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Vur yawned and sat up. The sun was just beginning to set. He had slept for a whole night, morning, and afternoon. The first thing he saw was Stella flitting back and forth over her head while giggling to herself. “You’re in a good mood,” Vur said and yawned again. He rubbed away the boogers in the corner of his eyes and blinked. “What happened?”

“Am I?” Stella asked, unable to keep her mouth from splitting her face with a wide grin. “It must be because I remembered how good it feels for a fairy to do fairy things.”

“Like … flying?” Vur tilted his head. His brow furrowed. “Did you come up with a plan to destroy the world?”

“Destroy the world?” Stella blinked and stopped moving. “Why would I do that?”

“Never mind,” Vur said and shook his head. He glanced to the side. The Recordkeeper was sitting with her legs crossed and eyes closed while humming to herself. Vur got up and poked the winged woman’s shoulder. Her body leaned backwards, and she let out a yelp and flailed her arms out but couldn’t stop herself from falling. She sat up and glared at Vur, but all he did was ask her, “Are you ready to go?”

“I’ve been ready,” the Recordkeeper said. “I’ve been ready this whole time; you were the one sleeping the day away. It’s really rude to make people wait for you like this especially after you kidnapped them to come along on a journey with you.”

Vur yawned again before rubbing his stomach. “Uh-huh,” he said, not bothering to help the Recordkeeper up. “Where are the evil beasts? I’m getting hungry.”

The Recordkeeper rolled her eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to go to sleep?” she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “The sun’s about to set after all.”

Vur raised his head, the red sunrays entering his eyes. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “If we go now, it’ll be harder to find them once it becomes dark. If they sleep at night, it’ll take even longer to spot them because they won’t be moving.”

“Wait, no,” the Recordkeeper said. “You weren’t supposed to take that suggestion seriously.”

“It makes too much sense to not take seriously,” Vur said with a nod. He flopped back down onto the ground and closed his eyes. Within a few seconds, a snot bubble rose out of his nostril.

Stella stared at Vur before turning towards the Recordkeeper. The fairy queen put her hands on her hips as if to say, “Great. Look at what you did.”

The Recordkeeper frowned. “Should I wake him up?”

A sigh escaped from Stella’s mouth. “Just let him sleep,” she said. “It’s not like those evil beasts will be going anywhere anytime soon.” She flew down and tapped on the green rune on Vur’s arm. “Let’s go, Zilphy. I need your peeping abilities.”

“It’s wind listening, not peeping!” Zilphy said as she emerged from Vur’s arm in the form of a green rock. “Are we going to the same place again?”

***

Helden shambled into the room. His face was pale, and sweat dripped from the strands of hair clinging to his cheeks. Compared to last night, he was much thinner, his cheekbones and lower jaw clearly seen beneath his skin. Despite the terrible condition he was in, he was elated. “It finally stopped,” he said to no one in particular.

Moments later, Ingwer stumbled into the room, looking as haggard as Helden. Forster walked out of the bathroom; she was in no better shape. Blau stared at her companions with a complicated expression. She was the only one unaffected by the food poisoning, and because of that, it felt like the other two women were able to forge a stronger relationship with Helden due to sharing a miserable experience. “Are all of you better now?” Blau asked.

“I feel like death,” Forster said.

Ingwer sighed. “Some minor demons were expelled from my body, but I’m all better now.”

Helden grimaced. “Forget about our situation,” he said. “Where did the target go?”

“The target hasn’t moved,” Blau said and furrowed her brow. “She fidgeted occasionally, but she never left the area.”

“She stayed at the same campsite for a whole day?” Helden asked. “What is she doing?”

“Maybe she had food poisoning too,” Forster said. She exhaled and let herself fall face first onto her bed. Her head turned to the side, exposing her mouth to the air. “If she did move, were we really going to follow her in our condition?”

“Forget it,” Helden said and shook his head. He sat down and sank into his bed. “It’s getting dark soon. I don’t think she’ll be going anywhere. We should get some rest and recover from this unfortunate incident.”

“I agree,” Ingwer said. She glanced at Blau. “Are you going to stay up again?”

Blau waved her hand, dismissing Ingwer’s concerns. “During my cram sessions, it wouldn’t be uncommon to stay up for four days at a time. However, if I stay up any longer than that, the shadow people will come for me.”

“The shadow people?” Forster asked. “Who are they?”

“You don’t have to worry about them even though they’re always around us,” Blau said and shook her head. “When you’re low on mana and when your mental energy is exhausted, you’ll be able to see them—usually from the corners of your eyes. It’s only a problem if you don’t go to sleep after seeing them.”

Ingwer frowned. “What happens if you stay up?”

“They take your sanity,” Blau said and shrugged.

“Enough,” Helden said before anyone else could say anything. “Let’s get some sleep.” He slipped inside of his blankets and lay down. A moment later, he frowned. “Why is my bed wet?”

“My bed is wet too,” Forster said and frowned.

Ingwer pressed down on her pillow. “It’s wet here as well.”

Blau blinked when her three companions turned to stare at her. “Don’t look at me,” she said. “I didn’t do anything.”

Helden got up and touched Blau’s pillow. “Hers is wet too. Is someone messing with us?”

“Let’s get a different room,” Forster said and snorted.

Blau’s brow furrowed, and she climbed to her feet. She walked to the side of her bed but couldn’t see anything off about it. Her hand pressed against her pillow, but it just felt like a normal pillow to her. What was going on?

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