I figured Aidan would lock himself in his room unless he needed something. I knocked on his door and wasn’t surprised when he opened it.

  “W-Why is Maverick here?!” He took a brief step back. His expression was similar to the one he wore the entire time we were talking to Rosalie. I wondered if these two would ever get along… Or maybe one day he would fear me as much as those two. I hoped not.

  "He has a plan to stop all of this, or at least make it better, and it involves you,” I explained.

  “Involves me, how?” He narrowed his eyes at Maverick, who raised his hands in the air defensively.

  “You should be able to absorb some of the ether. Not all of it, of course, but enough so that everyone else can control their magic,” Maverick explained.

  “And why should I trust you?” Aidan balled his fists. “For all I know, this is another practical joke!”

  “It’s not a practical joke!” I shouted, surprised by how suspicious and defensive he was acting. “No offense, but you have the least amount of ether here. You’re the safest and best option. If I could take your place, I gladly would.” Though I wouldn’t particularly be eager about it either, I guess.

  “And it’s safe?” He eyed the two of us suspiciously.

  “If anything unusual happens, I’ll stop right away. I promise.” Maverick looked at Aidan earnestly. He was really taking all of this seriously… I was almost a little suspicious of it myself.

  “A-All right…” Aidan relaxed. “What do I have to do?”

  Maverick lifted his hand, palm up, grabbing and twisting the air around him. In turn, a pink sparkly mist appeared around him. It was thick and I was barely able to see through it. Was this ether? It was beautiful yet terrifying at the same time — kind of like the deep sea.

  “Reach your hand out.” Maverick turned to Aidan.

  Aidan nodded and did as he was told. Maverick motioned towards Aidan with his hand, and the ether did as he commanded. As the ether entered Aidan, a faint teal light emanated from Aidan’s palm. It was like when Finn had used too much ether in Zephyr’s class, but stronger. He closed his eyes, seemingly not wanting to watch.

  After the transfer was complete, Aidan opened his eyes, and I nearly did a double-take. His eyes were glowing.

  “Uh, is that supposed to happen?” I asked Maverick as I pointed to Aidan’s eyes.

  Maverick frowned. “It should only be temporary. I think.”

  “You think?!”

  “Uh, w-what’s going on?” Aidan had a nervous grin. “Did it work?”

  “Oh yeah. It definitely worked,” Maverick answered.

  “Your eyes are just… kind of lively.” I smiled sheepishly. There was really no good way of wording this without scaring him.

  “O…kay?” He furrowed his brows in confusion.

  “We should see how everyone else is doing now.” Maverick motioned for us to follow him. We both nodded in agreement.

  “How do you feel?” I asked Aidan as we walked to the hallway.

  “Stronger, actually. I-It feels like I’m actually a magic wielder now!” He smiled in excitement.

  “That’s good! Maybe you should try it now?”

  “Or maybe we should wait until after we ride the SSETF.” Maverick suggested.

  “Good point…” I scratched the back of my head. I did not want to get stuck in an elevator. Especially if it meant falling to our deaths.

  Once we were out of the lift, Aidan wasted no time trying out his magic. He teleported across the hallway and back. “This is so cool!” He beamed at us. I had never seen him so excited before. “I understand now why Maverick does it all the time!”

  The halls were completely empty. That was either a good sign or a very bad one. Well, we did only just stabilize the ether. I carefully peeked into the dining hall. I didn’t want anyone’s stray magic to suddenly hit me. Thankfully, everything seemed normal.

  More or less.

  There were many more people than earlier, and their magic seemed… more controlled? Someone was using magic to lift their cup to get a sip of their drink, but any time it came close to their mouth, it would just ascend again! Just use your hands!

  Another person kept fading in and out of existence. …Okay, it was just the guy who can turn invisible. He seemed to have a hard time staying visible.

  I motioned for the other two to follow me in, and we went to our usual table. Before I could step in, Aidan pulled us aside.

  “Hey, is it fine if I get going actually? I-I want to practice my magic!” He still had that giddy grin from earlier.

  “Sure. Knock yourself out.” I smiled at him.

  He nodded and teleported away. I still needed to figure out how to do that.

  “Looks like you get to keep your magic after all.” Maverick crossed his legs onto the circular table. I quickly pushed them off, never having been a fan of people putting their feet where their food goes. Unfortunately, he just repeated the same motion.

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  “How do you know?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t tried to use magic since Aidan regained his.

  “Your eyes.” Right, they were probably still pink.

  To be certain, I created a cupcake in my hand. “Aww, how cute!” I couldn’t help but gush at the little cupcake with pink frosting and white pearl sprinkles. To think I made this without even baking! “Wait, if you can create your own food, why do you still order food here…?”

  Did he even order food? I don’t remember him eating, outside of the picnic and when I was first brought here.

  “Food made from ether can’t restore ether,” he began. “Ethereals don’t need food to survive, so the only reason one would eat is to restore their ether.”

  “Or to simply enjoy the taste of a well-made meal.” I took a bite of the cupcake and accidentally smeared frosting right under my nose. That’s what tongues are for.

  “After living for two hundred years, food kind of becomes old news to you.”

  “There had to have been hundreds of recipes invented during that time. And what about all the worlds you’ve traveled to—” I paused, remembering what Zephyr had said.

  “I don’t have much interest in other worlds. I hopped around for a decade and saw what I needed to see. Each world had sights the other had never seen, inventions that would blow your mind, images that are scarred into my mind forever… But at the end of the day, the people are the same. People are always the goddessdamn same!” He slammed his fist into the table.

  So, he had a general disdain for humanity. It made sense — his antisocial behavior, his amusement in others’ suffering… What drove him to live anymore? Did he even have a reason? Or a choice? Was he just coasting through life, waiting for it to come to an end?

  “Thank you,” I said, visibly startling him.

  “What on Etheria for?” He looked at me as though he thought I was insane. Maybe I was.

  “For sharing this with me. I feel like I’ve gotten to know you more.” Oh crap, should I not have said that? Was he going to regret having opened up to me?!

  “Sure. Whatever.” He looked disinterested as he fidgeted with the cupcake wrapper I’d left on the table.

  I’m glad he was at least opening up to me a little more. It was also nice seeing everyone back to normal.

  CRASH

  Or, almost normal… That girl needed to stop playing with telekinesis!

  “What are we supposed to do now?” I began again. “Sylvis didn’t magically come out of hiding after we siphoned the ether into Aidan like I had hoped, and I can’t get home without her!”

  “Why can’t you?” Maverick looked at me quizzically.

  “Because— Wait, why can’t I…?” I realized I had never really thought that through. “Hey! Now that Sylvis is gone and the world is half saved—don’t worry; I’m sure someone else will finish the job—can you take me home now?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Uh... because you hate me? Or at the very least, strongly dislike me and probably don’t want me around? I’m making your dream come true here!”

  “And who’s going to get in trouble when Sylvis inevitably returns?”

  “Okay, but like… you could always just not find her, right? Right?! Right. So, take me home!”

  “Nah. Maybe tomorrow.” He patted my shoulder and disappeared. Asshole! What was I supposed to do now?!

  I scooted back into my seat, watching everyone else. The one guy finally managed to make himself visible, but the telekinesis girl still refused to simply raise her cup with her hand. Several other people were talking and… Wasn’t that Aqua? She was sitting by herself. I should go talk to her. Wait, what if she’s alone because she wants to be alone and I’m just annoying her?! But then why would she be sitting in one of the busiest areas of the manor? I’d better go talk to her.

  “I’m sorry again about yesterday.” I slowly pulled up a seat next to her, trying not to startle her.

  “Oh! It’s all right — I wasn’t actually mad about it.” She smiled at me. It was relieving to know she wouldn’t be secretly planning her revenge on me.

  “Why are you sitting here alone?” I asked.

  “Well, when I noticed everyone’s magic had finally calmed down, I thought maybe my friends would meet up with me here. But I’ve been sitting here for a while now… Maybe I should check on Finn. I wonder how he’s doing…”

  “I talked to him earlier but now that everything has settled down… maybe he’s doing better? I hope he is.” Speaking of Finn, there was another question I wanted to ask her. “What exactly is going on between the two of you?”

  She blushed just as she had earlier. “N-Nothing, really… We’re just friends.” Her smile was bittersweet. She shifted suddenly, her smile completely genuine now. “We arrived at the manor around the same time as each other. Maverick was a little more prevalent than he is now, and I remember it being a big deal that the two were friends. I still remember how shocked I was when Finn introduced the two of us. I never did hit it off with Maverick.”

  “How long ago did you arrive?” I asked, not remembering if Finn had told me.

  “Hm… almost two years now. Of course, he was a lot different back then—we both were. I still miss his long hair.” She giggled.

  “He had long hair?!” I somehow couldn’t picture that.

  She nodded. “Down to his butt!” She paused. “It was a little scary at first that he could read my mind, but I actually kind of prefer it that way now.”

  I wondered if I’d ever feel the same.

  “So, how did you become so popular?” I asked, feeling a little closer to her.

  “Please, I’m not as popular as Maverick or Rosalie. But to answer your question… I don’t really know,” she said casually. “When I learned that when you focus on practicing a specific area of your magic you can make it really strong, I decided to focus on water. I used to live on the beach before I came here. I guess people thought it was cool that my one element was stronger than the rest. My aquatic magic even outmatches Maverick’s.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

  “That’s… really saying something.” I couldn’t believe that a specific aspect of her magic was stronger than an Ethereal’s.

  “Of course, if he had bothered to put any effort into his elemental magic besides fire, he’d definitely surpass me.” She smiled. She was more modest than I expected. “I wonder when my friends will get here…”

  “Your friends... the two girls I bumped into when I first arrived?” I asked, still embarrassed by the whole stalking thing.

  “Mhm.” She nodded. “Edwina and Kat. Edwina’s been practicing her wind magic a lot, but her Talent is flexibility. Kat can talk to animals.”

  “The name sure is fitting…”

  “Hm?”

  And then I realized this world probably doesn’t have cats. Or at least not by that name.

  “S-Sorry, that’s something from my world—”

  “That’s right! You never did tell me about your world! Tell me, do you have any way to fight the dinosaurs so that you can stay in your reality?”

  “Oh, about that… The dinosaurs kind of died out long before humans were born.”

  “Oh… And the other reality?”

  “That’s… a little more complicated to explain.”

  “But it’s real! …Right?” She looked hurt as if I had betrayed her. I never meant for it to go this far!

  “It’s real.” I nodded my head. It was just virtual — which I had no idea how to explain to her.

  We talked for a bit before I remembered what I was going to do before I ran into Maverick!

  I needed to find Zephyr!

  I excused myself from the table and began my search.