“You’re a Royal?!” I blurted out.

  Talus nodded, her light teal hair falling over her shoulder in the process. “One of the last remaining. You’ve already met my sister.”

  “The other woman I saw when I used Ether Recollection on the mural—was she also a Royal?” I asked, recalling the woman with long dark hair who stood next to her.

  “Yes, that was Seraphina. She had power over memories and infused hers into the mural so that one day the truth might have a way of surfacing. Either through Ether Recollection or through her successor.” Had. She must have passed at some point.

  “Were you the one who sent the other Ethereals to help Elaina awaken her magic?” Finn asked.

  “You speak as if I am superior to them. They act according to their own wishes.”

  “Why have you brought us here?” Maverick asked, his voice much harsher than the rest of ours. So much so that Talus seemed to be taken aback.

  “I want the same as you. Please, sit.” She took a seat herself on the grass. Um… okay… We awkwardly looked at each other before joining her on the grass.

  It admittedly felt nice to sit directly on the earth and feel the wind brushing against my skin. I could hear the birds and the insects in the trees making their respective noises, which brought a certain calm. For the first time in a while, we weren’t sprinting somewhere. Literally and figuratively.

  “I want to help you defeat Avaline,” Talus said.

  This had Maverick on his feet after he had just sat down. “No. No way. There’s no way we can do it.”

  “Why are you so certain?”

  “Because she has ether beyond compare!”

  “What even is she, anyway?” Marge asked. “Is she a Royal like you? An Ethereal?”

  Talus shook her head. “She’s neither an Ethereal nor a Royal.”

  “T-then what is she?” Aidan asked. I noticed his cheeks were pinker than usual. And his gaze never seemed to leave Talus. Here we go again…

  “If I told you, then you definitely wouldn’t fight her.”

  “Then you’ve confirmed that we shouldn’t even try.” Maverick crossed his arms and eventually sat back down after Zephyr whispered something to him.

  Talus shook her head. “No, I simply predicted your existing bias.” Talus herself seemed to be losing patience. Her melodic voice had an unusual edge to it.

  “Answer us this: Do we have a chance of defeating Avaline?” I asked.

  “If you didn’t, I wouldn’t be wasting my time with you, now would I?” Yeah, she was very annoyed now.

  “All right. How do we do it?” Finn clapped his hands together. He seemed the only one here eager.

  In one fluid motion, Talus was on her feet. “Come with me.” She beckoned.

  She led us through the forest, following the stream that was present near her little cottage. “You know,” she turned to us while walking, a smile on her face, “this part of Etheria wasn’t too far from your manor in Meridia back when the continents were whole. I used to love spending my time talking to the birds in the forest when I was supposed to be practicing my gift. Mother was very strict with our magic.”

  “What was Her Grace like?” Zephyr asked eagerly. I couldn’t blame him. She seemed much more eager to share than her sister had been.

  “She was kind, generous, and very stubborn. Took way too many things personally, if you ask me.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “And she was so strict! With us, at least. She fawned over the generals but didn’t have time for her own children! The nerve!”

  “Uh, should you really be speaking about her like that?” Marge asked.

  “It’s not like she can hear me.” Right, Alina was dead... making that statement rather callous.

  We exited the forest and entered a clearing. The wind grew slightly louder, and the sound of birds and insects diminished.

  “Now,” Talus said, turning to us. “Take your best shot at me.”

  The six of us glanced at each other, silently trying to decide who should strike. Finn eventually summoned his lance and dashed at her, fire glowing at the tip of his lance. As soon as he was about to hit her, a giant green shield appeared around her, knocking him back. Maverick used that as his opportunity to strike, slashing his sword at her and meeting the same fate.

  Aidan’s eyes glowed with determination, and a ball of light surrounded Talus. Unfortunately, she remained completely unfazed.

  “I don’t understand…” Marge said. “We can’t get a single hit on you.”

  “Precisely. My gift grants me total protection. A gift that Avaline also possesses,” Talus explained.

  “Then how are we supposed to strike?” Maverick shouted.

  “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “Bitch, you’re supposed to—”

  “All magic uses ether.” Finn looked lost in thought. “I’m constantly expelling ether, reading other people’s minds. That shield must be using ether.”

  “…Which means that if she runs out of ether, she can’t use the shield!” Marge deduced.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Somehow, I have a feeling Avaline isn’t going to run out of ether.” Maverick crossed his arms.

  “It was a good theory.” Talus smiled. “Any other ideas?”

  “The strength of your magic depends on how much ether you use,” Zephyr began. “Talus’ shield is only as strong as the amount of ether she applies to it.”

  “Again, Avaline has a seemingly unlimited supply of Ether.” Maverick’s voice grew exasperated. He was starting to put me on edge.

  “While you may be able to defeat me eventually, Avaline won’t be so simple.” Talus’s fingers rhythmically tapped her crossed arms. “Any last suggestions?”

  “The more magic you use, the less effective it becomes,” Aidan said. “Because it’s too difficult to concentrate.” Funnily enough, he seemed to have his own issues concentrating. “If we can lure Avaline into casting something other than her shield, the shield will weaken.”

  “But can we even get her to do that?” Marge asked.

  “I mean, she will try to kill us.” I shrugged.

  “As soon as we attack her, she’s just going to focus on the shield again.” Maverick threw his hands up.

  “Yeah, but at least she can’t kill us while she does it.”

  “A reasonable suggestion.” Talus shrugged. “You were right that you need to divert her attention. However, it is not necessary for her to completely stop focusing on the shield. How my shield works is that I must predict where you’re going to hit so I can direct my ether to that side. If you were to overwhelm her, her focus would wane, and eventually, you would be able to break through. You must work together if you want to break her shield. Go ahead.”

  The six of us gathered together, huddled in a circle. We made movements with our hands to signal the direction we would take so she wouldn’t overhear us.

  Maverick rushed her head-on with his sword. Before he could even slash at her, Marge was at her flank with her yo-yo. She managed to protect both sides. Zephyr ran around to her other side with his musket, and I watched as she moved her hand to that side, preparing to fortify it. Zephyr’s bullets ended up being an illusion, and with her distracted, Finn had managed to jump into the air and was plummeting down at her. She managed to block this as well. Aidan stood in front of her, but ordered his fireball to appear from behind her. This one seemed to genuinely surprise her, as I noticed her recoil a little. The shield seemed to have protected her from the heat, but not the knockback.

  This was going to be tougher than we thought.

  Zephyr created multiple illusions of himself surrounding her, all taking aim. They fired in sync, and Talus didn’t even bother fortifying her shield and simply yawned. Had she predicted the real Zephyr wouldn’t even bother attacking? Aidan created multiple balls of fire around her, each of them going off one after another. Talus managed to successfully predict the order in which they went off, despite them all appearing at the same time.

  “Your enemy will be in tune with ether,” Talus began. “I could feel the ether increase in each fireball before it exploded.”

  Maverick ran up to her with his sword and repeatedly attacked the shield to no avail. Despite this, he didn’t let up. He was acting as a decoy, wasn’t he? Finn ran behind her and began doing the same. Good, her attention was being pulled in both directions. Marge followed up as well, but despite her attention being pulled three ways, she didn’t relent.

  “Aidan!” I called out to the person in question. He ran over to me, looking eager. “Follow my lead, okay? I want you to create fire right after my magic goes off.”

  “O-okay!” Aidan nodded at me.

  She could feel the ether of attacks? I’d like to see her feel this!

  I created a vortex of wind around her, strong enough to push both Finn, Marge, and Maverick back. Aidan followed up with fire just as I had asked him to. The vortex only powered up the fire, creating a massive explosion.

  When everything settled, I could see an out-of-breath Talus. “You might just stand a chance.” She chuckled dryly.

  And then I collapsed.

  When I woke up, I was inside what I assumed was Talus’ cottage. The bedroom was tiny, much smaller than the one I had back home. It could only fit a bed, a wardrobe, and a very small square desk. The room was also round, so it bugged me how the wardrobe fit in the space. Light peered through the window next to me. The glass was beautiful, like seaglass.

  “I see you’re up,” Talus said as she walked up the creaking stairs. She sat at the edge of the bed.

  “How long have I been asleep for?” I asked, noticing how bright it was outside.

  “Almost a day.”

  I jolted. That long?!

  “It’s better that way. You’ll need all of your strength when you fight Avaline. The others have been resting as well,” Talus explained.

  “Will Avaline find us here…?”

  “She certainly knows where you are, yes. And I wouldn’t be surprised if she knew you were training to kill her. However, I don’t think it’s likely she’ll show. She’ll wait for you to come to her.”

  That was a relief… At least we wouldn’t die in our sleep.

  “Hey… What would have happened if we decided not to fight her and just… leave?” I asked.

  “Hm, well, that would depend on a lot of things.” She paused, looking lost in thought. “If you hadn’t learned the truth about the mural, she would have most likely let you go. Now that you know her secret, she will try to kill you. Though she may have tried to kill you regardless due to your connection with Sylvis.”

  “Sylvis? Do the two know each other?”

  “Yes. They’re well acquainted.”

  “But… how? I didn’t think Sylvis could leave Meridia.”

  “I suppose it’s better to say they know of each other. They haven’t personally met.”

  “What is Avaline?” I asked. “I know you won’t tell Maverick, but will you tell me?”

  She smiled. “I have a feeling you’ll find out very soon.”

  Talus prepared a huge feast for us. There was meat involved, much to Maverick’s delight. Everything I could think of was there. Meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, pastries, nuts, seeds, grains… Talus told us it was very important that our ether was full before taking on Avaline.

  Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, for once. Good food made you forget your worries, I supposed. Yet, I still felt on edge. Talus was already plenty difficult to fight. Avaline was going to be ten times worse, supposedly. There was a very real chance we could die this time.

  Memories of the facility flooded back to me. I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that right now. Besides, I was stronger now. Plus… I had to believe that Sylvis would intervene this time if things got bad.

  Once we finished eating, Talus supplied Maverick with additional ether so we could teleport directly to the capital. Oh hey—we teleported right next to my favorite fountain!

  “This is it. Ready?” Maverick glanced at us. Tension filled the air once again, and I could see Aidan visibly shaking.

  “Should we maybe try to leave a message or something to Sylvis and Rosalie?” Marge asked.

  “I don’t think Avaline is going to let me teleport out to deliver a letter.”

  “Then I’m good.”

  “What were you going to write?” I asked, curious if she had some sort of final wishes. Maybe it was a will for where her wharrack collection would end up.

  “Help.”

  “Oh. That’s a good message.”

  “Anything you want to do at the last minute, potentially risking Avaline attacking us?” Maverick asked.

  Silence. With that, we started walking again—or at least, they did.

  “Hey,” I said, grabbing everyone’s attention. “I know I kind of said this before, though Marge wasn’t there. But um, if anything happens and we don’t make it out… Thank you guys for everything. I’m really glad to have met you. And honestly? I… I think I prefer it here in Etheria compared to Earth.”

  “Awwww…!” Finn pulled me into a tight hug that I immediately tried to break out of. It was no use; he had a death hold on me. This is how I would meet my end. Smothered in my best friend’s arms.

  “Hey! Don’t hog Ella all to yourself! She’s not a sandwich!” Marge proceeded to hug me from behind.

  “G-guys… I can’t… breathe…” I really needed them to let go. Thankfully, they both did.

  …And then Maverick walked over to me and hugged me. What’s with all the hugging?! You say one sappy thing, and suddenly everyone wants to hug you! “We’re not going to die,” he whispered in my ear. The perfect sappy response.

  Once mushy time was over, we headed for the palace. The giant doors creaked open ominously. I had to wonder if Avaline had intentionally rusted over the hinges for effect, because I did not remember them being so squeaky before.

  This was it.