Ailish woke up early as she usually did. She was always determined to get stuff done before breakfast. She picked up the book on magic that Ella gave her and headed into the garden in the backyard.

She opened the book to a random page so that she could practice the spell she found on that page. The spell she found was for pulling water into the air from somewhere and turning it into ice shards to throw at her opponent - in this case, a hypothetical opponent.

Ailish glanced around until she found what she was looking for: a bucket filled with water. She read the directions on the spell one last time to make sure she understood it. After closing the book and placing it a safe distance away, she moved her arms in a twisting motion, counterclockwise then directed them towards the bucket of water with a grabbing motion. Water shot out of the bucket towards Ailish’s outstretched arms, coming out in strands. 

She pulled her arms towards herself, causing the water to form a ball. She held her hands up around the ball of water and compressed it, causing it to freeze. She pushed her arms away from herself and the frozen ball of water split into ice shards, heading for the shed. At the last moment, Ailish pulled her arms back towards herself, reversing the spell and sending the water back into the bucket.

She dropped her hands to her sides, exhausted. She sat down for a moment, panting, then she stood up again, practicing the spell again. She repeated the process, ten, fifteen, maybe twenty times.

She practiced until she could practice no longer. She collapsed, sitting down on the porch. She stayed there for five, maybe ten minutes until her breaths slowed down enough for her to go back inside. By this point, her stomach rumbled, pushing her to walk faster so that she could get to the kitchen table before everyone else did.

Unfortunately for her, she was so caught up in practicing magic that everyone was already seated at the kitchen table by the time she got there. She sat down at her regular spot near Soren and Ella, still breathing hard.

A look of confusion passed over Ella’s face. “I thought you normally get down here before the rest of us do.” 

“I do, normally,” Ailish gasped, trying to catch her breath.

“What have you been doing this morning that’s gotten you so out of breath?” Da questioned.

“I went for a run,” Ailish lied.

This appeared to satisfy her parents… for now.

Everyone began eating. 

Near the end of the meal, Dada broke the silence. “Ready to venture off into the unknown?”

Ella’s face shone. “Absolutely, Victor.”

Ailsh and Soren nodded.

“You had better finish off your breakfasts soon,” Da advised them. “The others will be here soon.”

“You’ll want to be ready when they get here,” Dada added.

Another nod from Ailish, Soren and Ella.

They snarfed the rest of their breakfast and rapidly washed the dishes. When the dishes were done, they collected whatever gear they thought they would need for the adventure Ella had not yet explained and scrambled into the backyard with their stuff. They sat there, waiting for Lucca and Andrew to show up.

When they showed up, they marched into the backyard lugging their gear.

A cheerful smile spread across Andrew’s face. “Hello!”

“I hope we haven’t kept you waiting too long,” Lucca murmured.

“Not at all,” Ailish replied. “I still have no idea where we’re going with all this.” She gestured to all their gear. “Ella hasn’t said a word.”

Soren nodded, agreeing with Ailish. 

Ella stared at her feet for a few moments then looked up at everyone. “I won’t keep you in the dark any longer.” Her face brightened. “We are going camping in the wilds near the city. But first, we’re going scavenging for stones.”

Soren fiddled with their hair. “What do we need stones for?” 

Ella pulled something out of her pocket. It looked like a stone but that wasn’t all there was to it. It had a mystical quality to it.

Andrew gazed at it, enthralled. “What’s that?”

“This is a talking stone.” Ella lifted the stone up for all to see. “This is how I communicate with my Aunt Mabel across long distances. Since we’re a team and we’re going to fight my parents together, you will all need talking stones too so that we can communicate with each other if we get separated.”

“That makes sense.” Lucca spoke up. “We’ll need them if that happens but let’s hope it never comes to that.”

Ailish gave a small smile “Agreed.”

“Then let’s get going,” Ella prompted.

The group of friends stood up and grabbed their gear. Ella led the way; Ailish followed close behind with Andrew, Soren and Lucca not much further behind. Ella guided them towards the woods which enraptured the group with their mystique. They wandered through the woods for a while until they reached a clearing.

“Let’s set up camp here then go looking for rocks,” Ella suggested.

Everyone murmured their agreement. They set up tents. Ailish would have her own tent; Soren and Ella would share a tent and Andrew and Lucca would share a tent. Once they had set up camp, Ella led them towards a river.

Ella turned to look at the others. “Find a stone you like and give it to me.”

Soren, Andrew and Lucca found theirs quickly. Ailish spent more time on this, trying to find the perfect stone. When she found it, she took it to Ella with a triumphant smile. Ella enchanted all four stones, engulfing them in golden light. When the light faded from the stones, she handed each one to their owner.

“Take turns,” Ella instructed. “You are going to try and connect your rock to mine. When it’s your turn, rub your rock with your thumb and think of the person you want to talk to. In this case, that’s me. If your rock is connected to another, it will glow with pale yellow light.”

The rest of the team nodded in understanding. People took their turn and connected their talking stones successfully to Ella’s. 

“You did it!” A radiant smile crossed Ella’s face. “If you’re having an actual conversation with someone while using your talking stone, you rub the underside of your stone to disconnect from the other person’s talking stone.

Everyone nodded. When it got darker out, the group headed back to camp and went into their tents. 

As Ailish drew nearer and nearer to sleep, her heart fluttered at how near she was to Ella although they weren’t in the same tent. She didn’t understand why she felt this way. She kept thinking about Ella until she inevitably fell asleep with a gentle smile on her face as she dreamed about sitting by a campfire and holding Ella against her as the firelight reflected off her face.