01 To Find Elysium, Take A Bus

I was the sort of person who liked window seats. Having the ability to rest an elbow on the window frame and look out the window as the world flew by sounded so nice compared to having an aisle seat. Sure, getting up without needing to have anybody else stand up temporarily was appealing, and then again if you had to come back after, but that wasn’t enough to win me over. Not that it needed to, since nobody was sitting next to me on the bus.

Plus, if you were in the window seat and you got tired or had a headache, you could close your eyes and lean your head against the glass to let the purr of the engine vibrate through the glass and directly into your skull. I found that relaxing. And I was doing that with a small smile on my face as Alison was telling me about her new holiday plans.

“I’m going to try and see the place without everybody in it first,” Alison told me, her voice coming through my headphones, clear with excitement. “But I’m probably going to have to book a ticket for a group tour or something. It’s a stadium that’s been spelled to be, you know, bigger than it really is. That’s not right. It’s, uh, a stadium in a stadium. I saw a picture of a bunch of pink arches in front of the stage that are supposed to lead to the bigger one. So, big, but I saw some of the workers having lunch in a cafe and there were so many of them.”

“You’ll outnumber them, I’m sure,” I said with mirth.

The stadium Alison was going on about would be hosting a magical girl who was a superstar in her off time. I didn’t remember the specific name, but I did remember that it was an oxymoron. Scarlette Falsetto or something, a physical colour mixed with a non-physical sound. It wasn’t something I followed.

“Yeah, it’s like that already,” Alison continued. “Just now I had to walk to a cafe for breakfast, since parking is so bad that our car would be stranded really far away if we took it anywhere. Somebody would steal our spot.”

“Better be careful.”

“We will!” Alison lost a bit of steam there. My smile found itself being reduced when she continued. “Hey, I’m sorry about ditching you at the last minute.”

“Hey,” I said. It wasn’t the first time she had apologised for this. “You’re going to have fun, right?”

“Right.”

“And nobody knew that Maroon Thump would be performing there until yesterday, right?”

“Yes, Donna, you’re right.”

I could feel Alison rolling her eyes at me getting the name wrong again. “So nobody can blame you for chasing after something you truly enjoy. Except me, that is, and I forgive you. I was never going to gather the funds for that in time anyway. It’s too short notice.”

“That’s not making me feel better about this…” Alison trailed off.

“Then forget about it,” I told her, flipping on a dime. “You ditched me and I will never forget this betrayal. The only thing I can do now is order two tickets to another concert you’re looking forward to, hype you up about it, and then sell your ticket at the last minute.”

“Okay. Now you’re just being dramatic.”

I smiled. Success. “Takes one to know one,” I said, back to a relaxed tone.

Alison sighed. “It’s just- I wanted to talk to you more before you hit the no signal zone. I know you don’t really get along well with our group.”

“Hmm…” I hummed. The eventual destination of the bus I was riding had magical barriers around it that restricted cellphone signal. It did also have spots where that restriction was lifted, allegedly, which I was going to be making gross use of. Until then, I was going to keep talking to my friend until I couldn’t anymore.

“Yeah, I agree. That’s too dramatic,” Alison conceded. “But they aren’t friends friends, are they?”

“Not quite that,” I agreed. Alison was about the start and end of people I could be relaxed and open with, but it wasn’t like I was allergic to others.

“I guess just be patient? I feel like I should be saying that to the others, though. They’re more friends with me than they are friends with you, so it might be awkward without me bridging that. But on the other hand you’re not going to be dealing with a drama magnet like, uh, Diane or Stephanie. Or Bess! Did you know that Bess doesn’t like people touching her? She made a big deal about Jordan trying to hold her hand.”

I did actually know that. That story had made me laugh when I first heard about it. “I didn’t see her getting on the bus. Bess, I mean. She might be where you are.”

“Really? I’ll have to go about avoiding her then. And you go about avoiding drama. There’s bound to be heaps of it.”

“Alison…”

“No, seriously. Six girls to a room? There’s gonna be crying by like, the second night. Kinda makes me sad I’m missing it. Oh well, I’m not there.”

“Yes Alison, you’re at a pop-up concert for a magical girl whose songs are so wildly popular that there’s no parking on the street and the concert isn’t until tonight. I also almost wish I could be there with you, but I feel like I don’t appreciate Reddish-Brown Sound. More days spent where I’m going too.”

I thought I heard her repeating the name I’d given the singer. Her stunned subvocalization at my irreverence had me smiling again.

“You know, Donna, I think you’re right. You don’t appreciate her. If you did, you’d-”

I was abruptly left alone with nothing but the sound of an engine vibrating through the metal cage I was riding. After a few seconds of that silence, I cracked my eyes open and checked my phone to find an animated spinning circle with the words “Looking For Signal” underneath. Looking outside revealed that the urban sprawl I’d closed my eyes on had been left far behind, and a whole bunch of green stuff had taken its place.

We had arrived. When I ended the call and my earbuds flew to their charging ports, the sound of other disgruntled teenagers coming to terms with the lack of data reached my ears. Looking around, a bunch of them were looking out the side of the bus that I wasn’t on, so I leaned over for a better look.

I only caught a glimpse of the sign saying “Welcome To Camp Elysium Lux” with the image of some blue clad magical girl posing next to it. After that I saw a whole lot of empty field, and then a two story building. Beyond that was forest going up a long but shallow hill that really fenced the place in.

For such a grand name, it looked really mundane. They’d used that almost yellow beige colour on the walls, and the roof had orange slats. I knew there was more to see, but looking across the rest of the campers wasn’t something I was interested in doing. So I pulled my headphones back out from their charging ports and absently started one of those auto-generated playlists before putting my head back against the glass. It was distant, but I could just barely make out the city we had come from, far off on the horizon, and then the bus turned and it was back to nature.

I pulled one headphone out as we came to a stop so I could listen to Mr Caltraz giving instructions. He was one of the younger teachers, always going on about a girlfriend and how he wanted to put a ring on her. Nice enough, but maybe too familiar with his students.

“Okay, your attention please,” Mr Caltraz called out with a clap of his hands. “Some of you may have noticed, but we’re missing a few campers. Therefore our first order of business will be making sure that everybody is part of a full group.”

He wasn’t commanding the bus’ full attention, but no teacher ever really did. It was just two girls talking in the seat behind me that were hating on Stephanie who was on the other bus. Maybe there were more, but I was the rare kid who was actually paying attention.

“Ms Coolomn and I were coordinating throughout that trip, so the other bus is getting a version of this speech as well. After that, you’ll be picking up your luggage and dropping it off in your dorm for our stay. Which may have changed. After that you’ll be going to the cafeteria to pick up your new itinerary. Everybody’s has changed.”

There must have been more people missing from the other bus then. It was the only reason I could figure behind the changes. I wasn’t too worried, since my group mates who weren’t Alison were of the mild sort. Almost loners. Kind of like me. We’d probably get an extra person to replace Alison and it wouldn’t really change much.

Since I had already come to terms with her being gone, it wasn’t like I had high hopes for this camp now. Maybe I’d even click with somebody. I doubted it, though.

“We’re still using the one and two system as before,” Mr Caltraz continued, looking down at a tablet in his hand. “This is Group A1. George B, Harriet L…”

I kind of zoned out right away. There were well over one hundred of us here to camp, and I knew that Harriet was on the other bus, so this was going to take a while. My old group was F2, so I wasn’t expecting to hear my name for a while. I was right for thinking that.

Just not for the right reason.

“...D, Donna V.” I jolted, suddenly paying attention to Mr Caltraz again. “That’s D1 and D2. Anyone want me to repeat that?”

I raised my hand. “D2, sir.”

He nodded. “Right. Group D2 is James, Quince, Diane, Donna.” His eyes flicked up to acknowledge my name. “And Tony W. You and Angus were the only showers of your old group.”

“Ah, thanks,” I said, not really sure what to make of that.

The teacher nodded and moved on to the E groups. I decided to block out the rising sound of chatter by putting my earphone back in. Mostly it was the other kids complaining, and I kind of wanted to join them. Only Alison, the only person I really complained to, wasn’t here. And that made me want to complain even more.

Soon enough Mr Caltraz finished and escaped from where he was standing at the front of the bus, looking quite happy to no longer be the focus of that many teenagers. I decided that I wanted to rush to pick a bed, since the room I was going to be sleeping in had changed and I wasn’t keen on taking the scraps, so I stood with everyone else and pushed my way to the back of the bus.

Fortunately, I hadn’t been the earliest to put my luggage in the back, so I called out when the driver unloaded my purple luggage bag and got mine early. I was among the first to leave the crowd around the bus, but the door to the ugly dorm building was already open when I got there.

It was the one I’d seen from the bus, and the boys and girls were being separated by floor level. Boys down on the ground, with the girls one floor up. That meant I had to turn around and pull my luggage bag up one step at a time while I watched all the boys just walk on into their rooms. Because having the girls up top made it harder to get perved on, or something. Whatever the reason, I was bitter and out of breath when I finally made it to the top and rolled over to the dorm room for the girls in the D groups.

The room was narrow, and had three bunks in it. Two were arranged head to tail along one wall, with a little bit of space between them to make room for a ladder at the foot of each of them. The other bunk was along the opposite wall, and opposite the door, which almost broke the room into quarters. Of those quarters, two were already inhabited, by two people I really didn’t want to be around.

“-have to wait until others from the dumb bus get here too,” a blonde girl was saying, I had to take an earbud out to hear her clearly. She was laying on the bed directly in front of the door, having clearly claimed it despite not being unpacked yet. Her phone was out, and there was a frown on her pretty face. “Seriously? No wifi here either? This is where we sleep and none of my texts are going.”

The other girl there was taking the bed across the aisle, and was in the process of unpacking. “They told us it would be like that. The only hotspot is in the lounge and it’s not even all of it. You need to be in the magic circle.” She set a small stack of books on the bed. “I told you to get some reading.”

“I didn’t think that the nature hugging would go this far! And books are for nerds.” The blonde sat up suddenly. “Got any zines?”

The other girl answered by throwing a fluttery object into her chest, where it then fell and settled, making it clear it was a rather thick magazine. “It’s pretty recent. French Vogue, but in English.”

I decided to stop being a creep and walked into the dorm, aiming at the last bottom bunk that was available. A handful of greetings churned through my mind, but I ultimately didn’t say anything since I didn’t really know these girls.

I knew Stephanie modelled occasionally, and that there was a larger than life picture of her in a pink blouse and navy blue pleated dress on some clothing stores back in the city. She was pretty and cunning, and absolutely out of everyone’s league while somehow also maintaining a rotating door of boyfriends that other people kept up with. She was the blonde complaining about there being no wifi.

The other girl was Diane. She was a pasty brunette and used to be pretty flat. But she grew double Ds over christmas and everybody noticed. Since then she’d turned into a cold bitch and I had since made sure to keep on the opposite side of class at all times.

I knew them, but I didn’t know them. Didn’t really want to, either.

“That’s Bess’ bunk, choose somewhere else,” Stephanie said sharply before I could even drag my luggage over.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

I paused and looked at her questioningly. She was being serious. Diane was thinning her lips awkwardly, and it made the inexpert application of her lipstick pretty obvious.

“Bess won’t mind,” I said, and dropped my luggage next to the bunk. It smacked down heavier than I thought it would.

“Uh, pretty sure she will,” Stephanie said, like I was stupid or something.

I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. It was just plaster with some light fixings, so I wasn’t missing anything by choosing the bottom. Actually, it was more that I really didn’t want to have a top bunk and be even more trapped with this bunch. Sleeping in this bed meant I was the shortest distance from the door, and there was no such thing as a window bed. Not in here at the very least.

“Bess would have to be here to care,” I said, and looked back down to meet Stephanie’s glare. “She ditched, didn’t you know?”

Diane sighed too. “I told you Steph, Bess’ name wasn’t read out. She ditched us for that concert.”

Annoyingly, “Steph” only accepted that as true when Diane said it. “That bitch! Fine, take the bunk, I don’t care! This camp is quickly turning into Elysium Lame as far as I’m concerned. Five days of this! I’m gonna fucking die!”

“Not just you,” I muttered under my breath as I turned back to my stuff.

There were a few interesting things in my luggage. Mostly, I’d brought clothes. Activewear, since the old itinerary had us doing outside activities.

There was a hiking trail along the hill, and there was a river where we would be kayaking. We’d been given a map and I’d spent a solitary class looking over it, so I knew there were a bunch of other camp buildings at this place. The dorms, where we were now, as well as the cafeteria and washrooms in a single building just beyond it. A gymnasium was on the north facing side of the courtyard just beyond that, and a genuine jungle gym sat opposite the gymnasium. There was stuff in the surrounding fields as well, like a shooting range. But if we shot anything bigger than BBs I’d be shocked.

One thing I was looking forward to was checking out the courtyard. The biggest selling point of Elysium Lux was how it had convinced a magical girl to come out here and set up all sorts of enchantments to enhance the sorta-camping experience. So far that was just the barrier that cut off cell signal and had everyone complaining.

Included in my luggage were the workbooks that school had given us for the trip, as well as some stationary. Under that was a diary that I was sorely regretting bringing into this room. I had a dummy diary next to it that I wrote random things in every other day, but the idea of having someone read that was almost more embarrassing. Putting my folded clothes on top of both put that out of sight and out of mind.

In the end I just fetched my chargers and stuff to claim the nearest sockets and left shortly after two more girls wandered in, only sticking around to make sure they accepted that they were stuck up top. They were clearly not part of my group, so I didn’t feel bad about leaving so soon. Only Diane was, and she was clearly more interested in socialising with the other three than with me. The others I’d only see when we passed each other as we swapped activities.

I wasn’t just the first of my group to get to the cafeteria, I was the first out of everybody I’d be camping with. They had set out those foldable tables in two columns in the wide room and pushed six cheap plastic chairs under each of them. Little signs of folded paper indicated which group was for which table, and mine had been knocked face down by a draft. The only other person there was Ms Coolomn, a woman approaching middle age with grace and a smile. She spared me one such smile as I passed, and I tried to return it when she gave me a sheet of paper that had the new schedule.

Arriving first gave me the pick of the chairs, and I chose one that could be considered an aisle seat this time. The corresponding “window seat” wasn’t next to the wall, so it was just the other aisle seat. Mine faced the centre of the floor, since I expected Mr Caltraz to give a speech from there, and I was willing to bet everyone else would do their damndest to ignore him.

Then I was left with nothing to do but stick my hands in my pockets, turn my music up, and wait for everyone else to show up. The next person to sit at my table was a kid who had the misfortune to be both fat and short. He was Quince, and I knew him from a few classes. We’d barely ever spoken before, so I gave him a nod of acknowledgement before adopting a gaze into the middle distance again.

Muffled speaking at an increased volume shortly had me looking his way with a frown. I paused my music, and my hair ruffled as the earbuds flew through it and back to their charging station.

“Yeah?” I asked.

Quince seemed taken aback. “Just… asking how you were…”

I blinked. So he wanted to smalltalk? Okay… “Alison ditched me for the concert, and I’m still coming to terms with that.”

“Did she?” Quince asked with a tiny grin. “That’s, ah… pretty shitty of her, isn’t it?”

My eyes narrowed at the boy, and I decided to just put my earbuds back in and resume my music rather than listen to my best friend get gossiped about.

The other two boys, James and Tony, were quick to arrive after Quince, and they arrived together. They both cut a similar figure, and I had overheard them talking about going to the gym when we passed each other at school. Both had their hair cut short, and the biggest difference between them was how Tony was blond. They had decent grades too, and I was certain they were the only two people in our new group of D2 that were already friends.

They arrived engrossed in some conversation that Quince got wrapped up in, and they spared me a wave upon arrival. I took an earbud out to see if it was something I could participate in, but the near instant use of the word “chainsword” told me it was not. Last to arrive was Diane, who sat opposite me at the table, and I realised that James had left a spot between us, which somehow stung.

Diane didn’t even look my way, so I only stopped my music when Mr Caltraz stood in the spot I thought he would and started clapping his hand for attention. Idly, I noted that the boys had moved their discussion to the topic of aliens, and were talking more quietly now. Looked like I was right on two fronts.

“Looks like we got everyone situated nice and fast this time,” the teacher began, then trailed off. “Everyone! Your attention please!”

He got maybe ninety percent of the teenagers to give him a bit of attention. The conversation to my side had taken a pause, which could last.

“Thank you. We expected this part to take a bit longer, but for some reason the task of getting everyone a bed didn’t take so long. Who knew?” Some kid on the other side of the room laughed, and he was the only one who did. “Anyway, if you’ll look above me you’ll see a crystal.”

There was indeed a chandelier above him, but with a large cut crystal instead of a light. Right now, the light was mostly sunlight with some fluorescent assistance.

“This is just one gift to this camp from the magical girl called Authority,” Mr Caltraz continued. He stepped back and nodded to the other teacher, who pointed a remote at the crystal chandelier. “I’ll let her pick it up from there.”

The fluorescent lights shut off and the room darkened ever so slightly as the chandelier started to glow and spin. A circle of magical text wrote itself into existence around the spinning part, and a spotlight shone down from the large crystal to illuminate the woman that was suddenly there.

“Hiya, everyone!”

She looked to be in her twenties, and was clad in a soft blue one piece dress that flared out below the waist and fell short of her shins with green detailing around the seams. Her socks and gloves had wings on them, and there were three blue crystals slowly rotating beside and above her head. One gloved hand came up to adjust her glasses as she spun to give everyone a brilliant smile.

“Like the lovely Mr Caltraz over there said, I’m Authority! A magical girl,” the magical girl announced. She struck a quick pose and I felt something inside me slowly start to sink. “Well, sorta Authority the magical girl. Specifically, I’m a simulacrum that Authority cast to help out here at Camp Elysium Lux. But that just means I’m more magic than girl! Cool, right?”

She received a tepid response from the hundred or so teenagers in the room.

Authority flashed a smile in the direction of the teachers. “Don’t worry, they’ll open up by the end of the trip.” Then it was back to show mode. “So! This camp is a little more magical than others, but what does that mean? Well, first I’ll mention the obvious. The camping experience is incomplete without a little isolation, so there’s a dome bouncing away any radio signals that haven’t been greenlit. That means unless you’re in the communications circle, which you’ll see later, there’s no incoming signal. Except for emergency numbers, but I’ll trust you not to abuse that.

“Next is the lounge area, and this one is really magical.” She waggled her eyebrows there. I had no idea how anybody could be so peppy. “It’s where most of my enchantments were used. The communications circle I mentioned is there, but there’s also a weather and temperature control enchantment there as well. It doesn’t matter how stormy things get, the lounge will always have a relaxing flow of air at a comfortable temperature. Did they tell you that it was outside?”

She spent a few moments reading the crowd. I had my arms crossed, since I was one of the few who actually read the pamphlet that was given to us and had known that. For whatever reason, Authority’s eyes seemed to linger on me for a split second. I would’ve thought the disinterest from James and Tony would’ve been more interesting to her. They were back to discussing aliens in hushed tones.

“The gymnasium that’s just over there…” Authority pointed at the building through a window. “...is also magical, but in a different way.” Her tone became serious. “In the event that a veil of the Enemy falls over Camp Elysium Lux, that is where you will go to be safe. The walls, roof, and floor have all been reinforced to keep all but the deadliest of Starbane from breaking in, and they won’t show up until a beachhead has been formed. You can all rest assured that I or some other magical girl from the city can make it here long before that happens. Just remember to close the doors.”

Authority lingered there to hammer in the message. Then she was all bright and smiles again. “Other than that, it’s just a normal gymnasium with a basketball court. Sorry, no magic sport, but the nature here is a magic all of its own!”

Corny. I thought that line was corny.

“Now, who’s ready for a magical tour of this magical place? I know I am. Put your hand up if you’re ready!”

I uncrossed my arms and put up my arm with the rest of the campers. James and Tony caught on and put theirs up as well without even knowing what was going on. Authority had put her own hand up first, of course.

“Fantastic! Let me just focus for a bit. This part always makes my memory go a bit weird.”

Everybody watched as Authority closed her eyes in that way people did when trying to harness latent psychic abilities. I and many others watched with interest as a light blue magic circle glowed into existence around the fingers she was pressing to her temple, followed by another around her legs. One by one magic circles kept appearing until Authority’s body glowed with a yellow light, and suddenly there were a whole bunch more of her.

Okay, that didn’t really describe it. The big Authority went away and in her place twenty fairy sized Authorities were standing, flying, and falling over each other in a chaotic mess that I hadn’t expected to see when I woke up this morning.

The many Authority fairies sorted themselves out with good cheer, and unanimously split up to head to different tables, flying on feathered wings that the large version hadn’t had. When ours got closer, I saw that the proportions were a bit off, with the arms and legs shrunk and the head larger. Said arms and legs ended with rounded points, rather than hand and feet. It was cute, once you looked past how horrifying that was.

“Hey, you three,” Fairy Authority said in a surly tone that in no way matched the larger version of her. Her tiny form had landed on the table and quickly noticed how the boys were ignoring her. “I get that killing Starbanes is interesting, but don’t you want to know where the shitter is?”

That got their attention.

Fairy Authority crossed her stubby arms and adopted stand-offish body language. “Seriously, you might want to know that sooner rather than later.”

“Ah…” James and Tony shared a look with each other. “Yeah, we’d like to know.”

“Good, that means you have common sense,” Fairy Authority told him. “But first, who’s who? They gave me a list with each of your names, but that was before an entire fifth of you ditched. No pictures, either. So-” She turned and pointed her arm at me. “What’s your name?”

I was taken off guard by that, so it took me a moment to respond. “Um, I’m Donna.”

“Hi Donna. You?” she asked, turning her pointy arm at Diane.

“Diane,” Diane said simply.

“Quince,” Quince said next, almost imitating Diane’s introduction after realising he shouldn’t be ogling her.

“Tony.”

“Uh, hey. I’m James.”

“Well jeez, you five are just a whole ray of sunshine, aren’t you?” Fairy Authority said scornfully. “Do any of you guys even know each other?”

James and Tony pointed at one another.

“Well shit, that means we need ice breakers. That’s putting us behind schedule, but whatever, it’s necessary.” She jabbed her stubby arm at James. “Interesting fact about you, go.”

James blinked at being put on the spot, while I felt my shoulders slump. I’m sure there were heaps of things about me that could be said here, but Alison would be the one to think them up. I just wasn’t that good at making myself seem interesting with words. All around us the other tables were standing up and following more cheerful Fairy Authorities out the door, which made it worse.

“Uh, I benched a hundred and five the other week,” James tried.

“We’re close to the border, is that pounds or kilos?” Fairy Authority asked.

“Kgs.”

The fairy on the table gave a slow nod. “That’s impressive. Just watch that you don’t deform.”

“Deform?” James repeated incredulously, but Fairy Authority had already turned to Tony.

“I’ve been reading that Starbane Strife series recently,” Tony said. “Interesting stuff.”

“How far through are you?”

“Book, uh, two and a half. It’s odd because it's more of an anthology than a series.”

“Based on true stories, those,” Fairy Authority commented, then looked at Quince. “Are you interesting?”

“I’d like to think so,” Quince said with a smile that he probably thought was smooth.

“Well?” Fairy Authority prompted when Quince didn’t continue for a few seconds. “We’re all gonna stare at you until you say something.”

“I’m sort of like a man of mystery,” Quince finally said, apparently basking in the attention. “I’m trying to think up something, but everything going through my head either isn’t appropriate or would take too long to explain.”

“That tells me everything I need to know about you,” Fairy Authority said and switched her attention to the next person along.

“I have also enjoyed the Starbane Strife Anthology,” Diane said without prompting.

Tony’s head came up and he grinned. “No shit? What part’s your favourite?”

Diane made eye contact. “Of what you’ve read? That part in the second novel when the Starbane wiped out all the mortal support. I liked how the operator got a long, drawn out description of his death.”

“Oh. That’s cool, I guess.” He shared a look with James that probably said something along the lines of ‘woah. Crazy bitch.’

Diane turned back to Authority. “Kidding, of course. I preferred the ending after the climax was sorted.”

“I have some friends who might like you,” Fairy Authority told her. Then she turned to me. “What about you, Donna?”

I glanced around the table. Everybody was looking at me. Um… “I guess I like rock?”

“Rock?” James repeated. “Like, rocks? Because you’re gonna have a field day here if so.”

My mouth opened but failed to come up with a reasonable response to that idiocy.

The surly fairy simulacrum on the table had no such compunctions. “Thanks for giving us an accurate indicator of your humour and level of intelligence, James.” Tony started laughing there.

“No, I meant rock. Like music,” I said, because it should have been obvious. “Dad has a big collection, so I ripped it all. Pretty much all I listen to.”

“What magical girl tracks do you like?” Fairy Authority asked me, sounding less surly than usual.

“Uh, couldn’t name them,” I confessed. “I don’t pay much attention beyond the sound in my ear. Don’t magical girls stick to pop and stuff?”

“My dear friend the Screaming Siren would like to have a word with you. She’s a heavy metal singer in her off time.”

“Oh. That’s cool,” I said. Because what else was I going to say?

“No really, her songs are actually good,” Tony said.

“Okay.” What did they want me to say? “There’s no internet here, so it’s not like I’m going to search her up on the spot.”

“No, but there is somewhere that you can,” Fairy Authority told me as she flared her wings and jumped into the air. She flapped the wings slower than gravity should have made necessary, but she stayed aloft all the same. A blue corona of light started shining around her as she spun to address the group again. “Let’s start your tour in the lounge. Buncha teenagers like you will be spending every free moment there. You always do.”

I stood with the rest of my group, but there was a weight in my stomach that was refusing to shift. The ice breakers hadn’t really broken the ice, and I wasn’t expecting the ice to melt slowly during this trip. We’d barely arrived an hour ago, and I had a feeling that this was going to be rough.

And in a way I was right. I cried after the bonfire on the third day.

Just… not for the reason I expected.