We walked to the edge of the capital in silence. Finn agreed to talk to me, but we both agreed the bar was hardly the place. So, we sat down next to the river as a million stars gazed down on us, casting enough light to see the horizon.

  “Do you think one of those stars is Earth?” I asked wistfully as I gazed up at the night sky. It felt bittersweet in a way. Earth was my home, but I considered Etheria to be my home now.

  “Definitely,” Finn replied. I glanced at him and watched as he looked up at the sky the same way I had. He turned to look at me, and I quickly looked away, my gaze now on the fish in the pond. Some were colors I couldn’t make out, but others had glowing, blue or yellow spots on them that fascinated me. “You wanted to talk?”

  I placed a finger in the water, which was a stupid thing to do in hindsight. The fish immediately scattered. “How are you?” I asked, unsure how to start the conversation.

  “How am I?” He laughed humorlessly. “I’m doing just fine, Ella. It’s not like I just got chewed out for a mistake I already knew I made.”

  “How come you didn’t tell us?” I asked genuinely. I was thankful for once that he was a mind reader and wouldn’t misinterpret my intention.

  “Because it wasn’t my place to share.” He clenched his fists, pulling out tufts of grass with them. “Those were personal thoughts that I have no business hearing—thoughts that I’ve thought before. I swear this stupid mind-reading thing is a curse!” he all but shouted. “Knowing people’s most intimate thoughts… I couldn’t imagine if someone were doing the same to me. There are so many things I know that I shouldn’t, so much power that I shouldn’t have. Nobody asked for their secrets to be on display, and I never asked to have this power. Sometimes it’s difficult knowing how much I should and shouldn’t say…”

  “I see…” I said softly. It made sense. When Aidan and I had argued shortly after coming to this world, he wouldn’t tell me Aidan’s thoughts then. He wouldn’t tell me when Maverick was stalking me either, which created a situation similar to this. Of course, Maverick was glad at the time that Finn had kept his mouth shut.

  “Do you know what it’s like to be in a room filled with everyone thinking negatively about you at the same time?” It sounded like the words got caught in his throat midway—like he’d start crying at any moment. “Monster, enabler, idiot…”

  If he didn’t start crying, I would. I couldn’t blame my friends for the thoughts that entered their minds—similar thoughts entered mine at the time, too, so I knew I was included. But those were meant to be kept private. It’s why people choose their words. I couldn’t imagine what I’d do if I heard everyone think the same about me. I’d probably run and never look back.

  “Sorry, this is my problem; I shouldn’t be putting it on you.” He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands.

  I frantically shook my head. “We’re friends—that’s what friends are for. How many other people have you shared this with?”

  “Just Aqua,” he paused. “You probably know this, but I didn’t have many friends at the manor. Well, not like you guys anyway. Making friends is… a lot different when you’re a mind reader and know what other people’s intentions are.”

  I actually didn't know that. He had invited me to sit with his friends when I first arrived, and it seemed like he was always getting invited to places and made friends easily.

  Still, his words made me wonder what arose and Carol really thought of me—before they thought I was psychotic, that is. “Does it make the friendships you do have more special?”

  “Yeah, I guess. I mean, it still hurts whenever you guys think less than nice stuff about me.” He scratched the back of his head. “That’s just something I’m going to have to live with.”

  “Do you wish you hadn’t been born with magic?”

  “Honestly? If it meant peace and quiet in my own head? Yes. …But also that would mean I wouldn’t have gotten to meet you guys, so that’s a tough question.”

  “Well, if I weren’t taken to Eart,h you would’ve still met me.”

  His lips twitched into a smirk. “You know, the more you say stuff like that, the more I’m convinced you wish our arranged marriage had been kept.”

  My face flushed, and I was suddenly grateful he was a mind reader, so he knew that wasn’t the case.

  “You’re fun to tease.” He smiled at me as he brushed my hair out of my face. What was that about…

  Finn decided he wanted to stay out alone for a little while longer, so I returned to the inn alone. I could already see Aidan standing on the balcony we now had, so I decided to join him. I stood near the balcony so I wasn’t standing directly under it, and used my wind magic to launch myself up. Of course, I hit my head on the roof.

  “A-are you okay?” Aidan asked as he rushed over to me. It was nice seeing him back to his usual self.

  “Yeah,” I winced and rubbed my head. “I’m fine. How are you?”

  “C-can I be honest?” He went back to his seat at the small, round, wooden table in the corner.

  “Of course.” I nodded as I pulled up a seat beside him.

  “Embarrassed…” He cast his head down so I couldn’t see his expression. “I don’t know why I let Avaline take advantage of me like that… I-I feel even worse that I… kind of… liked it…”

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  “Oh…” The words slipped out. Well, this was awkward.

  “Of course you liked it.” Marge’s voice interrupted, and I noticed her standing in the doorway. How long had she been listening? “You were getting attention that you weren’t getting from us. And while I hate to admit it, Avaline is very beautiful.”

  Something else had been bothering me. Clearly, this has been going on for a while. “Um… How did you get involved with Avaline in the first place?” I asked.

  “O-oh, uh…” Aidan stuttered. “S-she was talking to me in my dreams.”

  “Finn mentioned something about that. How come you didn’t come to us?”

  Aidan shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “You already weren’t taking me seriously…”

  “You keep saying that, but I don’t know what that means,” I said. I couldn’t think of any situation where we had downplayed his abilities. If it weren’t for him, we never would have defeated that first Falor Ghula.

  He clenched his fists and trembled. “I could’ve taken down the second Falor Ghula myself! You guys didn’t even have to come with! You could’ve stayed where it was safe! I could’ve handled everything! But Finn and Maverick didn’t think I could do it! It’s just like Avaline said—they’re jealous of my power. They’re jealous that they’re no longer in the spotlight.”

  “Avaline played you.” Marge crossed her arms. “She set you up—planted thoughts in your head so that when Finn and Maverick had the reaction they did, you’d have the reaction she wanted you to have. Ugh! It’s so annoying!” She threw her hands up.

  “Played me or not, she was right.” Aidan crossed his arms.

  “She wasn’t right.” I clenched my hands into fists. “That’s not at all what they think. You wouldn’t have been able to take down the Falor Ghula on your own—not even Maverick, an Ethereal would have been able to. Had you gone in alone, you would have died—”

  Aidan slammed his fist on the table. “There it is again! You’re treating me like I’m weak! I know I could’ve handled it, or I wouldn’t have even tried!”

  “We’re all weak!” Marge shouted. “All three of us—but especially me… Ella’s an Ethereal, and you have one of the rarest Talents. What can I do? I can predict rainy days and food poisoning, occasionally. Ella can’t use anything other than elemental magic, and you’re too weak and too stupid to face a monster not even Avaline could defeat!”

  “Ouch.” I winced on Aidan’s behalf.

  “Sorry. Someone needed to say it.” Marge shrugged nonchalantly.

  “I…” Aidan’s fists clenched and trembled for a bit until he released them. “You’re right… And now that I don’t have light magic…”

  “Well, now that Avaline isn’t manipulating you, maybe you do have light magic,” I said. “Light is associated with order and darkness with chaos, right? Your thoughts were a bundle of chaos not too long ago. But now… You’re thinking more clearly now, aren’t you?”

  “I am… Or at least, I hope I am…” he mumbled.

  “You’re talking to us and not that freaky lady,” Marge added. “What could be more sane than that?”

  “Marge!” I whisper-shouted at her.

  “What? She freaks me out. I think she freaks all of us out after tonight. That’s if we weren’t already freaked out by her forcing us to put our lives in danger.”

  “You know…” I trailed off, changing the subject. “I wonder why Sylvis hasn’t intervened. Then again, she didn’t intervene back on Earth either.”

  “Yeah, what was up with that?” Marge cocked her head to the side as she sat directly on the table. There weren’t enough chairs for the three of us.

  “Maybe she knew the master would save us? But this time… this time, she didn’t want us to come. She’s never left Meridia, yet seemed terrified of the idea of us coming to Vafir. She definitely knows something.”

  “Maybe she knows Avaline? Maybe Avaline has been to Meridia?”

  “Maybe…”

  “I’m sorry,” Aidan said quietly out of nowhere.

  “For what?” I glanced back at him; Marge did the same.

  “For everything. You guys really got me thinking… I was an ass, just like Finn said. I really let the idea of power get to me… Goddess, I’m so stupid! I look like an idiot!” He slammed his fist on the table again.

  “It’s okay, Aidan.” I placed my hand on top of his fist. His hand flinched, but he didn’t make any effort to move it. “We all make mistakes. But we can’t learn from them if we don’t talk about them,” I paused. “I think Zephyr had the right idea about us staying together. We should be more honest with each other. We’re going to have to trust each other if we want to get out of here alive.”

  “Y-yeah… I’ll try to pull my weight now.”

  “Dude, you’re already doing that.” Marge flicked him behind the head, causing him to wince. “You saved us all, remember?”

  Aidan held out his palm, and light flickered in it the same way it had for me in the cave. “I-I still can’t do it…”

  “Give it some time. You’re pretty shaken up, aren’t you? And you’re probably not very confident in yourself or your magic right now. It’ll come when the moment’s right.”

  I thought about my own magic. Would it also come when the moment’s right? Nah, that would be too cliche. Though I supposed it already had.

  “C’mon, let’s get some sleep,” Marge suggested. “I call Ella’s bed.” She winked at me and I blinked.

  “I-I think it’s best if I stay in my own bed tonight…” Aidan turned away from us. There was no point when we couldn’t see his blush when it was this dark out.

  “Please do,” I added.

  The next morning, we met in the lobby for breakfast. I was glad to see Finn smiling as he chatted with Maverick and Zephyr, who no doubt went to bed earlier than us.

  “Feeling better, Aidan?” Zephyr asked.

  “Y-yeah…” Aidan wiped the sleep out of his eyes before pulling up a seat next to him. “I, um, wanted to apologize to all of you for how I’ve been acting… And especially for last night. I-I also wanted to ask to please be nice to Finn… I understand he could’ve told you what was going on sooner, but um, I really appreciate that he didn’t… I-I don’t know if that’s something I should be saying—”

  “Don’t worry, Aidan.” Zephyr passed Aidan the roll he had just finished buttering. “We all have things that we want to keep secret. We just would have preferred a little more transparency from Finn, perhaps something to tip us off that you were in danger rather than revealing your actual thoughts.”

  “Y-yeah…” Aidan grabbed the roll and proceeded to try to scrape the butter off with his knife. Marge handed him an unbuttered one instead.

  “A learning opportunity for both of us, I guess,” Finn added, but I could hear the annoyance in his voice that he tried to hide. I offered him a frown.

  “After we’re done eating, we head south,” Maverick announced. “I’m still trying to figure out how we’ll get north, so in the meantime, we’ll head for the beach. There’s a lake there.”

  “Lake?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “The lake is on par with your world’s Great Lakes.”

  “What makes them so great?” Aidan asked.

  “Their size, I’m guessing.”

  “Right, this world doesn’t have an ocean. Or well, not one of water. Ugh!” I stabbed my fork into my toast.

  “Your world is divided by water?” Marge asked. “I can’t see that being easier to navigate than clouds. It would take forever to boat there.”

  “We have ships that travel much faster,” I explained. “Though we also have planes that can travel through the sky, so that wouldn’t be a problem either. Well, now it wouldn’t. In the past, it would have.”

  “Hm… Interesting.” Marge smirked.

  “What?”

  “Oh, nothing.” She smiled innocently. “Just thinking of sharing that idea with some people when we get home.”