I caught Aidan humming to himself on the balcony late at night. Everyone else had gone to bed, but I found myself unable to sleep. Maybe it was because of that nap I had earlier… It didn’t help that every time I was about to fall asleep, images of the Falor Ghula we fought appeared in my mind and gradually turned into images of Greg.

  “Can’t sleep either?” I asked, quietly closing the door behind me so I wouldn’t disturb anyone else.

  “I-I guess I’ve become a night owl since we got here.” He shrugged, smiling at me. I swear he hadn’t stopped smiling since we defeated the Falor Ghula. But… I was happy for him. He needed this.

  “Were you scared? Earlier today?” I asked, pulling out a chair to sit on. He was sitting on the rail of the balcony, which honestly made my heart pound. Well, he had wind magic if he fell…

  “A little,” he answered. “I mean, it was kind of scary having a giant fish covered in deadly mist chasing after me. If Maverick hadn’t traded with me, I don’t know how much longer I would’ve lasted.”

  “What about when you lured it out of the water?”

  He shook his head before turning back around and looking up at the moon. “It was kind of thrilling, a-actually. I felt so connected to the water, like it had my back, you know? It didn’t give up on me, so I didn’t give up on it. I guess it was scary once I got out of the water, but when I saw you create that fire… W-well, I knew we had won.”

  “I see…” I looked down at my hands, where I was twiddling my thumbs. I wished I had that kind of relationship with the elements, or even my own magic. “There was something else I wanted to ask you.”

  “Hm?” He turned back to me, giving me his full attention. I looked away, feeling a little embarrassed about what I was going to ask.

  “Were you scared when we were at that facility back on Earth?”

  “Of course I was,” he answered matter-of-factly.

  I felt relieved. “You were?”

  “I don’t think anyone wasn’t. I-I mean, we didn’t know what they were going to do to us. And what they put me through… That was terrifying.”

  “Do you ever get nightmares about it?” I asked, leaning closer.

  “I think maybe once. Do you still get them?”

  “Yeah…" I frowned, pulling away in disappointment. "You… you weren’t afraid to face the Falor Ghula after that?”

  “Why would I? The two aren’t related, right?” Of course he didn’t see it that way…

  “You’re not scared of getting killed in the most brutal way possible?” My voice began rising, and I had to be careful I didn’t accidentally shout.

  His expression softened a little. He jumped off the rail and stood in front of me, his eyes gazing directly into mine. “Of course I’m scared. I think we’re all scared of that. But I also trust in my friends, and that it won’t come down to that. T-they have our backs and we have theirs, right?”

  “But what if we’re not strong enough?” I stood from my seat as well. “I almost died the first time we fought a Falor Ghula!”

  “But you didn’t. I think that’s the important part. Our friends came through when we needed them most.”

  I sighed. He had a point, but it also felt like he didn’t completely understand where I was coming from. I trust that my friends would never intentionally let something happen to me, but what if they’re too late? Or what if something we didn’t account for happened?

  “Take it from me, Ella,” he began again. “You can’t live your life in fear. If you’re going to improve, you’re going to have to trust yourself a little.”

  Those words hit me hard. I had seen firsthand how much Aidan had improved and how confident he was now. He was risking his life for us, and I was still shying away.

  “Right… Thank you.”

  The next morning (after a horrible night’s sleep), we immediately set off for the pegasi. Maverick, of course, still wasn’t let in. We were going to have to do something about that, but now didn’t seem like the right time. So, the rest of us proceeded without him. We were informed that the pegasi could carry two of us at once, so me, Zephyr, and Marge worked on taming one, since we apparently had the best chances.

  I gently brushed the mane of the pegasi like I had before. This time, it was just me and her. She seemed to be slowly getting used to me. This would be so much quicker if I learned how to share my ether with her…

  “I suppose pegasi can’t talk, hm?” I asked, waiting for a response. She simply tilted her head to the side in confusion, or at least what I thought was confusion. “They say talking to your pets is supposed to deepen your bond with them. I wonder if that works with you.”

  I pet her for a while, wondering how I was supposed to know when she’d allow me to ride her. Eventually, I got bored and decided to check on the others. Aidan and Finn had apparently left to be with Maverick, and Marge and Zephyr were still tending to their pegasi, which was honestly quite boring to watch…

  Well, I'd might as well meet up with the others.

  It didn’t take long to find them. Near the entrance, there was a room off to the side. The door immediately swung open as I passed by, and I noticed Finn was the one who had opened it. Upon entering, there were dozens of bookshelves and very little space to sit. Despite this, Maverick still managed to find a spot to sit on the windowsill. He kept almost falling off despite not having much in that area. I could hear Finn snort from my side.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Close the door. Quickly,” Maverick snapped, and Finn followed his directions.

  “What are you doing in here?” I asked, noticing Aidan quickly flipping through pages in a book.

  “It’s not just the tamers who reside here but the sages as well. This room keeps a record of every Talent ever known.” Maverick hopped off the windowsill.

  “And they let you in just like that?” I blinked.

  “Of course not. Finn learned all this from the sages here, and I teleported myself inside. Turns out you don’t need a key if you unlock the door from the inside.” He smirked.

  “You’re going to get us all kicked out!” I facepalmed.

  “Not if you keep your voice down, I won’t. Have you forgotten I can turn things invisible?”

  I sighed. This didn’t sit well with me. We were definitely going to get caught, and then we wouldn’t be able to ride the pegasi, which meant we wouldn’t be able to defeat the Falor Ghula, which meant we wouldn’t be able to get home!

  “What are you even hoping to find in these books? I mean, we already know Avaline has power over dreams. Even if we didn’t, there’s no way she’d be in a book,” I asked.

  “Believe it or not, but Talents aren’t very well understood. It’s not uncommon for a breakthrough to happen generations later. Take Marge, for example. Do you really believe her magic is only good for predicting the immediate future? I’m sure there’s more she can do with that.”

  I supposed that made sense.

  “Um, what does Superbia Exceptalia mean?” Aidan asked, pointing to something in the book he was holding. He pulled out a second, smaller book and began comparing the two. From looking over his shoulder, I could tell it was some sort of translation.

  “Aidan has been teaching himself the language at night. He’s able to point out a couple of words here and there,” Finn explained.

  “Yeah, I was wondering why he was frantically searching through books he couldn’t understand,” I said.

  “I-it looks like Alina passed down specific Talents to her generals,” Aidan said. “There’s something called telepathy?”

  “Go on?” Maverick goaded.

  “Can read minds and also communicate through minds…”

  “Wait, what?!” Finn yanked the book out of Aidan’s hand, and his eyes frantically scanned the pages. “I don’t understand! This is all in another language!” He raised his arms in exasperation, the book included.

  Aidan had to stand on his toes to grab the book from Finn. “This is why we leave the translating to me.” He slowly translated the rest of the passage. That didn’t stop Finn from slowly recounting what Aidan had found.

  “The gardener— Gardener? Wielder, can… something about waves… mind and light?—”

  “Can we wait for me to finish translating the damn text?!” Aidan shouted with exasperation.

  “I’m sorry! I’m just excited! I get to do something cool!” Finn whined. A few minutes later, Aidan set his book down, and Finn continued. “Oh. The wielder is able to send and receive information using ether through some type of brainwave to communicate with people up to twenty meters away.”

  “What’s that in feet?” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

  “Maybe forty of yours?” Maverick answered, staring at my feet. I facepalmed.

  “Do you want to try?” I asked Finn.

  “D-don’t try it on me! That’s weird and creepy!” Aidan struggled to shove the book back onto the shelf as he squirmed every which way.

  “I’ll volunteer.” I shrugged.

  “Hm…” Finn stared at me. “Did it work?”

  “No.” I shook my head. Of course it wouldn’t be this easy. Just like taming a pegasus. We’d be lucky if we tamed it by—”

  “Ella! I did it!” Marge appeared directly in front of me, causing me to scream and fall backwards. Just as I tried to get up, a hand covered my mouth and pinned me to the ground.

  “Quiet! Do you want us to get caught?!” Maverick whisper-shouted at me.

  “She startled me!” I shouted back. Or tried to. I could hear it come out in muffled gibberish.

  “Someone’s coming!” Finn whispered.

  Maverick grabbed onto us and teleported us back to the side of the stable where the pegasi were kept. Once there, he teleported himself out.

  “Come on!” Marge grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the room she was previously in.

  “I didn’t know you could teleport,” I said while she stroked the mane of her pegasus and gave her affectionate scritchies.

  “Everyone can.” Marge shrugged. “I just usually don’t, but you weren’t with your pegasus, and I was too excited to wait for you to come back. Come on!”

  She pulled me closer to the pegasus and jumped on its back. Once she was settled, she hoisted me up. There was something about sitting on a large mythical beast that made me rethink my previous excitement. Something about this felt unstable—there were no seatbelts!

  “Have you flown this thing before?!” My words were muffled in her hair. My arms were wrapped around her for dear life.

  “Nope! I wanted it to be with you!” She turned her head to smile at me. Our faces were mere inches away, and her hair was between us.

  “You decided to take me with you on a ride to our deaths?!”

  “What? No! We’re going to be juuuuuust fine! Ayesha told me there’s an exit in each stall to fly out of.”

  “She— What?!”

  We approached one of the walls, and to my absolute horror, it opened, revealing the sky. The pegasus naturally took a few steps backwards before leaping out with incredible speed. My stomach dropped and I screamed, holding Marge so tightly I was worried my nails were digging into her. She screamed, but for a much different reason. Was she actually liking this?!

  My thighs burned as they gripped onto the sides of the pegasus. We kept leaning too far to one side or another, and my heart pounded in my chest, terrified we would fall off. We kept leaning, and leaning, and oh no…

  I screamed as loud as I could muster. I could see Marge move her head away from mine slightly. We were completely upside down now. Somehow, the pegasus kept flying, and we were holding on with mostly our legs.

  “This is incredible!” Marge shouted.

  “Turn us back over now or so help me, Marge!” I shouted. I can’t believe I wanted to do this before! That I made Maverick wake up early just so we could get a chance to do this! I’m glad we didn’t do it!

  The pegasus turned right-side up, and for the first time since we took off, the pegasus seemed balanced, like Marge was in complete control.

  “Wait… This is actually kind of… nice…” I smiled.

  Feeling a lot safer, I released one hand from Marge. I held my arm out like a kid in a car would, and felt the flow of the wind. I couldn’t believe we were actually doing this! A few months ago and I wouldn’t have believed pegasi were actually real. Here I was, riding one in a world that shouldn’t exist.

  I dared to lean back, my legs the only thing keeping me stable. It was kind of relaxing being up here in the clouds. The sky was a beautiful shade of orange, red, and pink. The ether felt… different. But not like the ether near the Falor Ghula that smothered us. It was light and airy, but more pronounced than in Meridia.

  Eventually, we landed in front of the stable. Marge said something about how we were supposed to enter the same way we exited, but she didn’t feel confident that she wouldn’t “slam a snout into a wall.”

  We slid off the pegasus, and my legs weren’t shaking nearly as much as I thought they would. In fact, they weren’t shaking at all. The others were waiting for us. Zephyr and Finn clapped upon our arrival.

  “How was it?” I heard in my head.

  “Wait, you’re doing it!” I exclaimed, beaming at Finn. That’s when I noticed Aidan cowering on the ground behind Zephyr’s legs.

  “Thank goodness you’re back…” Aidan peeked around from behind Zephyr. “He keeps putting things in my head, and it freaks me out!” He jumped. “L—like that!”

  “Finn, stop antagonizing Aidan.” I crossed my arms.

  “But it’s fun!” Finn countered.

  I shook my head. “Are you sure you and Maverick didn’t swap places?”

  “How much progress have you made, Ella?” Zephyr interrupted my scolding. “I’m nearly ready.”

  My stomach sank. “I-I’m getting there. In fact, I’ll go back in right now and finish up!”

  I couldn’t be the last one again.