Time: unknown.

Destination: the squires' mess.

Punishment: unknown, but feared.

We made our way down the hallway, the three of us being Hayley, Serena and me, with our chins held up high and our skirts trailing behind us in negligence. Our footsteps echoed in the empty halls as we looked about for anyone with authority that might stop us from our destination.

Serena threw the doors open to the dining hall to reveal famished boys pigging out in the most atrocious, revolting way possible. I felt like puking myself, I didn't know about Serena, but Hayley sucked in her breath with disbelief.

Suddenly, all was quiet and all eyes turned to us.

Someone with a scarred, terrifying face stood up and glared at us. Obviously girls weren't allowed in the hall.

Uh-oh, busted by Lord Wyldon. He looked like he could kill us. Girls? Girls in the squires mess? Intolerable! Death to the witches! Death!

Escape root: to our quarters.

'Run,' I whispered to the gawking girls. But they were too stunned and I wasn't about to betray my friends, so I coughed and stepped forward, my head held up high and my voice audible and clear in the huge room.

'I'm terribly sorry, Lord Wyldon, to interrupt your meal that is,' I said in my most formal and controlled voice—or so I hoped, 'But there was no one to tell but you, I don't know where everyone goes when you need them! Our room is infested with bugs, all sorts of disgusting, revolting, creepy, slithering bugs that we cannot bare to look at without gagging! Would you please help us in our crisis, kind Lord?'

When Lord Wyldon blazed at me, I raised an eyebrow in defiance. 'My Lord? Are you coming?'

The guy was so unemotional, he just left the table, told the pages and squires and knights to go on eating and walked past me glaring. I quickly turned to look for Roald and whistled for him to look at me.

People noticed what I was aiming at and told him to look at me. I made a gesture that in my world meant magic but he just gave me a baffled look. So I mouthed, 'Use your Gift! Make bugs!'

The helpful squires passed on the message and Roald grinned at me and nodded, closing his eyes as he sent his Gift to work.

I smiled in satisfaction and dragged the ladies out of the mess with me, with whistles, clapping and hoots thrown at us even as I closed the door.

We giggled as we ran to our rooms, where we found Lord Wyldon consorting with an old man who was in bad need of a haircut, a shave and from the distinct smell, a shower.

'There are insects crawling in the girls' rooms, get rid of them! I don't want them pestering me anymore, my boys don't need distractions like that!' Lord Wyldon was barking with his authoritative voice at the frail man, who sighed and walked into the room. He walked out moments later and scowled at the Wyldon.

'There's nothing there!' he growled and left.

Lord Wyldon looked baffled as he walked into the room, got out and turned to look at us suspiciously. Girls of course were experts at this and returned his look with innocent, free-of-guilty and totally believable expressions.

'I saw it with my own eyes,' he told no one in particular, squinting his eyes at us angrily.

He stomped off to the mess hall again, leaving the three of us to laugh unashamedly as we entered our bug-free room.

I made a note to thank Roald when I next saw him. I didn't know what Lord Wyldon would have done to us girls if all of us had stood there gawking like idiots, and if Roald hadn't used his Gift to trick the Stump into thinking there were bugs in our rooms.

'Did you see the look on his face when we walked into that room?' Hayley laughed, tears rolling down her cheeks.

I'd forgotten my sourness and was enjoying the moment as I burst out laughing again. 'Oh my God, I wish I'd had a camera!'

Khalil walked in that moment and shook his head at us, looking at us as if to say; have you no shame?

'Why, hello stranger, glad you found some time for us poor gals!' I grinned, getting up and hugging him, having to go on my tippee-toes to get my arms around him.

'Lovely act you put up in the mess,' he chuckled, ruffling my messed-up hair. My hair's always messed up, so I always keep it in a bun or a plait.

'I was so lucky Roald was actually there, if Lord Wyldon had found out I was lying, our heads would have rolled in a matter of seconds. Mine specifically!' I tugged at his hair.

'You could have insisted the bugs had gotten scared and run off at the sound of his footsteps; any sane living thing would run when an angry Stump's heading their way.'

'Hey, you got anything planned, Khalil?' I asked, an idea forming in my head.

'No, not really, why?'

'Well, let's go for a picnic, all of us! Invite your friends—I don't think the squires can come, but invite the girls Serena and Hayley!' I had no idea why, but I actually felt excited at the prospect of a picnic. My first outing in the world of Tortall. Wow.

Khalil gaped at me with mock-shock, 'And who's gonna keep the macho of the group entertained?'

Big mistake, bud, I thought to myself, as Serena slyly wedged between us, taking his arm in hers as she'd done. 'That's where I come in, hun.' She grinned nastily for effect.

It worked.

Khalil miraculously pulled away from her, his face pale now. 'Actually, I might ask Roald to come with me!'

I frowned. 'Why Roald?'

'Because he's a friend. Why not Roald?' he asked, with a curious, raised eyebrow.

'Ah—coz…' Well I couldn't just say 'oh, hey, he invited me to his own outing and I said no way mate, doing my own thing and oh oops—didn't invite him!' so I said, 'Actually, why not? I'm just being an idiot! Tell him not to bring the whole throne with him, all right?'

Khalil rolled his eyes and shut the door behind him.

'Reem,' Serena said, face straight.

'Yeah?' I asked, undressing from my beige gown and into my riding clothes.

'Have you ever been or are you and Khalil together?' she croaked.

I laughed, 'No, we're just friends.' People had always asked me that, like it wasn't obvious. That we're friends that is.

Hayley was also throwing off her dress and slipping on her riding clothes, humming to herself, ignoring us. That girl lived in the other, Other World. Two worlds aren't enough for her; three seemed to be a minimum.

Once we were ready, Hayley and me made our way to the stables while Serena called on the girls.

So we were waiting by our horses; Hayley alongside a pure, stark-white horse with blue eyes and me with Calmheart. Tether—the nice horse I'd ridden the first day of my life in Tortall, to the Palace—was nowhere in sight, so I brought Calmheart. Not that I didn't like Calmheart, but Tether had hit a soft spot in my heart, he had been too cute.

'Ready!' Serena called out, a whole swarm of a herd of cheerful girls hurrying after her. There were at least twenty. I felt outnumbered. I had never been and in no way planning to be girly or as boring-looking as those girls swamping towards me at that time. I felt actual fear.

And half of them were carrying baskets; of food of course, and I felt stupid to forget the most important thing in a picnic. The Food.

'Oh, thanks! If you'd left the picnic up to me, we would have starved!' I told Serena as she giggled and agreed.

After a few minutes, when all the girls had mounted their horses, Khalil, Roald and another unfamiliar squire tottered down with their horses towards us, Khalil waving at me like the dolt he was and me waving back at him like the oaf I was.

So off we went, with Roald leading because he knew where to go, and us girls chattering as we followed the 'men' of the group.

'Hey!' a girl rode up to me cheerfully, her loose, fiery-hair wavering after her.

'Hey,' I replied, smiling.

'You're the new one aren't you? The one that got kicked out of that inn!'

I stared at her and then laughed. Rumours spread faster than deadly diseases. 'No! No, I kicked some sailor-butt,' I corrected her.

She laughed back, very loudly. 'Of course, of course. We were so excited that another Tammy fan's joined us!'

'I hope I don't disappoint ya then,' I said.

She giggled once more and then slipped back behind with her friends, saying she'd talk to me some time later.

So one after the other, the girls introduced themselves to me, while all I could do was smile and crack silly jokes, not paying much attention to what they were saying but what they were not saying; what true emotions they held in their eyes. "The secret to the heart lies in the eyes" a wise person had once said.

And it was a hundred percent true.

Most of the people greeting me with warm wishes were honest enough, some seemed to think I was a freak of some sort, which I totally accepted because I admit to being one. Just a very nasty and protective freak. Touch my friends and you're asking for every single bone of your healthy body to be broken. That's my motto.

We stopped in this miniature-forest type of hill; there were tall, beautiful trees surrounding us and the sun was shadowed by those tall living and breathing, wavering things, the birds chirped and the breeze was refreshing, anyone who hadn't want to come to this picnic was immensely enjoying themselves and happy that they had been bullied by Serena into coming.

The little red-head had steered the reluctant Khalil away, somewhere among the trees, causing a wave of rumours to flare among the troop of hormonal teens and two very nervous men that they were hitting it off.

I strode over to Roald and the unknown squire. 'Hey! Enjoying the sunshine?' I asked cheerfully.

'As much as a fish out of water,' the squire replied sourly.

He was very handsome—not as cute as Roald, but cute nonetheless—with his brown-chestnut hair ruffled, glimmering, sharp black eyes twinkling and tanned skin.

'A very happy fish you are, then,' I smiled, outstretching my hand towards him, 'My name's Reem.'

'I know,' he replied, his eyes twinkling even more as he smiled brightly, 'and mine's—'

'REEM!'

That had snapped me out of my trance, I'd seen something in his eyes—something not so normal, but just as I was about to look on, my name was called again.

I turned to see Hayley waving for me to come over; I smiled and nodded.

'Well, the popular must pay the price of popularity!' I sighed mock-sadly. 'Bah-bye!' I turned to get one more look at the squire, but saw nothing unusual in his dark eyes this time. I shrugged and ran over to the bubbly girls.