Foster was breathless.
Seeing a beast attack someone should've been enough to deprive him of air, but he couldn't honestly say that was all there was to explain this feeling he had.
The boy watched as Kara paced around inside. After she'd come back in the house and Sylvan's injuries had been looked at, she demanded once again that they all leave to find Lily. Foster understood this.
The two girls had known each other since grade school, and he could never recall a time when the two girls had been apart deliberately.
They did everything together, so her disappearance had to be painful.
Peony had refused again, claiming that it was too dangerous to go so soon after this occurrence.
"For all we know," she had told her,
"other beasts could be out there now, awaiting our arrival. You must give it time, or Lily will become like bait on the end of one of your Flightless fishing lines."
Despite this, Kara pressed on, going so far as to insult Peony and partially threaten her.
Sylvan had taken this in fearfully, and so had Foster. He had never seen Kara act like this before. Even her rage after their breakup hadn't been this bad.
Fire had blazed in her eyes, and smoke had risen from her hands.
Well, it looked like it had.
No, that wasn't what had happened.
It couldn't be.
He was just tired and had imagined it.
At the moment, Kara had finished pacing, and turned sharply to throw herself upon the nearest couch.
She sat up and leaned back against some shimmering, moss colored pillows.
"I don't get it," she muttered.
"When you were in trouble, Foster,
Sunny and Rowan left immediately to look for you. Sylvan didn't have to think twice about it. It just doesn't make sense. Why can't the same thing be done for Lily? Don't they care?"
Foster nodded, trying to comfort her.
"I'm sure they do. Maybe they just want to play it safe. I mean, you can't really blame them.
Demise beasts would kill a fairy without a moment's thought."
Kara sighed. She smoothed down her rumpled hair and nodded. "I know. I need to calm down, but it's just...so hard.
Lily needs our help right now. That should be a good enough reason to go look for her.
If we don't go soon, the beasts might get impatient, and..and they might-!"
Kara's voice faltered, and she grew quiet, wrapping her arms around herself out of nervousness. "I didn't want to think about it before, but..I've got to, now.
What will we do if they hurt her?
What if she's hurt right now and needs us?
We might not find out until..until-"
Foster could feel her anguish.
There was so much of it that it seemed to come off of her in shuddering, undulating waves. He didn't hesitate and took her hand, lifting her head ever so slightly to brush away a stray tear. "Hey, wait. Kara, don't jump to conclusions.
Sure, they might've done that, but..there's also a chance they didn't." He smiled, but as soon as he did, she pushed him away, sniffling and turning away from him.
The pain in his chest from his recent mistake worsened as he looked at her.
God, she was beautiful.
She only became more so every day.
He wished he could turn back time and prevent himself from ever hurting her.
Now it was too late.
All he could do was be there for her.
That was the only thing that would make things better, but it was killing him inside to be with her this way.
Think positive, he reminded himself.
At least she's still friends with you.
Kara took a breath and gave him a brisk nod.
She straightened her shirt out of habit and gave him a weak smile, her hazel eyes full of suppressed tears. "I guess so. Foster?"
Foster looked at her with hope.
Maybe she'd rethought everything! "Yes?"
"Peony and Sylvan said they would think about looking for Lily. It's been more than enough time. We need to hurry them up."
Foster fought back an outraged remark and just agreed with her. "Yeah..sure.
Um, maybe we can listen in and see what they're saying. They're probably almost done." Before Kara could answer him, he went to the door to the room Sylvan and Peony were in and pressed his ear against it.
If Foster had learned anything from Kara, it was that you just had to jump right in sometimes, and not overthink it. This was one of those times.
Kara chuckled, faintly surprised. "Okay, then." She came to stand beside him and pressed her ear to it too. At first, the conversation was quiet as they spoke about Lily, but the topic changed rather rapidly. "Peony," Sylvan was saying. "Peony, please. Before you go, I..I need to talk to you." Peony's voice was monotonous.
"I don't want to talk.
You know what my answer is."
Sylvan's voice became louder and more serious. "I know, but..I can't accept that. This doesn't have to be something we tell everyone. Peony, I..I can't go on like this."
"You must. If you don't, we'll both either be brought to prison or killed."
"Not if it's our secret." Sylvan moved, probably closer to the other fairy. "Peony, I-"
That's when Foster leaned too much against the door, causing it to open.
Kara yelped as the door moved, causing them both to fall on the ground when the door swung away from them.
Peony looked at them with contempt.
Her hands were on her hips, and her purple hair hung down around her. Sylvan was only an inch or two away from her, but she backed away at once when she saw Foster and Kara. Her complexion darkened, and she glared at the unwelcome listeners.
"What do you two think you're doing?"
Foster got up first, his face red from shame.
He brushed himself off and tried to explain, but he couldn't find the right words.
"Uh, um, we were just, uh-"
Kara, once she was on her feet again, abruptly came clean. "We were eavesdropping."
Peony crossed her arms.
"Why were you doing that, exactly?"
Foster stepped in. "You took a long time, that's all. Um...are we going to look for Lily?"
Peony cast a glance back at Sylvan.
It wasn't her look that caused death, though it nearly was. "Yes. We shall leave now.
Gather your things up if you need to."
Sylvan spoke up, puzzled. "But what about-"
"We'll talk later, Sylvan."
The purple haired fairy moved with a certain elegance, despite her annoyance.
Foster was curious still, but he didn't pry. Sylvan trailed after her, looking solemn once more, but also rather bewildered.
Kara turned to follow her, but Foster grabbed her arm before she could get very far.
"Kara, wait," he said. "I don't think we should go." His ex turned on him at that statement. "What do you mean? We have to save Lily!"
"I know, but the last time I was in that forest, a demise beast kidnapped me."
He was wary now. "That's why I'm a fairy, Kara. Those things, they forced me to touch this rock...I can't. I really can't go out there again." Kara took his hand.
This action took Foster by surprise.
"You can. Listen, Peony and Sylvan will be with us. If any demise beasts try to come near us, their magic will protect us."
Foster straightened his glasses from nervousness. "Are you sure?
They're stronger now, aren't they?"
Kara shrugged. "Well, yeah, but I've got magic too. I fought off one with fire."
Foster was amazed. "Fire? How?"
Kara shook her head.
"That's a story for another time."
She squeezed his hand comfortingly.
"Come on, scaredy cat. Lily needs us."
Foster's fright had gone away with her words. He felt unstoppable-no, it was much more than that. Kara made him feel invincible.
"Alright. I'll go, but if I get hurt, I don't know how I'll forgive you."

Lily woke up, but not upon hard ground-a bed with soft covers was where she found herself. Her hand instinctively went to the mark on her neck, and she felt fabric there, as if someone had bandaged up the bite. As she looked down at her injury, she gained more awareness.
She was bandaged, but who had helped her? Her vision blurred again, but not from tears. There were flashes of color, like little bits of a kaleidoscope's innards, and her eyesight was fine again.
Pounding bursts of pain were going through her head, and she frowned, closing her eyes as she winced. Her heart hammered against her chest and rib cage, like a bird trying to escape containment. Oh my god, she thought.
This is it, I'm dying. I don't want to die now.
I haven't done enough.
A voice broke into her tormented thoughts. "Here. I brought you some soup...that is what you're supposed to bring people when they're hurt, right? Maybe that's just for when they're sick..oh no, I'm doing it all wrong..."
Lily opened her eyes slowly. The pain in her head grew worse, and she stifled a scream.
Her vision cleared fully, and a boy with blond hair and kind brown eyes looked at her with concern. He looked to be about her age, maybe younger, clothed in a loose brown shirt and jeans, his hand in his pant pockets.
Lily blinked up at him. Was she hallucinating? He had wings, small, slender ones that faced downwards on his back, and they shone with inner light.
She rubbed her eyes roughly, then sat up in her bed and squinted.
Nope, not a hallucination.
Not a dream, either. There they were, as prominent as the pain she was feeling.
None of the others had had wings.
Why only him?
She cleared her throat and spoke.
"Oh, um..I'm not that hungry."
"Well, you have to eat something."
The boy put forth a bashful smile. "I'm sorry. I've never had to take care of someone like this before. I don't know what you like, but I'm sure you could tell me."
Lily adjusted her position on the bed.
She hadn't expected to see a fairy like him here-his face expressed only curiosity, no hostility. He treated her with a certain significance, and no one here ever had before. However, she didn't know him, so this interest couldn't  be appreciated fully.
She narrowed her eyes at him, shrinking back and pulling the covers close when he drew nearer. "Are you one of them?"
The boy looked at her with confusion now. "One of..them?"
"Yeah. Um...they have horns, and yellow eyes.
I don't see anything like that on you, but-"
The boy interrupted her.
"Oh no, I'm not a demise beast.
You won't find any of those here. You're safe." He smiled again and put down the bowl of soup he'd been holding upon a small bedside table. "I know it might be a touchy subject, but I just had to ask. Is that how you got that bite?"
Lily nodded. She could remember the attack well, though it didn't hurt to talk about it.
"I did. I'm alive, so that's good, but I don't really understand how I came out of it okay.
A bite to the neck should've bled out to the point of..well, not living anymore."
The fairy boy answered soon enough.
"Any injury from a magical creature usually heals faster than a regular one for...certain reasons."
Lily was apprehensive. "What reasons?"
The boy looked uncomfortable.
"I'd rather not be the one to tell you that. You're a human, right?"
"Yeah, and you're a..." Lily searched him for his wings, but they were no longer there. She squinted, and they returned, albeit a bit faded. "A..fairy?"
The boy looked amazed at this response.
"Yeah. How did you-"
Another person entered the room she was in, a lean, red haired boy that looked older than the other one was. He leaned against the wall in a way that indicated indifference to what was going on. Lily didn't like the look in his eyes.
"Oh, good." The golden haired boy turned to him eagerly. "Kyle, you're here.
I need some help explaining this."
The boy, this so called Kyle, examined her, then nodded. "Yeah, I thought you might need some help. Has the veil come down for her yet?" "A little. She said I was a fairy, so it must've." Kyle shook his head.
"Toby, it'd be best if you tell her about what's going on. I mean, you were the one that wanted to help her in the first place."
The blond boy named Toby sighed.
He looked uneasy, as if this was a hard thing to admit. Lily hated not understanding what they meant, but all she could do was wait for them to tell her. "Can someone please tell me something already? Whatever you have to say, I think I can handle it."
Kyle smirked. "Alright, well, it all depends on what bit you. What gave you that bite?"
Lily laid back down in her bed, resting her sore head on the pillow behind her.
"I think it was a dragon...he used to be a person, though. He could change back and forth...his name was Everett."
When the two boys beside her turned incredibly pale, Lily's unease increased.
"Um, why are you all looking at me like that?"
Toby replied shakily. "B-Because something like this hasn't happened in a long time.
You were bitten by a shapeshifter, so that's what you'll become, and the transformation this involves is deadly. I'm sorry to say this, but humans don't usually survive a process like this. There's...well, there's a chance that.."
Toby scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Um, Kyle, help me out here."
Kyle frowned. "Fine. You're a Flightless, and no Flightless has the strength or willpower to survive the process this involves...you're going to die."