Ellie's POV

  I woke up in the mud. The first thing I saw was the sky, deep blue and streaked with glowing stars. Looming trees stood tall. I disposed of Arie's disguise: the wig and mask. Skymint and Carrie were still asleep, so I thought it would be best if I poked them out of their bubble.

  I crouched beside Skymint and whispered in his ear, "Wake up, bear-boy."

  His eyelids opened and trembled when he saw me, facing each other. Still disoriented. I didn't cast a sleeping spell on him this time—the fairy did.

  "I have to say, you impressed me by scratching Skadar's face. You know how to not disappoint me after all." I stood up, shaking off the mud on my hands.

  He brushed his hair and sat on the ground. "Does she know about you?"

  "Hmm, let's see." I approached Carrie, oblivious and naive like I was hours ago. "Rise and shine, cousin."

  Her eyes fluttered open. "Arie, how long—"

  "Look, it's midnight." I cut her off. "Perfect time to meet me."

  Carrie blinked, confused. "Meet you?"

  I leaned in close and grinned. "Oh, come on, you've heard about me already because of Dorsey's ramblings."

  Her gaze flicked to Skymint, then back to me. "Arie, you're... acting strange. What are you talking about?"

  I let out a laugh. I can't handle her disbelief. "I always watch behind her eyes." I said lightly, twirling a strand of my sky-blue hair. "And before you could begin, I'm not some separate entity. I solely do what she desires."

  Carrie scrambled to her feet. "Stop it. Arie, this isn't funny."

  "It's not a joke." Skymint muttered. "It's her, the curse."

  Carrie's breath hitched. "No way, it can't be true! There's no such thing. Please tell me this is a dream."

  "You don't call me a curse, bear-boy." I hissed. "Now I take back my compliment from before."

  His expression flickered in fear for a moment. That's right, you should be afraid of me. He should be careful how he addresses me.

  "Carrie, she's the dark half of Arie. She emerges every midnight."

  Her eyes widened with a gasp. "No, this isn't real! Please wake me up now! Or stop this not-funny-but-creepy prank."

  Suddenly, fairies appeared around us, and as soon as they laid their eyes on me, meeting my malevolent glare, I twitched a wicked smile. Their faces petrified, and they let out a scream as they flew away.

  "Yes, dear cousin, this is definitely a prank." I said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

  She stared at me as though gazing through my soul. You must know me, really, but of course, it comes with a price. Just like what I did to Skymint.

  "I—I can't believe this." She admitted, her brows furrowing as she turned to Skymint. "In all my years with Arie, I never knew she'd have a sinister curse lurking underneath."

  "Aww. You must feel really betrayed." I purred, crawling my fingers on her shoulder. "Only if you believed Dorsey."

  "You—you murdered her father." She stuttered. "You ruined both Dorsey and Arie!"

  "You're quick to catch up." I said, my eyes still settled on hers. "But you're getting on my nerves. Won't you even ask for my name, like greeting a new friend?"

  "Ellie, you're making her shiver terribly." Skymint interjected.

  "Oh, now you spoiled my introduction." I glared at him.

  Suddenly, the ground trembled, and Skymint grabbed Carrie by her arm to run, like grabbing an unmoving stone sculpture. This doesn't feel good. I feel irritated, annoyed, angry? Either way, I'm going to curse her too. A smile crept up on my lips.

  I ran faster than them, and now I'm ahead. "Follow me if y'all still want to see the light of day."

  I turned behind to check on them, and they obeyed. No need for futile magic spells that would only do bad for my health.

  "What have you done?" Skymint asked, catching his breath.

  "First of all, I didn't cast any spells, and secondly, I'm too sacred for this forest." I remarked.

  He simply kept silent. Bear-boy loves grumbling about his complaints, and yet, he won the Horse Racing Competition because I enchanted his horse's saddle. He should thank me. I've been waiting for that, and still nothing. Lucky for them, I'm not in a rush to clean things up.

  I could just visit the witch coven hidden here, but I've got no interest in their cult. It's possible they could invite Felipe anytime and have me in his claws if he ever made a deal with them. I'm not some puppet to be controlled. I'm just as real as Arie. Well, I am technically her... just more real than she ever was.

  The trees seemed to groan as I passed beneath them, their branches reaching down as if trying to claw at my hair. The midnight air thickened, a chill that didn't belong to the forest itself.

  We reached the end of the Mystical Forest, the dark sea that flowed elegantly. Maybe full of skeletons below.

  "Summon bear-boy's boat." I commanded the cold air around us.

  And his boat appeared, completely looking the same as the moment we left it behind.

  "Come on, I know a nearby uninhabited island." I said, mounting already to steer the boat.

  "When did you have Dreamer's Magic?" Carrie asked behind me, her voice raised in awe.

  "Thanks for reminding me." I said, turning to her, vividly imagining her demise. "If you inform anyone about me and my magic, you will become a plant."

  The spell took its effect. Her face paled, draining all of its warmth. Meanwhile, Skymint could tell others about my existence. I'm waiting to see if he'll ever cross that line, to break his innocent Arie. I don't mind if he does, but I don't see any point for him to make such a horrendous decision. I'm his anchor now.

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  "That's not so bad. At least you won't die. You'll still be alive." I added with a smile.

  I took out my fruit cube from my side pocket and hovered it in front of me.

  "Summon Chillberry." I commanded.

  The glowing red cranberry floated above the cube, and I quickly ate it. I haven't eaten in ages since all that running from greedy scatterheads.

  I turned to the helm and wrapped it in ice, and crafted the ice engine that Arie always uses to speed up this boat.

  I steered the boat, and my hood flew off, revealing my sky-blue strands dancing along the wind.

  "Bear-boy, how many leaf bills do you have left?" I asked.

  "Why 'bear-boy'?" Carrie cut in.

  That ticked me off. No one else should call him that but me.

  "Half my bounty." Skymint admitted. "I threw more than I should have. I can't afford to pay it off now."

  "Don't tell me you're planning to conjure new ones." Carrie said, alarmed.

  "You heard the fairy." I replied coolly. "The Guardian's been punished. Felipe made sure of that. There's nothing left to pay for... but bear-boy's still on the bounty hunters' radar."

  "So I raced for nothing?" Skymint muttered, dismayed.

  "I thought you'd want to meet my old betrayer." I said, smiling thinly. "So you can learn from him. You don't want to become him… do you?"

  Silence fell. I could feel Carrie trembling beside me, probably regretting sitting between me and Skymint when it's clear who I wanted to speak with.

  The stars endlessly stretched in the vast sky, and hours flew by in this blank space.

  "Ellie, you said it's only nearby." Skymint said.

  "Yes, so what's wrong? I didn't say far away." I stated.

  "Do you even know where it is?" He asked, worry tinged in his voice.

  "Would the coconut shell in the uninhabited island turn you back to Arie if it hits you?" Carrie lazily asked. I could feel the sleepiness in her voice. She's been watching me forever, like I'm some newly discovered plant.

  "Just trust me. Or maybe I'll just push you both off the boat." I stated.

  "Please stop. My cousin is not a killer!"

  "Skymint, what if she kills us on the island? There's nobody living there, so it's easy to do that." She whispered to him, although I could hear it.

  "Well, you said moments ago I'm not a killer." I blurted out.

  "But you're not my cousin!" She cried.

  One spell, and this mess would be over. That's all it ever took. But magic was no gift. It was sleep stolen from Arie's body, debt tallied in hours she never agreed to spend. She already slept less than she thought. Midnight belonged to me, after all. If I cast too much, she'd wake up groggy, aching, suspicious. She'd start asking questions. I couldn't let her. Not yet. So I let the silence stretch. Let them think I was cruel or lazy. Better that than reckless.

  A large mound of mass painted into view. I succeeded. We reached the uninhabited island by just guessing the directions and not using an enchanted map. More like I guessed the directions while they did nothing.

  We mounted off the boat, and my boots crunched the rough, brittle sand. Dim light shone on the island, the sun preparing to rise from its slumber. I looked around at the palm trees, my consciousness starting to drift off.

  I sat beside a palm tree, resting my back against it. The two approached me.

  "Wait, I still have a lot to ask you." Carrie said.

  "Here we go again." Skymint sighed in acceptance.

  After all, I still love playing the presumed-dead princess. Time to watch the events unfold.

  ***

  Arie's POV

  I saw Skymint and Carrie as soon as my eyes opened. Brittle sand rested beneath me, and a palm tree loomed behind. This isn't where we fell asleep, certainly not the forest.

  "Why are we on an island?" I asked, confusion etched on my face.

  It unsettled me how I was the last to wake. I pushed my arms to stand, and a coconut accidentally hit my head.

  "Ouch. That's rude." I muttered, rubbing the spot where the coconut struck. If I were superstitious, I might think the island was trying to knock something loose.

  "We had to move because the fairy couldn't let us stay for long. Well, uh, you got too much sleeping powder." Skymint said.

  "And we've been waiting for you to wake up." Carrie chimed in.

  I walked toward the waves and gazed at the rising sun. Had we slept that long? I spotted a boat, Skymint's boat, floating at the edge of the shore. It looked exactly like the one we left at the outskirts of Fresha, complete with the ice engine I had formed. It should be gone... unless Skymint knew how to make one too.

  "Skymint, what's your boat doing here?" I asked, my hair caught in the ocean wind.

  "I—ugh—the fairy summoned it for us so we wouldn't have to get a new one." He answered, scratching the back of his neck.

  "It was like magic. It just popped into the water." Carrie added.

  "Oh. I never knew they could do such a thing." I said.

  Carrie moved warily, as if a scorpion might crawl out of the sand at any moment. The ocean waves filtered out all sound. Skymint took a step back.

  "I hear footsteps." He whispered.

  I turned just as Carrie grew a branch from a palm tree to wrap around a man wearing a sleeveless desert cloak and loose trousers tucked into boots. A sword gleamed in his hand. A Sunstarian scout. I'd only ever seen their guards in the stadium before.

  "Quickly, to the boat. It's not safe here." Skymint said, letting us move first.

  Before we could reach it, a flaming arrow hurtled toward Skymint's head, but he froze it midair and tossed it aside.

  More scouts emerged, wielding curved blades. Others held bows, their scarves wrapped tightly around their necks and faces, revealing only alert, agile eyes.

  "There he is, the Polarman worth a hundred thousand." One of them declared, voice muffled behind his mask.

  "Don't touch the princesses. They'll be of interest to King Jamaico." He added, as though we were dolls to be taken care of. A shiver ran down my spine.

  They all attacked at once, aiming for Skymint. I summoned a barrier of ice to block the projectiles, but the flaming arrows melted through it too quickly. Carrie caused cactuses to burst from the patches of sand where the ice gave way. Scouts slashed through them, but not without getting pierced by some of the spines.

  I blinked in disbelief. I had never seen Carrie summon cactuses before. Of course, we had never been in a desert together. Her powers felt foreign in this heat, sharp and unexpected.

  She fought harder when the scouts began cutting down the palm trees. I cast blast after blast of ice; Skymint did too. But it was difficult to land a fatal blow in this unbearable sun.

  I reached for the boat, but a gust of wind spun behind me. All at once, the island was consumed by a sandstorm.

  My eyes got blinded by the sand. No, our eyes. And the island opened up a hole that seemed to swallow us. Something sharp and thin punctured my neck, and my vision blurred until all that was left was darkness.

  ***

  Metal cuffs wrapped around my wrists, tight and cold. They were etched to the floor. Walls enclosed around me, and not even the front had bars, just sturdy metal blocking what's outside. There was a frame that resembled a window, about half a body's size. I stood up, but I realized the shackles were attached to the floor.

  "I've got two Windcores!" A young man yelled outside the metal.

  The frame opened, and I saw his face. King Jamaico Sunlight of Sunstar Kingdom.

  "Well, Arie Glaciouso, you're still alive." He said in an exaggerated tone. "Why would Felipe lie about that? Perhaps you possess something valuable?"

  My stomach felt sick. This guy is unsettling; there's something eerie in the way he speaks, or that his voice sounded like a teenage boy pretending to be a king.

  His golden eyes dug deeper into my skin. "Don't worry, your room is well-ventilated. You won't have to suffer from heat unlike the plenty of others. Because you're a princess."

  It felt wrong being called a princess, because I'm no longer one. That title died with my kingdom. With Aerol. I suddenly remembered my cousin, the Plant Princess.

  "Where's my cousin?" I asked in urgency. It matters more than why my room is ventilated.

  He tilted his head to the side. "She's beside your walls."

  I shot a look at him. "What about the Polarman? Skymint?"

  "To a..." He paused, tapping a finger on his chin. "What we call a prison."

  "King Jamaico! King Jamaico!" A man called, his breath panting. "We've been looking for you—"

  "SILENCE!" He commanded. "I'm talking to our special guest."

  No. I looked at the cuffs on my hands, impossible to break free. A prisoner.

  "But it's impor—" Suddenly, the man started choking. I can't see what's going on, with the Sand King's back turned at the frame.

  I wonder what he did. Still, I wondered more about how Skymint is doing.

  "What would you like for breakfast?" He asked. It reminded me of my father.

  I didn't answer. I can't, with this harsh reality I'm facing. I'm still disoriented and confused about the island. About how we got there. It was midday, and one moment it was dawn when I opened my eyes.

  "Okay fine." He stated. "We'll give you something random and you must eat it."

  He turned and I yelled, "Wait, please move Skymint to a comfortable place!"

  The frame closed and I heard footsteps fade away. The only light I had vanished. It was all dim and gloomy, cold for my liking, but these cuffs limited my movement.

  Suddenly, I started crying in silence. I felt terrified. Far worse than Skymint's condition right now, because we'll be forced to risk our lives in the Sunstar Colosseum. To kill or to be killed.