Having finally arrived on the ground floor from the Queen’s bedroom staircase, Violet and Kenrich went back into their respective dorms for the night. With the exhaustion from both training and learning of the downsides of Kenrich’s powers, it was very easy to fall asleep for both of them regardless of how much they worried for their short-term and long-term future.

  As morning came, training started and ended once again in a similar manner to the previous days. Every day they still were incredibly exhausted from the brutal strain on their bodies, but it felt like they could go a little harder every day and the recovery in the bath was even more potent. This was exactly what Puri was hoping for as their tolerance and recovery were the most important aspects of Solidity.

  A few more days passed, and they finally were able to get a very rare day off from their training. They all did not think it possible with their short timetable, but that did not mean they were not grateful, or that they were not going to take full advantage of it.

  “C’mon, Violet! Let’s go hit the town! I’ve already got Kenrich here and he’s totally down!” Fae said, knocking on Violet’s door a little louder than Kenrich would’ve preferred.

  “Is that what we’re doing? Doesn’t seem like a good idea. Who knows how many Coalition or Admian eyes could be out there…” Kenrich said, uneasily.

  “We work hard, don’t we? Why can’t we spend our ONE day off doing something fun?”

  “Because it’s not safe,” Violet said, cracking open her door while looking slightly annoyed.

  “We’re stronger now, aren’t we? What’re the chances anyone could take us down, especially in broad daylight? I doubt someone undercover would want to tussle with us in public,” Fae said with a big smile on her face.

  “Maybe… What would we even do though?” Kenrich asked. “Should we ask the queen?”

  “Don’t even think about it! She specifically told us NOT to leave, didn’t she? We’re gonna have to sneak out…”

  “Ever since you’ve died, you’ve become such a bad apple, Fae,” Violet said with a snicker.

  “And you became nicer when you died, at least according to Kenrich…”

  “I don’t remember saying that, but now that you mention it…”

  “Nothing like dying to humble someone and make you appreciate the little things,” Violet laughed. “Your turn to die next, Kenrich. We need to mellow you out.”

  “I’m plenty mellow!” Kenrich objected. “We definitely treat death too lightly though. This is becoming a bad habit of ours.”

  “You’re right about that,” Violet said. “Especially when our whole journey is about getting rid of this ring and making our next deaths permanent.”

  “We’re getting off topic, team! Get your outside pants on and let’s go, Vivi!”

  “Jeez, you’re so pushy… Fine. But if anything goes wrong, or if we get caught, it’s all on your shoulders.”

  “Whatever gets your butt out the door. Let’s get going already!”

  The group made their way out the front door with little struggle. They were not sure whether they would have been watched on their way out or if Queen Puri would truly care if they left for some sightseeing, but they assumed that they made a clean exit. Before making their way to the bottom of the steps outside of the palace entrance, they made a stop at the stables where Atlas was being kept.

  “Hey, baby,” Violet said, hugging Atlas. “Did you miss me? I missed you!”

  “Man, she never looks at us that way…” Fae said, pouting.

  “Sorry, but you two aren’t nearly cute enough to earn that privilege.”

  “I know Kenrich is a little rough around the edges, but I’m plenty cute!”

  “Always the butt of the joke… Anyway, why are we here, V? Just giving Atlas a snack?”

  “I wanted to test something out-” Violet said, leading Atlas out of the stable.

  Violet then hopped onto Atlas and gestured towards Kenrich and Fae.

  “Come on up. I think it’s important to make sure Atlas can actually hold three people.”

  “That is a good point…” Kenrich said, a little worried.

  Kenrich took Violet’s hand and hopped behind her onto Atlas. Fae then did the same, placing herself in front of Violet.

  “Feels like I’m a baby being the one all the way to the front…” Fae said.

  “You are the baby of the group. You’re the youngest and the smallest,” Violet snickered.

  “My body has been on this planet just as long as yours has! Just because I wasn’t alive the whole time doesn’t change anything!”

  “Well, it sure should,” Violet said. “Alright, let’s start at a light trot.”

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  Violet began leading Atlas around the stables at a brisk pace before upping the ante until they were finally in a full sprint.

  “You’re going kinda fast, aren’t you?!” Fae said. “Uack! A bug went in my mouth!”

  “She always goes way too fast,” Kenrich said. “I’m used to it by now.”

  Violet continued leading Atlas at a full sprint around the stables only catching bits and pieces of what Kenrich and Fae were saying with the rush of wind blurring her hearing.

  “C’mon, Vivi, slow down! Aren’t you pushing Atlas a little too hard?!”

  “What?!” Violet yelled, looking down at Fae who was sitting close to her front.

  Fae looked up at Violet with an annoyed expression.

  “I said… AREN’T YOU PUSHING ATLAS TOO HARD?! SLOW DOWN!!”

  “I wouldn’t go this fast if he couldn’t manage it! He’s only going as fast as he wants to!”

  Kenrich was mellow as one could be on a speeding horse, but that changed quickly and completely.

  “Watch the damn road, Violet!” he yelled.

  “Huh?!” Violet said, looking back at him.

  Fae’s head shot forward again where she saw exactly what brought on Kenrich’s plea.

  “VIOLET, WATCH OUT!!” she yelled.

  In front of them was a metal fence that was much too close to dodge. Fae could do nothing except brace for impact while Kenrich got ready to jump. Before he could though, Atlas stole his idea and jumped over the fence catapulting Kenrich into the air onto the not-so-soft landing of the dry, dirt path they had been trotting. Dazed and confused, he looked up and saw that Violet and Fae were looking down on him.

  “Good morrow, Kenny boy,” Fae said.

  “How’re you feeling? That wasn’t that graceful of a landing,” Violet said with an amused smile.

  “My ass hurts,” Kenrich said, sitting up. “Did I get knocked out?”

  “You sure did,” Fae said. “You were only out for a couple minutes though.”

  “Why did you try to jump? Did you really think Atlas would’ve run straight into a fence? And most importantly… that I would lead him into one so recklessly?”

  “You did lead him into one recklessly! You weren’t even paying attention to what was in front of you!”

  “And whose fault is that? You guys kept yelling at me while I was trying to drive!”

  “Yeah, because you were going way too fast, Vivi. You always were a fast rider, but I guess decomposition makes a gal forget.”

  “I’m not fast. You were all just too slow,” Violet said, folding her arms.

  “I can lead a horse too, so maybe we can take turns when we start our little journey?”

  “Best idea I’ve ever heard in my life,” Kenrich said, clapping his hands. “It’s decided.”

  “What if I object?” Violet remarked.

  “Too late. The committee has already voted on it, and it passed,” Kenrich continued.

  “What committee?!”

  “Just suck it up, Vivi. It’s not fair for you to do all the driving anyway. Maybe we can even teach Kenrich, so he’ll be able to carry some of the weight too.”

  “No way! He has no idea how to treat a horse! He’d be too rough with him!”

  “I’d be too rough with him?!” Kenrich said, pointing his finger at Violet. Violet returned a dirty glare.

  “Simmer down, Kenny. We’ll just put a pin in that for now,” Fae said, pushing Kenrich’s finger down. “Well, we’ve proven he can hold us and break the sound barrier doing it, so can we finally hit the Paradise Falls nightlife?”

  “We’re still hours away from sunset, but fine. Let’s go see what the city has to offer,” Violet said.

  “That’s the spirit! Let’s get this party moving!”

  Returning Atlas to his stable with a kiss, Violet and the others finally made their way to the bottom of the stairs outside of the castle and found themselves on the busy streets of Paradise Falls. It was midday, so carriages were zipping to and from every road in sight, and people were cluttering the wide sidewalks, occasionally making their ways into the vast variety of different shops on the street.

  “Wow! They have shops for everything here! Dresses, hats, shoes, bags… everything!” Fae said excitedly as she ran down the busy sidewalk.

  “Not a very varied list…” Violet said. Kenrich gave a small chuckle.

  “Well, where to first, Fae? This was your idea after all,” Kenrich said.

  The gang spent the next couple hours going in and out of the various shops in the shopping district. Through the sale of some glitter stones, they picked up back in Fril, they were each able to pick up a few things that they fancied. Fae picked up a yellow-banded sun hat, a few frilly dresses in the colors of light red, white, and navy, and a small parrying dagger. Kenrich bought a leather chest plate accompanied by a round leather helmet. Violet had little interest in clothes and spent her portion on steel bracers to replace her iron ones which had been getting grimy and rusty from her time in battle, and a pair of brown steel-tipped boots. The sun was starting to set now.

  “I love spending money,” Fae said gleefully. “I figured we’d just be window shoppers today.”

  “Maybe we should’ve been. Did you see the face of the guy you bought that dagger from? Nearly gave the poor fella a heart attack,” Kenrich said.

  “He definitely couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of a small girl buying a blade. Especially since you kept asking him questions about the sharpness, guard size, and length. He was definitely scared of you,” Violet added.

  “I wanted to make sure I was making a smart purchase! Besides, when my battleaxe wasn’t around, I always enjoyed having a defensive weapon that I could hide easily.”

  “I guess that makes sense-”

  Violet’s words were cut off as a young woman who could not have been older than twenty-five rushed up to them with a pleading look in her eyes.

  “You three! Please, can you help me! My friend has been cornered by some bandits! I-I can’t find any guards, but I see you’re armed, so please!” the woman begged with tears in her eyes.

  Violet, Kenrich and Fae looked at one another for a moment before giving each other a knowing nod.

  “Take us there,” Fae said seriously.

  “Oh, thank you! Thank you! This way!” the woman said in a relieved yet shaky voice.

  They all began following behind the woman at a brisk pace. With the sun going down, the streets were a lot less crowded, so they managed to travel a lot of ground quickly. They rushed down a few streets before making a turn into an alleyway. Still following the woman, they went down a staircase at the very end of the alley that led to an open room that resembled a giant stone cube with its gray ceiling and gray floors indistinguishable from one another. Kenrich looked around the dimly lit area and saw no signs of what this place’s purpose could be. They made their way to the corner of the room and the woman suddenly stopped. She then turned around with a devilish smile plastered on her melting face.