A barrier. The unnatural sheen reflected the rocky earth back at them. Opal took a step back.

"This is like..."

"The prison barrier? Where do you think the human's learned how to do it?" Kait pointed to an area where the mirror bubbled out. "This has actual doors though."

"Why though? Why have them at all?"

"Well in this case it's to keep everyone from trying to make their own roads in highly traveled areas. See the trails leading off are like the ones we took getting into Lster? Before The Roads were put in place areas were migration happened, well, it got pretty beaten up." Proga tapped his foot on a root. "she doesn't deserve to be crushed under all those feet."

Opal sort of understood but still, she wanted to stay out in the fresh air. Obsidian turned to stare at her, then approached and took her hand. It was warm. "Scared?"

"Kinda."

Obsidian squeezed her hand as they walked. She didn't want to go inside. She didn't want to go inside so much that her feet hurt from how tight her toes had curled when they stopped to examine the door. Kait was searching, hand sliding over the smooth material. She pulled her hand away. Opal thought perhaps her fingers had started to cramp up again when she noticed the mirror sheen was starting to ripple like water. A second later a face appeared.

"Are you trying to come in?"

"Nah, we just wanna stand and look at the damn thing with our big-ass wagon." Proga elbowed Spark, nearly making him topple over. Proga grabbed him before he fell, putting an arm around Spark's shoulder.

The face jerked in their direction sending ripples all down the side. They were frowning as Proga offered a bright smile. The demon had one large red eye that didn't seem to have a pupil and wore a large helmet on its pale head. "What's that?"

"We would like to enter." Gabbro kept his hands in his pockets. His voice was soft.

"Well why didn't you knock then? Guards gotta check you." The face disappeared for a moment. "Yeah, turn the alarm off they just trynna get in."

"Guards? Since when?" Kait crossed her arms, glancing back at the wagon.

"Since a year ago." A small demon had appeared. Opal honestly hadn't even seen them coming through the barrier. This one had too many eyes. Opal got a horrible image in her head of it stealing them from demons like the first one, plucking them from the sockets and jamming into its own head. Opal jumped, holding her hands just in front of her face. Where had that come from?

The small demon's eyes swirled around to look at her. "Not enough guardians to keep everyone behaved so now lots of the entrances have to have check points. Gonna need a name of one of you and travel reason. Gotta search that too." They pulled out a metal scroll and a long thin blue rod which was lit at the end. "Name."

Kait looked back at Proga mouthing 'help me!'.

He shrugged and Opal did the same.

"Name?"

Gabbro dropped down so he was eye-level with the demon. He pushed his hair back causally. "Reason for travel is we are making a delivery for Faro."

"Yeah sure-" The demon seemed about to laugh in Gabbro's face but the smile slipped away.

"Did you still want to check the cargo?"

The small demon's many eyes blinked rapidly. "Oh, well, I think a delivery's a private thing..."

"Did you want my name?"

"No." The demon stated, fumbling to roll the scroll back up. "Gotcha you fine folks in here as 'F', n-nothing to report. Best luck on your travels."

They opened a clawed hand and tugged at the barrier like pulling a sheet from a bed. Immediately the far-off sounds of activity surged out.

Gabbro stood and motioned for everyone to go in before him. Opal pushed the wagon, wanting to be the last in. Her fear had subsided a little after her brain rid itself of the terrible visual of eye-plucking.

She hesitated, letting Proga pull the wagon the rest of the way. He was glaring.

"How'd you do that?" She asked Gabbro in a low voice.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes." She lied firmly.

This amused him. "After you."

She shivered, unsure if it was from him or the barrier.

The energy inside was chaotically purposeful like ants swarming across fallen leaves and branches back to a nest. The Road was not a road at all, it was several and a few of them only just qualified. The closest one to them was a water way, a canal that teamed with boats of all sizes, rafts and living creatures. There appeared to be both demon and animal, a long serpent wove its way through the chaos, a leather suitcase in its jaws. A boat decorated with silver-y fish whose tails rotated in unison sped around a massive turtle carrying over a dozen different demons, most of which were snoozing in saddle-like seats To her disappointment the singers had passed by.

"Public transportation- haven't needed to use that in awhile huh Kait?" Proga motioned to the steady churning waters around the turtle's clawed flippers.

"Because of Yue?"

Kait smirked at Opal. "You'd think so but the few times he traveled he'd insist we use it. He seemed fascinated by it."

Opal stared past the water way to what looked like more of what she'd expected. White smooth stone, green markings that blinked and, she realized were slowly moving away. That road was moving. There were wagons there as well as shiny machines that zipped past with the thunderbird crest stamped on them. There was also a sandy pathway were sure footed creatures trotted and spider-like machines scuttled, above was more of the long metal cords like in Lster. She watched a small green demon with paper wings take a seat on a swaying wooden perch. Farthest away from them was what just looked like normal ground. Demons in small groups or alone carried their belongings on their backs or in their beaks and walked.

They took a wide bridge that had exits each section. Opal had to throw both her arms out to get steady as she stepped down. It was moving quicker than expected.

As she caught up to the wagon another carriage rolled past at a relaxed pace. It was easily four times the size of theirs and she could see a small face peering out for a second before a hand with painted green claws pulled the child back inside. She stepped back just in time to avoid being knocked into by a line of demons wearing green and blue helmets with huge spikes. They carried large devices that looked like sticks intertwined together but clearly weren't wood. Lights blinked on an off at the top.

Behind the carriage a train of crates were attached and behind that even came a parade of all sorts of demons, offering favors or promising trades. It reminded Opal of what happened to Yue, but worse.

"Trying to catch stinging flies?" Obsidian asked her.

"What?"

Proga laughed. "Your jaw is hanging open."

Opal shut it quickly, face hot.

"Don't worry big sister. The murderer was catching bees earlier too."

"Ob." Gabbro put a hand on his shoulder. "No more."

His face twisted and his head jerked but then a peaceful look returned. "Ok, big brother. I'm done."

Proga frowned. "Speaking of... where'd he go?"

Opal turned in a complete circle.

"He was just right here." Kait peered around the other side of the wagon and then inside.

Opal could hear a confused Yue checking everything was fine. Kait hushed him with a promise it was.

"I'll go look for him." Proga sighed.

"I'll come with." Kait shook her head. "No one goes anywhere alone anymore."

"You're supposed to be in charge. Plus, your hands-"

"I'll go. I'd like to see more of The Road, anyway."

Proga nodded to Opal. "Sounds good. If we aren't back in an hour- well, that's probably bad."

Kait bit her lip but waved them off anyway.

------

Opal once again appreciated Proga's ability to shift a crowd. Even with all the vehicles swarming around they didn't have an issue. She was worried about all the fast moving ones until she realized they actually seemed to be separated by green lines that knocked them back into place if they strayed too close to a slower moving cart or a demon on foot.

"Did the Royal carriage coming through impress you?"

"So that is what it was. Yeah it was huge! And so many demons protecting it."

"Believe it or not that was from a small faction of kings. Yue used to have an entourage twice that large even when going some place safe."

Opal pictured Yue as a child leaning out the window only to be snatched back in.

They jogged back till they got to the bridge entrance. A group of demon's with long curved snouts gave them room to pass and Opal could feel their eyes. She turned back and saw one of them spit.

That wasn't the last time, either. Quite a few times when they'd need to pass by everyone stepped aside but once they were through, spit. Opal was thinking maybe it was some sort of weird greeting until a tall thin demon, even taller than Proga let them go by but spit mere seconds after, landing on Proga's neck.

"What's your problem?" Opal pointed a finger up at it. The demon started to grin when Proga tugged on her arm.

"Leave it alone."

Opal wanted to argue. When they were out of earshot she pointed back. "Why did you put up with that? You could have knocked him flat or turned him into a toe or something."

"A toe?" Proga put his chin to his chest and sighed. "First of all, I won't change anyone other than myself into anything, second, even if I was that kind of shifter it's too bright out here to shift. They know that so..."

"So they spit on you??"

"Usually just at me, but we have better things to do than worry about that. Funny, I sort of forgot that happened while being with humans."

She was angry for him but knew she could do nothing, which made her angrier still. The crowd thinned out on the side nearest to the sand. Opal jerked out of her thoughts when she realized she was looking at a pair of non-demons walking beside a creature with a human torso and horse legs. They were humans. She tried to step closer but Proga made a noise of warning.

"Why are they wearing collars?"

"Some demons keep humans as pets."

"Pets. Ermine mentioned those. Like humans keep dogs? How do they survive outside in that air?"

"Oh, they don't. They are exclusively indoors. You would get in trouble most territories for not keeping pets safe."

"Why don't they run?"

"You raise anything from birth, its pretty easy to mold it how you want. They have everything they want, the thought probably never occurred to them. The demons probably thought they saved them. Pretty complex companions since they are so smart but some demons like the challenge I guess."

Opal felt itchy about it, thinking of her own collar in the prison. "Do demons keep... other demons?"

Proga considered this. "Sure. The general rule is if they can learn complex language with you, its best to leave them wild but its not enforced or anything. Come on- we need to keep looking." She felt a gentle hand on her back, steering her away as she continued to stare. They didn't find Spark even farther forward or when they spread to each side and met in the middle. Proga seemed to be getting nervous.

"Opal?"

"Hmmm?" She was crouched down trying to see past a long train with rotating legs that was taking forever to pass.

"Why aren't you... you don't talk about your lost memory."

Opal grinned. "Kinda hard to talk about if I don't remember."

Proga didn't smile. "It must be scary."

She started to laugh but it cracked and she turned away to stiffen her jaw. She wanted to make a joke but didn't trust herself to speak.

"Kait was sincere, you know. About helping. We are obligated to Yue first but after that-"

"I appreciate the offer but I'd rather not focus on that. Besides- sometimes I get little bits and pieces." She sighed, facing him once more.

"You never mentioned that."

"Well, they don't make much sense yet."

"Maybe we could help sort them out? I'd be happy to hear about anything that would help you."

Opal was having trouble looking him in the eyes. He kept saying Gabbro was a scary demon but if that were true, why did she have a connection to him? What did that mean about her? She needed to know more before letting them judge her. "Isn't it kinda weird how you are looking so hard for someone you and Yue hate? Especially after Spark caused so much destruction."

Proga blinked a few times and turned away. "Kait would kill me if we didn't find him."

"Why?"

"You'd have to ask her that. Anyway, it might not matter since its been long enough now. We need to get back."

------

"We failed out mission." Proga approached the wagon. Obsidian was hanging off the back holding a candy on a stick, trying to convince Gabbro to try it.

"What mission?" Spark asked.

"Wh- we've been looking for you! Where did you go? You can't wander off or-"

He scowled. "I try and do something nice and still get yelled at. Here, choke on them."

Opal caught the package and Proga barely stopped his from hitting him in the face

She unwrapped the dry fabric. "It's pretty." She rolled the stone on a chain in her hand and it reflected pale purple back at her.

"For Kait's blood protection whatever. I saw a cart but it was moving fast so I barely got there. You all owe me."

Proga held his own up, pure green. "This is... this is actually exactly what we need."

Spark's nose wrinkled. "Stop acting surprised."

"Opal! Come look!" Kait was bouncing between steps.

Expecting to see another pretty stone Opal nearly tripped backing up when Kait opened a white box and something with too many legs tried to escape out the side.

"No! Get back in there you naughty girl! Isn't she great?"

"Uh, I'm glad? you found it."

"I didn't actually, Spark did." He looked over, hearing his name as Kait gave a dazzling smile. "You're amazing!"

"Uh... yeah. No problem." he knocked his shin into the wagon.

"Be careful." Opal warned him with a smirk, listening to Kait chatter with excitement about her gift holding it up for a curious Obsidian to examine.

"Show it to the pretty prince." Obsidian advised.

Kait climbed into the wagon. A second later there was a yelp causing Proga to wheeze with laughter.

Opal watched with amusement until she noticed Gabbro following casually behind them. He caught her eye. What if her place wasn't up here with her laughing friends, but back there?