I know it's been a really long time since the last update, and I'm really sorry about that. I promise, the story's not dead!

'So, how goes magical princess training?' Iris sighed, playing with the ears of a stuffed bunny her aunt had made her when she was four.

'Great…' Even through the phone, Iris could sense the eyebrow-raising.

'Then why do you sound so not-great?' There was the sound of a blender, and Iris raised her own eyebrow.

'You sure you can talk now?'

'Yeah, totally. I can multitask. Now, what's so not-great?' Iris flopped backwards on her bed, sighing.

'It's just…well, all the magic is great, and I'm loving learning spells and combat, and having Talia and Auriana living here is great… Not to mention how great Lolirock is…'

'Those all sound like reasons it's great. I can tell by how you used the word 'great' three times. Why is it not great?'

'Well, with all this talk and study about my home planet - which is still weird, btw - I've been thinking about…about my…'

'About your birth parents,' Roxy finished.

'Yeah. I love Aunt Ellen, and she's given me everything I could ever ask for and more, but…I just can't help thinking about my birth parents. What were they like? Where are they now? Are they thinking about me?'

'I'm sure they're thinking about you, Iris. I mean, not only are you their daughter, but you're also their prophesied saviour. I'd imagine you occupy just about all their thoughts.'

'I wish I could talk to them.'

'I know.' Iris recognised that tone in Roxy's voice; she winced as she realised she'd made her best friend think about her own mother.

'Sorry.' She didn't need to say what she was apologising for. Roxy knew.

'That's fine. Look, Iris, I know the feeling of wishing you could talk to someone better than most. I know it sucks. I wish I could talk to my mom. Ask her why she left. Where she's been. And, as of late, why the hell I'm growing wings.' Iris snorted.

'You get any more dreams?'

'Only every night.' Iris frowned, picking up on a worrying note in her friend's voice.

'Hey, you okay?' There was a deep sigh from the other end of the line, and Iris sat up. 'Roxy?'

'…They're darker. Like the voice…like the voice is warning me of something. But when I wake up, I can never remember what. Just that it's dangerous.'

'You think it's about Gramorr or the twins?'

'…No. I think it's something new.' Iris frowned. Something new? Didn't they have enough to deal with? 'Or, y'know, maybe I just ate too close to going to bed,' Roxy offered in a frankly terrible attempt to cover up her worry. 'Iris, I gotta go, table four are looking mad that their smoothies aren't there. I'll be over later, okay?'

'Okay. Bye.'

'Bye.' Roxy hung up, and Iris stared worriedly down at the phone. She really hoped Roxy was just stressed. Because what with Gramorr and the twins, they didn't need anything new to complicate their lives.

The doorbell rang, snapping her out of her concerned musings.

'Iris, could you get that?' Her aunt's voice echoed upstairs from the shower, and Iris hopped off her bed and hurried downstairs.

'I'm on it!' She opened the door and blinked with surprise. There was nobody there. Were they getting pranked? Because if they were, she had better things to do with her time than open doors nobody was on the other side of. Like saving a planet.

Glancing around, her gaze caught on something at her feet. She looked down and gasped with delight. Sitting on the front porch was an ivory music box, inlaid with gemstones. It was beautiful!

She bent down and picked it up, pulling a card from under the ribbon wrapped around the box,

'To Iris. From your number-one fan.' Wow! She had a number-one fan? She had a number-one fan! How cool! They must have seen her play at the bar! 'Thank you, number-one fan!' she called to the street, in case her mysterious fan was still there after dropping off the gift.

She closed the door and stepped back inside, slipping the ribbon off the box. The lid lifted and a soft, tinkling melody played from inside, as a rotating platform emerged from within, three sparkling crystals bathing the hall in gentle light.

'Wow…' she breathed. Whoever this number-one fan was, they rocked at gift-giving.

'I hope that's not a present for my birthday.' Iris snapped the box shut as her aunt walked out of the bathroom.

'Of course not! You know I'd get you something way nicer.' She frowned as her aunt let out a sigh and walked into her room. Worried, she poked her head around the door to see her sitting morosely on the bed.

'Iris, I'm not really in the mood to celebrate this year.' Iris walked inside, starting to get pretty concerned. Was everything okay? 'I found…this.' Iris squinted as her aunt held something up.

'…A hair?'

'A grey hair! I'm getting old.' Ah. So that's what this was about.

'You're not old, Aunt Ellen.'

'I'm turning fifty,' her aunt argued. 'You know, in Stone Age times, I'd have been dead twenty years ago.' Iris put her hand on her shoulder.

'Well, going off how we're living in a house instead of a cave and you're not a ghost, we don't live in the Stone Age. And you've still got loads of time left.' She gave her aunt a hug. 'And besides, you could be turning three hundred, and I'd still love you the same.'

'Aw, Iris.' Her aunt hugged her back, and Iris nestled into her freshly-shampooed scent. 'But, please, no presents.' She pulled back and cupped Iris's cheek. 'You are the greatest gift I ever got.' Iris dove back into the hug at her words, and smiled as her aunt stroked her hair, her questions about her birth parents taking a back seat for the first time in days.

Iris was aware that her singing was…a little questionable today. Actually, no, scratch that. She sounded like the banshees Talia had read about while researching Earth legends in an attempt to understand Roxy's transformation. Roxy was clearly trying very hard not to cover her ears.

Iris failed spectacularly to hit a high note, and Roxy finally caved and clapped her hands over her ears, along with Talia, Auriana and Amaru, while Artu let out a high-pitched whine.

'Ugh! Iris!' Talia snapped. Iris winced.

'Sorry. I guess I'm a little distracted today.'

'Thought I was the only one,' Roxy quipped. 'What's up?' Iris sighed and flopped onto the couch next to Roxy.

'My aunt is sad about turning fifty.'

'Why?' Auriana asked curiously. 'She's got years ahead of her! My grandma's two-hundred and forty-three years old!' Talia sighed with exasperation, while Roxy and Iris raised matching eyebrows. 'She loves to sing and dance and play boulder-throw…'

'Humans don't live that long,' Iris interjected. Wait, hold up, had Auriana said-

'They don't?' Iris shook her head. 'Well then I made a big mistake in my Earth year calculations!'

'Very big,' Talia agreed, smiling with amusement. Over the past days, since she and Roxy had got their transformations more or less figured out, Iris had noticed Talia starting to relax, and she was becoming far more involved in things that didn't centre around training. Not to mention that she'd actually taken to Lolirock like a duck to water. Which was why Iris wasn't that surprised when she asked, 'How can we help?'

'Turn back time?' Roxy asked sarcastically, and Auriana's eyes lit up.

'Ooh! Let's do that! How do we turn back time?'

'We can't, Auriana. I was kidding.'

'Oh.' Iris laughed.

'Well, in the absence of the Delorian, I say we throw her a party,' she suggested. 'She said she didn't want any gifts, but getting together the people she loves and having a night of fun would make her happy, I know it.'

'Hooray!' Auriana jumped with jubilation. 'A party! I love parties! What's the theme? Ooh! How about gerbils?' Roxy raised an eyebrow.

'Gerbils?'

'Auriana just discovered gerbils,' Iris explained.

'They're so cute! With their tiny squishy little faces…' Talia snapped her fingers.

'Enough with the gerbils, Auriana! We are not having a gerbil party!' Auriana pouted, but quickly brightened again.

'How about a smoothie party? We can have a smoothie theme! Smoothies, as far as the eye can see!'

'We have to limit the party to the living room and backyard,' Iris pointed out.

'Okay!' Auriana was undeterred. 'Smoothies as far as the backyard goes! As long as we look down, it'll be as far as the eye can see!'

'Uh…' Iris hated to burst Auriana's bubble, but this wasn't quite right. 'I think we should have smoothies, but maybe the theme shouldn't be smoothies.' She thought for a moment. 'How about…sparkle?' Auriana's face lit up as though Iris had suggested they get a giant gerbil.

'Sparkle!' Orange sparkles burst from the red-headed princess's fingers, and Iris and Roxy gasped with delight. Even Talia cracked a smile.

'Who can resist sparkle?' Talia asked, catching one of the sparkles in her palm.

'Yay!' Auriana leapt to tackle Talia in an exuberant hug, but the brunette held up her hand, blocking Auriana's path with a hunk of blue crystal.

'No time for hugs. We have a party to plan!' Iris stifled a laugh.

'Okay then! We'll hit the party store first thing tomorrow!' Auriana gasped with excitement, grabbing Iris's hands, her eyes shining.

'The party store? How many parties can we buy?' She frowned with confusion as the other laughed. 'What? Is there a limit? What?'

Iris stifled a yawn as she double-checked her list of party supplies. Planning a party in an afternoon had turned out to be a lot more work than she'd thought, even with Talia's military-grade organisation.

'Okay…' she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. 'I've invited the guests, ordered the food, Roxy's gonna ask her dad to handle drinks…just gotta hit the party store tomorrow and we're good.' She grinned, picturing how happy this was going to make her Aunt Ellen. No way was she letting a birthday make her aunt sad. Her aunt was the best parent she could ask for, and she deserved the best birthday ever.

'And the sparkliest!' she said aloud. 'We're gonna make it so sparkly, Aunt Ellen's gonna need sunglasses!' Roxy had questioned whether 'sparkle' was technically a theme, or whether it was really more a decoration, but Iris was firmly of the belief that it was a theme. The best theme ever! And Auriana agreed, to the extent that she'd filled Iris's room with glitter out of enthusiasm until Iris had gently pointed out that they did have to be able to see at the party.

She blinked with surprise as she heard a gentle tinkling melody. Huh? She started to turn to see where it was coming from, but her eyelids suddenly felt as heavy as…as…she was too tired to think of similes. She'd worked so hard on the party… She should just go to bed.

'I'll go to sleep soon…I just have…to…' She was out like a light before her head even hit the pillow.

What did she need to get? She was at the party store…so she had to be buying something… She checked the list in her hands, but the writing just looked like incomprehensible scribbles. She squinted, but no meaning revealed itself. She wracked her brain for any idea of what she was supposed to be getting, but her mind was a blank. What did one buy at a party store? Lobster? No, no that wasn't right… Why was everything so fuzzy? She couldn't think properly.

She could see Talia down the aisle, inspecting a camping stove. Maybe that was what they were buying. Wait. Did you have camping stoves at a party? Maybe if it was a camping party. She shrugged it off, sure there was a good explanation, and walked towards Talia.

Just as she opened her mouth to ask her friend what they were buying, she heard a loud crash from behind her, and whipped around to see the aisles down the centre of the store crashing down.

The fog that had clouded her mind suddenly evaporated, replaced by a crystal-clear sense of clarity: she had to run. She didn't know why, just that she had to run. That way. She had to run that way! Apparently her legs had decided to take charge while her brain fumbled for what to do, and she found herself pelting alongside the shelves, screeching to a halt at the end of an aisle.

Staring down the aisle, she saw a boy, about five years old, playing with a toy plane. He hadn't seen what was happening! He was going to be crushed!

'Crystal Lente!' Her lips formed the words before she could even think, her hand flying out to summon the pink crystal pillar to support the shelf as she ran forwards, grabbing the boy and diving out of the way of the falling shelves just as the crystal vanished and the hunk of metal crashed to the ground.

'Jimmy? Jimmy!' A woman who must have been the boy's mother ran over, panic-stricken.

'He's fine,' she reassured the woman, who scooped her son into her arms. Jimmy, for his part, seemed entirely unfazed, laughing at the fallen shelves.

'Tower go boom!' Talia and Auriana ran over, breathing sighs of relief upon seeing both Iris and Jimmy unharmed.

'I don't know how to thank you!' Jimmy's mother breathed, clutching her son to her. She felt her lips perk into a friendly smile as her response tumbled from her mouth.

'Just happy to help.'

'Iris!'

'Gah!' Iris's eyes shot open as Auriana jumped onto her bed, jolting her out of the…dream? Had it really been a dream? It had felt so real…

'C'mon, sleepy!' Auriana chirped. 'We need to get to the party store!' She glanced down at Iris's outfit. 'Did you sleep in your clothes?' Iris looked down. Huh. Looked like she had. She must have been really tired to fall asleep without changing. 'Come on! Roxy's meeting us at the store!' Iris smiled, allowing herself to be pulled up by Auriana, brushing the creases out of her dress.

'C'mon, Amaru.' Amaru snuffled, blinking awake. How had he managed to sleep through Auriana's very enthusiastic greeting?

Iris grabbed her bag and hurried down the stairs after Auriana to where Talia was tapping her foot impatiently by the door, pushing thoughts of dreams out of her mind. She had a party to plan!

Great. She was here again.

'Hellooooo?' Roxy called, wandering aimlessly through the ghostly white forest. Again. Damn, she was spending every night here. '…Mysterious voice? You here?' Most people would probably jump back in surprise when an ethereal white light burst into being in front of them, but Roxy, who'd seen this at least nine times now, just raised an eyebrow. 'Hey.' A quiet laugh emanated from the light.

'Well this doesn't seem to faze you much anymore, Roxy.' Roxy shrugged.

'It gets less surprising after the fourth time.' She glanced around. 'So, what's up now? Another grave warning?' The light moved almost as though nodding.

'You must beware, Roxy.' Roxy pinched the bridge of her nose.

'Y'know, it'd be way easier to 'Beware' if I knew what I was being aware of. Any chance you feel like being less cryptic this time?'

'They are closing in, Roxy.' Roxy jerked with surprise. The last few nights all she'd got was 'beware.' And now there was a mysterious 'them'?

"They'? Who's 'they'?' she demanded. 'What do you mean they're closing in? Is it Gramorr?'

'They have found you.' Roxy resisted the urge to scream.

'Who? Who's found me?! Seriously, be more cryptic!'

'They're coming. They're coming.'

'Who?! Who's coming, random voice?!' The voice just continued to repeat that 'they' were coming, as the forest around them blackened with shadows, a harsh wind biting at Roxy's skin. 'Tell me what's going on!'

'Beware!' Roxy heard a sound behind her and whipped around, seeing four dark silhouettes walking towards her. Before she could react, she was drenched by torrential rain, and she covered her head with her arms as a god-awful stench overwhelmed her.

'What the hell?!'

'What the hell?!' She opened her eyes to see Artù licking her enthusiastically, the smell revealed to be his morning breath. 'Ugh…' She scratched him behind the ears, gently guiding his tongue away from her face. 'Not a great time for kisses, Artù.' Artù cocked his head, confused, and she grabbed a tissue, wiping doggy slobber off her face as she extricated herself from the tangle of bedding she'd woken up in, rolling onto the floor once she was free.

She glanced up at the clock. Nine am.

'Dammit!' She leapt to her feet. She was supposed to be meeting Iris, Talia and Auriana at the party store in ten minutes! How had she slept in? She'd set an alarm! She'd set an alarm, right? She checked her phone. She'd got the alarm ready. She'd set her favourite song to play. What she hadn't done was click 'schedule'.

'Dammit dammit dammit!' Artù watched in confusion as his human ran around the room in a panic, washing dog-smell off her skin and scrambling into a hoodie and a pair of jeans. She glanced in the mirror. Damn. There was a large jam stain down the side of the jeans. She checked the clock.

'Ah, screw it!' A little jam never hurt anyone. 'C'mon, boy!' Artù barked and sprung after her, nosing at the jam stain. 'No, Artù! It's not a snack!' She slid down the banister, dashing through the kitchen and grabbing a banana from the fruit bowl along with a handful of treats for Artù.

'Morning, Butterfly,' her dad greeted, reading the instruction manual for a slushie machine he'd rented for Iris's aunt's party.

'Mwning,' Roxy mumbled through a mouthful of banana. 'Hw's it gwing?' She slipped the treats down to Artù, lacing up her sneakers. Her dad facepalmed.

'Not great. There's so many components!' He held up a tube. 'Seriously, where does this go? What does it even do?' Roxy shrugged, swallowing her banana.

'Dunno. Drinks stuff?'

'How insightful.'

'Sorry, that's all I got. Gotta go, late to meet Iris, Talia and Auriana.' She gave him a wave. 'See you later!' Artù barked in farewell, sprinting out the door.

'Okay, Butterfly. Remember that dogs aren't encouraged at the party store.' Roxy nodded in an I'm-totally-gonna-remember-that sort of way and ran after Artù, barrelling through Sunny Bay, her bedhead hair bouncing in a frizzy mane of didn't-get-up-in-time.

'Hey! Watch it!' snapped some guy she almost knocked over in her haste.

'Sorry!' she called back apologetically.

'We have a leash law in this town!'

'No we don't!'

She skidded to a halt in front of the party store, only five minutes late.

'Not bad, Artù.' Artù barked in a celebratory fashion, heading for the doors.

'Oh, I don't think so.' Artù pulled up short, his procession halted by Daniel, the store manager. 'Roxy, you know the rules: no dogs in the store.'

'Aw, c'mon, Daniel!' Roxy pleaded. 'He's so well-trained…' Daniel shook his head.

'I can't have dogs running willy-nilly in my store, Roxy. You remember the incident with the balloons!' Roxy winced.

'Okay, yes, but that wasn't his fault!' She gave Daniel her best puppy-eyes. 'Pleeeease?' Daniel rolled his eyes.

'Alright, fine. But he wears a leash.' Roxy nodded, clipping a leash into Artù's collar.

'Thanks! See, all leashed!' Daniel nodded, frowning.

'But if he breaks anything, he's banned. For real, this time.'

'Of course! But he won't! How can you doubt this face?' Artù made his best trustworthy face, and Daniel frowned.

'I've got my eye on you, Roxy.' Roxy smiled reassuringly and headed inside.

'Okay, boy,' she whispered. 'I know the party store is exciting, but you gotta stay calm, okay?' Artù yapped, drawing a few wary glances from people noticing the disheveled girl and excitable dog at her feet. She winced as she recognised one guy that had definitely made complaints about dogs - one dog in particular - being let into the store. She offered him an awkward smile, and he quickly walked out of the store.

'What's with that guy?' Roxy turned to see Talia walk over, raising an eyebrow at the man's retreating form.

'He and Artù have a…complicated history,' Roxy explained.

'That's one way to describe it,' Iris giggled, walking over with a cart. 'He never saw that confetti coming.'

'Confetti?!' Auriana came barrelling over. 'Where?!'

'All over that guy a year ago,' Iris laughed, pointing after the man. 'In Artù's defence, the guy was eating a bacon sandwich.'

'Ooh, what happened?' Auriana asked curiously. Talia held up a hand.

'We don't have time for anecdotes about bacon and confetti, Auriana. We have a list to complete. To streamers!' She pointed rather dramatically towards streamers, her declaration somewhat undermined as Iris rather anticlimactically pushed the cart towards streamers, Auriana running around the aisles like a kid in a candy store. Or, apparently, like an alien princess in a party store.

'Ooh! Look at these!' Iris and Roxy laughed as Auriana ran over to the cart with bride and groom figurines for wedding cakes.

'Auriana, those are for weddings,' Iris explained gently. Auriana shrugged.

'So? They're so cute! And they're on sale! A good deal is a good deal.' She dropped the figurines into the cart before running off to look at supplies for Chinese New Year. Amaru popped up from in the cart, grumbling and rubbing his head where the figurines had been dropped on him, and Roxy scratched his ears soothingly, eliciting a happy purr.

'Ooh, look at this!' Auriana exclaimed, staring at a disco ball. 'Do we need one of these?' Talia frowned.

'It's not on the list, Auriana.'

'But it's so sparkly! Let's get one anyway! You know what, let's get two!' Amaru leapt out of the cart and into Roxy's arms as two disco balls joined several packets of balloons in the bottom of the cart.

'Aw, don't worry, Amaru,' Roxy reassured him. 'They're just made of plastic.'

'Talia! Talia! Look at this!' Auriana held up a plastic Jack O'Lantern. 'Isn't this great? Look how happy this pumpkin is!' Roxy rolled her eyes fondly as Talia began explaining that the pumpkin was also not on the list, and thus irrelevant.

'How come the store is even selling Halloween supplies anyway?' she asked casually, inspecting some streamers. When she didn't get a reply, she glanced over to Iris. 'Hey, Iris? You with us?'

'I like them both.' Roxy raised an eyebrow.

'Okay… Wasn't asking for an opinion.' She put a hand on her friend's shoulder, noticing how she was staring at the shelves. 'What's wrong?' Iris bit her lip.

'I…I had a really weird dream last night.'

'Well that makes two of us.' Roxy was about to ask what Iris's dream had been about when she heard the sound of glass breaking a few aisles over. Iris's eyes widened, and before she could say anything, her friend was off like a rocket.

'Um…what?'

The second Iris heard the glass break, she was on edge. The moment she heard the creak of the shelves, her legs took off, dragging her down the store before she could think, acting on blind instinct. She knew what was happening. So she knew that the boy was going to be under the shelf. So she had to get there in time.

'Crystal Lente!' The spell was cast before she'd even thought about it, and she felt herself grab the boy and leap out of the way of the shelves as they crashed down.

'Phew…' she breathed.

'Jimmy? Jimmy!' The boy's mother ran over, seizing her son into her arms.

'He's okay,' she reassured the woman. She glanced up to see Talia and Auriana running over to her, Roxy behind them, frowning at something.

'I don't know how to thank you!' Jimmy's mother exclaimed, and Iris smiled.

'I'm just happy to help.' Oh my God. Suddenly, she recognised everything that had just happened. She'd dreamt it. She'd…foreseen it. How? How had she done that? What the heck was going on?

'That was a very quick reaction, Iris,' Talia praised, helping her to her feet. 'Nice work.'

'You're a party-store hero!' Auriana cheered, tackling her in a hug. 'Way to go!' Iris laughed, detaching herself from the hug.

'Hey, where's Roxy?' Talia and Auriana glanced around.

'I'll go find her,' Talia volunteered. 'We'll meet you two at the magically-protected gate of anti-theft.' Iris blinked.

'Oh, you mean the checkout?' Talia nodded.

'Yes. That is where we will meet you.'

There were many things Talia didn't understand about Earthlings. Their disregard for their planet. Their sayings. Their apparent obsession with taking dozens of pictures of their own faces to the rallying cry of 'Selfie!' But, watching Roxy on her stomach next to where the shelves had fallen down, she reached a new level of confusion.

'What are you doing?'

'This aisle sells chips.' Talia blinked. Perhaps this was another incomprehensible saying. Perhaps 'sells chips' was 'slang' for 'has been totally obliterated'.

'Ah. I see.'

'You don't see.' Talia nodded.

'That's true; all I can see is you lying in the floor.' Roxy looked up and beckoned her to come look at whatever she was inspecting. Talia raised an eyebrow. 'You want me to lie on the floor?'

'Yeah.' Talia rolled her eyes, but joined Roxy. 'Look.' Roxy pointed to a pool of shiny liquid on the floor under the shelves. 'That's olive oil.' Talia nodded; she was right. Not that that explained why they were staring at it.

'So somebody slipped on olive oil?' Roxy nodded.

'Yep. Somebody slipped on olive oil. On an aisle with no olive oil.' Roxy's bewildering thought process started to make sense.

'You think someone wanted this to happen?' she asked, confused. Why would humans wish for this to happen? She knew they were a flawed species - as were Ephedians - but this seemed…extreme.

'Yeah.' Roxy nodded in agreement. 'But what I can't figure out is why. Or why Iris seemed to know what was going to happen before it did.' Talia stared at Roxy in surprise, and the animal fairy shrugged. 'She was off before anyone could have reacted; she saw this coming.' Talia frowned. That was…highly implausible.

She got to her feet as the store manager walked over with a serious look on his face, his gaze flicking down to Artù.

'Roxy, if that dog had anything to do with this…' he began, but Roxy shook her head vehemently.

'I promise he didn't, Daniel. Look, he's been on his leash the whole time!' She held up Artù's leash, and Artù barked in a trustworthy sort of way. Daniel rubbed his temples.

'Fine, fine, just…you girls need to move away from here, okay? It's not safe.' Roxy nodded, guiding Artù away from the demolished shelves, Talia trailing behind her, wondering who would want to cause a party store accident as they walked to the checkout where Iris was trying to explain to Auriana that they had enough glitter and didn't need another twelve kilograms.

'But what if we run out?' Auriana protested, clinging to the huge sparkly tub like it was her long-lost, excessively shiny child.

'We won't!' Iris argued back. 'We already bought half the store.' As Auriana prepared her rebuttals, Talia simply whisked the glitter out of her hands and put it back on the shelf.

'Hey!' Talia interrupted Auriana's indignation.

'We have enough glitter. And even if we didn't, we have bigger concerns.' She turned to Iris. 'Can you see the future?' Iris's jaw dropped open, her credit card hovering over the PIN machine.

'…Weird question.' Talia didn't have time for confusion, so she simply pushed ahead.

'Roxy said you reacted to that situation before anyone reasonably could; you knew what would happen. Is that true?' Iris ran a hand through her hair in tired frustration, swiping her card.

'I…I had a dream. Last night. I…I saw what happened today. Saw the shelves fall…I acted and saved the boy…exactly like today.' Auriana's jaw dropped open.

'You're clairvoyant!' she exclaimed enthusiastically. 'Quick, what's gonna happen tomorrow?' Talia shook her head.

'Auriana, for the last time, clairvoyants don't exist. And as much as you may claim Volta has one, it doesn't. It has an old guy who tells people what they'll do tomorrow, and sometimes turns out to be right.' Auriana folded her arms.

'He was right about me. He said I'd see a snumple, and I did!' Talia pinched the bridge of her nose.

'Volta is full of snumples, Auriana. It was a coincidence.' Auriana pouted, but Talia soldiered on with Iris's revelation. 'So you think you saw the future?' Iris shrugged, grabbing the bags from the cart.

'I don't know. Maybe it was just a coincidence, like Auriana and the snumple.' Talia shook her head.

'Seeing something in that much detail…that's not snumple nonsense.'

'It's not nonsense,' Auriana muttered. 'He was a clairvoyant.' Amaru patted Auriana's leg comfortingly, as though assuring her that he believed her sighting of the snumple had been foretold.

Iris rubbed her forehead, walking out of the store.

'I…I don't know what happened, okay?' she muttered. 'But…it's weird.' Talia nodded.

'Agreed. It definitely qualifies as weird. People cannot see the future.' Iris sighed tiredly.

'Can we just…stick a pin in this? Just for a little while? I just want to throw my aunt a party and not worry about magical princess stuff for an evening.' She looked at Talia with big, pleading eyes, and Talia sighed. They had to talk about this, had to figure it out, but…she and Auriana had had their whole lives to get used to this stuff, and Iris was still adjusting. She deserved a night of calm and familial celebration before they delved into yet another piece of her past and magic. She was just a teenage girl. Like you… murmured a voice in her mind, but Talia quickly quashed it under the heel of a mental boot. Such thoughts were unhelpful. Regardless of her age, she was an Ephedian warrior, dedicated to the liberation of her home.

'Okay,' she conceded. 'But we need to discuss this tomorrow.' Iris beamed with relief, giving Talia a quick hug.

'Thanks, T.' Talia raised an eyebrow at the abbreviation of her name, but didn't object to the familiarity.

'You are welcome. Now, let's go set up for this party.'

Iris deposited the bags of party supplies on the counter, smiling down at their preparations.

'I think we bought half the store,' she joked, eliciting a furrowed brow from Talia.

'That is infeasible, Iris. We would likely deal a significant financial hit to your aunt if we did such a thing, and that would be a terrible birthday gift.' Iris rolled her eyes fondly at Talia.

'It's just a saying, Talia.'

'Ah, I see.' Talia pulled out her phone and typed something.

'Talia? What are you doing?' Talia glanced up, turning her phone around to show Iris the screen.

'I have downloaded a notes app that I am using to compile these many Earth sayings. It has been very helpful in blending in. Observe.' She picked up a party hat. 'This hat is 'super fly'.' Iris stifled a laugh, taking the party hat.

'That's certainly one way to pick up the language.'

'I love Earth sayings,' Auriana chipped in. 'They're so fun! I learned one from Roxy: shut the fu-' Iris clapped a hand over her friend's mouth.

'Yeah, don't say that.' Auriana raised an eyebrow.

'Why not?'

'Because it's very rude.'

'Then why does Roxy say it?'

'Because Roxy isn't worried about what people think of her, and she knows what it means and how to use it. She can explain in full when she gets here later.' Roxy had headed home to change out of her jam-stained jeans and to shower before the party, but would be there later.

'Iris, have you seen the-' Aunt Ellen stopped short as she opened the door, and Iris dove in front of their supplies in an awkward attempt to hide their plans.

'Aunt Ellen! Hey!'

'What's going on in here?' Aunt Ellen asked, squinting at the party supplies resting on the counter behind Iris.

'Nothing,' Iris dismissed, waving her hand. 'Boring stuff. Hey, did you see the…um…'

'Broken plank on the decking?' Talia offered. 'It's very broken. Someone could trip, and fall, and break a bone, and if they did not receive medical attention, the injury could worsen to the extent they could not hold their own in battle, leading to a kingdom-shattering loss and the complete political rearrangement of a continent.' Aunt Ellen just stared at Talia for a minute in dumbfounded silence, and Iris took the chance to escort her outside.

'Talia's exaggerating…the plank is just a bit splintery.'

'Splinters can also be dangerous; they could introduce infection.' Iris made a 'stop talking' movement, and Talia turned back to their supplies.

'Iris, why are we staring at a splintery plank?' Aunt Ellen asked, raising an eyebrow. 'And if what you're doing in there is so incredibly boring, why did you usher me out?' Iris bit her lip, scrambling for a lie. Ugh, Roxy was so much better at this! She had a finely-honed sense of deception born of years of hiding animals (some slightly more dangerous than was advisable) in her room and explaining to her dad why she was buying snake food when she did not own a snake. (Which was true: the snake had just been staying with her. Nathaniel had been so freaked out by that.)

'It's…um…a surprise…' she offered. A smile graced her aunt's lips, and she folded her arms.

'A surprise party?' Iris grinned sheepishly.

'You got me. Guess I'm not as good at keeping secrets as I'd like to be.' She winced internally, thinking of the many secrets she was keeping from her aunt; a surprise party looked so tame next to them. I'll tell her one day. When Gramorr's gone and it's safe.

'I know you said you didn't want any gifts this year, but I wanted to do something for you,' she explained, and her aunt's eyes softened with love and appreciation.

'Iris, that is so sweet.'

'So you're not mad?'

'Mad that I have a baby girl who loves me this much? Not at all, Blossom.' Iris threw her arms around her aunt, smiling as she breathed in her comforting familiar scent.

'Thanks.' She pulled back, smiling. 'But you still can't come in until everything's ready.'

'That's fair. And I'm glad the surprise got blown, because I'm not at all dressed for a party. Any recommendations for when I should change?'

'Around six. We invited the guests to get her for seven thirty, so that gives you plenty of time. Oh, and also, Klaus is coming over with a complicated machine he doesn't understand, so be warned about that.' Aunt Ellen shook her head with the fondness of an old friend.

'That man is one of the smartest I know, but assembly instructions have always evaded him.' Iris laughed in agreement, slipping back into the living room to find Talia and Auriana arguing over the plastic witch from the hall closet.

'It's a decoration!'

'It's an ancient sorceress of evil! It's surely designed to aid in the summoning of ancient, malevolent spirits to smite one's enemies!'

'It's for the party!'

'It's not even sparkly!'

'Hey!' Iris clapped her hands and both princesses turned to her, pausing their argument. 'Guys, I'm thinking we don't use the witch.' She glanced around the room. 'I'm also wondering why it looks like my hall closet threw up in here.' Auriana beamed with pride.

'I got out all your holiday decorations! Isn't it sparkly?' A plastic bat fell from the ceiling and Talia facepalmed, though Iris gazed thoughtfully at the glittering Christmas baubles, the tinsel Valentine's hearts, and the sparkling Easter eggs.

'Yeah, I guess it is,' she agreed, smiling. 'Maybe we take out the skeleton and the papier mache zombie head, but otherwise, it's beautifully sparkly!' Talia immediately grabbed aforementioned zombie head and shoved it back in a box, which was rapidly pushed under the couch, Amaru hissing at it.

'That thing was a demon, Iris. A demon!' Iris rolled her eyes affectionately at Talia's fear of the zombie.

'Karl isn't that scary, Talia. But you don't like zombies; got it. I won't recommend the Walking Dead.' Talia raised an eyebrow.

'The Walking Dead? The dead can't walk. Unless commanded to through ancient forbidden necromancy. Even then, it's not really walking, more of an unbalanced shuffle.'

'It's just a TV show,' Iris interjected quickly. 'A scary one, with zombies and violence and the apocalypse.' Talia nodded.

'I see…no, actually, I don't. But I trust you.' Iris smiled appreciatively, before frowning.

'I want to write my aunt a song for tonight, but there's still food to prepare, and the decorations need finalising…'

'Up-up-up-up!' Auriana held a finger to her lips. 'You go write your song! We'll handle everything. And Roxy will be here soon, so she can give us a hand.'

'Thanks, Auriana.'

'No problem!' The princess thought for a moment. '…So that was a definite no on the zombie head?'

'Happy birthday…happy birthday…' Iris hummed, trying to come up with a decent birthday song. 'Happy birthday…sorry this song is cliche…' She groaned, faceplanting onto her desk. 'This needs so much work! And it's already three thirty!' She sighed, flicking through her lyric notebook in search of inspiration. Unfortunately, other than songs for the band and the odd doodle, there was nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing.

'Nada, zip, zero…' she muttered, doodling a frustrated Iris next to her scribbled out lyrics. The little Iris had her magical dress on, and she looked frustrated and confused, like she wasn't quite sure what she was wearing, or why her lyrics wouldn't come out right, or why she could see the future. She'd captured her mental state perfectly in a tiny little scribble.

'Ugh, why is this so hard?' she groaned, closing the notebook and leaning back in her chair. As she stared at the slow rotations of the ceiling fan, a soft melody permeated the air, and she frowned. Where was that coming from? She wanted to turn her head, investigate, but…she was so tired. A lot had been going lately…she should take a nap. A nap? You have so much to do. Yes, a nap was just the thing to do. Just rest her eyes for a moment, relax…

She opened her eyes to see a ramshackle building standing in front of her, tall and foreboding. She glanced around, seeing she was on a deserted street. She thought she knew the area, but she was too focused on walking into the building. Wait, what? Why am I walking into the creepy, abandoned building? Did horror movies teach you nothing, Iris?! You never go alone into the creepy abandoned building! The only way this could be more of a horror movie would be if you were inexplicably in your lingerie before investigating! However, despite those numerous excellent points, her feet stepped up the stairs, her body ignoring the creepiness of her surroundings in favour of walking down a creaky old hallway towards a door. And now you're opening the door? Why? Why would you do that?! All those sensible thoughts slowly took a backseat as she walked into the room beyond, seeing two people with their backs to her. They sure don't look like the villains from a horror movie…

The woman turned, and Iris gasped. She recognised her from the images of Ephedia that Auriana had shown her.

'M-mom?' The woman nodded, and the man turned. 'Dad?'

'Yes, Iris,' her mother replied, her voice soft and soothing as she reached out a hand. 'We've been waiting for you. Trying to come to you. And now…now we're here.'

'Here?' Iris repeated. 'What do you mean, here? As in…you're on Earth?'

'Come to us, Iris…' urged her father. 'Come back, sweetheart.' Iris's eyes flooded with tears, and she dove forwards to embrace them both, but just as her fingers were about to make contact, she jolted awake at her desk, gasping for breath.

'What the hell?!' She bolted upright, knocking her chair over but not really noticing. She ran from the room, pelting downstairs to where Talia and Auriana were arranging cupcakes on a plate.

'I saw them!' she blurted out. 'My parents! They're here! In Sunny Bay!' Talia spun around so fast she accidentally threw a cupcake into the window, just staring at Iris as the baked good slid to the floor, leaving a sugary smear on the glass.

'…What?'

'My parents!' Iris repeated. 'I had another dream; like the one before! I saw them! Auriana's right, I can see the future!' Auriana looked like she couldn't decide whether to be pleased she was being acknowledged as right, or concerned by the slightly manic look in Iris's eyes.

'No one can see the future,' Talia asserted yet again. 'Whatever you saw, it was just a dream, probably brought on by stress.' Iris shook her head.

'No…no, it was real. I know it was. They said they were here. I have to go…have to go see them.' Talia and Auriana exchanged worried glances. Auriana put a hand on Iris's arm.

'Iris, I get that you think you saw your parents, but…they're on Ephedia. Trust me, if they had escaped Gramorr, we'd know about it.'

'But what if you didn't?' Iris continued to argue. 'What if they're here? And they want to se me…'

'We'd know,' Talia asserted, her voice brokering no room for argument. 'And, as awful as this is to say, they wouldn't come to Earth. Like us, they have a planet to save, and their first actions on getting free would be to help save their people.' Iris flinched. Their people would come before her? She knew they had a duty to their kingdom, but…she was their daughter. Maybe it was selfish, and unprincesslike of her, but she wanted to be their top priority. Was that wrong? Talia had such a strong sense of duty, and, as goofy as Auriana could be, she had the same. But Iris just had the sense of being a girl that wanted to meet her parents.

She wanted to keep arguing, but she looked into Talia and Auriana's eyes and knew it was pointless.

'Alright,' she acquiesced. 'It's just a dream.' Her friends exchanged worried glances, and Auriana pulled her into a hug.

'I'm so sorry, Iris. I know this was hard to hear.' Iris nodded, walking out to the porch and sitting down, sighing and staring out at the sea, her mind drifting back to the dream as Talia and Auriana discussed cupcakes vs kebabs.

Amaru padded out, hopping up onto her lap and nuzzling her sympathetically. Iris petted him absentmindedly. You could go… her mind whispered. You could go, and if they're there, Talia and Auriana will understand, and if they're not, and it really was just a dream, you can be back before anyone misses you.

As though sensing what she was thinking, Amaru stared up worriedly at her, shaking his head.

'I'll be back soon, Amaru,' she said firmly, placing him gently on the ground and hopping down from the porch, ducking around the house to avoid Talia and Auriana seeing her. Guests would be arriving for the party in two and a half hours. That was plenty of time. She could see her parents twice in that much time! And she'd be back for her aunt in no time. No time at all! What could go wrong?

You never ask that question! What can go wrong? Find out next chapter, which will be up soon.

Also, I just have to say: I love writing Talia so much.

Please leave a review if you like the story; it helps keep me motivated to get to work on the chapters. Thank you!