“I say we wait,” Alexis said. Parker and Caleb looked at her confused.

“Why would we wait,” they both asked in unison.

Alexis sighed, then said, “Think about it. Lara told us that we had until the end of term to find the hidden chamber. That’s three weeks from now. Let’s take this time to figure out a plan instead of going in blindly. That would be the smart move for us to make.”

Parker and Caleb thought about her idea for a moment, and then agreed. Hailee felt the same way. Caleb focused, planting his feet, slowly raised his hands pulling the new stone staircase up, leveling the ground out as if they’d never been there.

As they were walking back to their common room, Alexis whispered to the group. “I also think that we should tell the masters about it.” Parker didn’t feel the same way with this idea, as he had before.

“Why should we tell them? Lara came to us; I’m willing to bet she wouldn’t be too happy if they showed up instead of us. And you know if we tell them, they won’t let us have any more part in it.”

They thought about what Parker had to say, the rest of the way up to their common room. Once they arrived in the common room, the fire was still roaring. Sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room was Master Sora.

“And might I ask where the four of you have been?” They hadn’t noticed he was there until he spoke, making them all jump. The four of them stammered, not sure what to tell him.

“Well, I guess we’re going to tell the masters now aren’t we?” Parker said.

They filled Master Sora in on everything they had found. How they found the secret entrance in the hidden corridor next to the dining hall. And that Caleb had made a staircase appear in the ground.

“I never even thought to look there. It’s always so dark in that corridor and we rarely, if ever, go there. That’s a genius place to put something like that. I’ll talk to the other masters about what we’re going to do next.”

“Master, you can’t.” Everyone was shocked when Parker said this. He told the master exactly what he told the others on their way up to the common room.

“I don’t see how you think I am going to let a group of children go up against someone like Lara. The masters don’t even have the sort of power that she does. I would be the worst master in the history of this school if I let a group a first years do this.”

Hailee cleared her throat, “I’m a second year master, not a first year. And like you’ve said before, I’m way more advanced than any one of the third years and that I could hang in with the fourth years. I think that I would be a great help and be able to protect them if I needed to.”

“Hailee, I am not denying how great an Imperial you are. But you are nowhere even close to being in the same league as Lara. We masters aren’t even at the same level as her. We’re talking about someone who can control time and space.” Master Sora’s face was telling the group that he didn’t know what to do in this situation. He agreed that Lara would definitely not want the masters involved but at the same time, he couldn’t let children go and fight someone of her caliber.

“So, what are we going to do?” Caleb asked. “I think that I have to be there. She said a true master and we think that means someone who can control all of the elements, like her.” Master Sora nodded his head, agreeing that he had come to the same conclusion about what a “true master” was.

“Let me talk with the other head masters, and I think between the eight of us, we can come up with a plan.” With that, Master Sora left the common room and the four of them filed off to bed.

Parker felt like he’d only been asleep for ten minutes before everyone was up and moving, ready to start the day. He and Caleb groggily made their way down to the dining hall where they met Alexis and Hailee.

“I think we all feel the same way,” Caleb said. “All of us look like we got a couple minutes of sleep for the whole night. We better wake up and get moving. It’s going to be tough enough thinking of a plan to get everyone back, let alone trying to squeeze in the time to plan it with everyone’s schedules. We’re going to have to do some separate work and then find a time to come together and collect our thoughts.”

They sat through their first class but could only think about what they were going to do. Master Keegan walked next to Parker’s desk and crouched down so he was at eye level. He whispered, “Master Sora told us all this morning about what you found. I promise we’ll figure something out.”

Parker didn’t understand how Master Keegan sounded so positive that they were going to figure out how to stop Lara from doing whatever she had planned.

The rest of the morning flew by. Before they knew it, they were sitting in the dining hall eating their lunch in silence. Each of them were so focused on trying to think of a plan, they were forgetting to ask each other what they had thought of so far.

Lunch was almost over before any of them spoke. “My brain is slowly dying, trying to think of some plan to use.” Alexis sounded exhausted, which was very unlike her.

“Well, we only have one class this afternoon so after that we can get together and try to help each other out,” Caleb said.

Alexis shook her head. “No, Parker and I still have Aether practice tonight. We’ve got the sudden death match coming up in five days. Evelyn feels so bad for getting the goal count wrong and leading us to think we only needed seven. We’ve told her that it’s okay but she’s really taking it to heart.”

Parker was nodding his head but couldn't decide whether it was agreeing with Alexis or if he was simply nodding off to sleep right at the table.

Parker and Alexis were sprawled out on the couch in The House of Erion common room when Hailee and Caleb came in from the balcony. They had been on the roof discussing different plans to stop Lara.

“You guys look dead,” Hailee said. She started to laugh a little at the scene in front of her. Parker had his head draped over the side of the couch, one arm over his head the other hiding between him and the cushions. His legs were sprawled out in a ninety-degree angle, one on the floor, and the other on the front of the couch. Alexis was practically a mirror image of Parker.

“How did the practice go?” Caleb asked. “I mean, you look dead, so I’m guessing you worked really hard." Parker managed to nod his head slightly.

They sat in front of the fire for a while, not saying anything, just staring into the flames. The other members of The House of Erion slowly trickled away into their rooms for the night. As they lay there, Parker began thinking about how the fire was always lit, but never really seemed to heat up the common room. It was always a very comfortable temperature to relax in.

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One thing that Parker hadn’t noticed or thought about as the school year went on was how it never snowed outside. It was always sunny and the perfect temperature, not too hot, not too cold.

“Hey guys,” Parker said. “How come there’s never any different weather here? It’s always sunny and it seems like there’s only been one season.” No one knew what to tell him. Alexis and Caleb knew just as much as he did, if not just a little more from actually doing the class readings. Hailee, although she was older and very intelligent, still didn’t know.

“Why don’t we ask the masters about it? I hadn’t even noticed until you said something. But you’re absolutely right. It’s always nice outside, never even dark clouds in the sky like it might rain.” They talked for a while about what could cause this but still couldn’t come up with a reason.

The next four days flew by and before they knew it, it was time for the sudden death match. The team was sitting in the common room while everyone else started to head down to the match.

“All right, here it is!” Evelyn was trying to sound as excited as she could, but everyone was feeling the same nerves. “As long as we do what we did in practice and avoid whatever they throw at us, we can do this!”

Finn stood up and started to cheer, trying to get everyone’s spirits up. No one looked like they were feeling up to this match, especially after how aggressive they played in their last match. Parker looked at Alexis and she could see the fear in his eyes. Between this match and the pressure of figuring out a plan for Lara, the two of them barely got any sleep over the past few days.

They were spending every moment of free time trying to formulate some plan to stop Lara and when they weren’t doing that, they had class, homework and practice.

Finally, the whole team was standing and cheering each other on. After a few minutes, they made their way down to the field. As they made their way into their positions, Cassidy approached the ball. Across from her was Marianna Spiros, The House of Kenna captain. Cassidy, not being all that big of a girl, looked up at Marianna. Marianna on the other hand was very tall and thin. She looked down, over the tip of her nose, to make eye contact with Cassidy.

“All right! The Aether Cup sudden death match is about to begin. This match will be first team to score is the victor. That being said, I still expect to see a clean game. No cheap shots,” Master Kingston eyeballed Marianna as she said this. Marianna rolled her eyes, Cassidy knew that it wasn't her she had to worry about, it was the blockers. They were very good at their job because of how aggressive on the field they are.

“Now, shake hands and then we can begin,” Master Kingston said. They shook hands; Master Kingston took a step back and blew the whistle. Marianna dashed forward with the ball, blowing right through Cassidy knocking her off her feet.

Before she could get back up, Marianna was halfway to the goal. Alexis and Gwen started chasing after her as Finn and Claire closed in. Marianna was all by herself. Her attackers weren’t able to keep up with her, nor were her shooters. Finn was closing in from the right while Claire came from the left. Simultaneously, they kicked a stream of air at her as hard as they could. They hit her at the exact same time with such force that she crumbled to the ground and the ball rolled right into Evelyn’s hands.

“Guys, that was perfect! Keep that up and we’re golden!” Evelyn’s spirits were visually increased. The crowd from above roared with applause. She threw the ball out to Alexis who started carrying it down the field. The House of Kenna attackers and shooters were doing everything they could to get the ball back. Finn and Claire managed to fight off the attackers so that Alexis could get passed the centerline.

She passed the ball to Cassidy as a ball of fire went soaring passed her ear, nearly burning it off. Parker came flying by her and jumped through the air spinning. He sent a tornado directly at two of the shooters from the other team. When it collided with them, they went tumbling to the side of the field landing in the small moat.

Clay had taken care of one of the blockers. He had him spinning in place, while the boy tried hitting Clay with fire but couldn’t control where it went. The other blocker was quickly closing in on Cassidy. She passed the ball to Gwen who passed it right back. The blocker was doing everything she could to keep her eye on the ball.

Parker caught up with them just as Gwen took a shot at the goal. At the very last second, the goalie slapped the ball away. “Quick, Lena get the ball!” their goalie shouted. Just as Lena picked up the ball and started to run, a blast of air sent her flying into the sidewall, falling down into the moat. When she hit the wall, the ball shot out of her hands and Alexis scooped it up as she ran by.

Moving toward the goal, Alexis ran down the middle with the ball, Gwen on her right and Cassidy on her left. Coming up behind her, was Parker, protecting her from anything that might come from behind. This is the exact scenario they had been practicing for. They knew their best shot was to get as many of The House of Kenna players to land in the moat as possible. Getting wet significantly slowed down their ability to perform their Imperial. With the three shooters still in the moat, one blocker stuck spinning in one spot and the other blockers trying to close in from behind, the match became three-on-one.

The three girls were passing the ball back and forth with lightning speed. The goalie was doing everything he could to follow its path. He saw the ball in Alexis’s hands, then Cassidy’s feet, then Gwen’s hands, down to Alexis’s feet. She kicked the ball with all her might. He dove to block it and crashed to the ground as it bounced off of his chest. Before he could recover, Cassidy grabbed the ball and tossed it into the corner of the goal.

After staring at the ball for a second, realizing what that meant, Alexis and Gwen picked her up and held her in the air. The center of the castle illuminated white, brighter than it ever had. The House of Erion fans from overhead could be heard throughout the whole castle.

Everyone sprinted to the shooters screaming and jumping and clapping. The House of Kenna players sat down wherever they had been on the field, clearly not content with the outcome of the match. The shooters were still dripping wet, Marianna had yet to get back to her feet and Clay had finally let the one blocker out of his spinning prison.

As they settled down, Master Sora came walking toward them, with the Aether Cup in his hands. It was a large, platinum cup, with the words Aether Cup Champions on it. Below that, there was a long list of the champions from each year prior. Until the end of the next cup, it will reside in their common room, above the fire. It seemed to glow as if a bright light were being shined on it. He handed the cup to Cassidy and the team started to scream and cheer more.

When they arrived back in The House of Erion common room, an explosion of applause greeted them. The whole house was there, cheering their victory on. After what seemed like hours of applause and praise from the house, everyone went off to bed.

Parker lay in his bed, expecting to fall asleep immediately. He lay there for hours, staring out of the window next to his bed. Not able to fall asleep, he got up and went out to the common room and sat down on the couch in front of the fire. He stared up at the Aether Cup as it glowed back at him.

“Parker… is that you?” a whisper said. Parker jumped, not aware that someone else had come into the room. He saw that it was Alexis as she sat down next to him on the couch.

“Couldn’t sleep either, I take it?” she asked.

He shook his head, but didn’t take his eyes off of the cup. “I can’t believe we won. You three were amazing passing the ball back and forth. I could barely see it.”

She blushed, happy that it was dark and Parker couldn’t tell by the firelight. “Well, we couldn’t have done it without you behind us, protecting us from the blockers.”

They went on for a few minutes complimenting each other and blushing. After a couple moments of silence, Parker changed the subject. “So… we only have two more weeks to come up with a plan. We should really meet with the masters and figure something out.”

Alexis didn’t respond for a few minutes, not wanting to think about what Lara was trying to accomplish. “We’ll figure it out,” she said in a slight whisper, as though her thoughts were elsewhere.

They sat in silence for a while, staring into the fire. Parker sprawled out on the couch to get comfortable. The moon moved through the night sky, getting closer and closer to the horizon. “We should probably try to get some sleep, otherwise tomorrow is going to be exhausting,” Alexis said. Parker nodded his head in agreement and got up from the couch.

“Good night then, I’ll see you bright and early Lex,” Parker said as he walked off.

When he made it to the corridor to his room, he began scolding himself for calling her Lex again. “What are you doing? Every time you’re alone with her, you saying something embarrassing.” He crawled into his bed, thoughts’ racing about what Alexis was thinking. The sun beamed in through his window as he lay in bed, eyes wide open. He groaned as the other boys in his room started getting ready for the day.

Caleb woke up and looked at Parker, “Man, you look like you slept terribly. Everything okay?”

Parker groaned a little more, “Yeah I’ll be fine, just gonna be a long day today…”