Rowen's room was just as she had left it, still with two body-shaped imprints on the bed, even. She remembered lying there with Jason, bored but safe. She remembered Maria coming to their door, looking her part--a princess.

Maria!

Jason's head jerked up from the pillow and he frowned as his door was flung open to reveal Rowen in her flighter. "Come on!"

"Where are you going?"

"To find Maria. Come with?"

"Yes!" Jason exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Then he frowned. "Just warning you, Rowen...I have a weird feeling. I think I might have a vision soon."

Rowen grimaced. "We'll have to wait it out. Imagine what would happen if you lost control of your flighter?"

It didn't take too long for the vision to start.

Jason "woke up" quickly, immediately crying out, "She's in trouble!"

"Who? Maria?" Rowen quickly demanded.

"Yes! We need to go now!"

The friends took off for the throne room, and Jason explained his vision on the way. By the time they had reached the throne room, Rowen was terrified.

"What is the meaning of this?" roared the king as the double doors slammed open and the two teens sped into his throne room. They halted as guards with sparks jumping from their fingertips surrounded them.

"Your daughter! Maria! She's in trouble!" cried Rowen.

The king seemed to deflate. "I know.

"Princess Maria has been kidnapped by mountain trolls."

*

Rowen was startled by a knock on the door. "Come in," she called, hurriedly wiping the tears from her face and fanning herself with her hands.

Ayren came in, freezing when he saw the tear tracks on the blotchy face of the girl in front of him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Rowen broke down, to her utter embarrassment. Between sobs, she explained that Maria had been kidnapped by mountain trolls who, if Jason's vision was anything to go by, loved to "play with" (aka torture) their victims.

Ayren sighed. "This isn't good."

"Not good? She's my best friend, you asshole!" Rowen recovered, seeing the look on Ayren's face. "I'm sorry. I'm just so upset and--"

"I understand," soothed Ayren. "Do you want to continue training, to take your mind off of things?"

Rowen wiped the new tears from her cheeks and met his gaze fiercely. "Hell, yeah."

*

Ayren was thrilled to have his secret chambers back. After a short half hour training session with Rowen, he had raced to his rooms and called his master.

There were no greetings or casual small talk. Ayren immediately said, "The Blessed has began having visions."

"What has he seen?" the man demanded, the only clue to his shock being a slight pause before the words.

"The upcoming war--a battle. The One, dead. Oh, he also predicted the siege on SaveHaven. And that the princess has been captured by your mountain trolls."

"He is more powerful than we first thought. Are you winning him over?"

"Yeah. At first he seemed like he hated me and was grudgingly accepting the whole situation, but I've been winning them both over with menial things--cooking breakfast, chatting with them..."

"Good. The captured princess will definitely speed up the war. Oh, and leave a copy of the Forsaken Prophecy on The One's bed."

Ayren nodded and his master ended the call.

He sighed, sinking to the floor. He always felt so childish and unimportant after calls with his master, no matter what they discussed. Their years together, not to mention his army and notoriousness, made the man Ayren's superior, and gave him things to hold over his head.

But he couldn't rest and feel sorry for himself for long.

He had a war to plan, a princess to torture, a prophecy to deliver, and two fake friendships to win.

*

Rowen returned to her rooms with a full stomach (courtesy of the king) and an aching head (also courtesy of the king).

She missed the simplicity of her dimension, her mother's flightiness, her world where birds flew and humans didn't and your best friend doesn't get kidnapped by mountain trolls but comes over on Saturday nights to paint your nails and watch stupid movies with you. Rowen wanted her normal, if slightly boring, teenage life back. Over dinner with the royal court, she had realized that she could never go back. Sure, she could zip through that portal and never return, but just knowing about these other dimensions, about the existence of færies, would most likely break her mind. Either way, she was most likely going to go crazy or something.

That, and she definitely couldn't leave until Maria had been recovered.

She almost sat right on top of the scroll on her bed, she was so lost in her thoughts.

"What?" she murmured, unrolling it and scanning the title. "The Forsaken Prophecy?"

As Rowen read, her eyed widened. She knocked on the door connecting her and Jason's rooms. 

He opened it and smiled wearily. "Hey."

"I got a scroll!" exclaimed Rowen. "And it has this prophecy on it...it sounds like it was written by a seven year old, but I think it's talking about us!"

"That's ridiculous!" Jason snorted.

Rowen unrolled the parchment and began reading.

The Forsaken Prophecy

Three young people

with one fey

will arrive in Tamría

to help save the say

Good or bad, that's up to them.

No one else can say

how the story will end.

"Then it goes on to describe three people that sound like us!" Rowen said excitedly. "It says one of us will have hair the color of midnight--you, of course. But then it says auburn tresses for two of the people...Maria and me!"

"Does it describe anything else?"

"Yeah, but it's scratched out. Whoever translated this only left the important bits, I think. The last line just gives out titles and purposes. 'The Blessed, the princess and the One." Rowen grinned at it. "Oh, boy. Incorrect punctuation..."

Jason punched her shoulder. "The purposes, what about the purposes?"

"Cutting out the flowery language, the Blessed has visions of the future, sometimes near, sometimes far, the princess...huh. The princess doesn't have a description. It just skips straight to the One, and it says that the One was chosen to kill the dark. How do you kill dark?"

Jason, tired of Rowen's thought process jumping about, snatched the scroll from her hands and scanned the words. His eyes widened. "Rowen...this isn't in English! This is in another language!"

Rowen took it back. In her eyes, it was clearly written in a legible language. "No, it isn't." Seeing Jason's incredulous stare she amended, "Well, I can read it, anyway."

"It's 'cause you're special," Jason said in a mock patronizing tone. Rowen tackled him, dropping the scroll on the floor.

Jason pinned her arms to her sides and flopped across her stomach. She grunted and squealed with indignation.

"We should be figuring out the scroll thingy," she huffed, trying to squirm out of his grip.

"Fine," Jason said reluctantly, releasing her.

"Okay, you're probably the Blessed," said Rowen, completely down to business and slightly regretting it. "Maria's the princess, Ayren might be the fey mentioned in the first verse, and I'm the One. That's probably why I can read the scroll."

"The One what?" asked Jason.

"I dunno. Just...the One."

"You make no sense."

"No, you don't make sense."

"And you're immature."

"No, you're immature."

"You are the One, a fabled legend who is supposed to 'save the day' alongside the princess of the færies and the Blessed."

Rowen crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

Ayren knocked on the door and barged into the bedroom without permission. "Training!"