Orchid

Unlimited Cookies and Cake

My body returns to normal....on top of a sticky surface. I move my hand around and bring it up to my eyes. It's smeared with....chocolate? I must be going crazy. I lift myself up and see it's a table full of cookies and cake. Luscious plum cakes, chocolate-chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, snickerdoodle cookies, wedding cake, birthday cake, macadamia nut cookies--everything a person addicted to sweets could ever dream of. 

 Hero rushes over to me. "Hey, there. Are you okay?" She giggles a little. Her brow creases. "I never got to know your name."

 "Orchid," I say, feeling a little guilty as I accept her helping hand and get up. "Who's having a banquet full of desserts?"

 "Nobody," Hero says. She ducks her head for a second in shame. "Airilia really likes cookies and cake. It's her breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

 "Oh, man" is my reply. I can't stand eating sweets all day every day. That would be a nightmare. Junkies and sweets combined with some fruit, maybe. But all junkies or all sweets just won't work out.

 "Speaking of Airilia, here she comes."

 I don't know what I did when she came in. I expected a grown woman stuffing cake and cookies in her mouth. But Airilia doesn't seem very old, maybe in her teens. She has a look of a Dominican with long, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She's wearing a casual knee-length dress that's purple and some summer sandals.

 "Sorry, Airilia," Hero apologizes. "I forgot to specify which location in the Air Kingdom to land in. I'll rearrange your squashed cake."

 Airilia laughs, an easy, good-natured laugh. "S'okay. S'up, Warrior?" She gives a friendly wave to me.

 "Not much. Sorry, by the way."

 "It's really okay. I'll just tell Zuzuni to bake more." She makes a gesturing motion behind her and another teen comes up behind her, a boy this time. "Zuzu! Bake more vanilla cookies. With the frosting."

 "Yes," he says, saluting and walking away.

  "Airilia, we need to talk." Hero puts on a serious face.

  Airilia grins widely. "Let's go to my sitting room then. Take us to Airilia Room 101."

 A much more powerful breeze carries us on our feet and navigates us through fancy hallways with pictures of pretty-looking cakes, kitchens with working bakers, and finally to a sitting room with three chairs and a table with a plate of cookies on it. Airilia motions to sit and relax and eat as she floats around examining pictures.

 "So I'm guessing you really like cookies?" I ask her.

 Airilia turns around and blinks, her long lashes fluttering. "Oh, yes. I've loved cookies and cake since I first tasted it."

 "So how come your Air power is way more powerful than ours? We're Warriors."

 Airilia chuckles. "Ah. Well, yours is split up, right? 20% of each element power is in you. But for pure ones, it's 100%. So my wind is more stronger than yours." She clasps her hands behind her back and turns back. 

 I take a cookie and bite into it. Yum. Shortbread. I don't know why, but I've always liked gingerbread and shortbread. It leaves a warm and cozy feeling as I stare at the fireplace. Hero doesn't eat anything. "Airilia, do you know where the others are?"

 "You mean the three other girls?" 

 "Uh huh."

 Airilia turns again, her brow creased. "That girl, the one with red hair streaked with brown, she insulted me rather nastily. I would like to dispose of her, but I had to check."

 Duh. Everyone naturally wants to trash Jenna. I wonder what Jenna would had been like if her dad didn't go so serious on the revenge. 

 "I think she might be of some use." Surprisingly, Hero sticks up for her. Elbowing me, she whispers, "Only because I might want to wring her neck out personally."

  "Fair enough reason to me," I whisper back. All my life I've imagined Jenna's neck broken. But something troubles me. Jenna saved my life back in school from Xander by sacrificing her leg to be wounded. Why, though? It could've been the perfect time for revenge. A life for a life. What is in her little pesky heart?

 "I've spoken the blondie and the Faerie," Airilia continues. "The Faerie seems trustworthy enough. The blond, though...she seems like she's in the same line of business as the other one."

  I need to know. I just need to. I speak up. "Is there someone in Vidalia who has the name of Xander?"

 Airilia closes her eyes for a second and reopens them, revealing undeniable melancholy. "Yes. His full name is Alexander, but when he joined Darkness, he changed it to Xander, claiming Alexander was a name that was no more. He was once an Air elementalist belonging to good. He is still an Air elementalist, but he embraces Darkness now. Lycaeon sent him on a mission to assassinate the Orchid and other elementalists after she broke the Orb."

 "But Xander has been around since the beginning of high school," I protest.

  "Lycaeon gave the impression of that and altered the memories of the students and teachers so they would think Xander was a student from freshman year and he was cute to attract girls. His true form is something you don't want to see," Hero explains. 

 Fury boils through me. Xander played me this whole time. I should had stuck to Jason. "What about Jason Zhen? Was he a fake?"

 Airilia shakes her head. "No. We have been watching him. He is truly good and pure and loves you. There is no reason not to trust him."

 Good and pure. True that. 

 "So where is he right now?" I demand. I want to hug him, tell him it was all right, tell him I'm sorry that I ever laid eyes on Xander.

 "On Earth. People are assuming you and your friends that came here are dead, swayed by Lycaeon."

 "How can Lycaeon manipulate them? Is she a Spirit elementalist?"

 "No, but she has an element named Darkness. Harnessing Darkness, she can control minds. It's the same for Shira, except Shira can't control the mind. She controls intent."

 "So Lycaeon rescued Xander from the authorities," I blurt out, realizing that.

 "Yeah. So now they're both here, hunting to kill you." Airilia's eyes sadden again.

 "You get those sad puppy eyes when you talk about Xander. Do you two have a connection or something?" I realize it's true.

 Hero squeezes my arm, murmuring, "Orchid...."

 "Let her know." Airilia's lips tighten and a wave of sadness takes her again. "Xander is my son.