A/N: just a few reminders from the past chapters that came up in the reviews. Yes, Jem DOES have red hair. and no, it's not lucinda under the cloak. Enjoy chapter 24! a few things are revealed...

Chapter 24

I ran faster in those few moments than I have ever run in my life. I knew it was Jem under that cloak, whether his face was showing or not. I didn't need to see. I never wanted to see him again.

Chris called after me as I ran through the hall. I could hear someone running behind me and I picked up the pace, sprinting up the staircase and through the castle as fast as my ridiculous gown would let me.

I went up and up, floor after floor until I couldn't find another staircase. Someone's footsteps pounded on stairs and reverberated off the walls of the chamber I had entered. I was trapped.

The footsteps were getting closer. Whoever it was, they were running and taking two steps at a time.

The door swung open, and Jem was standing square in the entrance. I expected to see him handsomely dressed and as healthy as I had left him, but no. He was skinnier, too. He looked exhausted, and he was dressed in filthy servant clothes. However, what I noticed most about him was the look in his eyes. Lost, empty, and most of all, confused.

"What do you want?" I asked quietly. I turned my back to him. He walked across the room.

"El," he started. He reached out to my shoulder.

"Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me!" I screamed. He jumped back, surprised.

"How can you come here? How can you stand to be in the same room as me after what you've done?"

"El, I don't-"

"Did you mean all those things? Did you really think about me when I was gone? Or were you too busy?" I put as much emphasis on the word "busy" as possible. His expression was now even more confused.

"Busy, El, what-"

"How could you write me that letter and then be with someone else?" I asked, almost in a whisper. "Do you really love my hair? My eyes?" At this his face turned from confusion to complete shock.

"El, everything I said in that letter is the truth. I love you. Everything about you. And I have no idea what you are talking about when you say I'm with someone else, because I'm not. After you stopped writing...these two weeks have been the most painful in my life."

"I saw you. I have a Fairy Book. There's a picture of you in there kissing another girl. Stop denying it, you owe me more than that by now." Tears began to roll down my cheeks.

"No! El, there is no one else. I don't know why your book would show you that, but I swear I have never even looked at other girls since I met you. You've been the only one...and I was hoping you always would be."

We both stopped talking. I collapsed onto the floor, weak from the shouting after not eating properly. He ran over and knelt beside me. Taking my face in his hands, he made me look at him. He was crying too.

"I love you. Your Book was wrong. If you ever doubt that, then I don't deserve to love you."

"My Book...I don't see how it could be wrong-"I stopped dead. Mandy and mother...their looks...I remembered the day in the kitchen when I was attacked by that bird. They asked to see the book. Mandy looked tired when she came back...had she done something to its pages?

Why would she do it?

Then the answer hit me. To keep us apart. Augusta was using me as bait, and if I wanted to stay away from Jem, she couldn't use me against him. Putting a picture of him with another girl in the book would have convinced me (and did) that I didn't want him.

"I have to find Mandy," I gasped. Jem helped me up and we started towards the door. It slammed shut all on its own. We yanked on it as hard as we could, but it wouldn't budge.

We turned and saw Augusta in the middle of the room.