Kay could hardly believe his eyes when he saw that Hiro and Peter were still in class the next day, looking tired but cheerful. Indeed, by the next morning, the boys thought that discovering the dinosaur had been a most excellent adventure, and they were keen on having another one soon. In the meantime, Hiro did some research and soon found a dino whose description matched the one they ran into – an iguanodon; a herbivore, but dangerous if provoked.
Hiro filled Peter in on the packages that seemed to have moved from the bank to the Magic Kingdom, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could need such heavy protection.
"It must be either really valuable, or really dangerous," said Peter.
"Or both," said Hiro.
But all they knew for sure was that each one was no more than a few inches, so they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues.
Hiro had to silence Baymax to make sure word of their late-night escapade didn't get out; he came dangerously close the next time they passed the corridor and he asked Hiro if he was going to go back there any time soon.
Neither Wart nor Wendy showed the slightest interest in what lay under the trapdoor. All Wart cared about was never going near the dinosaur again. Wendy barely spoke to either Peter or Hiro if she could help it. She seemed awfully hesitant to when she did, not that it mattered to them. All they cared about was a way of getting back at Kay. To their great delight, the very thing arrived in the mail a week later.
While Pedro circled around the Great Hall ceiling as usual, he parachuted a large package down to Hiro's place at the breakfast table. Hiro was just as curious as everyone else to see what was inside. No sooner than he reached for the tab than a letter fluttered down on top of it. "OPEN FIRST" was stamped on it in red. Hiro ripped it open, and it said:
DO NOT OPEN THE BOX AT THE TABLE.
It contains your new Questing uniform, but I don't want anyone to know that or it'll confirm the rumors floating around. It'll automatically adjust to your flight armor when you throw it on over it.
Cassandra will meet you tonight on the Questing field at seven o'clock for your first training session.
Good luck, kid!
- Eda
Hiro had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Peter to read.
"Wow! Let's go see what it looks like!"
They left the hall quickly, but halfway across the entrance hall they found Sasha and Boscha blocking the stairs. Kay seized the box from Hiro and shook it.
"Your aunt sent you some hand-me-downs to give to Pan 'ere?" he said, throwing it back to Hiro with a mix of spite and smugness.
Peter couldn't resist.
"They're not just any old clothes, Kay. It's a new Questing uniform!"
"What was that you said about getting on the house team, Kay," said Hiro, "that it'd be a crime if you weren't picked? Well call the wizard cops, because I'm in and you're not!"
"You filthy-mouthed liar –"
But before Kay could say more, Professor Plantar appeared at his elbow.
"Not arguing, I hope, boys?"
"Hamada says he's on the Questing team, Professor," Kay said quickly.
"That's right," said Professor Plantar, beaming at Hiro. "Professor Eda told me all about it. My heart's always been more in the theater than in sports, but I'm looking forward to seeing you play, Hiro."
"Yep, my new uniform just arrived," said Hiro, fighting not to laugh at Kay's gobsmacked expression. "And it's all thanks to Kay here that I got it!"
Hiro and Peter headed upstairs, smothering their laughter at Kay's rage and confusion.
"Well, it's true," Hiro snorted as they reached the top of the marble staircase. "If he hadn't stolen Wart's medallion, I wouldn't be on the team."
"And I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking the rules?" Wendy muttered as they passed her. She looked disapprovingly at the package.
"Hey, I thought you weren't speaking to us," said Hiro.
"Well, I…" Wendy hurried down the stairs.
Hiro had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons all day. It kept wandering up to the dormitory where his new uniform lay waiting on his bed – it was a silvery, almost transparent smock, but made of extremely light chainmail – or straying over to the field where he'd be learning to play that evening. He bolted his dinner down, then rushed upstairs, threw off his robes, and put on his flight armor. He wondered how exactly the smock was supposed to adjust to it like Eda's note said. Carefully, he pulled it on over his head.
Starry sparkles twirled around him, changing his armor from purple, red and black to red and gold. His chest bore the school seal, which coincidentally doubled as Mus' symbol, the shape of a certain mouse's head. His last name blazed on his back in gold. He ran his fingers down the front, and silver light rippled in the form of the chainmail at his touch. It was an extra layer of magic protection, so light that he could hardly tell it was there. Hiro couldn't deny it – it looked great on him.
As seven o'clock drew nearer, Hiro got Baymax into his armor and they both set off in the dusk towards the Questing field. Hundreds of seats in high stands surrounded the field so the spectators could have every possible view of the action. Enormous poles bearing lights stood on either end of the stadium, along with several screens.
Too eager to fly again, Hiro mounted Baymax and they lifted without a hitch. What a feeling – he made a few loop-the-loops, slipped between the light poles and did a complete lap around the entire field unbidden by gravity. Baymax turned wherever he wanted at the slightest touch.
"Hey, Hiro, come on down!"
Cassandra arrived with a scroll and an idol under one arm. A chestnut-colored owl sat on her shoulder. Hiro and Baymax landed in front of her. She looked almost impressed, despite her smirk.
"Now that I've caught a sample of your flying skills, I've gotta say, not bad. I can see what Professor Eda meant. But there's a lot more to Questing than racing around in circles. I'm going to show you the ropes this evening. If you can handle it, you'll be joining team practice three times a week."
"Thanks. Nice owl, by the way. What's his name?"
Cassandra looked him.
"…Owl."
"Oh. Just Owl. Okay. Nice." Hiro said awkwardly.
She put down the idol and unrolled the scroll. There were illustrations and diagrams showing various players, objects, and scenes.
"Now, Questing is easy enough to understand, even if not so easy to play. At least ten teams can play at a time, though here it's limited to four since there's one for each house. With the exception of the end-of-year free-for-all, the matches are usually one-on-one. Each team has seven players."
"Four teams, seven players, got it," Hiro repeated.
"Right. Now the goal is to be the first team to reach the Treasure. Sometimes it's out in the open, sometimes it has to be found first. See the field? It looks ordinary now, but when it's game time, it completely changes into a whole new terrain. Mountains, caves, forests, deserts, ruins, there's no limit to what it can transform into. What form it will take is completely random, so you always have to be prepared for anything – battles, natural disasters, spells to break, guardians to defeat, riddles to solve. Every victory earns you points, but you can only win when you and your team find the treasure."
"Oh, so it's like those game shows with the temple maze and the giant mountain. My Aunt Cass said she loved watching those when she was a kid."
"Game shows?" Cassandra asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Um, never mind," said Hiro.
"Now, on to the players," Cassandra continued. "The Captain – that's me – leads the team, plans our strategy, and is usually in the forefront when it comes to direct combat. Then there are the Rogues; they set up traps and play tricks in order to trip up the other teams. I'm sure Edric and Emira have already given you a demonstration of their illusion skills."
Hiro remembered Edric's tentacle trick and nodded grimly.
"There's also three Warriors who fight alongside the Captain, protect the other players, and pave the way to the treasure whenever possible."
"So one Captain, two Rogues, three Warriors," Hiro stated, making sure he got it right. Cassandra nodded.
"And then there's you, the Chaser, one of the more important members of the team. You scout the terrain and search for the Treasure, usually from above. You'll also have to deal with the other team's Chaser, try to beat them to the Treasure or throw them off your trail. You can also provide air support when it comes to battles, like taking out team members with one good swoop or a magic bomb or something like that."
She picked up the idol and turned it over in her hands.
"The Chaser's usually the first to find the Treasure. The team who discovers it first gets some kind of surprise advantage to help them get that much closer to winning. It could be anything from ten seconds of flight to enhanced weaponry to invisibility. But the opposing team will also receive something that could counteract that advantage if they use it wisely. How you play could be the tipping point between victory and defeat, Hiro…any questions?"
Hiro got the gist of what, what worried him was if he could pull it off.
"Has anyone ever…died playing this?" he asked nervously.
"Died? No. Sometimes players were accidentally teleported elsewhere or turned to stone or something like that, but never anything that couldn't be reversed," said Cassandra. "Now, I want to see what you and Baymax are really capable of. I won't set the field to anything too hard since it's only you out there. Just try to get to the Treasure as fast as you can."
Hiro mounted Baymax again and Cassandra threw the idol to the center of the field. A control panel popped out of the ground and she pressed a few buttons. For the next half-hour, Hiro flew through a canyon, a swampy marsh, and various other locations. He found the idol every single time, thanks to his keen eye, quick understanding of the terrain, and Baymax's scanner. Cassandra made notes about his timing and maneuvers, though less and less as time wore on. When it got dark enough that Hiro and Baymax had to rely on their built-in flashlights to see, she called them back.
"The cup's going to have our names on it this time, I just know it. It'll be nice to end my final year here on a high note," she said as they walked back to the castle.
"How long have you been playing?" Hiro asked her.
"Since I was a kid. My dad's the captain of the Corona royal guard. He taught me all about fighting and self-defense, and that really came in handy on the Questing field," Cass said with a smile, the first genuinely happy one Hiro had seen since they started training. "I always thought that if I could prove how strong I was, he'd finally let me join the guards. Unfortunately, all these losses haven't done me or the Mus team any favors. It's not gonna happen this time, though. I won't be waiting in the wings any longer."
She gripped the idol tightly.
Perhaps because he was now so busy, what with Questing practice thrice a week on top of all his homework, but Hiro could hardly believe it when he realized he had been at the Magic Kingdom for two whole months. The castle felt as close to home as San Fransokyo ever had. His lessons, too, were also becoming more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.
On Halloween morning, they awoke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin and chocolate wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flora announced that she thought they were ready to try the classic catchall spell, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo. It was something they were all dying to try since she made Milo's dog zoom around the classroom. Professor Flora put the class into pairs to practice. Hiro's partner was Milo, which put him on edge. He liked Milo, sure, but you could never predict what would happen with him around. Peter, however, was miserable to be stuck with Wendy. Tinkerbell, who rarely left Peter's side after learning about the dinosaur encounter, felt the same.
"Don't forget the nice wrist movement we've been practicing," Professor Flora said cheerfully. "Wave, wave and flick. And saying the magic words properly is important too – never forget Gwen Piper, who said her 'P's too softly and blasted her enemies with flowers, not powers. All together now!"
It was more difficult than they imagined. The feather Hiro and Milo were trying to levitate stayed put no matter how hard they waved and flicked. Peter wasn't having much luck at his desk, either.
"Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo! Bibbidi Bobbidi –" He waved his arms like a conductor.
"Peter, stop, please," Wendy urged. "You're going to take someone's eye out! Besides, it's Bibbidi Bobbidi BOO, not BIBBIDI Bobbidi Boo."
"Well, you do it if you're so smart. Go on!" Peter whipped back.
Wendy pushed back her sleeves, cleared her throat, waved her wand and said:
"Just a wave of my stick
Will do the trick,
Bibbidi, Bobbidi, BOO!"
Their feather rose up and up above Professor Flora's head.
"Oh, well done!" she cried. "See here, everyone, Miss Darling's done it!"
Peter threw down his wand and folded his arms. He refused to even look at Wendy. Milo noticed Hiro's equal frustration and gave him an encouraging smile.
"Ah, don't worry Hiro, we can still do this! Lemme have another go at it –"
"No, that's okay, Milo, you don't have to –"
"Bibbidi bobbidi BOOM!"
Perhaps Milo ought to have taken Professor Fauna's words on pronunciation to heart. The explosion he caused could be heard from the other end of the castle.
"It's Bibbidi Bobbidi BOO, not BIBBIDI Bobbidi Boo!" said Peter, doing an unflattering imitation of Wendy as he left the classroom covered in ash like the rest of his buddies.
"Yeah, I may have been a know-it-all at my old school, but I was never that bad," Hiro replied in agreement. The boys chuckled. Tinkerbell waggled her head chiming furiously. Peter snorted.
"You're right, Tink. Wendy's a nightmare, always telling us what to do, acting she knows everything. It's no wonder nobody hangs out with her! Who'd want to be stuck with a girl like that for a friend?"
Someone shoved their way past Peter and Hiro. It was Wendy – and Hiro could see she was crying.
"Ohhhh I think she heard us," he said, feeling a bit guilty now.
Wendy didn't turn up for the next class, or the one after. Nobody saw her in the Mus tower as they prepared for the Magic Kingdom's Halloween party. All students were invited to dress up in costumes and dance and play games until the stroke of midnight. Hiro made a few cosmetic additions to his armor so he resembled a mecha from one of his favorite mangas. Peter grabbed a long coat, feathered hat, and prop sword from the free costume closet and went as a pirate.
A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling of the Great Hall, flickering the candles in a hundred floating jack-o-lanterns. Everyone was dressed in all sorts of wonderful colorful costumes, from fairies and mermaids to animals and superheroes. The floor was cleared so there'd be room for dancing; the ghosts opened the festivities waltzing to the strains of a creepy organ before pulling other students in to join them. The tables were piled high with more candy than Hiro had seen in his life.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to push Wendy from his mind.
"Hey Anne, have you seen Wendy anywhere?"
Anne, who was dressed as a sparkly blue dragonfly, swallowed her mouthful of jellybeans.
"Yeah, Marcy overheard her in the bathroom. She's been in there all afternoon, crying. Apparently some jerks were making fun of her and saying how nobody likes her. If I ever find out who they are, I am gonna hex them so hard… "
Thunder rumbled across the ceiling, and Hiro swore Anne's eyes flashed along with the blue lightning. He no longer felt like he could stomach anything sugary. He turned to Peter and saw he had something resembling the same guilt-ridden look he had.
But neither of them had time to dwell on it as Professor Ichabod sprinted into the Great Hall, coat flapping about his spindly legs and arms, looking for all the world like a scarecrow escaped from a cornfield.
"TROLL! In the castle! Troll in the castle!"
The organ pounded to a halt as everyone stopped what they were doing and faced the flustered professor.
"…Thought you ought to know."
He sank to the floor in a dead faint.
There was a brief moment of silence – and then the Great Hall was flung into chaos. Students screamed and scrambled past each other to be the first to reach the doors. Merlin jumped on one of the few tables that weren't overturned and raised his wand.
"Higitus figitus koma kazung!
I want your attention everyone!"
At this, everyone in the room froze and turned to Merlin as one.
"Will everyone please not panic," he said calmly but firmly. "Now, students, the heads of your houses will escort you safely back to your dormitories. The teachers and I will find and deal with the troll."
Eda made her way to the front of the hall and led her charges out.
"Follow me, kids! Everyone stick together! No need to fear any troll while I'm here! Move aside, teacher coming through!"
"How did a troll get in the castle?" Hiro asked with concern as they climbed the stairs.
"Beats me. Maybe the Cheshire Cat did it as a prank. Wish I thought of it first," said Peter.
Hiro grabbed his arm.
"Wendy! She doesn't know about the troll!"
Peter, whatever he felt about Wendy, didn't need to be told twice. Ducking down, they followed the Anatis students headed in the other direction. Tinkerbell slipped next to Peter and tugged on his sleeve, trying to pull him back to the stairs.
"Stop it, Tink!" Peter hissed. "If you don't want to come, go back to the tower!"
Tinkerbell huffed, but followed Peter and Hiro anyway.
They slipped down an abandoned corridor and were just turning a corner when they saw a shadow approaching them on the wall. Peter pulled Hiro behind a stone gargoyle.
Peering around it, they saw Lilith. She was alone, and seemed to be in a hurry. She crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.
"Weird, isn't Lilith supposed to be with the teachers?" Hiro whispered. "Where's she going?"
"Who cares?" said Peter.
Hiro suddenly recognized what part of the castle they were in.
"Wait, she's headed for the third floor –"
There was a rumble and a crash of stone from somewhere below.
"What was that?! The troll?" Hiro trembled.
"Maybe Merlin got rid of it."
"Maybe it's on its way here!"
Hiro yanked Peter's hand and dashed down the corridor to the girls' bathroom. He knocked on the door.
"Wendy, are you in there? You've gotta come with us fast!"
He put an ear to the door. He couldn't make out a sound. Despite how awkward it felt to him, Hiro knew he had to go in. He pushed his way through with Peter right behind.
The room was made of white stone and tiles with a row of brightly painted stalls opposite marble sinks. A huge round window overlooking the mountains stood in the furthermost wall. Hiro could hear a faint sobbing from one of the stalls.
"Wendy, come on out."
"Go away!"
"Look, Wendy, we're sorry," said Hiro slightly exasperated. "We didn't mean anything by it, honest. We were just kidding."
"And I suppose everyone else in school is joking too?" she sniffled. "I hear what they say, the names they call me, even when I'm just trying to help. I even do my homework during lunch because nobody wants to sit with me. Ever since my mother told me stories about heroes and princesses and their adventures, I wanted to learn all I could so I could be special like them…but now I-I sometimes wish I never came here…"
"You don't mean that!" said Peter suddenly. "Those jerks who talk like that, well, they're jealous of you because you do a lot right and you know so much, right, Hiro?"
But Hiro hadn't heard what he said. He was too busy staring at the enormous eye glowering at them through the window.
"Eye-eye-eye-eye –"
"I what?" sniffled Wendy.
"I EAT you now!" a voice boomed.
A thick yellow arm smashed through the window. Peter and Hiro dove under the sinks. The arm flailed around trying to grab on to anything and crashed into the row of stalls. Wendy screamed. She crawled out from under the broken wood, her hair full of splinters.
"Hey, no fair! I is allowed to eat you!"
The arm withdrew and a bald misshapen head burst its way in, demolishing the wall entirely. It was the troll, all right; it had climbed the castle wall outside in search of its meal. It stood at least twenty feet high and glared at them with mean little eyes. Wendy froze in place while the boys began hurling whatever they could at the troll's head.
"Wait a minute, what are we doing?!" said Hiro after a moment. "We have magic!"
He took out his wand and began whipping it around, building up magical energy. He charged towards the troll, ready to cast it – and slipped on a puddle; the troll had managed to destroy one of the toilets in the stalls and now it was flooding everywhere. Hiro slid across the floor straight towards the troll's open mouth.
"Tink, dust Hiro, quick!" shouted Peter. Tinkerbell flurried over to Hiro, showering him with pixie dust. The next thing Hiro knew, he was floating off the floor – though it did nothing to stop his momentum. Instead of sailing right into the troll's mouth, he flew legs-first up its bulbous nose. He hung out of the nostril like a large purple booger.
"Blegh! Someone get me outta here!" he cried as he attempted to squeeze himself out.
But the disgust he felt was nothing compared to the troll's. It roared and shook its head, trying to dislodge Hiro. Finally, it grabbed hold of one of the broken pipes sticking out of the busted wall and pressed its other hand against its free nostril. Hiro was blasted out in a spray of snot onto the floor.
As Wendy ran over to help him up, the pipe the troll clutched creaked and bent under its weight. The troll groaned in terror – it was many stories up from the ground – and frantically tried to grab at the opening in the wall to steady itself. Tink chimed something sharp to Peter and flew out to the troll. She sprinkled him with pixie dust. Peter pulled out his own wand and pointed it at the pipe – hardly knowing what he was going to do, just knowing that he had to keep it away from his friends, he heard himself cry the first spell that came to his head:
"Bibbidi, Bobbidi, BOO!"
The troll, now free from the confines of gravity, swung back towards them on the pipe. It cackled gleefully as it slammed a gigantic hand down on the tile floor, cracking it. Hiro, Peter and Wendy backed away as it leered towards them…but the troll had no idea of the amount of pressure it was putting on the pipe against Peter's spell.
The next thing they knew, the pipe sprung in the other direction, flinging the troll far into the distance hollering "WAAAAHHHH-HOO-HOO-HOOOEEYY!"
The four of them would have celebrated their victory right then and there, had it not been for the growing cracks the troll's handprint left behind. There was a loud crumble, and Wendy fell with a large chunk of the tile floor. Peter swooped down without a moment's hesitation, arms outstretched as he speeded towards her, the wind blasting in his face nearly blinding him as Wendy's screams rang in his ears. Seconds before she hit the ground, he caught her and held her tight in his arms. For a moment, Wendy could hardly speak.
"Oh, Peter…" she gasped breathlessly.
They gently rose back up to the bathroom, where Hiro was jumping up and down pumping his fist in the air and cheering.
"All right, we did it! We –"
The bathroom door burst open, and Eda, Lilith, and Ichabod ran in.
"…oh boy."
Hiro, Wendy and Peter hadn't realized what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. And now there they were, sans troll in the middle of a completely demolished bathroom. The normally unflappable Eda stood there in shock. Ichabod gasped and clutched Lilith's arm. Lilith elbowed him in the stomach. Hiro had never seen her look so angry. She slammed her staff on the floor.
"Explain yourselves, now!"
The boys stumbled over their tongues when –
"It was my fault, Professor Lilith."
Lilith looked like someone had slapped her across the face.
"…Miss Darling?"
Wendy stepped forward.
"I went looking for the troll. I read about Prince Edward's conquests of Andalasian trolls and thought I could handle it, but I was wrong. If Peter and Hiro hadn't found me, I'd probably be dead."
Peter and Hiro's jaws dropped. Even Tinkerbell looked shocked. Wendy Darling lying to a teacher?
"Hiro tried to cast a spell but flew up his nose, and Peter and Tinkerbell sent it flying away on one of the pipes. There wasn't any time for them to fetch anyone. It was…just about to eat me when they arrived."
Peter and Hiro quickly nodded as if this story was old news to them. Hiro was speechless. Wendy was the last person to defy the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. He couldn't have been more surprised if Professor Owl took a vow of silence.
"Well, if that's the case," said Lilith, staring down the three of them, "I'm extremely disappointed in you, Miss Darling. That was a dangerously foolish thing to do. I'd have expected far more rational behavior from you. Five points will be taken from Mus for your serious lack of judgment."
Wendy hung her head.
"Hey, and what about these two guys, huh?" said Eda, clearly trying to lighten the mood. "I haven't seen many first-years who could take on an Andalasian troll and live to tell about it. That kind of bravery deserves a reward. How about –"
"I suggest you refer to the rule book before you dish out points at random," said Lilith. "We wouldn't want to give any houses an unfair advantage, now would we?"
Eda groaned. "Ugh, fine, hang on a sec."
An enormous leather-bound book titled Keys to the Kingdom and Points System appeared in Eda's hands. The pages flipped themselves until she found what she was looking for.
"All right, let's see here…five points? For defeating a full-grown troll?! I gotta talk to Merlin about this system, it makes no sense…"
"It's to discourage students from doing something so foolhardy twice, Edalyn," Lilith admonished her.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Eda rolled her eyes. "Five points to you both. Don't let it happen again or it'll be fifty points next time."
"Edalyn!"
"Get yourselves to the common room, kids, we're continuing the party there. Hold on, Wendy. I want to have a word with you."
The boys waited outside the bathroom as Eda whispered something to Wendy. Lilith and Ichabod watched them for a moment, then departed down the hall.
"I-it's good to see a teacher take a firm hand with her students," Ichabod said with an air of false confidence. "Spare the rod, spoil the child, I say."
"Truly you are a disciplinarian of the highest fortitude, Crane," Lilith grumbled sarcastically.
When she was done, Eda winked at Wendy.
"I'll be letting Merlin know about this. You go on ahead now."
And she went her own way.
"What'd she say?" Hiro asked Wendy once Eda was out of sight. Wendy fiddled with her hands.
"Well...she said that I must have some really great friends if they're worth covering for, and that I shouldn't let them go."
There was a slightly embarrassed pause.
"Well, we did save your life," said Peter awkwardly.
"She might not have needed saving if we hadn't made fun of her in the first place," Hiro reminded him.
"What are friends for?" Peter said.
Wendy found herself smiling at that.
"I meant what I said earlier," Hiro said sometime later as they climbed the stairs to the tower. "I'm sorry about calling you all those things."
"Me too," said Peter.
The common room was packed and noisy. Kids were eating the food that had been set up, some were dancing to a jaunty tune Sprig played on his violin along with a hodgepodge ghostly band, and a few sat by the fire as the Hatbox Ghost regaled them with how he lost his head. Nobody noticed the three of them enter.
There was an awkward pause as they found a place to sit, broken only when Wendy noticed one of her storybooks lying nearby.
"So that's where I left Stories of the Sea," she murmured, picking it up.
"Sea, huh? Are there any stories about pirates in there?" asked Peter.
"Oh yes, I know a lot about them that aren't even in this book. Did you ever hear the story of how Davy Jones became captain of the Flying Dutchman? It all began when…"
And the two spent the rest of the night listening enraptured to Wendy's tales. From that moment on, Hiro and Peter counted her as their friend. There are some things in life you can't share without ending up liking each other, and showing a gigantic troll how to fly is one of them.
I've tried writing every chapter in order but eventually, I bounced around at random whenever inspiration hit or when I just wanted to avoid sitting down and reworking scenes I was worried about. This was one of the last chapters I finished because I was stuck on how to do the troll scene (turns out I'm not a fan of writing fights, makes me regret that I wrote a sport where it's 80% fighting). But oh well, our main three are together at last, and it looks like the start of a beautiful friendship. Happy Halloween!
Next Chapter: Questing!