Hailey could feel a tightness on her skin as she passed through. “Do you remember pretending to do magic?”

Aaron laughed. “I haven’t thought of that in the longest time. Whoever thought you would grow up and actually be able to do it.” He held onto her hand as they walked.

“You know, you are dating a much younger woman than yourself. Does your mother know that?”

“We only tell my mother what she needs to know. It saves everyone from listening to her yell at us. Besides, you are the old one in this relationship.”

Hailey paused. “No I am not. You’re twenty. I’m sixteen.”

“You would be seventeen if you were a normal person, but you’re really thirty two and I have to admit, for a woman your age, you’re still very spry.”

Hailey couldn’t help the way her heart sunk when he called her a not normal person. It was true, but still. This was Aaron. He usually said the right thing and made her feel better. “I don’t think those years really count.”

“Lots of older women say things like that,” he joked. “Just because you didn’t age, doesn’t mean that you haven’t lived that long. You are technically,” he paused for dramatic emphasis, “twelve whole years older than I am.”

She rolled her eyes, but didn’t respond to his banter. He was just joking around, but that didn’t make her feel any better. She had spent far too long by herself.

He stopped walking, pulling on her arm. “I was only joking, Hailey. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s fine.” They started walking again. “It just reminds me of all the time I spent in the castle. At first, I felt bad that I had left Esmerelda behind, and I went to see if I could help her, and then everyone was looking at me weird and so I went into the castle to hide. I never meant to stay there as long as I did.”

He looked at her, his beautiful dark eyes were serious. “Why did you stay? I was always hoping that you would come out.”

“At first, it was moving everyone to shelter. I was the only one who could do that, and then I think I was just hiding from the world. I didn’t want anyone to know what I could do because it made me so strange.”

“It made you amazing.”

“I just worry that all that time alone had made me a strange person.”

“It has, but not in a bad way, but everyone is strange in their own ways. Look at me. I was determined to be a soldier despite only having one functional arm. Don’t you think that’s a little strange?”

“Well, maybe. But I took on a huge responsibility when I was so young. I just don’t know if that was good for me. I doubt it.”

“So what was it like? You didn’t talk about it much before. He seemed genuinely curious.

“It was lonely. I filled my hours with things so that I wouldn’t have to think about it, but I think I was better at that then than I am now. I was trapped the same age, not just physically. My mind didn’t develop like it should have. I didn’t age at all. I saw the world from a young girl’s eyes and it never occurred to me what might happen if all of those people I took care of woke up without the rest of the kingdom.”

“I don’t think it’s good for any of us to be alone like that, but you’ll grow out of it. You’ve already changed so much in the past few months. It’s like I want to revert back to being that young girl who was just going to take on all of the problems in front of her, not thinking about what the consequences of her actions might be.”

He nodded, seeming thoughtful.

“You know how when older kids are around younger kids, they start acting like little kids again. That’s what it’s like. Sometimes I want to be that young girl because she had a lot fewer things to worry about.”

Aaron sneezed her hand. “You’ll be fine. It just might take you a little longer to feel normal again, is all.”

She hoped he was right. He took her hand, but she was feeling so uncertain about herself at the moment. She didn’t want her first kiss to be filled with memories of living so alone, and so she stepped forward, before he could take her in his arms and said, “We’re here.”

She stepped up to the well and called down into its inky depths. “Sylphora?” She called into the darkness, hoping that the water sprite would return.

Hailey paused at the edge of the well, the stones cold under her gloved hands. She heard nothing for the longest time and then there was a gurgling hum. Sylphora was humming to herself. Aaron stepped back. Hailey belatedly remembered that she hadn’t prepared Aaron for Sylphora. She smiled at him reassuringly, but she didn’t actually know what Sylphora would think about his presence.

A watery head finally peeked out of the well. She pulled herself languidly out of the well and glanced at Hailey. “I expected you to be here days ago,” she said to Hailey. “But what I did not expect was for you to bring me such a handsome visitor.” She grinned at Aaron and then proceeded to wrap her long body around him. She was completely naked and appeared to be made of water. She was completely human in appearance except that what would have been her legs was one long tube of water, almost like she was part snake.

Aaron looked frightened at first but when her face hovered close to his, he smiled at her. She smiled back, touching his face with her watery fingers.

“He is beautiful. Look at the color of his skin. It’s not quite as dark as Barinon’s but…”

“Sylphora, please don’t. He came to protect me.”

Sylphora glanced at Hailey and then back at Aaron. Then she disappointedly uncoiled herself from around him. “You have already claimed him as your own.”

Hailey blushed furiously. “Not exactly. I brought him here to protect me while I am in the forest.”

Sylphora chuckled and then her face became serious. She sat at the edge of the well, rippling her serpent like legs and waiting for Hailey to speak.

“I need to know what you can tell me about the powers of the heir. How are they transferred?”

“It is old magic,” said Sylphora. “There was a time when all the land was covered in fairies and only the humans that had magic of their own survived. They were accustomed to losing children. It was just part of being human back then. But then a powerful king had trouble having an heir. Three of his children died. As soon as they could walk, they would hurt themselves or sneak out of the castle. He knew it was the fairies’ doing because he saw his little daughter following one, trying to catch it. The fairy walked her straight into the fire in the hearth of the castle. The child screamed and burned, but did not move out of the fire.

“The king was heartbroken but by then, his wife was pregnant with his next child. Knowing that there was little chance that this child would grow to have magic of its own, he vowed to kill all of the fairies before the child was born. He and his soldiers battled the fairies, killing thousands of them until the King of all the fairies came to the human King. He threatened to kill all of the humans if they did not stop waging war against the fairies.”

Sequana paused, glancing at Aaron again. “What happened next?” Hailey asked. Barinon had told her some of this, and she had not expected such a story from Sequana.

“The human king bowed before the fairy king and pleaded for the lives of his people. He explained how so many of the human children were dying out. The fairy king took pity on them then. He gave the king power to hold his kingdom away from the fairies, dividing them from the fairies by the shimmer. All the fairies returned to the forest and all of the humans lived, as long as the power of the heir was passed down, the humans in that kingdom would be protected. The fairy king made the bargain with all of the kingdoms in the world and all of the humans have lived without the fairies ever since.

The forest grew silent as Hailey thought over what she was told. “But what happens if the power of the heir is not transferred to anyone?” She told Sequana about the princess and how she was trapped in the sleeping spell. “What would happen if the king died before the princess woke?”

“I don’t know the spell. It might not make a difference. There is a chance that the contract would hold.”

“And how is the magic transferred, does the heir have to be present at her father’s death?”

“That shouldn’t make a difference. When the last king of Yapuris died, his son was visiting another kingdom. That kingdom did not fall.”

“I don’t doubt that you are right,” Hailey said, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “But how do you know?”

“Because the old king died and returned to the concordance. He died suddenly and without warning. The prince was not prepared to take the throne, but he did.”

“So the power of the heir should transfer as long as the princess is awake.”

Sequana nodded. “Other kingdoms have fallen because there is no heir.”

Hailey didn’t know if that made her feel any better and she still had questions, but this was at least more than she had known before she came.

“Be warned,” said Sequana, her eyes getting a far off look, “that there is a dark force in these lands. It as taken over and is looking to spread its darkness over more of the human lands.”

The way she spoke made Hailey shiver, but she thought she knew what Sequana was talking about. Isabella was taking children with magical abilities and holding them hostage. She was sure of it, but she didn’t understand why.

Hailey nodded. “Do you know what I can do to stop Taivalon from falling as others have before?”

“You must figure out the spell on your own or perhaps you can speak to the one who cast it originally.”

“But the one who cast it originally is dead. I’m sorry to tell you this, Sylphora, But Barinon died.”

“I know,” said Sylphora. “I know all who come back to the concordance.