Jordan's p.o.v.

"Would you get off?! You're crushing my spine!" I heard a girl yell angrily.

"You don't have a spine!" Another girl voice laughed.

I opened my eyes slowly, and saw Tiff and Lola in the floor. Tiff was sitting on Lola's back and by the looks of it, Lola wasnt happy with it. Tiff had her arms folded over her chest and a smirk on her face.

"Why are you so heavy?! Ugh!" Lola groaned beneath Tiffs weight.

"What are you guys doing...it's too early for this crap." I heard a voice beside me groan. Toms hand tightened around my waist and I relaxed into it. Yesterday was awful. Him just being here with me made me feel a thousand times better.

"Lola said a very hurtful thing to me, so I sat on her." Tiff stuck her nose in the air.

"I said she looked like a sheep in the morning! Was that so bad?!" Lola said in exasperation.

"Depends on what your view of a sheep is..." I yawned.

"It was offensive! I am not a sheep!" Tiff pouted.

"You're right, you're too fat to be a sheep!" Lola screeched angrily.

"Alright, calm down. We all look like sheep in the morning. Let's just agree on that and go back to sleep." Tom cuddled closer to me.

"Aw, why can't we be like them Lola? They're so sweet to eachother!"

"Maybe if you'd stop sitting on me everytime we get into an argument, we'd be more like them." Lola rolled her eyes.

"You're the one who called me a sheep...I didn't do nothing..." Tiff replied in a hurt tone.

"Fine. You're beautiful. Happy?" Lola said in a monotone voice.

"Very." Tiff stood up from her spot on Lola's back and Lola sighed.

"Thank the gods. Now shut up and go back to sleep." Tom grumbled tiredly.

"I can't sleep! She crippled me with her fat butt!"

"Fat butt?! You weigh ten more pounds heavier than me! You're carrying more junk than me in that trunk of yours!"

They continued to argue and accuse eachother, and I tuned them out.
I turned around to meet Toms face, and he smiled at me when I did. "Morning, sheep face."

"They're exactly like us, aren't they?" I asked ashamed.

"Yup." He grinned and kissed my lips. His breath still stunk, but I didn't care. I wanted nothing but his full attention today. He pulled away and gave me a worried look. "Are you okay? You look horrible. Your eye is swelled up and so is your nose."

I felt pain in every inch of my body, but I didn't care. Tom was here. I was happy.
"Honestly, no. But I feel a lot better when you're here next to me."

"You sappy sausage." He kissed me on the nose.

"Awwwww! I'm fan girling so hard right now!" Tiff squealed. I keep forgetting we aren't alone.

"Will you shush? They were having a moment..."

Tom sighed. "Aren't you two supposed to be looking at houses?"

They both gasped and headed for the door immediately, muttering a goodbye as they left.

"Well, that was easy."

"Sure was."
We sat in silence for awhile, enjoying each other's company.

~

"I'm sorry I left you alone. I should've stayed with you in case anything happened. I was being an idiot."

"No, it's fine. I shouldn't have picked a fight with a guy twice my height."

"Hey, pretty sure after I was done with him he dropped a few inches."

A knock on our door was heard, and Tom groaned. "Are they back again?"

I rushed over to the door and unlocked it. An exhausted Steve was behind the door.

"We're stayin here another night. Do what ye want, I'll be sleeping in me room." He left back into his room without a second glance.

I guess Steve was too hungover to function. I closed the door back and joined back with Tom in bed.

"What'd he want?" Tom asked sleepily.

"Apparently, we're staying here another night. I think Steve's really hungover."

"I am too...god my head hurts. Guess I'm stuck in bed all day."

"Darn...I really wanted to explore the city some more." I knew even if Tom wasn't hungover, he wouldn't want to see the city. People stared and pointed at him like he was a freak. It made both of us angry.

Another knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. I stood up once again and answered it.
Tiff and Lola stood at the door, their smiles wider than their actual faces.

"Jordan! We found a house!" Tiff squealed and clapped her hands together.

"Already? You left twenty minutes ago." I opened the door wider and let them in.

"She pointed at a house and claimed it. When I started talking about the price and bills and furniture, she spaced out and wanted to come back here so she could watch TV. So no, we haven't found a house yet." Lola rolled her eyes.

"You figure out bills and stuff, I'll stick to cartoons. Sound good? Kay." Tiff turned on the TV and sat cross legged on the floor, eating an apple that she'd brought in with her.

"Hey, this chicks got the right idea." Tom rested his hands behind his head and watched the cartoons.

Lola sighed and turned to me. "So you what are you guys planning to do today?"

"Nothing really. I wanted to see the city some more, but Toms way too hungover."

"Oh, well I can show you. I know this place pretty well. I have some errnads to run anyway. You can come if Tom doesn't mind me stealing you."

"Don't care, do what you want." Tom drew the covers up further and kept his eyes on the cartoons. He was such a kid.

"Alright, I guess I'm free."
~
After we made a short stop to the club where Lola gathered the rest of her and Tiffs things and changed her her ruined shirt into a clean one, we headed off to explore the city.

"This is the market place where all the trading stuff and selling happens. But I'd watch who you run into. Most of these people are only here to snatch money and pick pocket."

The market place was huge. Stands stretched out for miles with people bustling in and out of them and rushing back and forth between them. I stuck close to Lola. I felt like if I miss-stepped once I'd be lost in the crowd of people. She stopped in front of a stand, causing me to run into her.

"Nervous much?" She laughed. I laughed awkwardly and stood by her side as she handed the merchant in behind of the stand a gold nugget. He nodded and handed her two small bags of seeds, which she placed in her bag.

"Alrighty, next stop is the plantations. Stick close and don't bump into anyone." She treaded back down the path we came, her red hair trailing behind her like wild fire.

It was hard to follow Lola. She obviously knew everything about the city and every fast route to get where she wanted to go. Once or twice I'd lost her in the ocean of people, but quickly found her again by her red hair. It was like Toms. So easy to spot out in crowds.

She finally began to slow down when we went across a small bridge that lead out of the city and down into the areas of the farming grounds. I saw less people down here. Most of them were working and plowing at the ground with rakes and shovels. I liked it here. It was peaceful.

"Lola, how long have you and Tiff been together?" I stepped over jagged pieces of sandstone on the path as we walked.

"Hmm...two years I think. How long have you and Tom been together?" She tossed back her hair so she could see her path. She didn't seem bothered at all by the heat, while I was sweating like a pig.

"About three months. It isn't that long compared to you guys though..."

"Oh trust me, it's been a rough two years. She's impossible to put up with. But I guess I'm a little annoying too with all my rules and boundaries."

"It's scary how alike we all are. Tom and I get into fights over the same differences."

She laughed. "I can't really imagine you guys fighting. You're both so sweet to eachother. Mind telling me about one of your bigger fights? I'm interested now."

"Uh...well a few weeks after we started dating, I still hadn't said I loved him. He confronted me about it one day, and it just spiraled out of control."

"Ah, commitment. I hate it with a burning passion, and so does Tiff. It's scary and weird. I just don't like it. We just say I love you and that the end of it. I'm not one for marriage or kids."

I thought about the irony of this whole thing. Lola and Tiff dated for two years and haven't said a word about marriage, meanwhile I'm engaged and we're already thinking about having a family. It's weird how love works.

"Oh, we're here by the way." We began walking to a small sandstone dwelling. Lola knocked on the door and waited for a few minutes. No one answered.

"Blasted thing! I should have done trade instead of this misery!" I heard a voice yell angrily nearby.
Lola laughed and began heading towards the voice that was still yelling and grumbling about something. We turned a corner on the path and came across a very angry man and a slightly broken water pump.

The man wore a white robe and flip flops, and by the looks of his nose he was most definitely a villager. He was hitting the water pump with a wrench and grumbling curses as he did.

"Hey, what did that thing ever do to you?" Lola asked the angry man. He looked to her and recognition crossed his face, but he quickly grew angry again. "This pump has been a thorn in my side since I've been here! It deserves a good beating..." He wiped sweat from his bald forehead and stood up from his spot near the pump.

"Well, I have seeds for you if that makes anything better." Lola reached into her bag and handed the man the seeds.

"Could have gotten them myself...but I appreciate your efforts. I'll go get some nuggets for you later, but right now I have to deal with this hunk of junk." He seemed like a prideful guy that didn't want any help.

Lola just smiled at his stubbornness. "What's wrong with it this time?"

"I haven't got the slightest idea what's wrong with this damned thing...it's just stopped!" He gave the pump another kick for good measure.

I glanced at the broken pump, and realized what was wrong immediately. It wasn't even hooked up.

"Uh- I don't mean to be critic, but the pumps not hooked up." I pointed to the hose that had been unhooked from the system of pipes.

The man narrowed his eyes at me and gave me a glare. "You think I'm stupid enough to leave the thing un-" he turned around to look at the water pump, and his face fell when he realized I was right. He bent over and hooked the hose back to the pumps and flicked the small lever next to it. The water began flowing again into the hose, sprinkling water onto the crops nearby.

"Well, I knew it was unhooked. I just thought that it would be fine without it being hooked up. I didn't need your help, but I guess I should appreciate your uneducated guess. I'll go retrieve your pay, Lilian." He rushed past us and into his small house.

"He's stubborn and prideful, but he needs constant help and attention. Forgive him." Lola smiled and began walking off towards the house the man disappeared in.

"He called you Lilian..." I was shocked that she seemed perfectly fine with the insult.

"Yeah, he doesn't bother with peoples names. You're lucky if he bothers to remember the first letter. So you know a lot about pumps?"

"I guess so. I've built five different M.E. systems since I've been here, so I guess I'm good with any kind of pumps."

"I have your pay, three nuggets. Correct?" The man exited his house with a small bag and handed it to Lola.

She nodded. "You haven't been introduced to my new friend yet. His name is Sparkley butts." She smiled and I sighed in shame. Toms nicknames always ruined people's perception of me.

"Well, pleasure to meet you...Mr. Butts. If you don't mind, I have work to do. Run along children so that I can do adult things." He rushed past us and into the opposite direction towards the various other pumps around the plantation.

"Who was that guy? He didn't say his name." He had completely ignored to say his name in our entire conversation.

"I don't think he really has one. If he does, he's never told anyone. His name tag says DG worker though. I guess that's the company he works for. I've traded with him for years. He's pretty cool when he's not worrying about pumps and machines. So now that I've got all my chores done, what do you want to see?"

"I don't really know. What are some of your favorite places to go here?"

"Well personally, I like to go visit the gossipers and listen to their daily dosing of crap." She laughed and began walking on the path back to the city, me following her.

"Who are the gossipers?"

"I'll show you. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you, a new story to tell the entire city about." Her tone was sarcastic.

The sun began to go down and the unbearable heat was starting to cool. I started to wonder about Tom and what he was doing. Probably still watching cartoons with Tiff and stuffing his face with the food we brought.

I followed Lola through the city once again. The amount of people wasn't as bad as it had been earlier so I could actually see where she was leading me. Eventually we stopped in front of a really tall structure that looked to be really really old. It's windows were dusty and the sand bricks cracked, like the place could fall any minute. Urulu must have been a very old city. We didn't go inside the building however. Lola walked to the front of the building, and that's when I finally saw who the gossipers were.

They were a circle of women. Women as young as forty and old as eighty. They sat in chairs in front of the large building and were talking in hushed voices about something that seemed to be really interesting. One of the women, who looked about forty, saw Lola and I and her eyes lit up.

"Lola! Who is this handsome young man? I wasn't aware this city had new travelers!" The other women turned to stare at me and I could feel my face redden at the sudden attention I was getting.

"This is Jordan. I was hoping you ladies could interrogate him, since you're so good at it. I hardly know a thing about him!" Lola made a sly smile in my direction.

"Honey, he's so pale! Where do you live sweet cheeks? You look like you haven't seen the sun in years!" A lady that looked about in her seventies asked me. She smiled a toothless grin my way, her bright red lipstick smeared all over her lips.

I look down to avoid her wandering eyes. Old women hitting in me wasn't something I really enjoyed. "Uh, Dagrun."

Several of them gasped and looked at me with shocked faces, even Lola looked at me with suprise evident in her eyes. What was so bad about Dagrun?

"You don't happen to know the sky heroes, do you honey?" Another lady asked me in a low voice. The other women seemed to lean forward for my response.

"Sky heroes?" I asked in an unsure tone.

"You know, those folks that fell from the sky! Do you know em'? We've heard much about them. Heard they broke in to that fancy little prison Mianite has, and they escaped alive!"

They were talking about us. We were the sky heroes.

"Uh. Yeah I know them." All of them gasped and seemed to lighten up at my words.

"Tell us about em! Are they strong and handsome? Or are they scrawny, sorta like you?" One or two of them snickered at the womens question.

"I think I am one of the people your talking about actually. But we aren't heroes...we just accidentally fell from the sky. Nothing really special about it."

The group of women looked like they would faint at any minute. Two of them squealed and they all at once began asking me a billion questions. Maybe I shouldn't have told them who I was.

"Is it true? Did you free that little Andor from his daddy?! It was all over the city that he sent that little prince away because he broke the law!"

"Yeah...we saved him."
They all squealed and began talking to eachother in excited tones.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a sky hero?" Lola asked me with a slightly angry tone. Her eyes showed hurt. What was so bad about falling from the sky? It's not like I could help it.

"I didn't really think it mattered. I didn't know people called us sky heroes..."

"Well it does matter! You people practically destroyed that beautiful town! Everyone talks about how Dagrun is in shambles because of you! This city is crawling with refugees from that place and all they talk about is how you destroyed it without a single care in the world! And you didn't think that mattered?!" She was angry at me.

"We didn't want Dagrun to be destroyed! The king abandoned it and we couldn't get anyone else to take over, so we just left it alone. I didn't put Dagrun in shambles. It fell on its own."

"Why did you even rescue that guy? He broke the law and that's that! You should have just left everything alone, maybe then the town would still be functional!"

"Are you even listening to yourself? Andor didn't want to believe in Mianite. His dad tortured him for months in a prison for not believing in something. Andor was innocent. And I heard you talking to Tom last night. You don't even believe in gods. If you had been living in Dagrun, you would've been sent to the prison just like him. If you were in the Inertia getting tortured and writhing in absolute agony and pain, you wouldnt want anyone to save you? Andor was my friend. If you have a problem with that, then maybe I shouldn't be talking to you. My friends risk their lives and save the innocent, just like I almost got killed trying to save Tiff. Have you forgotten about that Lola?" My face was red after my speech. My fists worried clenched and my head was swimming with anger, and I could feel the angry tears forming in my eyes. How could anyone be mad at me for rescuing poor innocent little Andor?

Lola stared at me in shock. Guilt crossed her face. "Jordan...I'm sorry."

"You should be." I spat back.

"This sky hero is a little feisty..." One of the ladies murmured. I rolled my eyes and scoffed. I remembered the way back to the inn. I wasn't staying here to be criticized any longer. I turned in the direction of the inn and began to walk away from Lola and the gossipers.

I thought I'd made a friend. I should just learn to not be friendly to new people. I'm better off not trusting anyone at all.

"Jordan, wait! I didn't know about Andor, I only knew what I knew from the gossipers!" She jogged up behind me but I didn't stop.

"Shouldn't be so quick to judge, huh?" I growled and kept going. I shoved past people and their stares. I'm sick of this city.

"Don't be mad at me...I can't take another person I care about hating me."

"Care about? I just met you. You barely know me at all." I was at the inn entrance, but Lola was blocking the way.

"You and Tom have already helped us so much. And you're so nice to us...no ones ever been so kind to us. I don't want you to hate me. I'm sorry I said that all that horse crap about your friend. I shouldn't trust the gossipers rumors anyway. I should have asked you myself about your life."

I calmed down a bit. She was sorry. I guess I shouldn't be that angry at her if she didn't know. "You really want to know?"

"Yes. Tell me anything."

"I worship Ianite. Tom worships Dianite. Were all from a different dimension, and we fell into this one from the sky. Mianites trying to kill me and my friends, and we have no clue how to get home. So there's that. I'll explain more later after I check on Tom." I pushed past her and went up the stairs where our room was.

"So wait, you guys have different gods? And you don't want to kill each other? Wow." She followed me up the stairs.I pulled out my room key from my pocket and inserted in the lock.

I was not prepared for what I saw.

The room looked as if ten hurricanes had swept through it. There was garbage everywhere, various stains on the walls, and our stuff was thrown and scattered all over the room. My first thought was that someone had broken in and stolen things and trashed the place. But then I saw Toms blue hair sticking up from behind the bed and heard Tiffs snickers. They had trashed the room. Not robbers.

"Oh my god...we were gone for two hours. What did you two do?" Lola scanned the room with her mouth agap at the huge mess.

"FOOD FIGHT!" I heard a British voice scream, and a pudding cup flew past my head and hit the wall, making a large brown stain.

"What the hell Tom?!" I shouted, and I heard a fit of giggles from behind the bed.

Another item of food flew from behind the bed and hit Lola in the face, and she gasped angrily. Vanilla pudding dripped down her face and onto her shirt, and she wiped it away with her hand.

"You're so dead Tiff!" She growled and ran across the room to the bed.

"RETREAT!" I heard Tom scream, and the two ran from their spot behind the bed and into the bathroom, locking the door behind them. Lola pounded on the door angrily with her fist.

"You ruined my shirt, you idiots! I only have so many shirts!" She shouted at the door. She only earned snickers from it.

"I think we lost the food fight." I sighed and looked around at the huge mess I'd have to spend all night cleaning.

"What was I thinking? I can't leave Tiff alone for five minutes, let alone two hours." Lola groaned and stepped away from the bathroom door to look at the mess.

"If you guys are done playing, can you come out and help us clean up your mess?" I yelled to the bathroom door.

"Nah." I heard a British voice answer.

"Tom, if you don't come out you'll regret it." I threatened the door.

"Don't care." He answered back.

"Really? Then I guess I won't be cuddling with you for the rest of the week."

Silence followed.

"Same goes for you Tiff." Lola said to the door.

More silence.

The door opened a crack and Toms brown eyes met mine. "You wouldn't."

"I would." I narrowed my eyes at him.

"...fine." He stepped out reluctantly, Tiff following him with a guilty face.

"Which one of you threw the pudding at Lola?" I crossed my arms like a strict parent.

They both pointed at eachother.

I sighed. "I'm dating a child."

"Aye! I threw the chocolate, I ain't no vanilla sissy!" Tom protested.

"Hey! I'm not a sissy!" Tiff argued.

"I think I deserve an apology, Tiff." Lola crossed her arms too.

"Fine. I'm sorry I ruined your shirt. Happy?" Tiff murmured.

"Very." Lola smiled and hugged Tiff, getting vanilla pudding on her as well.

Tiff groaned and shot a glare at Tom. "Traitor..."

Tom grinned. "When it comes to cuddling, I am weak."
~~~~~
Saturday will be the last time I will ever post a chapter in this book :(

I CANT BELIEVE ITS ALREADY HERE! SO SADDENING! I'm glad so many people have enjoyed this book. It makes me so happy <3

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Leave a favorite or a comment if you did! Thanks!

- Lee