Ace looked down at the darkened stone in-between in his fingertips. He’d never seen anything like it before. Rolling it in his hand, its surface always seemed cold to the touch, its smooth spheric shape showing no scratch or mark across its surface. Ace brought it up to the light, hoping to see some sort of detail or meaning within it; that what hung around his neck was more than just a dark round marble. Ace squinted his eyes, the light almost unable to pierce through. Though something was inside – moving slowly, but steadily flowing within the orb, as if a cloud of dark smoke was trapped within, endlessly revolving within the pendant.

  Confused. Ace shook the stone gently in the air, the light above hitting his face upon every swish of his hand. Yet the smoke remained unfazed, almost unbothered by any outside disturbance.

  “Weird…” Ace whispered to himself.

  “Let’s keep the line moving please!” shouted a staff of border security at the airport, waving their metal detector in a manner that demanded procedure.

  As Ace shot back to reality, he fumbled with his suitcase and backpack, dragging himself along to the bag checkers and metal detectors.

  After several weeks of planning, packing, and long hugs goodbye, the year 12 class of Blackthorn High had finally made it to the day they had all been desperately waiting for. Suitcase wheels rolled across the airport floor as everyone walked through security checks and passport scanners, chatter filling the already busy airport. Dressed in track pants, hoodies, and other forms of comfortable and casual clothing, each student followed along the long inevitable lines at each checkpoint, different coloured neck pillows becoming a common fashion statement in most students.

  Ace approached the conveyer belt for the bag check and placed all of his belongings inside the plastic grey tub that was thrown across to him by one of the staff members. He couldn’t figure out whether he was excited or nervous. A part of him couldn’t wait to experience Greece and all it had to offer for the next 2 weeks. The other half wanted to run. But it was why he felt like this that Ace couldn’t understand. What was supposed to be a holiday, now felt like danger. Embarrassment. Judgement. Stuck with this feeling, Ace walked through the metal detector and collected his baggage on the other side.

  As everyone walked towards the gate, they scanned their passports once again before sitting down in their terminal, eager to be called to board the plane. Some students sat nervously shaking their legs against the carpet while others were in awe of the aeroplanes taking off and landing outside. It didn’t take long for announcement to soon be made that boarding had begun. Long lines were quickly formed, everyone scrambling to pick up whatever small bags they were taking with them, others digging around for their passports and tickets before heading down to board.

  Ace followed along, his heart pounding in his chest. He’d never travelled across the world before - internationally. The entire experience was foreign to him. As he handed off his ticket to the flight attendant, they gave him a gentle smile before directing him down the aisle. As Ace slowly shuffled past people towards his seat, he, among the students in front and behind him, walked past the first-class seating. Ace couldn’t believe his eyes.

  This wasn’t a plane cabin; it looked like a lounge.

  The seats weren’t seats at all, but little pods, each one wrapped in curved walls like private rooms. Wide armchairs big enough to sleep in. Pillows. Blankets. Bottled water already waiting. Soft pink light washed the ceiling and windows, warm and calm, like a hotel at night. Nobody was crammed together. No elbows knocking. No fighting for space. People moved slowly, casually, like they had all the time in the world.

  A flight attendant spoke in a low voice. Someone laughed. Bags slid easily into overhead bins.

  Each passenger had their own space. Their own world.

  Ace stared at the legroom alone; you could completely stretch out. Probably lie flat. Probably sleep.

  But the moment of bliss didn’t last forever. As Ace passed each pod, he soon reached the end of the aisle where an open curtain marked the beginning of where he would be seated for the next 20 hours – Economy class.

  The line seemed to disperse into a jumbled mess. Bags flew upwards into the cabinets, elbows and shoulders bumping together as impatient passengers did their best to push past people to get to their seats. While others were already seated playing with the small screens in front of them, some were squeezed in the middle of the aisle, struggling to find space for their bags.

  Slowly but surely, each student in front of Ace began to disappear and settle into their seats, with Ace soon finding his own. As Ace glanced down at his ticket, he looked back up to see Miles stretching his neck upwards with a smile on his face, his arms pushing him up and out of his seat. Relief washed over Ace, a relaxed exhale escaping from his lungs as he hoisted his bag over his head, claiming the last spot in the overhead locker.

  As Ace slid into the seats, he saw a few items waiting for him – a blanket, small pillow, some cheap plastic headphones, and some cold wet wipes.

  “Ayyyye no way! We got seated together!” Miles said excitedly as he fumbled around with his blanket.

  “Yeah, what are the chances huh?” Ace replied, inspecting the headphones in the small plastic bag and almost breaking them after just slightly bending them.

  It only took another 5 minutes for all students to be seated, the chatter never seeming to quiet down. As the plane speakers buzzed, a message from the pilot announced that they would be taking off shortly.

  Ace and Miles buckled up, their heads turning to watch out the window as the plan pulled away from the airport and slowly drove towards the runway. The entire aircraft rumbled gently, its weight felt in each bump and groan made by the landing gear as it rolled to take-off. And then, the plane began to accelerate. After one final turn it picked up a rapid change in pace, the engines roaring as it pushed itself down the blurring runway. Ace couldn’t help but smile, almost let out a laugh as he nervously experienced the power of an aeroplane. The whole cabin trembled like the machine was trying to tear itself apart. Too heavy. Too much metal. It shouldn’t fly.

  Gasps soon filled the cabin as the plane tilted upwards, the entire body scaling into the air.

  It took off.

  Miles’s jaw dropped as he witnessed the ground gradually leave from his sight, the entire city soon seen from the sky. As the plane began to stabilise, its engines settled, still rumbling, but not with struggle. It was steady, almost rhythmic as it flew across the sky, higher and higher until nothing could be seen from the windows but the darkness within the clouds.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Being that it was a late departure, Ace settled back in his chair, the lights of the plane dimming until only a faint blue glow traced the edges of the cabin roof. Some students scrolled through the endless list of shows and movies, others twisted themselves into awkward shapes to sleep.

  No matter what he tried, Ace ended up doing the same.

  Eat when the carts rattled past. Drink the tiny cups of water. Doze for twenty minutes that felt like an hour, or an hour that felt like twenty. Wake up disoriented. Start a movie. Restart it. Give up when the cheap plastic headphones scratched against his ears. Shift in his seat when the dull ache crept into his legs and hips.

  Repeat.

  The engines never changed. The lights never changed. Time stopped meaning anything.

  Then the cabin jolted.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve begun our descent into Athens—”

  Sunlight spilled through the window, bright and sudden, and Greece was below them. Ace smiled as he threw his head back into the chair. After almost an entire day of being seated, Ace would be able to stretch out his legs and step out into the warmth that Athens had to offer. The beauty that Greece would gift him with. The history that his ancestors had carved for him.

  As the plane finally came to a stop, everyone slowly stood from their seats, the teachers taking control first and leading the way. Bags were pulled out from the overhead spaces and the line now flowed to the exit, Ace, once again, passing the first-class pods and imagining how different the past 20 hours could have been in such a space.

  Heads turned at every corner in the airport, most signs now being unreadable to most students. Even the announcements heard over the speakers sounded like gibberish. But not for Ace. The language was familiar, almost welcoming. Ace reached into his shirt pull at the stone hanging around his neck, clutching it in his hand, the constant chill it once carried now gone.

  Despite the restlessness of Ace’s class, everyone calmly waited for their luggage to arrive on the airport carousel. It looked endless. Suitcases of various shapes and colours revolved around the conveyor belt, tags and stickers sometimes making some stand out more than others.

  Once all bags were collected, the familiar dragging of wheels and shoes were carried out the airport, the unforgiving heat of Athens hitting everyone as soon as they stepped outside. While controlled, the shouting of teachers to keep everyone in order felt panicked. With a bus to catch to their hotel, there wasn’t time for relaxing just yet.

  With most students quickly shedding their layers and throwing jackets and hoodies into their bags, Principal Drayden was left standing in front of them, a surprisingly luxurious travel bus rumbling behind him. At the front stood a middle-aged man, leaning against the bus in a white short-sleeve shirt, sweat patches drowning his armpits and neck. Sunglasses were fitted over his eyes, his hairline receding to a point that showed he had given up on his barbers. He flicked around a loop of dark wooden beads in his hand as he waited for bags to be hoisted into the underside of the bus.

  “Alright! I know everyone is probably pretty tired,” Drayden announced while wiping his brow of sweat with the back of his hand. “but I need everyone to load up your bags onto the bus and then take your seats so we can get moving!”

  Luggage slowly rolled into the lower compartment of the bus. The heat left students sluggish, bags barely able to be lifted off the ground at times. At this rate, they’d be there for hours.

  “Σταμ?τα! Σταμ?τα! Δ?σε μου τι? τσ?ντε? και ?σε με να το κ?νω!”

  *“Stop! Stop! Give me the bags, let me do it!”

  the bus driver shouted from the front, rushing over as he threw his hands outwards to move students away. With surprising strength and speed, he snatched each student’s bag and suitcase from them and threw them into the bus almost without care. Each suitcase piled on top of another like he’d done this a thousand times; most being pushed to the back to make more space. What seemed like a small space, slowly started to seem like it would be able to fit everyone’s luggage and more. As he loaded the last few bags, everyone took their seats, Ace and C.C. already finding some spots near the back.

  The bus ride wasn’t nearly as long as the flight. Barely thirty minutes passed before the highway narrowed and buildings began to crowd the windows.

  Athens didn’t rise up like the cities he was used to. No glass towers. No steel. It felt older.

  Sun-bleached apartments stacked on top of each other; balconies cluttered with plants and hanging laundry. Narrow streets cut between stone walls scribbled with graffiti. Scooters weaved through traffic like they had a death wish. Every storefront looked half café, half corner shop.

  The light was different too — harsh and gold, pouring through the bus windows and warming everything it touched. After twenty hours of recycled air and blue cabin lights, it felt unreal.

  Around him, the class slowly came back to life.

  Headphones came off and phones pressed to glass. Someone pointed and whispered, “We’re actually here.”

  A few kids were still half-dead, slumped in their seats with caps over their faces, but even they peeked out now and then, like they didn’t want to miss it.

  Ace watched the city roll past — old stone, bright sky, the distant hint of hills — and felt that strange mix of exhaustion and adrenaline, like his body hadn’t caught up with the fact that they were on the other side of the world.

  The bus hissed to a stop along the curb, brakes whining softly as the engine settled into silence. For a moment no one moved, everyone still half-trapped in the fog of the flight, until the doors folded open and a wave of warm air drifted inside.

  It wasn’t the stale, recycled air they’d been breathing for twenty hours, but real heat — dry and sun-soaked, carrying the smell of stone, traffic, and something sweet from a nearby café.

  The students filed out stiffly, stretching their backs and rolling their shoulders as their shoes hit the pavement. Ace adjusted his bag and glanced up, expecting another blocky concrete building like the ones they’d passed on the drive in.

  Instead, the hotel stood out immediately.

  The building rose in pale stone and glass, its front washed in sunlight that made the tall windows shine like sheets of water. Olive trees flanked the entrance in large square planters, their thin leaves rustling faintly in the breeze, and the wide glass doors slid open smoothly as they approached, silent and effortless, like the place already knew they were coming.

  The cool air inside wrapped around them the second they stepped through.

  The lobby stretched farther than Ace expected, open and airy like a gallery. The floors were polished marble threaded with faint veins of gold, reflecting the warm ceiling lights overhead. Low couches and armchairs were arranged in careful clusters, soft enough to swallow anyone who sat down. Somewhere off to the side, water trickled gently down a stone wall, the quiet sound echoing through the space. The whole place smelled faintly of citrus and clean linen.

  After the cramped seats and rattling engines of the flight, the stillness felt unreal. Their footsteps suddenly seemed too loud against the floor.

  Ace just stood there for a second, taking it in — the height of the ceiling, the cool air on his skin, the quiet hum of the place — feeling the strange mix of exhaustion and excitement finally settle into something real.

  They weren’t travelling anymore. They were here.

  Ace’s fingers drifted to the pendant again, and he immediately felt the warmth radiating from it, not from his own skin, but deeper, as if it held some small, living heat. Frowning, he lowered his gaze, expecting the familiar dull stone, and froze when he saw the faint light pulsing at its centre. He slowly lifted it over his head and cupped it in both hands, shielding it from the harsh hallway lights. In the darkness of his palms, the glow intensified, a thin orange shimmer that seemed alive, flickering not like a bulb but like a tiny flame, curling and writhing as if trapped beneath the stone’s surface. Smoke-like tendrils twisted within the light, barely contained, and Ace’s throat tightened as he struggled to remember whether it had always been there or whether he had simply never noticed it before.

  A voice behind him cut through the quiet, and he startled as Reina stepped closer than expected, her gaze locked on his hands rather than his face. Ace instinctively shoved the pendant back under his shirt, the warmth spreading across his chest in a way that made his skin tingle, and he adjusted the strap of his bag with a sudden, nervous motion.

  “What are you doing?” Reina asked, her tone carrying a curious sharpness that went beyond irritation, the kind that suggested she was observing and calculating rather than merely questioning. Ace’s eyes flicked to hers, and he realized that she was watching the string of the necklace, not his reaction, and for a moment it felt as if she could see straight through the fabric and into the stone itself.

  He took a half-step back and forced himself to speak evenly, keeping his voice low. “Nothing. Just adjusting my bag.”

  Her gaze lingered a moment longer than it should have, sharp and unwavering, and she tilted her head slightly, studying him in a way that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. She shifted the handle of her suitcase, her movements slow and deliberate, but her eyes never left the pendant, and as she brushed past him, her shoulder bumped his in a way that felt intentional rather than accidental. Ace felt the warmth from the stone flare, stronger this time, and he sucked in a breath, unsure whether it was reacting to her presence or his own rising tension.

  Reina moved ahead without looking back, her pace unusually measured as if she were listening for something invisible, leaving Ace to stare down at the hidden glow beneath his shirt and wonder whether she had noticed more than she let on. Before he could think any further, a shove from behind grabbed his attention – C.C.

  “Aye, finally in Greece mate!” C.C. proudly said, his hands stretched upwards and behind his head, C.C.’s attempt at nonchalantly showing off his biceps to anyone that might be around.

  “I know. It feels unreal,” Ace added and he glance around, still taking in the sight of the hotel lobby.

  “Yep. And you and I are taking on Greece together. We stick together for this crazy trip no matter what.” C.C. extended out his arm to Ace.

  Ace smiled and threw his arm towards C.C., clasping it in a warrior’s handshake, one they’d always performed to secure their bond of trust.

  “Always.”

  Reina noticed something.

  And Ace has no idea what he is carrying.

  The stone feels…