"She's in her room again." came Stella's reply.
It had been four days since Musa's beloved had gone missing, and since then she had been a virtual recluse, coming out only to eat or attend lessons, and even then she would eat or say very little. Despite the many searches that had been conducted, there was no sign of Tegryn anywhere.
"I'm really worried about her," said Flora. "I'm just going to see if she's okay." She knocked on Musa's door but there was no reply, so she tried the handle - it was unlocked. Poking her head through the door, she saw Musa laying on her bed. As Flora walked closer, she could see that she was staring fondly at photos of her sweetheart that were laid out in front of her, as though she was trying to get him to come home by willpower alone.
"Musa? Are you okay?"
She looked over at Flora with a start. "Hi," she said gloomily. "I didn't hear you."
"I just came to see how you were doing. We're all worried about you."
She looked back down at her photos. "I wish he'd come home."
"We all do. We all miss him. You two are so great together." she said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Are we? I don't know now. He must hate me so much."
"Why? You've done nothing wrong, and I'm sure deep down he knows that."
Musa sighed. She wanted to believe that but she couldn't. After all, whoever impersonated Griselda had hoodwinked them all, even though they've known Griselda for a good few years now - so how was Tegryn to know? Then she thought about how upset Charlotte was and the things Anyuna said to her and Riven before the truth was figured out... but what about Tegryn? She knew for sure that as far as he was concerned his girlfriend had just cheated on him... and how could he forgive her if he didn't know the truth?
She could feel a wave of despair looming at this thought. She struggled to keep her emotions locked away deep inside, but they were simply too overwhelming. She burst into floods of tears. "He hates me! I know he does! He'll never come back!" she wailed.
"Aw come on," said Flora as she hugged her friend tightly, ignoring the fact that her shoulder was getting soaked. "It'll turn out okay in the end. Everything will be alright, just you see."
"But... we were so happy, but now they've ruined everything!" she sobbed. "Why can't they just leave us alone?"
Flora stroked her friend's hair in a comforting manner - she knew exactly what 'they' Musa was referring to. "Don't worry, they won't win - witches never do," she said, looking down at the photos spread out across her bed. "But you can't stay in here all day torturing yourself like this - that's exactly what they'd want. Come on, you need some fresh air. Why don't we go down your favourite music store and see what new stuff they've got, hmm?"
Knowing that Flora had her best interests at heart, Musa reluctantly agreed.