Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bálint paced along the mossy path, back and forth, wearing a trail into the spongy ground as Geoff and Leanna talked in hushed tones a few feet away. Every word they exchanged grated against his skin like sandpaper. He could practically feel Alice’s eyes tracking his every frustrated step.
“We need to find Adaline,” he said, turning to Alice with a sharpness that startled even him.
She blinked, then straightened. “I know. Tell me what happened when you came through the portal.”
Bálint stopped, his jaw tightening. “One second I was holding her,” he said, his voice thick.
“And the next… her body was slipping through my hands. She just—vanished. Disappeared in this white mist like she was never there. I searched. I called. And then—” He flung his arm wide.
“I got sucked into some kind of vortex. A freaking tornado of wind that dragged me through half the forest and webbed me up like some oversized snack!”
He glared across the space at Leanna, who, arms folded, returned his scowl with equal intensity.
“Your dramatic entrance from the sky looked like a threat, okay?” she snapped. “Forgive me for not throwing a welcome party. It’s not like we get visitors from the Isle of the Dragon dropping in every day.”
“I’m not from the Isle of the Dragon—I’m a Valdier prince!” he snapped, then winced at his own haughty, defensive tone.
“Well, how was I supposed to know that, your princeliness!” Leanna retorted.
Bálint flushed. He knew he was being an idiot—he just couldn’t seem to stop himself. It wasn’t helping that even his dragon was shaking his head in disgust at him.
What wrong with you?
I don’t know! he silently hissed.
“All I know was one minute I was falling through a hole in the portal to—this place; and the next, I was tangled in glowing webbing between two trees!” Bálint stated, running his hands through his messy hair. “What kind of threat is that?! You-you blasted me with air then tickled my dragon!”
Leanna smirked. “Clearly, you’re a threat. And for the record—your dragon’s way cuter than you are! Besides, you did punch Geoff. I would call that threatening.”
“That’s different,” Bálint muttered. “Of course I punched him. He kissed my— He kissed Alice!”
Geoff, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, straightened. “If you’d been there to protect her in the first place, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten the chance.” His eyes glinted. “Besides… that wasn’t the only time I kissed her.”
The words landed like a slap.
Bálint froze mid-step and turned, staring at Alice as if she’d sprouted horns.
“You… kissed him?” he demanded, his voice cracking on a high note. “More than once?”
Alice’s eyes narrowed, her cheeks flushing.
“Excuse me? I can kiss whoever I want, Bálint! I don’t answer to you—or any of you!
” She tossed her hair and turned to Leanna, ignoring the stunned silence now hanging between the boys like a drawn sword.
“You said something earlier about the mist? Do you know where Adaline might be?”
Leanna raised a curious brow at the outburst, clearly enjoying the show. “The white mist you’re talking about? That belongs to the Mist Dwellers. They live on the island in the center of the lake.”
Alice’s shoulders straightened. “Can you take me there?”
Bálint stepped forward, schooling his voice. “Us. Can you take us to the island?”
Leanna’s gaze flicked between the two of them before nodding. “It’s not far. But it’s… forbidden. Wind Spinners aren’t allowed to engage with the Mist Dwellers.”
“Please,” Alice said softly, stepping closer. “Adaline is my cousin. She’s younger, scared, and probably thinks she’s alone on an alien world. She could be hurt. She needs us—needs me.”
Leanna hesitated. Then sighed and gave a sharp nod. “Fine. I’ll take you. But if I get grounded for a year, it’s on you.”
Bálint stepped forward, his voice quieter. “Thank you. Really.”
Leanna looked up at him, eyes unreadable.
Then—before he could process what was happening—she leaned up and kissed him.
Right on the lips.
In front of Alice.
“That’s payment in case I get in trouble,” she murmured with a smirk. “I hope you’re worth it.”
Bálint blinked.
His thoughts tangled like a net. Short-circuited. Scrambling.
Leanna had kissed him.
On the mouth.
In front of Alice.
Alice gasped behind him. “Are you kidding me?!”
Bálint flinched as a look of hurt, sharp and quick as a knife, flashed through Alice’s eyes.
The thought made him want to growl a primal, jealous retort: ‘If you can kiss Geoff, why can't I kiss someone else?’ before his better judgment intervened.
A wave of incandescent rage washed over him, the heat making his face flush.
Instead, he shoved his hands in his pockets and clamped his lips together.
Leanna, with a determined stride, had already covered several yards. With a slight smirk playing on her lips, she paused, turned, and called back, her voice teasing, "Well, are you coming or not?”
Alice huffed as she stalked past him, her braid swinging like a whip. “Unbelievable.”
Still rooted in place, Bálint turned a stunned look toward Geoff.
Geoff was grinning like a fox who’d just watched the henhouse explode.
“What… just happened?” Bálint muttered, dazed, blinking like he’d been hit with a branch.
Geoff clapped him on the shoulder. “When you figure it out, let me know. Girls confuse the heck outta me.”
As the group started down the winding path, Bálint trudged behind them, his head spinning.
His dragon growled low inside him. Now we gotta roast ourselves! You bad! Alice! Remember Alice!
I didn’t even kiss her back, he told himself, as if that changed anything.
His dragon moaned. No, but you like!
You liked it, too. She thinks you’re cuter, he said in defense, as heat rose along his throat to his cheeks.
He groaned. “We need to find Adaline fast… before I crash this entire school break into a volcano.”
By kissing Leanna? his dragon snickered.
Shut up! We are so not going there!
For once, he was glad his symbiot wasn’t there. The darn thing would probably roast both him and his dragon—and start an intergalactic war!
The village of Lake Mist felt like something out of a dream. Even the villages she’d known—on her home world and on Valdier—were nothing like this.
Adaline followed closely behind Breeze and the others, her boots barely whispering over the stone-lined path that wove like a ribbon through the heart of the quaint, picturesque town.
Around her, pale mist clung to the edges of thatched roofs and flower-draped windows.
The homes—round, soft-edged, and brightly colored—looked as if they’d grown straight from the land, not been built upon it.
Vines twisted up over curved doorways, blooming with blossoms that turned toward her as she passed.
Everywhere, people paused to watch.
Their eyes weren’t suspicious, just curious—cautious, even kind. An old man watering glowing mushrooms in a window box tipped his chin toward her. A group of children floated past in half-solid forms, laughing as they flickered between states of mist and flesh like candlelight in a breeze.
Adaline slowed, her heart skipping with awe as one woman knelt beside a bubbling fountain.
Her hands were solid as they cupped the water—but as she rose, her body shifted.
A swirl of translucent white lifted from her shoulders, dissolving upward in a graceful spin before it folded inward again and became her hair.
Adaline’s breath caught.
She turned and walked backward, mesmerized, as a man walked past carrying a net full of shimmering fish—except…
the net wasn’t real. It was part of him.
His entire body was a rolling cloud of pearlescent fog, and as he gave a little shake, three silver fish flopped from his side and into a nearby bucket.
Her mouth dropped open.
“That’s… amazing,” she whispered, just as a strange tingle rippled down her spine.
She shivered, her shoulders stiffening.
The pull wasn’t painful. It was electric. Prickly. Like the air before a lightning strike. Something inside her stirred—like a part of her that had been sleeping had suddenly yawned and stretched.
A giggle rang out behind her.
Startled, Adaline spun around and caught Droplet pointing… at her feet.
Adaline’s heart jumped to her throat when she looked down and realized—her boots were gone.
No—not gone.
Her feet were translucent, her legs rippling like smoke drifting across the ground. And she wasn’t walking anymore. She was floating.
“Oh no,” she gasped. “No, no, no—”
Her stomach twisted as panic surged. She didn’t know how to undo it. She didn’t even know how it had started!
“Adaline?” Breeze’s voice was gentle, calm. A cool hand touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
Adaline blinked—and just like that, her feet were solid again.
She looked down, her heart thundering. Her boots were back. Her legs firm beneath her. The ground didn’t feel like it was humming anymore.
“I…” She nodded, though her throat was too tight to speak.
Spree let out a joyful squeal. “Mama!” she shouted, waving wildly.
Adaline followed her gaze and saw a tall, elegant woman with translucent skin and hair like drifting rain. She stood at the edge of a small courtyard, watching them with a smile that was kind and serene, though her pale eyes flicked to Adaline with unmistakable interest.
“Mama can help,” Breeze said, threading her arm through Adaline’s and tugging her forward. “She knows all about the mist. If anyone can help you find your friend—and figure out what’s happening—it’s her.”
Adaline clung to that fragile hope like a lifeline.
Adaline smiled when the woman bent and gave Spree a sweeping hug before standing and offering Adaline a graceful nod. “Welcome. I’m Dew.”
“I’m Adaline. Breeze said you might be able to help me. I-I’m lost,” she said.
“Mama, you should have seen Adaline!”