"Although their time together was short, Adelaide and Philip became friends. They would meet up at the clearing every day for a week. But just like everything ended at some point, their time together did, too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When did you say you would come back?"

"I am not sure when exactly. There are some things I need to take care off back home."

"But you will come back, right?" I asked him. We were at the clearing again, lying on the grass while staring at the clouds.

"Of course." He looked at me for a moment before averting his gaze.

I stared into the sky that was slowly starting to darken because of the gray clouds.

"Tell me something."

"What do you want to know?" he asked me.

I shrugged with my shoulders. "Tell me something I don't know yet."

He seemed to think about it for a while, his eyes staring at the clouds, but I could tell that he was in deep thoughts. "Have you heard about the Magors before?"

I shook my head, the name not sounding familiar. "Who are they?"

"They are a human like you and me, but unlike us they were born with magic."

I let out a laugh. "But magic doesn't exist! I don't want to hear another fairy tale, I want you to tell me something about the real world," I told him, slightly amused.

"Who said that it was a fairy tale?" He looked at me with raised brows.

I looked back at him, trying to figure out if he was making fun of me. "Oh, stop it," I said as I lightly punched him in the shoulders.

"What?" he asked with a laugh. "I am not joking these Magors actually exist."

"Oh, really? Have you ever met one before?" I stared at him with raised eyebrows.

"No, but..."

"Then how would you know that they actually existed?"

"My father, he told me about them," he defended himself.

I looked at him for a moment. "Alright, tell me about them then. You said they are born with magic, what else do you know about them?"

"Not much, many are afraid of them because they don't know them. They are said to be very powerful and dangerous."

"Do you know any stories about them?"

"I heard a story once about a king who had two sons. The oldest one, who was supposed to take over the throne turned out to be a Magor. The man never found out about his son's powers, he died before his son could tell him about it. The younger brother, however, knew about his brother. He was afraid of him and his powers. He plotted to overthrow his brother and become the king himself."

"Did he succeed?"

"Yes," Philip answered. "He told everyone about his brother's power. The people became afraid of him and didn't want him to be their king anymore."

"But that's silly, just because he was a Magor doesn't mean that he was a bad person!"

"Well, people are always afraid of things that are foreign to them," he said.

"How does the story end?" I asked him curiously.

"The prince was banned from the kingdom. His brother got what he wanted and became the new king."

"That is really sad." I let out a sigh. "I don't like that story, the man didn't choose to be a Magor, it wasn't his fault and yet he had to pay for it. He didn't even do anything wrong."

"It's just a story, Adelaide," Philip reminded me.

I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "It doesn't matter if it is just a story or not. It was wrong of his brother to ban him just because he was afraid of his powers." He let out a laugh, amused by my reaction.

"That's not funny," I said and punched him in the shoulder. "I am serious."

"I know you are, ouch." He laughed while rubbing his hurt shoulder. "You need to stop hitting me or else this is going to leave a bruise."

"Then stop making fun of me when I am upset." I sat up and searched for Ray who had been quiet for a while. I spotted him sitting in a tree cleaning his feathers. When he noticed me staring at him, he crowed as if to tell me that everything was alright.

"I wasn't making fun of you," Philip defended himself and sat up as well. "Has anyone ever told you that you look cute when you're upset?"

"Cute?" I asked him disbelievingly. "Why do you have to keep making fun of me?" I asked him as I punched him on the shoulder again.

"I am not," he said while rubbing his shoulder. "That's definitely going to bruise."

"Serves you right, maybe you will learn not to make fun of me, especially when I am upset."

"I wasn't.."

"You weren't making fun of me, right." I shook my head and laid back down. The sun had vanished behind dark, heavy clouds. "I think it is going to rain soon."

Philip looked up and nodded. "You're probably right. I should head back, before I got caught up in the rain," he said and stood up.

I looked at him, surprised and stood up. "You are already leaving?"

"Yes, if I don't head back now, I will be completely drenched by the time I am out of the woods," he explained. I nodded, I understood that he had to go, but that didn't mean that I wasn't disappointed.

"Hey, don't look so disappointed," he said. He stepped closer and took my hands in his hands. "I will come back soon."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise you that I will be back in no time. Now, show me that smile of yours, I want to remember you happy, not all upset." His mouth curved into a smile as he spoke.

"I will miss you," I said as I looked down at the ground, my mood clouding.

"Come back soon,"I said, looking up to him. "The forest will be lonely without you."

"I doubt that," he said with a smile. "You have your aunts, and don't forget about Ray."

Just in time, the raven crowed to remind us of his presence.

"I should go now." I nodded and took a step back.

I watched as he mounted his horse, Donner. He looked at me one last time with a smile. "Don't forget me, Adelaide."

"I won't, Philip," I answered him with a smile. I couldn't imagine ever forgetting about him.

He nodded his head one more time before clicking his tongue and motioning for Donner to get moving. I waited till I couldn't see him anymore before finally averting my gaze. Ray lifted himself up into the air and landed in front of me, his head crocked as he looked at me.

"Come on, Ray, it's time for us to head home."

I turned around and started to walk away when something shiny caught my attention. I turned my head to see what the thing was and stepped closer. On the ground where we had been sitting was a knife. I bent down to pick it up.

At the same time a thunder broke the silence. I looked up startled and felt the first rain drop on my skin. I averted my gaze back to the knife and realized that it wasn't mine. This one was slightly bigger than mine, its hilt was covered with adornments.

Philip must have dropped it, I thought to myself. I stared in the direction he had left. If I ran fast I could maybe reach him.

With one last look back, I started to run, passing by several trees. As I rushed through the forest I didn't realize how far I had gone, the rain pattering against my bare skin. My dress was already drenched making it harder for me to run.

The forest started to clear up, I must have been near its edge. I continued running, following Donner's trace. I could already see the fields that were lying on the other side. I fasted my pace and was about to exit the forest for the first time in my life when all of sudden I crashed against something.

Falling on the ground, I looke up trying to figure out what it was.

The last thing I remembered was a shimmering wall appearing right where I had fallen to the ground before the world around me turned black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How is she?"

"Has she woken up yet?"

"No, she hasn't, but at least her temperature has dropped back down. She should wake up anytime now."

I let out a groan, pain shooting through my head. Slowly opening my eyes, I looked around confused. My hand reached out to touch my forehead, a wet cloth resting on it. Taking it off, I stared at it confused.

"Adelaide!" Aunt Iris exclaimed. All three women looked at me, relief visible in their eyes.

"Wha- what happened?" I asked them.

"You don't remember?" Aunt Kara asked me surprised.

I shook my head. "Remember what?"

"You went for a walk when it started to pour. We had to go look for you and found you unconscious on the ground. You were burning up," Aunt Melody told me.

Images of a man, Philip, rushed through my mind as I remembered everything.

"When's my birthday?" I asked them to see how long I was asleep.

"In six weeks, darling."

"So I was only asleep for a day, right?"

They exchanged a look of concern. I stared at them confused. "What? What is it?"

"Adelaide," Aunt Kara said. "You had a high fever for almost a week. You were asleep all the time."

I stared at her with a frown. "But- but that can't be. I couldn't have been asleep."

I remember talking to Aunt Melody only days before Philip had left. My birthday was supposed to be in six weeks. How could I have been asleep for this long? Nothing made sense.

"Dela, calm down," Aunt Iris told me. "You are probably still dizzy. You should go back to sleep now and rest for a while."

"But I remember everything, I remember..." I stopped myself, unsure of what I had seen.

"What do you remember?" Aunt Kara asked me suspiciously.

"I remember meeting a man in the woods and there was a horse and the clearing and- and..."

"Adelaide," Aunt Kara said, interrupting me. I looked at her helplessly. How could I have been asleep for a whole week and still have those memories.

"All those things, the man, the horse, the clearing. None of this was real."

I stared at her confused. "They weren't?"

"No, darling," she said as she tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"It was all just a dream."

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait! Hope you liked the chapter. Things are starting to tense up. Don't forget to comment and vote. I would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter :)

~Tessa