A/N: hey y'all. well, this is a more somber chapter. hope u enjoy! adios!

Chapter 19

Mandy came up to my room after a while to check on the cut. After putting a different colored paste on it, she sat for a while and we talked.

"What does some rabid bird have to do with Jem?" I asked.

"The A carved into your skin symbolizes an evil so great that nothing like it has occurred for thousands of years," Mandy explained. "The fairy who left this mark intends to do some damage."

She pressed another bandage over the cut.

"Why was I marked? Why me?"

"Because you are the closest Augusta...the fairy...can get to her victim, Prince Jeremy of Ayortha." Mandy replied.

I asked why he was her victim, but Mandy didn't have an answer to that. She said none of the fairies did.

"Although all us fairies suspect-"she stopped dead and clapped a hand over her mouth.

Us fairies?

She looked extremely angry at herself and about ready to kick something.

"Yes, I'm your fairy godmother, anyway, that's besides the point..."

I stared at her, wide eyed, as she recounted the tale of an Ayorthian prince Aunt Areida always told me.

My fairy godmother? Where was she when my favorite parrot from the menagerie went missing? When Grandpa Jerrold died? What kind of fairy is she?

"So you see, Jem is the prince in the story, and Augusta is the evil fairy." Mandy ended.

"You're not a fairy." I whispered.

"And why would you think that?" she replied, totally uninterested. Her tone made me even angrier.

"HOW CAN YOU SIT THERE? HOW CAN U HOLD YOUR HEAD UP? YOU LIVE, AND OTHERS DIE! YOU GET TO WATCH DEATH LIKE A PLAY, SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE FOR ETERNITY! IF YOU WERE A FAIRY, JEM WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS! HE WOULDN'T BE FACING MURDER AT 17, OR EVER FOR THAT MATTER!"

I sobbed into my pillow, great racking sobs that were tearing me apart. Mandy sat up on the bed and stroked my hair, but I stood up quickly to get away from her. She looked hurt, but I could have cared less. How dare she lie to me?

"What can I do to save him, then?" I asked, coldly.

"Sweetheart, this is magic. Big magic. I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do."

My insides turned to ice. How could I not do anything? I can't just ignore the fact he could die. I sat back down on the bed and cried into Mandy's shoulder. I didn't feel hostile towards her anymore, and I was grateful that she hadn't held it against me.

I will save you, Jem. Nothing can stop me. Not even magic.