Here we are again, with another chappie! I would like to give special thanks to Kokoro5050, Booknerdforever, and Fanfictionweirdo for their very kind and very flattering reviews to this story. They automatically get ten (10) cyber cookies of whatever variety they choose. Cause they are cool that way.

And now! On to chappie four!

"My rank?" I scoffed. "My rank as what?"

"Your rank as my queen." Jace said, completely serious.

"Your…queen." I deadpanned. Anton looked like he was hiding a smile, Vince looked uncomfortably astounded, and Jace…scowled. Honestly, did the guy know how to move his face muscles? I began to fear that his face had gotten stuck in that expression like my mother used to warn me could happen. I hadn't believed her in this area for a long time, but now I had to wonder….

"Yes." Jace said simply. I rolled my eyes heavenward. Just my luck….

"And who are you, exactly? That you think you get a 'queen', and let me assure you that I am not it."

"I am His Highness Jaconus Percelios Arthurion Draconis, High Prince of Meren-Berg, and Heir Apparent to her throne." He said. The hawk, Falke, puffed its feathers as he gave me this tidbit of information, as if his owner was really something.

"Meren-Berg? Heir Apparent? Who do you think you're kidding?" I said angrily, turning back to my stuff. I didn't bring that much, but it must have been kicked all over the woods or something during the Battle of the Twins. I bent to pick up a book, but before I could someone grabbed it from under my hands.

"Hey…!" I started to protest, but I looked up to find Jace's piercing blue eyes inches from my own. My protest died in my throat. He really was a fantastically handsome man…his eyes were so blue….all I could do was stare at him and feel my face heat up. The hawk, strangely, didn't shriek into my face, but stared at me as I stared at Jace.

"'Who am I kidding'? The High Prince does not 'kid'." He muttered angrily, standing abruptly, making the hawk fight to keep balance on his shoulder. Well, he was handsome. Now, towering above me, scowl firmly in place, he was just a jerk again. My face stayed heated up and I faced him with a scowl of my own. I distantly noted that while the glowing had been fading, it was coming back now.

"The 'High Prince' is also being rude. Now, give me back my book and make the glowing Tinkerbell effect go away." I demanded, my voice shaking only here and there, which was a great improvement.

"Anton told you, it won't go away. It is the mark of your rank. It is permanent." He said, shoving the book in my direction. I grabbed it and shoved it in my back absentmindedly.

"And I told you, I am nobody's queen. You made a mistake. There has to be something to make it go away! School starts back up soon; I can't go shining like a frickin pixie!" I declared, my voice climbing higher and higher.

"First of all, it will fade. It will only surface when you are in my presence and when your emotions are running high. Secondly, there is no mistake. You are my queen. Thirdly, lower your voice. Queens do not shriek. Fourthly, you will not be going back to that school." Jace announced in firm tones. I gaped at him.

"Who do you….you are such a …who says I am not going back to school?" I spluttered.

"I say." Jace said calmly, stroking his bird, which was still staring at me.

"You….you….I am so going back to school? What else would I be doing?" I said, my stuttering in result of anger rather than nerves. Instead of answering, Jace turned to Anton.

"Are we almost ready?"

"Yes, just a moment more and we can get back through." Anton said, serious for once as he fiddled with something at the other edge of the clearing.

"Here, highness. I'll take that for you." Vince said softly, taking my bag from off my shoulder and carefully putting my stuff into it.

"What's going on?" I asked, getting the feeling that I was missing something big. "Vince?"

"Now," Vince said to me, "when we go through the barrier, it is going to get a little bumpy…"

"What are you talking about? What barrier?" I asked quickly. Vince ignored me.

"Listen! Keep hold of me, and you shouldn't get lost. On no circumstances do you let go, do you hear me?" He continued sternly.

"What are you doing with me?" I gasped, backing away.

"We're ready!" Anton said. I looked over and saw him holding something that glowed almost as much as I did at the moment. Jace strode over to me.

"I will take her, Vince." He said. I backed away a few more steps.

"Are you sure, Jace…?" Vince asked nervously. Jace just looked at him. Vince smiled and held up his hands in surrender before joining his brother.

"Come now, we have to go before the barrier closes." Jace said, impatiently grabbing my arm and dragging me over to Anton.

"Ow! Let go!" I gasped. His hand loosened a little but didn't let go. "What are you doing? Go where?"

"Meren-Berg." He said simply. The hawk shrieked again as Jace reached out to hold onto the fiercely glowing object in Anton's hand.

"WHAT? No, don't…!" I cried, but my cry was lost as my whole body was jerked forward through something that felt a tiny bit like jell-o. My screams sounded unheard as we flew forward through darkness. We flew for what seemed like hours but could have been just minutes before I was slammed against something hard and felt unconsciousness take over.

I gradually returned to consciousness to find myself lying on the hard ground and the sun burning into my eyes. I groaned softly. My head hurt like someone had punched a hole in it.

"She's coming to…" Someone (Vince?) said near my head. I opened my eyes, bringing up a hand to shade them from the sun. Anton's head appeared above my own, grinning obnoxiously.

"Good morning, sunshine!" he called in a loud voice that made me hiss at the pain in my head.

"Son of a motherless goat." I intoned, attempting to sit up. "What did you people do to me?"

"Are you alright?" Jace asked from a few feet away, surprising me. He was standing and stretching his back and looking away from me. His scowl seemed to be gone as he overlooked his surroundings. He looked….peaceful.

Well, there goes my facial distortion theory.

"I'm fine." I said flatly, ignoring the headache. "What happened? What did you do?" Vince looked a little apprehensive.

"Well, highness, the thing is…"

"Who do you keep calling 'highness'?" I interrupted thoughtlessly.

"Umm…you." Anton said, sarcastically.

"Why…? Oh. The queen thing." I was irritated again.

"Yes…anyway. When you ask what happened, well, we…traveled." Vince finished hastily, as if afraid I was going to interrupt him again, and he wanted to finish before I noticed.

"Traveled….?" I started, but my voice died off as I got a good look at where we were.

The crystal blue skyline stretched for forever, the panorama comprised of rolling green hills. There was a sweet-tasting wind that blew over my face, gently pulling my hair away from my face. The sound of birds and tree leaves rustling filled the air. Distantly on the horizon, a tiny speck of what looked like a hawk circling in the air hazily spun through the air.

Point was, we weren't in my Special Spot in the forest back home.

"What have you done to me?" I gasped. "Where am I?"

"You are in Meren-Berg." Jace announced to me.

For a few moments, all I could do was stare at the three lunatics who had dragged me God knows where. Anton was calmly fiddling with something from his bag, Vince was also fiddling with something (was that a weapon?), and Jace was still staring at the scenery, watching a nearing speck that must have been his hawk.

"You kidnapped me?" I said after a few moments of gaping at them, my outrage just starting to get past the shock.

"Yup!" Anton said dully, concentrating on his doo-hickey.

"'Kidnapped' is such a strong word…"Vince began thoughtfully.

"'Kidnapped'?" Jace began, turning to me. Oh, the scowl was back big time. Am I the only lucky beneficiary of that facial distortion? Joy.

"It is not 'kidnapping' to bring someone to where their duty calls them." He sounded off. "You are my queen; you belong in Meren-Berg. So, to Meren-Berg you were…escorted."

"Against my will!" I shrieked.

"Weak bleats of 'what are you doing?' do not count as dissent." He said, his voice going high in a ridiculously un-like imitation of my voice.

"Says who?" I asked.

"I do." He announced, chest thrust out, his arm held out for a landing perch for his bird. I got up dizzily and stood before him. Not too close, though. I didn't want to stutter my way through this part, which would totally happen if I got close enough to see the different specks of blue in his bright eyes.

Focus!

"Take me back. Now." I ordered, trying to make my tone as stern as possible. Jace busied himself with stroking his bird, and chose not to look at me when he replied,

"No."

"You will take me back, Jace. I cannot stay here in this….place, whatever its name. I want to be taken home." I said, jaw clenched. Stupid, stupid hormones! Don't focus on how his name rolls off the tongue! He looked at me, scowl deeply etched in place.

"I. Said. No." he said in a far sterner tone than me. I tried not to twitch away like a rabbit, but don't know if I succeeded. It probably looked like I had a nervous tic. Great. Jace's scowl loosened a fraction, so little that if I hadn't been staring at him I would have missed it.

"Besides," he continued, "you couldn't get back even if I wished it. The device that brought us here…"

"The Vorrichtung!" Anton corrected in a peeved tone. Jace ignored him.

"…works only once before its power is lost. And we do not have another." Jace finished with a semi-smug tone to his otherwise riled voice.

"So…I can't get back?" I asked in a very small voice. "But, what about my parents? My friends? They are going to be so worried about me, they'll think a rapist got me, or that I'm…dead. Poor Mom was so worried before she went off anyway…I didn't even leave a note for where I went…they are going to be so worried…they'll never know what happened…" I realized that I was blabbing hysterically and stopped myself by biting my lip, hard. But then another thought occurred to me.

"Where are we, really?" I asked Vince. He seemed nicer than his sarcastic brother and scowly 'sovereign'. He looked surprised at the question.

"We are in Meren-Berg, Katie. Don't you remember?"

"Seriously, Vince. Stop joking, please? Just tell me where I am."I pleaded. He exchanged looks with Jace and his brother.

"We 'seriously' are in Meren-Berg." He answered again. I sighed.

"Whatever." I said, too depressed to argue with him. Vince looked like he was going to try and say something more, but was interrupted by Jace.

"It seems to be a full day's journey to the palace. We had best get going while there is still daylight." He announced, adjusting a pack on his shoulders. Falke rustled his feathers again. I noticed all during this time that the bird was staring at me really…intently. It was majorly freaky. I kept waiting for it to go all Alfred Hitchcock on me, but thus far it stayed tame on its owner's shoulder.

Just when I noted the bird's calm, it started going berserk. Thrashing and shrieking defiantly to the skies. I would have thought that in such a situation, it would have taken off for the skies, but it was clutching and pulling at Jace's shirt.

I jumped back, very much alarmed. Jace looked up and around, looking for what could have set off his crazy bird. An alarmed look came over his face, and he turned to me.

"Get down!" he yelled, having to yell over the sound of what sounded like wings beating overhead. But there wasn't a bird big enough to make that rushing sound.

"Get down!" he yelled again, drawing his sword and looking upward. Anton and Vince were also standing with their swords drawn. I was starting to turn and look behind me when the air was split with a hair-raising roar, coming from the same direction where the guys were staring. With a wordless shriek of my own, I ducked down, covering my head with my hands. The roar sounded again, as if in answer to my shriek, though I knew this was impossible. A black shadow floated over me, then the guys, and something huge landed with a bigger thud.

It wasn't possible. Something like this wasn't possible. These things didn't happen, didn't exist. They must have given me some sort of drug, through a discreet needle or as just a pinch of something thrown in my face like in spy movies. That had to be the only reason why I was seeing a giant, deep emerald green dragon in front of me. It had to be.

The dragon roared again, its head thrown back to the sky. The ground actually shook beneath my feet. But the most surprising thing was that all three guys actually laughed. Laughed! The giant lizard was probably sounding a before-lunch battle cry, and they laugh. Maybe it's a guy thing…?

"Halloo, Great Dragon!" Anton yelled in a mocking tone as he sheathed his sword. Vince laughed as he did the same, than gave a flourishing bow.

"Oh, lord of the Skies, we are honored to finally come across one so wondrous as you! We are not worthy, oh great Cloud-Skimmer!" he intoned loftily. The dragon gave a great sort of snort and then, before my awestruck eyes, the dragon started to shrink. The edges around him went blurry, and down down down he went until nothing was left but…

A man. An honest-to-goodness, real life man.

Anton turned to me with an evil grin.

"Do you believe in magic now?"

Yaaaay! Another chappie DOWN! Remember! Reviewers get my undying affection and ten (10) cyber cookies of whatever variety they choose. Tell your friends!