As Ed walked home, he realized that something needed to change. He thought about it. Maybe if he had some kind of project to distract himself, that would do the trick. But what?

Then, he realized what it should be. It was an idea he'd had about a year ago, but Em had talked him out of it, saying it was too impractical. So what better time to explore it again than now? Suddenly, Ed had a new spring in his step and rushed home to get started.

Em waited a few minutes before leaving school, but then instead of going home, she walked around a bit. She figured if she was going to be bored and lonely, she might as well have a change of scenery. She walked for a couple hours before finally heading home, and by the time she got there, she saw Ed diligently at work on the front lawn with all kinds of tools and various bits and pieces of wood and metal.

"Ed, what is all this?" she asked.

"I've decided to pursue my business idea."

"There's no way you can teach a manticore to ice-skate!"

"Not that! My training staff idea."

Em remembered now. Normally, a witch had to train for years and years before they could make a staff, and to do it, they needed to use a special type of wood, which was getting harder and harder to come by. So, Ed had come up with the idea to make a training staff, like a training wand, that you could magically charge and use like a proper staff.

"You really think you're going to get that to work? Hey!" She pointed to a stuffed animal taped to the head of a piece of wood. "That's my old stuffed jackalope!"

"It's a palisman... sort of."

"There's no way you're going to make a real staff that way."

"Well, I've narrowed it down to just flying."

Em opened her mouth to naysay again, but then she thought about it: that wasn't such a bad idea.

Ed went on. "Guess who else thinks it's a good idea: Mom. She was here when I got back."

"What? You're making that up."

"Ask her yourself. She left for a meeting, but she'll be back in a few hours. By then, I'll have a working prototype. And she said that's all she needs to see... before she invests."

"What?!" Was their mom really considering investing in Ed's idea? She wasn't exactly one to indulge her children's flights of fancy. If she was considering investing, that meant she really thought it was a good idea. And not only had she missed out on the chance to do this with him, if they hadn't been separated from each other, he would've never even pursued it.

As if reading her mind, Ed said, "You know, Em, you said that you always had to keep me from getting out of my depth, but really you've just been holding me back. My life's a lot better without you."

Em gasped. "Ed, do you really mean that?"

Ed looked at his twin. Was she hurt by what he'd said? He hadn't meant to do that. Maybe he'd gone too far. But now that he'd said it, how could he take it back? Besides, she'd said worse to him without him acting all aggrieved about it.

"Well... uh... I mean... in some ways." He averted his eyes.

Em's lip quivered for a second, but then she glared and yelled out, "Well, me too! These past few days have been the best of my life!" She stormed off into the house.

Em rushed to her room and slammed her door shut. That jerk! Did he really mean that? But then she thought about it, and was what he'd said really all that worse than what she'd said at the very start of this bet?

Even after what he'd said, Em just wanted this bet to be over. And for that to happen, at some point one of them was going to have to swallow their pride and reach out to the other. But why should it have to be her?

Well, why shouldn't it have to be her?

Fine. It was time to end this thing. But she couldn't do it right then. Not after what Ed had just said. She'd wait, maybe give him some time to work on the prototype until he was frustrated and ready to do something else.

Ed tried to keep his mind off of things by focusing on the work. But who was he kidding? He had no interest in inventing or going into business, at least not on his own. He'd only proposed the idea back then because he thought it would be a fun thing he and Em could do together.

The whole bet, he'd been sore about Em saying she only stayed with him to keep him out of anything too dangerous and that she didn't want to get stuck with him, and for that reason he'd refused to make the first move in calling things off. But now he'd said something just as bad to Em, if not worse. Maybe it was time for him to make the first move, and also apologize for what he'd just said. But would she even accept a draw after what had happened just now? Maybe he'd give her some time to cool off first. But after he got his prototype working, he was going to end this silly thing once and for all.

A few hours later, Ed had gotten his contraption in working order. It was basically a rod of wood, like a staff, but with a few extra knobs and levers for speed and steering, and it was all powered by Amity's old training wand. He got on it and started it up.

The staff began to hover. Yes! It worked! It actually worked!

Ed started going forward slowly, and so far everything was running smoothly. He cautiously tested turning around and going up and down. So far, so good. Ed slowly started to speed up, and it was sheer exhilaration! He started to laugh.

Em heard Ed laughing from in her room, which meant he must've been laughing uproariously. She opened her window so she could hear him more clearly and saw him zipping around on his prototype.

He'd done it! He'd actually done it!

Boy, it looked like he was having fun. Em wished she could give flying that thing a try. She was proud of her brother, but also sad. What if she really had been holding him back all this time? And why would he accept a draw now? What if he said no, and demanded that she say she lost the bet? Could she accept that? Maybe she could.

After a few minutes, the exhilaration of flying started to get mitigated by regret. Ed realized this should've been his moment of triumph. He'd accomplished something all on his own. At the beginning of this bet, he probably would've rubbed this in Em's face, but he'd lost any desire to do that.

Ed couldn't help but wish Em could give flying this a try. She'd love it. Well, she'd get the chance soon enough once he ended this bet. But what if she refused a draw after what he'd said? Could he accept that? Maybe he could.

Ed figured he'd been flying for a while now, and it was probably time to bring the thing down. He pulled on the knob that controlled the acceleration. Except, it wouldn't budge. It was stuck!

"Come on, you stupid thing," he said as he fiddled with it. But as he tried to pull it out, all he did was push it in further making him accelerate more and more.

Uh oh.