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I stared at the two men sprawled on the concrete ground just a few feet away from me. Letting out the shaky breath that I’d been holding, I shifted my gaze to Jun who was examining the gun without a care in the world.

“Jun?”

“Yeah?”

“Please tell me you only knocked them out.”

He grinned at me. “I tried to warn them.”

Well, goodbye freedom. We were going to get thrown in the dungeon now. We should probably escape while we had the chance to.

“There they are!” a voice bellowed, cutting my thoughts short.

I could hear the sounds of boots rushing down the corridor. It didn’t take them long to find us.

“It’s those two!” a burly man shouted as the royal guards surrounded us.

“But he’s just a kid and she doesn’t look dangerou-”

“They are the ones who blew up the palace!” he yelled, pointing an accusing finger in our direction.

A bead of sweat trickled down my forehead as one of the guards moved towards me. In one swift, fluid motion, he was behind me.

“Don’t try to resist,” the leader boomed. His face contorted in anger. “This is treason.”

We were definitely going to the dungeons now for sure. I gulped, seeing the glint of the metal on their sides.

If we were lucky.

“And that’s why I’ll never eat peanut butter again. True story,” Beau declared, wrapping up his tale about the horrors of peanut butter.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight after such a horrific tale. I’ll dream of peanut butter zombies chasing me.”

“The crunchy ones are the most dangerous,” he chuckled. “You definitely have to outrun them.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

“There you are,” Jackson said, appearing around the corner. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

Beau stifled a laugh. “Oh, have you?”

“Yes,” Jackson continued, not sensing the playfulness behind his friend’s answer. “And you’re blocking telepathy. Stop that.”

“It’s only blocked for you, Jax,” Beau said, patting him on the shoulder. “Sometimes I forget I’m older than you, lighten up a little.”

“I have to finish all of this work before the gala at the Cilan Kingdom,” he grunted. He turned to me with an apologetic smile. “I need to borrow Beau for a few hours.”

Beau turned to me. “I’ll see you at the festival, your highness.”

“I look forward to your company, Lord Beau,” I said, playing along with a curtsey.

After they were gone, I decided to go explore the palace grounds for a while. It was fun to walk around the gardens and look at the flowers. Occasionally I came across some of the staff, but they were apparently given instructions not to talk to me.

They curtsied when I walked by, but other than that, they gave no indication that I was even there. Although when I passed them, I could feel their curious stares on me.

I decided not to walk through the gardens today, and instead chose a different path. I smiled, ready to embark on a new adventure and see where this path would lead.

I kind of felt like Alice in Wonderland. After walking for a few minutes, it became obvious that I would find no adventures on this path. There was nothing but large trees and old marble statues that looked like they’d been standing there since the beginning of time.

I read the inscriptions on them— the ones that were still legible— and sighed, wondering if I should just turn back before I ended up getting lost in my Wonderland.

I had no sense of direction and everything was starting to look the same. I was bored. I wanted something exciting to happen. Anything. I wanted a real adventure.

A low, thundering sound caught my attention and my thirst for adventure outweighed my better judgement and I walked over to the source of the sound.

I paused mid-stride when I saw a boy hunched over a bucket filled with small rocket shaped objects.

“Hey, Elizabeth,” he said, turning to face me.

The mischievous gleam that sparkled in his eyes matched the excited grin on his face. I was looking for adventure, but found the mastermind of trouble instead.

You know how in Twilight when Bella was about to do something reckless, she heard Edward’s voice tell her stop? Yeah, well that was me and I could hear Jackson screaming at me to step away from Jun.

In hindsight, maybe I should have, but then I shuddered to think of what else he would have done if I wasn’t there.

So again, against my better judgement, and with my rebel side resurfacing, I moved forward towards the grinning face of impending danger.

“What are you doing?” I asked, stooping down to inspect his bucket of mini-rockets. Only they weren’t mini-rockets, but bundles of unlit firecrackers.

I raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not going to the festival,” he said, emptying the bucket and untying the bundles of firecrackers.

“Why not? I thought you wanted to see fireworks. You know, the safe, legal kind?”

There was no way he planned to set these off.

“Well, change of plans. I’m going to set these off instead,” he said, placing them on a damp piece of wood.

“That sounds incredibly unsafe. Why?”

“Because the king said I can’t go,” he mumbled with a deep frown. He moved a bucket of water closer.

“I thought we all agreed to go. Why is he saying that now? Do you want me to go talk to him?”

“Nah.” He spaced out the fireworks. “He won’t agree like that. Besides Kris’ bringing Diana.” His face fell into a pout. “So I’m going to make my own fireworks.”

“Again, dangerous,” I said, taking his hands in mine. “You’re not old enough to do this.”

“I’m not old enough to do half the stuff I do,” he sighed. “But that doesn’t stop the king.”

“What are you talking about?” I frowned.

He stared at me and then shook his head. “It’s nothing. Forget I said anything. Are you ready for the test ride?”

He produced a long-tipped lighter and before I could say anything, he lit the first one.

“Jun, no!”

He glanced over at me. “I didn’t even do it yet.”

Oh.

“First, we need this for pizzazz,” he grinned, pulling out a bag of powdery substance.

“Is that… gunpowder?” I asked horrified.

“No, but it’s something similar.”

Who was even supplying a thirteen year old with this stuff?

“As I said before, you’re not old enough to light these.” I folded my arms. “As a responsible adult, I can’t allow you to light them. You have to be at least fourteen.”

“You’re not an adult yet,” he pointed out.

“Just gimme a month.” Technically.

“Then let’s pretend it’s December and I’m fourteen.” He brandished the lighter again. “Happy birthday to me.”

“Jun.”

“Please don’t go all Jackson on me,” he groaned. “Look, I know more than most people my age.”

“That’s no excuse.”

He sulked for a short moment and then his eyes lit up. “Fine, you light them then, Miss Responsible Adult.”

I rolled my eyes and took the lighter from him. After telling him to step back, I carefully lit the first one. It erupted and exploded into a myriad of gold against the pale blue sky.

I looked back at Jun, whose animated eyes were fixated on the gold flashing above. I smiled. He was a kid after all.

“Now let’s make them all explode!”

“Yeah, let’s make them al- wait what?”

But Jun was already on the ground dousing the fireworks with the powder. “They’re fireworks with a twist!”

“What twist?” I asked, thinking of a million ways that this could backfire on us.

Jun grinned, mistaking my question for enthusiasm. “Lemme show you.”

“No, no, no!” I shrieked, running over to him, but I was too late.

The firecrackers sizzled and then took off like rockets, except this time, instead of a pretty light show, it ricocheted off an ancient statue and collided in the side of an old building a few meters away. There was a loud explosion and blocks of stone crumbled to the ground, releasing a cover of dust all around us.

I shot Jun a glare, but he probably couldn’t see it through all the dust. The air smelt of smoke and rotten eggs. The left side of the building was gone and King Julius the third’s marble nose was missing.

“Okay,” Jun breathed. “That was a dud, but we have more.”

“No! We are not setting anymore of those dynamites off,” I said, marching over to him. “If someone was in that building it would have been really bad.”

“I made sure it was empty. It’s just an old storage space anyway. No harm in making it go boom,” he said, emphasizing with his hands.

Now I understood why Jackson always kept such a watchful eye on Jun and why Raúl was suspicious of him all the time. This was the kind of stuff he liked to do. Was this the kind of stuff Gen Z got up to in their spare time?

“Hey, you two! Don’t move!”

I whirled around to see two men running towards us. Those uniforms… I recognized the crisp gold embroidered against the red fabric. The royal guards! Oh no!

“Let’s get out of here,” Jun grinned and grabbed my hand.

We ran around the corner, and came to another building, almost like the one we just blew up.

How were we going to explain what just happened? Would they believe us if we said we just wanted to light firecrackers? After all, we’d de-nosed King Julius the third. I groaned, wishing I’d just confiscated the darn firecrackers.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan,” Jun mentioned. His eyes were gleaming with whatever he was thinking about.

“They must have gone in here,” a voice drifted to us from the entrance of the building.

In a second, the two men appeared. With a sigh, I wondered if we were going to get tossed in the dungeons.

“A Beta… and a common girl,” the other one said in surprise.

“Terrorists,” the first man grunted, his lips curling in disgust. “Traitors to our kingdom. Who are you working for?”

“Where are the rest the guards?” Jun asked, sounding slightly disappointed. “Why did only two of you come after us?”

“Arrest them,” the first man seethed, ignoring Jun’s question. “We’ll question them after.”

A large smile spread across Jun’s face.

“Wa-wait,” I started. “It’s not what you think.”

“Save it,” the man growled, inching closer to us cautiously.

“Touch us and you’ll be sorry,” Jun warned. As if we stood a chance against them.

“Jun, they have guns… and swords.”

“They must have run out of canons,” he grinned and then rolled his eyes at the guards. “I could disarm them in my sleep.”

I paled as the man’s face reddened. “Are you suggesting that you’re an equal match for a royal guard?”

“I wasn’t suggesting. And it’s far from equal. We aren’t scared of you.”

Speak for yourself, please.

With a flurry of movements, Jun disarmed the first man and knocked out the second man with the edge of the gun. He crumpled to the ground like a crumpled sheet of aluminum foil. The first man was visibly shocked, but managed to push his surprise away and pulled his sword from his side.

He was going to get himself killed, resisting like this.

“Jun, don’t,” I whispered, moving over to them.

He wasn’t listening to me, and instead pointed the gun at the ceiling.

Bang!

A good sized chunk of rock came crashing down and with one more step, the royal guard had unknowingly placed himself right underneath where it would fall. He was on the ground in an instant.

So that’s how Jun and I ended up locked in a room with the royal guards watching our every move.

“He’s a Beta,” the leader whispered to his comrades. “Look into him.”

“You won’t find any information on me,” Jun shrugged, flashing him a devious smile. “If you want to know who I am, ask the king. Tell him all about how I tried to blow up the palace.”

If I hadn’t been with Jun when everything happened, I’d be pretty convinced that he did try to blow up the palace. I tried to explain to them that we weren’t working for some evil overlord who planned to take over Crysauralia, but they refused to believe me.

The powdery substance that Jun had was very similar to gunpowder and it wasn’t supposed to be something a thirteen year old could just pick up at the local Walmart. They were convinced he had affiliations with some dangerous people.

“The king has already been informed of your actions,” the leader said, irritation evident on his face. “I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”

Jun pretended to zip his lips and turned to me with a smile.

“Where are they?” A voice came from behind the door.

The doors opened and a very confused and annoyed Jackson stepped into the room, followed by Kevin.

Jun unzipped his lips. “Hey guys.”

“Don’t hey me,” Jackson grumbled. “The king wants them free,” he said, addressing the leader.

After a few minutes of conversation way too low for my ears, the leader turned to us with a forced smile.

“So you’re the infamous Lord Jun.”

“Just Jun is fine,” he grinned. “Can we go now?”

“Yes. It seems I misinterpreted the situation.” He gave me an apologetic smile. “Please try not to blow up any more buildings now.”

“No promises,” Jun answered cheekily. He took my hand. “Let’s go.”

“Sorry for the trouble,” I told the guard awkwardly. He nodded.

Before we could leave, another man entered the room. He had no presence whatsoever. I almost didn’t notice him standing there until Jun’s hold on my hand tightened. His jaw clenched and he avoided the man’s eyes.

His shoulder length chestnut brown hair shaded his olive eyes, but I made out the jagged line of a scar running down his left eye to his cheek. His good eye stared at Jun for a few seconds and then he cocked his head towards the door.

Jun slowly released my hand with a sigh and slinked after the man who disappeared as quickly and quietly as he’d come.

“Who was that?” Kevin wondered with a frown.

“I don’t know,” Jackson murmured. He jotted something done on a piece of paper.

Jun and the mystery man were nowhere to be seen after we left the building, which meant that I had to face this scolding alone. After giving me an earful about the importance of staying away from Jun and not blowing stuff up, Jackson left to go find him.

Kevin turned to me with a grin. “Some day, huh?”

“I guess I have a flare for fireworks,” I giggled and he groaned.

“Wait, I have more. What do you get when you cross a dinosaur with fireworks? A dino-mite!”

“Is this my reward for coming to your rescue?”

“Okay, last one. What do you call a duck who likes watching fireworks? A firequacker! Get it? Because they quack.”

“Liz, you’re killing me.”

“You could say, my puns are pun-ishingly bad. Bad dum tss!” I laughed.

“Ughhh. I should just take you back.”

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