Hey Diary,

  Our wagon is done. Tomorrow there’s going to be a proper going-away party, and then we’ll head to Dragon’s Pass!

  Echo left. I don’t know why, but she didn’t want to stay. Which is sad. I liked her. I wish she would’ve stayed with us.

  The liondrakes realized we kinda depend on them, and are demanding fancier and fancier things. Thankfully they haven’t been to a city, so they don’t know how fancy things can really get.

  At least Trusty and True just wanted apples. These guys want gold-plated necklaces, which is slightly more expensive to get. But hey, if anything it just proves they’re worthy of their drake heritage. We’ll see if it’s worth it. Dad says it will be, because they’re liondrakes, and liondrakes are like the most epic creatures in the world. Mom mostly just said I have to feed them a lot and they’ll be happy.

  …Wisp is demanding I tell her another story.

  Signing off,

  .

  .

  .

  Dear Risa,

  Ok, I knew Echo was going to leave, but she could have at least said goodbye. She didn’t even say goodbye to Maki. I’m gonna find her and rip her throat out for breaking my brother’s heart.

  I don’t care who she is or how many goddesses like her, she’s going to find out why pissing off someone with fire magic and claws is a very bad idea.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid. Probably. We’ll see how I feel when I catch her.

  Regards,

  Maeve Zee

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  *****

  Maki stared blankly at the far wall, hearing a party going on around him but not listening. He was only here because his sister had insisted. Really, all he wanted to do was go back to the house and sleep.

  Luke sat down next to him and waved his hand in front of his eyes. “You good?”

  “No,” Maki said with a faint laugh.

  “Hmm.”

  “I mean, if she’d just told me she was leaving-” He stopped before he went on a ten-minute rant.

  “You need to tell her that to her face,” Luke decided.

  “How do you suggest I do that?” Maki growled.

  Luke shrugged. “We’re in the Traveler’s Guild. We have a wagon. We have creatures to pull that wagon. What’s stopping us from going to Bestest and talking to her?”

  Maki stared at the far wall again. “It’ll take a few months to get there.”

  “You have somewhere better to be?” Luke asked. “Besides, if we change our minds, we can just circle around and go somewhere else.”

  Maeve slid into a chair across from them. “What’s up?”

  “How would you feel about heading to Bestest?” Luke asked.

  Her eyes sparked. “That sounds like a great idea.” She swiveled around, grabbing Cali’s hand as she walked by. “Hey, want to go get Echo?”

  “We can do that?” Cali asked.

  “We can at least go talk to her,” Luke said with a shrug.

  Cali smiled. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

  “Sounds like a plan, then,” Maki said, and Maeve cheered.

  He reached across the table to snag a cupcake, somehow feeling a lot better. He was going to enjoy this party, and then they were going to get his girlfriend back.

  And with that, one journey ends and another begins!

  I'm going to take a week's break, and resume posting on the 14th! Meanwhile, if you want to see the cover for Volume 2, it's up on for all to see...