Chapter 28

I put my hand in the wall. I could hear him sleeping. If only…

If only I could go through the wall!

My hand sunk into the wall and I fell through to the other side.

"Oof!" I accidentally yelled

Ezra stopped snoring but started back up after a moment of silence.

I sighed. I almost got caught.

Before we went to our rooms last night, Ezra told me not to teleport anywhere in the castle. He said that if I could transport the radiation from the air someplace else, then I could possibly transport myself. I had to be sure no one in the castle could know about me.

He said this but I think he just didn't want me going into his room to steal his pants and leave him with nothing.

Well, it's a good thing I brought the dress left for me by the maid. Now to just switch the two.

I dropped the dress on the floor and grabbed the shirt and pants. After that, I run to the wall and glide right through.

After dressing myself in the shirt and pants that I...borrowed from Ezra, I hear a knock from the door. I open it to see a young girl waiting.

"When you are finished, please come to the dining area where you will eat breakfast with the king along with the rest of your party" She said

I nodded my head, indicating that I understood. She slightly bowed and left.

This is different than in Cam's castle.

I tidy up the bed and clean around the room. After I finished, I headed towards the dining room. There, a long table with a few plates of food scattered around. Everyone was seated around the table. When they heard me walk in, they turned towards me.

Xavier glared at me.

Geez...what did I do?

I sat next to Leah who was near the edge of the table. I sat in front of Ezra who sat next to Xavier who was still glaring at me. Xavier sat next to Cam and at the top of the table sat Zax.

I guess it makes sense for him to sit at the top considering he's the king of this place.

"Now that Niko has arrived, we can finally eat!" Zax exclaimed

"About damn time!" Xavier shouted as he grabbed a plate and dug in.

Did they wait for me or something? Whoops.

After eating in silence, Leo poked his head around Leah who sat between us.

"Niko, why did you take so long to get ready?"

Still eating, I replied *I cleaned the room*

"You could have left that for the maids" he said

I paused *I...I can?*

He nodded

Welp...I hit my toe on the table for nothing.

"Next time, we eat without you" Xavier mumbled around the chicken leg he was munching on.

"We will wait" Zax said

He looked over at Cam who was giving him an odd look and looked back down at his food.

"It is common courtesy to wait for everyone to eat together" He explained as he moved the food on his plate around.

*Thanks Zax* I told him

He looked up, startled and stared at me for a second before turning red. He looked away and mumbled "Not a problem"

We ate the rest of our food in silence. After breakfast, we walked towards Zax's business room. Cam told Zax the basics about what has happened so far but Zax insists that we should talk about it together.

"There is still so much I need to explain. It's not just the contamination of the water and the air that's causing problems" Zax said

"What do you mean? What else is there?" Ezra asked

Zax was going to answer before looking down at Ezra's clothes.

"Ehh...new look?"

Ezra sighed "Kind of" he glared in my direction and said "Next time, leave the dress on the bed and not the floor. Alright?"

He wore a black skirt that reached the bottom of his feet. He paired it with the jacket I left behind. He must have ripped the dress in half and used the bottom as a skirt. It didn't look bad.

"Why was her dress…?" Cam started

"She steals my clothes and leaves her dress behind so she could wear mine instead" Ezra explained

"Ah! I thought you just preferred to wear a dress now." Cam said

*He digs his new look* I said

"Digs?" Leah asked

*Other side phrase I guess* I replied

"Anyways! What you said before" Leo interrupted

"Right! There has been word of birds that have the skin of armor flying around the air. A few hunters have shot some but after they had been shot down they say it goes up in flames and leaves no trace behind. Many believe that these are only stories or rumors so they have not caused panic yet" Zax said

"But you still do not know what these birds are nor if they are a threat, right?" Cam asked

Zax nodded

*I know what they are* I said

"You do?" Everyone asked

*Yeah. These sound like drones. They carry things around and also take video footage of places where humans can't reach*

"Video?" Xavier asked

*They can see what the bird sees* I explained

"Are you saying that these birds have been spying on us?" Zax asked

I nodded *They are most likely gathering information about this place. I wouldn't be surprised if they start coming over too see for themselves soon*

"We need to stop them! They cannot cross over. There will be a war between both sides if they do" Ezra said

*That's considering if you guys are even prepared when they invade. They could come at any moment.* I said *Once they find out we have magic, they will want it for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it*

"Why? We don't want their robots or machines. Why should they take our magic?" Leah asked

*Greed* I replied

"That greed is going to be the end of us all" Leo said

"What should we do for now? We need to get rid of these drones" Ezra said

"But even if we find a way to stop the drones, what's going to stop them from crossing over regardless? And what about the air and water? There's no point of going to war on empty stomachs and running around in burning air" Leah said

*Your right. We should fix our problems here for now. Then, we can deal with these drones* I said

"What then? Like Leah said, they could come over with or without drones" Xavier said

No. I KNOW that they won't stop until they get what they want but…

*They're not stupid. They won't come if they don't have enough information*

"Then we fix our home before anything else. Agreed?" Zax asked

No one disagreed.