Kyra waited on the beach. She had no idea what time it was, since she had left her phone in Imogens room with her things. She hoped Darra wouldn't forget anything. It would be terrible if they had to go back just to get her pyjamas.

After a while she looked around. The sun was getting hotter. Shouldn't he have been back by now? Maybe he needed rescuing again. She stood up, brushed the sand of her legs and frowned. An other thing she could try was the communications thing elves apparently had. Wasn't she part elf? Maybe she could do it too. The problem was, how was she supposed to do something she hadn't even known to exist until yesterday? She closed her eyes and concentrated. She thought about Darra, but the only thing she felt tingling was the pull towards him. She could focus on that pull and he would come to her, but that was not what she wanted to try.

Perhaps he merely needed more time to pack. He was a boy after all. Or his mother had cornered him with some excuse. Perhaps Olivia had jumped back and who knew what she would accuse him of.

The thing that worried her, however, was if his dad had somehow restrained him. Making it impossible for him to come back to her.

Perhaps her orb magic wouldn't even be able to penetrate that restriction.

Suddenly scared, she pulled at Darra's presence, but what she had been afraid of really happened. Darra didn't appear next to her.

What should she do? Jump back as well? She had no choice.

With an angry expression, she grabbed both their jackets and made a rip back to Imogens room. Once there, she opened the door and checked Darra's room first. He wasn't there, but that was what she had expected. He was probably somewhere downstairs.

She ran down the stairs, but when she got to the living room, there was nobody there. Where was everybody? Did they go to bed early? She checked the clock, it was only a little over ten, much too early to sleep. She checked the kitchen, the hallway, not a sign of anyone was to be found. At last she ran back up the stairs and checked the bedrooms, one by one. Her suitcase stood where she had left it. Her phone still on the night stand. But Darra's things were missing and all the other rooms were empty as well. What was going on here? Did she jump to the wrong cottage? Did they move her stuff? No, she couldn't have jumped to an other place could she? Everybody else must have left. Why would they do that? Only because of her? That was ridiculous.

One more time she tried to pull Darra towards her, but it didn't work. Fine, she would solve the problem some other way. There was no way she would just leave it at that.

She grabbed her phone, put all her belongings in her suitcase and made a jump, right into the Library. She scared the life out of the Professor.

"Kyra, what are you doing here? Aren't you suppose to be in Austria?"

She ignored the question of how he even knew that and yelled: "They took Darra."

"What? Who?" Professor Maxwell put down the book he was reading and got up from his comfortable chair.

"His dad, at least, I think it was him. We were going to leave and Darra was getting our suitcases, but it took so long, when I got there, everybody was gone. And they took him and I can't get him back."

"What do you mean, get him back? Where did they go?"

"I don't know!" She yelled, making the Professor take a step back.

"Calm down now, Kyra. I need a little more information. Take a deep breath and tell me all."

Kyra did as he asked and told the Professor everything, from the moment she arrived in Austria up till now.

When she was finished, the Professor rubbed his beard with a thoughtful expression. "And you're sure your orb magic is working properly?"

"I think so, I'm not doing anything different. I tried to do that communications thing, but I have no idea how that works. Can you teach me?"

Professor Maxwell heaved a deep sigh. "I'm sorry Kyra, I'm afraid I can't help you with that. My being part elf didn't include that particular trait. But I do have a book about it that could help and I'm sure Imogen could be of service. Have you asked her yet? She might simply know where her family is."

Kyra shook her head, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "I'd rather that Imogen didn't know about Darra and me. I'm surprised you knew I was with him. How did you know?"

"Ah, that, you can blame you friend Peter for. Now don't be angry with him. He came in here for a comic he ordered and when I asked him about you and the others, he accidentally blurred it out. I believe Ruksy already scolded him for ya."

Despite being incredibly worried about Darra, Kyra smiled. She could only hope Peter was more careful with his words around her father.

"But why don't you want Imogen to know? I'm sure she already suspects as much. Without being too forward, I must say, you and Darra being together doesn't exactly come as a surprise."

With heated cheeks, Kyra mumbled: "I'm just not sure Imogen approves."

"Well, whether she approves or not, I'm sure she would want to know where her parents, and especially her brother, are. Go and find her. Do you want me to come with ya?"

"No, thanks Professor. You are right, she deserves to know. Can I leave my suitcase here? I'll be back for it later."

Professor Maxwell nodded and she made a rip to the DMI headquarters. Since it was late in the evening in Austria, it was still pretty early in Australia, but she was sure Imogen would be one of the first to be at work.

She was right.

"Kyra? Aren't you supposed to be in Canberra? Lily told me you were hiking there."

Ah, right, Imogen was staying at Lily's place while her parents weren't home. Wait a minute, perhaps they were at home. "Imogen, are your parents back home yet?"

"My parents? No, they're in Austria, why?"

This was it, she had to be honest and tell Imogen everything, no matter the consequences. Too much was at stake. She had to find Darra.

"Do they have more houses in Austria?"

The look Imogen gave her would have been hilarious, had the situation not be as dire. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Well, then they aren't in Austria any more, because I was just there and they left."

"What do you mean you were there?"

Kyra felt her cheeks heat up, when she reluctantly answered: "I went to visit Darra."

Carefully she looked up at Imogen, was she very mad? To her surprise, the girl merely gave a resigned sigh. "I knew you didn't ask me about our cottage for nothing. I'm surprised at Lily for keeping that secret for so long."

"Oh, she didn't know. Only Ruksy and Peter knew. I'm sorry. I thought you would be mad."

This time Imogen raised her eyebrows. "Why would I be mad? I know I warned you in the past, but everything 's different now. I'm sure you and Darra can deal with my parents on your own."

"Well, that's just the thing. They left Austria and I don't know where they went and I can't get Darra."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how my orb magic can move things from a distance, I can also pull people to me. Like I did with Lily that one time. But when I tried it the last time with Darra, it didn't work. Like something is blocking me. Can you contact them? Can you find him? I don't know how that elf-communication thing works."

Imogen scrunched her face. She seemed deep in thought, but after a few minutes, her eyes widened. "I can't get in contact. It's like they're blocking me too."

"Can you teach me how it works? Perhaps together we can make it work."

"What's there to teach? You can either do it or you can't."

"Yeah, but how? Do I say words? Or send images?"

Imogen smirked. "It's not telepathy, Kyra. You get an impression. A location, a sense of well being, or trouble. You can make someone know you want to speak with them, nothing more."

"Pfff", Kyra huffed, "you really need to get mobiles. So, can you do it with me? Send out this ... distress signal?"

Once again, Imogen concentrated, this time she focused on Kyra. Somewhere, in the back of her head, a nagging sense of irritation began to emerge. It got stronger and stronger until Kyra was sure it couldn't have come from herself.

"Alright, I get it, you're annoyed with me."

At once the irritation vanished and Imogen smiled. "There, it works. Now try to use that same frequency to find Darra."

Kyra closed her eyes. Find the frequency. That was a lot harder than she thought. The vibration of the pull she knew well by now, got in the way and she tried to ignore it. Until she realised that the frequency lay inside the vibration.

"Oh, I see it. It's the same."

"What is?"

"The vibration I feel, right before I pull someone over, it's the same as the frequency I felt when you contacted me. Let me try something."

This time, in stead of focusing on pulling Darra to her, she made an effort in communicating with him. If only to let him know she was looking for him.

It took her a while, but in the end she felt a response.

"I got through!" she yelled, scaring Imogen, who was studying her nails.

Inside her mind, anger build up, enhancing the anger she felt herself and she knew it was Darra who was upset. At least he wasn't scared or anything. So she knew he was alright.

If she got through to him like this, shouldn't that mean she would be able to use her orb magic to get him here as well? They called her the most powerful being, shouldn't she be able to break whatever barrier they set up?

She pressed her lips together, closed her eyes and concentrated more than ever. In her mind a picture began to appear. It was Darra and he was sitting on a bed with his arms crossed. There was no one in the room with him, but it seemed as if he was inside a glass bubble.

Still with her eyes closed, she raised her hands and moved them as if she was pressing against the glass. Darra's head whipped around, as if he could see her. His eyebrows crunched and he stood up. All of a sudden he pointed his fingers at her. At least, at the place where her mind was seeing him. The familiar blue light appeared and he fired a ray at her. But it didn't hit her. It hit the glass bubble, which began to crack.

"Darra!" Kyra yelled, pressing harder.

"Kyra?" Imogen's alarmed voice came from far away, but she ignored it.

Together, Darra from within and she from the outside, they managed to break the bubble and all of a sudden, the vibration felt stronger than ever. Right before she pulled him through, she saw a huge smile appear on his face.

A few seconds later, she was being houled in a tight embrace. "You did it, you found me and got me out. You are amazing."

Before she could reply, his lips were on hers and immediately Imogen yelled: "You two, get a room", before she jumped away from them.

"What happened", Kyra asked, as soon as she was able to catch her breath. It was a good thing it was still early, no one was around to scold them.

"The moment I got back, my dad was there. He made some sort of shield around me and then we jumped somewhere else. I still have no idea where we were. Perhaps in Olivia's house. Right after you pulled me away from her, she went back to the cottage and told everyone you had abducted me. So they cooked up this plan to leave. I think my dad must have known it was my own idea to leave, or else he wouldn't have been waiting for me."

"Will he come after you?"

"I doubt it. You breaking the barrier is something they would not expect. He has nothing that is stronger than you, so what else could he do to keep me away from you?"

He moved in again to show her just how wonderful he thought she was and for a while neither of them said a word.

Finally, Kyra asked: "What will we do now?"

"What we had planned to do, of course. Do you have your stuff?"

"My suitcase? It's in the Library. I have to switch it back with the one in my closet. What about you?"

"Don't worry, I'll get some stuff from home. I doubt my parents will be back there any time soon. They were asleep just now. Do you want to come?"

She nodded. It was probably best if they stuck together for the time being. At least until everyone stopped objecting to them being together.