Kaden sat back quickly, staring down at her. His heart sank. She hadn't moved, and there was no sign of stirring. He sighed, sitting back on the bed. For a moment he had thought it just might have worked, but there was no change. He sat there for a moment, realizing now she hadn't had a hope of waking up any time soon.

       He got to his feet, feeling more awkward than ever, and dragged his feet to the door.

       He had barely touched the handle, however, when a sleepy voice behind him said, "Please tell me whatever just happened wasn't what I think just did."

       Kaden whipped around, startled to see Rowan rolling onto her side to face him. Her eyes were half-closed and her movement sluggish, but she was awake.

        "Rowan!" he shouted, and before she knew what was happening, he was crushing the life out of her in a hug, and she choked, squirming uncomfortably. His grip loosened, and he looked down at her, "You're okay! It worked!"

       "Did it?" Rowan found it hard to move, still feeling weighted with exhaustion. "What happened?"

        Kaden's face suddenly burned, and he scooted away from her, "Uh... well... I, uh..."

        She arched an eyebrow, "You kissed me, didn't you."

         His face burned hotter as he turned to face the wall, unsure how to reply to that. He flexed his hands in front of him, giving himself something else to look at than her, "I-I'm glad you're okay."

      Rowan felt a smile tug at her lips, "You're such an idiot. If you're afraid I'm going to be mad, maybe you need a brain replacement. Yours is obviously defective."

        "You're... not mad?"

        She snorted, "Oh, I'm furious alright. But you've taken from my shoulders a burden I've had all of my life. So I won't throw you out a window."

       "Oh..." Kaden glanced over at her again, cracking a small grin, "I guess I'm your knight in shining armor after all?"

       "Don't push it," she said, but a laugh rose in her throat as he feigned hurt.

       "Did you know it was going to be me?" Kaden asked after a moment, "That it would be me to wake you up."

       Rowan gave him a long look, then shook her head, "No. But I'm not disappointed."

       He blinked, "You're not?"

       She laughed, shaking her head, but her smile froze on her face as she remembered something. She leapt to her feet suddenly, looking around in distress, "Where is it? The black book?"

         "Adeline has it," Kaden replied, "Why?"

        "No, not Adeline!" Rowan stumbled towards the door, her body still slow to react to her whims. Kaden steadied her from behind, asking in a surprised voice "Hey, easy, what's the problem?"

        "That book is proof to all of our accusations at Adeline!" Rowan turned the handle to the door, and it swung open. She stumbled into the hallway, and Alden gasped, "Rowan!"

        Rowan blew hair from her eyes as she pointed an accusing finger at Adeline, "Where is it? The black book?"

        "She burned it," Alden assured her, reaching out his arms to hug his daughter, "I promise it won't hurt you again."

         "I'm not worried about the book!" Rowan shouted, pushing away her father, "I'm worried about her! The witch!" she pointed her shaking hand at Adeline again, "Dad, she's fooled you, fooled everyone!"

        Kaizen grabbed her arm as she nearly collapsed, "Rowan, what's going on?"

         "The book, the black book," Rowan wheezed, struggling to stand again, "Janessa! You can't keep lying, I know the truth now!"

        "Janessa? The witch?" Aliyah looked to Kaden in surprise.

          Adeline's face contorted with anger, and before anyone could stop her, she grabbed Rowan by the throat, hurling her into the wall. Rowan shrieked in pain, and Kaizen knocked Adeline away with a shout of anger.

        "Adeline!" Alden cried, "What are you doing?"

        "The little wretch was right," Adeline spat, "I'm not really a human named Adeline. I don't really even have a daughter!"

         Rowan struggled to her feet, "You're Janessa, the witch! And you've been plotting this revenge on my father since you stole the mind of the poor woman you're infesting and hypnotized her daughter! Just because he beat you one time in a battle, you go and try to steal everything from him!"

        "What?" Everyone was looking from Adeline to Rowan, shocked.

        "That's why Maleficent cursed me, isn't it? Because you paid her to." Rowan said challengingly, her hands curled into fists and her stance tense.

        Janessa's face split open into an eerie smile, "Very good, child. You discovered that, but did you discover that it was I who slowly drugged your mother to death?"

        "What?!" Rowan shouted, but Janessa only laughed.

         "I suppose not," she spun around to face Alden, who looked startled and horrified, "You made it much too easy for me to kill your wife and curse your daughter. Maleficent had to wait until she was eighteen, which was infuriating!! I wanted to kill that fairy when I found she had left a weakness to the spell. But then there were two daughters, and I had to get rid of them both. Once I was married in, I was constantly trying to chase Rowan away. I was told that if she died before the spell took hold, it would transfer to the most similar person possible- Quinn. I realized I was running out of time, so my plan was to kill Rowan while everyone was at the dance. You would have suspected Tiberia and I would've gotten away with it!"

        "But I went to the dance," Rowan was shaking with anger now, and she wasn't alone. Kaden, Kaizen, Aliyah, and Quinn were beside her, ready to fight if the need arose.

        "Yes, you did!" Adeline hissed, clenching her teeth, "When I was told you'd run into the forest, I sent this worthless wretch after you to kill you," she gestured hatefully at Kaden, "But of course he was incompetent! Then I had to try to keep you from coming back with Kaizen, so I destroyed his letter, telling Alden that a battalion was coming. It was working perfectly! Then you stopped the catapults and returned anyway. I failed to kill her before the curse settled in, and I suspected Kaizen was going to wake her up. So I sent one of my personal guards to kill him. That didn't work either."

         "And now you're blown wide open," Kaizen said, "And there's nothing you can do about it."

        "Guards!" Alden shouted, "Seize her!"

        Janessa let out a piercing whistle, and the entire castle shuddered with a bellowing roar. Kaden looked up, his eyes searching the ceiling frantically, "Tell me that's not what I think it is!"

        "Dragon!!" someone screamed from somewhere outside the castle, and Kaizen tackled them all out of the way as huge claws tore through the walls. Janessa sprang onto the back of the dark blue beast, waving at them with a sickening laugh.

         "I doubt you'll catch me now!" she cackled, "But I'll give you a warning." The dragon scooped up Quinn in its huge claw, "If you do not sign over the kingdom to me before the full moon in three days time, this princess will meet a horrible death!"

         "No!" Alden shouted, "Stop, Adeline!"

         "Rowan!" Quinn screamed, but the dragon spread its wings.

        "Stop the dragon!" Alden shouted to the guards, who hurled their spears at the monster to no avail. The dragon took off into the night, leaving the sound of Quinn's screams ringing in their ears.

        "Quinn," Rowan gasped, turning to face Kaden, "They took my sister! We have to-"

         "We will," Kaden vowed, "We'll go after her as soon as possible. But we don't know where she even is, or where she's being taken."

       "We were right all along," Aliyah breathed, looking stunned. She had backed into the wall, shaking.

          Kaizen's fingers curled into a fist that lodged itself into the King's face, making him stumble back, "We told you, and you didn't listen to us! This is just as much your fault as it is hers!"

        Alden fell back against the wall, slumping down to the ground and not bothering to stand up. He looked dazed.

         Rowan felt sick. She shouldn't have been so quick to confront Janessa about being the witch. She should've prepared... She raked her hands down her face in anger, letting her nails tear skin, "How could I have been so stupid?" she whispered to herself, "I had the book. Her diary. I should've read the end first, to find out what happened to her. But I didn't until too late...."

        "What are we gonna do?" Aliyah looked to Kaizen as if expecting a plan.

         "I'll tell you what," Rowan's voice hardened until it was as sharp as flint, and she pulled her hair back, tucking it back into a messy ponytail, "We're going to follow her, and we're going to get my sister back."

        "How?" Kaden asked, stepping forward to gesture towards the gaping hole in the wall, "She's long gone by now."

         "Is she?" Rowan reached out a hand, and odd words left her mouth. It wasn't English, but it wasn't any other sort of language they had heard before. It was a low and quick, almost ominous sounding.

          Then a blue wisp appeared in the air, reaching out almost like a jet trail and curving off into the skies, marking the dragon's path. It seemed to glow faintly, and was easy to see despite the darkness. Rowan turned around triumphantly to see them all staring.

        "What?" Rowan shrugged, "I read spells in that cursed book. And I memorize everything I read."

         Kaizen gave her a quirky grin, "You really are magical!"