I was left to wait, and I suppose it wasn't too bad not being the one to do a battle of wits against a God.

'As if you had any wits when you played my games.' Mordecai said derisively in my head. He was back to a masculine voice, and I rolled my eyes.

"You switched up real fast when you knew your brother was here." I shot back.

'He's my big brother.' Mordecai said, his voice the epitome of a shrug. 'Of course, I feel like…I don't have to explain myself to you. You messed up everything. I had two possible outcomes planned for when Acuzio showed up, and now it's back to the drawing board.'

I made a face and tried to ask what the heck Mordecai was talking about, but all I could hear was the equivalent of a door slamming in my head. My ears rang, and I rubbed my temple as I tried to relax.

I didn't stand dazed for too long. I was so worried when I first woke up I hadn't done anything to take care of my morning routine. The roller coaster was finally calm, and now My body needed to relieve itself, and I was thirsty from all the heat. I ran to go to the bathroom and got a glass of water.

After I had refreshed my bladder and quenched my thirst, Lucia and Wyatt arrived with the rest of their things.

Room arrangements would be different from when we were kids. Lucia took the biggest room that had remained empty after Sunny's disappearance, and Wyatt joined her. Lucas could take the old one he had before.

Adam could room with me. It was a bit different than how I expected to live with him, but it would work.

Lucia and I got to work in the kitchen to keep our hands busy. We worked together in the kitchen for years, so we barely needed to speak.

Busy hands kept the mind still, after all. We made eggs from our chickens. We baked biscuits from the ingredients we'd toiled from the garden. The butter we used and served at the table was churned by hand. The milk was fresh from the goats. The fruit we used came from the garden and trees. We chopped fresh fruit, herbs, and vegetables for sides and seasoning.

I love cooking and baking. I loved that my space was stuffed with goodies from all the years I'd worked on filling it up. We can hide away on the Evans property for years and eat like royalty.

I knew, however, that whatever challenge Acuzio put Adam through, he'd win. So there wouldn't be any need to.

It felt good to see the fruition of all my hard work. Everything I had put my heart into these years paid off. And all of it was going to taste even better.

Wyatt did stuff, I suppose, while Lucia and I put together the spread. To be frank, I don't know what he was doing.

He reappeared like magic just as the table was finished being set. I wouldn't put it past him to track us with his wind powers. He said he could read minds, so maybe he was reading Lucia. He also said powers...I should have hounded him over what else he could do.

"Where did Adam go?" Wyatt said as he tucked into the breakfast spread

I quickly slammed food into my mouth and made wild-eye gestures as if I were talking around the food. When Wyatt reached out with his sneaky hand to touch my arm, I smacked his fingers with a warm loaf of bread.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Lucia scolded us, but we started hitting each other with food anyway. I didn't want to say outright where Adam was, but that didn't mean he could just read my mind and get the answer. He should do it like a civilized person.

How else could he get the answer with Lucia in the room, my mouth full, and not using his abilities?

Adam reappeared instead of a dull moment that allowed me to question this or properly fend off Wyatt's intrusive fingers.

He popped into the room, and poor Lucia screeched something fierce. Wyatt ran over to comfort her, and I spared them a glance as I dove for Adam's arms.

His arms were chilled and filled with cold air, which was a strange contrast to my face. Adam's scent was saltier before and brought the aroma of the sea. Where exactly had he gone with Acuzio? I held onto him tighter, and Adam did the same in response.

"You haven't changed your clothes, Wendy." His voice was hoarse, and I laughed.

That was the first thing he wanted to say to me? Did I stink? I could go for the chance to bathe and change; he was right.

'Here is where we say goodbye.' Mordecai's voice interrupted this moment, and I froze.

Wait, when did you come back? And why are you leaving?

'Meh' The shit actually said that to me. A pressure I didn't know existed in my head disappeared. Was the strange feeling Mordecai?

I didn't have time to question this for long. As I stood there with my mouth open, something even crazier happened. The sneaky gold spores floated off my person and out the window...they weren't alone. Spores of all shapes, colors, and sizes

all floated away. I think I was the only one that noticed because no one else was freaking out about their departure.

I lost my balance with this abrupt turn of events, and Adam steadied me with his hands. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, covering my mouth. I felt funny all morning, but the stress and lack of good sleep would do that to me.

"Did you win against Acuzio?" I said to Adam, scanning his face. Mordecai left so suddenly that it made me think Adam lost and my sly ancestor was going ahead of time.

But this was Adam. How could he lose?

"I won." He said with a ghost of a smile.

"So the meteor won't strike?" I said, and my previous odd feelings were swept away by joy. I can stay here in this world peacefully.

"Not quite," Adam said, letting go of one of his arms to fish around in his pocket. He held up a shiny black rock the size of his hand. I eyed his pocket and then looked at him strangely. Ah, he must have pulled it out of his space, but he didn't want to freak out Lucia even more. Seeing that this conversation would continue, Wyatt ushered Lucia out the door. I hoped he would show her his powers and make this whole thing less awkward. But that was between those two.

I turned my attention back to the strange rock. It was flat like a saucer and shiny like a polished gem. Under the light, it changed colors like glass. "What is that?" I reached out to touch it, but Adam jerked it from me.

"Only the one who was bequeathed it can use it. He wanted me to give it to you to use." Adam said this, but he didn't hand it over. I reached for it, and yet again, he moved his hand out of the way. "It will grant your wish, but the caveat is that it will be your greatest wish. Make sure to focus on the meteor, not striking."

I bit my lip at this caveat. I wanted quite a few things, including the meteor, to not strike. I needed to wash away those desires and focus on the one most needed. I needed to do whatever it took to ensure I could live happily with Adam…I needed to wish that meteor away.

"What is it exactly?" I said as I watched the light play off it, creating prisms of lights. It was strange that each was a rainbow, but they weren't ordinary rainbows. Each one gave off different hues of strangely unique lights.

"It's a dragon scale, his own. I watched him rip it off." Adam said this as he watched the lights as well.

"Dragon scales grant wishes?" I wanted to reach for it, but I was worried about what could happen if I didn't have my wish prepared.

"Apparently," Adam said. His voice was as amused as my own.

"This may be why there's the caveat that only the one who has been chosen to receive it can use it. Otherwise, everyone would be ripping off dragon scales." I said with a snort as I tucked my fingers out of the way.

"Wendy." Adam's voice drew my attention off the scale and to him. His dark brown eyes were deep and looked somewhat familiar.

He was hiding something. I grabbed his cheek and scanned his all-too-familiar emotionless mask. His eyes, indeed, were the secret to his emotions.

"Adam, you're doing that thing again where you're withholding from me. All these secrets will break us apart if you don't trust me with them." I said, falling into his eyes.

"Only you straying too far from my side will take us apart." He said, but something flickered in his eyes. "Promise me that you'll never do that."

"I will promise if you promise to stop being so stubborn with secrets." I gave in to the urge to kick his shin and let go of his face, deciding to sulk. It doesn't have anything to do with his trials with Acuzio. He was making the same face he'd made when it came to things he thought I shouldn't know yet. It had crossed my mind that he wanted to make a promise but hadn't told me the secret. Why was he so dang secretive?

Once I stopped the meteor, we'd have all the time in the world to kick that dirty habit. The world ending was more pressing, so I snatched the dragon scale away, squeezed my eyes shut, and said, "I wish for the meteor to not strike."

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a sea of blue.