It was barely six when my phone's text messaging ring sounded. I rolled over, glanced at the phone screen and grinned.
It was Corwin, bright and early, texting to let me know he was waiting outside my window.
I got up from the floor and ran to the window, yanking the drapes apart. Corwin was standing on his hoverboard, two feet off the ground, looking in through the window. As soon as he saw me, he raised his hand over his face and averted his eyes.
"Oh jeez, you're half naked. Go get dressed!" He yelled.
I looked down and realized the white night gown, though adequate as a sleeping sheath, was made of very thin cotton and covered very little. In the early morning sunlight, I was almost completely exposed.
Shrieking, I yanked the drapes closed and ran back into the room.
My phone's texting tone chimed again. It was Corwin, telling me he would be back to pick me up in about an hour.
I jumped up with a strange tumultuous thrill and ran through my morning routine as quickly as I could.
I had none of my own clean clothing at the Dean's house, but Barnaby had come through for me. With a surreptitious knock on my door, he had placed in my hand, a brand new Overlord's outfit.
This one also did not have any insignia. I would forever be relegated to a non-entity Overlord.
Within the allotted hour, I was ready to go. Grabbing my bag, I burst through the front door expecting to see Corwin waiting for me outside.
I saw the hover-board before I saw the black-clad rider with the familiar shock of crimson hair. Board and rider were at least ten feet above the ground, hanging in mid-air and waiting for me to emerge.
Even from that distance, I could see the swirls of energy emanating from the man in whorls ensuing from right to left.
The early morning sun chose that moment to poke its head up above Topaz Mountain, setting his red spiky hair on fire and catching the sparkling radiance of his single blue sapphire earring.
"Hi Connor!" I exclaimed, even before he had turned around.
Connor's eyes sparkled and his face lit up when he saw me.
"Hey, you pretty thing!" He hovered closer to me and then dropped onto the ground with a practiced ease which made me envious of his top physical condition.
"Wow, you're beautiful." His eyes crinkled appreciatively as he took in my outfit. "It takes me back to the days when I first met you." Connor said as he placed a hand over his heart. "You were so cute back then."
I laughed at his theatrical swooning antic. "You make it sound like that was ages ago when it's only been about ten months."
"Nevertheless, sweet Nana, you are one special woman." he crooned. "I still can't get over the fact that you can just take one look at us, even from a distance, and be able to tell who's who."
I laughed. "Didn't I already tell you that I can tell you guys apart?"
"Even from behind?"
"Even if I could only see your toes!" I declared with a mischievous grin.
"Well, I hope you're not too disappointed that I'm the one here instead of my brother," Connor said with a smile. "I was sent at the last minute to pick you up. I hope you don't mind."
"Are you kidding? I'd rather ride with you. He's scary! But having said that, where is Corwin?"
"Corey made a big stink about it an hour ago, when Uncle Blackstone called him into the Main Office Building for a briefing."
"Oh really. What did he say?"
He kept grumbling about needing to pick you up but when I offered to take you, he wouldn't hear of it. He kept going on and on—something about you not being comfortable riding with anyone other than him."
Connor shook his head and rolled his eyes. "By about seven, when he realized he couldn't make it himself, he had to call and ask me to pick you up."
Connor doubled over at this point, laughing helplessly. "I swear, he's acting so strange, I don't know how to react around him."
"What do you mean?"
"I can't tell if he's happy or sad, angry or glad. One moment he's high as a kite, and the next moment, he's furious about something trivial."
Connor scratched his head. "I think he's got hormonal issues."
I laughed. "Give him some time and space. I'm sure he'll work it out himself."
"Yeah, I hope so. We've always been really close, and I could always read his moods, but lately, it's been so off-kilter, especially since…"
Connor paused and gave me a strange look, "especially since we've been assigned to watch over you."
"Am I that bad of an assignment?" I laughed.
He shrugged. "I knew he didn't take to you well at first. Don't get me wrong," he waved his hands. "I'm not saying he hates you or anything like that. It's just that..."
"Oh you can be honest with me. I know he doesn't like me much."
Connor trailed off and sighed. "Corey has always been kind of stand-offish, and lately, he's gotten worse. He's really private and doesn't open up easily, but he's not a bad guy. I don't want you to think he's mad at you for any reason."
"Oh, no worries. I would never think that," I insisted cheerfully. What one cannot change, one tries to accept with grace. Corwin was that type of graceful acceptance.
"Good, good." Connor nodded. "I want the two of you to get along well, especially since I'm hoping you and I would get the chance to hang out more. You're not..." he made a motion with his fingers.
"Huh?" I looked at him, confused.
"You know, hooked up with anyone? I mean...you don't have a boyfriend or anything, do you?"
"Oh no!" I blushed furiously. "Not at all. I haven't really thought about it much," I lied.
Truth was, I often thought it would be nice to have a boyfriend, but during my time at school, the guys in my classes were always interested in the cute and talented girls; certainly not an ungifted nobody like me.
And since there was no other boy who was similarly klutzy who might have been an emotional ally, it just all seemed kind of hopeless.
"Well, that's good then. Looks like I actually have a shot!"
Before I had a chance to ask him what he meant, he had hopped onto the board and then reached down for me.
I grabbed onto his arm and swung myself up onto the board, a finesse move impossible without some magikal levitational lift from him.
Even before I had time to steady my stomach, he had pushed off into the sky.
Riding shotgun with Connor was a world of difference from surfing the blast behind Corwin. For starters, Connor's energy pattern flowed in the opposite direction.
It took me a few minutes to rebalance myself so that I leaned into Connor's specific directional movements, but once I figured out where his source of energy was shifted, I was able to move with him as we surfed, much like I was able to with Corwin.
The real difference, however, was how Connor rode the wind. He was much more conservative—much less dare-devil than Corwin.
He took fewer chances, and tended to build up stable energy paths before gliding onto the swell of air currents. This made for a very smooth transition and a fluid gentle ride.
Corwin, on the other hand, would just slip through a sliver of air and then grow it on the fly, or sashay onto the next wave without skipping a beat.
Since Connor's movements were easy to predict, I was able to lean into the curves and move with him in a much smoother fashion.
It was a much calmer and far less bumpy experience to fly with Connor, especially as a passenger. I was actually able to relax and absorb my surroundings.
"Wow, you're good!" Connor laughed as we bounced off a crest and landed on another wave of air. "How'd you learn to surf the air waves so well?"
"Corwin taught me," I responded as we dipped down onto another trough. Instinctively, we moved into the whorl and shot out the other side, whooping with delight.
"Now I'm jealous. If I'd known it was so much fun surfing with you, I'd have insisted you ride behind me all this time instead of letting Corey horning in and stealing you away."
"Well, here's your chance!" I exclaimed as we pulled out of a tight shot.
Connor laughed with an abandon Corwin lacked—reveling in his joy rather than keeping it contained.
"Hang on!" He reached back to touch my waist, weight shifting on his back foot, board rearing up a little.
I could feel his muscles tightening for that perfect moment.
"Wait for it…wait for it…"
And BAAM!
The timing was impeccable.
We shot up from a slanted lean and squeezed through a whorl of air that threw us out the other side, flying straight into the troposphere.
As we slowed our ascent due to the forces of gravity tugging on us, we began to fall back to the bright green world below. Connor chose that moment to levitated us, keeping our bodies afloat and weightless on the gentle zephyr.
Riderless, the hoverboard fell away on the buoyancy of a passing gust of wind, leaving us dangling in mid air.
I panicked grabbing onto Connor's shoulders with both hands.
And then we were free-falling.
I squealed with terror, scrambling to climb onto his back, but Connor was in perfect control. He sent his magik out, controlling the speed and drift of the hoverboard until it once again was in sync with our position.
Within seconds, my feet had touched the board again and it sent us shooting through a cloud bank, misting us and leaving the lingering scent of orange blossoms.
At that moment, I realized that Connor had only flown in a stable path in deference to my comfort, not because he was any less daredevil or adventurous than Corwin.
He had even magiked the scent of orange blossoms to delight my senses.
Once I realized that I was perfectly safe, I wailed in feigned outrage and began pummeling his back ineffectually with my free fist, partly to get him back for scaring me, and partly because I could feel his whole body shaking with laughter as we swerved around a bend in the air columns and onto a stable mass of air.
In answer, he pulled my hand forward, holding onto it and refusing to let go.