Disclaimer: I don't own it.

Chapter thirteen. .. still waiting for some more suggestions. . . . Thanks for the reviews, Misty Fox and Coppery Mage, you guys are great 

Ryne

Return

Once the troupe reached the gym, they were chattering nicely. The tension from only a few minutes earlier had all but dissipated. Jon and Ryne were arguing heatedly about how best to defend a castle from a three pronged attack; this conversation, having been discussed many times was overlooked by others as a video game talk. Ayden and Alanna spoke softly of women's' rights, the others contented themselves with mundane talk about the weather, and the lovely outfits the girls were wearing.

The gym was a decorated in festive lights, hung with a large banner near the stage that read "All Saints Spring Formal". A throng of students was present, all wearing their finest. Little groups had formed around the and on the dance floor of friends, most of these comprising solely of one sex, but soon as the music started to play, the cliques mingled and a few pairs started to dance.

The boys and Alanna were amazed to see a few girls start to dance together, laughing and pointing at boys. This was far different from the balls they had attended at the Palace and they intended to enjoy it thoroughly. Soon Steph and Alex, Kyla and Alex, Emily and Max, Lindsey and Ben; had all dispersed onto the dance floor in search of other friends, secluded corners and some refreshments. Raoul had quietly slipped away and the other lone boys had already bee lined for a pack of girls on their own.

Alanna looked over at Jon and instantly wished she had not. He was staring at her without shame, his eyes filled with something she had never seen there but recognized from George. She refused to believe she could ever really be with Jon but tonight, she was not "Alan the perfect Squire" from Tortall, she was Alanna, Ryneka's cousin, who looked incredibly like Alan who was coincidentally too sick to attend. And she intended to enjoy the night to its fullest extent. She looked back at Jon and smiled, his eyes lit and he smiled back, offering his hand, she accepted and they twirled onto the dance floor, imitating the people around them.

Ryneka shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, Ayden was smugly talking to a group of his friends and she was not at all interested in what they were talking about. She excused herself from the group with under the mumbled pretext of getting herself a drink. Ayden nodded absentmindedly and returned to his conversation. Ryne made her way over to a secluded corner in which a pair of chairs was seated beside each other; she happily flopped onto one with a sigh.

She jumped when a voice behind her chuckled and said "You shouldn't do that, you know, you'll ruin your dress." With that a large figure appeared from the shadows beside her and made his way carefully into the chair beside her.

"Raoul! Oh, you scared me!" She distractedly smoothed out the pleats in her dress and sat herself more properly on the chair, Raoul reached over and helped with some of the pleats she could not see. "Thank you. I didn't expect to find you here, I was told to watch out for bulges in the window drapes but no more than that." Ryne said teasingly to her friend, smiling at him.

"Yes, well, I couldn't find any suitable drapes so I settled for a shadow."

"So I see."

"What are you doing over here on this fine evening; anyhow, shouldn't you be with your partner over there?" He nodded toward Ayden who appeared not to notice she was taking an awfully long time to get a drink.

Ryne shook her head a bit, "No, I don't think he really wants to be here with me, I've noticed this in Ayden before, he thrives on doing things other people have never done before."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how I never date other people until a month after I've broken up with someone?" Raoul nodded. "Well exactly, Ayden is the first exception to that, and now he acts like it's nothing, I'm just one more trophy." She sighed, "I had hoped it would be different, but I guess not. I know he loves me but I don't think he's ready for the kind of relationship I want and I'm not sure if I love him that way..." she trailed off.

Raoul was staring at her a little strangely, silence set in and they just looked at each other. Suddenly Raoul spoke: "Would you like to dance?"

Ryne was surprised at first, and then smiled "I'd love to."

They both got to their feet and walked onto the dance floor, hand in hand. Alanna did a bit of a double take when she saw Ryne and Raoul dancing. Then she looked over to where Ayden was still talking to a group that had almost doubled since his arrival, completely unaware of his date. Jon followed Alanna's eyes through this and she heard him mutter "Good for you." When she looked back at him, he was looking at Ryne with such brotherly love; she wondered what was between them. Then the moment was gone and he looked at her once more.

"What do you mean 'Good for you'? She is ignoring Ayden!" Alanna asked.

"I was afraid he'd treat her like that, she's not the one ignoring he is. I'm proud of her for having fun despite his attitude. Furthermore," he gave her his best "Prince" voice but quickly reverted to his regular voice, "she got Raoul to come out and dance, which is also good." He smiled down at Alanna and laughed when he saw her concede. They continued their dance in silence.

Gary watched from the sidelines as Raoul danced with Ryne, he sighed and turned down yet another invite to dance. He didn't know what to do with himself, it was obvious Ayden had not been a proper gentleman concerning Ryneka, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He couldn't blame Raoul either for he had made an effort not to let it show that he liked Ryne; there was no way Raoul could have known. Maybe he should just give up; he couldn't even explain his feelings to himself, what if they weren't what he thought they were? Gary sighed again and remained where he was, watching the dancers enjoying themselves.

The song finished and the band took a fifteen-minute break, meanwhile all the dancers reconvened with their friends to talk, Raoul, Ryne, Alanna and Jon all met up near the refreshment table. Jon and Ryne smiled at each other knowingly and then looked away.

"So are you guys having fun?" Ryne asked with a big smile at Alanna. The couple nodded.

"And you?" Jon asked. This time Raoul and Ryne nodded. The pleasantries went on.

The man quickly swung his black cloak over his shoulders and pulled the hood down over his eyes. This had to be done quickly and he could not be seen. I hope this works, lass or you have a lot to answer for. He thought quietly to himself as he slipped out of his rooms and made his way to the Palace swiftly.

As he walked, he checked his daggers surreptitiously and thought fervently of the woman he loved. She'd been missing for less than three weeks now but tonight he was going to get her back from wherever she was.

The man signaled to the guard at the Palace, whom he knew and who let him in without so much as looking at him. He stole into the chambers of his loved one and there he found... nothing out of the ordinary. He thought back to the letter she had left him as her only goodbye and walked across the rooms to a door that joined her rooms to those of another man. George listened carefully at the door before reaching for the doorknob. Just as he was going to open the door, he heard a voice from the other side.

"Still nothing!" The voice hissed in outrage. George immediately recognized the voice as that of the Duke of Conté. "Three weeks and still nothing! Where are that damn boy and his friends?" The Duke lowered his voice marginally, there did not seem to be anyone else in the room with him. "And what of my ex squire? Where is he? They will be back, I know it, but how did they leave? And where? And most of all when will they be back? For I cannot have them appearing at the most inopportune moment." There was a rustling sound that George identified as the Duke moving the bed sheets. With a few more mumbled words, the Duke was gone.

George waited a few more minutes at the door to the Prince's chambers. Upon entering, he found that everything was in order, exactly as he had left it when he had first come to investigate the rooms two weeks ago. The only difference lay in the bed, where George's Sight told him bad magic lay; he could do nothing for it now. He had to get Alanna.

The four friends were chatting amiably when Ryne suddenly keeled over, holding her stomach. She whimpered a bit and did not straighten until the others had propped her onto a chair. Raoul brought her a glass of punch but Ryne waved it away, muttering something about "it's spiked". The others frowned worriedly at her and Raoul smoothed her hair out of her face gently. Alanna dropped into a crouch beside her and murmured, "What's wrong?"

Ryne looked at her with strained eyes and said "There's more than one thing." When Alanna only frowned and Jon also came down on one knee beside her Ryne refused to say much else. "Someone's here, looking for you, all of you."

"How would you know that?" Raoul asked gently from behind her.

She smiled at him and said simply "I have the Gift."

He frowned "But how can that be? No one here has the Gift! It is unheard of."

Ryne shrugged, "I just do, and I don't know my whole story yet either."

Alanna was already nodding, "Any idea who it is or if they mean us harm?"

"Friend, that's all I know." She looked up at Alanna and the latter knew there was more to the story but Ryne wasn't ready to tell her and she didn't have time to pry it out of her.

"Alright, do you know where they are?"

"Close, within the school's boundaries."

Alanna nodded and told the boys to look around half the school and go get Alan before coming back to help search. The boys left, Jon a little more reluctantly to look for their mysterious friend. Once the boys were gone Alanna and Ryne went out into the hallway and stopped there. Ryne turned to Alanna and said simply, "There's more to it."

"I know."

"Something's gone wrong at home. Your home, I mean. Something bad. My magic is different, I can manipulate things, like you but I can also sense things that are far away and seemingly unrelated to me. Anyway, I didn't want to say anything in front of the others, but Alex is against us. I also think he might have turned Ayden and Stephanie against us, we have to be ready for a fight when we try to leave, of course, Alex will pretend to be on our side, but he isn't, we mustn't forget that."

"Are you sure?" Alanna had had her suspicions before but having this information so strongly handed to her was difficult to believe.

"Yes. I don't know what he's done, but I think maybe Roger gave him something to use, he would never lend his magic to someone who might someday usurp as he has usurped many before him, but maybe something else useful. Our main priority right now is finding George."

"How did you know about Roger? And you know we're looking for George? Why didn't you say so? That means it's important!"

"Well of course it's important! That's what I've been saying all along, isn't it?" Ryne rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Alright, alright, let's go get him."

"He's in the Atrium." Ryne said with a tinge of guilt at not having told them that earlier and promptly ignored the slightly exasperated look Alanna was giving her.

They made their way to the Atrium, which was empty except for the large silhouette of a man in a black cloak. The man seemed lost.

"George?" Alanna breathed the name softly, as if caressing the name with her voice.

The man whirled about swiftly but silently and whipped his head around so fast there was an audible crack from his neck. Ryne winced. "Lass?" The word was so full of emotion and longing, Ryne had to take a step back and turn her head away slightly. When she looked back, Alanna was running into George's arms and laughing as he swooped her off her feet and twirled her around once before setting her lightly on her feet. He looked her over lovingly and smiled; he reached closer and caressed her bare shoulder, his fingers picking at the garment she wore. "This is nice, very different, I like it." He grinned roguishly and Ryne felt herself doing the same.

Alanna blushed and covered his hand with hers. "I like it too," she said with meaning.

His eyebrows lifted high and he grinned even more crookedly. Ryne remarked to herself that he was fairly good looking despite his age and a fairly large nose that looked like it had been broken a few times. She'd do well to make him her husband. Ryne thought, then scolded herself, it isn't time for romanticizing now! She made her way out of the shadow without delay and walked up to the pair. Suddenly there was a flash of silver and a flurry of movement in which George had wrapped an arm around her neck and now held a knife—or dagger rather she corrected herself—to her throat. The message was clear: This is not a joke.

Before Alanna had a chance to protest George's actions, Ryneka was also moving, she was a strong girl and she knew how to defend herself. She viciously pinched the soft flesh of his triceps and he yelped but didn't let go, thankfully his grip loosened just a trifle and that was enough for Ryne to turn a little sideways, kick out her leg and bring it barreling back into the pressure point on the outside of George's thigh. The man dropped to a knee with a muffled curse, his arm dragging Ryne down beside him and a moment of inattention caused the blade to run lightly in a diagonal line on her throat. With a sharp intake of breath of outrage at the cut, Ryne shoved her stiletto heel into George's gut in an awkward movement and grabbed his knife hand, smashing it on the ground to make him let go.

Just then Alanna found her voice and cried out "George stop! That's Ryneka, my friend."

Instantly it felt as though the life had gone out of the mass with which she was entwined. He let go of both dagger and girl, letting her extricate herself from him. She got up slowly, her left hand on her throat to staunch the blood flow and extended a hand to the now writhing silhouette of a man. He accepted her hand and she helped hoist him up to his feet, his hand grabbing the dagger swiftly and resheathing it in a sleeve almost imperceptibly.

Ryne turned to her friend, "Took you long enough!"

"Well, if you had just waited a second for me to say something maybe that wouldn't have happened."

"Well if you hadn't been flirting, maybe you would have remembered I was there and that we have something important to do."

Alanna blushed but did not back down. "I know we have important things to do! That doesn't mean I can't say hello to a good friend of mine!"

Ryne simply huffed and turned to George. "I apologize for my behavior, I should have known better than to greet instinct with instinct. My name is Ryneka, I believe you are George." She held out her hand to shake. George did so and Ryne's eyes filled with happiness. She looked at Alanna with such joy that Alanna wondered what the 'feeling' had revealed to her.

George did not really notice any of this, he simply replied to Ryne, "It's alright; I suppose I shouldn't have acted without provocation. I'm sorry." Ryne nodded idly.

"Alright, Alanna we need to hurry home so you can get changed, unless you want to go home like that?" She grinned at Alanna who shook her head vigorously. "Okay, let's go, George you can come with us or go find the boys, whichever you prefer."

"I'll come with you."

"Alright, I have to warn you, I'm driving us and I go pretty fast." Ryne said and started to walk across the Atrium towards the doors.

"Driving?" George asked in a confused way. Alanna chuckled and pulled him toward the doors in Ryneka's wake.

Twenty minutes later, they had arrived at Ryne's residence with a very dazed George and very little time to get ready. Alanna changed quickly into her "Alan" clothes and shoved everything else into a bag, Ryneka did the same with her things and Alanna did not object. Then they quickly made their way over to the flat Alanna and her friends were renting and packed every thing in sight, when Alanna tried to stuff the toaster into her bag Ryne laughed and took it away from her.

"It won't work there anyhow, you don't have electricity."

Alanna conceded and extracted the coffee maker she had stowed in her bag. George helped pack this time and they were done shortly; they put everything into the car and sped back to the school. Ryne attempted to make a cover story for 'Alanna's' disappearance.

Soon they arrived at the school and the moment they walked in, they found Raoul and Jon waiting in the Atrium. They looked up and hurried to help unpack, without even noticing George's presence. Once everything was in a sheltered corner, Jon sighed and told them, "We couldn't find the 'friend' anywhere; we didn't see anyone we knew from home."

George cleared his throat and said, "What am I? Hogwash?" But he other two didn't seem to hear.

"We looked everywhere" Raoul confirmed. "We even had Gary help us, nothing."

Alanna was frowning deeply, "Well, of course you didn't find him, he's right here, w—Ryne and Alanna found him a while ago then they came to get me."

Ryne grinned and mouthed "Nice save" to Alanna, who grinned back.

"Who?" Jon asked and looked around, apparently staring right around George.

"Where?" Raoul asked and imitated Jon.

"Right here!" cried George loudly, waving his arms.

"Shh!" Alanna and Ryne both hissed.

"What? We aren't being loud!" Jon protested and Raoul nodded his agreement. Meanwhile George gave a half laugh at his situation.

Jon looked closely at Ryne and Alanna who were frowning at George and followed their eyes. He could not seem to find what they were looking at. "There's nothing there." Before the girls could protest, he asked, "Who is it?"

"George," they replied.

"But where?" Both he and Raoul asked incredulously.

Ryne's frown of puzzlement had transformed into one of curiosity. "Wait a moment, please." She took a deep breath and did a quick breathing exercise she had learned from her saxophone teacher and then concentrated. "Can you see him?"

All three of them moved their gazes from her to where George was standing and exclaimed hushed cries of surprise. "What happened?" Jon asked.

"Sorry I think that was my fault, I didn't want anyone to see him, so I made him a shield sort of thing that diverts people's attention from him; he also blends in with the background so you can't see him even if you're determined to." Ryne blushed a little.

"That's fantastic!" Jon cried. "Wait until I tell Father and Mother!"

"Actually," George cut in, "that's why I'm here. You're mother is sick again. It's time you all came home." The last sentence he said, looking directly at Alanna, who was too busy worrying about the Queen to notice.

"Sick? How sick? What's happened?"

"I'm not rightly sure, but you have to come home." Jon nodded and looked at Alanna. She nodded. How to do this?

"Raoul go get Gary and Alex, we're leaving." Raoul nodded and was off. "You two, could you get me something comfortable to sit on?" Jon and George went off in search of what she asked.

Ryne moved closer and asked, "Is there anyway we can leave Alex behind? He'll only be a problem later for you."

Alanna shook her head sadly, "Jon would never allow it, and I can't exactly tell him my suspicions. I tried once, you know, but he got mad and told me he never wanted to hear me say anything about it ever again."

Ryne nodded "Alright, the good news is, I don't think we'll be getting any trouble from Ayden and Steph as I had suspected, they won't have time to o anything that isn't too suspicious." Her eyes clouded s she spoke of Ayden.

Alanna smoothed down her hair and said, "I think you'll find someone else. At home." She smiled warmly at Ryne.

"Thanks."

Alanna nodded and looked away as the men came back in different groups. Alex walked quickly toward them. "We're leaving? What about our things?" Both girls gestured to the pile of bags in the corner.

"Don't worry, your stuff was all packed already we didn't touch anything." Ryne assured with a layer of frost in her voice. The look on his face made Alanna wish they had thought to look through his things before rushing back to the school.

Jon walked over, carrying a cushioned seat before him like an offering to a Goddess and Alanna seated herself on it. "Everyone stand back, it should be in the wall there, just like before." The others nodded and did as they were told. Ryne move up to stand right behind and to the right of Alanna and gestured to Jon to do the same, he did and they each put a hand on Alanna's shoulders. Soon all three figures glowed brightly, Alanna bright amethyst and the other two identical shades of cerulean blue. Two small figures slinked across the floor to sit by their master's heels and waited. Within seconds, without really knowing how it happened, a large black expanse had partially covered the wall Alanna had indicated earlier. All three mages seemed to snap out of it a little drained but none the worse for wear. Everyone silently took their respective bags, George who had none, took Alanna's because she was still a little shaky from the magic she had performed.

Jon and Alanna proceeded to go through first, then Gary and Raoul, just as before, when George made to go through next, Ryne held his arm covertly and motioned for Alex to precede them. Once he had, Ryne sighed, had one last look at her former home and walked to the black expanse, arm in arm with George; they both took deep breaths and walked into it.

(A/N: Alright that's it, thanks again to those who pushed me to keep writing, I hope to update again soon. I have to warn all of you, I don't think I'm going to do all the things I was planning on in the first place. Like I was going to follow the line of the books as much as possible with my own twists but I've sort of gotten over the A/J pairing so this might be more about how A/G copes with the age difference and sneaking out to see each other and stuff. Let me know what you think. Is that the last of Ayden or not? We'll find out later! (I sound like a retarded kids show, I know, sigh I'm such a loser, lol) ok, talk to you all later, review please! I really appreciate it.)