Lunch and dinner with Princess' family are pleasant. Her brother turns out to be quite the chatterbox, while her mother butts in occasionally with a story about Princess as a child. Both of them extend their gratitude that she found such loving party members. Eventually, snow begins to fall outside, and Mist reluctantly enters the home again.

I'm sorry, Mist, I tell him.

He refuses to say anything to me, hopping over to the fireplace and curling up like a ball.

"He'll come around," Juno says.

Our party decides to spend the night at Princess' place before heading back to Halo Island tomorrow morning. We consider hunting monsters on the continent, but the nearest monster grounds are far too advanced for us, so we will work on our skills back home. Until we are strong enough to come back eventually.

Princess and Avery first head to Princess' old room. I decide to crash in the living room, but Juno soon convinces us that Princess' room is big enough for our whole party. After trying to nudge into Mist's mind one more time, I head to the bedroom and test out sleeping on the carpeted floor with a collection of blankets and pillows making it comfortable for me.

"I still don't understand why you did it," Juno says in the hallway.

I turn away, trying not to meet his eyes. "I was wrong."

Juno uses a finger to tilt my jaw back to him. "I'm angry, but that doesn't mean I won't keep sticking with you."

Before nodding off, I spare a glance at Avery and Princess sharing the queen sized bed, and Juno on the floor with his shirt torn off from him again. Last night comes back to me. All of the pleasure, the rush of finally being as close as I wanted to him. Finally letting him see all of me, to touch all of me....

I close my eyes when fatigue takes over. When I open them again, I'm back in Kara. Smoke unfurls at the corners of my vision, and I recognize the heavy air, the cackle of the brother god before it comes.

"I see you're joining me again?" he says.

I turn around to see him leaning against the mage Avatar building. He's dressed casually, with a fitted pair of garments that remind me of a rogue. Of Juno. He seems to grasp this from my mind, letting out a chuckle in response. He sweeps his platinum hair across his forehead, and it somehow falls in an effortlessly beautiful wave.

"Why did you call for me?" I say.

"I figured that I should." The brother god leans forward, relying only on his two feet rather than the building behind him. He regards me as if trying to study a creature of old. "And also. I saw that you finally shared a bed with Juno? I thought you were so against the idea. Who knew that actually, you craved it more than anything?"

Anger spurts through me. I reach for my mythic staff, but all I have are my clothes—which somehow, match the brother god in both fit, style, and color. "Don't come between me and Juno."

"He enjoyed it, craved for it, as much as you did." He offers me a fox-like grin. "Anyway, that's all good that you are no longer a virgin."

"Save it," I growl out. The volume of my voice rises almost at the same as a lion's. The brother god opens his eyes wider, as if shocked. He quickly returns to his normal, uncaring mood.

"My sister and I rarely have seen love like that before," he says. "Something so fiery red, so filled with passion. Didn't you love it when he was inside of you? I bet it felt like the most divine thing in the three continents."

I rush forward, but he raises a palm, and an invisible force stops me in my tracks, pinning me down to the foresty floor. I try to claw him, to reach his pretty yet infuriating face. I wonder what my claw marks would look like down his cheeks. I loathe him for offering me more power, for ruining what I have with my party members.

"I called you here for another reason though, one that I'd thought I'd let you in on." He changes his tone, to one more sinister, filled with the ancient power that he holds.

I glance up at the Avatar building. His idea, in the world that he controls, comes to me, and I can't distinguish whether it was my own thought or his. "No." My voice comes out thin and pathetic, barely audible to my own ears.

His grin stretches wide. He busts open the door to the Avatar building, the sacred space that resembles a cathedral. When he darts in, I barely have the strength to follow. I reach out my hand, but when I try to call out Nathaniel's name, my voice lodges in my throat like a sticky gum.

Nathaniel mediates on the floor of the common room, his arms crossed and his eyes tightly closed. Books waver all around him, rotating around him as if aiding him in his meditation. His staff rests right next to him.

Pick up your staff! I want to yell out, but the brother god pins me in the threshold, immobilizing me with his endless power.

Nathaniel's eyes snap open, filled half with terror and half with determination to kill whatever is before him.

The brother god raises a dagger, meeting Nathaniel with a wide grin. While the mage instructor casts a Radiance skill, the brother god brushes it off with just a mumble. Nathaniel crosses his staff in front of him, but not fast enough.

The brother god sinks his shadowy dagger into the mage instructor's throat. I feel the power of the instructor rush out of the room, leaving the air immediately.

His blood pools on the floor. The brother god turns to me once more, blocking the sight of the gruesome killing. "You see what I'm capable of, Hope?" he says. "I could've killed you when I saw you, instead I saw that you might need something that I possess. I may not be as benevolent as my sister, but I know who is deserving. Who needs me."

He inches closer and closer, and I catch the splattering of blood across his clothing, concentrated most on his chest. "Goodnight, Hope. I hope you dream of me every night. I hope you don't dream about what I could do to you too much though."

He vanishes, and before I could rush up to Nathaniel, I bolt awake. I suck in a breath just as Avery pauses above me. "I was just headed to the bathroom," she says. "Did you have a bad dream?"

I can't stop my tongue. How it all spills out of me. The vision I had of Kara, of the brother god, of a bloody Nathaniel. Princess and Juno join me and Avery, and we stand in a square as I recall every second of it. How it felt so real that there is no denying that Nathaniel is actually dead.

"We will have to confirm it," Avery says. "If he is truly dead, it will travel to the continents in the matter of an hour or two."

As we wait for morning, Mist clambers up to the bedroom and asks, Are you okay, Hope? I sensed that you had a terrible dream.

I embrace the dragon and savor the sensation of his rough scales. "Yes, I did. I hope it isn't true."

I hope it isn't either.

"I'm sorry for ruining everything," I tell him.

He regards me with his gray, stormy eyes. It's okay. Every dragon knows about the thirst for power. He offered a deal that he knew you couldn't refuse.

I hug Mist again, refraining from spilling my tears all over his scales. We wait for the sun to rise, and just as it does, a horrible alarm goes through all of Vilia. It's an enchanted bell, only rung during emergencies, a mix of both piercing and wailing. Although news in Blossom World usually travels through newspapers, at emergencies, messages can be relayed to each town's belltower. Someone outside runs and screams out, "Nathaniel is dead! Nathaniel is dead!"

An eerie chill runs down my spine, even though he only confirms what I've already known for hours. Princess' mother and brother awaken early, pacing about the halls as if not knowing what to say about one of the four most powerful people in Blossom World perishing.

"We have to go home and figure out what to do about this," Princess says.

Princess' family puts up a good fight, but Princess calms them down with a promise to visit as soon as possible. Princess' mom packs us several sandwiches and makes us swear that we will watch out for each other.

Mist leads the way to the Vilia airport, about a thirty minute walk from Princess' home. As I walk down the cobblestone street, I notice the silence—as if no one wants to face what happened on the other continent.

"People at the airport will have more news," Avery says.

As we near our destination, I find that the line to the airships snakes so far back that I can barely see the ticketing booth. We don't even have to ask anyone what's going on. Just from the chatter, we find that the airships to Halo Island have been canceled. After Nathaniel's murder, the wards in Kara went down. This caused a ripple effect that ripped apart the wards in all four cities. Monsters currently raid the towns, and more powerful ones are currently making their way to the epicenters.

"So there's no way we can go home now," Juno says.

"I already lost all my clothes in Saria," Princess complains. "And now we can't access our stuff in Callena?"

"Really Princess, your clothes?" Avery says.

I'm about to butt in, when Mist says in my mind, Don't we know him, Hope?

I turn in every direction until finding Elder River. An utterly distraught, unkempt Elder River. He currently looks deep in discussion with another elder, the same one that fought the Winged Jaw—which seems like a lifetime ago.

Instead of waiting in line, Juno waves us over, to interrupt the discussion. "Elders," he says.

The female elder ignores us, but Elder River looks our party up and down before his eyes land on me. "Ah, the party that is making waves. I'm sure you've heard the... news."

I gulp, thinking about how I was an actual witness to the death, that I could've stopped it in some way... if the brother god didn't render me useless. I almost choke on my words, but I manage to say, "We're incredibly shocked."

"Us too," Elder River says. "I'm sure you've heard that they've blocked all passage to Halo Island."

Ignoring my pain, and the ghost of the sickness that threatens to pull me under again, I say, "How much do we know about the murder?"

The female elder looks annoyed at my question. Elder River holds up a hand to stop her from interrupting. "I'm sure it will come out eventually. But we are certain that it was by the brother god's hand. The other instructors have... or had, a tie to Nathaniel. They knew exactly when he died, and even felt the hands of the one who did the deed.

"The elders have convened many times about the brother god. We already guessed, but we know that he is the antithesis to his sister, or at least someone who acts on his own will, which is far from benevolent. This proves it. Hope, Princess, Avery, Juno. Please stay safe. I'm sure the passage to Halo Island will open soon."

"What will happen now?" Juno asks.

Elder River lets out a sigh. "A bounty. A bounty will be put on the brother god's head. Much like how we fought with the goddess so long ago, we will have to fight with this new being. Hopefully, it won't erupt into a full-on war.

"The most powerful parties are being gathered right now from each continent. We will begin our hunt soon. If he could kill Nathaniel so easily, he will not go down without focus from many parties of our most splendid fighters."

I share a glance with the rest of my party. If I share my secret... could that help in subduing and killing the brother god? It will also put me in quite the precarious position.

My party seems to decide for me. Juno puts an arm on me, pulling me back. Princess shoots me a look that tells me to keep my mouth shut. Even Mist tugs on my mind, wagging his tail wildly as a distraction.

"We will stay safe," Avery says. "You too, elders."

I glance over my shoulder. The elders have picked up their conversation again, close to an argument. I didn't realize it earlier, but I'm trembling. I hold one of Juno's forearms, trying to keep myself from spilling my guts over the floor.

"Don't think about telling Elder River, or anyone really," Avery says.

"It will only harm you," Princess says.

"Yes," Juno says. "We will figure out a way to break your tie with the brother god. As a party. We've always been self-taught, so this is just one of the many things that we need to figure out."

I look at the elders one more time, then to the snaking line. The answer floats up in me, brought on by all rage and fear and determination to put right all the wrong I've done. "Do you remember the last battle in the war with the goddess?"

"Of course," Juno says. "It was in Miria."

I recall the many books I've pored over in the libraries in Kara and Callena. "They say that Miria was the only place in Blossom World that she could be subdued. Because it is the oldest continent, and her essence lives there. She could go anywhere she wanted, but she was at the most vulnerable and almost human in Miria.

"It must be the same with the brother god."

Avery and Princess look sick. Juno glances at me with a panicked look in his eyes. "Don't tell me...."

"Yes," I say. "We can't just sit back. I bet the elders will send a team to Miria."

"We're nowhere near powerful enough to join a mission like that," Avery says.

Mist crouches on the ground, studying me with carefulness. Imprinter, your idea sounds reckless. But it does sound like a job for a dragon. A job that I will in no way fail in light of your safety.

"We have time to talk about this more," Juno says. He pulls me away from the airport, and although I know we haven't decided anything, I know I planted the seed. It might just be the only way I could escape from the brother god's grasp. 

Adventurer! Thank you for joining me again for another chapter of Blossom Fable. Quick question: what song do you think of when you're reading this story? Would you be interested in a little playlist? I feel like I might hear some violin, like some of Lindsey Stirling's tracks.