Aidyn was back outside the cell.

The walls were washed in red, metal bars gleaming like molten iron. Ryne was beside him, Lyla slightly behind, her hand gripping his shoulder so hard it hurt. But Aidyn didn't notice either of them. He didn't care.

The walls were washed in red, and Cynth Leeyung stood in the center, a beacon of gleaming silver clothes that shone like rubies. Her pale skin, her dull grey eyes, her smile — all of it bathed in scarlet, like the blood of the innocent people she'd slaughtered was finally overflowing.

And Damon was going to join them. One wrong move, and Aidyn would lose him all over again.

Ryne said something to Cynth, her words distant and calm. Damon caught Aidyn's gaze, the alarm in his chocolate brown eyes muted and covered with a veil of concern, his voice soft. "Addy. I need you to breathe for me, alright?"

A second passed before Aidyn could translate the caeli through the storm filling his head, but he couldn't bring himself to respond. Nothing about this situation was okay. Nothing, absolutely nothing —

More caeli, this time even lower than before. "We'll be okay."

Cynth was going to shoot him. Cynth was going to pull that trigger just because she could, because Ryne wouldn't let her go. She was too important for the fight against the humans, too valuable to release for one member. Cynth was going to shoot him, and Damon was going to disappear again.

Aidyn didn't remember the conversation. But he remembered the rage; the burning in his chest, the way his hands shook, even locked into fists. The thin thread that kept him from ripping that gun out of her pale, self-righteous hands and bashing that smirk inside out. He wanted to hurt her.

And if Damon's life hadn't been on the line, he would have.

He didn't remember Cynth's smug retorts to the guards in the hallway. But he remembered Damon's last words. He remembered the softness of his voice, the way his hands brushed Aidyn's in a way that — under any other circumstances — would've been comforting.

"We'll be okay," he said again, his brown skin covered in scarlet light, eyes full of something that Aidyn only later realized was an apology. "You know I love you, right?"

And Aidyn should've said it back. He should've said it back, but he was shaking and he couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't get the notion out of his head that this was it.

He didn't remember what he said to Cynth that night, watching Damon disappear down the hallway. Only the red light fading, the darkness closing around them, the ground shifting as reality crashed over his head.

He remembered walking through the festival together, eating cinnamon buns, taking the search for the source with only intermittent severity. The way Damon's eyes glinted as his voice practically bled sarcasm, laughing with his mouth half full, running a hand through his undercut as the wind blew it out of place. The way he'd grin as he argued, even when he was ridiculously wrong.

And above all?

Aidyn remembered how it felt to lose him.

✧ ☾✧☽ ✧

Safe to say, Aidyn wasn't doing too well.

They were three days into the Almoons Festival, going on four nights as the sun sank behind the mountains in brilliant splashes of gold. Ryne had refused to send out any other members after Cynth. She didn't want to risk losing anyone else, especially when no one knew where the murderous Leeyung had gone.

Eventually, Aidyn stopped trying. He'd run out of energy, run out of patience. He'd finally snapped once they'd gotten back to camp, yelling at Ryne for what felt like hours — and by then Kei, Ari, Jared, and Calix had met up again like they were supposed to. Cybele was there, right where Aidyn had left her.

He wasn't sure how much of the argument they'd heard.

But Aidyn was... better wasn't really the word. He wasn't better, not by a long shot. But the rage had worn off, the helplessness, the burning desire to hurt anyone who crossed his path. Now he was just numb, caught in a balancing act between breaking something and staring catatonic at a wall.

Because he'd gotten distracted. Because he'd slipped back into the feeling of having Damon there, and he'd let his guard down.

Kei, Ari, Jared, and Calix had been pretty accommodating so far. They didn't seem to mind sticking around the festival a little longer while Aidyn... recovered, he guessed was the word. Ari seemed the most worried about Cynth getting away, and even she couldn't say no to a run around town with Kei and Jared. They'd even managed to drag Calix along once or twice, and they always came back loaded with prizes and snacks. Aidyn didn't know where they were getting the money for all that, but he wasn't about to ask questions.

They'd invited him along a couple times too. No one seemed bothered that he'd practically shut down for the first couple days — if anything, they acted as normal as their group could get, and gave him space when he needed it.

Which Aidyn was grateful for. He'd told them the basics, because they deserved an explanation for why he'd vanished for hours — how Cynth had broken out with her timid human sidekick and taken Damon with her — but any deeper than that was something he didn't want to relive.

Aidyn was trying though. Trying to be there for his friends like he was supposed to. Help out, even if it felt like a weight was pressing him into the ground, and he could barely focus anymore.

Aidyn was trying. For the others.

"Okay," Kei started, spreading their new world map over Ryne's plastic table as dying sunlight pressed through the tent walls. Ryne had lent the space to them for the time being, for reasons Aidyn didn't care to guess. "Plan time."

"Plan time," Jared echoed with a nod. He was hovering near the rounded corner of the table, his milk-snake-lower-body curled up under him.

"Ryne told us there's a port near here." Kei circled the left-most corner of Altiu with her finger — which threw Aidyn off for a second, because it looked like the right from his view across the table. "It's the closest we've got, but their selection of transportation might not be great for a big group like us." Her two-toned eyes flickered briefly over to Cybele as soon as the words left her mouth, but she quickly fixed her gaze back to the map. "But the next closest will take around a day to walk to. So pick your poison."

"Where are we going, exactly?" Ari asked, leaning forward and peering at the inked continents. She was sitting in a cloth foldout chair, her pale knees tucked up and tawny wings pulled close. Aidyn had also commandeered a chair — he didn't have the energy to stand — with Cybele sitting between him and Ari. Calix was standing on Kei's other side, close to Jared, and his amber gaze was fixed almost permanently on the awkward human across from him.

"Alto," Kei answered, tapping a blob of land somewhere below Altiu. "Lots of angui there, so if their source is anywhere..." She trailed off, but they all knew what she meant.

What she meant was this was a good guess. But they didn't know.

They didn't know anything, and it was frustrating.

Their only clue was from forever ago. Last month, with Damon at the governor's house, right before everything went to hell. Aidyn had been searching around the desk, and he'd stumbled upon an anguis lullaby — which didn't make any sense, because the angui source wasn't even on Altiu. But it had been weird enough for him to shove away in his jacket for later — the very same one that Damon was wearing now, and had been for who knows how long.

Damon must've found it. He must've found it and kept it, just in case...

In case of what, Aidyn didn't know. But Damon had handed it over when Aidyn was talking to Cybele, and Aidyn hadn't realized what it was until too late. By the time he thought to ask, Damon was gone.

Aidyn crossed his arms a little tighter over his chest, staring at the highly-stylized map and trying to block Damon out of his head. It wasn't fair, but thinking about how much danger he could be in would send Aidyn spiralling, and that wouldn't help anybody.

Jared's voice brought him back to the conversation. "Okay, Alto sounds cool. But how are we going to get there?" He gestured to himself — widely gestured, somehow including every inch of his body in the hand-waving. "I take up a lot of space."

Kei nodded. "Boat."

Jared paused for a moment, glancing between her and the tent entrance. "We don't have a boat." He looked up at Calix. "We don't have a boat, right?"

Calix shook his head. "I'm not sure that place even sells commercial vessels, but we don't have enough money for one anyway."

There was a short, stumped silence, broken only by the hum of celebration outside. Aidyn sat there, counting seconds in his head as Kei tapped her fingers on the map, like she was running through options. Ari watched her. Calix was frowning at the map as well, Jared mimicking him for any number of reasons.

And just when Aidyn thought he'd have to reignite the conversation, a suggestion sparked up beside him. "We could take one..."

All heads turned to Cybele, expressions ranging from shock, to suspicion, to something just shy of hostile. She wavered for a moment, but tilted her chin up, and Aidyn could hear the nerves in her voice. "I mean, if we don't have the money. We could take one..."

Aidyn watched the others, preparing himself to intervene if things got... tense. He wasn't sure how far his friends were willing to go to get these sources. He wasn't above burglary — (obviously; he went on stealth missions for the Voc for a reason) — but given that Cybele was the one suggesting it, he was willing to bet the others would be more opposed to it than usual.

But after a moment of silence, the conversation continued as if Cybele had never even spoken at all. She seemed to deflate just the tiniest bit and caught Aidyn's eye. He looked away.

"Maybe they'll just give us one...?" Ari suggested, green eyes attentive despite her quiet tone. "I mean, we are searching for the sources. They'll want to help, right?"

Everyone but Calix exchanged a glance, and Aidyn had to speak up. His voice was shockingly flat, even to him. "Humans control most of the trade out in and of Altiu. They're not giving us anything, even if we could buy it. Especially if we're looking for the sources."

Kei hesitated, her eyes flicking between him and Cybele. Maybe she could sense where this was going. "Okay. So what do we do then?"

Aidyn held her gaze, wondering for a brief second how she and the others would take this coming from someone other than Cybele. "We steal one."

Another exchanged glance. Ari shifted in her seat; Kei's eyebrows scrunched up in the middle. Jared was thinking about something, but it was impossible to guess what. And Calix... well his expression didn't change all that much. Aidyn couldn't read him. He didn't bother trying.

Out of the corner of his eye, Aidyn caught Cybele shooting him the tiniest of grateful smiles. She probably thought his suggestion was meant to defend hers.

And that was fine. Aidyn didn't know how he felt about Cybele; she was still clinging to the source like a lifeline, and that alone was enough to put her on his watch list. Maybe she realized that was her only leverage, though there was nothing but simple decency to stop any of them from simply taking it from her. Or maybe she didn't fully trust them yet either.

Whatever the case, she'd offered to hand it over once they left Altiu, so they couldn't send her back home. And in return, she'd help them find the next source.

"I'm trusting you," Aidyn had told her after insisting the others give her a chance. He still wanted her on their side — he needed it, because the plan that separated him and Damon couldn't be for nothing. "I shouldn't, but I am. Don't make me regret it."

And she'd nodded, a strange mix of confidence and uncertainty in her dark gaze. And as soon as she'd entered the tent, entered the group in the odd, outsider way she had, no one was quite comfortable anymore.

They all had bad experiences with humans: Ari had lost her family and ability to fly. Kei had obviously been rattled after being chased out of Jared's village; Jared had probably grown up around all kinds of police brutality. Aidyn's childhood had been filled with threats on his life, a constant need to hide who he was. Calix was a mystery, but it wouldn't be surprising if he had suffered something as well.

Aidyn couldn't blame them for not trusting Cybele.

But he couldn't afford to keep her at arm's length, either.

Aidyn stayed quiet, arms crossed over his chest, not wanting to force anything more on them than he already had. Bringing Cybele had been his idea, and he'd made the final call. He hadn't expected them to listen. But they did.

So he sat there, watching his friends deliberate. He was going after the sources no matter what; but despite everything, the selfish part of him didn't want to go alone.

And to his relief, Kei rolled up the map, tapping it in her palm a couple times for good measure. "Alright, buddios. Let's steal ourselves a boat."

✧ ☾✧☽ ✧

The port was massive. Wooden docks stretched far onto the horizon, dimly colored cargo ships hulking in the distance, a couple shadowy specks flitting around across the decks. The wooden platforms were fairly deep, stretching a decent distance into the sea. Directly in front of their group's hiding spot rested a line of old sailboats, bobbing up and down as tiny waves lapped against the barnacle encrusted poles. Wooden stairs led down steep sand dunes to the main deck; every hundred feet or so, a small white building sat close to the dunes. Only a few were lit. It was around midnight.

Aidyn crouched behind the tree line, Kei, Jared, and Ari on one side, Calix on the other. Cybele was stuck between Aidyn and Kei so she couldn't sneak away, her pocket glowing faintly in the darkness. The source was still there.

Aidyn scanned the port, blinking on his heat vision to search for any people hiding in the shadows. He found nothing and flicked it off again, silver sand and a black ocean greeting him. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

"Okay," Aidyn said softly, his words covered slightly by the rushing of the ocean. "Who's stolen something before?" He glanced over to his left, where everyone but Calix stared blankly back at him.

That... wasn't surprising. Kei likely never had the need; Jared, Ari, and Cybele didn't like the type; and Calix was a maxi, which meant more battle training than stealth.

But that wasn't such a big deal. There didn't seem to be any actual breaking and entering required — except for maybe the white building closest to them, which Aidyn suspected was some sort of office/shed/gift shop place. They might keep the keys for the engine-run boats in there. But aside from that, it was just a matter of not being seen, and there didn't seem to be any people around.

And moments before he could open his mouth to relay that, footsteps sounded across the docks a few feet away. The click of a lock, and creak of a wooden door, and golden light flicked on inside the building, spilling through the windows across the deck and illuminating the ground right in their path.

Damn it.

They couldn't move spots, either — the foliage would make too much noise, especially with someone that close. The windows were positioned to overlook the stairs, and Aidyn caught a glimpse of a young man as he flitted by.

"That's a problem, right?" Ari whispered after a few moments of frozen silence. The person still hadn't emerged.

Aidyn let out a slow breath, narrowly avoiding another swear. "Maybe." He shifted into a kneeling position and started furiously unlacing his boots, keeping his voice as low as possible. "Okay, we're out of time. If you've got hard soles on your shoes, take them off. Keep off the stairs, try and run on the balls of your feet, and stay as close to the dunes as you can. The wood will hopefully be less creaky over there."

"Why don't we just shoot him?" Jared made finger guns and pointed them at Cybele before making tiny "pew pew" noises — which Aidyn didn't think she appreciated. "On low, obviously."

"It's not worth the attention. Guns make too much noise, and we're trying to avoid that." Aidyn tugged off his boots and slung off his backpack, stuffing them inside. "Everyone ready?"

A quiet confirmation joined the sloshing of the sea. Aidyn took a deep breath and slipped on his bracelet. He could use the stability right now. "Right. We'll go in pairs — Calix, you can see the best in the dark, so you're first. Head left until you see the speedboats and pick one."

At least, Aidyn hoped they were to the left. Everything seemed to be organized by size — cargo ships, then sailboats... it was a guess.

Calix nodded, slipping silently out of the tree line and sliding down the dunes next to the stairs. The building was still lit, a square of gold striking the ground like a spotlight. Calix stopped just short of it, hardly more than a fuzzy, moonlit figure. When he turned back, his eyes glowed like flashlights.

Kei whisper-urged Ari down next--possibly to keep her in front and away from any pursuers, possibly for some other reason Aidyn didn't know about. With only a little protesting, Ari stumbled down the dunes as well, her taloned feet sinking more than sliding. She reached Calix within moments, and the two set off away from the white shack.

So far, so good.

Aidyn looked over at Kei, Cybele, and Jared. He supposed he should go next — he wanted to keep Cybele and the source in the middle, both to keep an eye on her and to make sure nothing happened to either of them. Besides, Kei had the guns. If something went wrong, it'd be best if she didn't have to shoot past anybody.

So he caught Cybele's eyes, which were colored brown in the dark, and jerked his head towards the dunes. She nodded and rose slowly, creeping towards the edge of the tree line and out onto the sand. Within seconds, the top of her dark hair was disappearing down the slope.

Aidyn waited a few moments before following, bare feet sinking into the coarse sand. He reached the wooden platform and pulled up beside Cybele, making sure to stay out of the window's sight. There was rustling and footsteps from inside, but so far, no alarm had been raised.

Kei and Jared were making their way down the dunes, and Calix was jogging silently down the dock, sticking close to the sand as Ari ran beside him. Aidyn started after them, making sure Cybele was following as Kei and Jared reached the dock. Sand was getting under his scales, but there wasn't time to brush it off. He just tightened the straps on his bag as he ran, footsteps muffled, supplies and heavy shoes thudding around on his back.

After several seconds of not getting caught, Aidyn started to allow himself a little bit of relief. Not enough to jinx it, hopefully, but enough to believe that they may actually get off this moons-damned continent in one piece.

Which, if Aidyn had given himself any time to think about it, would've been conflicting at best. This was the last place he and Damon had been together, the last place they'd actually known where the other was. There was no Mrs. Kana to leave notes with this time, no secret base, no waiting. If Aidyn left and Damon somehow found his way back...

But Aidyn couldn't stay here. Not after what happened. He'd grown up in an environment where the best thing to do when things got tense was to get out — leave and come back later, when his dad wasn't throwing things anymore, or a police officer wasn't moments away from hauling him and Damon to jail for disrespect. But eventually, things got bad enough that Aidyn just never came back.

And that was happening again. He'd probably never return to Monsum City — maybe not even another Almoons Festival. And Damon wasn't finding his way back.

So Aidyn had no choice. He had to leave.

His thoughts carried him all the way to Calix and Ari, and he slowed down just in time, taking in the scene. A large speedboat waved patiently in its spot, white sides glinting in the moonlight as it bobbed on the surface of the water. Ari was already inside, her and Calix's bags tossed onto the leather seats. The driver's seat was set towards the narrowed front, a motor attached to the back. Calix stood on the deck, his expression hard to read in the dark.

"Found one?" Aidyn asked, slightly out of breath, preparing himself for bad news.

Sure enough, Calix delivered. "It won't start."

Of course it wouldn't. "Did you try another one?"

"Yeah. I don't think any of them will."

"It's probably out of gas." Cybele's quiet voice sounded right behind Aidyn, and he flinched away before he could stop himself. He'd honestly forgotten she was there.

Apparently she noticed, because she stepped away before continuing. "I mean, that might be it. I don't think they keep these filled up all the time."

Calix's response was low and cold. "You could've mentioned that earlier."

Cybele hesitated a moment before offering a tiny, apologetic smile. "Sorry, I... I thought you knew."

Aidyn watched them both, waiting to see if he had to step in. Thankfully, the moment was broken by a thin scraping noise, and Kei's voice rose slightly over the waves. "Knew what?"

"Gas," Ari called from the boat. They were far enough away from the lit building that the noise probably wasn't much of a problem, but it still set Aidyn on edge.

Jared slithered up to the edge of the dock, the scraping noise following. His snake trunk was probably covered in sand too, and his scales glinted in bands of red, black, and silver-yellow.

Aidyn slung off his bag and tossed it into the boat. It landed on the floor with a muffled thud. "Alright. There's probably some back there, but the chances of getting away with it without being seen are slim, so whoever stays here better know how to work a boat."

"Who does know how to work a boat?" Ari asked slowly.

Silence except for the sloshing sea and muffled thumps as the sides of the boat bumped the dock sides. Then slowly — very slowly — Cybele raised her hand.

"She's not driving," Calix said immediately, his voice short.

"We might not have a choice here." Aidyn glanced back at the shack, now a small cube of blue shadows and gold light. "We're stretching our luck as it is."

"Well, I'll let you guys figure that out." Kei shrugged her bag off as well and dropped it to the deck. "I'm gonna get the gas."

"No you're — Kei, wait."

But she was already racing back towards the shack, her silhouette fading and ringed in moonlight. Aidyn started after her — he wasn't letting someone run off on their own, not again — but he got two steps in before someone caught his arm. He snapped around, and his gaze fell on one Cybele Valloma.

Her eyes widened and she quickly let go, taking a step back. But her quiet voice was level, with a note of something Aidyn couldn't place. "I — I think you should stay here."

Apprehension. That's what it was. But he didn't know what she had to be apprehensive about, and frankly, he didn't care. "She's not going alone."

"She'll be okay. She has her illusion magic, right?" Her darkened eyes flicked behind him, towards Calix, Jared, and Ari. "Someone should get the boat ready."

Aidyn stared at her, trying to figure out why in all the moons she was so desperate to keep him here. It definitely wasn't the boat — Calix was already working on that. Aidyn could hear him messing with the controls and muttering in the maxi language under his breath.

And not even a moment later, the realization slammed into him like a brick wall.

Cybele was scared of his friends.

Maybe scared wasn't the right word. But she must've caught on by now that she wasn't wanted. Ari was avoiding her, usually by sticking Kei between them. Calix hardly took his watchful glares off her. And no matter how valid their feelings were, as far as she was concerned, Aidyn might be the only one even sort of on her side.

Maybe she was worried Calix might say something to her. Maybe she was worried someone would take the source, though Ari and Jared were the least likely of their group to do that.

But it didn't matter. It didn't matter, because Kei wouldn't be okay. She was alone. Something was going to go wrong, it always did, and if Aidyn wasn't there to help — or to even try and help — he was going to lose someone else.

He refused to lose anyone else.

Maybe he was overreacting. Maybe he should've been fine with this, because Cybele was right and Kei had magic on her side. She'd probably be fine.

Aidyn cast one last glance at the white building, hoping to see Kei running back towards them.

And that's when the shack exploded.

The boom was deafening, orange and golden light turning the night air to a fiery day. A brilliant mushroom cloud of smoke billowed into the sky, and the building collapsed in a broken heap of wood and cinders.

Cybele gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, honey-brown eyes wider than dinner plates. A maxi swear sounded from the boat, and Aidyn was running, bare feet slamming against the wooden dock. Details were flying through his head, things that didn't make sense: the way the sailboats had stayed in place, not breaking their small bobbing patterns; the lack of a heat wave to disrupt the cool night air.

But it took Kei sprinting towards him, yelling at him to go back with two bright red containers in her hands, for Aidyn to finally see through the illusion.

God damn it, he was going to kill her for that.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Aidyn demanded incredulously, his heart still racing as shouts sounded from behind the smoke. Kei passed him, a yellow bolt zipping by her head, and Aidyn turned on his heel before racing after her. "Kei, what happened?"

"The guy caught me!" Kei yelled, shoving one of the sloshing red containers at him. "Here, hold this!" Before he could argue, she ripped a gun out of her belt with her free hand and fired a couple greens into the smoke. "I needed a distraction, and this worked last time!"

"Last time you lost a foot!"

"Well I'm fine now, aren't I?"

Aidyn couldn't really argue with that. He wanted to, but he was too focused on not tripping and/or getting shot to bother.

They reached the others in moments, miraculously unparalyzed. Jared was digging around Kei's bag; he withdrew a large knife (how long had that been in there?) and started sawing away at the ropes tying the boat to the port.

"What happened?" Ari asked hysterically, scrambling out of the boat. She gave a small squeak as a yellow bolt blurred by an inch from her wings. "Why are there people shooting us again? Why are you always blowing something up?"

"It was twice," Kei panted, heaving the hopefully-closed container of gasoline into the boat. "And I had good reason."

"Which was?"

Kei tried a sheepish smile. "Not important right now?"

"Guys," Aidyn interrupted, dropping his container onto the white deck and hopping after it, barely keeping his balance as the deck shifted under him. "Boat now."

Another close call — an orange this time — and Kei and Ari jumped onto the deck. There was the snap of a rope, and Jared slithered after them, his tail falling in a heap and tipping the entire boat to the side. Aidyn grabbed the edge, and Calix had to lunge for Ari to keep her from toppling overboard.

"Cybele!" Aidyn yelled, ducking another shot. "Let's go maybe?"

"You have to fill it up!" she yelled from the driver's seat, trying and failing to rev the engine.

"Where?"

"The starboard side!"

"Where's that?"

"Here!" Kei was furiously unscrewing the first container of gas. She heaved it up and rushed towards the right, across from the driver's seat. More shouting, and the first human emerged from the smoke. Calix leaned out of the boat and slammed his hand on the farthest wooden board he could reach, dragging his palm (paw?) all the way back to the edge. The human — a man in his mid-twenties maybe — leveled a gun at Calix's head, face lit up by an orange glow.

Without thinking, Aidyn unclipped his whip from his belt, snapping it towards the man. The metal unraveled on the way, flashing as it wrapped around the barrel of the gun; Aidyn grabbed the middle of the wire, twisted his hand around it for leverage, and jerked as hard as he could to the right.

The shot went wide, disappearing over the ocean and into the dark. More shots were being fired from behind the man, but only a few got close. One nearly singed the top of Jared's hair.

"Anytime now!" Aidyn shouted, risking a glance over his shoulder.

"Working on it!" Kei dropped the gas container back onto the deck, screwing something back back into place on the boat. "Cybele — "

The hum of an engine sounded above the whistling and shouts, and water began churning near the motor. "Got it!"

Thank the moons. Aidyn pulled his whip back and down, wrenching the man's gun towards the boat. It slipped from his hand; the man lunged to grab it, but Aidyn got there first, dragging both his whip and the gun inside. The tension attaching the wire and the gun eased away, and the man's weapon clattered to the deck.

The rasp of metal on leather, and Calix's cutlass flashed under the moonlight. The boat lurched under them, the hum becoming a gurgling roar. The dock retreated in a snap, the gap between the boat walls and the wood widening. The man, who had been trying to step aboard, toppled with a cry into the water.

Which might've been funny if more humans weren't sprinting towards them, vengeful expressions lit by golden lights. By now, Cybele had steered them out of reach, but they had a while to go until they were out of shooting range. Aidyn dropped his whip and swiped the gun from the deck, flicking it down to yellow, jerking to the side as a similar bolt zipped by, and leveling it at the first human he found.

That proved unnecessary.

The humans reached the edge of the dock, skidding to a halt. But as soon as their feet hit the wood, the dock tore itself to pieces.

Boards shot into the air, uppercutting some, sweeping the feet out from others. Some fell between the gaps, cries and splashes echoing in the night air. Colored bolts shot into the sky like tiny fireworks.

Aidyn lowered his gun, staring at the commotion in shock before turning to Calix. "Was that you?"

Calix nodded, his reflective eyes flashing.

"Cool." The response came out as more of a sigh than actual words, and Aidyn tossed the gun onto the padded seats beside him. "Good job."

"Thanks." Calix carefully slid his gleaming cutlass back into its scabbard, and strode past him towards the front of the boat, where it sounded like Kei was kicking Cybele out of the driver's seat, Jared was arguing both sides as he tended to do, and Ari was freaking out about healing Kei's apparently intangible shoulder.

Aidyn took a deep breath and picked up his whip, methodically wrapping it up before clipping it back to his belt. His hand went to his bracelet, a habit that he wished hadn't become second nature.

Aidyn wished a lot of things. He wished that Damon was here, that he didn't have to constantly worry about Cybele and the magical source in her pocket, that he knew what he was doing — because he didn't, in all honesty.

But he wasn't going to admit that. Not yet. Instead, Aidyn glanced back over the water and watched the Altiu coastline disappear on the horizon. 

✧ ☾✧☽ ✧

Aaaaaaaand we're officially back!!!!!!

Credit to SilverBeams for this spectacular chapter. What did you think? Are you guys hyped? Are you guys excited? Are you guys SPLENDIFOROUSLY THRILLED, IMPRESSED, AND BLOWN AWAY? We sure hope so.

With virtual hugs, purple Google features, and a couple more hugs for Aidyn cuz he needs it,

Graciously Flying Cardigans

(G.F.C.)