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After dinner, Ophelia lay on her stomach on Sera’s bed and tried to work on her homework. It wasn’t easy because her mind kept going back to what was happening.

Sera was researching their History homework on Wikipedia when both girls heard a tapping on the window and saw Silver sitting on the window ledge.

“Um… can’t you just teleport inside?” Sera opened the window to let her in.

“Well I could,” Silver replied. “But that would be impolite, wouldn’t it?”

“Excuse me,” Ophelia interrupted. “But what the hell was that earlier?”

“I’m not sure,” Silver said. “But I think Granny has some idea and she wants to talk to you. She didn’t seem worried. I’m worried, though – why would one of the idri even know you exist, let alone attack you?”

“They didn’t follow through,” Ophelia noted. “I was sure that I was dead or worse when I passed out. Perhaps they don’t mean any harm?”

“If they don’t mean harm then why would they attack you?” Silver asked. “But if they do, why would they pull their punches? Hopefully Granny will be able to tell us more. She’s old enough to remember the time before the banishment.”

“Which must have been a long time ago since it’s not mentioned in history,” Ophelia said.

“Around ten thousand years ago,” Silver said. “We can live a long time.”

“Understatement.” Ophelia felt her eyes go wide.

Silver gave a surprisingly human sounding giggle. “I guess it is. Will you come to meet my family tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Ophelia said dubiously. “I trust you, but how would we get there without Aunt Sophie noticing?

“Leave that to me,” Silver said. “No one will notice you’re gone.”

Ophelia looked over at Sera who nodded.

“Well as long as you’re sure,” she said. “I just hope she has some insight into what happened earlier.”

“I think she will,” Silver said. “She wouldn’t have asked to meet you if she didn’t. She never had occasion to meet your predecessor.”

“I’ll come too,” Sera said. “But we should finish our homework first. We can’t save the world if we’re grounded.” She returned to her computer and started printing stuff off.

“Well, I wasn’t thinking of leaving until after your parents were asleep,” Silver said. “So carry on.”

“Sera?” Ophelia said as her cousin gathered up sheets from her printer.

“Hmm? Yeah?”

“Did you see what happened?”

Sera frowned thoughtfully and chewed on her lip.

“Not really. You were talking with that ice thing when you suddenly seemed distressed. There was a blue flash around you and then you and Silver were lying on the ground. The thing swirled around for a few moments before vanishing into the sky.”

“Does that help?” Ophelia asked Silver.

“Not really,” she said. “It was a good thought to ask but it just confirms what we suspected. Whoever was behind this didn’t want you dead. We can have her tell dad and gran in case they spot something we missed, but I doubt it.”

“Okay, firstly, I’m still here,” Sera said tartly. “Secondly, the printing is done so we can start on the homework now and worry about this later rather than going around in circles.”

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