I get some blackmail footage.
And so do I. Just so you know, I ship it.
What the hell is a ship?

{Echo}

When Ari told us about Amon, my brother and I were speechless. Amon was one of the reasons I couldn't sleep at night. He had nearly beat Felix to death, his soldiers had nearly killed my brother and he had burned down Celine's house along with her parents.

What he had put us through that month we were away was torture. We had been through a lot and were not ready to go through all that again.

But we had to do it anyway.

Only after school. When we got back, we immediately got Ari and Damon in the attic to discuss the issue.

Well, not exactly immediately. We had lunch first, I persuaded Oliver to give me the money he owed me for losing the bet and then we all gathered in the attic.

Ariadne and Damon stood there waiting for the panic to ensue. They didn't expect Oliver to say what he said. Hell, even I didn't expect that and I'm me.

«We have to go back to Imyrth.» his words earned him surprised expressions from all of us.

«Ollie, I realize that you want to see Celine again, but--» I started, but he interrupted me.

«No, it's not just that. If Amon came here, he obviously wants us back at Imyrth. He wants to scare us away and back there. We could make him believe we gave him what he wants, then surprise him and take him down.» he said.

«That's actually a pretty good idea! I know Amon, he would totally fall for that.»

«Whoah! Hold your horses. Ari, are you seriously going to listen to a lovestruck teenager who has a hunch on what would surprise an evil mastermind?» I asked with disbelief.

«Uh... Yeah? Amon won't expect any kind of protest. He probably crushed the first waves of people that stood up to him.» Ariadne replied.

«Can you believe these two?» I asked Damon. He stared at me. «Alfred. You can't possibly think this is a good plan.»

«I think that you should be more of an optimist.» he replied.

«Fine. You say we go back? Okay. We do that. Then what? How do we know that Amon will follow us? How will we even know if he does so? We don't.» I insisted.

«Yeah, but you will get to see Felix...» Oliver said slyly.

«Don't tempt me, Frodo.» I replied.

«Oh, come on! You obviously want to go, so what's holding you back?» Ariadne asked me.

«I don't know. I mean, we just got back. Mom is going to kill us.»

«I'll tell her we are all going camping together and won't be back for a couple weeks.» Oliver shrugged.

«It took us a month to get in the palace, take a necklace and come home. Do you seriously think we will take down a country's government in two weeks?» I asked him again.

«I don't know, okay? Is it really that bad if we go back to Imyrth?»

«Maybe if we go again we won't come back. We could die, we could choose to stay. Heck, we could be imprisoned for the rest of our lives for all I know!» I snapped.

«It's just a couple weeks.» Alfred added. «I would love to visit Imyrth again.»

Yeah, Alfred and Ariadne had been to Imyrth together when they were younger. They had told us all about it.

«Fine. Who am I to ruin this excursion for the three of you? Just go ask mom. I will start packing...» I gave up.

The others started cheering, as my brother went downstairs to tell mom about our little trip.

I have to say, I expected to be a little more excited about going to back Imyrth. Maybe I just had a bad feeling. Maybe that feeling ended up becoming reality.

I don't know. I just wish there had been a way for us to avoid the dramatic turn of events.

Soon all four of us had packed and gathered in the attic. We had tricked my mom into thinking we had already left, then climbed in from the window.

Why we always left from the same places, you ask. Well, leaving from the attic always placed us in the marketplace, but we didn't know where we would end up if we left from any other place.

Ariadne put the necklace on, Damon held her hand, I held his and Oliver mine. With her free hand, Ari pressed the glass on the compass until it clicked.

When we opened our eyes again, we couldn't believe what we were seeing.

«What happened here?» I whispered. We were all in shock.

«This can't have happened in two weeks... It's impossible.» Oliver muttered.

«I knew I shouldn't have left.» Ari said, louder than she meant to.

«Hey, don't be like that. It's not your fault.» Alfred said and cupped her face in his palms. I'm sorry, but I'm a huge Damiadne shipper.

«If we want explanations, we should head towards the Barn.» I suggested. The others nodded and we left for the countryside through the main road.

We weren't really good at navigating, but Ari knew almost all of Imyrth like the palm of her hand, so we found our way there faster than we had when Felix had led the way. Mostly because we were traveling during daylight and we weren't in the forest.

Also, Felix wasn't the one leading the way. He takes a lot of wrong turns.

We arrived at the farm a few hours later, late in the evening. Celine saw us immediately and run towards us- or more like towards Oliver, whom she engulfed in a huge hug.

«I can't believe it! Oh, God, you have missed so much! The hurricanes, the upcoming war... There so much going on!» she said. «I'm so glad to see you all!» she added, but stopped a little abruptly when she saw Damon.

«Oh, sorry. Celine, this is my boyfriend, Damon. Damon, that's my friend Celine.» Ariadne rushed when she saw Celine's confused expression.

«Nice to meet you!» Damon said as they shook hands.

«No hug for me?» I asked her innocently.

«Come here, you!» she said and extended her arms. «And before you ask, Felix is in the marketplace getting supplies.» she whispered in my ear.

«Why would I ask such a thing?» I faked.

«I have no idea.» she laughed.

I took out the camera as we kept talking and you can't imagine my happiness when I heard a familiar voice greeting us from afar...

[Oliver]

«Hey!» we heard a voice from behind us. Echo's head turned so fast, I am surprised it didn't fall off her shoulders.

«Felix!» she yelled excitedly, dropped her luggage and ran towards him. That was, of course, before she slammed her video-camera on my chest. I took the opportunity of recording the following scene for later use (aka blackmail).

We all saw her jumping on him and Felix spinning her around. And we all tried our best not burst out laughing.

Celine failed.

It was hard to see from where we were standing, but I'm pretty sure those two kissed.

I was so going to kill Felix for that.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, but they both looked really excited.

I also couldn't stop thinking that Echo's reaction would have been mine when I saw Celine: 1) if I was a girl and 2) if I wasn't such a reserved human being.

After Echo introduced Damon to Felix and vice versa, we went into the barn. Night was falling and it was getting cold. I originally thought we should just make Echo light her hands on fire to keep us warm, but then I thought she could lose control again, or accidentally burn the barn down, so I didn't mention it.

Celine and Felix had made beds out of the hay inside the barn and some blankets. They weren't very comfortable, but it was better than camping. We had also brought a sleeping bag each from Earth, so Ariadne and Damon slept in theirs.

Speaking of sleep, that happened very late at night. Felix had bought some candles, because there was no electricity in the barn ever since the house turned to ashes, so they were our only source of light. We stayed up late talking about what had happened the week we were apart, and that's when Echo, Ariadne, Damon and I realised that things were worse than we had imagined.

We were sitting around a stack of candles so we could see each others' faces. I was sitting next to Celine, and couldn't help but keep thinking of that welcome-back-hug. That constant thought led up to my constant blushing.

I'm sorry, but I'm a sensitive guy.

We finally went to sleep after a rough all-nighter of laughing and talking, at around two in the morning. We didn't even realize what time it was until we started yawning every five seconds, with the exception of Echo, who was used to this stuff.

I woke up later that night to Celine shaking me. Most of the candles had melted out, so the barn was mostly dark. I only realised it was Celine because her yellow eyes shined in the darkness.

«Is everything okay?» I whispered so as not to wake the others. Echo was gleefully snoring next to me, facing Felix (who was also snoring a little), next to whom was Celine's (now empty) sleeping bag and Ari with Damon in their own.

«Yeah, it's just- it feels a little weird, you know? That feeling of safety? I had forgotten what it was like.» she replied.

«Is that why you woke me?» I asked her teasingly.

«Maybe, maybe not.»

«Seriously, is everything alright?»

«It's nothing, really. I just had a little nightmare, nothing too worrying. I would wake Felix, but he hasn't been sleeping well, and Echo wouldn't wake up even if an elephant was walking next to her, so...» She rushed and shrugged in the end.

«It's okay. Do you wanna talk about it?»

«Not really...» she looked away.

«Whatever makes you feel better.» I smiled.

We both couldn't go back to sleep, so we walked around the barn a bit.

I don't really know what happened, but we somehow ended up sleeping with our backs against a wall, right behind a big pile of hay.

Echo found herself looking for us the next morning, and woke me up with her giggles once she found us.

«There is no way in hell I'm not going to use this ad blackmail later!» she muttered.

«I recorded you and Felix kissing.» I replied without opening my eyes.

«Then I guess we're even, because I recorded this too.» she replied. That woke me up. «I don't think you wanna move right now, little bro. You might wake your girlfriend up.» my sister giggled as she walked away, before I got the chance to tell her that Celine and I were not together. And that I'm older.

Echo's giggles woke Celine too. She gave me a confused glance and looked around to see where she was.

«What happened? How- oh.» she started, but stopped when she remembered the events of last night. You know, waking me up, walking around the barn with me, falling asleep on my shoulder.

«So... Breakfast?» I asked her with a cheeky smile.

«Breakfast.» she replied and she and I, both, got up.

This was going to be a very long day, even by our standards.