The wolves were almost clawing each other to come with Visena, but Esmerelda limited it to two. Gideon wouldn't take no for an answer, and Jed was the only other choice that made sense. Liam would step into the Alpha role while they were away, and Eve, Prim, and Orion would support him to make any decisions.

"I trust your judgement," was all Gideon said before following Esmerelda out the door.

Calypso pulled the Fae to the side and shared a few hushed whispers. Visena watched intently as her mother drew the witch into a warm embrace. A thread of jealousy wove through her heart, but she shook the sensation away. It wasn't her mother's fault Visena forgot everything, including their relationship. It sounded like it was actually Visena's fault for running to the Fae realm as a wolf. Could it have been on purpose? The thought made her feel hot. She pulled on her collar lightly as the women parted ways with genuine smiles.

"Let's go." Gideon's whisper in her ear drew her attention back to the present. He hadn't let her go nor stand on her own since saying goodbye to Thyra.

Esmerelda had disappeared into the tree line to create the portal, and Gideon practically carried his mate after her. Jed said his goodbyes before jogging after them.

The tree's overhead and promise of a portal brought forth a memory Visena had long forgotten. "When I was found in the Fae realm by those Malum wolves, they had this device that showed them where a Fae ring was. Have you heard of that before?"

The query had Esmerelda frozen. "Can you describe it?"

Visena wracked her brain. "It was handheld, with lights and a dial that pointed to the portal."

"Was the portal in Angpriake?"

Visena's blank expression almost had Esmerelda rolling her eyes. "The Lake of Angels. Did you go in the lake, or did they get to Caeruleum?"

"Mother. Seriously." Visena's brain couldn't even comprehend what she was trying to ask.

"The realm you woke up in: it had a lake?"

"Yes."

"Did you go up the mountain?"

"No."

"Okay, thank you, Visena. Was that so hard?"

Esmerelda was so much like her daughter it made Jed stifle a laugh with a well-timed cough.

"Could you explain a bit more about this realm?" Gideon drew the Fae's attention towards himself. Thankfully Esmerelda was in a sharing mood that afternoon.

"Angpriake is in the Veil; it is a doorway between realms. It is designed to confuse and disorient non- Fae, but with the device, Visena speaks of..." Esmerelda appears contemplative. "It will be human-made. No other species has come close, nor would dare to meddle in Fae magic."

She knelt and drew small markings into the earth-protection sigils. Esmerelda mentioned briefly that the portal would need to be made well to transport the four before continuing her spiel against the humans.

"If the human and Wolf Council turned against the Fae and entered Caeruleum, then our realm would die. Fae are too proud to admit that anyone could outsmart them." Esmerelda looked pointedly at her daughter then. "I must say, the Veil did you some good Visena. I thought you were going to glamour yourself forever."

"What?" Visena was wholly too tired for the conversation and barely made it through the Fae ring without losing consciousness. The group passed into the Veil realm and stood on the pebbly shore next to the crystalline lake. Jed let out a huge breath that he must have been holding.

"When you were nineteen, you decided you wanted to look human. So you glamoured yourself with brown hair and brown eyes. You were beautiful, of course, but this is the real you." Esmerelda's cold fingers gently brushed Visena's platinum hair from her eyes.

"She even lived in the human world for a year. Such a strange child." Her mother looked at the two male companions when she said this. Jed smiled awkwardly, not sure how to respond, while Gideon squeezed Visena's hand with a light chuckle. Thoughts flitted through her mind as she took in her immediate environment. She wondered where she lived, what it looked like and if she had any human friends. Why did she decide to leave her mother? And, why did she come back?

Visena noticed a small blue shape a few metres ahead and broke out into a smile. "My tarp!" The air from the Veil made her feel well enough to jog over to the plastic sheet. Her hands grabbed the corners and draped the crinkling material over her shoulders like a cape. Jed pulled a face while Gideon lost all colour.

"Where did you find this?"

Visena twirled lightly, secretly more glad she wouldn't be classed a litterbug. "In the forest. It had the clothes I was wearing in it and some energy bar things."

Jed also paled slightly.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Gideon shook off whatever was concerning him. "I'm sure it's nothing. It's just that it looks like the covers we use for our pack clothes. I'm sure they use tarps here too."

Esmerelda's scoff didn't support the sentiment. Visena just shrugged, letting the lake air rejuvenate her. They walked for at least an hour before they reached another portal. "This one will take us to the peak."

The air at the top of the mountain was thin. Everyone felt slightly dizzy, passing through the final portal to the Caeruleum realm.

"We have twenty-four hours before we must return. It's not a good idea to leave the earth realm for too long when Zeir is plotting with his witch."

The moment Visena stepped into her mother's realm, she felt herself again. The pain, sickness and fatigue melted into the earth beneath her feet. Her mother's ghost of a smile revealed her knowledge of the fact.

The scene before them was tranquil. Rolling hills of emerald. Daisies, Bellflower, Betony and Knapweed created intricate borders along the meadows. Long wispy clover and Fescue grasses tickled at their calves. Beyond the last hillock was a grey structure that Visena decided to call a castle. Its labyrinthine outer walls and towers did not look structurally sound, yet it could be described as an architect's dream.

"It would be nice to have the wonder of a child again," Esmerelda stated, looking at her three companions. She held no malice in her voice, only an intrigued observation. Their wide eyes and partially open mouths quickly returned to a normal state.

Esmerelda rolled her own eyes, a bad habit she picked up from her unruly child. "Come now, children. It's time to meet Queen Cecilia. My mother."

~~~

A/ N

Okay, so I have forgotten when I last updated because I edit so often, so the dates are wrong on my publishing thingy.

I think it's been three days... oh well.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you so much for reading!

Until next time <3