Parallel World

XII. Aella

THE SIX TEENS MADE their way deeper into the forest, narrowly avoiding low-hanging branches and watchful owls.

"Will they ever rest?" Maynar snapped, ducking his head as an owl made to shit on his head. No one paid him—or his owl—any mind.

Nylie and Tia walked ahead, arguing obnoxiously, most likely catching up on their years apart. Aella increased her pace so that she was side by side with the latter, her boots slick and silent on the grassy plain.

"Where are we going?"

"A place you've never been," Nylie replied.

Aella gritted her teeth. "No shit, Sherlock."

Nylie did not reply; she only stomped off loudly--as she did everything.

Tia rolled her eyes. "Pay her no mind. That is just who she is."

"I can see that," Aella replied.

"We're going to the Brine Cave," Tia said. "It's our Save The World Headquarters. We'll figure out what to do what from there."

"How far is it from here?" she asked.

"Less than a day's journey."

Aella frowned. "Why can't we just go straight to the Iowei Towers? That's where Lizzy's dad told us to go. I don't think we have time to be making many stops."

"Oh, you know about the Towers? Yes, Iowei is a good place to start, but we have intelligent people at the Brine who can assist you. It would be unwise to begin without their guidance."

Aella nodded, her eyes on Nylie's back.

"Don't mind her," Tia said, following her eyes. "She is her most endearing when she has these tantrums."

Aella shook her head. "I don't know how you can stand her. She's insufferable."

"Funny. Usually people say that about me," Tia said, raising a brow. "Besides, we insufferable people stick together, since no one else can stand us. I'm sure you have your own unbearable side. You'd be good with us."

Aella knew that Tia had as good as offered her friendship, but she was not inclined to accept. Friendship was ... unnecessary. She had been alone all her life. Now wasn't the time to start making friends. So Aella did not bother being anything than what she was: a girl no one could care for.

She kept her gaze flat as she said, "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to save your world."

Tia didn't miss a beat. "And I am grateful. But it is not really a favor to my world, is it? Saving my world means saving yours, too."

Aella clamped down on her irritation, but soon decided that her curiosity could not be crushed as easily. "How is it you can turn into a pixie?"

"Transforming is my Gift. The pixie form is my favorite, which is why Nylie knew how to look for me."

"Does everyone have a Gift?" Aella asked.

The girl shook her head. "You either have one or you don't. It usually appears between ages eleven to seventeen. In special cases, Gifts appears much earlier or much later."

Aella nodded. "So how did you discover your Gift?"

"I am sorry, but I am sworn not to tell you. Each person who discovers their Gift must conceal how they got it. If I were to tell you, I would be stripped of my Gift."

Aella looked at Tia, horrified. "What do you mean, stripped Who's doing th stripping?"

Aella put up a hand. "Wait. Don't tell me. The Wade Council."

Tia bit her lip, concealing a smile. "Yes. I am guessing you have already heard of their notorious reputation, then"

Aella rolled her eyes. She was sick of this damn Council already, and she hadn't even met them yet. "More like annoying reputation. So what exactly do we do to bring back the Sun and Moon?"

She felt ridiculous even saying it aloud.

"Well, you would first have to track down the Aydar, which is next to impossible. She has never been seen before."

Aella paused. Johan had not mentioned anything about an Aydar thing.

"The what-now?"

Tia raised a brow. "She is Paravald's queen, the one we are fighting against. She is the reason our two dimensions are in danger. You should definitely know about her."

"Right. Because I'm supposed to know everything that goes on here when this isn't even my dimension."

Tia rolled her eyes. "You almost sound like Nylie. That girl learned sarcasm way before she learned to walk."

"Do not," Aella said, glaring, "compare me to that psychopath."

"That psychopath is one of my closest friends," Tia said, clearly offended. "She has a big heart. I am sorry you cannot see that."

Aella raised her brows, her eyes tracking Nylie where she stomped far ahead of them, completely unaware that she was being talked about.

"I don't think she feels the same."

Tia sighed. "She does. She just hates to show it. She thinks it makes her weak, to love. That is the only thing her past has taught her, anyway.

"She thinks it makes her weak, to love. But friendship is not something we avoid, just because we fear losing it. And until Nylie realizes that, she will keep on making the same mistake. Disregarding the love that people offer."

Aella brought her gaze back to Nylie, where she walked far ahead of them. Perhaps ... perhaps she had been a little too cruel when she had met her. Perhaps she had been too quick to judge the exterior.

It was easy, Aella thought, so easy to forget that even the strongest-looking people felt weak sometimes. Perhaps she had been cruel, when she could've been kind. What if Nylie had been fighting a battle she knew nothing about?

"The problem with us teenage girls," Tia continued softly, "is that we are afraid of the very things meant to set us free."

Aella said nothing, her eyes fixed on her boots as she put one foot in front of the other, as she had been forced to do all her life.

All Tia talked about was faith and optimism, but what did she know? She came from a dimension that had beautiful landscapes and magical creatures. Of course someone like her would be hopeful. People like her got everything they wanted, while Aella was stuck only dreaming of those things.

But Aella came from a world where you went outside only when it was necessary, because you couldn't see anything. You couldn't take a walk outside or sit in a park or read a damn book. Only when the Moon was full were people allowed to go to the market and buy milk or a carton of eggs. You couldn't see with the quarter Moon, nor the half Moon. Only when the Moon was full was it powerful enough to illuminate the entire world, all by itself.

Aella had learned to do that over the years. Illuminate her own world. Be her own full Moon. Because she knew no one else would do it for her.

So Tia was everything she hated in life, because it seemed like she had never had to fight for things the way Aella had. The way everyone in Wayward had to.

"Whatever," Aella said. She was tired of this conversation. All she wanted to do was sit on her ass and never get up again. But Nylie's warning came back to her in a rush; she couldn't rest in Paravald, not even for a moment. She was glad she would not be traveling alone.

In a way, Aella was glad she had grown up in Wayward, lived there for all these years. She would probably have gone crazy trying to remember all the rules you had to know in order to survive in this dimension. Wayward had no rules.

For that, at least, she was grateful.