Tafel exhaled and stared at the grinning red dragon in front of her. She kept her expression neutral and nodded. “I was very surprised,” she said. “Can you flip the boats back over now?”

Prika tilted her head. “Don’t you want to watch them struggle?”

“Why would I want to watch them struggle?” Tafel asked and furrowed her brow. She glanced at Mary, who was beside her. “Do you want to watch them struggle?”

Mary shook her head. “Not interested.”

Tafel looked at her husband, who was sitting on Prika’s head. “And what about you? Do you want to watch these people struggle?”

Vur scratched his nose. “A little,” he said. “Prika made it sound like it’d be something really fun to watch, but after seeing it, I think it’s pretty boring.”

“There you have it,” Tafel said and nodded at Prika. “Please flip the boats back over.”

Prika huffed and rolled her eyes. “None of you appreciate good entertainment,” she muttered and halfheartedly swatted at the boats from below. They flew into the air and landed back onto the ocean, flipping multiple times, wet sailors falling out like droplets of water. Three landed upright, but one landed back on its deck. As for the boat Tafel and Mary were standing on, Prika left it alone. “You going to get off? Or should I flip it while you’re still on it?”

Tafel and Mary stepped through a portal which opened up behind Vur. Prika frowned and let out grumbling sounds as she flipped the two boats upright with a few smacks. “Isn’t it polite to ask people before stepping on their heads?” she muttered and glared at the sailors who had managed to remain on the boats’ decks. They didn’t have the energy or breath to scream in fear, so she simply swam away from them. “Hey,” Prika said, interrupting the conversation Tafel was about to start. “Open a portal for me into the sky. It’s too annoying flying straight up from the ocean. The water makes me extra heavy.”

Tafel’s horns glowed silver, and Vur grabbed her hand, injecting some of his mana into her. “You don’t have to do that,” she said. “There’s so much mana in this world that I can teleport a dragon with ease.”

A portal appeared in front of Prika, and she swam through. Her wings spread open, and she took in a deep breath. Her body heated up, and steam rose from her scales as all the droplets of water evaporated, the vapor joining the clouds above her. None of the people sitting on her head seemed to mind the increase in temperature. She rolled her eyes up to look at them. “Alright, now that we’ve found Tafel, can we go home?”

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“Yes,” Tafel said. “All we have to do is pick up Alice and Mr. Skelly, then we inject our mana into the receiver crystal that your sister gave me. Are we ready to leave right … now?” She stared at her husband. “Um, Vur? What is that? Is that a ghost?”

Vur glanced down at the spirit rabbit that hopped out of his stomach. He raised his head and stared into Tafel’s eyes. With a blank expression, he said, “Undigestible food.”

Tafel blinked hard. “So…, is it a ghost or not?”

Vur shrugged.

“Stella,” Tafel said. “Please explain.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Prika said and squirmed, bouncing the trio on her head. “Let’s not get distracted by the little stuff, and let’s go home. I have a sister that needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Right…,” Tafel said and furrowed her brow. “The little stuff.” Her horns glowed silver, and she created a portal. A moaning sound came out of the portal as it was expanding, and Tafel closed it as quickly as she opened it, not even looking inside before it shut. “They’re busy,” she said with a straight face. “Let’s talk about the little stuff.” Before anyone could say anything, she cleared her throat and snatched at the spirit rabbit. Her hand passed straight through it. “Is it dangerous?”

“How can food be dangerous?” Vur asked.

“Food doesn’t burst out of your stomach,” Tafel said and snorted. Blood-red flames appeared on her palms, dancing on her skin, and she grabbed at the rabbit again. This time, it squeaked and dodged, hiding behind Vur. He moved to the side, exposing it. “Well, it looks like phoenix flames can harm it—unless it’s pretending to be afraid. Anyways, Stella, what is it?”

“Vur found some animals,” Stella said, poking her head out of the tattoo on Vur’s chest. “They’re all like this: misty and white and foggy. After he ate one, I noticed they were special and appeared inside of his soul, so I convinced him to eat all of them. If I’m not wrong, they increase his strength, constitution, agility, dexterity, and stamina.”

Tafel’s eye twitched. “So, Vur got stronger again? How is that even fair?” She sighed and let herself fall backwards, her body thumping against Prika’s head. “All of us were teleported to a place without any magic except for Vur. He found magical animals that increase his strength when he eats them.”

Vur blinked and grabbed the rabbit. For some reason, it was tangible under his grasp. He held it out towards Tafel. “Do you want to eat it?”

The rabbit flailed its legs in protest, but it couldn’t get free. Seeing that it couldn’t escape, it resorted to looking as miserable as possible while making eye contact with Tafel. If she had even an ounce of compassion in her heart, she would turn Vur down, and it would be free.

“Yes, please,” Tafel said, nodding while looking directly at the rabbit. It stiffened as if it couldn’t believe the words coming out of Tafel’s mouth. “It gives me a strange feeling though.” Her brow furrowed. “As if I ate something similar to it before…. It reminds me of”—Tafel’s face paled before turning unnaturally green—“the black goop that Auntie forced us to eat.”

Vur blinked and glanced at Stella. “Do the rabbit and that prisoner inside your dungeon get along?”

Stella’s eyes narrowed. “Give me a second. I smell a conspiracy. Only I’m allowed to start conspiracies!”