For months Tess had been living in a cave just at the foot of a mountain with two mysterious people called Josh and Tallia. For months they had tried to go back into the fortress on the mountain concealled by trees to get Dianna and Arianna back. They had escaped after three weeks in the cell, and while they were there she had been able to talk to the Princess and the five year old she found out was her daughter. But then she was forced to leave early, or they would have hung her, Tallia and Josh the next day.

"I'm sure that Milynne will come," Tallia told her as they set up camp the campfire again. "She wouldn't just leave us here in this world."

"Sure," she said, always quiet, never talking.

Josh was always out hunting, and whenever they could they tried to go back to the fortress. But it was always well guarded for any of them to sneak into.

Tess wanted to help, could help, she really did, but she knew that she couldn't. She was just too afraid of what might happen. Using her power was just too dangerous, even for her because she shouldn't even do anything in the first place. She pondered on when Milynne and anyone else would come to help them.

"Lady Vanessa, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave me alone," Kalan told a pretty blonde girl. The trio had stopped for a break at Lucio City, very close to Lucarno. It had been almost two weeks, and during the entire trip, Milynne had started to get sick, more and more with each minute. So they had checked into an inn in Lucio, and ever since Char asked for a healer, everyone seemed to know that Prince Kalan and Char were in the city.

"I'll see you around." She batted her eyelashes at him and left among a dozen other giggling girls. He sighed. His parents would have started pestering him to get married right about now if it weren't for Dianna, but he didn't want to get married at sixteen. He didn't even want to court any of the girls who swooned at the sight of him, it was too exhausting. He was lucky that half the female population was off his back though, trying to get to Char.

"The healer says that Milynne should be okay soon, she just has the fever," Char informed him. "He gave her some herbs that'll help in just several hours."

"That's good," Kalan said with relief. "And we're nearly there. Do you think that they know we're coming to Lucarno though?"

Char took a glance outside the window. "Oh yeah, they know all right."

Milynne lay on her bed, staring at the cup the healer had given her. Something wasn't right. This medicine was supposed to help her get better, but she was starting to feel...dozy. "It's just all part of the medicine. It helps you sleep, and then heals you right up while you're sleeping," the healer said, packing up his things. Milynne's eyelids began to droop, but before could pass out, she spotted the healer packing up a bottle labelled chloroform. She knew enough that that was a drug, and she tried to scream out at the healer's smirking face as she faded into unconsciousness.

"Let's go check up on her," Kalan said, and he knocked on Milynne's door concernedly. "She's been in there a while with the healer."

"Yeah, he hasn't left yet," Char said. Kalan widened his eyes and slammed the door open to an empty room. It looked like Milynne wasn't ever there.

"We have to go," Kalan said frantically, leaving the inn for the stables, followed closely by Char.

They rode to Lucarno indiscreetly, regardless of all the eyes watching and girls calling out to them.

"I doubt they're going to the mountains," Kalan told Char, "so we might as well go straight for the forest." Char nodded in agreement, and they quickly told their horses to stay around Lucarno and the Lucarno River until they got back. Then they started walking through the thick forest.

"I just can't believe we were so stupid," Kalan kept muttering. "Milynne told me that the healer present when Tess was in labour took Arianna. I can't believe I was stupid to leave her side for a minute. She told me about a fake healer and I still fell for it."

"What doesn't she tell you?" Char asked, and gave him a knowing look.

"Don't give me that look."

"Why not?"

"Cuz then I'll ask you about that girl, Ella wasn't it?"

Char's face fell. "It's sort of...over."

Kalan gave him a look as he slashed his sword to make way through the branches and leaves. "How come?"

"Her stepsister wrote that she had gone off and married some rich lord, just after I sent her a letter confessing my feelings."

Kalan felt sympathy, but he couldn't imagine that Ella would marry some rich guy. He had met her once at her father's wedding, and she seemed nice, and Hattie wasn't. He was sure that there was more than meets the eye here.

Tess thought she heard voices, but thought she imagined it all in her head as she collected so more firewood. However, when suddenly a sword was brought to her throat, it was all she could do to keep from screaming. "Tess?"

Kalan recognised Abby's daughter immediately. "Kalan? Prince Charmont?"

"So there's a fortress up there?" Kalan asked Josh.

"Looks like it, doesn't it?" he replied. "How's Areida?" he asked softly, remembering that Adam died.

"She's doing okay last time we saw her."

Tallia and Tess were busy trying to make the place look like no one had ever been there. "Are we really going to do this one last time?" Tallia asked as they ate some of the food Kalan and Char had brought.

"We have to," Kalan said stubbornly, thinking of Dianna and Milynne. "Whatever Darren's planning is going to happen soon, and if we don't hurry, it might be too late."

Milynne woke up in the familiar darkness, dampness and coldness of a dungeon, only this time there was enough light to see just a tiny bit. "Are you okay?" someone asked.

From the cell next to hers, she saw a young girl and an even younger girl sitting together frightfully. "Dianna?" she called out hoarsely. Damn it, she was never accepting any type of food from someone again, it might be drugged.

"Yeah."

Milynne crawled over to the bars and made out Kalan's sister's dirty face and a miniature Tess in her arms, sleeping. "Is that Arianna?"

"Yeah, it is. Tess, Josh, and Tallia were here a long time ago, but they left." Dianna was curled up in a ball with Arianna, and Milynne could tell that if they don't get out soon, they would be tramautized, if they weren't already."

"Listen, we'll find a way to get out of here," Milynne reassured her. "I was just with Kalan before I was brought here." A sparkle of hope filled Dianna's lifeless eyes, and Milynne reached through the bars to hug her as best as she could.

While they waited, Milynne told Dianna stories of her world, and when Arianna woke up, she began talking about all sorts of things that might cheer them up, like bungee jumping, skydiving, tried to explain cars...

"So they move on their own without a horse?" Dianna tried to understand.

"Exactly."

It was a lot longer than expected before someone finally visited them. But Milynne definitely didn't expect to see Darren's son, Sam. "What are you doing here?" She glared at him with all her might. So he did know about his dad's plans, which didn't make him an okay person afterall. "Trying to propose to me again?"

Milynne's POV

"Actually," Sam said in a low, rushed voice, "I'm here to help you."

"If you want to help me, you'll let me, Arianna, and Dianna out of here right now," I growled dangerously.

Sam glanced over his shoulders. "I can't do that now," he whispered. He was holding a tray of food, and put it on the ground and slid it past the bars to my cell. "But I'm sure you can." Then he left without another word.

I didn't want to eat anything, but I was starving so much. How long have I been in here? "Here, take some," I offered Dianna the soup and Arianna the breadsticks. I ate a bit of the crackers and drank the water.

Dianna was eating something, before she bit something hard. "Ow." She spat it out, and to my amazement, it was a tiny brass key. I wiped it off my shirt and stuck it into my cell lock. It opened. Creaking open the door, I tried it on Arianna and Dianna's door too, and again the cell door creaked open.

"Ok, you guys, follow me," I said quietly, picking up Arianna since she would be slow. After shushing her, I walked to the doors of the dungeons where it was unlock, fortunately. The hallway around here was deserted, and I doubted that there were cameras in this place, so we snuck around as best as we can.

"This place is huge, Lynne," Dianna whispered to me. "We were let out several times, and always got lost. And when we snuck out while we were let out, they would always catch us."

"Well we won't now," I said, but I wasn't that confident.

We hid behind a corner, and Dianna stopped to catch her breath. "Milynne, the dungeons here are at the heart of the fortress. There's no way we'll make it out without getting caught." Ah, shucks.

"If I see Darren, I'll deal with him myself," Kalan told them as they carefully made their way to the fortress, making sure there were no guards. It seems like Darren had rid of all the ogres in the land, which they were extremely grateful for.

"How are we going to distract the guards so we can get through?" Tallia asked, eyeing the number of Kargas there were surrounding the place. Tess squeezed her eyes shut.

As an answer to their prayers, something that looked like a firework shot into the air and burst into a million sparks. Another followed, and soon after, it was exactly like what Milynne had described to Kalan about fireworks. "They're beautiful," Tallia gasped.

"It's our chance to go," Josh commanded. The guards had immediately tried to race after whoever was firing the sparks up, and the five of them dashed to front door which was wide open. None of them looked back to see who might have shot the sparks up.

"Let's split up, will everybody be okay?"

"I'll go with Tess," Tallia offered.

"Sure. I'll go find Darren," Kalan said. They nodded to each other and took separate hallways.

The place was enormous, and there were odd stairs built around each hallway, never going towards the same floor. It was like a maze inside, and Kalan was surprised that he even found what looked to be the courtroom. "Darren!" he shouted angrily. The Lord himself shot out of his so called throne and faced Kalan.

"How did you find this place?" he demanded, thinking quickly of the escapees.

"Does it matter?" Kalan immediately charged his sword at Darren's heart, but it was blocked by Darren's own sword. The fighting had begun.

Josh was worried, and he never usually was, even if the situation was extremely dangerous. There was no doubt in his mind that not all of them would get out injured, if even alive, so he was willing to fight even in his last breath. He encountered three Kagras, which he slit the throats of easily. He then sped through the hallways, determined to kill as many Kagras as possible, but when he opened a door, he was surprised to find ogres staring back at him.

Hundreds and hundreds of ogres in hundreds of prison cells. He immediately plugged his ears before rushing out of the room. At least the Kagras were good for something.

Char didn't know why he was even there, since none of this actually concerned him that much. He didn't believe in killing, only self defense so whenever he saw a Kagras, he knocked them out with the hilt of his sword. He wandered through the halls, not believing that the fortress could be this empty of Kagras. They were planning something big.

"Whoa, hey!" He nearly ran into three people.

"Char!" Milynne cried out. She put down a little girl and hugged him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. What's going on? What are you doing here?" she asked.

Char eyed the children. He recognised Dianna, and he assumed that that was Arianna. "Apparently fighting. Let's go." He picked up Dianna and swung her over his shoulder, and Milynne picked up Arianna in her arms. "We're gonna have to be really fast and careful." He handed her a dagger.

They started running back where Char had come from, but that was hard considering the zigzags and nonstraight hallways of the fortress when they ran into someone else.

Kalan was still fighting Darren hard. Out of breathe and sweating like mad, he knew he couldn't keep this up much longer. Darren had already called for his men. So when Darren swung the sword from Kalan's hands, he collapsed to his knees, eyeing the sharp weapon pointing at him.

"I was never planning on killing you, but it wouldn't hurt," Darren said under his teeth. Outside the courtroom he could hear people thudding into the building.

"Where are they though?" Kalan gasped, holding up his hands.

"Right here!" Darren didn't even have time to look around before something prodded out of the front of his shirt and splattered Kalan on the face. It was an arrow. He fell to the ground, dead.

Kalan looked past his body to see Sam holding a bow in midair, breathing deeply. Char and Milynne were standing behind him, and they were carrying two people. He got up and rushed over to them, hugging Dianna tightly.

"Kalan!" she cried out happily, literally crying.

Milynne was already grinning. "And look who came to help us."

Sir Keith entered the building followed by numerous guards and Ron. "Keith? Ron?" Kalan asked as Tallia and Tess soon found them. Tess hugged Arianna hard.

"When Ron came to King Arthur asking for help with Tess, and found out you all had gone, we decided to track you guys down," Keith told him. "We went to Lucarno not shortly after you left, and when we saw a spark of fire in the air from the mountain, we rushed over here."

"Ron?" Tess gasped. Milynne wiped sweat off her brow as the newly found family hugged.

"Well there's a happy ending," she said exhaustedly, slightly from the fever she had yesterday. "Are you okay Sam?" Sam looked like he was about to cry and laugh at the same time, still staring at his dead father.

They were all escorted home after guards arrested numerous Kargas that were about to attack. It took about three weeks to get home, and when they did King Arthur and Queen Marigold were amazed and shocked at Milynne's story.

"Is that truely what happened Milynne?"

"Well, yeah," she confessed earnestly. It felt good to let the truth out of there, and she instantly felt better.

Over the next few months, Milynne settled at the palace. She sought out Areida and her parents to tell them that Adam's killer was arrested and Arianna and Dianna were found. Tess, Arianna, and Ron now lived near the palace together in a nice house that Marigold paid for them, and Ron now worked for a knight for Ayortha instead of Frell. The ogres from the fortress remained there, and was kept under watchful eye of the guards and knights.

Tallia fell in love with Sam, and they married not four months after the whole ordeal. They decided not to stay in Ayortha, but to move somewhere in Frell, on the other side of the country and open up their own inn.

Josh was sad to see his sister go, but he returned to his gang of Sangres back in Verna, but he still wrote whenever he could, especially to Areida.

Then it was almost time that Char returned to Frell. "It's been nearly a year," he said. "I do wish to go back, but I also wish to stay here too."

"How about we all go with you, just to see what Frell is like?" Tess suggested as they sat in the garden together. Arianna and Dianna were best friends, especially after the months they spent together, and Dianna was teaching Arianna how skip a rock on the pond.

"Yeah, let's go," Milynne agreed, having nothing better to do. It was now over a year since she had woken up here, and she was starting to get used to it all.

Char was especially nervous about returning to Frell. It seemed like he was still worried about that girl Ella. "Here's some advice, if you love her, don't ever replace her," Milynne told him. He nodded, thinking to himself.

When they arrived in Frell, they met Char's parents as well, and attended the three balls. Milynne went, but mostly sat around talking with Kalan. No one knew that Kalan was there, otherwise they would have been all over him instead of Char.

"So, how do you think of this world now?" Kalan asked her, looking at her intently. She didn't notice.

"It's beautiful, I love this place. But-" she sighed.

"You'll always want to go back?"

"Yeah."

Tess walked up to them. "Ok, I can't take this anymore. I just have to tell you, Milynne."

"Tell me what?"

"Well remember how those sparks came up that day in the fortress? While...that was me. I'm a half fairy."

"What?" Kalan and Milynne exclaimed at the same time.

"I can help you get back to your world, Milynne," Tess explained. "I can do that much since you did that much for me."

"Really?" Milynne had a hopeful expression on her face.

Tess nodded. "It's take me six months, but I've managed to build enough power to send you back to the exact moment you died, well actually just a few minutes before you did."

She started laughing and crying with joy, hugging her tightly before dancing around with Kalan. "Did you hear that? I'm going home!"

"I'll miss you," Kalan said softly. He had a mournful look on his face. Then it occured to her that she would never see them again.

"I don't have to leave now, right Tess?" She shook her head.\

Milynne's POV

After the three balls were over, we met Ella, who had been cursed by Lucinda the fairy. "She gave me a curse too. She sent me here!" I told her with delight. "But I guess it's a blessing if you in some ways."

Areida arrived a week later and we usually hung around at the animal place whatsitcalled. I saw Tallia and Sam one last time and tried to make sure I got to know everyone before I left. I went back to Aerio and said goodbye to everyone, even the orphans and Master Kane. I came back to Frell in time for the wedding.

After that, just before Char's and Ella's honeymoon, it was time for me to go. I hugged everyone hard, tears welling up in my eyes.

"It's been really great," I said, crying. Ella and I had become good friends, and I had just gotten to know her. "Oh, Ella if you ever see your stepsister, tell her that I didn't do it." I grinned evilly and she started laughing.

The last person I said goodbye to was Kalan. He was the first person I met in this world and would be the second last person I would see leaving. "I'll miss you."

"It's not really goodbye forever, it's just farewell," I tried to cheer us up. Then I finally went to Tess.

Nobody's POV

"You should do it now," Char whispered to Kalan. "Tell her how you really feel before she leaves."

"I can't, she wouldn't have those feelings back for me," Kalan hissed back at him. "Besides, no matter what, she loves her family, and I can't let her leave feeling guiltier. It's better off this way, trust me."

Tess spoke the spell, and Milynne waved at everyone as she disappeared.

Milynne's POV again

I woke up with a start, and realised that I was driving somewhere. Suddenly remembering, I stomped on the brakes and ditched the car just as the vehicle swerved into my lane.

"Milynne, are you okay!" I heard Anna scream. We were right in front of her house as the deafening crash happened. I reached out and hugged her, but it felt like hugging a stranger. She was my friend, but no longer my best friend, not after what I went through.

"Yeah," I said, scared at the fact that maybe I could have died a second time. I watched as the car rebalanced itself, which didn't cause it to explode. I let out a sigh of relief when I heard sirens ringing in the nearby distance. It still felt strange though. Most of my friends were back in Frell and Ayortha, while here I only had mom, dad, Derek, Stacey and Anna. It felt like I was once again dead to somebody, but the difference was that I had abandoned them. It didn't matter, though, I decided several hours later in the ER where my family's faces were hugging me tightly.