After a few moments, we passed over some clouds, and the job fair ground appeared in the distance! 

“There! Crystal, we have to get there!” I exclaimed, finally feeling excitement for the first time the entire day. 

“Got it!” Crystal said, and from her back, she pulled out her eclectic gun. This gun, unlike regular guns, shot out stunned and crystalized energy particles that used water in the atmosphere to eclectic shock molecules that then sped at high velocity towards the target, and stunned them, as well as crystallized a part of their body, leaving the target stunned and frozen in place, depending on were Crystal shot at.

On our 16th birthday, we were all allowed to choose a weapon of our choice, as an official registered weapon and as a gift. Crystal chose the electrical stun gun, and I chose 36 small diamond-tipped daggers. Everyone laughed at my choice of the tiny daggers as they looked more decorative than useful; however, who was laughing now, face planted in the ground by those very daggers or nursing throat wounds by the same blade? I bet next year’s 16-year-old cohort would all be choosing daggers now if it’s still available.

As we approached the job fair walls, the number of assassins grew. It seemed that Mr. and Mrs. Winter had called back almost every assassin who was out on missions to witness and participate in this year’s job fair. 

“Man, that’s not fair. Why the hell are we up against the entire family line?” Crystal groaned, noticing the sea of assassins as well. 

Just as I was about to respond, a familiar buzzing cloud was heard.

“Familiar wasps! We have to go faster!” I yelled and thought, ‘Speeed speed!’ while grabbing Crystal by the left arm and dragging her along with me. 

Thankfully, it worked, and we started zipping through the air faster than I could breathe. 

Just as the buzzing got louder, I heard the sound of zapping! I looked over my shoulder to find Crystal had flipped over to her side and was using her stun gun to shoot dead shots at the oncoming swarm of tiny familiars. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be out of range soon, just keep up this pace!” Crystal laughed. “ And it’s keeping them dropping!” She said, zapping several more as we flew by.

I forced myself to focus forward and not be distracted by what was going on behind me; however, just as the sound of buzzing subsided, a large shadow appeared overhead!

I looked up and saw the underside of a huge bird. Was that…a griffin?

“Crystal!” I gasped. 

“On it,” she said, shaking me off, propelling herself up into the air and disappearing well above the griffin.

The griffin’s talons descended down towards me, and as I swerved, trying to stay just out of reach. A whimper was heard, and the Griffen went tumbling out of the sky while a grinning Crystal dropped down to meet me gleefully.

“I-I hope it’s not too hurt,” I asked, feeling bad for allowing Crystal to defend us against the familiars.

“It’s a stun gun; the familiars will be fine. The effects are temporary, and there are no side effects. We need to get past that wall in the next three minutes before the effects wear off!” Crystal explained, shoving her stun gun back in its sheath at her back. 

The walls of the job fair were soon within a kilometer of us, and I started feeling panic rising again. There was the entire police force standing guard along the wall, with guns raised and eyes trained on us, as if by staring us down, the coil somehow caused us to call from our great height. 

Just as I was about to look away, I saw, to my horror, our foster mom step out from amidst them and look me dead in the eye. 

I felt my heart drop and, unthinkingly, forgot to keep thinking up. Within seconds, I was hurling down toward the ground, completely distracted at the last minute by thoughts of being a total disappointment, which was probably what our mother was thinking of us right now. 

Quick as her shooting skills, Crystal spun around, grabbed me by the hand, and gave me one of her cheeky smiles. “ Something got you down?” she grinned, and I snapped out of my depressing thoughts. 

“Up!” I said and laughed, and we both shot up high again, away from the reach of the eager arms of the police force. 

“I’ll find you, runts, you best believe it!” our foster moth mother shouted as we both finally passed over the wall of the job fair.

Before us, on the other side of the great walled-off job fair was just endless arid sandy earth. In the middle of all this were the four alien platforms, which allowed for the traveling job faire space ship to anchor itself down however, it was still quite some distance away from the main walls of the job faire, making me wonder if they ever had plans to build more in this pace, or was all this space left this way on purpose to make sure that everyone who entered here could be seen clearly and monitored to ensure zero violence and zero coercion was incurred. 

Immediately, we both descended, and I felt my legs crumble beneath me as we touched down on solid ground. 

Beyond these walls, there had been 100 percent violence and 100 percent coercion. It was a relief to finally be somewhere we could have a moment to breathe and be grateful to be alive. 

“We made it, Alaina! We did it!” Crystal exclaimed and smacked me on the arms.

I laughed and punched her back “ I know we did! I’m here right next to you, dumbass!” I said, but it was such a relief, having not only escaped but also to be able to confirm that one of my siblings had escaped alongside me. 

Crystal unbuckled and shrugged off the flying device and folded it like a paper towel onto the ground next to me.

“Oh sweet, sweet earth, I’ve never been more grateful to feel you beneath my body,” Crystal sighed, “ You know what? I don’t think I ever want to fly again if I don’t have to. I like what I have, I do not envy you one bit!” 

I laughed and unbuckled the flying deceive as well “ It’s different if they are your own, but year! Flying can be both exhilarating and terrifying, but like everything else, once you get used to it, it’s as normal as using your tail to reach the cookies from the high shelves before Mom notices,” I grinned, recalling one of Crystal’s naughty escapades. 

“Hey, it was one time, and you have to admit, the adults hid the good stuff on the top shelves to make us suffer!” Crystal laughed and sat up, stretching to get her muscles ready for the long walk ahead of us to the job fair’s center. 

To both our surprise, two orbs suddenly rose from the ground and started to shimmer in front of us. We backed up, shocked as the entire area in front of us was just arid sandy ground, and there was no entry or exit point for these orbs.

“Alaina Winters, Crystal Maine Winters. We have acknowledged your wish to attend this year’s job fair. Please return the property of one “ APPLE BLOOM” to us immediately so that we may return them to the library device depository, and then please make your way to the entrance of the job fair to commence your apprentice selection process,” The orbs announced simultaneously. 

Crystal and I looked at each other, and before we could respond, the flying devices rose on their own accord, refolded themselves into the tiny devices they had been previously, and flew up, and a tiny slit opened in the ords, where the devices disappearing to, and the orbs sealed themselves up again. 

“Thank you for returning the borrowed flying devices to the library device depository. Please remember to register your own accounts to borrow any further devices from the library depository, to avoid late fees or ownership confusion. Please make your way to the doors of the job fair immediately. Thank you,” the shimmering orbs said, promptly stopping and disappearing back into the ground, where they had come from. 

Crystal jumped up and stamped the ground where they had been. 

“That is so cool! They must have teleported!” Crystal explained, looking back at me wide-eyed with delight. 

I sighed and got up, dusting myself off and looking straight before us. There was, finally, our freedom in sight, and Crystal, as always, was distracted by something small and shiny. 

“Let’s go, Crystal; there are going to be a lot more exciting things to find out about where we are going,” I said and grabbed my foster sister’s wrist and dragged her along behind me, heading for the job fair’s main doors and our new future.