The second Adriana realized this, was the second that everything came together.

        This whole time Adriana had been convinced that Dawn was just having some time to herself, to get over Kabos and come to be her normal self again. She had believed that Dawn would come home, good as new, ready to lead the kingdom at her sister's side. But that wasn't the case.

        Dawn had changed. She was Dark, she had gone over the edge, she was gone. As Adriana looked into the darkened eyes of her twin, she saw something that she had never seen in Dawn before: hate. The emotion had never shown in Dawn previously, even when she had fought with Ad, even when she had discovered Kabos' betrayal, even when she was in her bedroom for days afterwards, refusing to speak to anyone or see anything outside. Dawn had always been the Light one, the one who was an example to Adriana, the one who could calm Adriana's temper and always knew what to say. But now, her eyes were full of hatred, terrible hatred and a desire for revenge on an act that had never occurred.

        "Dawn, please tell me what I can do to help y---"

        "You've done enough." Dawn spat out, backing away from Adriana slowly. "You just wait, Adriana. You just wait. I'll be back, and I won't be alone. All of the armies and magic in the world won't be able to stop us. You'll see...I'll be back."

        And with that, the Dark Princess was gone, vanished into the air in the same way she had appeared.

        Adriana could still feel her heart pounding in her chest as she stared at the spot where Dawn had stood just moments ago. How had she changed so drastically? How could she not see reason? Who was she bringing back with her?

        A low moan sounded from behind Adriana and she spun around, realizing that she had completely forgotten about James.

        "Oh my goodness, James!" Adriana cried out, running to his side. His eyes were just barely open, and his left arm had a massive bruise from where Dawn's lightning had hit him. "James, are you alright? Can you hear me?"

        James looked at Adriana in utter confusion through his half-open eyes, and Ad felt her heart start to pound.

        "James? James, answer me!" she knelt down at his side, gently placing her hand on his forehead. A small gasp escaped her lips. He was burning with fever, one higher than any Adriana had experienced before.

        "We need to get you to the infirmary." Adriana said quietly before realizing that James wasn't really able to utter a reply. She stood and tucked her hands under his back carefully. As she started to lift James, her knees buckled under his weight and he crashed back to the ground.

        "Oh goodness, I'm so sorry!" Ad cried as a loud, pain-filled moan echoed from James. She had spent her entire life having things moved for her, being served food, drink, and anything she ever could want. All those years of sitting around and watching others do her dirty work hadn't exactly prepared her to lift a full-grown man off the ground.

        Magic, Ad thought, I can use magic to lift him.

        She had never used her powers for manual labor before, but there had to be a first time for everything.

        Mustering up all her power and concentration while ignoring James' increasingly loud whimpers of pain, Adriana focused on James' body lifting from the ground and staying airborn for as long as possible. She felt the familiar sensation that she had come to associate with the casual use of her powers: a deep warmth that began in her chest and spread throughout her body until it reached the tips of her fingers and began to trail into the air.

        Adriana watched as James stayed stationary for a moment before his head slowly started to rise off of the ground. His head was followed by his neck, chest, torso, legs, and finally his feet lifted up. Ad waited as his body slowly straightened out to become parallel with the ground three feet below him.

        Concentrate, Ad. the princess thought, Don't let him fall.

        James floated through the air, his face shwoing a combination of pain and confusion. Adriana slowly and carefully led him up the steps and in through the castle doors, ignorning the strange looks she recieved from the palace guards. They journeyed down the hallway until they reached the infirmary, which Adriana entered to hear three simulateous gasps.

        "James!" the high-pitched, terrified cry of a worried sister was the first thing heard as Adriana laid James down on one of the beds. Skylar ran over to examine her brother, while Jasmine and Rissa turned to Adriana in astonishment.

        "What happened?" Jasmine asked, walking over to see what was wrong with James. 

        "Before I get into that, may I ask why the two of you who aren't nurses are lounging about in the infirmary?"

        "Skylar has been training with Jasmine to become her assistant." Rissa explained, "And I needed an ingredient for a certain potion."

        "Assistant?" Adriana repeated, "Why?"

        Skylar turned away from her brother to face Adriana.

        "I figured that since I am approaching my 18th birthday, I should find something to do with my life. Since I'm already able to help people mentally, I want to be able to help people physically too." she shrugged. "I'm already a regular presence at the castle, and Jasmine's the best that there is. It just made sense."

        "Wow," Adriana grinned widely. "That's great! Congratulations, Skylar."

        "Thanks." Skylar offered a small smile. "But back to the issue at hand---what happened to my brother?"

        Adriana explained Dawn's sudden appearance, her blow to James, the sisters' fight, and Dawn's threat.

        "Honestly, I don't know what to do about her." Ad finished, "She's beyond reason. She just wants revenge, and instead of her rage being directed at Kabos, it's directed at me."

        "Maybe she's still in shock from---"

        "She's not." Adriana cut her aunt off mid-sentence. "She's not. I saw her, I heard her. She's some sort of...villian now. She knows what she wants and she's determined to get it."

        "We must take this news to the king and queen." Jasmine said worriedly, "Skylar, accompany Princess Adriana to Their Highness' throne room. We must protect the Princess at all costs."

        "But Jasime, what about James---"

        "Your brother will be fine." Jasmine promised, "This is nothing I haven't seen before. Just some bruising on the back of the head and left arm, and a relatively high fever. Go with the Princess."

        Skylar nodded and led the way out of the room, Adriana following close behind.

        Once the girls were safely out of the infirmary, Jasmine turned to Rissa.

        "We have a problem." the nurse whispered to the sorceress. "There are only two possibilities that await James. He is either going to lose all of his memories...or die."

---

A/N: DUH DUH DUH. I came up with that last part at the spur of the moment in English today and now I'm excited for how it's going to affect the rest of the story.

Comment below letting me know what you thought of this chapter! I was much better about uploading this time ;)

Also, BIG NEWS. Well, kind of big. As some of you may know, I published a trilogy a little while back called the Spy TEC trilogy. A few days ago I uploaded the prologue of the first book on Wattpad in my first-ever "Published Preview". Click on my profile to check it out, and let me know what you think of it! The description of the book includes more about that and what it's about.

For now, don't forget to vote, comment, and check back for more!

-Katherine