The interior of the ship surpassed Andrew's wildest imagination. He stared in awe at everything and he felt like a country bumpkin introduced to the big city for the first time. Silver pushed him from room to room until they were in a large sitting lounge. Andrew settled down on a plump bean bag and Silver dumped a blanket on him. Esther appeared a short while later with a tray of warm drinks. Andrew accepted a cup gratefully and took a sip before coming to the realization that they might have been trying to lull him into a false sense of security (and that it was working).

  "Well, whenever you're ready, I guess..." said Silver. He and Esther sat opposite to Andrew and watched him intently. Andrew had hoped that they really were referring to the events of that night because that was all he had to offer them. He was a mess with his words but he did his best to articulate the incident with as many details as he could remember to add. When he was done, nobody said anything. He didn't expect anything from Esther, but even chatty Silver was silently stroking his chin. "Now you," Andrew said after he'd cleared his throat to dispel the silence. "Tell me who you guys are, how you know about what happened, and how you play into all of this."

  "Well," Silver smiled. "Do you want to go or should I?" he glanced over at Esther who didn't even bother returning his gaze. "Oh alright, if you insist." He took a deep breath. "Well, I am Silver, inventor of each of SilverStar's products including, yes, the ship that we are on. Mind you, it's for company trips and I don't always use it for personal reasons but I didn't know how many people I would have to accommodate so I brought it just in case. This here-" he turned and gestured to the girl, "-is Esther. We're aware of what happened because we have access to almost all radio communication lines across Enos- shh don't tell anyone- So we've heard all about the capture of the great witches through Oz's radio channels and gotten the small details. We'd been camping in the area and looking for clues. You'd been showing up to the exact location and snooping around a lot so it was luck that united us. As for how we play into this... let's just say the two of us have some unfinished business with the evil witches. So that should answer all your questions. Anything else?"

  It was a lot to take in. Andrew knew his next few words had to be very important. "Are they really evil?" he asked, disappointing himself yet again.

  "Oh yes, they are." Silver smiled maliciously. "They're the worst."

  "Then why are we going to save them?"

  Silver's eyebrows shot up a notch. "Is that what we're doing?"

  "Isn't it?" Andrew looked from Silver to Esther, and back to Silver again. Esther's face was devoid of emotion, and Silver was just all smiles. "I don't know about what they did or didn't do. I just want my cats back."

  "Oh?" Silver seemed interested. "Your cats? Do tell."

  Andrew told them about how his cats had the same names as the witches, how they disappeared after the witches did, and in order to escape the miserable awkward silence that followed, the whole backstory from when grandma got them and how long he had them. "They can't be evil witches!" Andrew said with feeling. "They were like family to me! I loved them, fed them... well, now it makes sense why they never let me wash them..." his voice faltered.

  "I need a nap." Silver abruptly got up and left the room. With him gone, the silence in the room became more pronounced.

  "So, where are we going?" Andrew asked Esther.

  "We are currently headed to where the witches are kept hostage," she replied, not making eye contact.

  "Wait, if you guys know where they are, why didn't you already head there?"

  "Well... we kinda need you." She stood up. "Any more questions, ask Silver. You should rest," she said before exiting the room too.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Andrew curled up in the bean bag and tried to drift off to sleep. But so much happened and was still happening that he couldn't rest easy. When Silver reappeared, he seemed groggy and irritable. He didn't say much and Andrew returned the favor by refraining from speaking as well.

  It had been a few hours since Andrew boarded the ship. The skies were clearing and he dragged his bean bag closer to the long glass window that lined the wall and watched the clouds float by. He camped there until Silver finally declared that they'd arrived. As the ship descended to the lower part of the skies, Andrew watched from his spot by the window. They were in the middle of nowhere in what was, unmistakably, a desert. "Where are we?" he asked, though he was a bit hesitant to speak.

  "We obviously can't get too near their hideout. They'll see us coming. We have to keep it on the down low from here," Silver said.

  Esther also made an appearance just as things were finally picking up. The ship was left flying in auto mode. "Invisibility cloaking systems will make sure it's not seen by anyone," Silver took upon the kindness of informing Andrew though he seemed somewhat displeased with him. Andrew had been feeling somewhat strange for quite some time but once they had exited the vehicle, he felt a strange blast of air. It was as though the very oxygen was slightly different. The feeling wasn't bad, but it was off.

  Andrew noticed Esther staring off into the distance, like she was remembering something. Something sad. Silver stared expectantly at her until at length she broke out of her reverie and threw some strange cubes on the ground.

  Silver dug three controllers out of his many pockets. He pressed a bright red button on each of the controllers before throwing one each at Esther and Andrew. Esther caught hers effortlessly while Andrew's fell to the ground beside him. He swallowed his embarrassment as he bent to pick it up. 'If it were Zen, he definitely would've caught it,' he found himself thinking.

  The strange cubes rattled and began to expand into skateboard-like objects. "Just get on it and don't worry too much about how to maintain your course. Yours is set to novice mode. Shift your weight to the direction you're moving," Silver said as he stepped onto his. Two latches sprouted from the board and belted his feet to it. Esther did the same and latches sprouted from hers too. Andrew followed suit and sure enough, a pair of metallic prongs shot out and secured his feet to the board.

  The concept was similar to that of a hoverboard, but it wasn't difficult to stand still on it. It seemed to adjust to the rider, rather than the opposite. Esther handed Andrew a pink helmet and a pair of goggles, keeping the black gear for herself. Silver put on his silver helmet and pressed a button on the side of his shades. They morphed into a bright black and white pair of goggles.

  Silver and Esther shot off, and Andrew followed them. The remote had a star logo on it and on the back it said Shotboard 3.0. The shotboard went very fast and the speed was manually adjustable with the remote. From observing them, Andrew understood that leaning forward made it go faster, though it did not a thing for him. He came to the conclusion that Silver must have set it to the most basic level for a beginner like him.

  About an hour later, Andrew's legs were about to give in. Although, initially it seemed like no big deal at all- it took a mysterious toll on the thighs and he needed to sit. "My legs can't stand it anymore," he whined when it was far beyond his tolerance.

  The two ahead skidded to a halt as they turned to him. Esther held up her hand to Andrew and he was just about to accept it, when the realization hit that she wanted the remote. He threw it over to her and watched, mortified, as it flew carelessly a few meters to the left of where she was standing. In the blink of an eye, something shot out of the sleeve of her hoodie, caught it and retrieved it for her and disappeared.

  Andrew had no time to register what had happened as Esther swiftly pressed some buttons and the board lengthened and sprouted a seat from the back, like a skateboard combined with a bicycle.

  "You should've told us earlier," Silver smiled, but it seemed very cold. Almost like he knew but waited until Andrew spoke out, on purpose. "But this mode is slower so we wouldn't have made good time."

  The other two didn't bother to join Andrew in what, according to the remote's changed label, was the "Bikeboard" mode. He could feel the difference in speed and though he felt uncomfortable being the cause of its decrease, he couldn't help it.

  As they sailed over the sand, Andrew continued watching their surroundings. He wondered if they were in a different country. This was how he imagined those places with cowboys were. The sky was a deeper shade of blue, and clouds were scarce. Though it was sweltering hot, he couldn't see the sun.

  He saw the occasional cacti, as he had expected from a traditional desert, but there were some other strange plants as well. He hadn't studied enough plant biology to know what they were, but he hadn't known other plants could thrive in the desert. Aside from that, it was just bright yellow sand. Nothing more to see. Not even scorpions, which he had expected to find plenty of.