Chapter 40

This chapter is dedicated to my aunt who asked for it and I supplied. I hope it's as amusing as you thought it would be.

[x] indicates inner dialogue

Chapter 40

Delta

["Prince Gabriel is saying that I should ask her to do memory therapy with me,"] Janti spoke softly in the back of Delta's mind. She couldn't help but keep her focus as they continued to walk around the human world, so her attention was split between her mate and the surrounding area. It reminded her of some of the housing districts in Vaccoon, only things seemed to have more color here with their bright blues and yellows.

Everyone in their little group seemed to be on edge and Delta wasn't sure why. They were in the human world and this was one of the most non-threatening places in all of the worlds. However, with Nylah and Elisabet both being alert as if something would jump on them at any time, she was keeping her eyes and ears open, her mind only wandering to Janti a little.

["Do you think that she could help you?"] She asked back as she watched Angelica and Jake at the front of their group. Her eyes focused on Jake for several seconds, watching him tap one of his fingers on his hip over and over again. He'd been like that the entire trip down here. Not speaking to anyone, jumping when people spoke or touched him, his entire demeanor was just off.

["I don't know,"] Janti admitted in the back of her mind, showing the weakness of his personality that he reserved only for her.

["What could it hurt to ask?"] There was a long pause and Delta focused on Janti a little more as she saw the doubts and worries that were racing across his mind. He was looking for reasons, examples, anything that could make it seem like it was a bad idea. It didn't surprise her, most of the time when he did memory therapy with anyone, they'd had to basically drag him there, to begin with. Delta knew the truth though; he never wanted to go because he didn't want to look weak, he wanted to act as if the entire situation had never happened. That he could just keep living his life the way that he was beforehand. Only he couldn't and it had almost gotten him killed more than once.

"This is it." Angelica's breathy voice pulled Delta from her own thoughts as she looked up at the old Victorian-style house. All the windows were dark, curtains drawn as if everyone was already asleep.

Nylah walked up the driveway and towards the sidewalk that led up to the front porch as if she owned the place. They all watched as she walked up to the door, used her aether on it before trying to turn the knob. However, confusion before annoyance flittered across her face and she turned to look at Elisabet.

"He spelled it." She said simply and Delta saw one of Elisabeth's dark copper eyebrows raise as she walked over to Nylah. Without saying a word, she tried the same skill to get the lock to open but also let out an annoyed breath when the handle didn't turn.

"You know if he spelled the front door then every entrance is going to be the same way," Elisabet muttered look at Nylah who nodded looking at the building.

"Well," Shanell walked over to them and picked up the doormat looking down.

"Jonathan isn't just going to leave a key laying around for anyone to find." Nylah sighed sounding slightly annoyed with her.

"No, he wouldn't, but Nyline would." Shanell agreed as she placed the rug back down onto the porch before she reached up and started feeling around the top part of the door frame. A grin spread across her face before she stood and held up the small key, as her eyes connected with Nylah's.

"Okay, I'll bite," Elisabet spoke her hands on her hips, "Why would Nyline leave a key on her door frame." Shanell lit up at the question and Delta laughed softly. She could feel Janti turning his attention to them, eager to be a part of the things he forced himself to hold back from.

"Because she jumps out of windows constantly. I'm sure Jonathan had a rule about reentering the house via windows or something." Shanell said with a smile splitting her face before she shrugged as Delta tried to hide her grin. Shanell had hit that nail on the head with that analogy.

As they got the door open, Nylah and Elisabet walked in, telling them to wait as they cleared the area of traps. After several minutes, everyone walked into the house and started looking around.

"Nyline's room is upstairs, though I'm not sure which one is it because we didn't actually go up there," Jake spoke in a dull tone as he motioned to the steps with his chin. Delta turned her attention to Shanell before she mimicked her and started to look around.

Delta and Shanell paired off as Nylah and Elisabet both went upstairs, then Jake and Angelica went into another room off the side. Delta glanced after them as Angelica turned on a light. The room was a kitchen only, her eyes grew wide. It looked exactly like the kitchen on their side of the castle with the black cabinets and white marble countertops. She exchanged a glance with Shanell.

["Why do you think it's so similar?"] Shanell asked looking at the kitchen with her mouth open slightly.

["No idea."] Delta could feel Dashiner and Adrenell looking through their eyes but neither of them spoke. Their confusion wafted into her mind and she had a feeling they were making bets in their own connection. They turned together and started to walk down the hallway, passing a small living room as well as a dining room before they made it to the back of the house and looked out into the darkened yard.

"Do you think he's been here?" Shanell whispered to Delta making her look over at her before she looked back into the yard. A large wooden box high up in one of the trees catching her attention.

"No idea," Delta spoke honestly as she cupped her hands around her eyes so she could see better. Noticing that there was a latter hanging down from the middle of the wooden box.

"Wonder what that is?" Shanell spoke more to herself as she cocked her head to the side, opening the sliding glass door and walking out. Delta followed on her heels as they both made it to the tree and looked up. "It's a treehouse, isn't it?" Shanell asked looking far too excited as she ran to the latter and started pulling herself up. Once she got up to the top, she fell completely silent before her head reappeared by the hole. "You have to see this!" She was grinning and Delta sighed softly.

"Coming," She muttered before she grabbed onto the latter and pulled herself up. Once her head broke the top of the wood, she felt herself pause, her eyes looking around the room. For starters, mix-matched blankets and large pillows covered every single inch of the flooring. Delta pulled herself further up into the spacious room and continued to look around. Feeling herself pause she pushed herself up and walked over to the wall before going down on her knees and looking at the stacks upon stacks of books that lined the walls. After a little more looking around she saw that every wall was piled with books.

Without really thinking Delta reached out and picked up the top book off of one of the stacks as she looked down at it. The spine was worn as if someone had read this more than once. She could only assume that someone was Nyline as she flipped the book over to see the cover. Oh, the places you'll go! by Dr. Seuss, looked back up at her and she could help but open the book and thumb through some of the pages. After a few minutes, she placed the book exactly where she'd found it and picked up another one. Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone By J.K. Rowling. This book had different pieces of paper sticking out at different locations in the book and when she opened it, she saw that the entire book had little notes scribbled on the papers with predictions.

"You think these are her favorites?" Shanell spoke from somewhere in the room and Delta heard a book close before the soft thumping of it getting set back down.

"Maybe?" Delta spoke honestly, "Or this is just her collection." She continued on to another pile and looked down at what looked like a hard-back textbook with the title atlas of anatomy by H.F. Ullmann. She flipped the cover open to a random page and saw a diagram of what looked like a spine. Flipping the page again she saw a picture of what she assumed the inside of an ear looked like. She closed the book and looked around the room wondering what other subjects were stashed here. She saw that Shanell had a book called College Algebra II, she couldn't see the author but wondered what algebra was. Shanell's face was scrunched up as she flipped through the pages of the book and just shook her head.

"I don't understand any of this," She muttered, "It's all just graphs, and the texts don't explain anything." After a few more seconds she closed it and shook her head as she set it down and looked at Delta.

"I have a feeling that a lot of these books might be at a more difficult level than we understand," Delta muttered as she looked down at a book that had the word Chemistry written in large letters across the front of it. One peek inside and Delta just closed it again without actually reading any of the text.

"Do you think she understands all this stuff?" Shanell was saying before she picked up another book. "Oh, this one is a romance!" She grinned holding up the book to Delta. Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne. The authors were Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. She paused for a moment looking at it. "Why do you think there's water damage on it?" Delta raised her eyes as she looked at the book and flicked through it. The start of the book was fine but in certain area's there were little water droplet damages all over some of the pages.

["Bet ya anything she was crying over that book,"] Dashiner spoke in the back of her mind. She paused looking at it again.

["Seriously?"] Shanell uttered, snatching the book from Delta's hands as she flipped through it again.

["Those are totally tear marks,"] Adrenell said in a sure voice. ["Dashiner would know. He went through that tragic romance phase when he was twelve and balled his eyes out over almost every book."] There was silence.

["I'd forgotten about that,"] Janti spoke with a laugh on his voice.

["Just because none of you can enjoy a good tragic romance and cry when your favorite characters die doesn't mean that the story isn't good."] Delta inclined her head at that before she paused.

["You want us to grab this series so you can read it?"] Delta asked in complete seriousness. ["I have a feeling if it made Nyline cry then you'd enjoy it, and I doubt that she'd mind if you borrowed them."] Dashiner was quiet for a few minutes.

["Gab says you can bring them back, but I still have to ask to borrow them,"] Dash spoke in what Delta knew was as a neutral tone that he could muster at the moment. ["He also said to grab a couple other books that you think she'd enjoy. He wants to put them on her bookshelf in her room."] Delta looked around already knowing that this was the sixth book in the series which meant she needed the other five, and to see if she could find a seventh. Unable to find the seventh, she hoped that this was in fact the end of the series as she turned to see Shanell with her own stack of books in her arms.

"All of the textbook ones are super heavy so I'm going with books that seem like they're just for fun." Delta nodded as she looked at her pile of books that she'd found.

["Why is it so easy to just see her jumping out of her bedroom window to go chill in her treehouse and read?"] Dashiner's mused voice spoke in a faraway tone as if he were dreaming of his own treehouse library.

["Oh man, we got in because she has a key on the doorframe."] Shanell laughed.

["Oh god, I bet Jonathan had a rule about re-entering the house through windows or something!"] Adrenell laughed, and Delta couldn't help but smile.

["I could totally see Jonathan getting super pissed about her jumping back into her room through her window!"] Dashiner howled with laughter.

["He probably had rules against her going out the window too, but I think that she'd just ignore them!"] Shanell put in with a laugh.

["Oh, poor Lady Nyline,"] Sigma said with a soft laugh, ["She probably got in trouble for even using her movement skills with humans around."]

["Yeah but I doubt that she'd care!"] Dashiner laughed at that and Delta couldn't help but feel her face break into a small smile at that.

["I'm sure she'd care,"] She interjected.

["In truth, Delta is probably right. Knowing Nyline, she probably just acted like she didn't even exist while being among the public. She might have just sat in class with her shadow skill up and turned in work."] Janti spoke sounding speculative but it killed the laughing all at once and there was a beat of silence.

["She didn't use her shadow skill,"] Gabriel spoke suddenly, and Delta wondered exactly when he'd joined the conversation. ["But she did just go to class, turn in her work, and go home, but never forget that she was happy."] Delta paused as she looked for Gabriel's mind, but she didn't find it and everyone else was silent for a little. Had he just popped into the conversation for that second before returning to whatever he was doing?

["Anyone would be happy with a library like that in their treehouse,"] Dashiner grumbled and Delta could feel his regret at his words through their bond. ["I want a library in a stupid treehouse."] He complained, and the mood lightened.

["We could see if Nic and Alice would let us build one on the north side of the castle?"] Shanell spoke loudly showing her excitement.

["If we mentioned it was for Princess Nyline then they would probably pay people to come out and build it for us."] Janti's voice was contemplative.

["Gonna try and get Nic to build it for her?"] Delta asked, liking the sound of a treehouse for them to hang out in.

["Alice probably would too, but Nic would be more excited about it."] Shanell winked at her and Delta grinned.

["Hell yeah!"] Dashiner cheered.

["We're getting a treehouse?"] Adrenell sounded overly excited.

["We'll see,"] Delta muttered thinking on how to approach it.

"Are the two of you up here?" Nylah's voice spoke and the two of them looked over to see her head as it popped up over the floorboard. She paused for a moment looking around with her eyes wide, then to them and their hands that were full of books. "Wow…" Was all she said as she finished climbing up and sat on the lip where the latter was attached. She seemed memorized by what she was seeing.

"Nylah," Delta spoke as she continued to look around the room, but she stopped, and her honey eyes went to Delta. "Why did you come up here?"

"Oh… We're staying here for the day. The sun's coming up and we don't want people to see us leaving the house when no one is home." Once she finished speaking, she stood and walked over to a stack of books and started looking at them. "Go ahead and head back inside, you guys still need to find her clothing," Nylah spoke seeming distracted as she started going through the books one by one. Shanell and Delta shared a look before they headed down the latter. Delta went down first and Shanell handed the books down her one at a time before she also climbed down.

"Why do you think Nylah is so distracted by her books?" Shanell whispered as they walked back to the house.

"I'm not sure," Delta mumbled glancing back at the treehouse.

["She's talking to Alice about them." Sigma spoke softly, "Zenith and her are in the hallway discussing it."]

["But why?"] Dashiner jumped into the conversation making Delta jump slightly before shaking her head.

["Alice seems to think that if she can get a general understanding of some of the knowledge that Nyline has that she'll understand what she's talking about. I guess we have some old earth books and she's going to be reading up on them."] Dashiner made a loud humming noise.

["Oh wow, her living room really is smaller than her bedroom here."] Janti mused making Dashiner's next words fall flat. Delta paused as she really took a look at the living room seeing that there was only a couch and an armchair, with a large black box set over the mantel.

["Yeah, but that's a normal house for you. I'm sure anyone being thrown into a life meant for a royal would be really weird. None of our houses are as big as the castle."] Sigma muttered and Janti hummed softly. Delta looked to Shanell as they set the books down on the counter and looked over at Angelica who was going through cabinets and pulling things out, placing them down on the counter. She paused as if just noticing that they'd come in before she turned and beamed at them.

"You guys should take these." She spoke in that whisper-soft voice as she started pulling little plastic containers from a cabinet.

"What are they?" Shanell asked as she picked one up and Delta watched as her jaw dropped. Shanell picked another up and read the little label.

"What?" Delta asked as she picked up one of the small things so she could read what it was marked with. CINNAMON was written in bold and Delta felt her mouth fall open. Grabbing another container and reading BASIL on it. "Are these spices?" Delta breathed as she picked up yet another one to read TYME.

"They are," Angelica said as she set the last of the tiny containers onto the table from the cabinet. "Spices aren't as rare here in the human world as they are in Vaccoon, so I think you should take those." Shanell was looking at Angelica with an odd expression on her face.

["There are a ton of spices here,"] Delta tuned into their connection just in time for Shanell to tell everyone what they'd just found.

["Spices??"] Dashiner shouted so loudly that Delta wanted to smack him. ["Are you bringing them with you?"]

["What types of spices?"] Adrenell asked at the exact same time.

["We could try all those old recipes that I have from grandma,"] Sigma said in a cheerful voice before all of them started talking over each other. Delta and Shanell exchanged glances before Shanell grinned.

["We're taking these,"] Shanell said laughing inside her mind. ["Jonathan can get new ones, let's say its… payment for him vanishing."]

["Should I ask Gabriel?"] Janti's business tone broke into her sentence.

["No,"] Dashiner and Adrenell spoke at the same time.

["Let's just surprise him with some amazing food,"] Sigma added as an off note which made Shanell laugh again.

["Agreed,"] Adrenell and Dashiner shouted at the same time and Delta winced.

"Elisabet," Shanell spoke making Delta turn to see her walking into the kitchen, her emerald green eyes turning to Shanell with a brow up.

"What?"

"Did you see the treehouse in the backyard?" Her brow rose a little further, but Shanell continued on without missing a beat. "It looks like it was Nyline's favorite hangout spot and we thought that you guys might want to add something to her welcome happy 16th birthday party that we're going to be holding for her." Her features froze before she blinked, those emerald green eyes going towards the back yard before they returned to Shanell's orange ones.

"Did you guys have a chance to go up into Nyline's room and get her some things?" They both shook their heads and Elisabet made a shooing motion with her hands before she walked towards the back door before. Delta took the couple steps out of the kitchen to see her go out and meet Nylah at the bottom of the latter. There was a pause before Nylah looked up at the treehouse and nodded before they both climbed up.

["Looks like we're getting a treehouse!"] Shanell squealed as cheers went up from everyone else followed by laughing.

["I'm voting on one thing guys,"] Janti spoke very softly and everyone quieted. ["Let's not tell Prince Gabriel, has everyone gotten gifts for him as well?"] Delta turned her attention away from the conversation. Janti and her had already gotten Gabriel a present a month or so ago, so they were good.

["Should we get gifts for Prince Damien as well?"] Sigma's soft voice spoke up, catching Delta's attention and she faltered in her step, her eyes going to Shanell behind her who shrugged.

["It was his birthday too and it sounds like his parents didn't do anything for him,"] Shanell added and Delta turned her head slightly as she thought on it. They were right, it was also Prince Damien's birthday, but it was supposed to be Lady Nyline's birthday and welcome party.

["I think it would only seem right,"] Janti spoke through their mate bond, for her ears only.

["I'm thinking so too, but I don't want to overwhelm Lady Nyline with having two sets of scout teams together. I worry that it might stress her mind."]

["You are correct."] Janti paused. "I know that she still has her music box, so she could use that during the party?"[]

["Will it last long enough?"] Delta wondered, knowing full well that she was worried about the thing not living long or something.

["Hopefully? I can ask Gabriel about it."] Delta made a humming noise as she turned back to the group conversation. Dashiner and Adrenell complaining that they wouldn't know what to get him, and Sigma telling them to just get him coupons for the market. Delta couldn't help but snort a laugh as they stopped at the top of the steps and looked around the landing. There were four doors in all. Two were shut and Delta could feel the energy rolling off of them in waves. The energy was pretty clear with its 'do not enter' vibe so she turned from the spelled doors and looked at the other two. Picking up on Nyline's soft scent she turned right and pushed the door open, pausing as she looked around.

All of the walls were white except for one wall that was painted a soft lavender color. All of her furniture was made out of the same dark wood that offset the walls and the soft grey carpet. Her bed was covered with a comforter that was a deep purple but had black flowers blooming up one side. Shanell squeezed in behind her and stopped, looking around the room with her mouth open. It was then that Shanell moved forward slowly and looked at the pictures that were shoved into the corners of the dresser mirror.

"I've never seen Nyline smile like that before." She spoke softly as she pointed to a photo of Nyline that must have been taken this year. It was a selfie and to the looks of it, Nyline had jumped onto Jonathan's back and was taking the photo of the two of them over his shoulder. Her mouth was pulled wide in a big smile as Jonathan only glanced up at her with an amused expression, his brown eyes glinting. In the background there were a bunch of people, and what looked like odd metal beams running in odd patterns.

"Oh wow," Delta's voice was soft as she picked up another photo of a much smaller Nyline and younger Jonathan. She had a fishing pole in hand, holding up a fish, a grin on her face showing that she was missing a few teeth. Jonathan next to her with his hand on her shoulder as they both smiled at the camera.

Delta's eyes went to the next one where they were standing on the edge of a very large opening in the ground. Leaning against a metal fencing. The rock that was all around them was slightly twinged red. Jonathan and Nyline both wore hats and it was Nyline who was taking the photo again as Jonathan bent to get into the frame.

Shanell held one up and Delta looked down at it. Nyline was tiny and dressed up in a costume looking like a ladybug, she had a large bag in her hands and was looking down into it with her eyes wide as saucers. Jonathan was next to her and he looked to be dressed up as a…

"Is he supposed to be a caterpillar?" Delta asked feeling suddenly confused.

"I think so? But why would he be dressed up like that? I'd say his recon was lacking but I know something else is going on here." Shanell took the photo down and looked at it closer. "There are other kids that are dressed up behind them. Everyone is dressed up and has those bags." She pointed to the one that little Nyline was looking into.

"I don't know, maybe Elizabeth or Nylah knows?" Delta pulled them down and started to arrange them in a neat pile. "We can ask them." Delta nodded as she turned around but paused in her motion as she saw something sticking out of the very bottom corner of the mirror and turned back to it. Reaching down she pulled out the photo that had been folded several times and looked to have possibly lived in a pocket for a time because the folds were creased and fraying slight. She felt her breath catch as she unformed it looked down at the portrait photo of Jonathan. It looked like some of the paintings of old with him sitting on a chair, back straight, and wearing fine clothing. He was smiling at the camera. He looked so young in this photo and when she tapped Shanell to show her she paused as she saw something written down in the corner.

Always remember

The ink was fading but the writing had been rewritten several times, over and over again, and it wasn't just penned markings but also marker and crayon. On a part of the first A, there was a small hole like the pen had been pressed too hard and had gone through the paper. The other odd thing was that the handwriting seemed to change, the older letters looking as if a child had written them. However, over the tracing, the letters became more defined as if someone older had also been tracing it. It was as if Nyline had a nervous tick and when something was wrong, she would just trace the words over and over again. Delta looked up from the photo and saw Shanell pulling her comforter off the bed and folding it neatly.

"I thought we were just grabbing clothing and photos?" Delta asked and Shanell spoke without looking at her.

"Nothing feels more like home than your old comforter." She spoke softly as she finished folding it and turned to look at her. "Lady Nyline was happy here, the photos prove it. I want to make sure that she has a chance at being happy in Vaccoon. None of us will ever replace Jonathan in her heart, but I feel like just because she lives in the Aether world now, doesn't mean that none of her life in the human world mattered."

"I know," Delt's face fell slightly as she debated on if she should bring the photo that she'd found or not. She ended up deciding that she should, and she pressed the folded photo into the pile. "So, what else should we grab so that Vaccoon can be her home?"

["What colors are the comforter that Shanell is bringing?"] Janti asked in a slightly tight voice from the other end of the bond and Delta couldn't help but smile. Already knowing that the entire room was going to get redone just to match it.

["You don't have to redo the entire room."] She said to him softly.

["The colors have to match."] Janti's word was law and Delta couldn't help but laugh.

"Janti's going to redo her entire room, isn't he?" Shanell asked and Delta only nodded.

["I think that Nyline needs to get used to her room before you change it."] Janti sighed down the bond and stopped speaking. Delta knew full well that he's sneak a peek at it later and would end up doing what he wanted.

"What do you think that is?" Shanell asked turning towards a side table. Delta turned as well looking at the package.

"It looks like a present, it has a card on it," Delta muttered as she crossed and picked it up seeing Nyline's name across the card in a thin cursive writing. Delta flipped it over a couple of times looking at it before she looked at Shanell. "I think it's her birthday present from Jonathan." Shanell's eyes bugged out of her head as she rushed forward and tried to look inside the bag, but Delta smacked her hand away.

"What? I was just going to peek!" Shanell looked at her wounded as she rubbed the back of her hand, shaking her head as she picked up the bag it seemed to be budging with whatever was inside.

"I'm going to go set this stuff downstairs. I'm sure she has a bag around here somewhere, why don't you start looking at her clothing." Shanell nodded as Delta took the photos, comforter, and birthday present down and placed them on the counter. Angelica was now laying down on the couch in the living room but poked her head up when she heard Delta come down the steps.

"Did you find anything good?" She asked in that voice that made Delta have to strain her ears to hear.

"Yeah, some photos, a comforter, and we even found her birthday present from Jonathan." Angelica's face scrunched up as she stood and headed into the kitchen. She looked down at the package.

"Where did you say you found this?"

"It was on Nyline's side table," Angelica's face scrunched once more up more before she looked around the kitchen, then her eyes landed back on the package. "Why?"

"This present was sitting on the counter when we left for Vaccoon and looked less lumpy then." Delta looked from Angelica to the present and felt her voice catch in her throat. Could Jonathan have come back here and put it into her room so that she'd find it? Or had something else happened?"

["Both are likely."] Janti came to the rescue so she didn't end up caught in her own thoughts. ["The king and queen went and did some recon to see if they could find anything at Thaul and found nothing."] Delta nodded, already knowing this information. The biggest thing was that they hadn't found Jonathan's body. Delta nodded knowing that he'd feel her emotions.

"I'm going to go help Shanell finish packing up some of her stuff," Delta spoke softly, her eyes lingering on the package then she turned and headed back up the steps before she paused looking around. "Where'd Jake go?" Angelica looked up from the present and over to her.

"Not sure, he went outside at some point and hasn't come back yet." She shrugged, finally walking away from the package and back towards the couch. "He does that sometimes; I'm sure he'll be back before we leave." Delta nodded before she headed back up the steps. Reentering Nyline's room she saw that Shanell had found a backpack and she was trying to fill it as full as possible. Delta paused as her eyes caught on a few books, folders, pens, and pencils that were sitting on the dresser that hadn't been there before.

"What's this?" Shanell looked up from her task.

"This is the only backpack that she owns, I had to empty it before I could put the clothing in." Shanell shrugged as she finished zipping up the backpack, stood, and tossed it over her shoulder. "I think that we've got just about as much stuff as we can for her honestly."

"Yeah," Delta paused as she looked around at the dresser. It held random knickknacks that were memories for Nyline and no one else. Delta wanted to pack up the entire room, every square inch of it, and bring it back to Nyline but knew that she couldn't.

"How's it going in here guys?" Nylah appeared in the doorway and looked at them. Delta noticed that she was holding an envelope in her hand. Briefly, before she moved it, she saw that it had the same thin cursive on it as Nyline's letter. Nylah shoved the envelope into her back pocket and looked at them expectantly.

"We've gotten just about as much as we can carryback," Delta reported as she twisted her hands together, taking a moment to look around the room once more.

"I know, I want to pack everything up for her and take it to the Aether world too." Nylah sighed as she finished walking into the room and looked around. Delta's head snapped towards Nylah as she leaned against the dresser. "I can feel Nyline in this room. Her energy has been in here since she was just a small baby. It's hard to think that they were this close all this time and yet so far away. I wish that we could have helped him raise her. He raised one hell of a woman, but I know it was hard on the both of them." Nylah let out a breath and looked as if she wanted to say more, her face turning towards the ceiling, and her arms crossing tighter across her chest.

Delta's hands twisted together once again as she felt the regret flow off of Nylah in waves. She looked at Shanell who seemed to be feeling the same sentiment.

"I think everyone would have liked if Nyline had grown up in the Aether world," Shanell said eventually.

"I know. Anyways, Nic got Nyline to train with him last night." Nylah grinned at Delta who grinned back.

"How'd that go?" Shanell asked bouncing on the balls of her feet. Every one of Gabriel's scouts loved training with the king just because he made it fun. Plus, he was a hard person to go up against.

"I didn't get many details but from what Alice was saying it sounded like it went well. He started training her with scout knives first." She smiled widely at them. Shanell and Delta exchanged a look of glee.