I’m going to be late! Curse me for oversleeping!

  I ran down the hall, noting how bleary it was compared to my room. It was always depressing running down these halls. I ran so fast I passed up the classroom completely! That’s what I get for being so careless! I knew I shouldn’t have let Marge talk me into playing that game last night.

  I opened the classroom door and got an angry glare from Ms. Asir. I could see Maverick sitting in the back, snickering at me. I tried to make it to my seat, but a few students thought it would be funny to trip me on my way. So embarrassing.

  Ms. Asir started the class the same as she did every day—talking about ether regulation. “It’s important to maintain ether regulation. Too much ether and you will die. If you feel a buzzing in your body or a wave of energy, that’s a sign your body has too much ether. If you ever feel that way, consider exercising or reducing the amount of food you intake. Too much ether is dangerous and will kill you.”

  The class went on for a while, but I mostly tuned it out. At the end, she handed out juice the same way she did every day. She placed a bottle onto my desk, and right as I went to grab it, the person next to me turned in their seat—lost in conversation with someone—and elbowed it over. I grabbed the bottle before it could hit the table, but most of its contents had already spilled out.

  I froze. I was the only one who seemed to notice. I could—should—grab Ms. Asir’s attention, but part of me wondered what would happen if I didn’t drink it for one day. When her back was turned, I poured the rest of it under the desk.

  I felt a tap on my back and turned around, terrified someone had noticed what I’d done.“Did you oversleep again?” Marge whispered to me. Thank goodness, she didn’t seem to notice.

  “I couldn’t help it! I knew I shouldn’t have let you talk me into playing another game of Wharracks and Ladders!” I whisper-shouted back.

  “You’re only supposed to get five hours of sleep anyway! And you somehow always get seven!”

  “I’m too tired with just five!”

  “We’re supposed to feel tired, Ella. Too much energy is a sign that our ether could combust at any moment!” She flailed her hands out for effect.

  What was I supposed to do when I fell back to sleep from being too tired? Hm? It seemed impossible for me to only get five hours of sleep.

  We moved on to our Empress Appreciation class. It was the longest class of the day, and was mostly filled with tips on how we could better worship our empress. It was the class Aidan took the most seriously.

  “I-I’m just worried I’m not appreciating her enough, you know?” Aidan said as we walked out of the classroom.

  I thought back to how his room was covered in pictures and statues of the empress. “If anything, I think you’re smothering her,” I said.

  His cheeks were tinted pink. “S-should I maybe cut back a little?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nonsense!” A guy named Tobi said. Nobody liked Tobi. He was annoying and always correcting everyone. “Her Imperial Majesty has a special place for only her most devoted followers! If you keep it up, one day you’ll even get to work for her!”

  “W-work for Her Imperial Majesty?!” Aidan’s cheeks were tomato red. “S-she’d really want someone like me…?”

  “Of course she would! Elaina could learn something from you. Her worship is, quite frankly, lacking. I wouldn’t take any advice from her.”

  “Hey!” I shouted back.

  “We should probably get going,” Marge interrupted. “We’re going to be late to Finn’s party. That you’re not invited to.” She glared at Tobi.

  Finn’s room was always a strange place to be. The walls were painted black, and there weren’t any windows. The only light was from the mini spotlights that were placed around the room, adding only a very small amount of light. There were also plenty of tables and chairs, and his bed was pushed off into some corner of the room. It’s like he designed his room knowing he would be throwing a party every day, which he did. …I guess the layout made sense, then.

  Gitty was playing her guitar in the corner, which could barely be heard over all of the talking. It was a shame; she only ever came to these parties to play. I’m not sure I had ever seen her interact with anyone.

  “Here we go again,” I heard Marge say, and I didn’t even have to look at her to know she was rolling her eyes. Finn and Maverick were dueling each other with prop swords. Maverick was obviously much more talented and always won, but that didn’t stop Finn from provoking him each time. They lept from table to table, and Finn nearly stepped into someone’s drink—

  “Hey, Marge?” I asked.

  “Yeah?” She looked at me—annoyance was evident in her voice.

  “Do you ever get the feeling that we’ve done this before?”

  “We have. We do the same thing every day. …Are you just now realizing this?”

  “You’re saying we’re stuck in some sort of time loop?”

  “Goddess, no! It’s just that we don’t have many options. We can't use Maverick’s room because he won’t let us, Aidan’s room is creepy, the times we used our rooms they got utterly trashed, so we always end up in Finn’s room.”

  “Why don’t we use someone else’s room?”

  “Nobody else has volunteered except Tobi. And nobody likes Tobi.”

  “Hey, Ella. You doing okay? You look disturbed.” Finn must have lost to Maverick again. That was why he was over here asking about me.

  I shook my head. It was obvious nobody else seemed to mind our way of life.

  “Ella, if there’s something bothering you, you should speak up. It’s not like I’m a mind reader, you know?” He tussled my hair and gave me that same affectionate smile he always gave me. The same one that annoyed Maverick every time.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Is something wrong?” Maverick came over, pushing Finn away from me.

  “Let’s meet somewhere else tomorrow, okay? I want to change things up," I suggested, hoping Finn wouldn't be offended.

  “Okay, but meet where? It’s not like we can leave the school.”

  “How about your room—”

  “No.”

  “Okay, we can meet at mine,” I squeaked. “But just the five of us. And no swords! I don’t want my room getting trashed again…”

  “No party?” Finn gave an exaggerated frown.

  “No party. Though the five of us could be a party?” Why did I get the feeling that I’d heard the word “party” used as an alternative for “group” in an adventure setting? I tried to think, but nothing came to mind.

  “That would be a pretty lame party.”

  It wasn’t like this one was any better.

  “We’re not playing Wharracks and Ladders again.” I closed the lid to the board game. Marge had joined me in my room after the party and insisted on playing the board game once again.

  “Come on! We still have a few hours before we go to bed!” Marge tried to pry the lid open, but I held it closed.

  “I want to go to bed early for once.”

  “Ella…” Her voice grew dark and serious. “You know that’s not good for you, right?”

  I fumbled with my words. She was right, but it was so difficult staying awake… I wondered if death was any worse than forcing myself to stay awake for so long…

  Her expression softened, and she finally let go of the lid. She reached into the drawer of my nightstand and pulled out a brush. “Come on, I’ll brush your hair.” She patted the edge of the bed, and I followed over. She climbed up the mattress and sat behind me, and began to brush.

  Something about this felt so familiar, except it felt like I had done this with someone else before. Someone who wasn’t here at this school. But that was ridiculous. We had spent almost our whole lives here. We were the infected ones—we couldn’t live our lives in public. It made me wonder if Tobi was lying about Aidan having a chance at serving the empress.

  She pulled my hair into a braid and weaved a few flowers into it. We were occasionally allowed to pick flowers from the garden, though Ms. Asir hated it.

  “If I leave, will you promise not to immediately go to sleep?” she asked.

  “Yeah, yeah.” I waved her off, not knowing whether or not I had intended to keep that promise. She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she did leave.

  I looked at myself in the mirror. She did a nice job, I could admit that. But something felt off—more off than usual. The days had started to blur together, and I had started to wonder what the point of anything was. I was tired all the time—we all were.

  How had we gotten to this point? Surely there was a time before we arrived here, wasn’t there? But I couldn’t even remember my parents. I looked at myself in the mirror once again, as if my reflection somehow held the answer.

  The room suddenly changed color, and I panicked. This was it! The ether was going to take me! I knew I should’ve asked Ms. Asir for a new bottle!

  Visions flooded me, of my time on Earth— Earth! I remembered Earth! I could see visions of my parents, Rose, Matt… The night Maverick had kidnapped me, our return to Earth, and our adventure in Vafir. Color returned to the room, and I knew time had once again resumed. I had used Ether Recollection on myself… But that left two very important questions.

  Where were we? And how did we lose our memories?

  Think, Ella, think! We had entered the palace, and that’s the last thing I remembered. I remembered literally everything else, so that must be where my true memories ended. Okay, compare that to what you know now. Asir has been feeding us some sort of drink that represses our ether, as well as having us make lifestyle choices that will prevent us from regenerating ether on our own. I know that there are guards who watch the floor late at night, so exploring now isn’t an option. They seem to disappear an hour before our classes start. I should sleep now and recover whatever ether I can, and explore in the morning.

  I ran over to the window and pulled the curtains open so the sunlight would hit me first thing in the morning, acting as an alarm clock. Something seemed off about this window… Maybe if I open it— Ah. It’s a fake window. Of course Avaline wouldn’t trust us with real windows. Suddenly Finn’s room made a lot more sense…

  I guess I’d have to hope I would wake up naturally, then.

  I lay in bed wondering how much time had passed. For all I knew, we had spent several months here… A shiver ran down my spine. At least nobody looked visibly older. From what I could remember, at least. There was also the important matter of me needing to convince the others that Asir has been lying to us…

  I woke up the next morning and was pleasantly surprised that I hadn’t overslept for once. Going to bed early must have helped.

  I carefully peeked out of my room into the hallway. It wasn’t like any of the staff would be there, but I couldn’t help but feel on edge. Would they sense that something was different? Would they catch on that I had remembered? Magic was so weird and unpredictable.

  I headed down the hallway in the opposite direction from the classroom. I wasn’t surprised when the door was locked. Of course it was locked! They wouldn’t want us accidentally escaping even if we couldn’t remember! Let’s see, I could try burning or freezing the lock, but that would probably set off some sort of magical alarm system. I could also try teleporting to the other side of the door, but I had yet to practice teleporting.

  The rest of the palace had to be behind this door. I guess it didn’t really matter if I got past the door or not if I already knew what was behind it. And it certainly wouldn’t be very smart for me to go by myself. I’d just have to get the others to remember. Somehow.

  I was the first one in the classroom. I’d hoped it wouldn’t be suspicious to anyone. I did start wondering about who the other students were. Avaline’s staff? People she didn’t like whose memories she’d erased? I’d probably never find out, and it didn’t really matter either, but I felt sick thinking about the latter.

  Aidan and Maverick were the first to walk in, and I couldn’t help but feel relieved.

  “Y-you’re up early!” Aidan looked at me in surprise. Finn too.

  “Yeah. Did something happen?” Maverick asked.

  I shook my head. “Listen, there’s something important I have to tell you. Asir is lying to us about our ether. It’s not dangerous, it actually makes us really powerful! She’s scared of us, and that’s why she’s trying to keep us weak!” I kept my voice low, barely above a whisper. I didn’t want anyone outside the classroom to hear.

  Both of them looked at me, neither of them looked convinced. Aidan blinked a few times before frowning, but Maverick outright scowled. “I know you don’t care for Ms. Asir and you hate feeling tired all the time, but she’s just looking out for us—”

  “Really? Then why aren’t I dead yet? I didn’t drink the slurp juice yesterday, and I got seven hours of sleep! Look.” I held out my hand and created a tiny ball of fire. Even that seemed to take up more energy than usual, as I could feel myself getting weak in the knees, and a headache was coming on.

  “Stop!” Maverick scolded me. I appreciated that he also kept his voice down. “You’re going to kill yourself! I should report you to Ms. Asir, but I’m going to trust that you’ll do the right thing today and drink your juice.”

  “I need you to trust me more than that. Skip the juice today. If you start feeling like you’re dying, you can turn both of us in. But if you don’t…”

  “Dammit, Ella.” He clenched his fists at his sides and looked away from me. Aidan still looked concerned, but he didn’t bother to comment. This was going to be harder than I expected…

  More students filed in, and I knew to keep my mouth shut. For once in my life, I wished Finn still had his mind-reading power.

  Ms. Asir was the last to enter the classroom. When she did, she made eye contact with me. My stomach dropped. She didn’t walk to her desk like usual. Instead, she stood by the door. “Elaina, I’d like to have a word with you. Outside.”

  “No.” I shook my head, my heart racing a million miles an hour.

  “Would someone escort Elaina to the hallway?” Asir asked.

  Two students approached me, both bigger than me. I squirmed back in my seat as if that would somehow help me, but they grabbed me from under my shoulders and pulled me up.

  “Maverick! Finn! Help me!” I screamed as they dragged me across the room. “Help me!”

  Tears poured down my face. They just stared at me—all of them. Aidan and Marge watched in horror, but didn’t bother to move. Finn looked concerned but also conflicted. Maverick didn’t even bother to look at me… Zephyr didn’t seem to know me in this “life” and watched me like all the others did. I felt so helpless… My friends who had been by my side this whole time were suddenly just watching me, like I was in some sort of nightmare.

  Asir was going to kill me, and I’d have to face her alone.