A/N We forgot to tell you this, but the fanfiction is based on the books and Noor is a character introduced at the end of the 4th book(Map of days.) Here is the next chapter, enjoy!

I studied her worried face. Her eyebrows were knit together and her forehead was creased, but she still looked pretty. I hadn't realized how pretty (we'd been too busy running for our lives, but now I realised, Noor was beautiful. Her straight black hair ran right past her shoulders,framing her slender face. She had dark coal eyelashes and amber eyes that seemed to glow with intelligence.)

'Uh... Jacob, why are you... staring at me?'

So I was staring at her. God I'm such an idiot. 'I was? I'm sorry... I was just...'

I couldn't help but look at her again. Her black top was bloodstained and her jeans were unintentionally ripped. She had a large cut on her forehead and her whole body was grimy but despite that-

'You're still... staring at me...'

'You look beautiful.' Shoot. Had I just said that aloud? 'I mean, I mean nice... sort of nice. Not beautiful- at all. In fact the only reason I said that was because well... this is the first time I'd looked at you... So you know...' Noor's right eyebrow rose up- quite high,'I mean, you don't look nice at all. Actually sorry- you do look nice... like an average human being nice, you know normal nice...ish. Yeah...'

'If I'd timed that, I'd say it was 60 seconds... give or take.'

'Timed what?'

'Your soliloquy,' she said in a teasing voice. I just blushed.

Suddenly we heard the clop of horse feet and the sound of two people arguing. Before I could even comprehend what was going on a man had appeared out of the thicket and pinned me against a tree with a sword at my throat. Fear coursed through me. And... something else? It reminded me strangely of the first time I met Emma and there was a strange tug at my heart which I felt compelled to ignore.

The man sat on horseback. He had blonde hair and narrowed eyes, but I couldn't help but look at his chain mail; it looked like the stuff you saw in museums. What time period were we in exactly?

'Who are you and from where do you hail?' he asked.

'I'm um... Jacob Portman. And this is... Noor. We got lost and...'

'Bandits.' Noor said helpfully. 'Bandits stole our belongings.'

The man rose an eyebrow. We just glanced at each other. Wherever we were, at least we had each other