Gillian wrenched her arm free of Aaron’s grasp and ran deeper into the shimmer. It was hard to see in here, with the wavy lines of magic. He tried to follow, but her form had disappeared almost instantly.

“Gillian, where are you?” He called. He spun in a circle, eyes blinking against the blue and green mist that made up this place. “Gillian!” Had he lost her already? Would he have to go back to Derrick and let him know that Gillian was gone?

“Over here!” Relief flooded through him and then panic as he realized it could be a trick. Would the fairies just let him walk back out of here? He followed the sound of her voice anyway.

Then he could make out her image, kneeling on the ground. There was something on the ground next to her. He blinked but it did nothing to clear his vision. As he got closer he could make out the shape of a body, lying on the ground next to Gillian. Then he realized it was a child. He looked at the mauled body, the pale skin and unseeing eyes. The stomach was torn open, the innards strewn across the ground. He wretched, emptying his stomach onto a nearby bush.

Gillian glanced up. “Are you ok now?”

His stomach was still unsteady, but he nodded. He didn’t think he would throw up again. “This is the worst that we’ve seen. Something in the forest is attacking people and we have no idea what it is or why it can suddenly cross the shimmer.”

Gillian stood. “Do we take the body back to the city?”

He shook his head. “We don’t know who her parents were and I can’t imagine that seeing their child like this…” he trailed off. He could only imagine the grief that a parent might have over losing a child, but seeing your own flesh and blood mauled like this. It was an image that might haunt him forever and. This wasn’t his child.

Gillian stood and they made their way out of the shimmer. “I wish we could bury her or something, though.”

“No. Every minute that we are in the shimmer is another minute that we are risking our lives. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

She smiled at him and he was struck again with just how beautiful she was, but mischief danced in her green eyes. “Are you afraid to be in here?”

“Yes. It’s only a matter of time before the fairies come after us and then you’ll think you’ll be walking out of the forest, but you’ll be walking off of a cliff.”

“Where are they then?”

She had a point. He had seen the fairies before, when he and Hailey had walked into the forest. “I don’t know, but I still don’t want to wait for them to find us. I just don’t know what we are going to tell the people.”

“We tell them the truth, that we will make the captain of the guard aware, but tell everyone to stay away from the shimmer as much as possible. It’s a good thing they constructed a wall.” She stopped walking and glanced back at him. “Do you think your magic girlfriend would be able to help them?”

“She’s not my girlfriend.” They walked out of the shimmer, and he was relieved to be on the other side of it. Clouds had gathered and it threatened to rain.

“You just keep telling yourself that if it makes you happy.”

He looked at her quizzically.

“What? I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. There is something there, even if neither one of you is currently admitting it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. She’s been so busy lately.”

She smirked at that and he was relieved that she didn’t taunt him about Hailey anymore. He wished that Hailey would spend any amount of time with him, or sleep. He knew she wasn’t taking care of herself and it worried him. He glanced back at the shimmer as he climbed onto his horse. Whatever had attacked that child was bad.

“We better go have the conversation with the mayor.”

A bowl of cold stew congealed next to Hailey. She took a bite. It was not as good as it would have been a couple of hours ago. She was grateful to have anything, though. She had come to the kitchen so late, the cook was almost angry that she had to ladle out stew.

Someone walked into the kitchen on soft feet. She glanced up to see Esmerelda sneaking out of the door. “Esmerelda?”

The other girl spun on her, clutching at her chest. “I thought you were sleeping.”

Hailey laughed. “I caught you sneaking through the kitchen.”

Esmerelda laughed too. “It has been too long since we did anything like that.” Still chuckling, she came to sit down at the table across from Hailey. “I probably should have woken you up and sent you to bed. Why are you eating so late?”

Hailey took a deep breath. She should have eaten earlier, but she didn’t seem to have much of an appetite lately. She pushed her bowl across the table. “Would you like some cold stew?

Esmerelda smiled. “I am going to have to pass.”

“I’m eating late because I am trying to figure out how to get the spell off of the princess. I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s all guesswork and I’m just hoping I don’t mess things up worse than they already are.” Admitting the problem didn’t make Hailey feel any better. All of that was true.

“What do you mean? I thought you had the skills to wake the princess. Everyone says that the king thinks very highly of you.”

Hailey frowned. “I might have the magical ability, but I don’t know what I’m doing. Barinon was an amazing mage and I’m just pretending. Yes, I have magic, but some things, I just don’t know how to do. I haven’t been able to learn anything since Barinon died. He was the real mage. I just don’t understand spells the way he did. I’m not sure I’ll ever make a good mage.”

Esmerelda took her hand and squeezed it. “I think everyone feels that way sometimes. I certainly was not good at working on the farm. I constantly messed things up. By the time I left, I think they were relieved to let me go. But I think I would have figured things out eventually, and I could have been good at that job if I kept working at it. I think you’ll do just fine as long as you keep trying.”

Hailey sighed. “I will. I haven’t given up yet.”

“You look tired, though. Maybe after a good night’s sleep you’ll be able to figure it out better.”

“I’m fine,” Hailey said. “I’ll catch up on sleep after I get this figured out.”

Esmerelda raised an eyebrow but she didn’t comment further on Hailey’s sleeping, which Hailey appreciated. Her friend took a deep breath before continuing. “There is something I have been meaning to say to you. I am sorry for the way I treated you. I was always jealous of the way they fawned over you.”

Hailey leaned back with her palms flat on the bench. “Really? You got to go places, though, got to leave the castle and you had better jobs than I did.” It surprised her that Esmerelda felt that way. “I never got to leave the castle when you did. Sometimes I felt like a prisoner. Especially when you and Margaret were gone.”

“I never really thought about that. I just noticed that Lavina always seemed to pay more attention to you and sometimes the queen would even look in on you.”

Hailey shrugged. “I was always uncomfortable about that. I thought Lavina should have done a better job treating us the same.”

“Do you remember where you came from, though? I think some of my anger towards everyone in the castle was that I remembered my mom and I just wanted to go home. It made me angry that she gave me up.”

Hailey took Esmerelda’s hand. “I’m sorry. I think I was too young to remember anything. All I remember is this castle. That must have been hard on you. Why didn’t you ever talk about it?”

Esmerelda looked down. “I don’t know. I figured you and Margaret might be jealous that I had any idea where I came from, even if it was only an idea.”

Hailey nodded. She did wish that she had any idea where she had come from, but it wasn’t Esmerelda’s fault that she didn’t know.

“I better go. I’ve got a few things to finish up on before I go to bed. I’m still not a fan of mornings and they’re worse when you have too much to do right off.”

Hailey smiled at that. Her friend never had liked mornings. She had taken care of everything she could so that she wouldn’t have to do it in the morning. She turned to go. “Thank you, Hailey. It’s good to talk to you again and thanks for finding me a new place here. It really helps to be back home.”

Hailey smiled at that. She thought of the castle the same way. She watched her friend walk away feeling somehow lighter. Maybe she could handle this after all, but she had a thought about Esmerelda. A mischievous grin crossed her face. I know what I can do.