My dear readers, we did not die. But we did rip our butts out of that bus.

With unimaginable speed, Amber twisted towards me with her sword-gauntlet already a blade and levitated into the air.

Crash!

Max’s clawed feet had the window raining glass.

I whispered a colorful curse under my breath and leapt out of the wreckage of seats as Lilyheart blew a wall of hoarfrost right into the creatures’ faces.

Twisting my head back, I glimpsed the same predatory stalk in their footsteps as they had in my dream. Lazily sailing forward, it seemed as if they already knew that their prey stood no chance against them.

I whipped around and seized the shattered windowsill, clenching my teeth against the shards that ate into my palms. I heaved up and flung myself out the window.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small bird zooming by. Max.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, a blood-chilling screech slit the air. An explosive wave of heat sent me flying forward, followed by a violent squall of frozen air.

The strange figures’ fire and Lilyheart’s ice clashed in a paradox of fire and ice.

I smashed into the ground face first. My nose sang with pain and my lips screamed as my teeth crushed them. Spitting the dirt out of my mouth, I clawed back up.

And I ran like crazy.

If Lilyheart wasn’t there to counter the

The woods were darker than the night itself. As I crashed through the ghostly trees, eerie branches reached out from every direction, snagging my shirt and grabbing at my bare arms.

Suddenly, gnarled roots sprung from nowhere, latched onto my foot, and sent me sprawling forward. My ribcage exploded with agony. Striking Moonshine into the ground, I catapulted off the ground and ran harder.

A frozen hand took my arm. I could barely register as Lilyheart yanked me to the left-

A blade shuddered into the tree trunk right where I was.

Pivoting right with Lilyheart’s cold hand in my own, I spotted a weird, blue glow in the distant trees.

Amber, flying up ahead, looked back and nodded at me.

Max’s bird form was already shooting straight for the glow, flying right alongside Amber.

We are gonna be the biggest idiots ever if this goes wrong. I thought hopelessly.

However, something in my guts told me to run right for the blue light. I guess the others felt the same, since we all unanimously dashed towards it.

Without a warning, the men’s demonic growl ripped through the forest.

Wretched fear exploded in my veins as I heard the trees behind me tumble and crash down like dominoes.

They were no longer playing around.

It has to be the blue light. I realized as I stumbled in the undergrowth. They started chasing as soon as we saw the glow.

“GET TO THE LIGHT AND JUST JUMP!” Lilyheart screamed, matching my exact thoughts.

Sickening heat was starting to tickle my ankles and legs.

The radiance of the mysterious blue grew stronger with each flying step, and we finally saw its full strength as we crashed into a clearing.

Howling, the men’s raging heat instantly intensified.

And there was no hesitation when we all leapt straight for the glowing blue ball.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My vision was once again filled with blackness.

An unearthly voice crawled like ants into my ears. I tried to cover the sides of my head with my hands, but the sound appeared in my head nonetheless.

“Oh? if it isn’t the very daughter of my enemy!”

The darkness lifted slightly to reveal a familiar figure:

Minh Sagewing.

She was on the ground, strange black tendrils tying her arms together. Although her clothes were bright with blood, the girl’s defiant violet eyes glared at an unseen spot in the darkness.

I screamed, soundlessly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When my eyes snapped open, I was staring at… two suns.

The men however, were nowhere in sight.

I gritted my teeth against the brightness and flipped onto my stomach, feeling the fatigue drench my legs.

However, the ground was just as bright, if not brighter than the whole sky.

“What the-” I started.

A cold wall extended over us as Lilyheart encased us in a ball of ice. The ice was another bright blue, but it certainly felt better than the wreckage of blindness outside.

Amber’s sweat-soaked face turned towards me, and besides her, Max had closed his eyes, gasping for air.

“I have no idea how it happened, but I’m gonna explain what happened,” Lilyheart said quietly.

“First of all, you guys just met the Shadow Huntress.”

We all looked up at the mention of the name.

“As the final descendant of the Shadow Huntresses, she is the last one alive of her race. Nobody knows about them, since they’re basically almost legends at this point.”

Lilyheart took a lollipop from Amber and moved on.

“One of their defining characteristics is that they can silence all voices when attacking.”

Max cringed. “Yeah, I thought my throat got damaged in the crash.”

Lilyheart furrowed her brows. “Um… the Shadow Huntress herself is known for being a lone wolf, since she never bothers with any major conflicts in the magical world. But her appearance with the Dragon Duchess’s men…”

The three of us looked at each other with concern.

“Ah! Another thing: that was our first dimensional transfer.”

Max shot up from his slouch. “That was WHA-”

Amber smacked him. “Let her finish.”

With a quick sideways glance to me, Lilyheart continued. “Under the Dragon Duchess, some of our training included identifying dimensions. That blue glow you guys saw earlier radiated the energy of a dimension called Spirit Woods.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So you assumed it was related to Spirit Woods, and probably a way to get to it.”

Max stared at me. “Mackie, don’t tell me you think that was a smart idea. There are about sixty thousand ways that this could’ve gone wrong.”

“Listen here,” Amber spoke up. “The men only started getting mad when we saw the glow, which probably meant they didn’t want us getting there.”

I nodded. “Also, there was no way we could’ve outrun them, so finding the glow was the only option… which brings the question, what happened to the men?”

Lilyheart squeaked as we all turned towards her. “Well, when you transfer dimensions, you’ll always transfer with your group together. Also, it’s impossible to find another group once they do transfer, which is why the men are gone for the time being.”

The four of us shared a relieving sigh.

“Now, the biggest question is, who let us transfer?” Lilyheart proposed.

The four of us now shared confused glances.

Lily didn’t dare mention one of the names while talking about dimension travelers, I remembered from our previous conversation. Also, we don’t know what the Second Amazon is. That only leaves top-ranking wizards and witches, which could basically be anyone.

“Do we know any top-rankers?” I asked. “Is Principal Sagewin-”

I froze.

Vivid recollections of my short-lived dream exploded in my brain.

“Guys.” I solemnly whipped around. “I think I had another dream while traveling the dimensions.”

Amber and Max raised their eyebrows.

With a deep inhale, I told them what I saw: “There was complete darkness, with a scary voice from nowhere, taunting Minh. Minh herself is hurt and captured.”

Deafening silence shrouded us.

“ARE YOU JOKING RIGHT NOW?” Max erupted.

“Listen, this is like the eightieth near-death experience we’ve had within a few hours. Also, we just found out about this super-scary lady who teamed up with our overpowered enemy!” Max’s frustration spilled over. “On top of that, our only reliable connection, Minh, is gone! And there’s two suns wherever this is!”

Amber tugged on his sleeve. “You should’ve expected to see outrageous things when you signed up for this, you know.”

Lilyheart grimaced. “I’m really sorry…”

I immediately held her hand. “It’s not your fault… the world just gets messy every once in a while.”

Max collapsed hopelessly. “Yeah, real messy.”

“Alright,” Lilyheart said, looking at the ground. “First of all, let’s get out of here.”

With a gentle wave, our encasing of ice disappeared, and we were back into the brightness of Spirit Woods.

“Right…” Amber mused. “Let’s find somewhere to rest…?”

Lilyheart nodded. “I think I see a waterfall over there. This world is super shiny and everything, but it’s fairly similar to the normal world… Also, the water here is fresh.”

Trudging forward with fatigue in our bodies and worry in our minds, we inched towards the soft rushing waters of the waterfall ahead.

Amber was levitating, and as time went on, she flew lower and lower. Apparently disobeying the laws of physics was tiring her out.

When we arrived at the shining water, all four of us shoved our faces into the stream and drank like we'd traveled in a desert for weeks.

“Ah… I really love water sometimes.” Max stated happily.

He opened his mouth to make what would’ve been a water pun, but a sudden dart shto from nowhere and buried itself into his neck.

Behind me, I heard a squeak from Lilyheart followed by a thud of a collapse.

I spun sharply, only to see Amber’s eyes fluttering shut.

A final pain bloomed in my own neck, and once again, my consciousness gave out.

I was, with every inch of my being, tired of passing out, so I decided to voice my rage as soon as my eyes opened.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I honked with astronomical power.

“What in the name of-” A strange voice sounded from my right.

Before I could start a new round of yelling, my mouth was clamped shut.

An older girl was standing before me, her eyes sparkling. “Hello prisoner! I know it feels bad to be hit with our tranquilizer, but you’ll be all okay!”

Behind me, Lilyheart yelped.

“Mackie! Amber! Max! That’s the Second Amazon!”