"... He's only a kid! He can't be the wizard!" a slightly accented voice came into Vella's thoughts.

"Why can't he be? The prophecy never specified an age!" came another voice.

"You honestly think he could be the wizard? Don't be silly, sister. I suppose we'll just have to wait until he wakes up."

Vella groaned. The last thing she remembered was trying to catch Shay after he'd fallen (or, more accurately, jumped) into the gorge. Both had fallen to their deaths, or at least that's what she thought. Whatever happened, it hurt. Everything really hurt. Even breathing took more effort than usual. Her eyes still only half open, she tried to sit up, but only succeeded in making the pain worse.

"Shh! She's waking up!" the second voice said.

Vella heard footsteps retreating into the distance and felt a hand on her shoulder. Despite the pain, she continued trying to sit up, only to be pushed back down by the hand. She opened her eyes and looked at the owner of the hand, a young woman.

The woman had silky dark brown hair which was tied up into a neat updo. She had ochre skin and wore a long dress in varying shades of red and white-it was simple, yet very elegant. Her hand still on Vella's shoulder, she regarded the teen with a warm smile, her large eyes glistening.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You took quite a fall; just rest for now," the woman said.

A second woman walked into the room, a cup in her hand. She sat down next to the first woman and tilted Vella's head back, pouring a warm liquid down her throat. Vella studied the second woman for a moment.

This second woman's hair was in an updo too, although her hair was a much lighter shade of brown and she wore a feathered headdress with it. She also had much fairer skin than the first woman and seemed much more mature. She wore a much more solemn look too. Her sparkling dress was a light shade of green, complemented by black feathers and a necklace with a single green stone which rested on her chest. The woman set the cup aside.

"Wh-" Vella coughed "-what happened?"

"We honestly don't know. You just fell from the sky," the woman in green said.

"Oh… Who are you?" Vella asked, her voice still cracking a little.

"My name is Evanora," the woman in green said. She gestured to the other woman. "This is my sister, Theodora."

"I'm Vella." Slowly, painfully, she turned her head to the right and saw the very person she tried to save, either unconscious or dead on the floor next to her. "Shay…"

"Shay…" He heard a familiar voice call his name. Mom? No… no, it didn't sound like his mom… What happened? Was he dead? No… he didn't feel dead. Then again, he wasn't sure what being dead felt like.

With more effort than it ought to have took, he opened his eyes and found himself looking at what looked like a ceiling made of a glistening green stone. He wasn't sure where he was, but he knew it wasn't home. His home was gone. Destroyed. Melted. His whole body hurt, but then again, he wasn't quite sure what else to expect from falling into a gorge. The pain was the only thing telling him he was still alive. More voices faded into his hearing, yet he couldn't find the strength to focus on them. Either way, the only voice he wanted to hear was his mom's.

He closed his eyes and thought about her. About before. About home. When he opened his eyes again, a female face was staring down at him, her smile warm and inviting. He ought to have cried out in surprise, but his voice wouldn't let him and the woman had a certain air of kindness about her that annulled that response.

To his left lay that girl-Vella. Shay looked at her. She smiled at him. He returned it, but his smile turned into more a grimace. Everything he did still hurt.

A gentle hand turned his face back to the right and tilted up his chin. The woman began pouring a liquid down his throat and he tried to resist, but the woman assured him that it wasn't poison or anything. She claimed that it was a healing concoction she had made.

Evidently, it was. Vella had already sat up (with some help from a second woman, who he later found out was named Evanora). Within a span of a few minutes, she'd gone from lying on the floor to standing up and walking around, admiring the palace of emerald which they were in.

Shay, however, hadn't gotten that far. He still lay on the floor, trying to make sense of all that had happened-he felt as if he were in a dream. Everything that had happened washed over him again. He was in just as much pain and shock as when he'd crawled out of his ship into the real world. His thoughts overwhelmed him again and he began inadvertently thinking out loud.

"Comp-no… no, mom… Dad? And… Vella… mogs… no… Bassinostra… gorge… Gary!" He bolted upright when he thought about his little robot friend who'd almost saved him. Gary must've gone down with the ship.

A wave of dizziness washed over him after he sat up and he found himself being lowered back down by the first woman, who he later found out was named Theodora. He lay there for a moment, just thinking. The dizziness cleared and he found himself able to think clearly.

"Where are we?" he asked as Theodora helped him sit up.

"Oz. Was it not your intention to come here?" she said.

"No. We really didn't intend to go anywhere. He was falling into a gorge and I jumped after him and we sorta… hit the bottom. And then we woke up here," Vella chimed in.

"Strange," said Theodora. "When you came to us, you were falling from the sky and screaming. Perhaps it's just memory loss? You did hit your heads when you landed."

"That explains a lot," Shay said, rubbing a sore spot on his skull. "I'm Shay, by the way. Thanks for helping us with… well, whatever that was."

"Glad to help," Theodora said. "You said your name was Shay?" He nodded and Theodora sighed. "Then you are not the wizard?"

"Wizard? No," Shay replied.

Theodora looked at the floor, her disappointment shown clearly on her face. Evanora decided to change the subject.

"Where are you from? We will return you to your homes."

"I'm from Sugar Bunting," Vella said, smiling at the thought of her little town.

"I can't say that I've ever heard of it," said Evanora. She looked at Shay expectantly.

Shay thought about the meltdown. There was no way he'd be able to go back to his ship-he wasn't sure if he'd want to anyway. "Mine is-er-gone…"

"Gone?" asked Theodora.

"Yeah. It's a long story. You see, our home was what we thought was a spaceship in space, but really it wasn't really a spaceship, and it wasn't really in space. It was a monster that kidnapped girls and it recently melted," explained Shay.

"Oh…" Theodora said, not entirely sure what she could or should say.

"You left out a lot of that story," Vella pointed out.

"Well, it's a really long story and I want to get back to tell my parents that I'm okay," said Shay.

"That might take a while," Theodora said. "We aren't quite sure where your homes are, nor do we know of these monsters you speak of."

"Oh…" Shay said, disappointed.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out soon," said Theodora. "You can stay here for now."

"Right," said Evanora. "If you do something for us in the morning."

"Oh, sister, that hardly seems fair! They're only kids, and besides, they need to heal up after falling from the sky," said Theodora. Evanora shot her a look telling her to shut up.

The two sisters led Vella and Shay to two rooms across from each other. Both were grateful for the sisters' hospitality, but something didn't feel quite right to Vella. Theodora was genuinely nice, but something about Evanora seemed… fake. It was like the Evanora they'd met that day was nothing but a mask, a façade hiding her true nature. But Vella was tired and she accepted it. She would think about it later. For now, she'd sleep and dream of home.