Crystallized Dreams: A Race Against Time

Chapter 2: To Gardenia!

By the time the three had gone to get food and back, it was already around 3PM. They all ate like pigs instead of saving their food like they had discussed on the way back to their crystal house. Now that they were stuffed full, they weren't sure how to fill the remaining time they had until sundown.

"Now all we have to do is wait," Katie sighed with her head facedown on a crystal table she had made earlier.

"Thank goodness it's October," Michael said. He was sitting at the table with Katie. "If it was summer then we'd have to sit here till 9 or something."

"I just can't wait to finally get out of this place," Josh said from where he lay on the floor out of extreme boredom. "So in the meantime, I guess maybe we should plan out what we're going to do once we arrive in Gardenia."

He lifted himself off the ground and joined Katie and Michael at the table.

"I say that we should look for Roxy's mom, Morgana," Michael suggested. "Maybe she could help us find out where this 'ancient scroll of Relix' is."

"And how exactly would we find her?" asked Josh.

"We go to the Frutti Music Bar," Katie answered. "Obviously Klaus will be there, so we'll ask him where she is."

"......And what do we do if he's not there or if the place is closed?" Michael asked.

No one answered for a few moments, but Josh decided to speak up.

"Well....we'll just have to hope that isn't the case."

So they all sat around and let time pass. It did quickly at first, but it seemed like the longer they waited the slower time seemed to go by. Josh was just about to reach his breaking point when Katie got up and headed to the door. She partially opened it and looked outside for a moment before swinging the door open fully and turning back to look at him.

"It's past sunset," she said.

"We can finally ditch this place?" Josh scrambled to his feet as fast as he could.

"Yep. Let's head out now," Katie said before transforming. She headed out the door with Michael and Josh following her excitedly.

Upon going outside, both the twins turned around to face their small crystal house. In perfect sync they raised their hands directly at the house and, it simply vanished. The two then high-fived before joining up with Michael.

"So are we gonna carry you or....?" Katie started to ask.

"Nope. Watch this," Josh grinned. With a snap of his fingers, flat crystal boards appeared underneath the feet of each of them. Michael demonstrated to Katie by making his own board go upwards.

"Cool," she said and looked down at the board beneath her feet. "These are nice but....I don't need one."

"Neither do I," Josh made his own board float off the ground as well. He looked down at his sister. "But it's fun. You should try it. You basically just have to lean for control and the rest kinda comes naturally."

Katie looked up at him with uncertainty at first, then at her own board. "Well, if you insist."

Gingerly, she centered her weight on her right leg and leaned back. This caused her board to rise a bit, which was just a bit startling.

"Which way to we have to go from here?" Josh asked her.

Katie faced east and pointed directly ahead. "That way."

"Alright then, bye," Josh laughed and took off.

"Hey, no fair!" Michael said with a laugh and flew after him, leaving Katie all alone. She just sighed and, after a few moments, figured out how to get her board to move and flew after the guys. Both of them were several meters ahead of her.

Once she was high enough in the sky to remain out of sight by the humans, she leaned forward on her board to drastically increase her speed. The streetlights and buildings rushed by underneath her. The wind was behind her as well, contributing to her speed.

Lightbulb! Katie thought with a smile. She would have used her wings to make her go faster, but the idea she had in mind was more fun.

"I'm winning!" Josh declared.

"You are so going to eat those words," Michael said from not far behind him. "Well at least Katie isn't even near us. Heck, she barely even knows how to ride-"

At that moment Katie sped right past him with a smirk on her face. She had transformed back to normal so that she could use her jacket as a sail. Michael was dumbstruck.

Katie purposely slowed down once the "Welcome to Gardenia" sign had come into view. She knew that whoever flew past that sign first would be the winner of their little race. Katie didn't want to fly past her brother just yet; not while he had yet to assume his victory. She wanted to give him a real shock.

"And the winner is...." Josh started as he came within a meter from the sign.

Suddenly Katie zipped past him, flew past the sign and skidded to a halt, causing him to scream out of shock.

"But....I-how?" Josh's voice cracked as he came to a stop in front of her. It was then when he saw how Katie had her arms spread out with her jacket on. She used the wind, which just so happened to be right behind them the whole time, to her advantage.

Katie smirked. "I would've used my wings but that would be cheating. Actually....we didn't set any rules so if I did use my wings then it technically wouldn't be cheating."

With a small smile Josh rolled his eyes. Soon enough the two saw Michael finally catch up with them.

"Welcome to Gardenia," he said to them both and looked downwards at the city. The twins couldn't tell if he was just reading the sign or if he was just saying that off the top of his head.

"I wonder what would happen if we just cruised by and let everyone notice," Josh said. "Remember-these people believe in magic."

"I say we not risk it," Katie objected. "Let's just look for the Frutti Music Bar so we can maybe find Morgana."

Michael nodded, making Josh facepalm. "I wasn't saying we should actually do it," Josh sighed. "I was just wondering."

"Well alright then," Katie said. "So let's start searching for the place, then. But make sure to be stealthy about it."