I received a knock on my door the next day. Unsurprisingly, it was Aidan.

  “Elaina…” He was in tears.

  “What’s wrong?!” I quickly swung the door wide open and tried to motion for him to come in, but he quickly shook his head.

  “I-I can’t thank you enough for what you did. For helping my sister. She’s completely better now, thanks to you and Finn. I-I owe you an apology…”

  “You don’t owe me anything! Besides, you kind of did already apologize yesterday—”

  “T-That’s not all. I… I thought you would abandon me for Finn like everyone else!” He clenched his fists, turning away from me. “I didn’t trust you to stay friends with me after the duel! I-I was scared…”

  I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer to me. He smelled similar to bubblegum, something I had realized the last time I hugged him.

  “It’s okay, Aidan,” I whispered. “We all get scared. And considering your past, I don’t blame you.”

  “R-Really…?”

  “Really.” I nodded into his shoulder.

  I pulled away and saw Sylvis smiling at the two of us. Totally not embarrassing. “Don’t stop on my account.” She motioned for us to continue and I felt my hands warm up.

  “We’re done, thank you very much.” I pursed my lips. “What are you doing here?” I tried not to sound too accusatory.

  “I need the two of you to come to my office. Please, follow me.” She beckoned.

  Aidan and I wordlessly followed her into the elevator. The short ride up was silent — awkwardly so. She wouldn’t even give us a hint as to why we were wanted. The clicking of her heels across the hall only made me feel more tense. Were we in trouble for something?

  She opened the office door and motioned for us to walk in. To my surprise, Finn was already there.

  Uh oh.

  “I think you all know the reason you are here.” Sylvis shut the door behind her and walked to her seat behind the desk. “Please, sit.” She motioned to three chairs that had appeared out of thin air.

  We sat down and let her explain.

  “I’m sure you’re all aware of the rule regarding interfering in normal civilians’ lives with magic?”

  We all nodded. Crap, how had she found out? Did she really have eyes everywhere? Or had we been too loud and someone had overheard us?

  “You knew, yet you still chose to break this rule. What’s even worse, you broke an additional rule regarding the extraction of ether from another person.” She crossed her arms, her disappointment palpable.

  But how did she know about that? Could she see into everyone’s lives? Was she a mind reader like Finn?

  The sound of a chair being knocked over caught me off guard.“I don’t regret my decision,” Aidan said firmly — perhaps more firmly than he had said anything in the time I had been here. “My sister is worth more to me than anything in this world. I couldn’t stand by and watch her suffer when there was a solution to her suffering!”

  “I don’t regret my decision either.” Finn stood up as well.

  I stood up because the other two did, but uh, I didn’t have anything to say…

  A look of surprise flashed in Sylvis’ eyes. “And did you cure this girl?”

  “In a manner of speaking, perhaps. Her symptoms are managed now. Curing her would be impossible for someone like me,” Finn explained.

  “Explain.”

  “She… had two souls… I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  Sylvis’ eyes widened as her lips dropped into a frown. “Nor should you have. Possessing two souls is unheard of — unnatural. Given the girl’s status and age, she’s unlikely to have afflicted herself. I will have to look into this matter more, as well as find a proper solution.”

  “You mean you can’t fix her yourself?” I blinked.

  “No, I cannot.”

  And here I thought she was all-powerful.

  “What are you going to do to her?!” Aidan clenched his fists, and for a moment, I thought he would actually punch Sylvis.

  “I’m not going to harm her if that’s what you’re implying.” She narrowed her eyes at him, causing him to immediately back down. It was as if he remembered who he was dealing with and all confidence was lost.

  “Are we in trouble…?” I asked, not wanting to prolong this any longer than necessary.

  “Given the information you provided, I’ll let you off easy this time. Yes, that still means you have to do something for me in return.”

  “What about the ether extraction? Are we punished for that, too?”

  “Given the fact that you consented as well as some… cooperation on Finn’s part, shall I say, I’m willing to turn a blind eye just this once.”

  We all sighed in relief. But what did she mean by cooperation on Finn’s part?

  “W-What’s our punishment?” I was surprised Aidan still had the balls to speak.

  Sylvis smiled. “I recently received a plant we all thought to have been extinct. Pyrosnappers.”

  “They’re real?!” Finn’s eyes widened. “I remember reading about them as a kid!”

  “Quite real.” Sylvis giggled. “And I’d like you to plant them for me. Away from the rest of the flowers, of course. Where you plant them is up to you, but keep in mind they need plenty of sunlight and despise water. They’re also quite aggressive to other species — plant or otherwise. And whatever you do, don’t kill them. I assure you, the punishment for killing them will be far worse than anything any of you have ever experienced in the entirety of your short, miserable lives.” She glared at all of u,s and I felt myself die a little inside. “Now then, get to it!”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She handed us three pots that were completely covered on top by some sort of container. I couldn’t even see what was inside. I thought these plants needed a lot of sunlight?

  “Where should we plant them?” I asked as we descended down the elevator.

  “Near the perimeter won’t work because of the bushes. The fountains are obviously out of the question due to water and other flowers. The arena wouldn’t be good either, considering they could be damaged by stray magic. Hm…” Finn thought it over.

  “W-What about in front of the manor when you enter from town?” Aidan suggested.

  “I’d be worried about anyone entering the manor…” What was that supposed to mean?

  “What about Maverick’s bedroom?” I snickered.

  Finn turned to me, amusement clear. “He does have a balcony with plenty of sunlight.”

  “Why not plant them in Sylvis’ bedroom? Then she can see her miserable man-eating plants every night before bed,” Aidan mumbled.

  “M-Man-eating?” I chuckled nervously.

  “That’s not entirely accurate." Finn shook his head. “Thinking about it, I believe Rosalie is quite fond of these plants. She also has her own personal garden on her balcony. I believe she still has some extra space…?”

  “Cool. But how will we get into her room?” I asked.

  “Follow me.” He beckoned me and Aidan.

  We walked around the manor outside until we were practically pressed against its side. Finn took each of our hands in his and glanced up above us. Was that the balcony up there? The nauseous feeling returned, and I found myself on the very balcony we were staring at.

  Finn immediately dropped to his knees, his breath becoming more rapid and louder.

  “Are you okay?!” I quickly grabbed his arm and back to steady him, but that only made him wince, and I realized how cold my hands were. I immediately let go, mentally rolling my eyes at myself, and left the task to Aidan.

  “Teleporting three people took more ether than I expected.” He chuckled breathily. “I don’t know how Maverick does it. Speaking of Maverick, we’re on the wrong balcony. This is Maverick’s balcony.”

  “Then where’s Rosalie’s?!” I asked, horrified that Finn overexerted himself for nothing.

  “Over there.” He motioned with his head to the next balcony over. There was a six-foot gap in between that I did not feel comfortable jumping over.

  “I-I can handle this!” Aidan tried to sound determined but failed. “Get up on the fence!”

  We stood up on the fence of the balcony facing Rosalie’s balcony. I made the mistake of looking down ...and seeing it was at least twenty feet to the bottom. The fence wasn't very wide either — our feet were hanging off the edge.

  “Are you sure you’ve got this? No guarantees that I’ll catch us if we fall.” Finn asked. His nervousness definitely didn’t help mine.

  “I-I can do this! I have to! Or we’ll never make it!” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, I felt pressure against my back pushing me forward until I landed on Rosalie’s balcony. Wind! He used wind! Man, I wish I were as cool as Aidan…

  “You did it! You really did it!” Finn looked ecstatic. And surprised. Had he genuinely thought Aidan would fail? Then again, so did I, and I had no idea what he was planning.

  Time to plant the—

  “Wait… Where are the plants?” I frantically looked around.

  “Did you not teleport the plants with us?!” Aidan practically screamed at Finn, causing the latter to nearly fall backwards off the balcony.

  “I-It’s fine! Now that we’re on the balcony, we can unlock the door from the inside! You two unlock it, and I’ll bring the plants up.” He summoned his lance and jumped two feet down, his lance breaking the fall. Show-off. Could’ve just used the door.

  “It’s locked.” Aidan wiggled the doorknob that made that distinct click when locked.

  “Let me see,” I said, gently pushing him out of the way. Maybe I could use ice to break the lock? To my surprise, the door clicked open. “You’re sure it was locked?” I turned to him, confused.

  “I thought it was.” He shrugged.

  I pushed the door open, revealing a room slightly bigger than mine and very messy. This Rosalie person was a pig, apparently. …A pig with good taste. A violet canopy bed was to the left, its poles a soft lilac close to white, matching the rest of the furniture in the room. Or what could be seen of the furniture. I took notice of all the pictures lying around. Most of them were of a purple-haired girl with yellow eyes and pointed ears, and Sylvis. I took the former to be Rosalie herself. There were a couple of pictures of her and Maverick. He still looked like a disinterested asshole in all but one picture. I wonder what the context of that picture was.

  “W-We should open the door now.” Aidan snapped me out of my tranc,e and I put the picture back down. I undid the lock and opened the door, waiting for Finn to come by with the plants, which happened seconds later.

  “It’s not nice to snoop into other people’s possessions.” Finn offered a lopsided grin as he struggled to balance all three potted plants.

  “It’s not nice to break into their living quarters either, and that’s exactly what you had me do.” I grabbed one of the pots from him, lessening his burden.

  We walked back to the balcony where I averted my gaze on the way back this time.

  There were two patches of grass and soil. One was nearly filled, and the other was empty. Finn had already started walking to the empty one so I just followed.

  "Man, I haven't thought about these plants since reading about them as a kid. Of course, I thought they were just fairy tales at the time. Well, I actually thought they were real, and then I thought they were fictitious. Funny how that worked out." Finn sighed. “We’re going to do this quickly, all right?” He looked between the two of us.

  “N-No complaints here.” Was it just me or did Aidan suddenly look pale?

  “Let’s dig all of the holes first. I’ll grab hold of the plant, and you two cover. Have the trowels ready ahead of time, okay?”

  “What trowels?” I asked.

  He motioned with his head to some in the corner. Guess that was my cue to go grab them.

  Finn and Aidan carefully dug the holes as I watched. I had tried to dig one but received glares from both men as they claimed I was “doing it wrong.” Then teach me how to do it right! Hmph!

  “Get ready,” Finn ordered as he grabbed the pot in one hand, his other hovering on the container over it.

  Aidan and I both shoveled some soil as Finn removed the covering in one swift movement. I nearly fainted where I sat — my hand connecting to the trowel with ice. A rather large carnivorous plant with three bulbs was revealed. The only thing was… The bulbs were on fire!

  “Ella! Your hands! Keep them away from the plant or you’ll freeze it!” Finn ordered. The thought of killing it was very tempting, yes.

  “You said Rosalie liked these things?!” I squeaked, my voice higher and louder than I intended.

  “She has a very unique taste! Now dig!” Finn had placed the plant with the potted soil into the ground, and Aidan had already started covering it, working overtime to compensate for my lack of help. I quickly started covering it and watched as one of the bulbs opened and emitted fire onto Finn’s arm. He winced a little in pain, and the plant became lopsided, one of the bulbs now facing me.

  “Get it away! Get it away!” I shrieked, my hands only growing icier, freezing some of the soil in the process.

  “No! You can’t freeze it!” Aidan shouted, using fire magic to melt the ice.

  “Idiot! You vaporized it into water!” Finn pursed his lips, the pain from his arm evident.

  “W-Well, ice isn’t any better!” Aidan shouted back.

  Ugh! This was all my fault— No, this wasn’t my fault! It was these two knuckleheads’ fault for not warning me what type of cursed plant this was!

  Finn grabbed the stem of the plant, pushing it back into place as Aidan finished covering it. I just sat around uselessly, not wanting to accidentally kill the plant. Sylvis’ warning rang in my head.

  “Are you okay, Ella?” Finn asked, his voice far kinder and softer than it had been during that whole ordeal.

  “I’m fine. How’s your arm?” I asked, embarrassed that I was somehow a bigger concern than someone who just got burned.

  “I’ll ask Aqua to heal it later since neither of you can use magic. Would you like me and Aidan to handle the other two? Or do you think you can remain calm enough to help this time?”

  “I want to help. This is my punishment too, after all. I… want to help. If I get in your way again, I’ll back out.”

  Finn and Aidan nodded in agreement as we moved on to the second plant. This time, I managed to control myself so my hands were only cold — and not literally icing over. Aidan got burned this time, but somehow seemed to take it much better than Finn had. The third one went the smoothest, with nobody getting injured this time.

  “I guess both of you will be seeing Aqua now, huh?” I smirked, but also felt guilty that I was the only one unscathed, mostly because I did nothing.

  “I think I’ll see Marge instead…” Aidan mumbled. Right, he was okay with Finn now, but… What’s the problem with Aqua, again?

  Well, that’s his problem to figure out. I want to be very far away from these plants. I wonder if Rosalie will actually like them… I hope they don’t somehow find a way to kill her other plants.