Remarkably, Elaina found she could no longer cry. She had literally cried herself dry; although her eyes were red and puffy, no tears fell upon her cheeks, she had already cried too much that week. Elaina, however, did not weep over the impending wedding to Prince Seth; she sobbed over Oliver, who had not been seen in four days.

He was never at the old maple anymore and when she made her way to The Shack on the third day, all she found was the place boarded up beyond entry. She had wanted to run up and tear down all the wooden planks, force her way into the home and hope to find Oliver stoking the fire within. He would turn to her and smile, as he usually did and Elaina would soar over to him and embrace him, tearful and happy that he was in her arms.

But no, instead she kneeled down in the filth of the streets, quietly crying over a lost friend. It wasn't like he was dead, it was worse, because Elaina didn't know anything about what had happened to the town fool. It was an interesting sight to see, a young noblewoman dressed in finery, wallowing in the smut of poor side. Yet she did not care, even as she made her way back home, the grime somewhat caked on to the front, bottom half of her dress.

She was scolded severely for it, but she was vaguely listening to her mother, she didn't even speak to defend herself or give any form of answer; she simply went up to her room after a bath and laid herself down to sleep early, very early, for the sun had barely risen to noon. Although she did not sleep, instead she stared blankly at the ceiling, in a daze, for who knows how long.

"Elaina?" came her sister's soft voice through the door. Upon no response, Ani silently opened the door and let herself in. She gazed sadly down at her sister, who still had not acknowledged her presence.

"Elaina?" Ani said again, as she sat down on the bed next to her. Still the older girl did not move; Ani wasn't even sure if she was blinking. "Elaina, the Queen has announced that there will be three balls in succession this coming week, all in honor of you and Prince Seth. Mother's just accepted the invitation, of course it doesn't matter, you'll have to go anyhow but…" she trailed off, not knowing whether to continue. "The—the first is to be ah—the engagement party. The Queen herself has ordered that it be a masque. And…the next day will be the wedding. Mother says you'll be heading up to the castle for all the fittings tomorrow…I can go with you—" Ani looked down at Elaina and smiled, but it quickly faded; and she fumbled on, "The Queen would like everyone to wear bright pastels, to create a happy atmosphere. No one but you is allowed to don white. And right after is the reception... Everyone has to dress in something that resembles an animal, to represent spring. These next few days will be very busy indeed Elaina, so—well, mother's asked that you come down to dinner. You must eat, for strength."

Elaina still did not respond, she hadn't even moved. Ani took up her older sister's hand; it was cold as death! Was her sister still even with her? Had she been talking to a corpse this whole time? Had death flew upon his dark cloud and personally threw the black shroud over her sister's body and reaped her broken soul?

"Oliver would have wanted to say good-bye…" Ani thought, if what she believed was the case. But, at this name Elaina blinked into realization.

"What are you talking about?" Elaina asked.

"Oh!" cried Ani, "Nothing Elaina, nothing." She grinned, a small tear threatening to roll down her cheek, so she still had an older sister! "Please sister, won't you come down and eat? You know these coming days will be tiring and—"

"Yes Ani, I heard you the first time you explained." Elaina said impatiently, "Come, let's go down to supper, I'm famished." She said, getting up.

"Yes, yes." Said Ani as she followed her sister, her hand firmly twined with Elaina's.

The dinner that night was intensely quiet. Helen had ordered that no one was to say anything about Oliver, poor side, the wedding, the crown, or any of the parties. Therefore there was really nothing to talk about. Even Harold was silent, which was very odd. As the family ate stonily, the only one that did not seem grave in the slightest was Leo.

He ate as hungrily as he usually did; not noticing his family's appetite was obviously not there. And he spoke of many things; he did not care for the topics of interest that had been banned and so, mostly blabbered on about what he and his friends had done to some poor birds and lizards with rocks and slingshots. There was even a quick mention about torturing the neighbor's cat.

"Leo!" Helen snapped out of her stupor, "You and the other boys leave that poor cat alone!" This sparked a pointless argument, in which Ani burst into fits of giggles and Helen tried to drag her husband onto her side.

"Harold! Do you hear what you son has been doing? Say something!"

"Dear when I was around his age me and my friends did worse! You see we use to sneak onto some of the farms and—"

"Harold!" Helen cried.

"Father wait! Continue! What did you do?" exclaimed Leo, waving a leg of meat, as his mother tried to quiet him.

For that moment everything was normal once again, Elaina smiled at the commotion. And for that instant she quite forgot the wedding that was right around the corner, it was as if the engagement had never occurred; as if Oliver had never spoken of running away; as if she had never met the demon under the old maple tree.

Elaina forgot all the harmful things in her life and reveled in the warm feelings only her family could offer her. She even forgot about Oliver for the moment, not knowing that he was lost in a world of demise and darkness at that very moment.