°Maddie°
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We all sat lazily in Prince Bruno's living room. The atmosphere was dull and I kept picking at my nails, waiting rather impatiently for Chang to arrive.

I mean, he was the one who called us here and he was the one always lecturing us on punctuality.
Trevor could attest to that.

I heard it was a meeting, not a training session so I was hoping we could hurry up and get this over with.
I had homework and studying to do.

Don't blame me for my grumpiness, being a spirit of Reina did that to you.

I looked up from my fingers to scan the enormous and unrealistically exquisite room.
Hopefully something in this ethereal chamber would distract me for the time being.

Thankfully, as soon as I did, Chang emerged from a glowing white cloud that appeared in the centre of the room.

To my surprise, there was someone behind him.
When Chang stepped out of the cloud, a tall, slender woman followed suit and stood by his side.

We all sat up straighter and stared curiously at the lady.

"Hello spirits," Chang said casually.

We all answered him with words within, "hey, sup and Chang."

"Firstly, I know you must be wondering who this lady is. Well, she's given me the honours to-"

"Shut up Chang. Spirits of Reina, it's so nice to meet you guys. I'm Princess Julianna but you can just call me Julie,"
the lady spoke.

Chang looked taken aback by her insolence and his mouth was left ajar in shock for a few seconds before he recovered.

He gave a fake cough and glared at her before turning to us to speak.

"Julie is Bruno's twin sister. She's here to help us get him back. She has been, although. Just...by herself. Still, she feels that by partnering with the spirits, we have a higher chance of success."

We were all undoubtedly, taken aback by his words.
First, Bru having a twin sister.
Secondly, he referred to us like we were some king of celebrities or famous heroes.
The closest we'd gotten to that was battling that flea monster and though we did some real cool stuff then, if it wasn't for Lucy and Chang, we won't be sitting in this room by now.

"Yes," Julie snapped me out of my thoughts, "my brother can be irresponsible and careless at times. Twin brothers."
She scoffed.

"Tell me about it," Alexa mummured from my right.
"Hey!" Alexis complained.

I giggled.
"I don't think it's Bru's fault though," Trevor started, "I mean, yeah sure you could arrange your playlist in alphabetical order or hang your clothes in your closet in the pattern of the rainbow, literally plan your entire 86400 seconds of the day every-"

"Okay, ball boy, we get your point. What're you saying?" Alex muttered beside him.

Trev rolled his eyes.
"What I'm trying to say is that, you could be very responsible but you still can't be too safe with these Shu people. They can just swoop in and take anyone at any time."

It was Chang's turn to roll his eyes.
"And why haven't they swooped in to collect your horrible sense of humour then?"

Alex and Tanya joined me in laughter.
"Cuz I have an amazing sense of humour they're probably scared of it," Trevor retorted.

"Hell, yeah they are! They're probably wondering what circus is going on in that head of yours," Alex joked.

Everyone I'm the room burst out laughing and Trevor looked so embarrassed.

I immediately stopped laughing with them cuz I felt kinda bad for him.

"Anyway, he does have a point," I spoke up to end the laughter.

Trev smiled at me gratefully and I smiled back.

Chang took a moment to recover.
"Yes he does, but haven't you wondered why Shu's people have never attacked here yet?"

I stared down at my feet in thought.

"There's a magical barrier that's stopping foreign magic from passing through the borders of Horei. Bru must've gone to Shu or even if not, somewhere close enough for him to have been captured," Chang said.

"I see. Still not used to how this...magic stuff works." Trevor rolled his eyes, visibly annoyed.

"Well, now you do," Julie said, "and I stand incorreted about my opinion on twin brothers."

"Anyway, a few days ago, we were discussing on the plan to rescue Bruno," Chang started.

"Yes, I was thinking direct frontal assault but Chang here said that would be too risky and...other reasons that make him the boring magician that he is," Julie said dryly. "So we argued for a while until we sort of formed this...safer plan."

I could tell Chang was battling with the urge to give a sharp retort since his left eye was twitching slightly.
He took a deep breath and then began to explain.

"We've been sending diviners from Horei to Shu to figure out Bru's location. We've also been trying to use our magic to see if we can find his whereabouts but man, those Shu magicians are smarter than I thought. We can't see through their borders and whenever our diviners appear in Shu, they're immediately captured or they're attacked and forced to come back with no information," he said dejectedly.

"We're all worried. I mean,yes we both argue all the time. I think it's a necessity for siblings, but he's my brother. I love him and I care for his safety," Julie said. "We all do."

"We know this is really risky and might cause a lot of problems if it doesn't work. I mean, even though it's really dangerous and generally unsupported by the whole kingdom -" Chang started.

"Um, I think with all those even thoughs, its probably not a good idea," Tanya suggested bluntly.

"Yeah...I'm thinking something bad is gonna happen to us," Trevor guessed.

Chang sighed.
"Yes, ball boy, you are kind of right."
Trevor perked up an eyebrow.

"Yay, it caught on!" Alexis celebrated.

"It could affect you guys. But nothing bad would happen to you if you're extra careful and you follow the plan accordingly," Chang reassured.

"So we're all gonna die. Sorry Horei, we apologize in advance for our deaths," Alexa lamented.

We all agreed amidst our laughs.

"Guys, guys!" Chang tried to calm us done.

"Oooh," Julie wiped a nonexistent tear from her eyes, "I love them. The spirits chose well."

"Guys, no one is dying, please. Just listen to the plan. You're all going to sneak into Shu. There's a new spell I recently discovered and if I cast that magic on you you'd turn invisible for a couple of hours. In any kingdom, despite their border magic or detectors you'd be able to sneak in," Chang said.

"If you can do that then why don't you just use it on the diviners here in Horei?" Lucy asked.

"It can only work on spirits of kingdoms other than Horei. It's ancient Horei magic and I found it in a book in one of Bruno's bookshelves. You guys are the perfect option," Bru explained with a crazy grin.

"Speaking of books...or more precisely, that very book, leads us to the next topic," Julie said quite mysteriously.
I loved her accent and the spookiness in her voice.

"Let us go somewhere, take a walk to one of my favourite places and talk," she continued.

She didn't wait for a reply from us.
She looked at Chang briefly and he nodded before she snapped her fingers.

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I know I'm not the only one who likes princess Julianna:-)

Anyway, what do you think so far?

Still appreciate your votes and comments ^_^

~Ash.