Remy's POV:

As soon as I opened my eyes the next morning I was thinking about how it was day three of sword hunting, and how it also had a good probability of being just as unsuccessful as the others. I got dressed, attacked the dirt on my face with water and tried to tame my hair. Aaya noticed.

"What are you doing?" she asked me as I was brushing my hair with every bit of strength I could possibly muster.

I shrugged, setting the hairbrush down. "Trying to look clean."

She smiled. "Or trying to make a good impression?"

It took me a second to figure out what she was talking about.

"Not you as well," I moaned. "Could Sean simply not contain his excitement? Did he have to blab about his own imagination?"

She shook her head. "I don't know what you mean. Sean hasn't said anything to me."

I frowned. "What are you on about then?"

She simply smiled again. "When you left with Peter yesterday I saw you lo –"

"No!" I interrupted. "Look, Aaya, you're wrong –"

"No, no," she cut me off. "I don't mean Peter. I saw you looking at that boy when you were leaving. What's his name again?"

I had to mentally warn my face not to blush, threatening it with consequences.

"Oh – I don't remember, but I wasn't looking at him. I just caught his eye."

She smirked. "What was that you were saying about Sean? I might catch up with him later on, see if he has any suspicions…"

"If you even dare," I said menacingly, forgetting and letting the calm mask slip.

Her mouth formed an O. "I was right! You do like him! You do! What is his name, Remy? Oh, I can't remember!"

I sighed. No point in pretending anymore.

"Hush!" I whispered. I went over to her and sat down beside her on her bed, and she was silently squealing with excitement.

"Look, I'm not sure if I do like Alex," I whispered again. "I've hardly ever talked to him before. I'm very confused. Don't tell anyone though, okay? And just use the codename…"

I thought for a second. "Use codename Romeo."

She nodded enthusiastically, but then she seemed even more confused than was.

"What?" I asked.

"What happened to you and Peter? I always believed you would end up back together."

I thought about this. "It's complicated. But I only like him as a friend. Two years ago I was in a bad place, and ninety – nine per cent of the time I was hysterically unstable. I wasn't thinking straight when I said I" – pause for a shudder – "loved him. I love him now, but only as a friend. I know he knows that, so at least that's one thing off my mind. I'm just glad he understands."

I was saying this to give Aaya peace of mind. I was only guessing that he understood, I didn't know for sure. But he hadn't said or done anything to make me think otherwise, so I guessed that was a good sign.

So much guessing.

After another hour of talking about 'Romeo' Aaya finally had her fill of romance and left to find her friends. She had explained to me how they now go flower picking once a day, and how peaceful it was and how I should go with them. I thanked her politely but told her I had to find Peter so we could go searching for the sword again. She didn't seem to mind too much.

I didn't know if Peter was up for sword hunting that day or whether he arranged to go with somebody else, but I certainly wasn't in the mood for flower picking. The flowers would probably turn to stone if I looked at them anyways.

I left the tent in an agreeably bad mood. I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts when I passed the fire I almost didn't spot him.

"Hey! Wait!"

Oh God. It was him. Oh God. Had he heard us talking? Had he been listening? Oh God. I turned and faced him, unable to stop my face flushing.

"S – sorry I didn't s – see you there," I stammered. He seemed amused and I breathed a sigh of relief. It didn't seem like he'd heard us after all.

"What – what are you doing here?" I asked briskly. "I thought the lads went sword hunting."

He smiled. "They did. Aaya came out just as we were leaving and called me back. She said you didn't have a partner."

I tried to maintain a normal facial expression but by God that girl was going to get it next time I saw her.

"Um, yeah," I said, flustered. "I don't, but you can catch up with the lads if you want. I can go on my own. I'm sort of boring anyways."

He just smirked. "I doubt that. You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. I want to know everything."

I was surprised. What did I have to explain?

Oh yeah. The fact that because of my carelessness this guy and his friends ended up in a different world.

"Fine," I said. "But you have some explaining to do as well. Shall we?"

He nodded.

Peter's POV:

I trudged on as the leader of the group, my eyes searching every bit of ground and tree trying to spot something. Anything. Anything that would make this potentially unsuccessful search worthwhile. On my right, Sean seemed to be taking this very seriously and was stretching his neck further and further to see everything. On my left, Curly was momentarily distracted by two birds winding in and out of the trees together up ahead. I found myself being distracted by them too. They seemed blissfully unaware of the world surrounded by love and hate that lay beneath them. They were interested only in their own affairs.

"We should take a break," Curly said, breaking the silence. "We've been looking for ages."

Either that or that the birds had flown out of sight.

"I agree," said Sean, yawning.

I had, to be honest, grown fond of him. Remy was his best friend and I couldn't blame him for loving her or being protective, seeing as how it was only in a friendly way. Before I had agreed to the break the lads were both slumped against a tree with closed eyes. I started to wonder what Remy was doing. I hadn't seen her since the day before, which was definitely the best day I had ever had since she left. It was just like before. The other lads were leaving just a few minutes after us, because they knew their way around by now. Maybe Remy tagged along with them. I knew she was as desperate to find the sword as I was.

Ruthless determination, I thought.

Raybha was the only other person besides us who knew what could happen if the sword wasn't found. That everyone who had a bond with Remy could possibly crumble. Although it was supposed to be a bad thing that there was probably no hope for our bond to be broken, it made me feel almost happy that our connection was so strong that nothing could ever break it.

"Peter," Curly said somewhere. "You alright?"

"Yeah," I said, turning my attention to them.

"You sure?" asked Sean.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You were staring into nowhere for a while," he replied. "What were you thinking about?"

"Oh," I said, suddenly feeling my face boil. "Nothing really."

Curly raised an eyebrow, but didn't question any further. He looked at Sean and Sean looked at him. They both seemed concerned.

"What?" I asked.

"Where were you yesterday?" Curly asked. Sean elbowed him frantically.

"Searching for the sword? Where else?" I said immediately.

"No, after that," he said dismissively. "Where did you go?"

My face seemed even warmer. "I had to talk to Remy about something. So what?"

"What did you talk about?"

"Nothing interesting," I lied. He saw right through it.

"Okay!" I exclaimed, exasperated. "Fine! We just apologized for things that were said and had a laugh. What's wrong with that?"

He shrugged. "There isn't anything wrong with that."

"Then why are you acting like there is?"

"Then why did you lie to us?"

I struggled to think of something to say, but my mind came up blank. I sighed in defeat and sat down on the ground facing them.

"You still like her, don't you?" Curly asked, his voice quieter and calmer.

I glared at him and said nothing. Why was he doing this? In front of Sean, of all people?

Sean seemed shocked, but there was another expression on his face. Like he was realising something.

"Fine. I do. I never stopped." I hid my head in my hands. "Please, don't tell her."

Through a space in my clenched fingers I saw them both exchanging worried glances. I dropped my hands down.

"What? What is it?"

Maybe she knew already…maybe she liked me too? No, then they wouldn't be so worried – looking.

I trained my eyes on them to demand answers.

But they weren't looking at me. They were peering at something behind me, a good distance by the looks of it. Curly looked at me, his face a mixture of confusion and worry. I turned and spotted two figures heading our way, a great distance away as I expected. It seemed like they were having a good time, shoving each other carelessly and presumably laughing and talking. I guessed they were two Indian friends, or something of that nature. But as they slowly made their way closer, I recognised them.

The one on the left was undoubtedly Remy. Her companion was taller than her and they were talking enthusiastically to one another, still shoving and laughing. Then I realised.

That guy who I'd first noticed after Sean when that group first arrived.
Alex.