Alfheim

XVII. The beginning of the journey

I dreamed about my parents in the real world. I saw my dad and mom sitting on my bed in the apartment. Waiting for my return. My mom is crying. 'Mom, dad, I'm over here!' I shout, but they can't hear me. I thought I saw my dad react when I suddenly woke up. I touched my ears. Nope. Can't deny it. This is really happening. I looked at the mini alarm on the nightstand. 3 am it said. I just laid there in bed with my eyes wide open till 6 am.

I heard someone knock on my door.

"Ivy! Good morning! Are you ready for today's adventure?" Timothy said with a cheerful voice.
I hopped out of bed and opened the door.
"Oh, you're already awake?" he says surprisingly when he sees me.
" I really like your morning look," Timothy says. I give him a punch to the chest and I let him in. Timothy is looking all ready.
"Have you packed yet?" I ask him while I make my way to the bathroom.
"Yes, got my luggage right here," he says while holding a tiny suitcase in the air.
"You're joking," I say.
"No I'm not," he answers. "I just made them smaller so they are easier to carry around. You should be able to do that as well. Just use the shrinking spell."
" A shrinking spell?" I respond.
"Just get changed first. I will help with the spell," Timothy says while he sits on the bed.
I brushed my teeth and changed in the bathroom. I put all my stuff in my suitcase and looked at Timothy.
"You try the spell on your own first. Then I will help you out," he suggests.
Oh, shoot! I have no clue. I didn't even know Ivy had powers. Guess it makes sense. I thought about the only shrinking spell I knew from Harry Potter.
"Reducio!" I said while pointing at it at my suitcase. My index finger glowed a second.
Timothy bursts into laughter. "Ha ha ha. What kind of spell is that?"
I feel my ears starting to burn. "Are you embarrassed?" Timothy asks teasingly. "Timothy, just show me the spell!" I shout while looking at the ground.

At the dining room...

Our party had gathered at a large square table. They hadn't noticed Timothy and me entering the room yet. But a girl from the Aestas party did. Yes, sadly we shared a dining room with our competition.
"Look which royal bish arrived?" the girl said.
Timothy and I ignored her comment and walked towards the breakfast buffet. "Wow. That's a lot of food choices," I say in awe. No clue what they were though. I asked Timothy for recommendations and just went with that.
With the filled plates in our hands, we headed to our table where our teammates were busy eating. For a minute I glanced back at the Aestas table where the girl sat with the Aestas team. Odd. Gideon hasn't arrived yet. Ysabel why are you thinking about that jerk? Wake up. Get your head in the game.

When Timothy and I sat down. We were greeted by four big smiles. They all had their mouth full. They were eating as their lives depended on it. Understandable. Prison must have been so tough for them. I give one of my pieces of toast to the girl next to me. Her name is Kira. At the feast, she told me she is 19 years old.
"Thanks, Ivy," she says. "Did you also had a good night sleep?"
"I did," I answer with a smile because I didn't want anyone to worry about me, especially Timothy.
Timothy was talking with the boys at the table.
"The bed was so soft! Right, Emilia?" Kira asks the other girl at the table.
Last night I didn't get to know Emilia, because she was really quiet. She sometimes nodded and answered with yes or no.
"Yes,"Emilia answers softly. All of a sudden Timothy stands up and leaves. "I'm gonna be right back," he says before he leaves. I wonder what he is up to... It took pretty long for him to come back. "Everything alright?" I asked him. when he came back. But he gave me nothing but a nod.
After breakfast, we cleared the table and Timothy opened a scroll that covered the whole table. It was a map. Timothy grabbed a feather and some ink and drew a line. I've talked with some advisors and strategists about which route we could take best and we think this is it. I noticed the route stopped before some large mountains.
"How does the route continue back there?"!I ask.
"That's the furthest a party has ever gotten. It was the party from two years ago where the girl from Aestas and de boy from Hiems made it back alive," Timothy answers with a concerned look.
"Don't worry guys, we can do this!" I hear one of the guys shout. It was Hugo. He looks like the strongest and most intimidating of us all, but when you get to know him better he is like a huge teddy bear. A really sweet guy, but he sometimes lacks a little bit of common sense.
I'm really worried about our safety. This is gonna be really dangerous. And I wonder, id Ivy dies, do I also die?
"What's with the long  face?" another guys whispers to me.
That is Grant. He has the most sword fighting experience. He grew up in a wealthy family, but somehow ended up in prison. He didn't tell why. "Nothing, just worried."
"Cheer up! What Hugo said is right,"Grant says while he wraps an arm around my shoulder.
"According to our spies, the other team has also found this route," Timothy continues while  pointing at the map with one hand and using the other to remove Grant's arm from my shoulder. Grant grins.
"So the opposite team will walk behind or in front of us the entire time?" Grant asks.
"No, not the entire time. We will probably travel with them till this point," Timothy says while pointing at a cave that is located two-thirds of the route.
"Great,"Kira says with a disgusted look.