Rissa didn't even think twice before giving Jasmine an order.

        "Get Dawn."

        "But---"

        "Get. Dawn." Rissa repeated, her teeth gritted and her hands curled into fists. "Now."

        Jasmine gulped and ran away, calling out Dawn's name.

        Rissa opened the door to the king and queen's bedroom quietly, her eyes widening at the sight she saw. Lisabeth was lying on the bed, white as a sheet, her eyes half-closed and her lips parched. Her mouth was tinted with green around the edges and her eyes were rimmed with gray, tired bags. David sat in an old wooden chair at her side, holding her hand as tears slowly fell down his cheeks. He looked up when Rissa entered the room.

        "Rissa? What are you doing here?"

        "I was going to tell you something...but it can wait." the sorceress replied. His wife was dying; she didn't need to burden him with the fact that he might soon lose one of his daughters as well, "What happened to Lisabeth?"

        "We don't know." David replied, his eyes returning to his wife. "About an hour ago she dropped to the floor in a faint. I carried her to the bed and she's become paler and colder with each passing second. I can't think of anything that could have happened to cause this. We had just finished breakfast...nothing out of the ordinary happened, no one was acting suspicious...I don't know what could have happened." he looked at Rissa with eyes filled with the grief that only a husband could have, "Can you do something? Anything?" a single tear rolled down his cheek, "Please."

        Rissa could feel her heart breaking as she looked into her brother's eyes, so filled with sadness and grief, but with a sliver of hope hiding in the shadows. She couldn't stand the words that came out of her mouth next.        

        "I can't."

        David nodded, his eyes going back to his wife as more tears fell.

        "But I can."

        Rissa turned around and couldn't believe the relief she felt at seeing Dawn in the doorway. The princess ran over to her mother's side and gave her father a reassuring hug.

        "I'll try my best." she promised.

***

        "Get up." someone was shaking Adriana awake. The Dark princess opened her eyes slowly, turning to face the person. It took her a second to adjust to the light streaming in through her window, but eventually she recognized the person as being Jasmine.

        "What's going on?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. She had gotten back to the castle at 4:00 in the morning and, after talking to Dawn about her night, climbed into bed, ready for a long rest.

        "It's your mother. Hurry." Jasmine practically pulled Adriana out of bed and dragged her down halls and up staircases until they reached the king and queen's bedchambers. They walked through the doors and hurried to the bedroom, finding the rest of the family already there.

        Adriana ran to her mother's side, where Dawn was already preparing herself to try and save her. Adriana took her mother's hand in her own, feeling like she was holding ice. Dawn looked at Adriana with tear-filled eyes, her lower lip trembling.

        "I don't know what to do." she whispered, a single tear spilling onto her cheek.

        "Just..." Adriana hesitated, not sure of what advice to give, "Just try and connect with her. Search your mind for a way to feel her spirit." Adriana had no clue where these words were coming from, but they kept right on coming, "Once you feel the connection, let your power rise inside of you until it comes pouring out. Here, I'll help." Adriana put her hand on top of Dawn's an guided her sister's hand to their mother's heart. As the two stood there, Adriana too closed her eyes and tried to feel her mother's spirit, deep inside of her.        

        She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew when she felt the spark. And she could tell that Dawn felt it too. Adriana opened her eyes wide with hope and saw a shimmer of gold light emenating from her sister's hand. It shined for a brief moment before seeming to seep into Lisabeth's chest, absorbing the queen's aura.

        As soon as the light left Adriana's sight, she felt all her muscles freeze up. It was daytime and she had just assisted in magic. Her knees buckled and she crumpled to the floor, her heart pounding, brain pulsing with a sudden headache, and she felt like she was being poked with needles all over.

        "Ad...Ad, can you hear me?" Dawn's voice was frightened and her eyes were wide with horror as Adriana stared at her through half-closed lids. "Adriana, answer me!"

        Adriana gave a half-hearted nod and felt Rissa pull her up to her feet. She had forgotten about the sorceress being there and decided to keep ignoring her presence.

        Dawn caught Adriana as she started to fall again. "Do you need Jasmine to take a look at you?"

        "I can!" Jasmine volunteered, rushing over to help from her position in the doorway and leading Adriana to a chair in the corner. She looked at her eyes, felt her neck, and propped her legs up on a stool.

        "She should be fine. She has symptoms of minor shock, which probably came from the excess use of power in the wrong time of the day. Bringing a woman to life is not exactly an easy task."

        "And it might not have even worked." Dawn whispered, staring at the still-unmoving body of her mother. Her eyes filled with tears again and she excused herself from the room, running out with a half-concealed sob.

        "I should go too." Adriana said, her eyes opening fully and energy beginning to be restored to her legs. "I need to see something."

        Ignoring Jasmine's counsel to stay in the chair until she was fully able to walk around, Adriana grabbed the poker from the fireplace and, using it as a cane, hobbled out of the room.

***

        "Is Kabos home?"

        Dawn shivered in the chilly air that was still so unusual for springtime, especially in the middle of the day. A man who looked to be in his late 50s, with graying hair and a hunched back, was staring at her as if he had never seen anything like her in his life.

        "This is Kabos's house, is it  not?" Dawn prodded the man, becoming slightly flustered. "I may have gotten the wrong address."

        "Oh no, this is Kabos's house." the man replied slowly. "Aren't you Dawn? The Light princess?"

        Dawn nodded.

        "Well, pleasure to meet you." the man shook her hand, his grip suprisingly strong, "I'm Phillip, Kabos's father. I'll get him for you." Phillip limped into the house, calling, "Kabos! There's a girl here for you! Pretty one, at that."

        Kabos came rushing into view, his face red. 

        "Dad, it's Dawn. The one I told you about."

        "Oh, of course." Phillip winked at Dawn. "You described her as...what was it? A gorgeous girl on both the inside and out?"

        "Dad, you're embarassing me." Kabos muttered, slipping on a pair of boots and closing the door behind him, shutting out the sound of his father's laughter.

        "Your father's sweet."

        "Yeah, not usually." Kabos mumbled, his face still red. "So what's up?" he asked as they started walking around the village.

        "I just needed someone to talk to and you're the first person I thought of. I have a problem."

        "What is it?"

        "It's my mother." Dawn started as they sat down under a tree off the side of the path. "She...she...she's dying." she choked out, a sob following. Kabos took her in his arms and let her cry into his shoulder, rubbing small circles into her back comfortingly.

        "Dawn, I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine. Did you try to help her?"

        "Yes. So did Adriana."

        "Adriana?"

        "Yes." Dawn wiped her eyes on her sleeve, feeling less like a princess than she ever had before in her life. "We both did. And it still may not have been enough." she cried out, the tears streaming down her face, blurring her vision so that she could only faintly see the outline of the tree behind Kabos. "I'm so worried."

        "I've never seen you like this before." Kabos mused, pulling Dawn away from him and lifting her chin to look into her eyes. "Is there anything I can do?"

        "Please...just hold me." she whispered.

        And he did. They sat like that for hours, Dawn pressed against Kabos's chest, sobbing as he rubbed small circles into her back, at a complete loss for words.

***

        "I thought I might find you here."

        Adriana approached Skylar, who was sitting on a tree stump by the place that the girls had first met on the night of the Spring Dance. It felt like ages ago. The Fairling looked up and smiled at the sight of the princess.

        "No tears?" she asked, and Adriana knew that Skylar knew everything that had happened already...all the thoughts Adriana was capable of having right now were negative.

        "No tears." Adriana replied, her eyes refusing to dampen. "I just feel like I owe you an apology."

        "No you don't." Skylar replied, stopping her before she could continue. "You don't owe me anything. It's your aunt who's keeping things from everyone."

        "What?" Adriana asked, her mind leaving her mother for a brief moment. "What are you talking about?"

        "I heard her thoughts the day she kicked me out." Skylar explained, her eyes on the ground. "She thinks I'm a traitor."

        "A traitor?"

        "Yep." Skylar shrugged slightly, but Adriana could tell that it bothered her. 

        "Why would she think that?"

        "Because she's hiding something from you. A prophecy."

        "That doesn't make any sense." Adriana countered. "She told us the prophecy when we were born. There are no other prophecies. Not for anyone."

        "You're wrong." Skylar replied, the sunlight casting an eerie glow on her red hair. "She told you part of the prophecy when you were born. The entire time she was arguing with you about kicking me out before I finally just left, that's all she was thinking about. How she couldn't believe she didn't tell your parents sooner, but that she couldn't now. It was too late. She thought that since I had already been introduced to your life, you're doomed."

        "What did the prophecy say?" Adriana asked, her heart pounding.

        Skylar thought for a second before remembering the prophecy. Closing her eyes, she recited:

        "On the day of power, twins will split and meet another. The one who meets the Dark will encourage it, but not at first. Seeming to be a friend, they will destroy the Dark one from the inside, letting their deepest and darkest fears control them until they are no longer a human but a mere shell of themselves. The one to meet the Light will be a beacon of hope and the only chance of saving the Dark one. That was all your aunt was thinking of, over and over, beating herself up over it."

        "And Rissa thinks you're the traitor who's going to destroy me?"

        "Yes."

        "Are you?" Adriana cried, her eyes finally watering as she realized that the first person to come close to a friend to her could very well be a traitor.

        "No." 

        Skylar's answer was so firm, so final and so convincing, that the tears seemed to retract into Adriana's eyes. 

        "You're not?"

        "Of course not." Skylar laughed now, her entire body shaking with the force. "Ad, I'm a Fairling for one. It's my nature to help, not to hurt. Plus, you're the first friend I've ever really had. I mean...if I even am a friend to you. It's alright if I'm not, but you know...you're a friend to me."

        Adriana felt the tears come back, but this time they were tears of joy.

        "Of course you're a friend to me. You're the best friend I could ever have."

        She hugged Skylar tightly before being struck with a realization.

        "But if you're not the traitor, then who is?"

        "Who else did you talk to on the night of the Spring Dance?" Skylar asked.

        "A couple of people who I don't even remember the names of."

        "Well, it must be one of them. Be careful if they ever approach you...don't get too close. That's usually how people break. They get super close to one person, and if that person betrays them in any way, they're torn apart from the grief. It's the most common thing that Fairlings have to deal with fixing. A broken heart."

---

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Do you think Lisabeth will live? Do you think Skylar's telling the truth? Vote, comment, and check back for the next chapter...the traitor will be revealed!!

-Katherine