Author's Note: Hope you guys are liking the story so far! It's been really fun to write!! And thanks again to all my reviewers, you guys rock! Enjoy ;)


Derek fought to stay calm. Don't panic.

Okay. He had to go about this logically. That's what Casey would do. If she was here, he added to himself silently.

All he had to do was pass this…test…and then he'd get Casey back. Now, what exactly was the test? Couldn't the queen have given him some damn instructions or something?

Derek thought quickly. So, Casey wasn't here. Maybe he had to figure out how the world was different without the presence of his dear step-sister? That sounded possible. Hmm…

Don't stop, make it pop, DJ blow my speakers up—

"Hello?"

"Derek, how dare you hang up the phone when I'm talking to you—" his dad ranted.

"Sorry, sorry," Derek said hastily.

"Now WHAT is going on over there? I've never heard you sound so panicked…over some girl, is it?"

"She's not some girl," Derek said through gritted teeth.

"You haven't gotten her pregnant, have you?" George demanded.

"Dad!" Derek bellowed.

"Okay, okay. Just checking," his dad muttered. "Oh, your sister wants to talk to you."

"Lizzie?" Derek asked eagerly.

George gave a short laugh. "Like you and Lizzie have ever talked before!" he chuckled, "No, I meant Marti."

"Okay," Derek said slowly. He wasn't on speaking terms with Lizzie? That was odd…he'd never had a problem with her before…

"Smerek!"

"Hiya Smarti," Derek answered, grinning. Well at least some things never changed.

"You never finished your story," Marti complained.

Derek frowned. Hadn't he started the story earlier today? How long had he been trapped on the other side of the mirror, anyway? He glanced at the date on his cell phone and his mouth dropped open in surprise. It was the next day! He'd been there a full 24 hours! He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. He hadn't realized that time would move differently there. Apparently a few hours in that world equaled nearly a full day over here. Okay…so that meant that Casey had fallen into the mirror yesterday, which was also when he'd told Marti the "story."

"Oh yeah," Derek said slowly. "I'll tell you more of it right now!"

"Okay," Marti agreed happily. "So did the knight go to rescue her?"

"Yes he did...but by the time he got there, the maid had already been captured by the evil queen!"

Marti gasped, "Did he find her?"

"Luckily, a little fairy saw him and showed him the way to the castle. When he got there, the queen told him that if he ever wanted to see the maid again, he had to pass three tests."

"What kind of tests?" Marti asked interestedly.

"Well first," Derek whispered, "the knight was sent into an alternate universe where this maid didn't exist."

"What did he have to do there?"

"Wish I knew," Derek muttered.

"What?"

"Um, what do you think the test was?" Derek asked quickly.

"I don't know," Marti mused. "Maybe he had to prove his love for the maid?"

Derek choked, "Whoa, whoa. No one said anything about the knight loving the maid!"

"But he has to," Marti said in an obvious tone. "Why else would he go after her?"

"Because—because," Derek sputtered. "You said yourself, he's a knight! He was supposed to save her!"

"But he only saved her because he loved her," Marti repeated stubbornly.

Arguing with an 8 year old over the meaning of a fairy tale was not Derek's idea of a good time.

"Sure! Okay, yeah," Derek said quickly. "Um, anyway, I gotta go!"

"Wait!" Marti protested. "Did he pass the test?"

"We'll see," Derek said under his breath.

"What?"

"You'll have to wait and see!" Derek said in a teasing voice. "Bye Smarti!" He hung up before she had a chance to protest again.

Okay. So apparently he had to prove…something.

He was stumped.

All of a sudden, he was overcome with an incredible weariness. He really just wanted to sleep. He yawned, trying to fight the fatigue. Well, maybe a quick nap wouldn't hurt.

He lay down on his bed and closed his eyes...

"Derek…Derek!...DER-EK!"

"Wha-what?" Derek got up and looked wildly around. He could've sworn he'd heard Casey's voice somewhere. As he looked up, his gaze happened to fall on the mirror. It was shimmering.

He got up slowly, his mouth dropping open when he looked into it.

Casey.

"Well, it's about time," she snapped.

"Is this a—a dream?" Derek asked.

"Yes…and no." She hesitated, "I'm not really here, if that's what you're asking."

"Clearly, seeing as how you're in my mirror, Princess," Derek said sarcastically. Then he frowned, noticing the small crown she was wearing and the jewels around her neck. "And I guess I mean that literally. What's with the get-up, Case?"

She touched her crown self-consciously. "These were a gift. From Tristan."

"And of course you had to wear them," Derek snapped. "You know, I just got finished telling the dear queen how we weren't interested in her riches!"

"I'm not," Casey insisted. "But I didn't want to hurt his feelings…"

"Feelings!?" Derek shouted, "Is that why you gave Truman so many chances!? Because you didn't want to hurt his feelings!?"

"That's not fair, Derek. You're the one that told me to give him another chance—"

Derek couldn't believe what he was hearing, "WHAT?"

"This isn't important right now," Casey said impatiently. "Do you have the watch?"

"Yes—wait, how'd you know about that?" Derek asked suspiciously. "Hey, you're not the one who sent it to me, are you?" Casey's look of disgust was enough of an answer for him. "Okay, okay," he said hastily, "Just checking. What—wait, why are you fading?" Derek asked, noticing her reflection was becoming less defined, more blurry.

"The magic must be wearing off," Casey said quietly, almost to herself. "Your friend, Fay, helped me out with some of her powers. She said it wouldn't last long though…"

Derek's heart began beating fast. "Don't go," he blurted out. "I don't know how to save--" he caught himself. "I don't know how to get you back!"

"The watch is the key," Casey said, her voice echoing. "Don't forget—"

"Don't forget what!?" Derek shouted, but her reflection wavered and then disappeared.

Well, that was just great.

And then Derek woke up.

It took him a minute to realize that Casey must've somehow forced him to fall asleep so that she could talk to him. He rubbed his eyes as he got up. What had he learned from her? The watch…was the key. Okay.

He pulled the watch from his jacket and stared at it. It was once again "broken." But the two symbols that it had pointed to before were still there. He had a feeling that he had to figure out what they meant before he could do anything else.

Alright, so the first symbol had been the four dots arranged in a square with the straight line going down the middle. Fay had said that each symbol told him what lay in his future. Since he'd gotten a second symbol after that one, presumably the four dots thing had already happened…so where had he gone after he'd seen that symbol?

He'd run into Fay, but that symbol didn't quite resemble a person…then, they'd gone to the castle. Hmm, he supposed that the square could represent a building, but the castle wasn't really square-shaped, per se. And then what would the line represent? No, that wasn't it. He thought hard, trying to remember. Square…lines…His head snapped up, the jail cell! That had been a square, and the line could represent the bars! That had to be it! He smiled, giving himself a mental pat on the back.

Feeling better, he decided to tackle the second symbol while he was on a roll. Okay, an upside-down triangle on top of a line. That looked like…a wine glass? No, that couldn't be right. Derek stared at it for a few seconds, but the image of a wine glass refused to leave his mind. A glass…a drink. He could really use a drink…A drink! The goblet!

Derek grinned. Score! It had to represent the goblet. Alright, now all that was left to do was see what the next symbol was and try to figure it out. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Think about what you really want.

Casey's face swam to the front of his mind's eye. Keeping her face in mind, he held out his palm and placed the watch in it. Immediately, both hands began ticking frantically, spinning around. He watched, awed, as all the symbols began changing until they were a mere blur.

After a few seconds, the watch slowed down and both hands pointed at a new symbol. Derek studied it. It looked like two stick figures, holding hands. Derek had a vague feeling that one of them was a boy and the other was a girl, even though they both looked the same. Okay, he could work with this. The boy was probably himself, and the girl was…Casey? But that didn't help him…

Think logically, a voice scolded. Derek frowned. Sheesh. Leave it to Casey to haunt him even when he was awake.

"Okay Derek," he said to himself. "All the other symbols were sort of obscure, so this one shouldn't be obvious either." After all, two people holding hands could represent a lot of different things. It could be love…or even friendship.

Marti's words came back to him, "Maybe he had to prove his love for the maid?"

Well that was going to be difficult. How was he supposed to prove it? NOT that he loved her or anything, but maybe he should pretend to…it was for her own good.

He supposed he ought to sit down and figure out what to do, but a part of him really wanted to see what the world was like without Casey. Would it really be that different? From the looks of it, no one even remembered her. Not knowing what he was doing, he grabbed his jacket and decided to go for a walk.

He reached the lobby of his building, which was deserted except for a few stragglers. "Where is everyone?" he said out loud.

A couple guys waiting by the elevators looked up. "Homecoming game," one of them called back. "Down by the field."

Derek nodded, "Thanks, man. Maybe I'll check it out." He couldn't explain to himself what he was doing but he walked towards the doors to leave. As soon as he opened it, a girl walked straight into him.

"Ohmygod, I'm so sorry!" she said, crouching down and grabbing all her books, which had fallen.

"My fault," Derek said absentmindedly, picking up a notebook which had fallen by his feet.

"Thanks," she muttered, not looking at him as she hurriedly grabbed all her books.

"Late night at the library?" Derek joked.

"Actually, yeah," the girl admitted, brushing her hair out of her face and finally looking up at him.

Derek's mouth dropped open.

Casey.