It was only after about ten minutes that Anna's corner of the stretcher began to lag towards the ground. Soon, mine joined hers.

My arms burned from the effort of keeping the stretcher aloft. I focused on sucking in breaths and exhaling quickly so I could take in more air, attempting to do so quietly so that Melody and Theo couldn't hear me struggling. I could already hear poor Anna's labored breathing diagonally from me.

Soon, I could no longer control the loudness of my breathing. "Hang in there," Melody muttered from next to me.

I felt a flash of irritability - what did she think I was doing? Regardless, I soldiered onwards.

Soon, my arms started to tremble with effort. The rest of my body quickly followed suit. I could barely lift my feet to stumble onwards.

Suddenly, Anna fell, and with it, her corner of the stretcher. The sudden added weight on my corner and the stretcher's new, awkward angle ripped the pole out of my hands. Melody and Theo were also yanked downwards. Griffin yelled sharply out of pain.

Quickly, it became obvious what had happened. Anna had either tripped due to an obstruction or from sheer exhaustion, consequently dropping her pole. Griffin was lying nearly motionless on the ground, moaning, obviously struggling to remain conscious, his expression agonized.

I dropped to my knees, guiltily thankful for this reason to rest. My wounded leg felt like it was on fire and my hands were red and raw, aching with a dull pain that made it feel like my skin was peeling right off.

As Theo attended to his wounded friend, Melody turned her attention to Anna and me. The child promptly burst into tears.

I stared in surprise at her. It hadn't taken the threat of deadly Highborn guards, having to flee the only home she had ever known, seeing her friend get badly hurt, or being trapped in the middle of the woods to break Anna - it had taken this, accidentally hurting her friend.

"I'm - sorry," she gasped out between sobs. The emotion of the past few days, all of the fear and discomfort, seemed to be bubbling to the surface now.

"Calm down," Melody ordered in a terse tone that didn't really help matters.

I crawled over to Anna and took her in my arms, stroking her knotted hair gently. The feeling of her shaking body curled against mine made tears rise to my eyes as well, but I bit my lower lip resolutely, refusing to break now.

"I was a fool to think this would work," Melody muttered, running her hands over her hair. She looked utterly hopeless.

"I can't keep going," Anna whispered, fresh tears rising as she glanced plaintively at us. "I'm sorry."

My eyes met Melody's over the child's head and I could tell that she understood from my expression that I, too, had no strength left.

And from her gaze, I knew that she was lost as to what to do.

I couldn't blame her. For the last few days, she had been solely keeping us alive by providing our food and building and stoking our fires. She had been turning her desperation into frustration, which she had then, in turn, had used as fuel to keep stoically marching onwards. Deep down, I had been expecting - and dreading - this eventual crack in her armor.

And I could see the fissure quickly widening.

Hurriedly, I began to speak, the words appearing in my brain as quickly as I could speak them. "How often are scouting parties sent out?" I asked.

"One is sent out as soon as the last returns. We're far off course, though."

"When are we expected back?" I was quickly formulating a plan.

Melody thought for a long moment, tallying the time we had spent in the woods. "Tomorrow," she said, and I heard a note of hope in her voice.

Over her shoulder, I noticed Theo and Griffin quietly paying attention to our conversation. Spirits bolstered by their attention, I continued. "So if we're not back by tomorrow, what will they do?"

"Assume the worst and send out a tracking group," Melody replied, the hopefulness in her voice mounting as she slowly realized my plan.

"And how do we figure out which direction the camp is in?" I inquired.

We all turned to Anna.

She smiled slightly, sniffing, her eyes thoroughly bloodshot from her impromptu sobbing session. "If we're close enough, I could sense the people I know. They...imprint themselves on me, in a way."

"Do you think we're close enough for that spell to work?" I asked hopefully.

Anna's smile dimmed. "Maybe," she replied, sounding doubtful.

I clapped my hands together resolutely. "Okay. Try it. If we're not close enough, we'll make camp for the night. Wait it out."

The others seemed shocked that I was taking charge for once, but finally, Melody smiled slowly and Anna closed her eyes to concentrate on the magic.

I moved to sit next to Griffin. "Hey," I greeted him quietly. "Are you okay?"

Griffin managed a weak grin. "Yeah. I'll be fine. I always am."

"You've gotten hurt like this before?" I asked incredulously.

"First year with the People, I got trapped in a burning building due to some miscommunication and shattered my leg jumping out of an attic window. Second year - infection almost led to me losing my right hand. Third year, I fell off of a horse and sprained both wrists. Fourth year, my lungs had to be magically pumped dry after I almost drowned. Fifth year...well, that's this year."

I shook my head in awe. "Ouch," was all I could think to say to all of that. I clearly remembered the biggest injury I had ever sustained, and it hadn't been as dire. I had fallen from my horse when I was about nine years old and lightly sprained my ankle. Not only had a team of doctors attended to me day and night to ensure that I felt none of the pain and healed unnaturally quickly, but the path on which I had been riding was fully repaired and the horse who had bucked me was sold. I doubted any of Griffin's situations had gotten such attention - at least, positive attention. How many of his injuries had been taken care of solely by Theo? Had any of them received professional - magical - care?

Just because he works with the Phoenix People doesn't mean Theo's not professional, I chastised myself.

Wait...

"Theo," I said, gaining the attention of the Highborn, who had been sorting through his medical supplies. "Why don't you use magic?"

Theo considered this for a moment, then shrugged. "I know a few basic spells, but I never got professional training and I prefer working with what I can see."

"I can understand that. I'm not very good at it myself, and I've never been motivated to improve. My sister, Alia, was better than me by far."

"Alia - Princess Alia?"

"Yes."

Theo nodded silently and returned to his supplies. Griffin tapped my knee and I turned my attention back to him.

"I'm an only child," he explained hesitantly. "What's having a sister like?"

I grinned ruefully as I thought about how to explain the experience to my friend. I recalled late nights spent talking about matters that ranged from the political to the petty to the humorous. I recalled hours-long horseback rides peppered with frequent snack breaks. I recalled sitting together underneath the tree in the center of the hedge maze, reading each other stories from our magnificent library.

I recalled horrible, screaming fights. Cruel pranks previously viewed as amusing. Angered days filled with sullen glances and biting words.

And I recalled my older sister disappearing without so much as a hasty note to apologize for shattering my heart.

I told Griffin all of it. The good, the bad, and the awful. Finally, I told him about her disappearance. About how she had vanished from her bedroom without a single clue as to her whereabouts. No witnesses, no leads.

Somehow, I managed to keep from crying. I had to glance upwards several times to keep the tears from falling, but I managed it.

Griffin was a wonderful listener. He didn't exactly have anything else to do, but he was obviously paying close attention to my stories.

When I had finished, he asked quietly, "So was she captured or...did she leave?"

That had always been the most painful question for me. As the person closest to her, I had been questioned over and over again: had she seemed distant? Been meeting with anyone strange? Been planning anything?

"She left," I blurted, and felt like throwing up. I had been forced to say the words over and over to satisfy members of her search party, and not once had the pain, had the harsh truth of them lessened.

It wasn't that I wished my sister had been kidnapped, but I also certainly didn't feel better in admitting to her leaving me.

For she had certainly left of her own accord. Her treasured locket, a birthday gift from me and her favorite belonging, had been missing from her jewelry box. I doubted a kidnapper would have given her time to collect it if she had been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night.

I did not share any of this with Griffin, however, as friendly and trustworthy as he was. I ended it at the two simple words: she left.

"I am truly sorry," Griffin told me, and I knew that he meant it. I managed a grateful smile.

Just then, a sound in the distance startled me from my depressed thoughts.

A voice?

The three others immediately jumped into action with me close behind. Melody dragged the stretcher behind a nearby tree. Anna and I followed her with the medical supplies. Theo helped Griffin over to us. Once behind the tree, we all readied our weapons.

I fingered my dagger, heart pumping wildly. Please be the Phoenix People, please be the Phoenix People...

"Yoohoo!" Glimmer's voice came through the forest. "Melody? Theo! Griffin! Anna! Prin-cess!"

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Anyone need a rescue?" Glimmer asked teasingly, and we stepped out from behind the tree.