Welcome to Gaia! ::

She knew the words.

Madeline wasn’t sure when she’d realized she knew the words - sometime after she’d met her Princess (her Princess! her Princess!) and sometime before she’d spoken with Lady Knight Joy. Joy had emphasized the need to find her magic ring thing, and had insisted it would be located at her Wonder, wherever and whatever that might be, and she just had to scramble around until she found it.

Or, she could rent a metal detector. She’d looked into it. Madeline was nothing if not thorough, and she’d decided that not only was it expensive - perhaps not prohibitively so, but expensive nonetheless - but it was heavy, unwieldy, and she had absolutely no idea if it would work in whatever funky magic dimension her Wonder resided in. So it wasn’t worth the risk.

And anyway, lots of people found their magic rings without a metal detector. She didn’t need modern technology. She could do this the right way. By herself. Alone. On/in a strange magical planet/dimension. It would be fine.

It would be easier if she didn’t know the words. She kept feeling them bubble up on her tongue, when she didn’t have something to directly occupy her brain. Which, admittedly, wasn’t that often - Madeline McCaffrey excelled at both being busy, and avoidant behavior. She was in several clubs and organizations at DCU, finals were just around the corner and she was still trying to make sure Mason didn’t literally flunk out of college because he was too busy being a superhero.

When had this become their life?

So Madeline was doing a pretty good job at keeping busy, but homework was turned in and finals were aced and soon enough, she was alone with her thoughts. And her thoughts, increasingly, were just those dang words, over and over again, repeating like a mantra or a prayer to some unknown deity. It was actually a little bit like an intrusive thought, the ones that cropped up sometimes and said knock over all the cereal boxes when she was peacefully trying to fulfill their grocery list, except this wasn’t random at all. It wasn’t even necessarily a bad thing, like how knocking over all those cereal boxes would be.

It was just - scary.

Madeline McCaffrey prided herself on being fearless. You couldn’t go through life afraid, she’d learned early on, so the things that scared normal people - being tossed in the air by a couple of muscular male cheerleaders; applying for colleges - were faced with nothing more than a bright smile and a will-do attitude (which was a step up from a can-do attitude, by the way).

But this?

This scared her.

Madeline had their life - hers and Mason’s, technically two lives but they were twins, so jointly one life - locked down before all this magic stuff started. Before Mason went off on his own and found a magic stick in the park one summer evening. Before he’d been chased down by a nightmare monster, only saved by Halia and random chance. Things had been - difficult, by some standards, what with raising themselves and all, but - she was used to that. She’d worked all those difficulties out, over the years. She’d found a system that worked.

But that was then, and this was now, and she had no system. She had no structure to which to cling.

And the dang words were driving her insane. She caught herself humming a little tuneless thing that she realized was in the same patter as the stupid words. She hadn’t even meant to do that! Magic was taking over her life.

Madeline found herself in her room one afternoon, crosslegged on the floor, books and notebooks and planners spread out in a wide circle around her. She was cross-legged, with her hands palm-up on her knees, and she was meditating. She was getting her thoughts in order.

If she needed structure, she would do what she had always done: she would make it herself. No one was going to come along and give it to her. Why would they? No one ever had before. So as she turned over her schedule, her spring classes, her last finals and club meetings, with the words words words echoing like a steady drumbeat in the back of her mind, Madeline made up her mind.

If she had to be magic, fine. She would be magic, and she would have a structure.

“Let me study for one hour,” Madeline said aloud, unsure who or what she was addressing the sentiment to. “And then I will go and I will–I will say the stupid words. Out loud. Okay?”

Madeline paused. She wasn’t quite sure what she expected; maybe a puff of glitter or a flash of light, something to signify that her magic compulsion understood and agreed to what she was offering. But nothing happened - at least, not visually. It took her a moment to realize, but sure enough, after a few moments, the intensity, the volume, the insistance of the words faded into something much more manageable.

“Thank you,” Madeline breathed, closing her eyes in relief. It was like having a song stuck in your head and never being able to find it to listen to it to get it out. But it was on pause, or something, for the moment, and Madeline needed to use her respite wisely. Structure. Structure was what she needed, and structure was what she had demanded, and structure would save her, the way it always, always had.

One hour later, almost to the minute, the drum-beats kicked up again, though still not quite as obnoxious as they had been before - almost like acknowledging it had soothed it, somehow.

“Okay, okay, I’m going,” Madeline muttered, finishing her last notes for her last test and then closing the notebook. She packed up all her things and changed out of her pajamas and into her running gear - structure. She needed to go on her daily jog still anyway. The more she could get done with this, the more she could show herself that she could do this whole stupid magic thing without it taking over every aspect of her life the way it had Mason’s, the better off everybody - herself, Mason, and the stupid repetitive words echoing in her brain - would be.

It didn’t take her long to jog to the park. She allowed herself two laps around it, just enough to get her heartrate up a little, and then she darted into the little copse of trees Mason had showed her, when he was first sharing his new gifts with her. If he was able to transform here, then it would do for her as well.

She closed her eyes. She let out a deep breath. She let the words come to their full volume in her mind, let them be as demanding as they wanted, and then, softly, Madeline - Edam, now - spoke.

“I pledge my life and loyalty to Cybele, and to Edam.
I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.”

For a moment, nothing happened. Or at least it felt like nothing happened. But when Edam opened her eyes again, she was -

She was no longer on Earth. A soft gasp escaped her as she looked around, doing a full 360 to take it all in. The colors were so - vibrant, it almost made her ache. Like maybe her eyes weren’t meant to see this - like maybe she didn’t have enough rods and cones to take it all in. Or maybe she had too many? She felt dizzy, and reflexively she put her hand out, only to yelp in surprise when she touched something soft.

It was - moss?

Edam looked from her hand to the moss and back again. She didn’t know if anything here was toxic or poisonous or even venomous here, but…if it was anything like Mason’s castle, it wouldn’t have anything that could hurt her. This was, ostensibly, sort of part of her. Or something.

Edam looked around. It was all greens and browns and the occasional bright flash of color from flowers. She seemed to have landed in a…jungle, of some kind, or a forest. A light breeze ruffled her hair, and Edam got the distinct impression it was saying hello. The wall she’d caught herself on turned out to be a cliff wall, and Edam put her hand back on it cautiously, following it forward to get a better look around.

It turned out that the cliff wall was not just a cliff wall, but a wall to a cave. Edam’s breath hitched slightly - it seemed like a bad idea to go a-wandering into a strange, dark cave on another…planet? Or dimension? Or something? It seemed like it should have been a bad idea.

But Edam had no bad vibes. She felt no actual anxiety, once she got over her initial surprise. All she felt was - curious. A little excited, maybe. Nothing here would hurt her. Nothing here could hurt her, maybe. She didn’t exactly want to find out if that was true, but…

Edam glanced around, eying the greening jungle around her thoughtfully. It seemed like a bad idea to go a-wandering through a strange jungle, too. At least the cave was ‘inside’, of a sort. It wasn’t particularly hot, but she was pretty sure that she could still get sunburned, even at her Wonder.

Edam had been to her brother’s Wonder, so the silence shouldn’t have taken her by surprise, but it did. That was the thing that settled it for Edam, on the ‘cave vs jungle’ debate. If she stayed outside, she’d be unnerved by the silence. The cave, at least, would be cool, and a quiet cave was a safe cave. A quiet jungle was - bizarre.

Besides, her Wonder had dropped her here for a reason. It stood to reason that that reason was the cave.

“Alright,” Edam said, half to herself and half to the Wonder. “Alright. Let’s see what there is to see.” Keeping one hand on the wall, so she didn’t get lost or double-back, in case this was less a cave and more of a labyrinth. With magic stuff, you could never be really sure.

Hopefully, Edam would find her ring with a quickness. Maybe it would be hanging helpfully from the rocky ceiling, or perched delicately on a stalagmite. At least then Mason would get off her back about not having it, which was getting very very annoying. She was supposed to be the one who gave him a hard time about doing or not doing stuff! Honestly. Just because he became magical first…

Edam shook her head to clear it. The light from outside the cave was still strong enough to see by, but she didn’t think it would stay that way for long, especially not if the cave took any twists or turns. Which it of course immediately did, and Edam pursed her lips. The cave path was also descending downward, a slope so slight Edam hadn’t even noticed it at first. The path was rocky and uneven, and Edam was glad to have her hand on the wall, to keep herself from falling, more than once.

Edam paused as the last of the light behind her dissipated. She was a little bit winded - maybe she shouldn’t have taken that second lap around the park before powering up - and she didn’t have any light sources with her. Why hadn’t she brought a flashlight? Edam clucked disapprovingly at herself. She should’ve known better. She’d loaded Mason up with enough to take care of a small army the first time he’d gone to his Wonder by himself. Granted, his Wonder was like…it was a building, not a cave.

For just a second, Edam was furious. Why did everything have to be so freaking difficult??

Edam then forced herself to take a breath out, then in-and-out again. So her Wonder was a cave. Fine. Then she would make it the best cave it could possibly be. Mason had to clean his castle, help it rebuild himself. What was she supposed to do for this cave? Run it over with the Swiffer?

Edam snorted at herself and shook her head. Edam kept walking, just a few paces; she didn’t want to be in the dark for too long. Nobody said she had to figure out her entire Wonder on the first day - nobody said she had to even find her ring on the first try, just because Mason had.

Ugh.

Edam took a few more steps, and was once again glad for her arm on the wall, because otherwise, she would have walked right into the dead end of the tunnel.

“What?” Edam said aloud, surprised and confused. She pressed her hands against the wall, wondering if maybe there was some sort of secret latch or hook or something on the wall that would unlock passage through the wall. Because it couldn’t just be that…that was it.

Could it?

“Come on,” Edam muttered, pushing harder on the firm, stone wall. Nothing. Had she missed an off-ramp? Another path, jutting off this main stretch of cave? Maybe on the other side of the wall? It wasn’t especially wide, you’d think she would have seen it, even if she hadn’t felt it with her hand on the opposite side…

Edam sighed, went to run her hands through her hair, but caught herself, because of the faux-antlers clipped in. Alright. Okay. Fine. Maybe the cave was just part of her Wonder. Maybe she had been meant to explore the jungle after all.

Edam was just about to turn and leave, keeping her other hand on the wall in case it tried to get all magically weird and change on her. But before she could take a single step, there was a soft clatter from behind her.

If I don’t turn around, it will be like nothing happened, Edam thought to herself. If I just keep walking away…

But she couldn’t walk away. She’d come this far, and she’d promised the words, the pounding words that had all but demanded to be said, that she’d give it a real shot. So she turned a bit, just to see what had caused the noise.

A few pebbles had been dislodged from the solid wall. For a brief, terrifying second, Edam could think of nothing but the word cave-in and the image of herself buried under crushing rocks, nobody knowing where she was or what had happened to her, of Mason, all by himself–

Edam forced herself to stop. Nope. No. Not doing it. This wasn’t just a cave, this was her Wonder. It wasn’t going to kill her. Edam took a deep breath, and then another, and then another to be sure. Edam resisted the urge to touch the wall where the rocks had dislodged themselves - if they were threatening a cave-in, messing with it would only make it worse, make it more likely.

So she didn’t touch it, but she did peer closer at it, to see if she could determine what had caused the rocks to fall. She didn’t see anything strange, but–

She did hear something.

“Is that–water?” Edam wondered aloud, voice dropping to a surprised whisper. It - it almost shouldn’t be, it didn’t make sense, but - then, maybe it did. There were underground lakes and rivers on Earth, why couldn’t there be one…wherever she was? Edam pursed her lips slightly. So there was more to explore in this cave. This wall wasn’t final, wasn’t just the end of the road.

Edam put her hands on her hips. Rude.

Edam took a step or two back, looking quizzically at the rest of the wall. There was still no obvious door or passageway, but Mason said his Wonder changed all the time. Maybe she just had to wait.

“Okay,” Edam said aloud, then shrugged slightly. “Alright. Well. Sure.” Edam waited another moment or two, to see if anything else would happen, but nothing did. So Edam turned and began her careful walk back up to the mouth of the cave. There weren’t any other strange noises or movements from behind her, so Edam figured that was just the cave telling her that it was awake, or something. Edam came to a stop at the front of the cave - her cave? - and put her hands on her hips once more, gazing out into the eerily silent, eerily still jungle in front of her.

It wasn’t a bad view, she had to admit.

There was a large rock to the left of the mouth of the cave. She wasn’t sure if it had been there the whole time and she’d missed it, or if it had appeared while she was gone, but either way, it was there now, and it looked just large enough for Edam to sit on it, with her back against the cave wall.

So that’s exactly what she did.

Edam stayed in the warm, comforting sun for a long time, just listening to the silence - it was rare to find real quiet, nevermind silence, in the real world. It was strange, sure, but it wasn’t bad. It was kind of…nice.

The air was clear here. Bright and free of all the toxins and pollutants that Edam could only assume was in their regular Earth air all the time.

Now that she was here…Edam realized belatedly, this place would make a really excellent study spot. No phones, no brothers, no internet, nothing except…herself, her ring (probably), and whatever else ended up living here. Mason had a ghost - did she have a ghost? Maybe that was what had dislodged those pebbles.

She didn’t see any ghosts. Edam settled back down and let out a soft sigh, letting the tension ease from her shoulders. They probably dropped three inches as she took another big deep breath in and out. It was quiet - no bugs, no birds - but the breeze ruffled the trees and that wasn’t nothing. Yes, she could study here.

Yes, she could make this work. She could be magic, and be normal, and have a life. She could do this. She could find her ring, and survive freshman year, and fight the bad guys. She could do it. She could, and she would.

Feeling more settled and at peace than she had in a very long time, Edam closed her eyes and let the setting sun bathe her in golden light. For once, she didn’t worry about the time, or what she had to do, or where she had to be.

She was right where she was supposed to be. She could do it, she would do it, and everything - everything - was going to be fine. She said that to Mason all the time, convinced him when he was sure of the opposite. She had made him believe it more times than she could count.

For once, Edam almost believed it, too.

--

She lost track of time, sitting there on the stone. She didn’t think she’d fallen asleep, not really, but she’d definitely drifted in and out of consciousness. It was like the best meditative state she’d ever had; her mind was almost as quiet as the rest of her Wonder, and that was a blessed relief. Her mind was too loud, all the time, and the absence was - refreshing. Peaceful.

But eventually, the sun set, and Edam knew she couldn’t actually stay here forever. She couldn’t just live on this rock forever, even if it didn’t make her butt sore to sit on it for this long like it would’ve on Earth. She was gearing up to return, but then something else caught her attention: the stars.

“Oh,” Edam breathed, eyes going wide as she scanned the heavens. None of the stars were familiar to her, and that was both alarming and exhilarating. Nobody else had seen these stars, maybe - she didn’t think they were even the same stars at Mason’s Wonder. These stars were hers and hers alone, at least until she chose to bring someone else here with her. This whole place - was her safe, secret hideaway.

It was a gift, this place. And she knew, in her heart, that she would do anything to protect it, anything to be able to come back to it. Even fight monsters, even go patrolling, even - sometimes - prioritize those things over homework.

But only sometimes.

Edam let out another happy sigh and nodded to herself. Yes. Yes, this would work. It would work. She would make it work.

And this time, Edam did believe it.