The coordinates lead us to an island just off the coast of Stardust beach. The serpent lowers its head, setting me on the island’s dock, and I hear a horn. I turn around to watch a cruise ship pull into the dock, splashing water all over me. The serpent disappears under the waves, having seen its job done. “Hey! YO ESTABA JUSTO AQUÍ! MIRA POR DÓNDE VAS, PERRAS!” I shout angrily at the ship, soaking wet. I backpedal as the entrance opens, and a man steps through before a crowd of eighteen, maybe nineteen others. He has long, perfect, silky silver hair cascading down his back, pale, almost pearlescent skin, and silver eyes like a pool of water under the moonlight. No pupils or whites of the eyes. Just silver. He’s wearing a white suit with silver embroidery with black loafers and a cape made of… is that glass? It is. His cape is made of thousands of glass shards that clink together as he walks towards me. A sort of chinese folding fan is folded and clipped at his side. “You are Wilder Eldritch, I believe?” He asks, checking a tablet in his hand. “You got here using your own transportation?” “Yeah?” He looks at me with those unsettling eyes. “Well, next time, please follow the directions on the invitation to the letter.” I look at the back of my paper. Sure enough, it says to go to the Stardust beach dock and take the cruise labeled “The Silver Court” from there. I scoff. “I got here, didn’t I? I’m not in the mood with your pettiness when you splashed me.” I snap. “Are you the leader of this ‘Silver Court’? The one who took my uncle??” He snorts. “I’m afraid not. I’m part of it, yes. The leader? No.” He snaps his fingers, and about twenty servants emerge from the large castle a few minutes’ walk from the dock. Each servant halts in front of an invitee, every person except for Marble-eyes. I recoil when the servant in front of me—a man about twenty with styled black hair and green eyes—gives me a flirty grin. //Ohhh what? Mi amigue! You’ve already got an admirer?!// Shut up. “Take them all to their corresponding suites.” Marble-eyes orders. “Tournament Attendees, dinner is at six. Do not be late.” I shrug off the hand the servant puts around my shoulders. “I don’t need to be guided like a puppy.” I snap. “Just go. I’m behind you.” He shrugs and walks off, glancing back to make sure I am. I start after him, sighing and squeezing out the water from my hair. I spot Connor nearby, being led away by a girl in a blue dress. I look around for any more people I might notice, and my mouth drops at two. Nadia?! Max??? They haven’t spotted me yet. Or each other. But they’re there, following their own servants into the castle. After we enter the castle, the servant leads me up the stairs that spiral up towards the ceiling. The first room of the castle is huge, with stairs attached to the outside walls that spiral up and up. Doors line the walls in front of the stairs. Each either labeled with a number, a name, or a room title. The man stops at a door with a swirl of red smoke symbol with ‘Wilder Stormwrath Eldritch’ written under it. He opens the door, revealing a suite three times the size of my old room. There’s a canopy bed similar to my old one, and a walk-in closet with a giant bathroom and a porch in the back of it. The walls are lined with famous paintings, watercolors, charcoal sketches, and drawings. There’s a mandala-style, colorful carpet at the bottom. The man pulls a remote out of a drawer and presses the top button. A giant bookshelf emerges from the wall, lined with art supplies, sketchbooks, manga, adventure novels, comics, my school books, and more. He rests a hand on my shoulder, handing me the remote. “This is your suite. Rest up a bit, I hope you’re feeling better by dinner. New clothes are in the closet. Have a nice day, mx. Eldritch.” And he’s gone. My mouth drops open. //Woowww. You have it made!// Sprout erupts out of me, less painful this time, and walks around the suite. It gasps. “Whaaat!? They even got a bed for meee!” It points to a smaller, simple twin bed next to mine. “Ooh! And the balcony is real nice!” “You don’t think it’s super suspicious that they know everything about me and everything I like?!” I demand, moving to close the door. But a hand stops it, and Connor steps in. “Hey. How you doing?” “Why do you care?” I ask. “Just wondering. It is kinda creepy that they know everything about us. That guy said ‘mx’ when he was talking to you. Are you nonbinary?” He replies.
