“Are you ready?” Master Sora asked. They stood at the end of the bridge, a place they’d been told when they arrived at Lancastre that didn’t have an end.

“I think so,” Parker said. “We’ve got all of our supplies and we know the mission.”

Master Sora looked at them, excited for what could come of this but just as afraid to send a group of third years out on their own. Something they’d never allowed anyone, ever, to do. “Just follow the path to the base of the mountain and go from there. Follow the directions that we gave you and all should go fine. Use your Imperials wisely and let’s see how quick this can get done. I believe you four are going to be the key to getting new students to arrive at school.”

The four of them turned when Master Sora finished his sentence and began following the path away from the top of the mountain. No one said anything for a little bit. Focusing on the path ahead of them and the fact that they were descending from the top of a mountain was taking all of their thoughts.

After a couple stops to take drinks of water from the stream that wound down the mountain next to the path, they stood and took in the view. The scenery was more than anything they could’ve ever imagined. The trees were greener than anything at the school. The water was clearer and shinier. The sun shined brighter. The wind sharper than any they’d felt before. Even though it was one of the warmest parts of the year, the wind was still nippy.

Parker was glad that the masters had different uniforms made for their travels. He couldn’t imagine trying to do this in his normal robes that he wore. The outfit looked like his Aether uniform but was made of a very thin material. He figured that he would need some sort of jacket with it but somehow it managed to keep him extremely warm even when the wind picked up. The masters also promised that if it were to get hot out, the material keeps you cool as well which Parker found intriguing but made no sense to him.

“This is absolutely beautiful,” Alexis said. Parker looked at her and saw how the light from the sun was illuminating her features making her even more beautiful than he already thought she was. He wanted to kiss her again but knew that he couldn’t do something like that with the other two right there as well.

“Yeah, it is,” Hailee agreed. “I can’t believe how we can just see everything. I mean look, you can see all the way to the base if you look between these trees.”

“I wish we could just cut straight down through there,” Caleb said. “This path is going to take so much longer than that would.”

Parker laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. How about you try the steep, dangerous, deadly path first, and then let us know how it went?”

“Ha ha, I bet you’d like to watch the handicapped kid try the dangerous stunt.”

“Now, don’t go using your eye as a disability,” Parker began to say. “You know just as well as I do that you’re probably more capable than a chunk of the students at school are.” Caleb grinned when he said it knowing full and well that Parker was right.

“So, how about we talk about this mission of ours. I’d love to be privy to what that mission exactly is.” Hailee seemed to be a little frustrated that she was here, but didn’t know what they were even doing.

“Wait, I thought Master Sora told you,” Caleb said.

Hailee looked back at him confused. “You mean, you don’t know the mission either?” Caleb shook his head.

“I figured they didn’t tell me because they wanted me to still go even though I’m hindered a bit.” Caleb turned to Alexis and without having to even ask, she shook her head no too.

“Who does know what we’re doing?” Hailee shouted a little louder than intended.

Parker laughed again. “Don’t worry guys, Master Sora made sure to tell at least one of us.”

“So where are we going?” Alexis asked.

“They’ve sent us to retrieve my sister, Kendall.”

Everyone stared at Parker in shock. “We’re doing what?” Alexis asked loudly.

“The masters think that we may be the key to getting new classes of students here by going out using our Space Imperials to bring students back to the school. So, he’s having us test it by bringing my sister back with us.” Everyone took a moment to take in what he had said.

“So, we may be getting used next year to go out and retrieve kids for school?” Caleb asked.

“That’s what it sounds like. I asked if we could get someone else because Kendall isn’t old enough yet to come to Lancastre but they felt the first try would be good to do with someone one of us knows.”

Alexis nodded her head, “That does make sense. Much easier to convince someone we know to come with us than some stranger.”

They started to walk down the mountain again, but this time Hailee took them into a separate space as they walked. By now, she was able to make it for around an hour in her separate space. She found it very handy to be able to do an hour’s worth of stuff in only twelve minutes.

Alexis practically shouted making everyone jump. “You know what this means?”

Everyone stared at her in alarm. “What?” Caleb asked still slightly startled.

“We get to meet all of Parker’s family.”

Parker dropped his head. “Oh man… I didn’t think about that.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, your parents only know every embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you. And we’re your friends, so we’d never asked them about any of them.” Caleb was holding back laughter as he made each comment. Parker knew all too well that Caleb was lying through his teeth.

“But on a serious note,” Hailee said. “Parker, you get to see your parents before you graduate. You’re the only one, with the exception of me and my dear old mother that will get to see your parents like that.”

Parker knew she was right, except that she had also seen her father while at school. In fact, she gets to see him every single day, just without the knowledge of it.

“That is pretty special,” Alexis agreed.

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They continued walking and talking until the sun dropped behind the mountains. Not yet at the base of the mountain, they decided it was best to set up camp in the cover of some trees. They maneuvered the ground so that they had a makeshift hut made from the Earth itself.

“I think that one person needs to be awake at all times just to play it safe. Does everyone agree with that?” Alexis asked hoping dearly that she wouldn’t have to trust that nothing would happen in their sleep. Everyone agreed at the same time and she let out a loud sigh of relief.

“I’ll take first shift,” Parker said. “I’m not even tired.”

“Thanks bud,” Caleb said. “Cause I’m ready to crash.”

Everyone laid out their sleeping bags and bundled up for some rest. Parker relit the small fire in their hut to help keep everyone warm. Once everyone had fallen asleep, he made small holes in the walls of the hut so he could see out and make sure everything was okay. Looking out though, he realized he could see next to nothing so he listened carefully as he waited for his shift to come to an end.

The night went by smoothly as they traded shifts until the sun came up over the horizon lighting the way again. Parker flattened the ground out and made it look like they’d never been there. Alexis moved everyone into her separate space and they used their Air Imperials to cover a lot of ground quickly. However, using the two Imperials at once work Alexis out quicker than the others.

Just as her Space Imperial petered out, they had arrived at the base of the mountain. Taking a short break so that Alexis could catch her breath and build some stamina back up. Everyone rested next to the stream that had followed them all the way down from the top. Parker stared up the mountain to see if he could see anything but between the height of the mountain and all of the trees you couldn’t tell that there was an enormous castle filled with hundreds of kids who can control the elements at the top of it.

Caleb walked to the edge of the water and sat on a rock that was just a tad bit smaller than he was. Next to it, there was a sign sticking out of the ground that read, “Danger, Falling Rocks.”

“Guys, come look at this,” he said gesturing for everyone to take a look at the sign. They all stood around the sign and looked back and forth from the sign to the mountain they’d just descended.

“I wonder if being in a separate space meant that the rocks wouldn’t hit us.” Hailee thought out loud.

“I bet the school put it there to keep anyone from finding the castle,” Parker suggested.

Before anyone could make any more comments, a rock fell from directly above them and froze in mid air. If it hadn’t been for Alexis, the massive boulder would’ve smashed them all. They quickly scurried away so that Alexis could let the rock go.

“Where did that come from?” Hailee shouted. Caleb looked up and pointed.

“There…” Everyone followed the path his finger pointed and they saw looked like a large, misshapen head poking out of the top of the trees.

“What in the world…” Parker started to say. Birds flocked out of the trees and flew away as fast as they could. They could hear the creature walking through the trees as branches made snapping noises that sounded like gunshots. Its steps sounds like miniature earthquakes.

“What is that?” Alexis screamed.

“I don’t know,” Hailee yelled. “And I don’t want to find out! Let’s run!”

Everyone took off in a dead sprint through the field at the base of the mountain. A boulder exploded as it hit the ground in front of them sending rubble in every direction. Several pieces hit each of them making them wince in pain but not enough to stop them.

Parker ran with all of his might for fear of his life. He wasn’t sure if everyone was right behind him so he slowed down a little and tripped as his feet got tangled with Alexis’s. The two of them crashed to the ground as they saw a third boulder coming in fast.

A fourth boulder went flying through the air, but it wasn’t moving in the same direction as the third. This one was flying straight at the one sent by the giant creature that had now come out of the trees. Parker figured the creature had to be at least thirty feet tall. He turned his attention back to the boulders that now collided in the air and exploded sending rubble raining from the sky. They covered their heads as protection but still felt the impact of getting hit by the debris.

“Let’s go!” Caleb yelled as he sent another boulder flying back at the creature. Everyone took off in a sprint again until they could no longer see the creature anymore.

Once they felt safe enough to stop, everyone collapsed on the ground out of breath. Parker lay still, chest heaving, gasping for air. After several minutes of silence, Parker finally spoke. “Everyone saw that right?” he asked for confirmation. “I’m not going insane right?”

No one responded for a moment and then Alexis just started laughing. Parker figured that she’d just lost it. He couldn’t blame her. What had just happened couldn’t be possible so it must mean that they were all insane. Maybe they were actually just in a room hidden away in the castle as a safety precaution.

“Seriously though? They couldn’t have given us a heads up on the giant rock monster?” Hailee had started to yell out of anger now. “One simple sentence. That’s it. Then we could’ve been prepared to protect ourselves from the giant… whatever that thing was!”

“Hailee…” Caleb said putting his hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. We’re fine. We made it away from that thing.”

“That doesn’t matter. If it hadn’t been for you, Parker and Alexis would’ve died right there.”

“The masters clearly thought that we could handle ourselves or they wouldn’t have sent us at all.” Parker liked Caleb’s reasoning but he also agreed with Hailee so he just kept his mouth shut figuring that picking sides probably wouldn’t go over too well.

“Let’s just keep moving,” Parker suggested. He took out the map that the masters had given them and found where they were based on their surroundings. “All right…” Parker said thinking out loud. He spun in a circle to get his bearings. “We need… to go… that way,” he finally said with certainty. The direction he pointed was nothing but flat fields for as far as they could see.

“If we use our Air Imperial for sprints then we should cover the fields and arrive at the nearest city soon.” Parker put the map away.

“Wouldn’t it be even faster to use our Air Imperial for sprints within our Space Imperial?” Caleb asked. They all agreed and followed Caleb as he started to move forward. Parker pulled them into his Space Imperial and they all took off.

Parker loved to run while using the air to push him faster. The only part of it that made traveling in a group difficult was that they couldn’t talk to one another. Moving at such high speeds wasn’t worth the risk of swallowing a bug as you talked.

After running for ten minutes they all came to a stop near a grouping of trees that stood isolated in the middle of the fields, as though it were its own private island. Everyone took a moment to catch their breath and grab a drink or two from their canteens.

“Hailee, can we use your Space Imperial as we run this time?” Parker asked. “I think yours is the strongest in the group.” Alexis dropped her head a little when he said it.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Hailee said trying to be humble. “I think everyone has a strong one!”

“But not as strong and right now we need the strongest we have.”

“Okay… let’s go then.” She took them into her Space and they took off again. Hailee was able to keep her Space Imperial going longer than Parker had which made her feel a little guilty but she tried to put it out of her mind so she could stay focused.

They covered the ground quickly and arrived at a small town in a fifth of the time. Parker found that the town had only two stop signs in it. It wasn’t too different from where he had grown up. The town itself seemed to be abandoned.

Some of the buildings had broken windows, doors barely hanging on their hinges, and graffiti sprayed all over the front of them. One of the two stop signs wasn’t even standing anymore.

“What do you think happened here?” Alexis asked. Everyone shrugged their shoulders; not sure what to say. No one knew what would cause an entire town to become abandoned.

“Well, let’s at least fill our water up while we’re here and then we can take off again.” Caleb walked around to find some water but couldn’t find anything to fill his canteen up. “We may have to go into one of these places…”

“I’d rather not if we can avoid it…” Hailee said.

“I don’t think we can,” Parker responded. He led the way into a building that didn’t even have a front door. There was a bathroom just through the entrance that he opened the door too. When he turned the faucet on for some water, nothing came out. “There’s no water. Maybe that’s why everyone left.”

Alexis couldn’t believe it. “How is there no water? We’re not that far from the mountain and think about how much water moves through the waterfall.”

Everyone thought about it for a moment but then Caleb pointed out that the waterfall emptied on the other side of the mountain so it wouldn’t flow to this town. They were about to turn around and walk back outside when they heard a loud explosion.

“What?” was all Parker could get out before the roof was ripped off from above their heads.