“So, what’cha up to now?” asked Ceres, breaking Hermia’s teacher-like frown.

What she’d been planning to do all evening! “I’m going to do some exploring,” she said, “You know, poking around old ruins and stuff. Nothing too exciting!”

She didn’t expect those emerald eyes to light up so bright, or for Ceres to stagger through the long grass and grab her hands. “Where’re you going?” she asked “I love exploring!”

Warning bells were going off in her head, like she imagined they did for Queen Thetis when someone unexpected entered the Water Palace. “Just… around the church,” she said, avoiding eye contact, “Catacombs and crypts. Not a pretty sight, really!”

Ceres clapped her hands together and did a little jig. “Awesome! I explored them about a year ago. Maybe I could show you around?”

Should have seen that coming. “Well…”

“We should have a look!” said Korrigan, dancing over, “That old church on the hill is a right spooky place. People say there are ghosts living there! And I heard the other day that Aurelia Estelle in the first year saw an angel standing on top of the spire! We’re totally got to check that place out!”

Hermia crossed her arms and bore the sort of cynical expression Phantasia had gotten used to seeing from Theseus. “You’ve got to stop these delusions of grandeur,” she said, “What do you think people will say if they find out famous singer-athlete Korrigan Wedekind believes in angels and demons? I’ve told you before: it’s all just science gone wrong!”

“Aw, people won’t mind,” said Korrigan, “After all, I hang around with the great Ceres Mendoza, the Emerald-Eyed Dryad! Ooh, maybe we should give Phantasia a title!”

Ceres looked flustered again. “Korrie, she’s not a–”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun! We’ve got Hermia the Swift-foot over there, and she’s not one off us!”

“True, I guess it’ll do no harm but…” Ceres turned back to Phantasia and examined her with those namesake eyes, “Whadda we going call her?”

“I think we ought to go explore these caves with her,” said Korrigan, “I’m sure we’ll get some awesome ideas down there!”

The embarrassment drained from Ceres’s cheeks, replaced with a mischievous grin. “So, what’cha say?” she asked Phantasia, “Can we come with?”

There was no harm in it, was there? It wasn’t like she’d be phasing through walls in front of them! Hopefully they wouldn’t take a wrong turning and end up on the fringes of the Underworld, though. Phantasia may have survived several demonic encounters before, but her powers were still weak and ineffective against all by the weakest of adversaries. If they ran into a monster there would be no scheming Bishop around to ‘save’ the day.

“Okay,” she said, “But if we run into horrible monsters down there, I’m not saving you!”

As Ceres and Korrigan danced around and cheered in excitement, Hermia shook her had and let out a resigned sigh. “Not another one…”

~ At last, Phantasia gets her wish! But how will her new friends react to her home? ~
~ Next: A journey into the depths of Torsten! ~

Chapter 28
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