The next day I wake up in Aunt Kellie’s lush garden, and try to remember last night’s events. All I can recall is that a hand – just a hand – took Ciro away from us; not a face, nor a body, nor even an entire person. As I try to stand up, I whack my head on a tree branch, which, in turn causes something to fall from the tree, right into my hands. I am not so surprised to find that the Terrix is the object within my grasp. “I must be dreaming” I mutter to myself. Yeah, that’s what it is; I’m dreaming; simply imagining this experience.

When I eventually regain my footing, I run back to the house and wave the Terrix in Adam’s face. “Look what I found, Adam. I found the Terrix!” He takes me lovingly in his arms and gives me the sweetest hug I have ever gotten (from him, anyway) in my life. I kiss him on the cheek and whisper “You are the sweetest man in Terrasolo.” He smiles and whispers back “I already know that, sweetheart. I don’t need to be told twice.”

All of a sudden, Ayla comes running out of the house, screaming shrilly. “Somebody help, please! Adam, help me!” Adam lets go of me and lets her cry on his shoulder.  “What’s wrong, Ayla; what is it?”

“I can’t find Ciro.... he’s... he’s gone...”

Adam sighs. “Ayla... Ciro’s been gone for hours...”

"What? Where did he go; do we know!?”

“I suspect Kate has something to do with it, Ayla. Remember what you said a little while ago? You said that you used to read sorcery books, and that led to the belief that Kate was a witch-”

“Is” Ayla interrupts.

“What?”

“Gramma is a witch. I know it for a fact, Adam.”

Aiden, who had gone out to get ‘the mail’ comes back in and whispers to Ayla “You got a letter from Ciro. Not sure what it says; didn’t want to open it and make you feel like I was intruding.” Ayla nods, opens the letter, stamped with Kate’s signature seal, (an owl, of course) and reads it aloud.

“Dear Ayla,

I am writing to let you know that everything is okay; no need to worry. In fact, you can skip coming to the shack altogether; I am sure Aviro (the jeweller; you know, the one I worked for before I met you and Kate?) would give you shelter. Just don’t mention my name and ‘gem-cutting episode’ in the same sentence – ever.

Anyway, I must go now, my sweet; Kate needs me for something... it must be-”

By now Adam is interested. “Must be what?”

“That letter did not sound at all how Ciro would speak to you, Ayla” Aiden interjects. “He does usually write how he would speak, given the situation.”

“Look how the pen-mark drags off of the page, but downward” Violet puts in. “Is it just me, or does that seem suspicious?”

Aiden speaks again. “Yeah – almost like he was... dragged away from the letter or something.”

I take my turn in speaking. “I noticed a few things, other than the ones we already talked about. Ciro seemed kind of... frightened; it shows in the second sentence, when he says ‘In fact, you can skip coming to the shack altogether.’ And he pretty much pushes her away when he says ‘I’m sure Aviro will give you shelter’ directly after he tells her not to come to Kate’s shack.”

Adam asks us “Going back to the top of the letter, what about the part where he says that everything is okay, in the first sentence? Clearly, everything is not okay.” Then he turns to Ayla and asks “Did you pick that up, too, Ayla?”

She nods, a sign that she was listening; since she hasn’t done so yet, Ayla comments on the letter. “He’s fine to an extent; see here? He calls me ‘my sweet’, his alternate nickname for me.” Good to find some extent of normalcy within our troop.

Without warning, another gust of wind comes through the window, with Kate’s owl riding upon it, talons dripping with blood. Adam grabs the creature and ties the feet together and the wings at its sides, so it cannot escape, period.

With a cotton swab, he carefully takes a sample of blood from the writhing beast’s talons and places it on my aunt’s DNA scanner. We all huddle around the machine as the DNA is confirmed to be that of none other than Ciro Boreas. Ayla takes the bird in her hands, or tries to, but another hand reaches from behind her and grabs her wrist.

From where I am standing, I can see that the person is Kate, but her hand is so creased that it does not seem that way. Ayla starts whimpering, something she does if she is afraid. “G-Gramma... w-what are you doing here?”

“I came to see my baby-” Kate gasps when she sees Adam holding her owl, still bound by rope. With a snap of her fingers, the ropes come off and Kate’s eyes turn a ghastly cyan color.

“I call upon the soul of Ciro Boreas to assist me at this hour and place; come, Ciro, and help your mistress...” All of a sudden, a haze rises, revealing Ciro, in all his glory. Yet I sense something is not right; something is different. His eyes are ashy grey, with no pupils, not sea-blue, as they were yesterday.

“I am here, Madam... here to obey you... here to serve you...”

“Good boy, Ciro. Could you be a dear and take my baby home?” Kate delicately holds the owl out for Ciro to take.

“Yes, Madam...” he whispers before kissing her hand and taking the bird.

“Good boy...” After Ciro leaves, Kate turns to Ayla and says “Give me that paper, granddaughter.” Ayla tries to hide it behind her and whimpers “P-paper; what paper?”

“The one you have behind your back-”

“You can’t have it... Kate.” At the sound of her name coming from her granddaughter’s curvy lips, Kate gasps.

“I have never received so much disrespect, so much... disrepute from one person in my entire life!”

“A person of such ill repute should be accompanied by as bad a language, should they not, Gramma? You taught me that. You put that image, that idea in my head, so to you I say: no, I will not give you my letter.” Ayla then mutters a string of words too light to be curses, and, in a puff of smoke, Kate disappears.

The rest of us are standing there just wondering ‘What just happened?’ when Adam poses a more important question. “Hey, where’s Kellie?” I stare at him, my brow furrowed with worry. “She hasn’t-?”

“No; not that I know of, anyway.” Aiden leaves the kitchen (you can come into it through the garden doors) and returns holding a letter. It says:

Dearest children,

I am sorry that I left so abruptly – I need to talk to Lazarus; he needs to know about Kate right away. I may or may not make it back, depending on whether or not the journey through the Terrabyssian forest is short.

Deepest regards and the best of luck,

Kellie

PS: I left at about 6:25 this morning

“Marie” Adam asks while hugging me from behind “can you make me a sandwich?”

“Adam, I am very, very stressed right now; but the moment that my aunt walks into the kitchen, you will get your sandwich.”

“Oh, so now you want her to make it for me?”

“Yes, because I am very- Adam; Adam, is everything okay?” Adam, or so I assume it is him, replies in a deep, rumbling tone “No, Marie, everything is not okay... I have put my heart and soul into this relationship, and if you cannot accept that, then you can’t have anyone; no one at all!”

As I turn around, my beloved Adam transforms into our Realm’s national creature, the tisegron. I scream, but not before Ilmatar bursts in and saves me, with River and Katie at his heels. Aiden looks up and runs to Katie, kissing her cheeks feverishly. Violet copies the gesture with River.

As the tisegron (once Adam) lifts a clawed foot, Ilmatar shoots an arrow at his back. Adam screeches in pain and falls on the ground, whimpering. In an impulse, I kneel on the kitchen floor and try to gently remove the arrow from his back, without creating as much pain as possible.

He yelps when I try to pull the arrowhead out of his skin. Marie... it hurts so much, Marie; just let me die... As tears come into my eyes, I whisper “Oh, Adam... I am so very sorry.” I look up at Ilmatar and ask “Will he die, Your Highness?”

“No; it’s merely a flesh wound. Allow me to remove the arrowhead, Marie.” I hesitate, then back off and allow my King to treat the wound.

An hour later, around 9:30, Aunt Kellie comes home. By now, Adam is resting on the couch with a damp towel over the wound. “You bitch…” he whispers to me, with a crooked smile on his face. “You couldn’t just let me die, could you?” He is obviously joking, otherwise he wouldn’t be smiling.

“No, I couldn’t; you may not realize it, Adam, but I love you until death do either of us part.”

“I know, sweetheart- Jesus!”

“Is something wrong, Adam?”

“My back hurts like hell where the arrow penetrated…”

“I know, love… Do you think you could survive the trip to Kate’s farm?”

“It depends; how far is it?”

"It’s only 12 miles away, love.” Adam nods and mutters“Why can’t we take Ciro’s van?”

“We will, Adam; but Ayla should drive it. I think Ciro would trust her more with his ‘baby’.”

As I say this, Ayla’s head droops, like it does when Ciro collapses. “Ciro says we won’t ever have children, even after we get married... He says he doesn’t think he’ll be able trust me to take care of a child, much less his car.”

Once again, since Ciro is not here at present, Ayla looks to my boyfriend for comfort. "Ayla" he whispers to her "are you going to be okay?" She nods a few times, then shakes and screams. "Oh, God! Ciro; oh, no!" She makes a break for the door, grabbing her coat as she runs out.