I only open my eyes once the noise dies down into silence, or rather the chirping of birds nearby and the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves overhead.

    The vibrant greenery around tells me we've landed in a forest somewhere, but it's still uncertain if it's in Edalirwen- I don't know for sure.

    One thing is for sure, this was the easiest warp I've taken part of, I just wish they were all as easy as this.

    "Is everyone okay?"

    I turn in the direction of Sephora who is standing exactly where she was when the fog overcame us. Rubbing her eyes, she collects her bearings.

    "Yeah, I'm fine." I look over to where Elle is blinking around, studying the area.

    She offers me a hopeful smile.

    "We're back, it worked. This is Edalirwen."

    Thank God. I release a pent-up sigh of concern.

     Sephora appears relieved as well. "I don't know where we are but at least we're back."

    "I know where we are," Elle says with excitement. "I thought of the one place I wanted to return to and it seems my wishful thinking worked."

    Now, I look around with clarity as to where we are- it seems familiar.

    "Well, where did you take us?" Sephora asks, surveying the area.

    I answer before she could. "Your village."

    The same village I almost got burnt to the ground. I bet everyone here missed me.

    Elle nods her head in happy agreement to my guess.

    "Come," She takes our hands. "We can find rest at my house-"

    "Where did we go!?"

    We all pause at the sound of another, fourth voice nearby. I grimace, praying to God I'm hearing illusions.

    But, no, here he comes bounding out of the bushes like an eager puppy who's just retrieved the stick they've been sent to fetch.

    "Clifford," I groan, letting go of Elle's hand. "What are you doing here?"

    He stares around with the same awestruck expression as before.

    "How did we get here? That was a really cool magic trick. Do you think I can learn to do it?"

    "Clifford."

    My crossed tone captures his attention, causing his eagerness to dwindle.

    "Wha?"

    "I told you not to come any closer and you didn't listen."

    "Sorry, I just wanted to-"

    "Why were you even over? I don't babysit you on the weekends. In fact, I don't babysit you at all anymore."

    His eyes widened in disbelief now.

   "What!? Why?"

   "Because-" I sigh, running my hands through my hair. He wouldn't get it.

    Now he's stuck here with me, which means he still is my responsibility. Yet another thing to juggle while I try to clean this mess up.

    Elle notices my frustration and steps in.

    "Hello again, Clifford."

    His eyes reignite at the sight of a familiar, warm face.

    "Hey. You're Elle, right?" He looks behind her at Sephora. "And you're...Sephora!"

    They both smile kindly at him, unlike me who's giving him a deathly glare. To be fair, they haven't had to deal with him as long as I have.

    "That wormhole, portal thing was crazy," He says to them. "How'd you do that?"

    "Magic," Elle responds.

    "Really!?"

    "There's a lot of that here."

    He looks around again then back at them. "What is this place?"

    "Edalirwen." Elle grins at his amazement.

    "Cool."

     This kid was too easy to impress sometimes.

     I don't want to seem like the one in the dumps, but we need to sort things out, make a gameplan, do something other than entertain an eight year old tag along.

    "We should get a move on."

     I begin leading the way, though it's Elle's home village.

    "Of course." Sephora agrees, falling in step with me.

    Behind me, I can hear Clifford chattering away to Elle who listens attentively and answers his endless stream of questions. How stupid of me to think it would be as easy as coming back and fixing everything, of course, I needed added stress and distractions.

    We arrive at the village soon where I take in the sight.

    The last time I had seen this place it was ablaze, though right now it appeared like it had the first time I came upon it. People hurried about set to their tasks, children laughed and played in the paths, the houses all had bright rooves that reminded me of candy shops. We happen to stop at a familiar orange roofed house.

    Elle goes in first, calling for Eudora. The old woman comes into view seconds later, her face lighting up at the sight of us.

    "Bless me!" She puts a hand to her chest before enveloping Elle into a hug. "I've been so worried about you and your brother. Where is he?"

    "We have to talk about that later. But for now, I am happy to see you again. I have brought guests, one of whom you already know."

    Wiping a stray tear from her eye, her face scrunches in concentration, causing more wrinkles to crease on her face as she inspects us. Once she notices me, she embraces me as well.

    "Ah, yes, Mallory, was it? It's a pleasure to see you again and after all you've been through."

    I'm sure she's heard about what happened that day I caused their village storehouse to burn. I saw the shell of the burnt building when passing here. They already look to be building a new storehouse, but I can't help but grimace every time I realize the disadvantage I put them in due to my stupidity.

    "It's nice seeing you again, as well," I say.

    She looks at the only two unfamiliar faces behind me.

    "This is Sephora," Elle introduces. "She's a very wise friend and a wonderful enchantress."

      A slight blush creeps up Sephora's neck at that honorary introduction. She says her kind words to Eudora before Elle moves on.

    "And the little one right there, who I recently became acquainted with, is-"

    "Hi! I'm Clifford."

     This kid is going to be the death of me here.

    Eudora chuckles at his zealous energy, nodding at him.

    "Wonderful to meet you both. Let me set some tea on and prepare something to eat."

    As she shuffles off to the kitchen, Clifford gets excited at the mention of food- I have to rein him in.

    "Why are you still being mean to me," Clifford whines.

    "I'm not being mean." My tone says otherwise, but I'm really not. I'm just stressed already.

    "Perhaps we should discuss some details upstairs?" Sephora suggest.

    "That sounds good." I agree before turning to Clifford. "Stay down here and maybe help Eudora in the kitchen."

    "Fine." He gives me a snubbed look then marches off into the kitchen.

     "It's unfortunate Advil hasn't been invented here."

   The three of us head upstairs to Elle's room where I slept the first night I arrived here. Taking a seat on the bed, I look between the two of them, getting down to business.

    "Where do we begin?" Elle asks, slightly daunted from what I can tell.

     I decide to ask the most obvious question that's been on my mind. "Where's Coxen?"

    "Oh, I should probably inform you on what's been happening here," She says. "After you left, Coxen and I left the castle but returned after hearing the king was no longer in power but rather the queen. We were afraid for you so we returned only to realize you were gone, as well as the king, but Sephora and Olivos were still trapped."

    "The queen needed me to locate the other pieces," Sephora interjects.

    "We remained close by, acting as if we were part of the staff. Once Sephora created a potion to get to you, I wanted to go with her which is why I was with her." She looks fondly around the room. "This is the first time I've been home."

    "Wait," I say, concerned. "Coxen's still at the castle?"

    "I'm afraid so," Sephora replies. "Him and Olivos."

    "They're probably worried about us. The queen and king are returned but we aren't. They'll be ill with worry." Elle frets.

    "Don't panic," I assure her. "We'll get back there soon. We just gotta think how."

    "We also have to worry about the agenda the queen has with those pieces," Sephora adds.

    "Yeah, that too."

    "But she has all the pieces, what is she waiting for?" Elle questions.

    That was a good question. I've been farting around this whole time, yet here we were, Edalirwen and Earth still intact and existing. I don't want to be optimistically naive and believe she's given up on her plans, but I'm not sure what she could be doing to delay her victory for so long.

    "I'm not sure," I reply, concentrating on the floor in thought then looking up at them. "One thing's for sure: we don't have much time. But we do have the element of surprise on our hands right now and we need to use that to our advantage."

    "You're right," Sephora agrees. "The queen and king don't know we've returned and that's our biggest asset at this point."

    "So how are we going to prevent this?" Elle wonders, worry still lacing her voice.

    I get to my feet. "Easy. We have to destroy the pieces."

    Her eyes widen at this. She stutters over her words.

   "How? How will we even secure the pieces?"

   "Go into the palace and take them. We have the element of surprise, remember."

    Now Sephora seems a little uneasy about my pretentious plan.

   "True, but I'm sure their defenses are higher than ever. Are you sure it'll be as easy as you predict?"

   "I disagree about their defenses being up. They think they're at the advantage and that we- the greatest threat to them- are still trapped back in my universe. They have to be feeling pretty sure about themselves at this point. Maybe if they knew we were here it'd be a different story, but they don't as far as we're aware." I pace the length of the small room, pausing to look at them. "I think we just need to get to the palace, gather the pieces, then work from there."

    They exchange a look then glance back at me. Sephora eventually sighs but gives me a set look.

    "You're right, we need to take the chance."

    Now we both look at Elle who still carries concern in her eyes, but finally gives us a steady nod.

    "We'll depart for the palace tomorrow. I can't stand the thought of being away from Coxen or Olivos for another moment."

    Clapping my hands together, I look between them, rejuvenated. "Then it's settled."

    So we got a gameplan, now all we needed to do was follow through with it. But the problem with my life isn't coming up with plans- that was the easy part- no, it was making sure they didn't blow up in your face- now that was the hard part.

I never had goulash before but I'm enjoying it tonight. I don't know whether it's because Eudora is a good cook or if I'm simply starving, but I eat everything in my bowl.

    Clifford, of course, is the dominant conversationalist, barely breathing between the spoonfuls of food and his endless questions and stories. It's made even worse by the fact that there's three new fresh set of ears that he can talk off. The three of them are patient with him as he verbally assaults them with his ceaseless chatter.

    "That one's a talker," Eudora says to me as we're cleaning up.

    Clifford followed Elle and Sephora upstairs as they set up the room for bed while I helped Eudora clear away the dishes from dinner.

    All I can do in response is roll my eyes and reply in exasperation, "Yup, nearly 24/7, 365 days a year. 366 if you're unlucky."

   "A charming boy, though." She chuckled.

   "If you want to call it that."

   We work in silence for a minute before I speak up again, a bit hesitant, keeping my voice somewhat low.

   "Would you mind if I asked something big of you?"

   She set aside the wash rag she'd been using to clean the plates.

   "Of course not, deary. What do you need?"

   Biting my lower lip, I glance to the upstairs, hoping I'm not overhead.

   "Do you mind watching him while I'm gone. I won't be gone long and I'll come back for him right away when I'm done. I just don't want him caught up in all of this. He's my responsibility and it's just a lot on my plate right now-"

   "I would be honored. I understand completely, Mallory. I'll make sure he's looked after. He'll have fun with the other kids, I'm sure."

    I smile, relieved at her response.

    "Yeah, he will. Thank you so much. I'm not trying to put this on you, but I just can't have him in the way, you know?"

   She waves me off. "I understand completely. You're acting responsibly, deary, believe me. He'll be happy here for the time being."

    This eliminates one big stressor for me. I trust Clifford will keep out of trouble here, plus there are other kids to keep him distracted while I'm away. I'm doing the right thing. It's probably best not tell him, though. We'll slip out in the morning without him knowing, that way he won't put up a fuse, then I'll be back for him when this madness is over.

    For once, things seem to be looking solvable.

    After finishing cleaning up, I join the three of them upstairs. For once, Clifford isn't controlling the conversation but rather listening to Elle tell a story about when she was younger from the sound of it. Sephora has already partly retired to bed, but she faces Elle as if she's still tuning in some. I take a quiet seat on the makeshift bed put out for me, listening to the rest of her story.

    "And that's how I managed to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow." She concluded. "Grant it I'm not very good now, but I was when I was seven."

    "Do you still have one? A bow and arrow?" He piped up eagerly.

    "Unfortunately not. The one I had broke and I just haven't bought or fashioned a new one. But if I ever find one, I'll teach you."

    "Yay!"

    Oh, boy, I couldn't imagine trusting him with a bow and arrow, or any weapon, but he'll probably never get the chance to learn thankfully. He'll be here while the rest of us travel to the castle.

    "It's getting late," I say. "We should go to bed."

    Elle agrees, already climbing into bed, but Clifford moans in reluctance.

    "But I'm not tired."

    And this is why I'm leaving this kid behind.

    "But we are." I snap back, a little snipper than I need to be.

    In a huffy manner, he plops down on his makeshift bed and glares defiantly at the floorboards. Several minutes later, he's knocked out, wheezing softly in his sleep.

    Above me, Sephora has already drifted to sleep and Elle follows close behind. She's still awake enough to wish me a good night, though.

   "Night," I whisper back.

    I soon realize, though, that I'm too awake to fall asleep at this point. So I just lie there feeling kind of lost. Without even thinking about it, my hand goes into my pocket and pulls out the dread ring I despise yet keep around.

   It still gleams spectacularly in the moonlight, casting a new, deeper hue of blue, it's crystalline reflection splayed across the floor. It's actually kind of memorizing.

   "Come tomorrow, he won't even know what hit him."

   I smile to myself at that thought, slipping the ring back into the safety of my pocket.

   The sooner I return this ring, the sooner this roller coaster will be over. For now, though, I just have to keep going along for the ride.