Another chapter is done! (This one is a little late due to my little one being sick for a week. Hope you'll forgive me.) Have fun reading. I'm looking forward to hearing your comments. If you find any edits I've missed please feel free to let me know. :)

"Ya think?" Sage knelt down on the ground next to me and lifted my arm to get a better look at the wound. "You give a whole new meaning to the word sleepwalking."

"I wasn't sleepwalking," I said in defense. "I was completely aware of what was going on."

She raised an eyebrow and shook her head like she didn't believe me.

"Well, it sure felt like I was awake."

Sage sorted through the charms on her necklace until she held a pink-marbled stone between her fingers. "Uh-huh, you looked pretty asleep to me."

I dabbed the cut with the corner of the blanket. "How can I be asleep and manage to get injuries like this?"

"Now that's a question I'd love the answer to. All I know is when I rolled over and looked across the room, you weren't in that bed. I was about to check the hall to see where you'd gone, and I heard a loud noise behind me. That's when I found you lying in a heap on the floor."

She spun the pinkish stone around the chain and started to hum, then touched the stone to the end of the cut and then to the other. The rock bead turned bright red and my skin flared in pain. My eyes watered, and I tried to think of anything other than her stitching my arm back together. Instead, I focused on the pitch of her song wavering back and forth between two notes. With each new humming cycle, the wound seemed to stitch a little more closed. Beads of sweat dotted my forehead by the time she was done.

"There, good as new." She flipped my arm over and took a final look before placing it back down. "Or at least it will be in about a week. The skin needs some time to heal, but it's too early to tell if there will be a scar or not."

I stared at the thin crescent moon shaped mark, with a million questions running through my head. "I really wasn't in bed, was I?" I asked.

I noticed as she shook her head, her strawberry colored hair was matted down on one side from sleeping. "And you weren't on the floor when I got up to check the hall, or I would have stepped on you when I got out of bed."

I looked around the room. She was right. With the two beds pushed up against both walls, I was lying in the only space there was to walk.

"So dream traveler," she said climbing back onto the bed, "What was your dream about?" Sage propped her head in her hands and gave me an eager smile. "I'm sure this one's a good-er." When she saw I was still deciding on whether or not to tell her what happened, she rolled over so her head was hanging upside-down over the edge of the bed. "Pleeeaaase?"

"You're not going to let it go, are you?" I said, getting to my feet.

"Not a chance." She rolled back over and wrapped the covers around her. "So, spill already."

I groaned and decided I better start at the beginning when Jaxon was pouring his heart out to me and saw Kellan's ring.

"Oh. My. God." Her mouth dropped open. "Jaxon knows? Geez—what did he say?"

"Let's just say he wasn't thrilled." I cringed and twisted the edge of the floral quilt with my fingers.

"I can imagine he wasn't happy. Wait—" She sat up. "Is he the one who cut you?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Jaxon? No, he didn't."

I told her about the first part of the dream where I showed Vega the stone Jaxon had given me and how the dream shifted leaving me facing Jaxon chained to a wall with two guys threatening to kill him.

"Are you crazy?" She grabbed the pillow off her bed and threw it at me. "After what he did to your ankle, you saved his miserable butt? You're way more forgiving than I am, or way more gullible."

"I never said I forgave him," I replied pulling the pillow into my lap. "Only that I didn't want to see him dead. There's a big difference."

"Apparently a big enough difference to risk your neck for him." She raised an eyebrow and held out her hand asking for the pillow. "I think I need that back, you know, to beat some sense into you with it."

"Ha-ha." I held it just out of her reach when she tried to snatch it from me. "It was a dream. I don't even know how I got there, or how I ended up standing in front that knife." I wrenched the pillow back and hit her with it.

She held her hands up in defense. "Hey, why am I the one getting a beating? I'm just a concerned friend."

I hit her one more time and collapsed onto my bed letting the pillow drop from my grasp. "What am I going to do? I can't even go to sleep without being pulled into some disaster."

The early morning light filtered in through the window behind her as she draped a blanket over her shoulders. Then she got up letting the covers pull from the bed and sat next to me. "I don't know. Did Jaxon really say he didn't care if you kept Kellan's marks on you?"

I nodded, listening to people chatter as they passed by our dorm door.

"Wow, he has it bad for you. His father will likely skin him alive if he takes you for his partner with Kellan's ring on you."

"Nah," I looked up from my hands. "Jaxon seem to think we were destined for the dungeon."

"See, there's some good news." She nudged me through the blankets.

"What? How do you figure?"

She grinned and put her arm around me. "At least you'll have company."

"That's not funny." I couldn't help think about Robin's sister and how the throne had treated her for her refusal to marry Jaxon's brother. The fire circle's first was more than willing to ensure he got wanted. A shiver ran down the back of my arms and made my hands tingle for a brief moment.

A knock a the door dragged me from my thoughts. "It's not locked, come on in," Sage hollered.

"What? Sage..." I whispered. "Who knows who that is—I'm still in my pajamas." I hugged the blankets around me and watched the knob turn until I heard a click. The door pushed open and halted when it met the wall.

Flying portal dude stood in his drab uniform at the threshold like he didn't dare cross over the imaginary line that marked where the room began. His blue-grey eyes went wide when he looked at me.

"What? Is something wrong?" I asked not having a clue why he was here or acting the way he was.

"Are you hurt?" he asked sounding concerned.

I looked around and had to admit, the room did look like a murder scene with my blood coating the blankets and floor. Portal guy looked like he might take a step into the room but then himself pulled back into the hall and adjusted his jacket.

"I'm fine," I repeated, when he tilted his head like he didn't quite believe me. "Honestly, I am. Sage already took care of my arm."

His eyes darted to Sage and he crossed his arms. "Oh she did, did she?"

"Back off Gargoyle, it's not what you're thinking. I didn't hurt your precious Wren. I'm a healer." She gave me an apologetic look, "No offense, girlfriend."

"The name's Rygar, not Gargoyle," he said in an authoritative voice. He leaned against the doorframe and eyed up Sage.

The corners of Sage's lips turned up at his reaction. "So Gargie, are you going to hold up the wall or tell us why you're here?"

He peeled himself off the frame and squared off in the center of the doorway. "Astra wants to see Wren. Then you both have training after breakfast." He shifted his stance. "And like I said, my name's Rygar."

"What was that? You're so far away—I can't hear you Gargie. Maybe you can throw another one of your flying portal over me to get me to move a little closer." She smirked, staring him down. It was clear he wasn't permitted in the room, and she was playing up for all it was worth.

"Not a bad idea," he replied, not taking his eyes off her. He lifted his hands and moved them in a circular motion.

"Hey you two, knock it off." I got off the bed, bundled in my blankets and stood between them. "Look, we're coming, just let us get dressed first." When he nodded, I closed the door and turned to face Sage. What do I say to her, besides she's impossible? She already knows that. I just furrowed my brows and shook my head.

"What? He started it when he chucked that flying portal thing at us yesterday. It wasn't like we volunteered to come here."

"Just get dressed, will you? I for one would love to know what Astra has to say."

"Okay. What's in the closet to wear?" She pointed to the door. "Everything I brought is kind of out of fashion here in Acklemar, not to mention filthy from being dumped on the ground a few times."

I opened the closet to an array of formal evening attire. I grinned and held up a yellow-gold dress trimmed with fire-red tulle against me. "Too much for breakfast?"

"If that dress doesn't make people notice you, your watery mark peeking over that low neckline will. Maybe try the dresser at the bottom."

Score— "Here." I tossed her a shirt and pair of gray pants. Then pulled out another set for me.

The pants fit me perfectly, but the shirt was skin tight, and the thin fabric left little to the imagination. Sage, on the other hand, had rolled up the pant legs to stop from tripping, but the shirt seemed to fit her just right.

Finished tying her shoe, she looked up at me and started to giggle. "Nice shirt."

"It's this or one of those dresses."

"Hmm. I see your point—and the lace design of your bra. I'd go with the gold dress." She replied, rolling her lips trying to hold back her laughter.

"Come on. You have to have something in that bag I can cover up with."

"Cover up as in make-up, yes. But sweaters? Nope. Jaxon singed the one I was wearing along with my favorite t-shirt."

Thump, thump, the door rattled.

Rygar hollered from the other side of the door, "Is this how long it takes you girls to get ready every morning? Hurry up already."

I opened the door a crack. "Hey Rygar, I need your coat."

"My jacket?" he said sounding confused.

I nodded. "Let's just say I've grown since I last wore any of the clothes in here. If this t-shirt were any tighter, it'd be a corset. You know, if you don't want to give it up, you could always go find me something to wear instead."

He let out a sigh, shrugged his jacket off and passed it to me through the crack in the door. I flipped it on over my shirt. Well, I didn't feel exposed anymore. It was huge on me. I rolled up the cuffs until I could see my hands then buttoned the front. Sage passed me an elastic. I ran my fingers through my hair and tied it up in a messy bun. The black streak in my hair was showing, but I didn't care. I had bigger things to worry about.

"Finally," Rygar said, as I opened the door. "Astra's in the library tower waiting."

I closed the door after Sage stepped into the hallway. "I just realized, I don't have the key to lock it."

"That door hasn't been locked in years," Rygar answered, already starting to walk away.

"That's strange, why?" I asked raising my voice so he could hear me down the hall. "Does everyone leave their doors open here?" I looked at Sage, and she shrugged.

He stopped, turned around, and smiled. "No. They lock them. But that's your room. Most the guild is afraid that if they mess with your stuff, you'll hex them or something."

"That's ridiculous," I said, catching up to him.

He raised an eyebrow and said, "Is it? I don't seem to know any other people who can make themselves disappear, astral project through space, or drag others into portals that shouldn't exist."

He has a point. I am a freak.

"Just because she can do all those things, doesn't mean she's going to go around cursing people," Sage said in my defense. "Besides, she has better things to do with her talents. Like conjuring up a bag of pixie dust for her bestie."

"Pixie dust?" he asked, taking us down a stone staircase.

I groaned so loudly my frustration echoed off the walls. "Sage seems to be under the delusion that I have some magic powder that I can sprinkle over people to make them fall in love with each other."

"By the way Jaxon and Kellan fall all over themselves to get your attention—"

"No, they don't," I said, following Rygar outside. He was heading down a dirt path to a stone chateau that was built into the side of the mountain. A turret was attached the far end of the building overlooking the valley below.

"Someone's trying to rival the Fire Throne for your hand?" he asked. "They must be crazy."

Sage let out a laugh. "Yup, he's that, and none other than the First of the Water Circle."

"Sage—" I whispered and shook my head, trying to get her to stop from saying anything more.

Rygar ran his hand through hair. "Man, and I thought I had problems. No wonder Astra isn't wasting any time."

When the path ended, we were facing the side wall of the chateau. Rygar held out his hand, touched the slab in front of us and closed his eyes. As he let out a deep breath, two blue stones lit up on the bracelet he wore then an opening in the wall appeared in front of us.

"Come on. Watch your step over the lip of the wall where the portal ends," he said, pointing.

Once inside the hole closed up, and we were standing at the top of a staircase outside a large set of wooden doors with wrought iron hinges.

"Cool trick. That's better than an escalator," Sage said, looking down the spiral staircase behind us.

"Being a Traveler does have some benefits." Rygar grinned, then wiped his dusty hand on his pants and knocked on the door. "Just because you didn't have to walk all those stairs, doesn't mean I'm going to take it easy on you in training."

A blond woman who looked about twenty-five answered the door. "About time. Astra's been expecting you three."

The tower's walls lined with books. Two more stories of texts loomed above us with wooden walkways that ran around the room of the extensive collection. In the center of the chamber, Vega sat a large wooden table with a crest in the carved into the middle of it. When I got closer to her, I noticed the circular rings of the wood, marking each year of the tree's life. I couldn't help but wonder how they got the table in here. There wasn't a door or window big enough to fit it.

"Wren, Sage, I hope you both slept well," Astra said, climbing down from the ladder attached to the bookcase.

I licked my lips, and my mouth went dry. How do I answer that?

Rygar rubbed his nose and looked at the ground. "Yes, Wren—do tell us, how did you sleep?"

Astra's eyes snapped to Rygar looking for an explanation. "Is there something you'd like to share?"

"I don't know." He grabbed a chair, flipped it around and sat backward in it. "I was wondering if Wren would so kindly do us the honor since we've all been requested to assist her."

"Assist me with what?" I asked, looking around at them all staring at me.

Vega stood up and placed her hand on my arm. "We're going to help you get your mother out of the Keep."

Thanks for reading! Stones, pixie dust, and magical items rewarded to first commenters. Love to know what your favorite scene in the book has been thus far. If you were Wren, what would you do next?