As was stated before, council meetings tended to be boring. And this one started out the same as any other, even the exciting ones started out dull.

"If they weren't so important I'd banish council meetings once I take the throne." Sara and her step-father thought, although they hid their boredom well.

"What is it with Uncle Leon making all of his reports more boring than watching paint dry?" Sara thought while Sir Leon was giving his report on the southern villages. Vona was sitting right behind the thrones practicing her weaving, although she had been told multiple times not to practice there.

Leon had just finished his dry report when suddenly, Reed, who was one of four people in the room who couldn't feel physical pain, suddenly winced and cradled her forehead.

"Is someone yelling at you?" Vonda, who was sitting two seats away from Reed, asked.

Reed tried to respond, but the pain was too intense. Finally she managed to get out, "M-my Grandmother."

"Miss Roma?" Genny, who was standing at attention behind Gaius, asked.

Reed nodded.

Then a bright light filled the room. When it disappeared, an old distraught fairy with short grayish-red hair was huddled on the council table, snow flurries surrounding her.

"Great-Grandmother!" Reed, who's headache was gone, proclaimed to the woman, "What's wrong?!"

The fairy didn't answer, instead she just sobbed, making the flurries worse.

"Miss Regina?" Genny asked. There was no answer.

Reed went to comfort her great-grandmother, but as soon as she put her arms around her, Regina's unstable magic made the two of them teleport out of the room and back to Fairyland.

"What just happened?" Leon asked.

"Something made Regina unstable and she just teleported herself and Reed somewhere." Vonda answered, "And judging by her behavior it's bound to make Reed unstable as well."

"Oh." Leon replied, "What could've done that?"

Vonda answered, "I'm guessing something happened to Roma. She's Regina's daughter."

"That woman who just appeared here," Sir Andrew asked, "was that Regina?"

"Yes."

There was an awkward silence. No one knew what to say. Marina, who was seated between Vonda and the seat Reed recently sat in, felt pain in her stomach, then suddenly she let out a painful scream and doubled over. Vonda immediately ran to her side as Marina's legs began to involuntarily transform into her blood red tail. Vonda removed the magic girdle that was around her waist, revealing a large baby bump. Vona, intrigued by all the commotion, quickly made her way over.

"Marina, we have to go, now." Vonda ordered her best friend as flurries started to appear.

"But-but," Marina tried to protest, she did not want to go back to her mother and older sister. No matter how unstable her magic got.

"Marina, we've been over this." Vonda sternly cut in. She couldn't give Marina a c-section by herself, even if she had Gaius, Genny, Vona and the twins to help her. There was no telling what Marina's magic might do under the stress. Besides, mermaids need water.

In between contractions, Marina struggled to say, "I t-trust Ge-Genn-AHH!"

"Marina we have to go NOW! Before things get worse."

The ground started to shake, and despite the snow that was filling the room, the room was becoming unbearably hot.

"O-ok." Marina replied, then using all the focus she could muster, she teleported herself, her unborn child who was trapped within her, Vonda and Vona to her family home in the main mermaid section of Fayland.

"What just happened?" Gwen asked.

Percival felt nervous. "Why didn't she teleport me?" he thought. "Well," he answered, "it's a lot to talk about. I don't fully understand it myself, but I'll try my best to explain it."

"Go ahead." Gwen told him.

"Well, the world we live in, is just one of many. There are other dimensions, timelines and universes, one of them is Fayland, where Marina and Reed are from. And Marina, as you've probably just seen, is a mermaid. And some mermaids, give reproduce like fish, others like whales and dolphins. But those with blood-red tails, can conceive like a human, but can only deliver children like a fish."

The others in the room gave him strange looks. The majority weren't sure if they should believe him, Merlin and his family and Sara, however, were more concerned over his explanation. And the fact that it was only them to protect Camelot from John Millerson.

"Well this just got all Doctor Who." A mysterious voice said. No one was sure where it came from, but it sounded familiar to Merlin. Everyone in the room looked around rather confused.

"I just thought aloud didn't I?" The voice said again, "Well, might as well reveal myself. But I should probably fix my shirt first. Why did I get this so big? Or why did they get this so big? Is this even mine? Eh, who cares." A little while later, Rita (one of the fairies from chapter 9) appeared, dangling by her ankle which was tied to the ceiling. She was wearing a Deadpool t-shirt which was safty-pinned to her jean shorts, which were embroidered with characters from classic cartoons, like Ed, Edd N Eddy; Chowder; The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy; SVTFOE, etc. As well as logos from some of her favorite musicals like Hamilton; Spamalot; DEH; The Heathers; Something Rotten; Les Mis; and Wicked. On her left back pocket, was the embroidered image of a European swallow carrying a coconut. On her right back pocket was the embroidered image of an African swallow carrying a coconut. Merlin thought she looked like she had only aged a day or two.

"Hello." Rita said to everyone. "I'm Rita Welfish XV, Spider Queen and current, well one of the, current Daughter Fairy Protectors of the MT-double-H Golden Flower of Healing. And I come from the year 2022, which is not apocalyptic."

"What do you mean by that?" Leon asked.

"That what?" Rita asked, "The flower? Me being from another dimension and the future? Or the apocalypse?"

"All." Leon answered, "And why you're hanging upside down from the ceilling."

"Bad revenge." Rita (who tended to speak with her hands, as well as being somewhat dramatic when she talked) answered, "I pulled some pranks on April Fool's day, two of my cousins got mad, an instead of acting in April, they waited until June 30th. That's over two months! I mean if you're gonna put someone through an old-fashioned punishment, why wait! The perfect opportunity was in April!"

"Well," Genny asked, "were you expecting this?"

"No."

"Then this was the perfect opportunity to your cousins."

Rita rolled her eyes. "Moving on. I'm not sure if you know this," Rita answered, "but there's always talk about when the world will end. Some said it was 1000 AD, or CE. Others said it was 2000, then it was 2010, then 2012. Then people said it would be during the Trump administration. And all that's over." There was a pause before the halffie continued, "And Pater,"

"Yes?" Merlin answered.

"I know you're wondering this, so I'll just answer. For you it might've been years since our encounter in the woods, but for me, Max & Beck, it's only been a few days."

"Really?" Merlin asked.

"Yep." Rita answered, "Time is NOT parallel. Well the ones we can access anyway and I'm not making much sense am I?" She was given blank stares. "Ok. On to the next part." She cleared her throat, then she reached into her hair and retrieved a small mirror (It was actually a fairy smartphone) from a smaller purse that was attached to her elaborate hairdo. After she put in her passcode, she spoke to it: "Phone, show multiverse map please." Then a hologram map of the multiverse was emanated from the phone, but it was too small to be clearly seen by the everyone in the room. "Enlarge map." Rita commanded. Then the map became larger, and the room gasped in awe. The map showed what looked like spheres inside of spheres, and some of those inner spheres had spheres inside of them.

"This is the Multiverse." Rita said as if she were giving a presentation at school, "There are infinite Universes, Dimensions, Worlds and Timelines. Basically, anything that you think can happen, and even the ones you can't but are still possible, has happened. And is happening. I'll let that sink in." Rita paused for a moment, then she continued, "Now despite what pop culture will tell you, except for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, you can't go to other timelines. You can see them sure, but you can't actually go there. And if you go to the past, like I'm doing now, and what my friends Jack and Annie do on a regular basis, you can't 'change' the future. Sure you can make the timeline split, but that's it. Whatever you do, already happened, and was always meant to be. And yes, that means that there are countless versions of all of you. And for you guys in particular, all of your stories, and the stories of your other versions have been told and retold throughout the centuries, and is known as, The Arthurian Legend. Which you probably don't want to get into."

"Why?" Sara asked, for she knew the Arthurian Legend well, and it wasn't that bad. Sure she didn't like all the stories, but that was just her biased opinion.

"Well in most versions, they combine Merlin and Gaius into one person named Merlin, or something similar. And he's either some strange magic dude who disguises Uther to look like some lady's husband while he's away so he can sleep with her, and then they conceive Arthur; or a half-demon who was meant to be the Anti-Christ, but happened to be baptised in time. And there's a lot of versions where Gwen cheats on Arthur with Lancelot, without being under an enchantment, and most of them end badly."

A silence overtook the room as everyone grasped the information.

"Sorry to burst your bubble." Rita apologized. Then she continued, "Anyway, this is a map of the multiverse of this timeline. We are" then she pointed to a universe that was highlighted, "here; The BBCU." Then she double-tapped on the BBCU universe sphere, making it take full screen of the projection. There were multiple spheres inside it. "Also in this universe is where Doctor Who comes from. He's a Time Lord who does a lot of traveling through time and space in his phone-both appearing tardis; which is just a blue box. His stories have been turned into a popular franchise in other universes, like my own. Anyway, we are currently in Dimension ANTWPRA." She then pointed to a highlighted sphere, "Which is this one." After taking a pause, Rita brought the projection back to where it was before. "Everyone who magically left this room so far today, have gone to Fayland," she then pointed to anther universe, which didn't have many spheres, "which is here. I'd tell ya more, but that might ruin things. Anyway," she then double-tapped a universe that was close to Fayland and the BBCU, "This is the universe is where I'm from. Well, besides Fayland of course, I was born there. Anyway, this is MT-double-H. And they don't have castles yet. Well, they won't get castles until the 9th century, and this is the 6th century, and even then I don't think they'll look like the ones here until the centuries get into double digits."

"Really?" A council member asked.

"Yes." Percival answered, "I've been there years ago when Vona was born. They don't have castles, but they do have hill forts and the like."

"I would like to go there." Gwen mused.

"You'd need to be able to teleport to other Dimensions." Rita said, "I can't until I'm 16, unless you count Fayland. Until then it's portals, others and time machines. Or the Magic Tree House, but that's only when I accompany Jack and Annie on a mission, because for some reason the MT-double-HF's version of Pater and Morgana don't entirely trust me and my sibs. Even though Morgan, or Destiny disguised as Morgan, hard to tell, cursed me and Becky to know about Jack and Annie's adventures. And make Beck write them down and me do the drawings!"

By now, everyone in the room was looking at her weird. They also exchanged glances with each other.

"Sorry." Rita said very apologetically, "I tend to ramble." Then she told her phone, "Back to homescreen please." And with that the map disappeared, it appeared to be sucked into the phone. There was an awkward silence, then Rita's phone emitted the song line, "We're close but not that way." Before the chorus of the song could be sung, Rita quickly answered her phone and said into it, "Hey Brother!... Never!... Not today, why?" Rita's face fell as Max told her of the situation. "Only her phone?... Well maybe she had to go somewhere and dropped her phone. ... I'm just trying to come up with an answer!" Rita rolled her eyes as her brother blabbered on. "Look, I'll try telepathy. Ok my non-mindreading hermano." After Max gave his answer, Rita smiled. A moment later, she let out a loud wince of pain as she cradled her forehead with her free hand.

A muffled voice came from the phone, which Merlin thought sounded like Max, "Rita? Rita what's wrong?!"

"I-I don't know." Rita answered while holding her head, "I tried to Think to Grace, but, I just felt pain. I didn't yell at her, I just asked where she was." Then she relaxed her hand, "I can't believe that I am feeling physical pain." After Max replied, Rita removed her hand from her forehead and exclaimed, "I know!" Then a realization hit her, "Wait, this is sounding familiar." Quick as a flash, she reached into her bag and pulled out a large leather-bound book. As she pulled it out, her eyes turned a deep purple and she grew four extra arms. She placed the book on her lower arms and flipped through it with her free top hand, while using her middle hands to steady it (She was upsidedown after all). When she found the page she was looking for, she exclaimed, "Aha!" Then she said into her phone, "Sending a pic." Then she took a picture of the passage. Then she brought the phone back to her ear. After Max talked for a bit, Rita replied, "Working on it." Then she flipped through more pages; when she found the one she was looking for, she exclaimed aha again and took another picture. She then held the phone back to her ear. "Your welcome!" She sang. After Max talked a bit, Rita quickly said, "Love you too!" Then as she hung up her phone she sighed, "Ah, young love."

"Mind telling us what that was all about?" Merlin asked as Rita put her stuff away.

"Well since you met us, Max and Grace have been inseparable!" Rita answered, "He's still worried about that nightmare. And I have to admit, it's kinda nice having a bed all to myself; and don't take that out of context, Max has a hard time sleeping by himself. And yes we do cuddle and stuff, but it's nothing romantic or sexual." After a pause, she continued, "Anyway, Grace went missing and we can't communicate with her. So if y'all see a 12-year-old bird girl with glittery green and purple feathers in a cage, that's her."

"We'll keep an eye out." Gwen said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Rita humbly replied while trying to bow.

"You're welcome." After a pause Rita continued, "Oh, and by the way, one of my crazy time-travelling relatives recently broke out of a mental hospital. Which for those of you who don't know, is where all the crazy people go."

"Thanks for the warning." Gwen told her.

"You're welcome." Rita replied, then after a pause, she counted while using her fingers: "3, 2, 1..." Then a moment after she finished, a portal appeared on the table. Two teenagers popped their heads up with wide grins. One was a Spanish girl with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, while the other was a Welsh boy with curly brown hair and gray eyes.

"'Ello dear cousin!" The two excitedly said in unison.

"Hola primos." Rita replied in an annoyed tone.

"¿Aprendiste tu lección?" The girl asked.

"If that lesson is that you two are slow to react to a classic harmless April Fool's prank," Rita replied, "then sí I did."

"Un," the boy hotly replied, "we were not slow! We were just waiting for the right time!"

"There was plenty of time!" Rita shot back, "Tenias all of May and most of Abril." Then she cursed them out in Spanish and Welsh.

The two glared at her, who glared back.

After calming down a bit, the girl said, "Dos, that prank was not harmless!"

"It was the classic bucket over a door prank." Rita interjected, "So what if it was filled with mud instead of water?"

"That wasn't mud!" The boy shouted back.

"Yes it was." Rita replied, "I filled it myself."

"Then why did it smell like shit?"

Rita shrugged her shoulders.

The boy and girl sighed.

"Can I get down now?" Rita asked, "I have an Independence Day float to finish."

"You have until Monday." The boy stated.

"Actually I have until Sunday night because with the parade's start time and Oxford being like five hours ahead of P.A., I won't have the time for last minute things." Rita answered, "Besides Johnny, you know how I like to get things done."

"Sounds like something Becky and Lulu would say." John replied.

"So?" Rita asked, "I may be a goofball but I can be serious and dedicated when needed. I am an honor student after all."

"And in the gifted program." The girl shot back.

"Hey giftedness has nothing to do with grades." Rita shot back, "I explained this to y'all before."

Johnny and the girl rolled their eyes.

Then the girl checked her watch. "I have somewhere to be." She said, "And this is getting boring."

"Can you let me down first." Rita asked.

"Depends." The girl stated.

"Wanna be a turtle?" Rita threatened.

"I like turtles." The girl replied.

"Fine." Rita replied, then she snapped her fingers and turned her cousines into american moose.

"Why did you transform me? Martie's the one who insulted you!" Johnny asked.

"Your magic put me up here." Rita answered.

"Why are we moose?" Martie asked.

"Because american moose are larger than European moose." Rita answered.

"Turn us back!" Martie demanded.

"But can I keep the antlers?" Johnny asked.

"Why?" Martie asked.

"Cause I want to." Johnny answered.

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that a dead moose was used to prove to Europe that the U.S. wasn't degenerate?" Rita asked. "And the 4th of July is next week? Cause that's why I did it."

"Maybe." John answered.

"Please don't burst into song." Martie begged, she knew them too well.

"Why?" Rita and Johnny asked.

"It gets annoying." Martie answered.

"But singing is so much fun!" John and Rita replied.

"Sometimes." Martie stated.

Rita and Johnny shared a look, should they sing What I'd Miss?, or just get on with the important matters they were dealing with? Eventually, they made up their minds.

"Look," Rita stated, "let me down and I'll turn you back."

"Can I keep the antlers?" Johnny asked.

"I'll see what I can do." Rita answered.

"Ok." Johnny agreed. Then his eyes glowed gold and the rope tying Rita to the ceiling broke, and Rita fell to the floor. As she fell, she managed to flip herself and land on her feet.

"Thank you!" The she snapped her fingers again and turned Johnny back into a human.

"What about me?" Martie asked.

"And where are my antlers?" Johnny asked.

Rita merely smirked, and using her acrobatic skills, sat herself on Martie's back. Then she reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of american moose antlers and gave them to Johnny, "Here you go."

"Thanks." Johnny said.

"Get off of me." Martie ordered.

"After this." Rita answered. Then she said to all the creatures in the room, "Well this has been fun, but we have to go. But before we leave, let me give you these words of wisdom from the future: Death comes for us all and the Earth is not the center of the universe! The Earth and all the planets we can see with the naked eye revolves around the sun. And if you were to look at Jupiter with a telescope and observed it for at least a week, you would see that it has things orbiting it. Most notably, the Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Named so because they were 'first observed' by Galileo Galilei. Also, the theory that the body only contains four humors and their imbalance causes disease is complete and utter non-sense! I'm sure you were told this by the Protectors and Merlin's kids, but I feel like you should know this, and tell everyone." Then she mumbled, "Even though I know it won't make a global difference in this world."

"Are you done?" Martie asked.

"Almost." Rita answered, "And never forget that if you want to be a great leader, you can only rule by the consent of the leaded. And, no matter who or where your subordinates are, you should treat them all with the same respect. If you don't, there will be uprisings. Like in 1775 when the people of New England and eventually the rest of Britain's American colonies, except for Canada, got fed up with them not being treated like British citizens, even though they were expected to behave like good British subjects. So, after Parliament rejected and insulted the Olive Branch Petition, we had no choice but to declare our independence on July 4th, 1776."

"She gets like this every year." Martie monotonely stated.

"Hey at least my country's leadership never had the succession crisis and dictatorship yours did." Rita shot back.

"Please leave Spanish history out of this." Martie shot back. She was going to make some sort of retort about the U.S., or on Rita's poly-citizenship, but she knew her cousin's replies.

"Hey our histories are entangled."

"Uh, can you guys do this later?" Johnny asked, knowing that this was going to turn into a long debate.

After looking at each other for a while, the girls answered, "Ok."

Then Rita said something in Johnny's mind. John then extended his arm, then Rita grabbed onto it and swung herself into a hand stand. Then she swirled one of her bare feet and Martie was turned back into a human.

"Gracias." Martie thanked.

"De nada." Rita replied. Then she made her voice fill the room, "And remember, memories aren't perfect, they're completely unreliable and easy to trick and create false ones. Don't believe me, try it." Then a goofy grin appeared on her face. "Bye!" And with that, the three time-travelers went through the portal and closed it.

After another awkward silence, Sara cleared her throat. "Shall we continue Mother?"

"Uh, yes." Gwen answered. Then she said to Sir Andrew, "Sir Andrew?"

"Yes Your Majesty." Sir Andrew answered. Then he got up and did his report, he and the others were trying to recover from the day's interruptions.


Vona laid awake in bed. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't fall asleep. They had left so fast that there wasn't any time for Vona to grab something of Merlin's to help her sleep, and everyone had been too busy with Marina's labor to make any accommodations for little Vona, aside from a room and a night dress.

Eventually, she sat up and growled. "Why was I teleported?!" She said aloud in frustration. She hit her pillow in frustration. Then she crossed her arms in anger. Then she remembered Morgaine telling her about a vision she and Anglicus had. Full of determination, she got out of bed and put on a special helmet designed to give her oxygen in the water-filled parts of the sea castle, while still allowing her to talk to others. She then opened the door as quietly as she could, for she didn't want to disturb the others. When she stepped out, she carefully closed the door.

She wondered the halls, eventually leaving the magical air pocket her room was in. She found herself in a semi-submerged hall, with the water-level way above the five-year-old. Using her might, she held on to a safety rail and pulled herself along until she came to a door that read in silver letters: "Minnow". She let go of the rail with one hand, and used it to knock on the door.

Eventually, a merfairy answered the door. He looked tired and said to the girl, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep." Vona answered.

"Then why are you here?" Minnow asked.

"Two of my friends said they had a vision that I came here." Vona answered.

Minnow sighed. He then looked around the empty hall. The guards would be making their rounds there soon. "Come inside." He said while holding out his hand.

Vona nodded her head and took his hand. He then pulled her inside and closed the door.

"Ok, little unintended guest of my cousin Marina," Minnow said, "did your friends say why you came here? Or do you just want a sleeping potion, or sleep spell?"

"I'm tired of sleep potions and sleep spells." Vona whined, "I want Merlin. His twins said you would take me to him."

Minnow processed the information. "Merlin? Camelot's Court Sorcerer?"

"Co-Court Sorcerer." Vona stated, then she explained why she wanted to see him.

"You sleep besides a grown man who's not related to you." Minnow asked in disbelief.

"It helps me sleep." Vona answered full of innocence.

Minnow buried his face in his hands. Then he wiped it away. "Look, I don't have teleportation powers."

Vona groaned.

"But I do have something like it." Minnow muttered. Then he swam up to the air pocket in his room, and then flew up to a high self and grabbed a box. He then placed the box on a table in the air pocket. He looked down and saw Vona treading water. "You're a good swimmer."

"Aunt Marina taught me." Vona answered, "Plus I copied you."

"Ok." Minnow replied, "Can you make it to the stairs?" There was a small staircase that lead to a landing above the water. The stairs were only put there for guests.

Vona nodded and swam as fast as she could to the stairs and gripped the railing. She then carefully climbed the stairs. When she got to the landing, she removed her helmet, and breathed in the sweet air Minnow's plants gave.

Minnow moved his hands and the water that had soaked little Vona came off her and went back to the water. He then helped the girl to the table where the box was, and opened it. Vona looked inside, and saw a multi-colored bead bracelet and the heart necklace Merlin wore underneath his shirt, which Vona would see and feel when she shared his bed.

"The vision." Vona breathed. Then, compelled by an unknown force, she reached out and touched the necklace, it had the same effect it always did on her, a sense of home and safety. But Vona noticed that this time, the feeling was less than before.

"Know it?" Minnow asked.

"Yes," Vona answered while staring blankly at the necklace, "Merlin wears this all the time." Then she picked it up.

"Do you know the bracelet?" Minnow asked as Vona put the necklace on.

"I was told of it."

"Do you know what each bead does?"

Vona shook her head, then put on the bracelet.

"Well if you spin each bead, something will happen to the wearer. The violet bead will make you invisible. The pink bead can teleport whoever wears the bracelet, to whoever wears the necklace, whether in real life or in dreams, in any point in time. But the bracelet wearer has to put the necklace on the person after they have worn it. The blue bead can make you float or fly. I've heard it's like swimming through air, I've never really thought about it since, I have wings. The hot pink bead will let you control the mind of whoever wears the necklace. The brown bead will give you eagle vision. The lavender bead will let you hide your scent. The grey bead will allow you to locate the necklace wearer." He looked a little uncomfortable and hesitant as he explained the last bead, "And the red bead,... well... it allows you to change your age."

"My what?" Vona asked.

"Your age." Minnow answered. "Well, physically. And slightly mentally. But be warned, using it has some serious side effects."

"Like what?"

"Well, let's say you turned yourself into a teenager. You would have the mind of both a child and a teen, in the same teen body. And when you turned yourself back into a child, your mind will still have the traces of a teen, even though your body will be back to a child's."

Vona took his words in. Then she remembered the visions the twins told her. She remembered the lessons she was taught about time. She stared at the red bead. "It already happened." She thought, "Now is the time."

While Minnow let out a yawn and tried to keep his eyes open, Vona put a finger on the red bead and spun it while saying, "I wish to be 16 years of age."

"What?" Minnow asked as he snapped awake.

But it was too late.

The read bead glowed. Vona felt a blast of heat. Minnow shielded his eyes from the blast of light. When it was over, Minnow uncovered his eyes and looked at where Vona had been sitting. He gasped at what he saw: A gorgeous 16-year-old girl with long blonde hair that was kept in a braid, inky eyebrows, and stunning brown eyes.

Vona felt strange. Her perception was radically different, and her body just felt weird, but half of her told her she shouldn't feel weird. When she saw Minnow stare at her, suddenly she felt self-conscious and looked down at herself. She was almost shocked that she had plump breasts. She felt relieved that her night gown had grown too, but it seemed more form-fitting. She examined the rest of her body. She found that she had a lovely hour-glass figure, and very muscular long legs.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But it's too late to change things." Vona thought, "Besides, this was meant to happen."

"Why?" Minnow managed to ask.

Vona turned to him, "Why what?"

"Why did you make yourself 16?" Minnow asked, "I told you not to!"

"Actually you just told me the negatives." Vona replied.

Minnow sighed. "Why did you do this?"

"It already happened." Vona answered, then she told him the truth of the visions.

"I see." Minnow stated after he took the news in, "Well, what's done is done."

"So what now?" Vona asked.

"You should know."

Vona thought for a moment, "I go to the past?"

"Yes." Minnow answered, "I'll help you, but first, you should change out of your night dress."

"Oh." Vona sheepishly replied, "But will I wear?"

"My sister likes to keep her stuff here. You look like the same size as her."

"Will she mind?" Vona didn't like stealing, and hoped that this wouldn't be considered as such.

"Hopefully not." Minnow replied, "Besides, you need clothes."

"Ok." Vona hesitantly said, then she was lead to a silkscreen that had swirls painted on it. Behind the screen was a large wardrobe. Both were on a wide ledge.

"There you go." Minnow said to her, "I hope you can dress yourself?"

"Yes," Vona hotly replied, "I'm five, not two!" Then she stormed off behind the screen. As she changed, Minnow made sure to keep his eyes away from it at all costs.

Vona went through the various clothes in the wardrobe, most of which weren't to her liking, for they either seemed too complicated to put on, or they revealed too much skin. Although there was a part of her that wanted to wear such revealing garments, she knew better. Eventually she decided on a simple pair of brown leggings and a goldenrod tunic with elbow-length sleeves. She put the cloths in a neatish pile on the wardrobe floor, then she stared down at her night dress.

"It shouldn't be that hard to take off." Vona thought, "Afterall, I've taken off my old night dress before. But that was loser, and my hair was shorter. But proportionally, proportionally? I'm sounding like Sara." She took a breath and tugged at her sleeve, then she pulled her arm through and after freeing her other arm, pulled the dress over her head and braid. She messily folded the dress and set it down on the wardrobe floor. She was about to grab the leggings, when a thought came to her. She looked at her reflection in the full length mirror on the wardrobe door and seemed a bit shocked. It was one thing to see and feel her teenage body through a night dress, it was quite another to see it naked. She examined herself again, amazed at how grown up she looked. And she had to admit, her reflection did make her feel grown up.

She heard Minnow cough, and was quickly snapped out of her daze. She quickly got dressed in the borrowed clothes, and wrapped a pretty yet practical belt around her slim and muscular waist. She tried to take care of her hair, but she had left her comb in Camelot, and her hair was too long to do by herself.

"I'll ask Minnow for help." Vona thought. The she emerged from behind the screen and said, "Can you please help me with my hair?"

Minnow turned to face her, she somehow seemed even more beautiful. He was momentarily at a lost for words. A thought came to him, "She may look 16, but remember she's still 5!" He quickly composed himself and said, "Uh, sure." He made his way to her while biting his tongue. "So how do you want your hair styled?"

"In a way that won't get in my way if I have to leap from tree to tree." Vona answered.

"Ok." And with that, Minnow did her hair by reciting a spell. Her hair looked quite pretty. "You're good."

"Thank you." Vona replied.

"You're Welcome." Minnow replied. Then he cleared his throat. "So, you're supposed to time-travel?"

"Yes."

"Ok, I'll help you this time, but after you get back you're gonna have to do travel on your own."

"You're going to show me how, right?"

"Right." Then he reached into his bag and pulled out a strange object. "This is a portal gun. Unfortunately mine is broken at the moment, so it can only send people through time."

"Will it get me to the right Dimention?" Vona asked.

"Yes." Then Minnow added with a smirk, "It's supposed to."

The two giggled. Then after making the proper settings, Minnow blasted a greenish orange portal from the gun. Vona was entranced by it, as it seemed to float in the air on it's own.

"The portal's not going to last forever." Minnow stated.

"Oh." Vona embarrassingly replied. Then she stepped through the portal. When she entered the other side, she found herself in the woods of Camelot. A smile came to her face as she breathed in the fresh air. "I've missed this. I wonder where Merlin is?" She looked around, eventually she saw movement. She went towards it and saw a figure. As she neared, she realized who the person was, Merlin.

"He looks so strange." Vona thought, "Wonder how he got like this?"

Merlin was just standing there, leaning on his staff. He was staring out into the distance.

"Poor man." Vona thought, "He needs help, he needs others. He seems lonely. Wait, wasn't I given siren like powers? I wonder if they'll work on him. Or should I just use a bead? Wait, I didn't give him the necklace yet."

As Vona thought about her options, Merlin thought about where he should go next. He didn't want to back to Camelot, too much pain.

"Mother would be happy to see me." Merlin thought. He was about to make his way to her, but Vona wouldn't let him.

She semiconsciously spun the hot pink bead, and with a siren-like voice called out, "Merlin."

Merlin seemed drawn to her voice. He looked around with a dreamlike stare.

Vona found herself smiling. "Merlin." She said again, and this time, the man went towards her. Still smiling, Vona climbed the tree she hiding behind and got a better view of her surroundings. Her smile grew at the sight of the castle in the distance. "I'll take him there." Vona thought, then she climbed down to a low branch and spun the violet bead and whispered, "I wish to be invisible." The bead glowed, and the girl disappeared from sight. With a smile, she swung to a nearby tree with her wrist spinnerets and called to him again, "Merlin."

As expected, Merlin went to her. Smiling, Vona continued to lead him with her voice until they were a few feet from Camelot's gates. "Merlin, you can stop now."

And Merlin did stop. He finally took in his surroundings, and seemed utterly confused.

Vona, who was next to Merlin, spun the violet bead again and whispered, "I wish to be visible." The violet bead stopped glowing and the Spider Dame-Countess became visible again. Merlin seemed a bit shocked to see her, but as soon as the two made eye contact, a wave of purple light flashed over their eyes.

They continued to stare at each other, with a mix of curiosity and infatuation.

"He seems so different now." Vona thought, "Much more... handsome? No he was always attractive. What am I doing?"

"Who are you?" Merlin finally managed to say.

Vona finally managed to compose herself. "I'm Vona, I'm here to tell you that Guinevere has lifted the band on good magic, and knows you're a sorcerer." She answered.

"What?"

"You heard me. Although disappointed, you're forgiven by Aunt Gwen and the other knights. They understand how you feel, and why things happened the way they did."

A rush of emotions and questions filled the young warlock. Vona noticed, especially the look of confusion when he realized that she had called Gwen her aunt.

"You must return." Vona continued, "Gaius told everyone, you mustn't be afraid. You can't run from your troubles, you have to face them. And I'm sure you'll find that mourning with others, is the best way to heal."

"Is that true?" Merlin couldn't believe it.

"Yes, it is. As an immortal, you'll have to learn that." Vona kept eye contact. She had never looked him in the eyes before today, she liked it.

Merlin was shocked. "An, im…im…immortal?" he stuttered.

"Yes. Apparently you're frozen in time until Uncle Arthur returns." Vona smiled, and removed the heart pendant from her neck. "I must go now, for I'm from the future and don't wish to mess up the time line." Merlin looked puzzled, but before he could say something, Vona continued, "Keep this magic pendant, and always wear it, it's how we'll keep in touch." She then put the pendant around his neck, and spun the violet pendant, "I wish to be invisible" she thought and the bead glowed and the girl disappeared from sight. Then she spun the bead again and thought, "I wish to make Merlin invisible." And the violet bead glowed brighter and Merlin, without his knowledge, became invisible to all except Vona.

Using the hot pink bead, Vona made sure Merlin didn't really question his invisibility, and took the path she wanted him to take. She learned how to use the skill very quickly, which puzzled her afterwards. When Merlin entered the throne room, Vona released him from her control and made him visible.