We had been traveling for nearly an hour. It was daybreak and the sun was shining down, unmercifully, on us. But, of course, the girl in the sky got the most heat.
Being a hundred feet above them, I could barely hear what my sisters and Aaron were talking about. Sometimes I wish I did when they suddenly burst out laughing.
But I could see that my sisters were getting restless. They were constantly leaning forward on their horses or pestering Aaron with questions.
I instructed Clouds to dive down only a few feet above their heads. He obeyed and soon I was hearing everything, but that might not have been a good thing.
“So, Aaron,” Galena asked, dreamily. “I heard that you had a power. Quite like ours?”
Aaron was about to answer but Aqua cut him off. “But, obviously, you are better than us. We haven’t really learned to manage our powers fully yet.”
I rolled my eyes. Why were my sisters such flirts?
I suppose Aaron was avoiding answering the question because he changed the subject. He looked up at me, flipping his hair and smiling. “Well, Ericka, you’ve certainly been quiet. What’s wrong?”
I glared down at him. Nothing was wrong with me! How dare he insult a princess!
My wonderful sister, Safire, answered for me. “She’s always in a bad mood. She’s just plain mean and unpleasant. That’s why she’s of the sky.” Safire went on but I wasn’t listening.
I sat, arms crossed, on my flying horse. That look Aaron gave me wouldn’t get out of my head. I started to blush even though all I was thinking about was Aaron. But I was sure that I didn’t like him, if not I hated him. I hoped that I wouldn’t end up liking him, like everyone else. Just the thought of that possible outcome made my face grow all hot and red, I could feel it.
Then a strong wind started to blow. It was so powerful that it pushed all the horses toward the desert a few yards from us on the grassy path. Mad wind, I called it. My revenge on Earth.
“Stop it!” Aqua shrieked, holding on to Coral’s, her horse, neck, tightly, to avoid being blown into the air.
Aaron looked stunned as he hung onto his royal horse’s neck. “Ericka’s causing this wind?”
“Yes,” Galena said through grit teeth. “my repulsive sister.”
My winds blew the dust from our path. On top of Clouds, I felt powerful as I hurled winds at random things.
All the horses stopped moving, trying to endure the winds a few minutes longer.
I finally listened to my sisters’ constant pleads of sympathy and let the winds die down. However, that attack had drained all the energy out of me. I fell on my horse, exhausted.
Everyone, except Aaron, shot disgusted looks up at me. I’m sure he would have but he was too busy saying how amazing it was and grinning like a village idiot. Amateur.
“Haven’t you ever seen a power being used?” Galena asked, a tad bit annoyed at his childish behavior. “I mean, you have one.”
“Uh yeah, sure.”
I could tell different. Aaron Delgado, the great, was hiding something. It was probably so dark and deep and vital that he could not even tell us.
