“Can you help Antoni get home?” I asked, feeling sorry for the man in the HAZMAT suit.

Lavender nodded. “Yes, I will have him home in no time.”

I chuckled and motioned to a wardrobe in the corner of the room. “Let me guess. There’s a portal in there that leads to Poland.”

“Don’t be absurd. That portal leads to Quackenglokt. The home of one of your professors.” Lavender said, taking a slip of paper from a bag that looked like a fancy purse. “I took the liberty of purchasing him an airline ticket to Warsaw. I take it you can handle things from there, correct Mr. Peresada?”

The HAZMAT suit rustled as Antoni shifted uncomfortably. “Er, yes, that will do. Excuse me, Miss. How do you know my name? Have we met?”

Lavender shook her head, the amused smirk never leaving her face. “No. We have never met. Just consider me mysterious. For now, these children must be getting back to their adventure in another world. How would you like to join me for a cup of tea?”

Antoni continued to fidget before Lavender took him by the hand and guided him to the door. Before she left, she winked at us. “Carry on then. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

I wonder if there’s anything she wouldn’t do.

We stood at an airship landing I didn’t know existed in Celestea. Beside us, Orpheus lay on a stretcher, coughing occasionally but otherwise motionless.

Kalli heard my thoughts and gave me the stink eye. There are plenty of things a lady wouldn’t do, and you’re not allowed to do any of them.

I laughed.

Do you mean like peeing standing up?

Kalli gagged. Ew! Enough about that. Have you come up with any ideas for breaking into Mardella’s castle?

I do have one idea, but you might not like it.

She raised an eyebrow. What is it?

Well, I can ghost you. I don’t think I can do it to myself because I might not be able to undo it. Do you remember what happened to Eddie when we first met him? Nobody but me could see or hear him. I can do it to you and you can sneak in. Also, if anything goes wrong, I can teleport to you in an instant.

Kalli frowned. I could tell she was nervous about the idea. Nobody wanted to be ghosted. However, she steeled herself and said, Try it now. I want to know what it feels like.

“Sir, will Lady Kalliphae be long?” The captain asked, speaking to me for the first time.

“She’s here,” I replied. “Feel free to take off when you like.”

He must have been used to mysterious things happening because he just nodded and spun on his heel. Then we were airborne. I leaned over the rails as we passed over the villages of Meltopia. Or was it Celestea? It was weird being both a queendom and an empire at the time time. I chose not to question it. The people were happy and that was all that mattered.

Beside me, Kalli watched Kalliville pass beneath us. Being ghosted isn’t so bad. I mean it might suck only being able to talk to you if it was permanent but it’s fine for a little while.

Travel by airship was much faster than any other form of transportation on Gaia but it still took us half a day to get to the high house.

Maya met us at the airship landing in front of Jorvais’ infirmary with a couple of attendants to help manage Orpheus. “Welcome back. Where is your mate? It’s odd for you to be traveling solo.”

I grinned. “She’s around. Can you not see her?”

Her smile betrayed her. “I can. It was just a little odd for you to hide her like that. I was curious so I thought I’d play along.”

“She can see me?” Kalli asked. “Won’t that make the plan fail if people can see me?”

I shook my head. “No. Only people from our family can see ghosted people.”

Maya corrected me. “Not just our family. There are others. On Gaia, I would say less than ten people would be able to do so. Ghosting is an advanced form of invisibility, so normal methods of detection will not work. That’s because it was designed to isolate offenders from the awakened community. Do you mind telling me why you ghosted her?”

“We are going to sneak into Mardella’s castle to look for the antidote,” I explained. “Can you offer us any assistance?”

Maya shook her head. “While I have no great love for the woman, I cannot move against her without direct provocation. I am aware of the fact that she has wronged you but outside of formally charging her, we have no recourse. I can assure you that she lacks the skill to see through a ghosting.”

“Can you give us a ride there?” I asked, motioning to the airship.

“Of course.” She replied, getting a small nod from the captain. “Alcobar here will take you there, no problem. I’ll even give you a map of the area. Just give us a little time to load supplies.”

By the third airship voyage, the novelty was starting to wear off. One thing I noticed was that Gaia was much bigger than I thought it was. We passed by several villages and at least one major town on the way to Mardella’s castle, and I didn’t recognize any of them.

Alcobar finally spoke with us as we got close. He emerged from the cabin and pointed to a small hill on the horizon. “We will drop you off there. It’s several miles from the castle but to get any closer would alert them to your presence. Once I drop the two of you off, I have been instructed to make a delivery and hopefully distract the guards. I wish you luck on your quest.”

“Thanks,” I replied, realizing Kalli couldn’t say anything. “Don’t wait for us. We will teleport out when we are finished.”

He looked around for Kalli then shrugged, marching back to the cabin. The airship flew low for the final leg of the journey, hidden from the castle by the hill in front of us. When we got there, the airship hovered five feet above the ground and stopped.

Kalli and I didn’t wait for confirmation before jumping to the ground. No sooner had we disembarked than the airship rose majestically to the sky and proceeded toward the castle.

It looks like we’re on our own now.

Kalli gave me an uneasy smile. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.

I nodded, wishing I felt the same confidence as she did. The dense forest forced me to summon my mana blade to cut a path. In the distance, we could hear calls of animals or monsters that were unfamiliar to us, though none showed themselves.

After a while, I got tired of swinging the blade around, so Kalli took over and used her flame to burn the thick shrubs and vines. I was impressed with how much control she had over fire, incinerating only what she needed.

When she needed a break, I decided to just start deleting large swaths of forest, careful to leave the canopy so that nobody could track our progress from above.

Finally!

I heaved a theatrical sigh of relief when we emerged from the forest. That left only an empty field between us and the castle. The airship concluded its business and took off at some point while we were making our way through the forest.

So much for a distraction.

Kalli shook her head. It’ll be fine. I’m sure his visit served a purpose.

Mardella’s castle looked more like a dungeon, murky gray turrets and embattlements hung low to the ground surrounding an inner keep with only a solitary tower rising into the sky. The whole thing looked dreary as though it were meant to be evil.

I turned to Kalli, squeezing her hand.

Are you ready to do this? You just say the word and I’ll teleport right to you.

She turned to give me a pleading look. Actually, can you summon me a toilet? I haven’t gone since we were at Kiki’s.

Oh, right.

I edited a rock and waited patiently. She scowled at me. Well?

What?

Go away!

I sighed and cleared a path as I gave her some privacy.

Really? What was it that you said in the bath? It’s not like I haven’t seen you do that before.

Kalli didn’t reply but sent me a fresh wave of annoyance as she relaxed her nerves as well as her bladder. When she finished, I made my way back over to her and sat on the toilet.

You know. I’ve spoiled you. What would you do without me here to make you toilets all the time?

She wrinkled her nose. Whatever. Just be sure to delete that when you’re done.

Then she took off in the direction of the castle.

I sat on my throne in the forest with my eyes closed, watching Kalli as she approached the outer wall of the castle.

Do you know how you are going to sneak in?

Kalli stuck out her tongue at no one in particular. Oh, please. I used to do stuff like this all the time back at the monastery. When you’re an orphan there’s nobody to tell you to be careful. Honestly, I sometimes thought they preferred I’d break my neck. One less mouth to feed.

Wow, that nun didn’t seem like she was that mean.

Kalli laughed. No, she was always fair with me. That was just what I imagined in my head when I climbed trees or high walls.

As I watched, Kalli rubbed her hands together and started to climb the outer wall, digging her fingers into divots in the stone. The going was slow but Kalli slowly made her way to the top of the enceinte.

The castle wasn’t guarded at all. Not a soul was in sight no matter which way we looked. Do you think the place is abandoned?

I don’t think so. Alcobar was docked here earlier. He had to have met with someone. Keep your eyes peeled.

She nodded and pressed on in silence. One thing ghosting couldn’t hide us from was closed doors. Kalli had to open them and that could arouse suspicion. The first one didn’t cause any issues. She slipped into the castle undetected as there was still nobody in sight.

That luck quickly ran out as we started to hear a creaking noise in the distance. Whenever Kalli made her way through the halls, the noise was never far off. She pressed herself against the wall and held her breath, listening for any sign of whatever made the noise.

Every time, nothing emerged from the shadows. Then Kalli pressed on, her heart thundering in her chest. I have a bad feeling, Mel. Do you think we should leave?

A part of me wanted to. I couldn’t stand the fact that Kalli was in danger. Just when I was about to tell her so, we both caught sight of a stairwell leading down. She paused. Should I check it out?

Every bone in my body screamed “No!” but I bit my tongue.

Okay, but be ready to teleport if you run into anything.

We both held our breath as she descended. It was abnormally dark as if the stairwell was intentionally left without any light source. We were fortunate that Kalli shared my traits because, without God Eye, she would be blind.

Again, we heard noises but when Kalli stopped to see what made them, nothing was there. At the bottom of the stairs stood another door. Kalli frowned. This is worse than that dungeon we did back on Earth.

At least you could see the monsters in the dungeon.

As I said the words, I couldn’t help but wonder why the place seemed abandoned. Where was everybody? What were all those noises? Before I had a chance to think, Kalli opened the door.

CREAK

The door made the loudest sound yet as it swung open. Kalli cringed and hid in a corner, trying not to make a sound even though the ghosting already did that for her.

We both waited with bated breath for something to happen but nothing did. If anybody was in there, they either hadn’t noticed or they were waiting for us to proceed into the trap.

This is a bad idea. You should go back up the stairs.

Kalli shook her head. No. I have a gut feeling that something is down here. Trust me. I’ll be careful.

I didn’t like it one bit as she picked herself up and peeked through the door. The lower level wasn’t a jail as I had suspected. It was a long hall connecting a series of rooms. The first several contained stacks of rolled parchments and walls lined with dust-covered books.

Then we came across a room filled with cages. The cages weren’t built for humans. Each cage contained the carcasses of various monsters and animals. I wondered if Mardella’s absence caused their demise.

At the end of the hall, we found what we were looking for. Only, the room wasn’t empty. Beady eyes looked back at us through the darkness.