A/N: hey! this chappie has a totally sucky ending, i hate writing it. but it has to happen for the sake of the plot. hope you enjoy, although i sure don't when i read it.

Chapter 22

"You marked her?" Augusta screamed at the raven on her shoulder. It cawed, frightened.

"She is a friend of the fairies you fool! The kitchen fairy is her godmother! By now all of Kyrria will know!"

She continued to screech at her bird and left me standing alone, confused. Friend of the Fairies? Mandy was a kitchen fairy? Kitchens have fairies?

She rounded on me with a maniac-like smile pasted on her face.

"Well, now that you've been marked," at this she glared at the raven, which was by now up a tree out of reach. It moved up a branch. "I can't exactly take you to my lair. But I'll be back. I can promise you that."

Augusta pulled a long, white wand from under her cloak and pointed it sharply at me. The fairy's magic picked me up and threw me headlong into a tree. Everything went black.

I was very cold. My hands and feet were like ice and my head was throbbing.

Where am I?

I was still in the forest, but not in the clearing. I seemed to have been dragged into a bush on the edge of it. I stood up, and the clearing was nowhere in sight. Then I realized that I was in the middle of it; Augusta conjured it up out of nowhere.

It took me hours to find my way out of the forest and back to the castle. My nightgown was torn to shreds. I ran through the kitchen entrance and met a very shocked Mandy. She stopped kneading the bread she was making and lead me upstairs to my room.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"In the forest, I went for a walk and fell asleep." A lamer excuse was never used.

I didn't mention anything about Augusta. I could tell Mandy didn't believe me but she didn't press the subject, which surprised me. Maybe she felt bad about the whole fairy thing. That reminded me of what Augusta said about the Friends of the Fairies.

"What are Friends of the Fairies?" I asked.

"Where did u hear that?" she questioned, eyes narrowed.

"Read it, from a book in the library." I lied. "What are they?"

"You're one of the last left in Kyrria. There are even a few in Ayortha. A Friend is a human with fairy blood."

I was stunned. Fairy blood?

"So if i have fairy blood..."

"No sweetheart," Mandy sighed. "You're not magic. The only way you can tell you're fairy is with the size of your feet."

I looked down at my slippered feet. They were the smallest I had ever seen; smaller than Emily's even. However, they were exactly the length of Mandy's.

Mandy left and I dressed in a comfortable gown. I picked up the book and sat on my bed. It opened to a letter from Jem that I will never forget.

Dear El,

I'm afraid I can't make it to your birthday ball. I wish I could go; I miss you so much. Now more than ever, because I've realized that I love you. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before. Your eyes, hair, and laugh are all I think about when you're not here. But I fear that I'll never see you again, for reasons I can't explain. I must know if you love me in return, and if you don't, then I hope you find happiness with whoever you choose. All I can say is that he would be the luckiest man in the world. Forgive me, this is the shortest of my letters I have written to you, but it's all I can write now.

Love,

Jem

I re-read the letter over and over until the page was smudged from my thumb holding the page. He loved me. I wouldn't keep him waiting another second. I would write a letter immediately and then ride to Ayortha to see him. If I had to make the journey alone, then so be it.

I flung the Book down and leaped towards my writing desk, but I stopped half way. I had to see a picture of him, usually his letters were accompanied with them.

The letter did come with a picture, but it wasn't what I wanted to see. It felt like ice cubes were slipping down into my stomach.

Jem was sitting in the garden, kissing another girl.