Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne. I barreled through the forest, repeating her name in my mind over and over and over again. I called out for her, yelled her name, it was as if my body had separated from my mind. Without knowing where I was going all I could do was desperately search for her. In my mind’s eye I see her again gallop after Jonghyun, never taking her eyes off of him. And without so much as a glance back, she and Miriam had melted into the forest after him.

Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne. Why didn’t you look back Shianne? Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne. Why didn’t you let me help you? Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne, Shianne. Why did you leave me?

Lee and I had found Miriam quickly but Shianne was not with her and she hadn’t left any clue as to which way she had went. I had told Yunho to stay out of the forest in case Lee took Miriam back to Yunho and Sapphire as I went to search. He was probably looking for Shianne right now.

I leaped over fallen logs, pushed branches out of my way, and constantly shouted for Shianne. The forest was huge. How am I going to find her? I thought desperately. What if she had hurt herself? What if she had tripped and fallen down and was too weak to get back up? What if she had fallen asleep?

Angrily, I continued my reckless journey through the forest, ignoring my aching lungs. I knew I should stop, reassess the situation and try to come up with a better solution. But I kept going. Shianne was out there somewhere. I had to find her. I had to find her! I burst through the trees and found myself on a small animal path. I leaned my hands against my knees and allowed myself to calm my breathing as I waited for my mind to clear. Stumbling through the forest blindly wasn’t going to help me. I had to think. I took deep, slow breaths. The most important thing right now is to find Shianne and make sure she isn’t hurt. I looked around me. Nothing but forest in any direction but I knew I had unconsciously been traveling north, using the moss on the trees to keep my oriented as I had been taught. I knew the way back to the edge of the forest so I could lead Shianne if she had gotten lost.

I cupped my hands around my mouth and called out Shianne’s name as loudly as I could. I waited, listening as hard as I possibly could. There was no answering call. I bit the inside of my cheek nervously and called again and again there was no reply. It was most likely that I had past Shianne by now; she had probably veered either to the west or east instead of going exactly north as I had. I turned around and began moving south east at a jog. Every couple minutes I would stop and yell out Shianne’s name. I was getting increasingly worried when I heard a voice. I stood as still as possible, waiting for the voice to come again. A distinctive female voice said what sounded like “Lee”. I took off towards Shianne’s voice, yelling her name.

“Max?” Her voice was faint but strong and I almost cried in relief.

“Shianne, I’m coming! Keep talking!”

“We’re fine! We’re over here!” I stumbled over a root and came to a halt. “We’re fine” echoed through my head and my hands clenched into fists. “Max? Are you alright?” Shaking my head I ran towards Shianne.

“I’m coming Shianne!” I yelled again, feeling my throat constrict slightly. “We’re fine”

“You sound closer!” And I knew that I was almost there. I pushed a branch aside and saw them. Standing next to a very large log, Shianne’s eyes met mine and I could feel the relief washing over me, causing my limbs to go weak. And then I glanced down at Shianne’s hand which was encased in another hand. I forced myself to look up and meet Jonghyun’s eyes, which were no longer gold, but in the dark of night they seemed to be completely black. The weakness in my arms turned into inexplicable pent up fury and tenseness. We stayed like that, me gripping the branch that I had pushed aside so hard I felt the pine needles prick my palm and him calmly holding Shianne’s hand but not backing down from my glare.

All of a sudden Lee stumbled out of the forest. Seeing Shianne he yelped with joy and almost tackled Shianne with a huge hug, burying his face in her shoulder. Shianne wrapped both arms around him, taking her hand out of Jonghyun’s and I felt a fierce happiness at Jonghyun’s small frown.

Lee pulled away from Shianne and began peppering her with questions. She assured him that she was alright but I was only half listening. I released my hold on the branch, barely noticing the sap and blood that was on my palm and slowly made my way over to Jonghyun. I stopped a couple feet away from him and sized him up. I noticed with pleasure that he was shorter than me by about an inch. He was obviously athletic, but I was pretty confident I could beat him in a fight. Although he did help Shianne get away from Danson back on their world. I felt a tight frown form and I folded my arms, not bothering to hide my irritation.

“So you’re finally awake.” I said, giving him a reproachful look. “I’m Max. I’m one of the Princes of Miralasia.”

“Jonghyun. I’m Shianne’s friend.” He said evenly and my jaw clenched involuntarily.

“I’m glad you’re finally awake! Shianne told me all about you and I wanted to meet you in person.” Lee said holding out his hand which Jonghyun took smiling slightly at the younger boy. His eyes shifted away from Lee to Shianne though and she was smiling gently at him. I felt a stab of jealousy and nearly jumped out of my skin when Yunho yelled into my head,

Sapphire is panicking! Have you found Shianne yet?

Yah, we found her. And the Jonghyun guy. We’ll be out in a minute.

I cleared my throat loudly and was happy when Shianne immediately turned to look at me. “We should really get back to the horses and start moving.” I looked at Shianne. In the dark it was easy to pretend that she was healthy and strong. I pictured her in her purple dress again, dancing gracefully across the floor. And then I saw her as I had helped her off Miriam before entering the cave. I had been careful to not put my hands on her burns and I had been surprised at how easily it had been to guide her off of Miriam. She had seemed to slide off the saddle and into my arms as easily as water. I had looked into her eyes and had felt an overpowering feeling to tell her again. To tell her how I felt about her and that I hadn’t been saying it just because I thought I was going to die. But then she had gently pushed me away and walked into the cave with Sapphire. I turned away from her, not wanting her to see the pain I couldn’t keep from welling up inside me.

Is this her answer? Is she choosing Jonghyun over me? I clenched my hands into fists and turned toward Yunho, leading the way out of the forest without looking back to make sure the others were following me. Soon I heard them falling into step behind me though. Lee was still talking animatedly to Jonghyun. Despite myself I couldn’t help but glance back and I was surprised to see that Shianne wasn’t holding Jonghyun’s hand, or even walking next to him. She was lagging behind. I thought I saw her limping slightly. Without stopping to think I turned and ran past Lee and Jonghyun, making it just in time to catch Shianne before she fell flat on her face.         

“Shianne! Shianne, you can’t fall asleep. Shianne, are you alright? Shianne!” I was cradling her in my arms, shaking her slightly. Her eyes fluttered open and she met my eyes. She smiled slightly and said faintly,

“Thanks for catching me Max. Sorry to scare you.”    

“Can you walk?” I asked, and realized my voice was shaking.

Shianne frowned and I saw her trying to hold back tears. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I can.”

Without another word I shifted my arms so that one was circling her back and the other was underneath her knees and I lifted her up. “Shianne, are you okay?” Jonghyun asked. He was reaching out his hand, as if he was going to take her hand again but to my shock Shianne wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned into me slightly, resting her head in between my shoulder and neck. I could feel my face getting hot but I didn’t have time to think about my feelings, Shianne needed Sapphire’s spell, NOW. I took off running. Trying to keep Shianne steady while avoiding roots and logs I went as fast as I could. I could hear Jonghyun and Lee behind me. I heard Shianne gasp in pain and her arms tightened around my neck, I felt something wet run down my neck and I realized that it wasn’t sweat, Shianne was crying.

“We’re almost to Sapphire, Shianne. I’m so sorry. Stay strong.”

I shivered as I felt Shianne’s breath against my neck. I figured she had tried to say something to me but I couldn’t hear it. The trees were starting to thin and I put on a burst of speed as we broke from the clutches of the forest. Sapphire was agitatedly pacing and Yunho was watching her, trying to calm her down.

“Sapphire!” I yelled, running towards her. Shianne’s arms were now starting to constrict my airway with how tightly she was holding on, and I could feel her tears streaming down her face and onto my neck.

“SHIANNE!!” Sapphire’s wings snapped out in all their glory and she was at me before I could even blink. She laid her hand on the back of Shianne’s head and she turned her face to look at her sister. Sapphire put one hand on Shianne’s eyes and the other on her stomach. I could see her gold magic glowing gently as it disappeared into Shianne’s body. With a sigh her arms slackened and her tenseness melted away.

I looked down at her to see that she was looking up at me. I felt my face again get hot but I hoped the dark would hide it. “Are you alright now?”

She nodded and smiled uneasily. “I’m sorry for breaking down on you like that.”

I shook my head vehemently. “It wasn’t your fault. You’re hurt. More hurt than I could even imagine. We need to get you home to the healers.”

“Shianne, are you alright?” I glared at Jonghyun who was standing right in front of me, looking at Shianne with so much concern I wasn’t sure if I wanted to clap him on the back and tell him I understood or just punch him. Hard. In the face.

“I’m okay Jonghyun. It’s a long story but I promise I’ll explain soon. Sorry to make you worry.” She said, looking him right in the eyes. She then turned to look at me, “You can put me down now Max. I can stand on my own.” Instinctively my arms tightened around her. I didn’t want to let her go. I didn’t ever want to let her go again. I would carry her all the way to the healers myself if I had to. I couldn’t let her go. I met Jonghyun’s eyes and I could see the spark of jealousy that was in them. He wasn’t going to back down and neither was I. I jerked my eyes away from Jonghyun’s when I felt a hand on my cheek. I looked down at Shianne in surprise. I didn’t get a good look at her expression before she wrapped her arms once more around my neck and gave me a hug. She put her lips right next to my ear,

“Thank you Max. You saved me. But you need to let me down now.”

I leaned my head on her shoulder, allowing myself a second to pretend that we were the only two people in the world. I nodded against her shoulder and then reluctantly pulled back and lowered her feet to the ground, keeping my other arm around her back. To my surprise she kept her arms around my neck for a second before she pulled away. No sooner had she turned around then Sapphire, her wings back to their hidden state, had gathered her in her arms in a fierce, but controlled hug. I saw how Sapphire had placed her arms where Shianne didn’t have any burns and she was careful not to move to much but they held onto each other for a long time.

I glanced over at Jonghyun and saw his look of shock. I realized that this was the first time for him seeing Shianne with her twin. It was probably a shock for him, whereas I had only known them as a pair, he had grown up knowing only of Shianne. A wave of longing washed over me and I found myself wishing that I had been able to watch Shianne grow up too.

Sapphire finally pulled away from Shianne and I could see that they had both been crying. “Don’t you EVER do that again. I was so scared.” Shianne nodded in agreement and Yunho walked up behind Sapphire. I heard Jonghyun grunt in surprise. I looked over and saw he was looking from Yunho to me back and forth before he shook his head and wave his hand dismissively. Apparently he didn’t care enough to ask.

“Well, should we keep going or make camp until dawn and then head out?” Yunho asked  us all. To my surprise it was Shianne who spoke up,

“I think you guys should set up camp and rest. Even If you guys aren’t tired, which I don’t believe, the horses deserve a couple hours of sleep.”

Yunho nodded and walked over to the horses, taking out food and blankets. Lee ran back into the forest to get firewood. Sapphire and Shianne walked away from us, talking about who knows what, leaving Jonghyun and I. I saw him shift uncomfortably, watching Shianne leave but not daring to interrupt the sisters.

I turned to help Yunho set things up when I heard Jonghyun ask, “So, what happened to her?”

I gestured with my chin to the sisters, “Sapphire got kidnapped by Danson. Shianne came to Yunho and I for help. We tried to rescue Sapphire but it didn’t exactly go as planned. Danson stole Yunho’s and my souls, and while we were incapacitated Shianne and Sapphire fought against Danson by themselves. They won in the end and Danson told Shianne right before he died that the real mastermind was his Aunt. Then he let go of our souls and he died. But during the fight Shianne got caught in one of Danson’s spells. Some dark magic got into those burns all over her and if the dark magic gets into her normal magic she’ll be overcome by it and become a different person. Someone dangerous. The only way to keep it from spreading through her is if she stays awake until we can get her to some fairy healers who can get the dark magic out of her.”

Jonghyun had listened to my explanation attentively but now was rubbing his eyes in what appeared to be frustration. “It’s… so unreal. Yesterday I knew for a fact that magic didn’t exist. And now the girl that I like is a fairy and about to be taken over by evil magic.” He looked up at the sky, apparently lost in thought.

I turned again to go help Yunho but I didn’t take a step. Deciding it was necessary after all I pivoted and faced him. He met my gaze with a raised eyebrow in question.

“I like Shianne. It’s more than like, actually, I am in love with Shianne. And I’m not going to give up on her.”

He met my gaze steadily. “I’ve like Shianne for 3 years. There’s no way I’m giving up on her without a fight.”

A slow smile spread across my face and I nodded. Without another word I walked over to Yunho and helped him and Lee start the fire and spread out the food. Jonghyun joined us after a while and soon Shianne and Sapphire came back from their talk. We all ate together.

I lay on the ground, staring up at the sky. Shianne had insisted that both Jonghyun and I had to sleep and wouldn’t accept any other option. I rolled over and saw that Jonghyun was sleeping peacefully. I rolled to my other side, facing Shianne and closed my eyes until I could just barely see through my lashes. I watched Shianne look into the fire. Sapphire had said she would stay up with her but she had fallen asleep, leaning against Shianne’s shoulder. Shianne was absently rubbing her back with one hand. She had her free arm propped on her bent knees and was holding her chin in her hand. She gazed at the fire as if it was the only thing the existed in the world. I opened my eyes completely and propped myself up on my elbow.

“What are you thinking about?”

Shianne started in surprise and Sapphire groaned lightly in her sleep at the sudden movement. Shianne leaned her cheek on her head and continued rubbing her back until she was breathing deeply again. She then looked over at me.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping Max.”

:”I was trying, but I can’t sleep.”

“We’ve been through way too much for you not to be tired Max. Stop fighting it and go to sleep. I’ll be fine.”

I nodded. “I know you will. But I still feel guilty for sleeping when you aren’t allowed to.”

Shianne smiled ruefully. “Sapphire’s energy spell lasts for a long time. I don’t feel tired at all. So don’t feel guilty. I doubt I could sleep right now even if I wanted to.”

I watched her gaze at the fire. The flames caused her skin to glow with an unearthly light and I was again struck by her beauty. But over the past few days I had realized that there was much, much more to Shianne than just her beauty. She was determined, kind, selfless, and courageous, she had the voice of an angel, and she actually was a fairy. I was happy to have learned about those parts of her, but I realized that my curiosity would never be satisfied. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know what she liked, what she didn’t like, what her family was like, who her friends were. I wanted to know things that nobody else in the world knew about. As I watched her I saw a single tear slowly fall from the corner of her eye and make a trail down her cheek.

“Shianne. Are you scared?”

She didn’t look at me and I thought for a minute she hadn’t heard me but then she started talking to the fire. I leaned in closer so that I could hear her.

“Of course I’m scared. I can feel it. My thoughts sometimes explode with self-righteous anger that I have never experienced before. I keep it under control, but I can feel it working its way into me and making me someone that I don’t want to be. How can I fight something that is already inside of me? Maybe it’s pulling out all of my faults and destroying my strengths. I don’t know what to do Max. I’m trying to fight it. I’m trying, but I don’t know how to. I can’t hold out much longer.”

She then shifted her gaze so that we were looking at each other. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t blaming anyone or hiding from the truth. She was stating facts, and she was looking to me for a solution. I opened my mouth, wanting to say something to help her but before I could even start to form the words she turned away from me. She gently took Sapphire’s shoulders and moved her so that she was lying on the ground. She got up and took an extra blanket from Miriam’s saddle and draped it over Sapphire lovingly.

She stayed standing, again looking into the fire. She turned slightly and gazed down at me. I shivered involuntarily. Something was wrong. Her posture had gone from slumped to tense and rigid. She had crossed her arms and I saw that she was gripping her arms so hard the skin under her fingers was turning white. Looking up at her the fire caused shadows to circle her eyes and a part of and I felt a tendril of fear slip through me. Her eyes were empty of all emotion.

“You can’t help me Max. No one can.” Her voice had taken on a dark, eerie tone and I could almost feel the malice leaking from her. I jumped to my feet and crossed to her in two steps. I gathered her in my arms and held her against my chest. I almost let her go when I felt how unnaturally cold she was. Something was extremely wrong, but I held on. She struggled, pushing against me forcefully, squirming her shoulders, even stepping on my feet, but I refused to let her go.

“Let go of me you idiot. How dare you touch me. Let me go this instant!” Her voice was barely over a whisper but the intensity of it made me shiver. This was not Shianne. But I refused to allow her to give up.

“Fight, Shianne. Fight it. Remember who you are. Remember Sapphire, and Lee, and your mom and your brother Taemin. Remember… remember Jonghyun. Remember Yunho. Remember me. Shianne, please, don’t leave me. Don’t leave me like this. You can do it.”

Slowly she began to calm down. Her thrashing became half-hearted and then stopped completely. I whispered to her for I don’t know how long. I reminded her about everything she had told me about her old life and about the life she had discovered here in Miralasia.  I told her our story of rescuing Sapphire and how she had been so brave, and had fought to save her sister and all of us. As I continued talking I felt warmth slowly crawl back into her body. But as her body heat returned she began to shake, just a little tremor at first but it grew until her whole body was shaking like a leaf in a strong wind. I held her even tighter, trying to lend her my strength.

“Max.” Her voice was a strangled plea. I could hear the fear and revulsion that she felt all in the way she had said my name.  I looked into her eyes and saw them wide with terror. What do I do? What do I do? I felt her arms move from her sides as she took hold of my shirt in both hands. She was shaking uncontrollably but I couldn’t look away from her eyes. Her hands clenched tighter, folding the material of my shirt into her fists.

“Max.” She said again, the silent plea even more apparent and desperate.

I snapped out of my reverie and cupped her face in my hands, gently her cheek with my thumb. “It’s okay, Shianne. I’m here. It’s okay.”

“It… it took over me. I couldn’t fight it. Max. Max. Please help me. Max.” Shianne’s eyes filled with tears that spilled out onto her face. Tears of absolute helplessness and fear. I continued her cheek with my thumb and I lowered my forehead so that it was touching Shianne’s.

“You’re okay Shianne. You fought against it. It didn’t win. You’re back.”

“I can’t stop it, Max.” She cried and she stepped closer to me and cried into my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and her hair. I was almost glad that she wasn’t looking at me, because I was crying too. How was I going to help her? What was I supposed to do?

“I’ll stay with you, Shianne. You don’t have to be alone. I’ll stay and help you in every way that I can.” And I knew that I meant that with every fiber of my body. I would never leave Shianne.

Shianne’s crying softened and she looked up at me. I didn’t have time to wipe away my tears and her eyes widened when she saw that I had been crying. But instead of pulling away she brought up one of her hands and brushed away some of my tears. She left her hand on my cheek and stared at me in a way that I felt like she was staring right into my soul. She continued to cry but I could sense some of the fear leave her as we gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Promise?” She asked shakily. “Do you promise not to leave me?”

I nodded, “I promise.”

“What if I have to leave you though?” She asked.

“Then I’ll follow you. Wherever you go.” She looked down and giggled through her tears and her thumb my cheek, just as I had done to her. She looked back up at me and she was smiling sadly.

“I probably shouldn’t, but I believe you Max. Thank you. Thank you.” She moved her hands so that they went around my chest and she leaned against my shoulder, hugging me tight. I went back to her hair and held her close. I had no intention of breaking my promise to her. I would follow Shianne to the ends of the world. I promised myself that I would get her to the healers in time. I would not allow myself to lose her. Never would I ever lose Shianne again.