A/N: This chapter ,like most of them wrote itself. Although it may be reflective of the authors current state of mind and what books she's recently been reading. Things are getting weirder. I'm sorry if it kind of drags, but there is quite a bit of foreshadowing. The next chapter some truths will be revealed, I promise! Much love!

It is not an easy thing to find a way to send your astral self outside your body. Sofia discovered this very quickly. Even if Cedric had seemed convinced it was something she could eventually achieve, she was uncertain herself. It was a far cry from turning a rock into a ruby, or conjuring a flower or any magic she might achieve with a wand. No, this was something that required a great deal of discipline and focus. But armed with both a resolve to discover the reason for Cedric's odd behavior and to get a little peace of mind as well as "The Sorcerer's secret" of never giving up she persevered in her attempts. But after two days she was no where nearer to having accomplished it. She had not slept well since her last dream and it was very evident in both her appearance and thoughts.

She wished she could have had assistance from someone who had attempted it before, but the only one around was Cedric and even if he hadn't been avoiding her he'd seemed uneasy about her desire to even try it. She wondered if it was similar to the Transport spell, and that's why he didn't want her to do it. She thought back to her first attempts at the transport spell and how ill she'd felt. The room had been spinning and she'd felt faint and nauseated. She probably would have fainted to the ground if the Sorcerer hadn't been there to catch her by her shoulders. The memories of those attempts were a haze. She only remembered the look of panic in Cedric's brown eyes and how he'd implored her never to try it again unless he was there.
"That wasn't right. Something went wrong. Something could have happened! What if something had happened?!" he'd said in a worried frenzy. She only remembered feeling like a failure that she hadn't been able to do it on the first try and the tears that threatened to fall. Cedric had come to comfort her of course. It was something he was quite good at even if he claimed otherwise. "You'll get it eventually. Remember what I taught you: You must never give up!" and it had taken a while, but she had gotten better. She was Still shaky and she did prefer to do it when Cedric was around, but she could do it. It just took time.

She didn't have time now. She was going to go mad if she didn't find out what these dreams meant! She couldn't take the feelings of both hope and doubt that were eating away at her. The dreams. She'd never doubted herself before them. How could something so wonderful turn into to something that caused so my turmoil? False love. The words tormented her. She couldn't believe it. She thought about all the affection and concern he'd shown her over the years. Even if he wasn't in love with her, he had some sort of love for her, didn't he? Why else then would he have done everything he had all this time? She was sick. "These are just dreams. They aren't real." she repeated over and over. But, deep in her heart she knew they held meaning. They were portents. And she thought of the sky over the field and how in the first two dreams, the ones where he had chased her and kissed her, the sky had been blue, but how it had grown progressively darker. No clear blue skies, gray cloudy lies. There was something looming on the horizon, she knew it. Something awful that would change everything.

Sofia placed her head in head in her hands and shook it from side to side. This wasn't her. She didn't feel miserable, she didn't feel sick. She was happy and full of confidence. Not now she wasn't. Now, she was diffident and tortured. But no one knew it. No one could know it. It was her secret to keep, until she found out Cedric's, for some reason she felt like that would make everything better. It had to. She suddenly let out a strangled sob. She was on the verge of tears again. No, not again. She had cried enough lately to last a life time. "If only I could just go away..." the thought came to her suddenly and impulsively. No, no, she mustn't think like that! She needed a calm mind to focus on astral projection and she couldn't achieve that here. What could she do? "Go somewhere that makes you happy." the answer was something that she, herself would have most likely bestowed onto one of her friends if they had been hurting like this. She should probably take her own advice, that was the real her after all, not this pitiful girl with a pale face and red eyes who sat close to weeping on her bed. Yes, she would go somewhere that made her happy. The gardens, perhaps. It would be calm there. She jumped to her feet and decided to leave her room, stopping before her mirror, looking at the pale and wan face before her and trying to clear it of any traces of possible tears.

Things were better in the gardens. The air was cool and the bright colors of the flowers cheered her up a bit. She made her way past the variety of flowers in bloom, the violets, the lilacs, the Zinnias, the hollyhocks, and bluebells. She savored The delicate smell of the white Azalea that wafted through the air, and when she walked under the shade of the trees, a cool wind would come by, it sent her curls flying about, but she didn't mind. She found it calming, as if the wind itself meant to comfort her. Soon enough a small smile made it's way to her face and with a spring in her step she continued walking the grounds of the gardens. She started to hum a little melody. Where had she heard that before? She wasn't sure. In a dream, maybe? She paid it little mind. She was starting to feel more like herself again, and for that she was glad.

She came to the rose bushes and at first she was fine. They were lovely, the first blooms just beginning. She made her way over to the lavender ones, a color she'd always favored, and then the ghost of a memory came to her mind. She had come to these bushes before, some years before on birthday with Cedric. It was a treasured memory, but for one reason or another it left her with a strange pang of sadness in her chest, but she smiled in spite of herself. On impulse she began to pluck one of the purple roses from its branches. She thought, perhaps, she could give it to Cedric as a sort of peace offering, he wasn't so keen on flowers, it was true, but surely even he would know the significance. She was having a hard time removing the branch and just as she was about to pull it loose, she suddenly remembered the song she'd been humming. It was was from a dream. " And My false love will weep, my false love will weep, my false love will weep for me, after I'm gone."
And then she felt a pain in her hand.
"Ouch!" she looked down to see that the thorny branches of the rose had pricked her fingers and now a stream of crimson was dripping down. Absently, she wiped the excess blood on the rose's petals, and put her fingers to her lips. "How very foolish of me." she thought.

Sofia quickly walked away from roses, to a tree she often would sit beneath, that was in view of the castles towers. His tower. The rose, now stained with blood, was still being held loosely in her right hand. As she sat beneath the shade of the leaves, she felt the wind caress her, She closed her eyes and wasn't surprised to find the familiar tears of the past few weeks escaping past her lashes. She felt calm though. A strange, bitter sweet calm. She wished she could always feel like this. The wind was so comforting, she wished she could be like the wind. She smiled to herself, the calm had been restored.

She stayed like this for many minutes until a small, squeaky voice broke her reverie.

"Princess Sofia?" it asked. She looked around, but could see no one,

"Down here, Princess!" she looked to see one of the little brown Squirrels that lived on the castle grounds.
"Oh, I didn't see you there!" the princess said, attempting a bright voice for the little squirrels sake.

"I noticed. You seem upset. Is everything alright?"
"Yes."
"But you're crying."
"Oh, so I am." she reached up and wiped her tears away with her sleeve.
"Don't worry, little one. I'll be fine. Is there something you wanted?" she asked with a smile.
"I was wondering if you had any seeds or something I could eat." It asked.
"Sofia, began to reach into her pockets, to see if she hadn't, out of habit placed some seeds or nuts to feed the woodland creatures with, but then she heard the little squirrel give a cry:
"Princess Sofia, you're bleeding!" Sofia looked down and saw the cuts on her fingers had reopened and she hadn't even noticed.
"Don't worry about the food right now," cried the brown Squirrel. "Take care of that first!"
Sofia nodded and stood up heading toward the castle. "I'll be back with some seeds later!"she called to the Squirrel.

Sofia wandered down the marble halls of the castle in quite a daze. How had she not noticed the pain? She wondered. She still held the rose in her hand and wiped the oozing blood on it's petals again. Something was very wrong with her, but who could she tell?
She was lost in her thoughts, but when she glanced up again she noticed someone walking a few yards in front of her. It was Cedric. She stopped and stood frozen. Without meaning to she found herself calling out to him:
"Mr. Cedric!"

The man stopped in his tracks, but he did not turn to face her. She could tell his entire body had stiffened, and looking down she saw that his hands were by his sides clenched in fists. His wand appeared to be in a death grip. She was afraid to see what his face might look like, she pictured the eyes narrowed and his mouth contorted into a grimace.
"Mr. Cedric?" she asked again, a bit more softly.
"What is it, Princess Sofia? How can I help her royal Majesty? Hmm?!" he snarled. His voice alarmed her. It was agitated and mocking. It was ominous. There was an artifice to it that she hadn't heard in many years. It was frightening for some reason. She didn't know why. Perhaps, because he didn't sound like her Sorcerer.
"I-I-" she stood there shaking, her hand releasing the blood stained rose she'd still been clutching. It fell to the ground, but she thought little of it. She couldn't understand why she was suddenly so terrified of him.

He turned then. He still didn't face her full on, but she could see the side of his face, just over his shoulder.
He spoke again, his voice returning to a tone she was more accustomed too.
"Princess, is there something wrong?"

"No," she said, still ridiculously frightened. "No. Nothing. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry to have bothered you." the voice that left her was meek, not hers at all. She turned on her heels and began to run as quickly as she could. She thought she heard him call out to her again, she thought he asked her to stop, but she couldn't be sure. She could hear nothing over the pounding of her heart and the echo of her heels running across, the marble floor. She rounded a corner and caught her breath for a moment. She glanced over her shoulder to look at him, he was barely visible behind her veil of hair. He was standing where she had been only moments ago, looking perplexed. She saw that his gaze fell to something on the ground, but she turned away and hurried to her bed chamber before she saw anymore.

Her bedchambers seemed like a safe haven. She quickly regained her senses. She looked down and noticed the cuts on her fingers had re-opened again. She must have been clenching her fingers and not noticed. It was a bit of a mess, blood had fallen on her dress, staining it. Not a large amount, but it would need to be cleaned immediately. First things first, she had to tend to the wound. The thorns had cut her more than she realized. She quickly dipped them in her wash basin and scrubbed off the dried blood. Her hand looked white in comparison. Once that was done, she found her wand and a spellbook and cast a healing spell. The wounds closed and her hand was as good as new.
Next, her gown, she changed out of it and put on a simple blue dress. Her gown would need to be cleaned. She needed some tea too. Something to distract her. She rang a bell to notify Baileywick or one of the maids that she needed them, and then calmly sat on her bed. Her apparent composure bellied her pounding heart and unsteady nerves, but she did not cry and she was so glad. Perhaps she had no more tears left?

There was a knock at her door and then an inquiry of:
"Princess Sofia?" It was Baileywick.

"Yes, Baileywick. Please come in."
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes Baileywick, it is now. My dress was stained. I was wondering if it could be laundered?"
Baileywick came over to where the gown lay and examined it.
"Wait, is that, Blood?" asked the Steward he looked up at Sofia, alarmed.
"Yes." she said simply.

"Oh my goodness! Princess Sofia, are you alright?! Do you need medical attention?! Why didn't you call for me sooner?!" the poor man was beside himself.
"Baileywick, I'm fine. See?" She said holding out his hands to him so he could see there was no wound. "I just cut my fingers on a rose bush and didn't notice right away and I guess it must have bled a bit. But I cleaned up and did a healing spell and everything is just fine now." She smiled at him. "I just need the dress to be laundered, hopefully I haven't ruined it."
Baileywick looked relieved

"I'm sure it can be salvaged." he said, but then looked her over again and frowned.

"Are you sure everything is alright, Princess? You don't look well. Are you feeling ill?"
"Just a little tired, I suppose."
"Is there anything I can do for you? Tea, perhaps?"
Yes, tea sounded like a wonderful idea.
"I'd love some tea. Can you have Chamomile and lavender sent up to me?"
"Of course, Princess. Anything else?"
Sofia thought about it a moment.

"As a matter of fact, Baileywick. I'm am feeling a bit under the weather. I think I may forgo dinner and just go to sleep early. Could you let my Parents know for me?"
"Of course, Princess." he said with a bow "Your tea should be ready soon." and he headed to the door.
"Oh, and Baileywick?"
"Yes, Princess?"
"Please tell everyone that I don't wished to be disturbed. I think I need my rest."
"Of course, your Majesty." he said bowing again before he headed out the door.

Sofia felt a bit better. A bit more like herself. She sat combing her hair at her vanity, when she heard the murmur of voices outside her door. They were masculine and it sounded like they were arguing. One of the voices sounded oddly panicked. Then the argument abruptly stopped and there was a knock on her door.
"Who is it?"
"It's just me, Your Highness. I have your tea."
Sofia answered and let the old Steward in.

"Thank you, Baileywick. Is… everything alright?" she asked, hoping he could explain the arguing she'd heard, but he didn't. Instead he simply replied:
"Yes, of course, Princess. Do let me know if you need anything else."
"Of course." and with a small bow he was gone again.

Sofia drank her tea and tried not to think about anything. She just thought about the wind and how wonderful it had been. She lay on her bed and closed her eyes.
"If only I could be like the wind." she thought. And she pictured herself riding along the sky slowly. She felt a tingling sensation and the next thing she knew she was floating above her bed and could see herself lying there. It startled her for a minute, and then she was in her bed again.
The realization hit her. She had done it! She had Astral projected, all she had to do was focus, to pretend she was the wind. She tried again and again.
First, she picked a fixed location, her vanity, her closet, outside her door. She was able to do it. She could pass through solid matter as though she were a ghost like Sir Dax, but she wasn't a ghost. She was like the wind.
She got more brazen, she pictured the Dining hall and she was there, but no one could see her. She was invisible. It was exhilarating. She thought of all the places she could go that night, but finally settled on something simple, her secret garden. And she just sat there smiling, feeling so free and so proud of herself. She was very well aware of the silver cord too, the one that would lead her back to her physical body. It would be easy to get back when she wanted.

Somewhere across the gardens, she suddenly heard something: Knocking and a voice calling to her: "Princess? Princess, are you alright? Sofia… I-I- just wanted to check on you…"
Oh, they sounded upset, she should really go back and let them know she was alright. She was so much happier here though, she couldn't be bothered with it. "Later," she thought, "I'll talk to them later. She would remain here in her garden, invisible,standing there in the sunlight and they could keep knocking.