PROLOGUE: Fashionably Late

"Do you trust me?" I screamed at the shaking boy beside me. My feet were tingling with excitement and my heart seemed ready to burst out of my body at any moment.

"No!" he replied, gripping so hard at my arms. He kept looking down at the ground far, far below us. "I don't! I don't! I don't!"

"Well..." I shrugged, grabbed him by his shirt, and thought, 'Too bad, then.'

I jumped, dragging him down with me.

"AaaaaAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

"Wooo-yaAAHHHHHHH!!!"

And just as we were about to collide on the humped backs of the Cameliphantus, its blowhole opened just in time and out came a gust of hot air. The updraft bounced us up and into a temporary stop, afloat for all to see. I was able to wave at a gaping child in the middle of the heavy crowds, him tugging at the sleeves of his maid, pointing up at us in disbelief. Well, while I waved and smiled back in midair, my companion wasn't having as much fun as I was.

"Th-The wind's dying down! Therion, Therion, we're gonna drop!" he screamed and flailed around in a panic.

"Relax!" I shouted through the noisy winds, but I knew he had a point. Any moment now, the breath of the humongous creature would cease and we would end up as two flattened boys on the city pavements. So, I reluctantly grabbed for his hands, closed my eyes, and gathered in me the lighter kind of magic that I hadn't used in the longest of times.

"Notes," I whispered to myself, and was gladly replied with a blast of wind that threw us to our sides. Guiding the complex air blasts to the precise measurements, I blasted our bodies softly and gradually along the long line of Cameliphanti. Just as we would slow down from my wind magic, we would then be picked up by another updraft from the creature's exhalation. I kept this up, more jumping through air than actual flying, but soon, we have made it past the large crowds. With one last blast of wind magic, I dropped us down onto the middle of the plaza, just in time to shout at the examiners, who were starting to stand up for the final words.

"Wait! We're here for the examination too! Please have us!"

A row of examiners from the prestigious Lunar Academy for Special Mages faced us; both looking a little bit surprised and mildly affronted. Their expressions were comical, to say the least.

I dropped the boy in my arms into the ground, where he squatted down in a tired heap. Guessing that he won't be of much help any soon, I stood up straight and faced them alone. Left with no option, I could only give them my most winning smile. "Heh heh!"