Chapter 11 #2
Right now, he seemed far less unbearable than usual.
“So you’re an air mage?” Gwendolyn asked, openly studying Airis with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.
He nodded once.
Then she looked at me.
“Were they specifically assigned to you so he could suppress your magic with his own?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged.
The only thing I’d deliberately left out of my story was my ability to see spirits.
No one in Istarus knew about it except the spirits themselves.
And I needed to find the right moment to warn my friends too—before one of them accidentally mentioned it in front of the wrong person.
“Unfortunately, we’re not staying long,” I sighed.
“Only three days before we have to return.”
“I need to pack things I’ll actually need in Istarus… and I need to talk to my parents about my real origins.”
“But the chances of them actually being your biological parents are basically zero?” Mike asked.
I nodded.
“What if your surname is connected to your real family somehow?” Gwen suggested.
I looked away thoughtfully before glancing toward Airis.
“Do you know anything about the surname Arden? Can you tell what world it originated from?”
“The archives would know,” Airis answered.
“But only a handful of people are allowed access to them.”
“And the representative of Istarus somehow isn’t one of those people?” I raised a brow, refusing to break eye contact.
“We’ll talk about that another time, Fireling.”
I fell silent.
So did Airis.
Neither of us looked away.
“Am I the only one feeling the sexual tension between these two?” Dwayne’s whisper suddenly cut through the silence, instantly ruining whatever tension had been building between us.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I waved him off as I stood from the couch.
“I need to pack. Gwen, can you help me?”
I met my best friend’s gaze, and she arched a brow.
“Yeah, of course.”
She nodded and followed me upstairs.
“What exactly are you trying to hide from him?” Gwen asked quietly once we reached the second floor.
My room and Dwayne’s were upstairs, while Gwen and Mike’s rooms were downstairs.
“For example, the fact that I can talk to spirits?” I whispered back, meeting her eyes.
The moment we stepped into my room, I shut the door behind us.
“Wait, seriously? Is that some kind of huge deal in their world?” Gwendolyn crossed her arms over her chest.
Meanwhile, I inhaled the scent of lilac drifting through the room from the aroma diffuser.
God, I’d missed that smell.
“The spirits I met in Istarus told me the last person who could communicate with them lived twenty years ago,” I explained.
“And apparently, in all of recorded history, there have only been two of us.”
Gwendolyn’s eyes widened.
“And one of the spirits—Aars—said that if anyone found out, there’s a very good chance I’d end up as a lab rat.”
I walked over to my closet and pulled out a large pink duffel bag.
Completely impractical.
Completely beloved.
“Jesus Christ, you really can’t go five minutes without attracting trouble, can you?”
“You always know exactly how to comfort someone,” I smirked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in my voice as I turned back to the closet, trying to decide which clothes I absolutely refused to leave behind.
“You should probably tell Mike and Dwayne too,” Gwen said, pulling her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and typing out a message. “Those two might accidentally let it slip.”
I tossed several pairs of underwear and a handful of clothes into the bag before moving toward the shelves where my favorite books and photo album sat.
I’d started that album shortly after becoming friends with them.
It held the story of my life before they became part of it.
Honestly, it was surprising my parents had bothered taking pictures of me as a child at all.
Though I supposed they needed something to display for the sake of appearances—to make everyone believe they adored their daughter.
My gaze drifted toward the white desk covered in stickers, and I grabbed my art supplies from the side table: watercolor paints, sketch paper, and a case filled with brushes and pencils.
I had no idea whether I’d even have time to use them.
But I couldn’t leave them behind.
Drawing had always been my escape.
The one thing that truly relaxed me.
“Oh, by the way,” I suddenly remembered, “Airis actually complimented my attempts at controlling the fire.”
“Dwayne and I didn’t spend hours digging through the internet and inventing our own training system for nothing,” Gwendolyn smirked proudly, adjusting her high raven-black ponytail.
Gwen hated wearing her hair down.
It was always either a high ponytail or a braid.
Smiling softly, I pulled a pair of black trousers and a red cropped button-up shirt with short sleeves from my closet, deciding to change.
I still had no idea whose clothes I’d been wearing in Istarus, and the thought alone made me want to change as quickly as possible.
“And after those three days are over and you go back to the magical world… you’ll still be able to visit us, right?”
“Obviously,” I answered confidently.
I couldn’t care less if Airis claimed they might forbid me from returning to Vuduarus.
I’d find a way regardless.
“Airis said I’ll get a short vacation once a year.”
“I’d complain that it’s only once a year, but honestly, it’s still better than nothing,” Gwendolyn shrugged.
I had just finished buttoning the last button on my top when someone knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I called.
A few seconds later, Dwayne pushed the door open, letting Airis into the room.
I froze.
My eyes swept over the pink explosion that was my bedroom, and heat immediately rushed into my cheeks.
The way I looked and the place where I felt safest couldn’t have been more different.
I loved wearing bold shades of red, green, and blue paired with dark clothing, oversized accessories, and dramatic shoes.
But my room?
It looked like a pink factory had exploded.
Or, as Mike liked to call it:
“A unicorn threw up in here.”
Nothing about it looked like it belonged to a twenty-five-year-old woman.
At best, it looked like it belonged to a thirteen-year-old.
And I fully expected Airis to make some sarcastic comment about it.
But surprisingly, he seemed completely indifferent to my sanctuary.
Though I did catch the slightest twitch at the corner of his lips.
“In half an hour, three people from the Earth Division will arrive,” he said.
I nodded, not understanding why this information couldn’t have waited until Gwen and I came back downstairs.
“I promised to meet them at the shopping center two blocks away,” he continued. “And I think you understand that I can’t leave you here alone with your friends without additional protection.”
I frowned, ready to argue, but Gwendolyn immediately took over.
“That’s actually a great idea,” she said brightly. “Ria needs to buy things she’ll actually need anyway.”
She pointed toward the small vanity on my desk, crowded with mirrors and skincare products.
For a second, I was genuinely shocked I’d forgotten how important that morning and evening routine was to me.
My skin was naturally oily and prone to acne.
Without all those little bottles and creams, it would break out completely.
And if I didn’t keep the skin on my body moisturized, my psoriasis would flare up almost immediately.
“Right.” I nodded before returning to my closet and pulling out a pair of chunky high-heeled sandals.
“You’re seriously wearing those?” Gwendolyn gestured toward the shoes, raising a brow.
“Absolutely.” I nodded. “Who knows when I’ll get another chance to wear heels?”
Nobody had ever understood my obsession with shoes.
Not that I cared.
As long as nobody stopped me from looking the way I wanted.
And personally?
I always liked myself more in heels.
“There are specialized shops in Istarus,” Airis said. “Mages make different ointments and skincare products there.”
I scoffed while fastening the strap on my sandal.
“Absolutely not. There’s no way I’m putting some random magical substance on my face.”
I hadn’t spent four years fighting acne just to ruin my skin again.
Maybe it made me sound spoiled.
Maybe it made me sound high-maintenance.
But I refused to give up the things that made me feel comfortable and happy just because someone else thought I was ‘too much.’