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Chapter 6 - Trekking Back

Who knew that something called "lime boar" would taste actually not that bad? I thought it would be really disgusting--I wasn't a big fan of meat in the first place--but it tasted incredibly awesome.

I was sitting at a humongous banquet table with the highest officials of the Penna kingdom, and wolfing down all the food they had to offer. I skipped dinner to go on this little excursion, and the power drainage I suffered from didn't help my empty stomach. Ruby and Tristan didn't seem too pleased with my manners, but I couldn't give less of a shit.

I moved on from the boar to the yogurt slathered salmon and paprika oysters. Dropping them onto my plate, I poured myself another glass of raspberry and mint water. Don't ask me what that is, I still don't know.

"You know," I started through a mouthful of food, earning a glare from Ruby, "for a completely hidden society in the clouds, you guys have really good food."

This made the Penna around me smile and nod at each other. This was the most content I had been in a while. The best way to a girl's heart was through food, and these Penna really understood that.

I would have eaten everything on that table if Ruby didn't say that Merlin was waiting for us on the ground. I internally groaned; why did she have to ruin everything?

We waved goodbye to Aer and her Penna species, and soon descended the cloudy staircase once more. The walk down was quiet.

"So," Tristan started awkwardly, "how are we gonna tell Merlin that Zoe hitched a ride with us?"

Ruby didn't even turn around or stop. "We don't."

"I'm sorry," I interjected, "but why won't you tell Merlin that I totally took down Vine? I basically carried both of you on my back."

Ruby stopped and turned to me. "Listen, we really appreciate the help, I'm sure, but it would be best if Merlin didn't know at all that you even knew about our mission. Sending untrained supers out to fulfill requests is extremely dangerous by itself, and if he knew that someone came along without his consent he would throw a cow. Quite literally, too. That guy's metal hand is strong."

I shrugged. "It wasn't like I totally screwed up the whole thing! I helped."

"Yeah but you nearly got us killed in the process," Tristan muttered. I ignored him and pushed past the two, descending the stairs in front.

"I'll tell Merlin that I came along, it shouldn't be too bad. I'm new. He can't do anything that'll scare me."

"Have you ever heard his assistant speak?" Ruby called. I turned and shook my head. And then it dawned on me.

"Wait, y-you don't mean that he--"

"Yes, he did."

I felt sick and suddenly I didn't really like Doctor Merlin all that much anymore. I stepped back and pressed my back to the railing, gesturing forward. "Ladies first."

We kept walking down the stairs in silence. At one point I tried to play ISpy, but they kept guessing clouds so we stopped. It took a shorter amount of time to walk down the stairs than it did to walk up them, but then again we were pretty rested up and gravity is easier to handle when you're going down.

When we stepped onto solid ground, I was happy to be level with everything and not miles into the atmosphere. But then my good mood was crapped on when we saw who was waiting for us at the bottom.

"Welcome back, stowaway." Merlin said through gritted teeth, and Winter was standing next to him with a worried but relieved expression on her face.

Reality smacked me in the face and the pain from getting stabbed in the legs rushed through my nervous system and I felt my legs give out beneath me. The last thing I thought before everything went black was:

I really need to stop passing out. It's not making a good impression on anyone.