Annie's POV-

I shut off the face timer thing as Damien says, "My dad told me something interesting."

"What did he say?" I ask him.

"He said that he knows some things about Didian, since he was born there."

"Maybe we could question him first and then go to the library," I say.

"Question my father?" he asks.

"Yeah."

"Why would we do that?"

"To get information," I say slowly.

"No. I trust my father," Damien says. "This is just like the time where you said it was alright to kill Mom. Well, it isn't alright."

"Damien," I say. "Didn't you hear what Ember said?" He shakes his head. "Queen Aria is poisoned. Aralynn did it and Aria only has five or so days to live."

"And? How does that have anything to do with Dad?"

"We have to find Nailea because if Ari and Aaron don't find the spell, Aria will die. Scarlet needs Nailea if Aria dies. And if your father has any information to help, so be it."

"What if he doesn't have anything to help us?" he shoots back.

"Then we go to the library, dummy," I say. "They obviously came here from Didian and might know a thing about the disappearance of Nailea."

"But they might not know anything either."

"Then we do some digging ourselves."

"I still don't agree with questioning my dad."

"Oh my gosh, why not?" I yell.

"He is my dad!"

"Everything okay in there?" Damien's father asks outside his room.

"Could you come in here?" I ask as Damien, "Yeah it is!"

The door opens and Mr. Miles comes in. "Is there a problem?" he asks while walking in.

"Yes," I say, glaring at Damien. "We have some questions."

Mr. Miles' face pales. "Did you guys do some . . . things?" he asks.

"No," I say. "We have some questions about Didian."

Color returns to his face, but not much. "What do you need to know about Didian?" he asks.

"We just want to ask some questions about Scarlet and what you knew about her," I say. "And if you know anything about a spell."

Finally Damien speaks up. "And about Nailea."

"Oh so you decide to interrogate your father now?" I ask him. All he does is glare at me.

Mr. Miles watches us, eyes wide. "Anyways," I say, "here's the first question. How did you meet Scarlet?"

He sits on Damien's bed and says, "I meet her when she ran away."

I nod. "How long did you live in Didian?" I ask him.

"For about twenty years before Scarlet and I came here," he says. 

"Do you know anything about a spell?" Damien asks. I raise my eyebrows at him. 

"There's tons of spells in Didian," Mr. Miles says, frowning. "Which one are you talking about?" 

"I don't really know," Damien says. "And did you know about Nailea?"

"Yes," Mr. Miles says. "Scarlet hated her for leaving."

"That's all the questions I can think about," I tell him. "Thank you Mr. Miles."

"You're welcome," he says, smiling. "And you can call me Jason."

"I'll try," I tell him, returning his smile. "But I'll most likely call you Mr. Miles for a while."

"Don't call him Jason," Damien says. I turn to look at him.

"I said I wouldn't," I tell him sharply. 

Mr. Miles sits on Damien's bed awkwardly. "We gotta go," Damien says. "We're going to the library."

"Uh, okay," he says. "Bye. Be safe." 

I nod as we walk outside. "What is wrong with you?" I ask Damien as we walk to his car.

"It's disrespectful to call a grown-up you just met by their first name," he says shortly. 

"I'm sorry he offered for me to call him Jason. I told you I wouldn't call him that yet," I say. 

"And I didn't want to interrogate him," he says.

I groan as I get in his car. I get in the back seat so I don't have to be next to him. He slams the car door when getting in the drivers side. He speeds to the library quickly. I get out of the car and I walk inside the library. I find Jezevell and Morrigan and say, "Can we talk?"

"Sure," Morrigan says. Damien finally joins me in the library. 

"We're trying to find someone," I tell them. "Princess Nailea."

Jezevell gasps. "How do you know about her?"

"I'm best friends with the queens daughter and this guy here is Scarlet's son. That's how I know," I say angrily. I see their surprised faces so I say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take my anger out on you two. I'm mad at someone else."

Morrigan and Jezevell look at each other. "All we know is that Nailea is in the mortal world," Morrigan says. "That's it."

I groan yet again. I notice a streak of blonde running through the bookshelves. I follow the blonde streak. It starts running so I run after it. "Hey!" I yell. "Stop!"

The blonde streak looks like a woman. I intercept her and tackle her. "Who are you?" I ask her. 

I sit up but still stay on her so she can't get up. She looks at me and says, "What do you mean, you don't know?" she says. 

I stare at her until it hits me. "I know who you are," I whisper. "Mom?"

"Yup," she says with a far-off smile. "I'm also Aralynn's mother. Did you know that?" 

I nod, unable to talk . "Why are you here?" she says. 

"Why are you here?" I ask her. 

"Good question," she says. 

Damien runs to the end of the bookcase. "What happened here?" he asks. 

"Nothing," I snap. 

"Annalise, dear," Mom says, "be nice to people. Especially this cutie here."

I glare at her. "Jessica, you don't have a say in that," I tell her. "Especially with him."

Damien says, "Jessica? Your mother?"

I nod, not looking at him. "Oh! You know this boy, don't you?" Mom says. 

"Yeah, but I'm mad at him right now," I reply. 

"Annie-"

"Annalise, could you get off me?" Mom asks. 

I stand up quickly and she stands up as well. "Now, let's go somewhere decent where we can talk," she says. "And cutie boy, leave us alone for a bit. I just want some Mommy and Daughter time."

"No," he says. "I'm not gonna leave her alone."

"Damien," I say. "You can go back to Jezevell and Morrigan."

He tries to say something but thinks better of it. He leaves Jessica and me alone. "Follow me," she says and I follow her.

She leads me to a back room that is similar to the one Ari, Ember, Damien, and I were at not so long ago. "Now we may talk," Mom says. "Whatcha wanna talk about?"

"Do you know of a magical place called Didian?" I ask her.

Her eyes light up. "Of course! I was born there, dummy. I have a power as well!"

"And what is your power?" I ask her.

She closes her eyes and says, "I can stop time! Look at your watch!" I look at my watch and its not moving. "And guess what!"

"What?"

"Jessica isn't my real name either!" she whispers dramatically. "It's Jenai!"

"Pretty," I say and she smiles warmly at me.

"Annalise, do you know what I wanted to call you instead of that?" she says suddenly.

"What?" I ask her.

"I wanted to call you Imogen," she says. "It was my mothers name."

I nod. "Why'd you decide to call me Annie?" I ask her. "Well, Annalise."

"It was your father," she says, nodding. "He called you Annalise because of the magic book."

"Magic book? What do you mean by magic book?" I ask her.

"Magical Abilities? No. Magical Powers? No. Magical-"

"Magical Properties?" I ask her.

"Yeah! That's it!"

"I actually have that book with me," I say, rummaging through my bag. I pull it out and she grabs at it, running her hand along the cover.

"Have you read through it at all?" she asks.

"No I haven't," I tell her.

"Good."

I stare at her, confused. What did she mean by good? All she does is smile at me.

"Do you know about any spells?" I ask her instead.

"Nope," she says. "I was the only one in my village to have a power but I wasn't considered like one who has powers because they said it was a lowly power."

She glares at the book. "What village did you live in?" I ask her.

"Jivin."

"I've never heard of that place," I say.

"They held festivals every year, celebrating the people with no magic," she says bitterly. "They despised anyone who got a magical ability."

"Why?"

"Because it wasn't normal," she spat.

I glance around, looking for someone. "That's not good," I tell her. "I don't know what I'd do without my power. Its like its apart of me."

"It is," Mom says. "It is apart of you and your life. You can't just live without it."

I nod again. "Do you know about the missing Princess Nailea?" I ask her.

"Nope," she says again. "Nothin' about her rings a bell." I groan internally. "Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"Yeah it is," I tell her. "Thanks for this."

"You're welcome, dear Annalise," she says.

"Where are you staying?" I ask her.

"In here."

"In the library?" I ask. She nods. "I'll find you a place. Maybe you could stay at Ember's aunts house. Or Damien's house."

I grab her hand as we walk to the main part of the library. She says, "I like it here. There's so many untold stories that just want to be heard."

I raise my eyebrows but say nothing. We finally find Damien and I let go of her hand. "I'll see you later," I tell her. "I need to talk to him right now, though."

"Okay," she says. "Bye bye Annalise."

"Bye." I wave as Damien and I walk outside. We stand in an awkward silence. "Are we gonna be okay?" I ask him quietly.

"What do you mean?" he says with barely any emotion.

"Us, you know? Our relationship," I tell him.

His eyes soften as he says, "Of course. Just a little argument."

I look down at the ground. "You sure?" I finally ask.

He surprises me by hugging me. I wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest. "I'm sure," he murmurs. He lets go of me, saying, "What did she talk about?"

"Well, she's from Didian," I tell him. "She is a time stopper. She came from a town called Jivin, where ever that is. And she knows nothing about Nailea."

"Man," he says. "Maybe we could ask Ember's aunt and uncle a couple of questions."

"Good idea," I say. "Wait, does she still have Magical Properties?"

I search through my bag and I don't find it. "Crud," I say. "I gotta go back inside."

I quickly walk back inside and I find Mom. "Do you still have Magical Properties?" I ask her.

She giggles and says, "Oops. Here it is."

I smile at her and I say, "Thanks."

I take it out of her hand and walk back outside. "Got it," I tell Damien.

"Okay. Let's go to Ember's house," he says.

We get in the car and he drives there. We get out and I knock on the door to see that it opens. "What in the world?" I say quietly. Damien heads in first, with his sword drawn. I grab my bow and arrows out of the bag, nock on arrow, and walk in behind him.

"Hello?" he calls out. Suddenly, I see shadows converging on me and I see darkness.
(:)(:)(:)
I open my eyes slowly. I look around to see Damien tied up next to me. A man is standing in the corner, watching us. He has a mask over his face, a mask made of black leather. "I see you're finally awake," he says, his voice deep. "Well, one of you is awake."

I try to talk but the gag in my mouth makes it difficult. The man just laughs. His laugh sparks recognition, but I don't know where or who its from. Damien jolts so I look at him. His eyes open and they dart around. "Finally you are awake," the man says. "Now why do you think you're here? Oh, right! You can't talk!"

Damien and I look at each other. "Annalise, you might know who I am," the man says. "But I can't take any chances that you might recognize me. I have to stay secret so you won't turn me in."

I hear a quiet noise. I pay no attention to it as he says, "I have other people I have kidnapped." He grins maliciously. "You might know them."

I suddenly see something glint and the man falls down. "Hi Annalise," the person says.

She walks over to Damien and me and takes off our gags. "Mom?" I ask. "How'd you get here?"

"I followed you," she says simply.

"Could you untie us?" Damien asks.

Mom nods and she quickly unties us. "Thanks," I tell her.

She looks down at the man and says, "Is that Michael?"

I nod, looking down at the man I used to live with for all of my life. "Aralynn's father right?" Damien asks.

"Yes," Mom says quietly. "Let's tie him up."

"Okay," I say and Damien and I tie him up in the chair. "So, who's older? Aralynn or me?"

"Aralynn," she says softly. "I miss her. How is she doing?"

"Uh-" I say, not wanting to say how she was evil, "she's great. She's in Didian right now."

"Really?" she asks. "How's Olliar?"

"Oh, uh, great too," I say, looking at Damien.

"Michael said that he kidnapped other people," Damien says. "Maybe we should find them."

"Good idea," I say and notice that something is missing from my wrist. "He took the holograms!"

"I wonder where he put them," Damien says. "Anyway, let's go find those other people."

We all head separate ways. Well, that's what I thought. "Annalise," Mom says right beside me.

I jump and say, "Yes?"

"I saw how angry you were at that boy," she says and I look at her. "Promise me that you two figured it out."

I'm so confused but I say, "Yeah we did. Why?"

"That's the reason why Olliar left me. I made him so angry that he just left me with you," she says, finally sounding sane. "I couldn't bear to take care of you alone so I left you on Michael's doorstep."

"Damien and I are fine," I tell her. "We've been through a lot together already."

I grin at her. "That's good, honey," she says, smiling.

"Why didn't you ever come and get me back?" I ask her.

"Because I was too scared," she says shamefully.

"Olliar came and found me once when I ran away," I say, walking slowly. "I ran away because Michael hurt me."

"What did he do?" she says, dangerously quiet.

"He hit me because I wanted to stay after school for an activity."

"Honey, I'm so sorry," she whispers.

"It's fine," I tell her.

"Annie!" Damien yells from across the house. "I found people!"

"Okay! I'm coming!" I yell back. Mom and I run to where we heard Damien's voice. We walk into a room and see Ember's aunt, uncle, and cousins.

"Nova?" I say as Damien takes off their gags.

"Hello," she says.

"Why'd Michael kidnap you?" Damien asks her.

"Because he figured out who I am," she says.

"Who are you then?" I ask her.

"Crown Princess Nailea of Didian."