Princess of the Silver Ocean - Chapter 90

“Are you ready?” the owner asked her, and she nodded, her cobalt eyes blazing with determination.

“Yes, I am ready,” she told the owner, who also fisted her hand and placed it in front of her body.

It would not be easy for Astoria to clear her mind, but she was determined to do so. She wanted to win this game and get past this challenge. She wanted to not let the team repeat the challenge because, who knows, the owner might just change this challenge into a complicated one which would cause them to spend too much time here.

Her team wanted to be part of the top three teams to finish the Riddle Race, and she was sure that, although no one said it, they wanted to come out first. She would do whatever it takes to ensure that Nexi’s marks and academic standing improve. After all, she did say that she wanted to help the princess sort out her life.

‘Okay, let’s do this,’ she thought as she took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heartbeat.

“Rock-” she heard the owner say, causing her to press her lips together.

‘This is for Nexi,’ Astoria thought as she stared at her fisted hand.

“-paper,” the owner continued.

‘I can do this,’ Astoria’s cobalt eyes ignited with a strong sense of determination.

“-scissors,” the owner finished as she changed her fist to a paper.

‘Now,’ Astoria thought as she left her hand as it was, a fist symbolizing rock.

The owner was flustered and sighed.

“We won!” Astoria heard the fairy yell.

Laurelai ran to Astoria’s side and gave her a hug.

“You did it! You did it, Nexi!” the fairy yelled cheerily.

Astoria smiled and nodded.

“Let’s keep our voices down,” Astoria said to the fairy, “since this is a bookstore and some creatures are reading. We do not want to disturb them, right?”

The fairy pulled away from the hug and was flustered.

“Oh, right,” the fairy nervously laughed, “Sorry, I got too excited.”

Laojin smiled and fist-pumped the air.

“We won,” he said happily.

Davitt sighed in relief, happy that they won and that Astoria could clear her mind.

“Well, you won,” the owner said, running her fingers through her short, black hair.

Astoria nodded and smiled at the owner.

“Let me not waste anymore of your time then,” the owner said, clasping her hands in front of her body, “I shall tell you your riddle.”

Astoria and the rest of her teammates nodded and listened attentively to the owner.

“It is something so magical. It comes to you every night,” the owner stated, “It takes you to places without actually moving you. To see it, you need to close your eyes first. What is it?”

Davitt ushered his teammates to gather together for discussion.

“I was gonna say the answer is the moon since she said that it comes to you every night, but you cannot exactly see the moon when your eyes are closed,” Laurelai told Davitt.

“And the moon does not exactly take you to places,” Laojin added.

Astoria and Davitt nodded.

“Hmm,” Astoria stroked her chin, “Something magical that happens at night?”

“That only happens when you close your eyes?” Davitt pressed his lips together as he thought of the answer.

“Ah. I got it!” the fairy said, grinning from ear to ear.

“I think I got it too,” Astoria said, nodding her head.

Laojin and Davitt stared at the two women.

“A dream,” the two women said in unison as they stared at each other.

Laurelai nodded vigorously when she found out that her best friend was thinking the same answer as her. That they came to the same conclusion.

“That is right, Nexi,” the fairy said, “When you close your eyes at night, you dream. Dreams take you to places without having to move your body. You see dreams when you close your eyes, and it truly is magical.”

“Yeah. You both are right,” Davitt agreed, with Laojin nodding in agreement as well.

Davitt turned to the owner and told her the answer.

“The answer is a dream,” the gargoyle class president said.

The owner smiled and nodded, clapping her hands in joy.

“Yes,” the owner said, her blue eyes twinkling under the light coming from outside, “That is correct. May I see which puzzle piece you got so far so that I may give you the correct one.”

Davitt nodded, and Astoria immediately showed the owner the puzzle piece. The owner smiled and took out a puzzle piece from a bag placed on the table next to them.

“Here you go,” the owner gave Davitt the puzzle piece, who then gave it to Astoria, who placed it safely in her belt bag.

“M-may I ask you a question, ma’am?” Laojin asked, seeming nervous at talking to the beautiful owner.

The owner stared at him and nodded.

“Maybe I am just being paranoid, or I am wrong but did you read…Did you read-”

“Did I read your mind when we played the game?” the owner cut him off and smiled.

Laojin nodded, and the owner crossed her arms, examining the troll disguised as a human in front of her. She nodded, and everyone gasped. Their eyes widened at the shocking information they had at first speculated may be true, that the owner could read minds.

“Yes,” she told the troll, “Although I am a human, I have been studying magic for many years, and I used a mind-reading spell which enables me to read my opponent’s mind.”

“Wow,” the fairy stepped up and stood next to Laojin, “No wonder I felt like someone had steeped into my mind.”

Davitt stood next to Laurelai.

“But isn’t using magic against us cheating?” the gargoyle asked, raising an eyebrow, “I mean, when you think about it, it is not fair to us, students.”

The owner laughed softly.

“Just because you guys are not allowed to use magic does not mean that we, the assigned helpers of this Riddle Race, cannot,” the owner shrugged, “Besides, this was also to test your thinking. To see if you could be able to use your senses or intuition to pick up that something was off.”

“I see,” Astoria said as she remained in her spot, away from the owner.

“Yeah, but you did a pretty great job at figuring out that I could read your minds,” the owner nodded, “Although, I am sure at first you were just speculating that I was doing so.”

“Yes,” Laojin said, “We were not sure if you really did read our minds, so we just speculated that you did and came up with a strategy.”

“No wonder I could not read princess Nexi’s mind,” the owner sighed, “When I tried to, it felt like a crazy, thick wall was built around her mind, so it caught me by surprise.”

The owner then leaned to the right, and a smile appeared on her face.

“Overall, congratulations to you,” she told them, “Seems like I have another team to deal with, so I will be on my way.”

The owner bowed and left them. They all sighed and looked at each other.

“How is our time?” Davitt asked Laojin.

“Pretty good,” the troll answered, “We finished in less than twenty minutes. The time right now is currently ten past twelve, so we best better get going.”

Laurelai nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. We just have two more places left, so let’s go and not waste any more time,” with that, the fairy turned around and headed for the exit of the Bookends Bookstore.

The others looked at each other and nodded. They followed behind the fairy who had pulled out the map. When they stepped outside, the fairy turned to them.

“It seems that the Anthousai Museum is close to the Heavenly Spruce Forest,” the fairy told them, scanning the map, “They are both at an equal distance from the Bookends Bookstore.”

“Then,” Laojin raised his hand to speak, “How about we go to the Heavenly Spruce Forest first and end with the Anthousai Museum?”

Astoria nodded.

“Fine by me,” she said in agreement.

“I am also fine with that,” Laurelai smiled.

“Yeah, me too,” Davitt said as he hailed a cab.

Laojin smiled. He felt like he was appreciated by this team. For the first time in his life, he felt a sense of belonging. Like he mattered to someone. Being in Misty’s gang was nowhere near what he thought it would be. When he joined her gang, he thought he would be happy. That he would feel like he belonged.

However, the feelings were the complete opposite of what he expected. Misty never really cared about anyone’s opinion. She did what she wanted, whether people liked it or not. Also, it was not like he enjoyed bullying princess Nexi. He hated it. He hated what Misty did to princess Nexi.

He knew that Misty bullied the princess because she was jealous of her. Because the princess was gullible, a total pushover, and nowhere near being outspoken. He would watch as the princess said nothing to Misty, who bullied her.. It was suffocating for him to see someone as beautiful and friendly as princess Nexi be bullied.