"Sleep better last night?" Ollie asked.
"Yep." Ree said. She was finished the book that she was reading last night at the vanity, it was her substitute desk for now.
"Two more days until the plot is finished."
"Yay." Ree said with fake enthusiasm.
"Aww... has the Swan Princess fallen in love with the prince?" Ollie said with a babyish tone.
"I would love to say that, but I am not a bird-based Neopet."
"Touche." Ollie said. "Have another date before the plot is over?"
"Dunno. I'm not the type to ask. Nor am I going to make a big deal about it."
"That has to be the worst lie you have told me since I have known you. You like Jeran."
"Of course I like Jeran. He's my friend."
"You like like him. As in love."
Ree rolled her eyes.
"Lemme guess, you are one of the people that think that he world is going to end in 2012, right? Well, I'll just sit here now and laugh at you being an idiot."
"Changing the subject just makes me think you do love him." Ollie said in a sing-song tone.
"Whatever." Ree muttered. She placed a thin strip of paper and stuck it in the book.
"Have you seen Lisha?" Jeran asked, coming into the room. "She didn't come for breakfast and I'm worried." Ree shook her head.
"No I haven't. I'm sorry." she replied.
"That's what I'm afraid of." he said lowering his head sadly, and made his way out.
"Jeran," Ree said, getting up from the vanity, "I'll help you look."
Jeran turned around and went over to Ree. He placed his hands on her shoulders and whispered in her ear,
"Thank you."
Ree placed her hands on his shoulders and whispered back,
"Anything, for you."
Lisha, unbeknown to them, was in the library trying to make head and tails of what she saw the night before. She didn't find much and that made her all the more interested in what she did see. However, since she had skipped breakfast she feared it would be her downfall. She had never operated on an empty stomach before.
"Are you finding every alright miss?" the librarian asked. Lisha looked up at the blue Shoyru dressed in librarian clothes and glasses that hung on a chain.
"I think so." Lisha said. "But do you have any nonfiction reports of transformations?"
"Nonfiction reports of... I don't know sweetie. That's a tough order to top. But I'm sure we have something. Follow me."
The little Aisha followed the librarian down several rows of books. And finally stopped at an area that looked like no one had been in for a while. It even looked like that the person that cleaned had stopped coming over there, dust was nearly visible on everything.
"The books you need should be here. If you need anything else just give me a call. OK honey?"
"Thank you ma'am." Lisha said. There wasn't a directory for the books here and Lisha sighed when she realized this.
"This is going to take awhile." she said to herself.
"Morris, Boris," Jeran said addressing two junior guards that were two of Lisha's best friends, "Have you seen Lisha today?"
"No sir." the two said standing to attention.
On another side of the castle, Ree asked another friend of Lisha's, Kayla, the same question.
"I haven't seen today at all madam. If I do I'll make sure to tell you or Jeran."
"Thank you Kayla."
Jeran and Ree met up again at the opening door of the castle.
"Anything?"
"No. Any luck?"
"Not much."
"Where could she be?" Jeran, being the big brother he was, was getting more stressed by the second.
"We'll find her. She's not the type to run away, nor go into Brightvale. She's still in Meridell." Ree said, doing her best to calm him down. Although she was getting scared too.
"Are you sure?"
Ree made Jeran look her in the eye.
"Like she's my own." she promised.
Back at the library, Lisha made an interesting discovery.
"Lisha," she said with a smile, "You... are... awesome." The Aisha had found a book on ancient transformations by an anonymous writer. She didn't mind though, she found what she wanted to find. It was a good thing too, because Ree came in to look for Lisha.
"Lisha." Ree called, "Leesh, are you in here?"
"This is a library madam. Please, turn down the volume of your voice." someone nearby said.
"Sorry." Ree whispered. She still continued to call for Lisha, but a bit quieter.
"Tourist." the person that corrected her said.
Lisha walked to the main desk to check out the book until she heard Ree's voice.
"Oh no." Lisha said as she ducked behind a book shelf. "What's she doing here?" But Lisha listened to the tone of Ree's voice. It was upset, and scared. Something that Lisha could only remember hearing in Jeran's voice.
"Leesh, where are you? Lisha..." Then Ree turned to look where Lisha was. Next thing Lisha knew she was scooped up and hugged. Ree hugged Lisha like Jeran hugged her when they were together again, and Lisha had to admit it felt nice. Then, the seriousness came.
"What were you doing? You can't just go where ever you want without telling someone!" Ree scolded. Lisha was impressed, Ree almost sounded like Jeran.
"I was just getting a book. I'm going to check it out now."
"Let's do that." Ree said, carefully putting Lisha back on the ground.
If Lisha thought being hugged by Ree was all the hugs she was going to get, she was wrong. Jeran was relieved to see his sister and hugged her twice as long as Ree did. When some one knocked on the door, Ree decided to get it and left Jeran and Lisha in their hugging.
At the door, a royal messenger was delivering invitations to a costume ball. Ree accepted the invitations warmly and was given three.
"I hate to break you guys up," she said coming back into the room where Jeran and Lisha were, "But you have mail."
Jeran sat Lisha down, gave her one more hug, and was given an invitation from Ree.
"Thank you." he said with a friendly smile.
"Your welcome." Ree said. Lisha, from behind them, pretended to gag.
The three sat down to open the envolope and had mixed reactions to what it was. Lisha was uninterested (since she was a kid to begin with, she wouldn't have been), Jeran was excited, and Ree grew pale at realising what time it would be at.
"Let's all go." Jeran finally said. Lisha and Ree agreed, not wanting to upset him.