It felt strange to pass through the same area we arrived at not even a week ago. Time really was flying. I wondered how long we would’ve stayed had Avaline not forced us to do her dirty work?

  Despite how many hills there were, I could still make out the lake in the distance. It’d been a while since I was last near a large body of water. I sure am glad I don’t know how to swim…

  “I-isn’t this the cave where we arrived?” Aidan pointed to the cave hidden in the hills.

  “Yup. This is where Maverick lost our luggage.” Marge made a popping sound with her lips.

  “I didn’t lose it!” Maverick shouted back. “We still have it, don’t we?”

  “For now.”

  I was surprised how quickly we made it over the hills. Maybe fifteen minutes? Sand greeted us, and I wished I had thought to bring other shoes. I stepped onto the sand and immediately cringed as sand got in my shoe. Ugh! What was going on in my head this morning?! Who hears “beach” and goes “ah, yes, I should bring my loafers!” …To be fair, it was either this or sneakers. I think the sneakers would have been better. I would have to talk to Sylvis about getting me more shoes.

  Feeling utterly uncomfortable, I yanked my shoes and socks off and then screamed because of how hot the sand was. It wasn't even midday, and it was already this hot?! I ran back to the grass and slipped my socks back on.

  All right. Shoes back on. Now I can— Oh… There were giant crabs attacking everyone… Cool. I’m just gonna stand here and—

  “Oh, no, you’re not.” Finn raced up to me, lance in hand as his free hand grabbed my wrist. “You can attack them from here.” He gestured to the crabs with his lance. He was making me nervous swinging around that thing.

  “Fine…” I took a deep breath. What do crabs hate most? Lasers? Water?— Why would they be on a beach if they hated water?! Fire. I’ll go with fire—

  “Watch it!” Maverick shouted as he turned to me. I noticed the sleeve of his black shirt was a little singed from the fire explosion I just created. Oops.

  “It’s Ella’s fault!” Finn called out. Way to expose me. I thought you were supposed to be helping me?!

  “Oh, in that case, it’s fine.” Maverick turned back to the crabs in front of him. Of course it was suddenly fine!

  “Okay, why don’t we aim for that one away from the group?” Finn pointed to one waaaaay off in the distance. Aww, it had a stick in its claw and was dragging it across the beach! It was so cute! I couldn’t kill that! “It’s still tainted by ghula. So, unless you have healing magic, that thing needs to die."

  I paused and contemplated my options. Maybe we could get Zephyr to heal it— My head snapped to Finn. “Why don’t you just heal it?!”

  “B-because this is your training session, not mine!” He raised his hand up defensively. I was grateful he didn’t try with his other hand that held the lance.

  “Well, I’m not killing it.” I crossed my arms. “Pick another target.”

  “Okay, how about that?” Finn pointed behind me to an animal that looked like if a skunk was a ferret.

  “How am I supposed to kill that?!” I shouted. It was even cuter than crab with a stick!

  “I pray to Alina that the next Falor Ghula isn’t cute.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “Okay, let’s use wind again. Target that crab over there without hitting anything else.” He pointed to a crab between Zephyr and Marge. For some reason, Marge was eagerly backing away from it while Zephyr chased after it. They almost seemed to be working against each other.

  Focus, Elaina. Focus on the crab and block out Marge and Zephyr. Not too much power, not too little.

  Zephyr and Marge still managed to spin around and land on their butts because of course I overshot it.

  “It’s okay. You didn’t hurt them, see?” Finn smiled at me before turning back in front of us. His expression dimmed. I glanced where he was looking and saw a crab rushing towards us. I panicked. Realistically, it looked more silly than anything—running sideways at us, clicking its claws. “You can stop it, Ella! Now’s your time to attack!”

  I froze in place. What if I used too much magic and hit the two of us? Or what if my magic suddenly didn’t work like back home, and the crab pinched me with its claws, piercing my skin open and—

  I raised my arms up a little before the crab made contact with me. A wall of ice appeared, separating me and the crab.

  “Now’s your chance!” Finn’s voice boomed with enthusiasm as he tried to rile me up.

  I frantically shook my head. “I-I’m not ready for this… I know it’s silly, I just have to burn the wall and the crab. But what if I only melt the wall, and the crab is unharmed? Or what if it’s a fire crab and it grows stronger?

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  “Ella… You can’t think like that…” The disappointment in his voice was palpable—the same tone my mom used to scold me after the divorce. I stood there motionlessly, unwilling to face either Finn or the crab. With a loud sigh, Finn thrust his lance through the wall and skewered the crab—his fiery lance melting both. “I’m sorry,” his voice was barely above a whisper. “I didn’t mean to bring back sore memories.”

  I shook my head, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. I was disappointed with myself, too.

  We walked along the shore since some of us couldn’t swim. Namely, me. Though I could’ve sworn I heard Zephyr mumble something about swimming along with a bunch of curses. Maybe he couldn’t swim either.

  Large sticks and logs protruded from the sand, many of which looked like they had been damaged or destroyed. A few items littered the ground, and I was suddenly thankful I had decided to keep my shoes on.

  “Watch your step,” Finn called out.

  I carefully watched the ground, trying to avoid as many sticks and rocks as I could. My arm was tugged, and I glanced up to see I had nearly crashed into one of those large sticks standing out. Maverick had caught my attention just in time.

  “Do you think there was some kind of wreckage?” Marge asked.

  “Looks like it.” Finn wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was getting pretty hot. Thankfully, we had the breeze from the water. “Makes you wonder where this lake leads. I could’ve sworn it was off a cliff—”

  “I don’t think this is wreckage,” Zephyr interrupted. He pointed to more wood in the distance, though this time it formed the shape of a damaged house. As I looked around, I could see more wreckage forming similar shapes.

  “Who builds houses out of wood on the beach?” Marge raised an eyebrow.

  “The kind of people who don’t have access to any other materials, I imagine.” Maverick crouched down and dusted the sand off something in front of him. A book? He skimmed through the pages before closing it. “It’s all water-damaged.”

  “Not that you could read the language anyway.” Finn shrugged.

  Aidan picked up an item in front of him. It appeared to be a doll missing an arm and half a head. “I-I wonder who used to live here…”

  “I wonder what happened to this place…” I said, turning away from the creepy doll.

  “Shall we have a look around?” Zephyr suggested.

  “Sure. It’s not like Avaline’s gonna tell us.” Marge shrugged.

  We explored what we decided was a ruined village. Some houses still had flooring, others did not. Some had remnants of furniture like beds and chairs, others only had torn cloth and splintered wood.

  I stepped out of a house that only had a doorway and one wall left over. Aidan seemed to be compiling personal objects near the center of what used to be this village.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I-I thought maybe we should bring these items back to the capital so these people have someone to remember them by,” Aidan explained.

  I thought back to Lemria and her distaste for the capital. “I don’t think that will accomplish anything, sadly. Maybe if we can find where these people were buried and place them nearby? Or if they weren’t buried, maybe we can bury the items instead.”

  Aidan nodded.

  I continued exploring the abandoned houses. One of them was mostly intact, outside of a missing wall. Maverick was already standing there digging through a bed. He turned to me and noticed me staring at him. “I’m trying to see if there’s a journal or anything else similar. Maybe there’s a hint about what happened.”

  “Yeah, I was gonna ask why you were rummaging through an abandoned bed.” I walked towards a frame on the wall. The glass had shattered, and the picture was long gone. The sound of Maverick’s sharp inhale had me turning around. He was holding a picture frame still intact, his eyes unblinking.

  “What is it?” I asked, walking over to him. He handed me the frame, and it was all I could do to keep from fainting on the spot. The top corner of the picture was missing, but the rest… “No…” I cried.

  It was Lumi. Lumi and her family. She had lived here.

  “I understand now,” Maverick said solemnly. “A monster possessed by ghula must have attacked—probably the Falor Ghula we’re after. Some of the villagers may have been able to escape like Lumi. Her family must have become contaminated to the point where they couldn’t heal.”

  “So, that’s why the master killed them…” I choked out. I had been so quick to judge her—so confused how Lumi could have taken her side. Now, I understood that it was mercy the master had granted them. She had saved Lumi.

  I took the picture with me and left the house. I crouched down next to Aidan’s pile—a hat, a fishing pole, and the doll from earlier were the first items I noticed. I added the framed picture to the collection.

  “Do you think Lumi’s family could be buried around here?” I turned to Maverick, who was standing behind me.

  He shook his head. “They most likely ceased to exist—the ghula consuming their very bodies.”.

  Well, that totally made me feel better.

  “Anyone who perished likely wouldn’t have any remains to bury.”

  “So, we’ll bury the items then,” I said as Aidan walked back to his pile, a few more items in his arms.

  “Did I miss something?” Aidan asked.

  “Lumi—the girl from the Magus of Historia who fought with us—used to live here.”

  Aidan’s expression grew dim, and he found the photo I had just added to the pile. “I-I feel sorry for her…”

  Marge and Zephyr returned to the center, also carrying more items. We decided we had collected enough and buried them away from the shore. Zephyr pulled out a book from his back pocket—some sort of translation book—and began carving words into a plank of wood we had found.

  “What does it say?” Marge asked.

  “Here lies what is left of the people of the sea. May they sleep peacefully with the Goddess.” Zephyr finished carving the last letter and stepped away.

  “I wish I could have gotten to know her more… Lumi, I mean.” I wiped the tears from my eyes. By now, everyone had learned of what Maverick and I had found.

  “Well, she’s not dead, right?” Marge asked. “You can still talk to her?”

  “She’s a member of the Magus of Historia,” Finn explained. “I think it’s best if we keep our distance from those people.”

  “Still.” Marge shrugged. “Maybe you’ll run into them again. Or maybe she’ll leave. Who knows.”

  “We should continue with our quest,” Maverick interrupted. “Zephyr, where’s the next Falor Ghula?”

  Zephyr let out a long breath. “Here.” He handed Maverick the map with his finger marking the spot.

  “It’s in the lake?!” Maverick shouted at him, somehow making Zephyr’s glasses jump.

  “D-don’t look at me! I’m not the one who put it there!” Zephyr backed away as he straightened his glasses.

  “If it’s underwater, how are we going to reach it?!” I asked.

  Aidan bounced, rolling his feet from heel to toe, his hands shoved in his pockets as he looked everywhere but at us.

  “Thankfully for us, we have Aidan who can breathe underwater,” Maverick explained, and Aidan’s attention finally came back to us as he gave a small smile. “Ella, remember how you asked if Ethereal’s had the same power?”

  “Oh no… I don’t think I like where this is going…” I slouched.

  “We’re going to find out.”