isn’t turbulent here—I can teleport short distances.”

  “Yeah, after tonight, can we agree not to split up when inside a big palace like this?” Marge asked.

  We all nodded.

  “Wait,” I said. “If you could teleport to us, doesn’t that mean you can teleport to Aidan?”

  “Good idea!” Finn beamed at me despite not being the one I asked.

  “Yes. Let’s find him and get out of here,” Maverick answered.

  We each grabbed onto each other’s hands so Maverick could teleport us. My hair flicked up the way it always did when we teleported—the air shifting with us. We stood in a hallway, a grand set of doors stood in front of us, as well as two guards.

  “Halt! Her Imperial Majesty does not wish to be disturbed at this time,” one of them spoke.

  Avaline? This was Avaline’s bedroom?!

  “Like hell she doesn’t.” Maverick punched one guard directly into the other, knocking both of them out. When the doors wouldn’t open, Finn summoned his lance bathed in fire and pried them open.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  We ran into the room to see Avaline on one side of the bed, and Aidan on the other—his shirt fully unbuttoned. Avaline was mere inches away from him as both of them jumped from the noise. Aidan’s face was bright red, but Avaline kept her same tan complexion.

  I wanted to puke.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Aidan?!” Maverick‘s words echoed throughout the chamber.

  “W-w-what are you d-doing here?!” Aidan sputtered, quickly buttoning his shirt. I was relieved that was the only thing that needed fastening.

  “What did you do to him?!” Zephyr shouted at Avaline, completely losing the composure he seemed to always keep.

  “I simply reminded him how important he is—something you and your group seem to be forgetting.” Avaline’s voice was saccharine—completely different from the Avaline we had spoken to before.

  “Of course, Aidan’s important to us!” Marge shouted. “We don’t need to remind him every flipping day!”

  “Then why is it that Aidan came sobbing into my arms, then?” Avaline clicked her tongue.

  This couldn’t be happening. Aidan really wouldn’t trade us for a shady empress who wanted us trapped here, would he?

  “Y-you’ve never taken me seriously!” Aidan blurted out through tears. “Not before my Talent awakened, and not after!”

  “Are you shitting us?!” Maverick shouted. “We’ve always taken you seriously! Why else do you think we brought you to fight the Magus of Historia? Why you’re here with us now? The fact that we need you in order to defeat the Falor Ghula?!”

  Aidan’s only response was to sob harder.

  “Aidan!” I called out, trying to keep my body from trembling. Standing up to Avaline was terrifying, but if Marge and Zephyr found the courage to stand up to her, I had to as well. “If there’s something bothering you, you can talk to us! You don’t need to go to her.” I turned to the woman in question. “You should be ashamed of yourself! Taking advantage of a vulnerable child in one of the most intimate ways imaginable!” I didn't care if Aidan was technically legal in this world; it was still gross!

  Avaline sputtered, trying to find the right words. “Me? All I did was comfort the boy! Besides, Finn knew what was happening all along and never deigned to tell you.”

  The room went silent as all eyes turned to Finn, except for Aidan’s. Finn had been quiet this whole time…

  “Try to pin the blame on whoever you want,” Maverick’s voice was dangerously quiet, “but that doesn’t change what you knowingly did.”

  With that, we had Aidan within our grasp and teleported out of the palace and back to the inn. Maverick was untouchable—nobody would talk to him out of fear of him boiling over, so Zephyr had to request the rooms. Or what I thought would be rooms. Instead, he requested a large suite with six beds.

  “No more secrets,” Zephyr said, as he organized the luggages that suddenly appeared in the room. “We know each others’ locations and we’re honest with each other from here on out.”

  Finn’s hair covered his eyes as his head was downcast. I couldn’t make out his expression other than the frown he wore.

  “I-I’m going to go change.” Aidan excused himself to the washroom that was connected to the suite. Once the lock clicked, I sat at the edge of one of the beds, claiming it for myself, and prepared myself for what I knew was coming.

  Maverick’s footsteps rattled the fixtures in the room as he got up in Finn’s personal space. “You didn’t think to tell us what was going on?!”

  “I didn’t know things were that bad!” Finn shot back, glancing up for the first time since we had arrived. “All I knew was that Avaline had been communicating with Aidan through his dreams!”

  “His dreams?” Zephyr asked, confused.

  “It must be her Talent or something. Maybe she’s an Ethereal considering her age.”

  “You didn’t think we’d want to know that?!” Maverick’s voice rose to the point where it didn’t seem to matter that Aidan had excused himself. “In case things escalated further? Which things did?”

  “It wasn’t my place to say anything!” Finn shouted back.

  “Finn,” Marge spoke up this time. “One of the reasons I didn’t like you was because I thought you used people’s thoughts to your advantage. I mean, I probably would too if I had that power. Once I got to know you, I really respected that you keep people’s information private. But you messed up this time. When someone’s in danger, you have to protect them at all costs.”

  “I know!” Finn practically screamed back, causing several of us to flinch. “I know I screwed up! Are you happy now?” He threw his arms up into the air. “I thought this was something Aidan could figure out for himself if I just watched out for him, but clearly I was wrong! Are you satisfied?”

  The room became silent—the tension palpable. Maverick was sneering, Zephyr shook his head before sitting down himself, and Marge simply clicked her tongue before digging through her suitcase

  I didn’t know what to do. I understood why everyone was angry with him—I was a little angry, too. But I didn’t think he meant to hurt anyone. But watching everyone’s responses—especially Maverick’s—now didn’t seem like the right time to voice that. And it still didn’t change the fact that all of this could have been prevented.

  “I don’t know what more you want from me.” Finn slammed the door on his way out, making me jolt. Ugh, I really should’ve said something.

  “I’m going after him,” I announced as I grabbed my sweater from my suitcase.

  “Uh, no, you’re not.” Maverick stepped in front of me. “It’s already bad enough we lost sight of Finn, we’re not losing you too. Not after what just happened.”

  “Then that’s all the more reason to go after him.” I sidestepped Maverick. To my relief and somewhat surprise, he didn’t bother to block me again.

  I twisted the handle of the door and heard Maverick call out to me, “Be back in an hour or I’m coming for both of you.”

  My pause was the only indication of acknowledgment I gave.

  Darn, where did he go? He definitely wouldn’t have gone back to the palace. I didn’t think he was stupid enough to take his anger out on Avaline.

  The music had long since stopped, but there was still a crowd. It looked like some sort of night market had appeared, and people were buying drinks, souvenirs, and what almost looked like glow sticks? I didn’t bother to stop and look. I needed to find Finn before he wandered off too far.

  Think! Where would he go at this time of night? Well… This whole mess started because of his mind-reading powers, right? So he’d probably want to go somewhere he couldn’t read people’s minds. So that’s either somewhere very crowded, or somewhere very quiet. Knowing Finn, he’d pick the former. But that could be anywhere on this night!

  “Finn!” I called out into the crowd. It was hopeless. There was so much chatter that there was no way he’d hear my voice if he were here.

  I pushed through the crowd and got pushed back in return. I wanted to cry, I hated crowds, but I needed to find Finn. After searching for ten minutes, I gave up and ducked into a tavern to avoid the crowd. Haha, who was I kidding? The tavern was even more crowded.

  “Hey there, looking for some fun tonight?” A man with a raspy voice approached me. It was obvious he had been drinking too much.

  “Um, no, I’m looking for the opposite of that. I just want a quiet evening tonight.” I backed away from the man, but he grabbed me by the wrist.

  “Well, you’re sure in the wrong place.” He chuckled.

  I tried to yank free, but it was no use. I took a deep breath. You can do this, Ella! With my free hand, I balled it into a fist and added ice, worried that my fist alone wouldn’t be strong enough. The man wailed and immediately let go of me. I was about to leave when I caught sight of light brown hair and a blue jacket sitting at the bar. They seemed to notice the ruckus and turned back at me.

  Finn.