"Whoa…oa!" Ava yelled as she hopped out of the dark whirlpool portal, her legs wobbly as she panted hard.
"Scary right?" Louise asked smiling "You'll get used to it"
"Really?" Ava straightened up still panting, "Where are we anyway?"
She looked round the small room which had bright orange wallpaper with a simple desk and chair, a computer, mini-fridge and a small rollup mattress at the side.
"Welcome to my tiny hideout!" Louise announced, "I really love this place because it's just perfect. There are no nearby neighbours-so I can do whatever I want, there's wi-fi twenty-four seven…And let me tell you before I forget, your powers in the human world are supressed a lot, so…you can't do much with powers and you blend in quite easily"
"O…kay" Ava nodded in understanding. That was good news, at least the unexpected quirks of magic were going to be absent here.
"I'm invited to a party around and the invite says I could come with one other person. I was already thinking t would be a little weird to come alone so…finally I have a partner! Right?"
"Well…okay" Ava nodded. She had never even been invited to a party her whole life…it was going to be fun…wasn't it? but her real reason for coming here in the first place was to check her home and if possible, see Sir Asher.
She didn't want to go stay at home now, there was a lot she had to find out where she was. She needed to understand the huge burden and imminent dangers that Aaron had been speaking about. She had made up her mind to sneak home to see Sir Asher but she decided that she was not going to let him see her. He was probably going to stop her from going back and she didn't want that.
"Uhmm…" Ava started "I actually want to ask you for a favour, Louise"
Louise looked at her and nodded "Okay, what's it?"
"Well…I really want to check on my home again, I have a guardian there who I want to check on…you know…if he's okay and all…I don't know if you can take me there. I hope it's not that Im asking too much"
"Not at all" Louise simply said as she opened the fried and opened a can of soda. "But there's one thing, I've never been to your house so I can't just take you there. Actually…you can open another portal by yourself if you're up to level three"
"But…Im not in level three yet" Ava said disappointed.
"Oh really?" Louise was surprised, it was strange for someone as old as she was to be less than level three. Only kids were in that level.
"Yep" Ava replied. "So, I can't go there now, right?"
"I'm sorry there's nothing else I can do Ava" Louise said and sipped the bottle "Want some soda? That's the only thing I have"
'Well…okay" she nodded and Louise handed her another can of soda from the fridge. Her intention was to cheer her up as she could understand how she felt.
Ava made up her mind that she was going to train more and hoped Aaron's bonus liquid was still intact. At least it was going to make her level up faster. She needed the level three magic to get what she wanted.
Jumping back to her usual happy-go-lucky mood, Ava smiled reassuringly at Louise who smiled in return.
"So yeah!" Louise sprang up excitedly. "I've spent a long time feeling lonely here and it's sooo good to have someone to accompany me! We'll be leaving for the party in a while and we need to dress up"
"I can guess…because I know I wouldn't come dressing in this…Right?" Ava peered down at her huge peach corset dress.
"Yup" Louise nodded slowly. "I have some clothes here that we could try out, it'll be fun. Let's do this!"
They both went on to try the few dresses Louise had kept in a small box. Louise had settled for a short purple armless flare dress.
Ava had a lot of problem with the clothes because many were too small for her. She ended up wearing a red off-the-shoulder slim-fitted short gown. The gown was a bit too short and tight, exposing every curve of her body.
"You look flawless!" Louise complemented "The best thing to add to this dress are the perfect set of heels!" she went rummaged under of the bed and brought out a pair of tall red stilettos.
"Really? Ill wear that?" Ava asked warily, she had never worn heels before. She'd seen a few books and magazines where women wore these kinds of over-tall heeled shoes and wondered how they coped with them.
"Well…this suits the dress perfectly" Louise said "Try it on, they're cool"
"Uh…Okay" Ava replied and dipped her legs into the tall shoes.
She tried to get up and stand upright but staggered down instead. She stood again motioning to walk this time but the heels felt wobbly and she lost balance every time.
"Wow!" Louise slowly shook her head "You really haven't done this before?"
"Actually…yes" Ava said still struggling with the shoe as she used the table as a support. "I have never even been to a party before, this is my first ever time"
Louise raised her brows, amazed.
"I thought you lived in the human world didn't you have friends or_"
"I had never left my house. My whole life just revolved around my guardian and me alone…he was my only friend, parent and all. That's why I need to be sure he's okay, he'll probably be very worried that Im gone"
"You know, you never even told me how you ended up there, what really happened? You don't know anything from either worlds" Louise asked. She was getting more and more interested in this new friend of hers.
Ava paused for a while "It's actually a really long story…"
Then, she explained everything, her dreams, how she ended up in the mythical world, Aaron…
"There's really a lot behind this and you have to find out what that Aaron guy is talking about" Louise said walking to and fro round the room.
"Yeah…I want to know everything. It's like Ive been kept in the dark all my life"
"Don't worry, we'll find out together" Louise said facing her and giving her a reassuring smile.
"Really?"
"Yes, we're friends now, right? Friends help each another"