Chapter 21: Emma

Where are they? I thought. When I had woken up, Danny and Liz had been gone. There was nothing to suggest where they were, but there was no sign of a struggle, either. I had spent most of the morning pacing around the clearing in worry. Jet and Chloe just stared at me, not feeling the same as me. Zephyr had left, going for a quick fly to see if he could find them. He came back about a half hour later without any information.

"We'll find them," Zephyr promised me. I wanted to believe him. I really did. But I couldn't. All of the worse possible scenarios were running through my mind. Nathanial could have found them. They could have gone for a walk and gotten lost. I knew that we should have established a mind link with Danny, but Liz didn't want to. For some reason, she didn't want to know who the other two people in our circle were.

"Emma, calm down," Jet said after I had completed yet another lap around the clearing. I had walked it so much that I was sure I would create a rut. "They will come back eventually." It wasn't exactly reassuring, but I sat down anyway. My legs were throbbing from walking around in circles for the past few hours.

Zephyr sat down next to me. We just sat there for a few moments before he said, "Do you really think that something has happened to them?" His voice was laced with worry. I had known that him and Luz were close, but the fear in his voice was enough to make me question their relationship.

"I don't know," I said. "In a place like this, almost anything could go wrong. And since Liz refuses to open her mind to us, it is really hard to know when she is in danger." I put all of my frustration into what I was saying. All of the fear and anger that I felt for them leaving us.

"I'm sure she has a good reason to," Zephyr said after a few moments. He looked at my face, then quickly added, "For keeping her mind shut. She must have a pretty good reason, or she would open it up to you guys." He sounded guarded, like he was beating around the bush, saying what I needed to hear and nothing more. Like he was hiding something.

"What was Liz like when you knew her before?" I asked, trying to piece together what he might possibly know. He looked surprised at the question, but answered anyway.

"She was almost exactly like she is now, only she was less of a leader. She was more content to sit back and let others do the hard work." His eyes glazed over, and he stared into the distance, remembering.

"Were you good friends, or did you just know each other?" I needed to know how much information he had, and he would have more if they had been close.

"I was Nathanial's personal servant because I was the closest to his age. So, yeah, I would say that we were friends. She would play with Nathanial and I, so we grew pretty close over the years." Each time he said Nathanial's name, his face unconsciously dropped into a scowl and his voice dripped with venom. But whenever he mentioned Liz, the moments of depression were forgotten.

"Zephyr," I started to ask. Curiosity was getting the better of me and I had to know. "Do you like Liz?" He gave me a quizzical look. "I mean like like."

He just sighed at this, and stared even farther into the distance, his pale hair falling in his face. "I don't know," he said, refusing to look me in the eye. "I think of us as just really close friends, and I'm not even sure of that. I honestly have no idea what she thinks of me." His face fell as he said the last few words. That's how I knew he was lying.

"You do like her!" I exclaimed. Jet and Chloe looked at us with peculiar expressions, but I knew that they just had no idea what we were talking about.

"No, I don't," he whispered to me, having caught Jet and Chloe's glares as well. "I just don't like not knowing things. I used to be able to read Liz like an open book, but now…" His voice drifted off towards the end, and I decided to believe him. For now.

"Okay," I said. "Then what are you doing here? Not many people would go this far for just a friend."

"Same thing as Danny. And all of you, for that matter. It's better than the other options." He shrugged as he said this. He started shifting around and messing with the dirt, trying to think of something to change the subject. His face lit up as he found it.

"Since we are talking about my love life, what about you and Danny? You guys seem pretty cozy together," he said, smugly. I copied him and started shifting around, completely uncomfortable.

"Um, I think we are just friends," I almost whispered. Zephyr just smiled at this, glad that he was making me as uncomfortable as I had made him.

"That's what they all say," he said in a fake knowing voice. I burst out laughing and bumped him on the shoulder. He started laughing, too. It made his face light up in a way that I hadn't seen before. His dark eyes lightened a bit, making them seem almost warm. His smile was also dazzling. He managed to show all of his teeth without it looking like he was trying.

"What are you looking at?" Zephyr asked, shaking me out of my thoughts. I hadn't realized that we had stopped laughing.

"Oh, uh, nothing," I hurriedly mumbled. I looked away from him as I said this, my mind still turning. I had no idea where my thoughts were going, but it was not where I had expected. Out of the corner of my eye, I studied Zephyr.

He had a face that I would initially take as cold, but now understood as just guarded. His pale complexion worked really well with his almost white hair. He wasn't overly muscular, but you could still tell that he was strong. The more I thought about it, the more handsome Zephyr was starting to look.

I was really shocked at where my thoughts had lead. But the only conclusion that they could come up with was that I was starting to like Zephyr.

I know that this is entirely full of fluff, but it will hopefully clear up any debates on who will end up with who. Only final exams left! (I'm taking four, BOOOO!) Please review or PM me. Also, Rawzberry, I accidently deleted your OCs. If you could please resubmit them as a PM or to this story, I will do my best to include them in this story or maybe in a sequel, if you guys want one! And no, I am not almost done. I just think that it is a good idea to plan ahead.