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Her cheek hit the pavement as she fell through the darkness of the portal and back into daylight, no doubt leaving a scrape on her face that would look very unbecoming on a princess.Princess, she thought with a bit of snicker. The title that had never really fit her to begin with, other than through the birthright she had no control over, pretty much vanished as soon as she’d drawn her sword and risked her life for the little magic bean that had opened the portal that brought her to this land. Nobody who put herself before her kingdom deserved to be called princess, even if she believed the kingdom would be better off for her decision.Eve had never traveled between worlds before. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, so this trip – fall, really – through the portal had been her first of that kind, and as she regained her bearings and glanced around her, she quickly realized she’d landed right in the middle of a busy town square. Scrambling to her feet, she brushed off her riding pants as she stood, embarrassed at having landed flat on her front. She expected the spectacle of her falling from nowhere to have drawn a bit of a crowd, but as she looked around, Eve discovered that nobody nearby had seemed to bat an eye at her suddenly appearing on the cobbled street. A few people nodded at her in greeting and pleasantry, as if they recognized that she was a newcomer, but falling from the sky – that didn’t seem to faze them. After all, Eve realized, most of the townspeople had probably arrived in this realm the exact same way at one time or another. It wasn’t like anybody was actually from here.The Land of Untold Stories, Eve thought. The refuge where time stood still, the place people went to run away from their fates, or so she’d been told. Nobody really knew anything about this land for sure; there was a lot of chatter about its existence throughout the kingdoms, but it was all legends and stories, myths and musings, nothing concrete enough to even prove its existence, let alone make a sane person abandon their life and leave everything behind, which is exactly what Eve had just done. But the people who came here weren’t sane; they were desperate. The magic bean she’d used to open the portal was a one-way door, traveling between worlds was limited, and she had been hopeless enough to take the gamble, banking on the idea that the folklore surrounding this place might actually be true.Eve’s head turned towards the sound of water, and she made her way to the edge of the town she’d found herself in. Her eyes widened as she took in the overwhelming sight around her. These islands, this realm, looked like every land she’d ever seen or heard of or even imagined all thrown into one. Across the water were castles on hills, futuristic towers on flattened mountaintops, towns on top of forests and waterfalls, with hot air balloons and windmills, among other things, in the distance. Smoke from factories billowed in the air behind her. The town behind her looked real. The scene in front of her looked like a fantasy. Where was she? When was she? No wonder everyone back home referred to this place as nothing more than the Mysterious Island.This land was going to be her home, now and for a very long time, if the rumors were true, and Eve had no idea where to start. She turned away from the river and looked back into the town she’d landed in, her eyes scanning her surroundings. She didn’t really want to stay there; this part of the land seemed crowded, and she knew the lush forests across the river were more her style, but while she considered herself to be both smart and capable, she wasn’t about to go wandering through a strange land completely blind. A building to her left was marked as a library, and she walked towards it with purpose, hiking the bag of everything she’d deemed important enough to bring with her higher onto her shoulder. Maybe she’d be able to find a map or information or something she could use to wrap her head around the new home she’d be spending…well…eternity in.A little jingle bell rang as she opened the door to the naturally-lit library. A few townspeople sat at tables or in chairs throughout the room, again, glancing up as she walked in, but otherwise not paying her much attention. Eve made her way to the empty front desk, looking around to see if anyone who might be able to help her was there, and an older gentleman appeared between the aisles of worn books to greet his new arrival. She watched him as he traveled to the front desk; he was well-dressed and carried himself with dignity and honor, and she immediately wondered how he’d ended up in a place like this. A flash of recognition traveled across his face as he got a good look as his patron.“Princess Eve,” he said with surprise.“Uh…yeah,” she said apprehensively. “Yeah. How did you…?”“I have lived a very long time, your highness. I know all the kingdoms of the Enchanted Forest,” he said. “Been to many of them, too. Yours is quite lovely, might I add.” He held out his hand in a gesture for hers and introduced himself as Galahad.“From Camelot?” Eve asked, giving him her hand. He brought the back of her palm to his lips for a kiss.“Indeed,” he said. “Did you just arrive in this land, Princess?”“Yeah, okay, look, I’m not really looking to be a princess here, so…just Eve will do,” Eve told him.“In that case, you can call me Jenkins,” he replied. Eve’s face morphed into a look of sudden confusion, and he added, “Many of us are here to shed former identities for one reason or another.”“Okay, Jenkins…quick question, and then I’ll be on my way,” Eve promised. “You’re right; I just…landed here, we’ll say, and I’m not sure where to…”“Where to start?” Jenkins said, finishing her sentence.“The view out there on the water is a bit overwhelming,” Eve said with a nod. “So how would a girl find her way around around here?”Without another word, Jenkins reached behind the front desk and pulled out information about the land. She leafed through the documents he’d presented her – maps and brochures, descriptions of all the different areas of the Mysterious Island, and her brow twitched in surprise.“Something wrong?” Jenkins asked.“One more quick question,” Eve said. “It is possible to leave this land, isn’t it?”“Having second thoughts already?” Jenkins asked.“Nope,” Eve said with a bit of a chuckle. “No, no, no. It’s just…nobody I talked to before I got here seemed to know anything about this place, and you just handed over all this information…”“If any of those documents leave this land,” Jenkins explained. “Their contents will magically disappear. Outsiders will simply see blank pieces of parchment.”“Really?” Eve asked, holding one of the documents up to a window. It looked like regular ink on the page to her; she glanced back at Jenkins.“This place is a sanctuary,” Jenkins reminded her. “There are certain…precautions around its being.”“Of course,” Eve replied, feeling a little stupid for not thinking of that herself.  She was still overwhelmed, and she still had no idea how to go about building a life in this strange land, especially when life was always something that had just kind of happened to her as part of the royal family in her kingdom, but at least now, maybe, she wouldn’t get completely lost along the way. She neatly culled the papers together and gathered them in her arms.“Thank you,” she said. She nodded goodbye and headed back the way she’d come. She could find a bench near the water, she thought. Maybe look out at all her different choices as she tried to decide which way she should go.“Princes…Eve,” he called, correcting himself along the way. She turned around to look at him again. “There’s another princess here,” he revealed.“There is?” she asked with surprise. She instantly rolled her eyes a little at her own naivety. For reasons she couldn’t quite explain, she had thought she might be the only princess in this territory. After all, who would run away from a life of guaranteed comfort and esteem to fend for herself in a daunting, mysterious land of refuge? This place was thought of as a last resort back in her kingdom, nobody was even sure it was real, and Eve suddenly very much wanted to meet the other woman who had come to the same conclusion she had in the face of despondency.  “You know her?” she asked.“Yes,” Jenkins said with a fond smile. “Lovely girl. Comes in quite often.”“And what brought such a lovely princess here?” Eve asked.“Oh, that is her story to tell, I’m afraid,” Jenkins said. He wandered over to Eve and pulled the map from her pile. “Princess Cassandra of the Northern Isles – she lives out near the edge of the forest, below the bustling cities across the lake.”Jenkins pointed to a spot on the map, indicating where Cassandra lived. Eve looked at him in confusion. “That’s it?” she asked. “That’s all the directions you’ve got for me?”Jenkins sighed. “I don’t know where exactly the princess lives, Eve. I’ve never been there myself.” He pulled a small timepiece out of his pocket and said, “She’ll probably be here sometime in the next few hours, if you’d like to take a seat and peruse all that information here.”“Can’t tell me anything about her, huh?” Eve asked.Jenkins sighed as the caring smile fell across his face again. “She’s…beautiful, and I don’t mean in appearance, though she is stunning in that way, too, of course,” he said. “You’ll see.”“Very cryptic,” Eve muttered.“I meant what I said earlier, Eve,” Jenkins said. “We all have our own stories to tell; I’m not at liberty to tell another’s tale.”“But you think she’ll be willing to help me?” Eve asked.“Oh, I have no doubt in my mind as to that,” Jenkins said. “As you’ve already suspected, we don’t get a lot of royalty here, and those who do make their royal heritage known tend to stand out.”“Hence your name change, Knight?” Eve asked.“Precisely,” Jenkins confirmed.“Do people know about Cassandra?” Eve asked.“Very few, as far as I know,” Jenkins said. “She found herself in this library, much like you did, when she first arrived; I gave her some of the same guidance.”“So you can’t tell me anything about her, but you can offer up the information that she’s a princess?” Eve challenged. Jenkins sighed.“It is as much for her as it is for you,” he admitted. “This place can be very lonely. I think Cassandra could probably use a friend a little more like herself, and I thought perhaps she would be a good way for you to start finding your place here. You might not feel the need to hide who you are with her as you would with some of our other neighbors.”Eve nodded. That was good advice, she decided. She certainly hadn’t intended on divulging her royal status to anyone in this land. She didn’t want to be treated like a princess. That was part of the reason why she’d left everything behind, but having a friend with a shared background, having someone who’d been there to guide her through figuring everything out…that wasn’t the worst idea she’d ever heard. The worst idea she’d ever heard…well, that was another part of the reason she’d left everything behind without really looking back.“How will I know when she gets here?” Eve asked. “In case you’re lost in the stacks or something?”“She always has flowers that look like the night sky woven into her red hair,” Jenkins said. “Keep an eye out for those.” She wouldn’t have needed to know about the flowers, Eve thought as her gaze followed the lady who’d just entered the library to the front desk. There were, indeed, little purple flowers that looked like the night sky in Cassandra’s hair, but unlike herself, Eve thought Cassandra looked like a princess. How could she have possibly felt the need to run away?Her red hair fell in curls around her shoulders, the longest locks stopping nearly at her stomach. The dress she wore almost matched the purple color of the flowers in her hair and featured a dainty floral pattern of its own with short, butterfly sleeves. The floral fabric split into a v-shape beneath her breasts, revealing a simple light pink dress underneath, the skirt of each layer just barely remaining off the floor. The colors of her dress and her hair were striking against her pale skin, and even from across the room, Eve couldn’t help but notice her big, blue eyes, and lips that had just the slightest hint of a pink sheen painted on them. Cassandra even moved with the effortless grace of a princess, the grace that Eve had never quite mastered herself, much to her father’s dismay. The only thing surprising about the other princess was her apparent age. The reverence that Jenkins seemed to have for her – Eve had expected somebody older. Cassandra looked younger than Eve herself.Cassandra held a basket holding a small bouquet of the enchanting flowers in one arm, the basket crooked into her bent elbow; she carried a small pile of books in the other. Unlike when Eve had entered, Jenkins apparently hadn’t heard the jingle bell ring as she walked in, as he hadn’t yet appeared by the time Cassandra reached the desk. She stood on her toes and peered around the library. When she couldn’t find him on her own, she placed the basket onto the desk, an impish grin on her pretty face. Her hand freed, she let her pointer finger hover over the little bell on the front desk for just a moment before rapidly tapping the top, ringing the bell over and over again.It didn’t take long for Jenkins to peer his head around one of the aisles across the room. Cassandra noticed and halted the ringing, wiggling her eyebrows at him. Jenkins disappeared behind the aisle again, presumably to return a book to the shelf, Eve thought, and Cassandra started ringing the bell again. Eve grinned as Jenkins quickly started making his way to the desk.“For the love of god, woman, I’m coming,” Jenkins sighed. Cassandra giggled and stopped ringing the bell once and for all. Jenkins made his way behind the desk, and Cassandra stood on her toes again, leaning over the desk to kiss his cheek. He smiled as her lips brushed his skin and gestured to the books in her arm. “Well, what did you think?”“It was great,” Cassandra sighed, placing the small pile of books on his desk. “You were right.”“You should know by now to just trust me,” Jenkins replied.“The science in that one you gave me last month was complete nonsense!” Cassandra argued.“But you liked the underlying story anyway, did you not?” he asked.She sighed and reluctantly admitted, “Yes.”“And what do you have in there?” Jenkins asked, peering into the basket.Cassandra pulled back the cloth covering the basket contents and said, “Apple cookies and mini brown sugar muffins.”Jenkins immediately grabbed a cookie from the basket. After taking a bite, he looked at the eager girl across from him and said, “You try too hard to keep my sweet tooth happy, my dear.”“I try to keep you happy,” Cassandra replied. “And what do you have for me today?”Jenkins pulled another small pile of books from behind his desk and passed them over to Cassandra. “The one you requested and two surprises,” he said. “Just give them a chance.”“You’ve yet to steer me wrong, Galahad,” Cassandra said.“Keeping that in mind…” Jenkins said, coming back around the desk to stand directly in front of her. “There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to, if you’re willing.”Cassandra nodded, her eyes wide, and said, “Of course.”Jenkins grabbed the basket, and Cassandra grabbed her new books, and Eve quickly shuffled her papers back into a neat pile as they made their way over to her table. Jenkins took a seat next to Eve, and Cassandra sat down across from her, curling her legs underneath her to sit on her knees, piquing Baird’s curiosity yet again as to just how old this other princess before her was.“Princess,” Jenkins said to Cassandra. “I’d like you to meet Princess Eve of the Enchanted Forest.”Cassandra quickly turned from looking at Jenkins to looking at Eve, her eyes bright with a hint of excitement and astonishment. “Princess?” she asked quietly. “Like…like me?”“Yeah,” Eve replied, matching the quiet tone.“Hi,” Cassandra said simply.“Hi,” Eve replied with a smile.“Rough landing?” Cassandra asked with a knowing grin. Eve’s hand immediately flew to the scrape on her face.“You could say that,” Eve replied.“I thought perhaps you could aid in Eve’s acclimation to this land,” Jenkins told Cassandra. “You remember, I’m sure, how scared you were when you first came here.”“Sure,” Cassandra said softly. She looked at Eve again. “What can I help you with?”“Anything, really?” Eve said, still not quite sure where to begin. “I kind of just took a leap of faith.”Cassandra nodded, the tale all too familiar. She rose up on her knees, leaning across the table to tenderly caress the skin around the abrasion on Eve’s cheek. She glanced at Jenkins, her hand still holding Eve’s face. “Okay to cut today’s visit a little short?” she asked.“Of course,” Jenkins agreed.Cassandra looked at Eve again and, with one last little stroke of her thumb, dropped her hand. “Come with me,” she said. “I have something back at home that can fix that.”

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Cassandra and Eve left the library after swiping a few of Cassandra’s cookies from the basket she’d brought Jenkins and bidding the knight a farewell for now. Eve carried her bag on her shoulder, and Cassandra carried her newly acquired books as she guided them, nearly skipping, towards the water.“I live on the other side of the lake,” Cassandra said. “We’ll have to take a ferry. I hope that’s okay.”“It’s okay,” Eve promised. “I’d already decided this particular town isn’t for me.”Cassandra smiled softly and nodded. “Enchanted Forest,” she said. “Of course.”“Exactly,” Eve said. “Anything around here like the Northern Isles?”“Not really,” Cassandra said. She slowed then to a normal, steady walk, and Eve was momentarily afraid she’d said the wrong thing. Cassandra smiled again, however, as she said, “But my house is by this calm, little stream, and I certainly don’t mind getting to go swimming almost any time I want. It doesn’t look like home, but with the forest and the flowers, it’s…it’s beautiful.”“Will we have to wait long for a ferry?” Eve asked.“Probably not,” Cassandra said. “This place is so busy, they run almost constantly.”The women took a seat on a small bench near the docks, and Eve pulled out the map Jenkins had given her again. Now that she was sitting nearly on the water, she could see everything a little more clearly. She studied it carefully as Cassandra thumbed through one of the books the librarian had given her with a skeptical look on her face. Eve’s lips curled into a bit of an amused smile, given the conversation she’d overheard about trusting Jenkins to choose books for her new friend. A ferry pulled up, and Cassandra slammed the book shut, her eyes wide as she realized it was time to move. She turned to Eve, who quickly turned back to the map, lest Cassandra catch her looking at her instead.Sure enough, they had only had to wait a few minutes before boarding a ferry to the cluster of islands across from the bustling town. The ferry had both seats and handrails for standing, and Eve wandered towards a bench near the end of the boat they’d eventually depart from. Without warning, however, Cassandra grabbed Eve’s hand and led her to the barrier at the very front of the boat.“Oh, I’m not in a rush to get off,” Cassandra said when Eve looked at her quizzically. “I just wanted you to get the best view. You thought it looked impressive from the landing near the library…”Cassandra was excited to have a new companion; that much was obvious as she smiled brightly at Eve and nodded towards the majestic lands in front of them. Cassandra sighed happily and looked around with wide eyes, as if she were the one new here. Eve glanced across the water and took in a quick breath. Maybe there were worse places to spend eternity.As the ferry pulled away from the dock, Eve leant against the railing and unfolded her brochure again, intending to match islands to descriptions as they traveled across the water. Cassandra let out an almost pained sigh beside her; Eve glanced up. With serious eyes, Cassandra shook her head no, the look on her face telling Eve that she couldn’t believe she was looking at anything but the scenery in front of her. Cassandra nodded towards the lands, glancing towards them just briefly before returning her gaze to Eve. Eve held that gaze for a moment, trying to decide if she was serious, before she acquiesced and put the paperwork away. Cassandra smiled happily and leaned into Eve’s side for a quick bump.“Isn’t it the most magnificent thing you’ve ever seen?” Cassandra sighed.“Yeah,” Eve admitted with honesty. “It really is.”The first stop the ferry made on the other side of the lake was urban, servicing a sprawling city built on the side of a mountain. Cassandra gently pulled Eve off to the side as many of the passengers scurried off of the boat onto the dock; when they had left, new passengers joined, starting their own journeys to another part of the land. The boat pulled away from the dock again, and Cassandra told her they’d be getting off at the next stop, leaning against the railing of the ferry, books held protectively in her arms.Eve leant against the railing next to her and said, “Sorry about rushing you out of the library.”“Oh,” Cassandra said with a slight chuckle and a wave of her hand as if to say ‘don’t worry about it.’ “You didn’t rush me out.”“You barely got to see Jenkins,” Eve pointed out.“That’s okay; I see him almost every day,” Cassandra told her. “He’d probably even act like you did him a great favor by getting me out of there quickly. It’s all an act, though; don’t believe it.”“You see him every day?” Eve asked.“Just about,” Cassandra smiled.“But he’s never been to your house?” Eve asked.Cassandra hummed. “He doesn’t get out much. We share meals or take walks around the town, or…sometimes I just sit next to him at the front desk and read. It’s nice. Comfortable.”“How long have you two…” Eve prompted.“What?” Cassandra asked innocently.“Been together,” Eve finished. Cassandra broke out into a genuine laughter. “You’re not together?” Eve asked. Cassandra shook her head amid the giggles. “I thought you were a thing, the way he talked about you.”“No,” Cassandra said, her giggles dying down. “Galahad’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and I love him with my whole heart, just…not like that. I mean, I guess I did have a little bit of a crush on him once upon a time, but…he’s right. The age difference is just too great…even in a land where time is kind of meaningless.”“How old are you anyway?” Eve finally asked. “I thought…well, I guess it’s kind of impossible to really know how old anyone is here, huh?”Cassandra nodded in affirmation, her eyes wide again. “I’ve been alive for twenty-two years,” she said. Eve’s brow furrowed in interest as Cassandra said the words with a wide grin and a bit of an astonished tone, as if she were saying she were a hundred years older than she actually was. The grin faded quickly, though, as she glanced down at her body, curled her nose just a bit and said, “Though I guess I’m eternally frozen at nineteen.”“So you’ve been here for…” Eve started.“About three and a half years,” Cassandra said. “Which sounds like a long time, but you know…”“Not so long in comparison,” Eve said, the daunting prospect of eternity hitting her again.“No,” Cassandra sighed. “And you?”“Twenty-four,” Eve said. “For about six more weeks. Or…it would’ve been six more weeks, I guess.”“So your birthday’s around Christmas?” Cassandra asked instantly, doing the math in her head.“Christmas Eve, hence the name,” Eve said with a slight roll of her eyes.“You hate it,” Cassandra realized with a giggle.“Not my favorite,” Eve admitted. “Wait, you know what day it is even though we’re in a land where time is meaningless?”“You won’t find many real calendars around here, but I kind of have one in my head,” Cassandra admitted. “I like to know how long it’s been.”The ferry docked at the next stop, and Cassandra gestured with her hand for Eve to follow her. This dock was different than the last one, not as busy, with three different paths: one heading into the forests, one heading up the mountains, and one heading back towards the city. Only a few others followed them off the boat, and Cassandra immediately headed for the well-worn path into the forest, her feet almost on auto-pilot as she carried herself home. It only took a few steps, though, for her to realize that Eve was no longer following her.Eve was still standing on the dock, staring at the town across the water. Her eyes drifted to the other people who’d gotten off with them, to the ferry full of people now leaving their stop, and back to the bustling town. This land was so much bigger than she’d expected, and it somehow looked larger from this side of the lake, standing outside of the forest instead of standing in the middle of one of the hubs of activity. Cassandra came up beside her, hugging her books to her chest as she peered at Eve. She looked a little upset and a lot lost, and Cassandra knew how she was feeling, but she didn’t quite know what to say.“Eve?” she asked finally, her tone gentle.“There are so many people,” Eve said, her eyes beginning to look a little glassy. “More than in my entire kingdom , probably yours, too. How could so many people have felt like they had to…” She stopped herself and rolled her eyes. “Like I can judge,” she added. Cassandra smiled softly in understanding.“Galahad always told me that particular aspect of this land is both completely understandable and completely devastating,” Cassandra said. “A sad comment on the human experience.”“He’s right,” Eve said.“He usually is,” Cassandra said, nodding in agreement. She allowed a silence to fall over them for a few more moments before nodding towards the forest. “Come on.”They began traveling the beaten path into the forest, Eve feeling a little more comfortable with every step. Though this forest was not hers, the scents and atmosphere were familiar, and the sounds of the stream in the distance were soothing, and she let herself momentarily forget about the weight of the decision she’d made. Cassandra walked silently beside her; she glanced at the older woman every few moments, wanting with every fiber of her being to talk but also understanding the monumental paradigm shift she was going through. She knew she needed to let Eve dictate the conversation, and just when she was about to give up hope, Eve caught her eyes on a glance.“You were scared when you came here?” Eve asked hesitantly, echoing what Jenkins had said earlier.“Terrified,” Cassandra said honestly. “You probably grew up like I did. When’s the last time you had to do anything for yourself?”“Good point,” Eve conceded, as thoughts of never filtered through her mind.“And then, suddenly, that was all gone, and I was here, and nobody knew who I was, except Galahad, and I had to do everything for myself,” Cassandra explained. “It was terrifying.”“Did you ever doubt your decision?” Eve asked.“No,” Cassandra said firmly. “I’d make the same choice again if I had to.”“Can I ask how you’re so sure?” Eve asked.“It was the only thing I could do,” Cassandra said, a hint of sadness creeping into her voice. “I have a brain tumor. We found it right before my seventeenth birthday. Science is pretty advanced in my kingdom. Advanced enough to discover it, anyway; not quite advanced enough to do anything about it.”“Nothing?” Eve asked with sympathy.Cassandra met her eyes for just a moment before she shook her head and looked away from Eve, not wanting her to see the tears that were threatening to form in her eyes. “It’s about the size of a grape,” she said. “And that sounds small, but it’s not, really, and it was going to kill me someday. I don’t know when, exactly, but probably sooner than I would’ve liked, and I didn’t want to find out. Time stands still here...”“So the tumor can’t grow,” Eve finished softly.Cassandra nodded. “I still have it. I’ll always have it, unless I can find a way to magically remove it, but I was pretty okay when I left the Northern Isles, and here…it can’t get any worse.”Before Eve could say anything else, Cassandra pointed her down a narrower, less beaten path. Just a few paces in, they came upon the stream, a little bridge across it, and a small cottage on the other side of the water, resting in a small clearing of the trees. They’d passed a few other narrow paths along the way, so Eve knew there were other houses, other people around, but the homes were far enough apart that it felt as if this cottage were in its own little corner of the world.Eve asked if that was hers, and Cassandra nodded with a bit of a proud smile as she led Eve over the arched bridge across the stream. Large, mismatched stepping stones formed a path from the bridge to the front door, and Cassandra bounced from once to another, back and forth, never touching the grass that grew up between them. Eve followed behind her, walking in a straight line, paying no mind to the stones, with an amused smile. This girl had gone from telling Eve her heavy, devastating tale to hopping on a stone path without a care in the world in mere minutes, and Eve realized it was becoming increasingly hard to feel too uneasy with Cassandra around.Set back away from the water was the cozy, pale yellow cottage with a brown shingle roof and a chimney made of stone. The house was surrounded by flowers and plants in all colors, some of them growing up the side of the home, almost high enough to reach the balcony on the small second story. Like everything else about Cassandra, it looked like a home fit for a princess – should the princess be looking to run away from her castle and hide in the forest, that is. As they neared the front door, Eve’s eyes settled on a patch of the petunias that looked like the night sky, identical to the flowers weaved through Cassandra’s hair.“Quick question,” Eve said. Cassandra quickly turned to look at her. “Probably a dumb question.”“No such thing,” Cassandra assured her.“Jenkins said you wear those flowers in your hair every day,” Eve said. “If time stands still here, how do you not run out?”“I don’t know,” Cassandra said honestly, looking around the grounds. “That doesn’t seem to apply to nature. The stream still runs; flowers still grow. We have days and nights. Sometimes it rains to keep all of this healthy and green.”“Really?” Eve asked, shooting her a skeptical look.Cassandra chuckled and opened the door, letting them into the cottage. Natural light poured in through the many windows around the living room they entered. Bookcases filled with piles of books lined the wall near the stairs to the bedroom on the second floor, and a couch covered in enough pillows and blankets to make a very large fort faced the small, stone fireplace. Splashes of color covered this room, too – the bookcase painted pink, the lavender floral pillows on the bay window seat. Eve thought it looked like a home filled with love, even though it was home to only Cassandra.“It’s like time still moves, the sun still rises and sets, but human biological time has stopped,” Cassandra explained, placing her new books on the wooden coffee table in the middle of the room. A small meow drew Eve’s attention to the floor as a tiny, gray and white kitten emerged from underneath a blanket spilling off the edge of the couch. Cassandra giggled and picked up the pet. “And animals,” she said, cuddling the baby to her cheek. “I found them wandering around outside right after I moved in here, and they’ve never gotten any bigger.”“They?” Eve asked.“Luna’s around here somewhere,” Cassandra said, looking around. “She’s all gray, a little darker than Misty.”“This…doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Eve said, her mind spinning.“I know,” Cassandra agreed. “It’s magic.” She shrugged as she put the kitten back down. Misty had spotted Eve while cuddled in Cassandra’s arms and promptly ran back underneath the couch as soon as her paws touched the floor. Cassandra chuckled again. “Sorry; she’s skittish.”Eve simply nodded, acknowledging she’d heard Cassandra as she began scouring the corners of the room. Cassandra watched, her face furrowing in increased confused.“What are you looking for?” she finally asked.“The little birds,” Eve said casually.“The…birds?” Cassandra asked.“The ones that help you get ready in the morning and keep this place tidy,” Eve said. Cassandra still looked confused, so Eve continued. “You’re like a princess from all the stories.”“Is that good or bad?” Cassandra asked cautiously.“I meant it as a good thing,” Eve said.“Oh. Well, then, thank you,” Cassandra said. “But no birds. Luna wouldn’t allow that. Let me get us something to drink, and then we’ll fix that scrape.”“Sounds good,” Eve agreed, pain radiating through her cheek each time she thought about the abrasion. Cassandra wandered into the adjacent kitchen to start a pot of tea, and Eve followed her, dropping her bag by the door. She took a seat at the little round table in the middle of the room and said, “Did you tell anyone when you left?” Eve asked. “I only told my best friend. My dad…he’s going to be really mad.”“But not your mom?” Cassandra wondered.“Mom’s gone. I don’t know if I’d be here if she wasn’t,” Eve realized, seemingly pondering that for the first time.“I’m so sorry,” Cassandra said softly.“Thanks,” Eve said with a gentle smile.Cassandra returned to her task and, getting back to Eve’s original question, said, “I didn’t tell them. They probably didn’t even notice for a while.”“I’m sure that’s not true,” Eve said kindly.“Oh no, it is, but…it’s okay,” Cassandra insisted, glancing at her from over her shoulder as she talked. “They were too busy with the new babies to keep up with me.”“The new…?” Eve asked.“Well, yeah, they needed a new heir to the throne since I…wasn’t going to work out,” Cassandra said delicately. “The night after we found out, I heard them arguing about how Dad always said they needed to have more than just me. It took a little while, more than a year, but then twins were on the way, and once they were finally born, I just…didn’t exist anymore.”“That’s…awful, Cassandra,” Eve said, almost unable to comprehend what she’d just heard.“It probably made the transition here easier, actually,” Cassandra said with a little shrug. “They were always a little distant anyway. I think they were scared of me.”“Why would they be scared of you?” Eve asked.“I see things,” Cassandra said. “The calendar in my head, numbers have colors, things like that. Someone told me what it was called once; Galahad’s trying to help me find some books that might explain it. And, um…”“What?” Eve asked, upon Cassandra’s continued hesitation.“I have magic,” Cassandra said. She held her hands up in front of her body, a few inches apart, palms facing each other. Blue lightning sparked between her fingers, and Eve’s eyes widened.“Born or cursed?” Eve asked with an uneasy tone.“Born,” Cassandra said. “I don’t know where it came from.” She pushed her palms together, extinguishing the magical sparks. She caught a glimpse at Eve’s startled face and instantly felt her stomach curl into a nervous knot. “Oh, please don’t be frightened!” Cassandra said quickly. “I know I just told you that I think my parents probably were, but I’d never ever use it against anyone. I don’t really use it at all, only in controlled settings, like in my work sometimes…or to make water boil faster.”With that, she turned around and poured two cups of the tea that had taken mere seconds to make and handed one to Eve. Cassandra took a seat at the table next to her and blew on the top of her teacup for a few moments before sipping the drink. Eve, slightly dubious of the magic used to help create the contents of the teacup, despite the control Cassandra seemed to have, waited until Cassandra started drinking to taste hers.“What kind of work do you do here?” Eve asked.Once again seamlessly switching from something heavy to something that clearly brought her a bit of joy, Cassandra smiled. “The kind that’s going to fix that cut on your face,” she said.Taking the teacup with her, she abruptly stood and walked back through the living room, disappearing through a darkened doorway underneath the stairs, leaving Eve with no choice but to follow her.

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Eve made it to the darkened doorway underneath the stairs just as Cassandra illuminated the little room. From an outsider’s perspective, the room looked to be something between a witch’s lair and a scientist’s lab, and Eve wasn’t sure whether she should be fascinated or slightly intimidated.A large chest with lots of little drawers stood against one wall. The front of the drawers were painted different colors, presumably to indicate what type of ingredient was inside each one. Another bookcase with more books (and a darker gray kitten happily curled up on one of the shelves) sat on the other side of the room, but these books looked different than the ones she’d seen in Cassandra’s living room; these looked old and ancient and maybe even otherworldly, their worn spines decorated with gold. The table in the middle of the room, more ornate than any of the furniture Eve had seen elsewhere in the house, held a mix of cauldrons, laboratory glassware, and other supplies. A cabinet with a glass door held vials of varying sizes and a rack of test tubes filled with liquids and colloids in a myriad of colors. Cassandra gave Luna a quick little scratch behind her ears, the kitten leaning into her touch, before turning back to Eve and holding her hands up on either side of her body in presentation. She smiled brightly.“You’re…a mad scientist?” Eve asked.“I’m a healer,” she said. “Well…apothecary, really. I know science, and I know magic, so I can mix medicines, help people who get hurt here or people like me who came here with some kind of condition that sometimes needs managed.”“You need magic to make medicine?” Eve asked knowingly.Cassandra rolled her eyes. “So maybe I make a little more than your typical medicines,” she admitted. She leaned against the chest that held the glass-door cabinet and said, “Judge all you want, but it got me here. I figured out I needed a magic bean to open a portal, so I traded complex potions for one on what little bit of a black market the Northern Isles has. How’d you get here?”“Same method; different tactic,” Eve said as she took a seat on a little stool at the table in the center of the room. “Spent too much of my fortune on a lead to a magic bean of my own, then risked my life fighting the dragon that guarded it,” she said. Cassandra quickly stood up straight again, her eyes suddenly wide.“You slayed a dragon?” Cassandra asked.“Not slay, really. He’s not dead,” Eve shrugged.“But still….you fought a dragon?” Cassandra asked, astonished. “By yourself?”“Stupid, right?” Eve asked.“I was going to say impressive,” Cassandra said. “And incredibly brave. I’ll never be that brave. What, um…what were you running from that made you fight a dragon?”Eve was quiet as she thought about what to say for a moment before she scoffed. “It’s shallow and silly compared to why you’re here.”“It’s not either of those things if it brought you here,” Cassandra assured her. “But I understand if you’re not ready to talk about it.”Eve hesitated for a moment, seemingly weighing whether or not to tell Cassandra her own tale, when she deflected the topic and asked, “So what do you have for me in here?”“Right!” Cassandra exclaimed, as if she’d forgotten, and Eve tried to ignore the small flash of disappointment in Cassandra’s eyes as she changed the subject.Cassandra turned around and opened the cabinet filled with her leftover potions. She started rummaging through the vials, muttering negative words as she checked each one. A small sense of melancholy pooled in her stomach at Eve’s reluctance to talk, and Cassandra took a deep breath, reminding herself that once upon a time, she hadn’t been so forthcoming with her reasons for abandoning her kingdom, either. So few people in this land knew or could know who she really was that meeting someone she could be herself with after so long had conjured feelings of an instant kinship that, she had to remind herself, wouldn’t necessarily be shared so quickly.“You don’t have what you’re looking for?” Eve finally asked, pulling Cassandra from her spiraling thoughts. She turned around.“No,” she said. “But that’s okay; I’ll make more, if you don’t mind waiting a few minutes.”Eve shook her head with a shrug. “Where else am I gonna go?” she asked.Cassandra smiled in pleasantry, her lips closed, and walked towards the center table to clear a space to work. She closed the open books and placed them on a shelf above Luna; the potion she’d be making for Eve was one she’d made a hundred times before, and she knew she could do it from memory. Cassandra turned to her chest of little drawers and began pulling out ingredients.“I was next in line for the throne in my kingdom,” Eve said suddenly, after silence settled between them.Cassandra, slightly startled by her voice, paused with her hand halfway to a drawer and looked at her. Eve’s eyes met Cassandra’s blue ones, almost asking permission to continue, and Cassandra shot her a toothy grin before resuming her motions.“My father is not what you would call a benevolent king,” Eve continued. “He’s not sadistic, either, but he just doesn’t usually mean well…considers the costs to himself rather than our people. He’s a good example of what not to be, as a ruler and a parent.”Cassandra had heard tales of such lands before, where the rulers were more concerned with themselves than anyone they were supposed to protect. Her innate curiosity wanted to know more about what living in a land like that was really like, even from the perspective of the princess, but something about Eve’s posture and the look on her face told Cassandra it wasn’t the time to ask questions or share any of the gossip she’d overheard quietly slinking through the halls of her old castle, so she focused on Eve’s words, her hands moving almost unconsciously to create her remedy.“There’s a prince a couple lands over, Moriarty. He’s more of a ruthless, illicit mastermind than a prince, but he’s never held accountable because he’s charming.” She said the word with intense disdain, and Cassandra almost snickered at how obviously she disagreed with that popular assessment. Eve continued, “He forces his people to do his bidding for him, lets them suffer the consequences instead. He’s third in line for his throne, so not likely to be king of his own kingdom without some divine intervention, shall we say.”“Would he…?” Cassandra asked.“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Eve admitted. “But that wasn’t going to be necessary because my father likes him. And my father likes his kingdom.”“Oh no.” Cassandra couldn’t help herself as she sighed, realizing where this story was headed. It was a fate Cassandra had once feared for herself, before the tumor had happened, a fate that just as easily could’ve been hers.“He’d been toying with the idea since I turned eighteen, forcing us to spend time together every chance he got; I put him off as long as I could. His impatience was easier to handle when Mom was still around, though she didn’t really like what I wanted, either,” Eve said.“And what was that?” Cassandra asked.“I didn’t want to get married. I mean, maybe someday, I guess, but not now. I wanted to join the military, defend and protect my kingdom, lead a little before taking the throne, but that’s not what I was supposed to do, as a woman or as the immediate heir to the crown.”“So your dad arranged a marriage with Moriarty,” Cassandra said.Eve nodded. “Whose own malevolent father was far too happy to agree,” she said, a hint of dread in her voice. “I come from a kingdom that lets a woman stand in line for the throne above men and then tries to force that woman into marriage. How does that make sense?”“Was that an official rule?” Cassandra asked.“I don’t know,” Eve groaned. “I don’t think so, but Dad always said I couldn’t be queen without a king. But I have three younger brothers, and Dad never threatened to give the throne to any of them, so I think it had more to do with Moriarty and the partnership Dad wanted with his kingdom than it ever did me or my capability.”“Did you love someone else, or you just couldn’t stand the thought of marrying him?” Cassandra asked. In an instant, she realized what she’d asked and said, “That was awfully personal; you don’t have to answer that.”“Him,” Eve replied, ignoring Cassandra’s last statement. “He’s not good for me, and he’s not good for my kingdom. He and my father together would not be good for the people in my kingdom. I was the only one who could see that. If I had loved someone else, I would’ve brought her here with me.”“Oh,” Cassandra said, pausing her work for a moment. Her eyes were suddenly as bright as they had been when Jenkins had told her Eve was a princess, too, something that caused Eve’s brow to furrow slightly as she caught sight of the look on Cassandra’s face. Cassandra gently smiled, turned back to her project, and said, “And I guess marrying another princess was out of the question?”“Yeah, big time,” Eve replied with a laugh. “At least as long as Dad was in charge.”Cassandra casually replied, “That probably wouldn’t have gone over too well in my kingdom, either, but I never got to find out.”The sparkle in Cassandra’s eye quickly made sense as Eve, unexpectedly caught off guard by what she’d just said, turned to look at her. A bit of intrigue filled her gaze, and as Eve’s surprised silence brought an abrupt end to their conversation, the younger princess glanced up from her work again to meet Eve’s eyes. The same small smile from before graced Cassandra’s face again as she resumed what she was doing. Eve’s eyes lingered on Cassandra before she shook her head slightly to herself and decided to get back to the topic at hand.“I probably could’ve married my best friend; that wouldn’t have been so bad,” Eve said, wondering out loud. “But Flynn’s not noble, so he wasn’t an option, either, and the wedding with Moriarty is supposed to be in two days, and Flynn and I were out of ideas.”“So here you are,” Cassandra said.“So here I am,” Eve agreed. “I know sometimes in life you just lose, despite your best efforts, but that…”“Was too close to losing everything,” Cassandra finished. Eve simply nodded, a troubled look on her face. “I understand. Besides, it sounds like you really did it for the good of your kingdom.”“It doesn’t feel that way,” Eve admitted.“Would Flynn have married you, if that had been an option?” Cassandra asked.“He helped me get here, was trying to help me come up with a less drastic solution, so…yeah, probably,” Eve said with a shrug. “If I had asked.”“He wouldn’t have wanted a chance to find a love of his own?” Cassandra asked.Eve chuckled to herself at the idealistic romance behind Cassandra’s question and said, “I’m pretty sure part of him has a crush on Moriarty.”Cassandra laughed along with Eve and then stepped back from what she was working on. She held her hand out towards the cauldron and let a bolt of blue lightning hit the raw mixture of ingredients; the cauldron rattled on the table, Eve reacted with an involuntary jolt of her body, nearly falling off the stool upon which she sat, and Luna jumped up on the shelf across the room, letting out a loud hiss as she landed on her paws. Even Cassandra looked a little surprised at the ferocity of what had just come out of her own hands as she gasped and quickly traveled across the room to scoop the kitten into her arms. To Eve’s surprise, the kitten went willingly as soothing noises escaped Cassandra’s lips.“I’m with her,” Eve said, her heart rate slowly returning to normal. A steadying hand still rested on the table as the cauldron stilled.“Sorry!” Cassandra exclaimed. She shifted Luna to one arm, the kitten resting in the crook of her elbow, and used her freed hand to stir her swiftly-thickening potion. “I…I must be a little nervous; I’m not used to having much of an audience.”After a few more stirs, Cassandra replaced the kitten in her arms with the cauldron, and Luna hurried back to the safety of her darkened shelf. Cassandra reached in and swirled the white mixture around with her finger, and Eve peered into the cauldron as she approached her.“Medicine or magic?” Eve asked as she saw the slight shimmer the homemade cream gave off when it caught the light.“Both,” Cassandra answered. “It’s going to take a little magic to heal that.”“It’s just a scrape,” Eve said.“We’re not immortal here,” Cassandra reminded her. “We’re just frozen, so even though our bodies don’t feel frozen, and this land gives the illusion of time still passing, time can’t actually heal any injury you get once you arrive here.”“If your tumor can’t grow, this abrasion won’t go away, either,” Eve realized. Cassandra nodded. Eve joked, “So I guess I shouldn’t be cutting my hair any time soon?”“Go ahead,” Cassandra said. “I have potions for that, too.”Eve glanced down at the magical medicine and said, “You must make a fortune here with things like that.”“I do okay,” Cassandra said with a slight smile and a bashful roll of her eyes. “Can I?”“Well, I don’t want to have this on my face for eternity,” Eve said.Cassandra coated her fingers in the magical remedy and stepped closer to her to gingerly apply the congealed potion to Eve’s face. The medicine was still a little warm, Cassandra’s touch feather-light against her inflamed skin. Before Cassandra could even finish, a tingling sensation centered on her wounded cheek overcame Eve, and she leaned away as Cassandra moved to apply a second coat.“What’s wrong?” she asked with wide eyes.“Is it supposed to be stinging like that?” Eve asked.“That’s the magic,” Cassandra said. “It’s fast; you’ll look completely normal in less than ten minutes.”Eve sat back up straight slowly. She’d seen more magic since arriving at Cassandra’s home than she’d seen in the last year of her life put together, but she tried to fight the hesitation she was feeling with magic so readily on display. She inexplicably trusted that Cassandra knew what she was doing, her magic bred within her bones, but magic hadn’t been quite so open and abundant in Eve’s kingdom. Those who had it or knew how to use it hid it, threatened people with it, or used it for other nefarious purposes. Magic was something to be feared where she came from; Cassandra didn’t seem to fear it at all. Despite her apprehension, she allowed Cassandra to coat her cheek with another layer of the shimmering lotion as the sensation on her cheek began to subside.“What do I owe you?” Eve asked as Cassandra grabbed a nearby towel and wiped the leftover potion off her fingers. Cassandra looked at her quizzically, fingers still encased in the cotton fibers. Eve clarified, “You get paid for this stuff, right?”“Oh,” Cassandra said. She chuckled and waved her hand again, tossing the towel aside. “You don’t owe me anything.”“Are you sure?” Eve asked. “I can pay.”The bright smile returned to Cassandra’s face as she grabbed an empty container and secured it in a clamp to preserve the leftover treatment. “I’m happy to help,” she said, and for once in her life, Eve knew those words were genuine.

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Cassandra’s cottage in the woods was already quiet and serene, a by-product of its secluded location, but once darkness fell across the mystifying land, it could feel as if the house and its occupants were the only things in the world. Cassandra often went to bed with her bedroom window cracked, allowing the soothing, gentle sounds of the stream just outside her door to flow into the room, but she had insisted Eve spend the night, knowing she couldn’t just send her out into a strange land on her own in the dark, and she’d insisted Eve take her bed upstairs, leaving Cassandra downstairs for the night.The younger princess stood in the living room by the light of a warm fire, the sounds of the stream replaced with the crackling of the burning logs as she rearranged the blankets and pillows on her couch. Her pale blue nightgown stopped just above her bare feet, the ruffles on the long sleeves falling up and down her wrists as she prepared to turn in for the night. A small meow sounded through the room as Cassandra moved one of the blankets, and Misty appeared from under the furniture again.“Hey, sweetie,” Cassandra whispered to the tiny kitten as she looked at her owner. Sympathy filled Cassandra’s voice as she realized the anxious animal had likely been hiding under that couch since she’d returned home with Eve in tow. Misty looked at Cassandra for a moment before turning her little head towards the stairs.“We’re sleeping down here tonight,” Cassandra told her. As if the cat were replying to what Cassandra had said, she let out another meow, and Cassandra scooped her into her arms again.“Eve’s up there,” she said. Misty meowed a third time. “I know you don’t like it when people are here, but you can cuddle up with me down here just as well as you can up there.” Misty meowed yet again, and Cassandra nearly giggled at the kitten’s obvious disgust for the situation. “Now, Misty, she’s a princess, and she’s in a new, scary place. She can have the bed for the night.”Cassandra tucked a kiss into Misty’s fur and placed her onto a pillow on the couch. With one final meow, Misty accepted her fate for the evening and began kneading the pillow with her paws. With one kitten taken care of, Cassandra briefly looked around the room for the other, expecting to see Luna lying directly in the line of the fire’s warmth. When Cassandra didn’t find her in either the living room or her workroom, she glanced up the stairs, her teeth tugging on her own pink lips. Luna liked to be with Cassandra at night, too; they both did, but while Misty would’ve stayed away as soon as she wandered upstairs and realized the human occupant of the room wasn’t Cassandra, Luna wouldn’t care about the strange girl in Cassandra’s bed.Unsure of what to do, Cassandra crept up the stairs as slowly and quietly as she could. While Eve’s first day in this land had hopefully been a little better and a little less jarring than Cassandra’s had been so many years ago, she knew Eve must have felt a little drained by the time she’d gone up to bed, and the last thing Cassandra wanted to do was disturb her. She also, however, didn’t want Luna to crawl all over her and keep her from sleeping, as the lively kitten had been known to do a time or two. As she approached the entrance to her bedroom, she stopped suddenly as she heard muffled sobs from inside her room, sobs Cassandra could tell Eve was trying to fight.Instinctively flattening herself against the wall as if she were in danger of being detected, Cassandra listened for a moment, her heart aching in understanding. She would never forget that – that first night in the cold inn near Galahad’s library, where even as sure as she was of her decision, everything seemed wrong and simply impossible, and she’d felt crushingly alone. She had tried so hard to make sure Eve didn’t feel as alone and scared as she had; she’d thought her kindness, the conversation, the warmth and coziness of her little home might be enough to keep those feelings at bay, but as soon as Cassandra heard the crying coming from inside her bedroom, she knew there was probably nothing she could’ve done to prevent the sorrow that came with unexpectedly leaving home and the realization that home would never be home again.Cassandra hadn’t had a lot of people or much of a future to miss; she’d grieved for her relationship with her parents and made her peace with the fact that she’d never be the Queen of the Northern Isles long before she ever left. During her early days on the Mysterious Island, she’d mostly just longed for the comfort and familiarity of the land she’d grown up in. Eve was different. She could’ve done great things in her kingdom; she had people – Flynn, her brothers, probably others that Cassandra hadn’t yet heard about. She had turned her back on more than Cassandra had.She began to feel bad for lingering outside her bedroom, listening to Eve’s anguish from the top of the stairwell. Her instinct was to go to her, but Cassandra hesitated before she could make it into the room. Their meeting had been wonderfully serendipitous; it was the kind of happenstance that made Cassandra believe magic was more than just the spells and potions she could cook up in her lab, but as much as she felt to the contrary after such a short period of time, Cassandra reminded herself that she didn’t really know the other princess, not yet. She hoped to, one day, but it had only been a day, so she reluctantly tore herself away from the wall and wandered back downstairs, hoping Luna could give Eve the comfort she couldn’t. Some time later, Eve wandered downstairs in search of something to quench the thirst that often comes with crying for just a little too long. It was late enough that she was sure Cassandra would be asleep, so she crept quietly down the dimly-illuminated steps before stopping abruptly halfway between the two floors. She’d caught a glimpse of Cassandra out of the corner of her eye, and instead of finding her curled up on the couch, Eve found her sitting near the fading fire, her back to the staircase, looking pensively into a long mirror in the corner of the room.The firelight surrounded her body in a soft glow, and from the reflection in the glass, Eve could see that Misty sat curled into Cassandra’s lap. Cassandra’s fingers unconsciously played with the kitten’s soft fur as she stared at the crown sitting on her head. It was delicate and pretty (like Cassandra, Eve thought), silver, with small, deep blue stones in an intricate pattern, and Eve knew without asking that it had come from her palace in the Northern Isles.A pang of guilt hit Eve’s stomach. She had left everything that symbolized her royal status back at home in the Enchanted Forest – didn’t really want it there, definitely didn’t need it now – but Cassandra was different; Eve had gathered that much from the conversation they’d shared that afternoon. Eve’s arrival had been the precipitating event, making the younger girl think of what she gave up – of what she was never going to have anyway – all over again. Cassandra’s story was a tragedy, much more so than Eve had expected when she’d first laid eyes on her and wondered what could’ve brought her to this sanctuary, but as the warm light from the fire encircled her body in its radiance, Eve thought she was beautiful, even with death eternally residing within her brain.Across the room, Cassandra’s eyes shifted in the mirror, bringing Eve’s form into focus. A slight, startled gasp escaped her lips, the jolt of her chest sending Misty once again running for secluded safety underneath the couch. Knowing it was too late to pretend she hadn’t seen anything, Eve shifted uncomfortably on the stairs as an embarrassed Cassandra pulled the crown off her head and stashed it carefully in a chest near the window. She turned towards the stairs and smoothed out her hair, hoping the color she felt burning on her cheeks wouldn’t be too noticeable in the low light of the living room.“Sorry,” Eve finally said.“It’s okay,” Cassandra replied quickly. “Is, um, is everything okay?” Eve mumbled something about just looking for something to drink, and Cassandra smiled a bit in relief. “Oh, okay; I’ll get it,” she promised. “Go back upstairs.”Cassandra joined Eve in the spacious bedroom a few minutes later with a cup of tea for each of them. Eve rested on one side of the bed, reclined against the pillows but snuggled under the covers again, and Luna sat beside her, tapping Eve with her eager paw every time Eve stopped scratching her ears for more than a few seconds. Cassandra passed one of the teacups to Eve over the mattress and took a seat on the opposite side of the bed. She curled her legs underneath her and loosely pulled the covers over her knees as Eve whispered a word of thanks.“Are you okay?” Eve asked softly.“Yeah,” Cassandra said right away with a nod. “That was…I’m okay. Are you okay?”Eve hesitated for a moment before she realized, “You caught me, too.”Cassandra curled a long strand of hair behind her ear as she quickly said, “I wasn’t trying to pry; I was just coming to keep Luna from crawling all over you. I’m sorry she’s…”Eve shook her head, halting Cassandra’s speech. “She’s fine,” Eve promised. “She’s sweet.”As if the kitten knew they were talking about her, she flopped onto her side, falling into the curve of Eve’s body. Eve moved to pet her again, and Luna grabbed Eve’s hand between her tiny paws, leaning forward to nibble on her finger, the move eliciting smiles from both women.“Well, at least one of them isn’t afraid of you,” Cassandra said with a chuckle.They spoke in hushed tones to match the darkened atmosphere, but a silence settled over them then as they both sipped their tea. Cassandra mostly kept her eyes on Luna, and Eve knew she was probably still embarrassed, yet still, she said, “You didn’t want to leave.”“What?” Cassandra asked.“You said you’d make the same decision if you had to do it again, but you never really wanted to leave that life.”Cassandra held her gaze in silence for a moment before she tilted her head into her shoulder and said, “I liked being a princess. My parents weren’t always ideal, but I loved my kingdom. I think I might’ve been a good queen, maybe…given the chance.”“Just maybe?” Eve asked.Cassandra smiled. “The public figurehead part was kind of intimidating,” she admitted. “Don’t get me wrong; I loved meeting everyone, and the balls and the festivals and everything were always so exciting, but everybody looking at me with their expectations and ideas of what I should be…”“It’s a lot,” Eve agreed.“Yeah,” Cassandra said with a nod. “But taking care of everyone? Helping them and keeping them safe and hopefully happy…I think I could’ve done that…but I barely even got to imagine it before those ideas were taken away from me.”Eve’s eyes unconsciously drifted to Cassandra’s head, her own cheeks burning as Cassandra noticed, tapped the left side of her head between strands of red hair, and said, “It’s about here.”  Before Eve could apologize for so obviously staring, Luna rolled away from Eve and hopped onto Cassandra’s lap, pulling a high-pitched squeak of surprise from her mouth. Her hair caught on her finger as her hand hurriedly left her head, pulling it in front of her face. Cassandra didn’t know what to do then, instinctively wanting to catch the kitten, fix her hair, and steady the rattling teacup in her other hand all at once. Before she could choose which problem to handle first, Eve reached out with both hands, enclosing the teacup in her grasp before it could spill over into Cassandra’s lap. Eve felt Cassandra’s body relax a little at her stabilizing touch, and she brushed the displaced strands of hair back behind her ear. Luna purred happily in her lap, and the disaster that could’ve been was averted. Eve’s hands lingered around Cassandra’s, something Eve wasn’t quite cognizant of until Cassandra shot her a soft smile.“Thanks,” Cassandra said, placing her teacup on the table by her bed as soon as Eve dropped her hands. She scooped Luna into her arms, and the kitten rolled in the crook of Cassandra’s elbow and began pawing at her long hair.“She’s a rambunctious little thing, isn’t she?” Eve asked.“The later it is, the more she wants to play. I suppose it’s what I get for naming her after the moon,” Cassandra joked.“I didn’t mean to…” Eve started, her eyes traveling to Cassandra’s head again.“It’s okay,” Cassandra assured her, without hesitation.“Are you really trying to find a magical cure?” Eve asked, recalling something Cassandra had said earlier that day.Cassandra sighed. “It’s not something I devote a lot of time to,” she admitted. “It’s not like I’m trying to make it back home before the twins grow up or anything like that, but sometimes…now and then…so far, all I’ve found is that Excalibur might be able to heal me.”“Excalibur?” Eve asked with interest.She nodded. “But Galahad’s told me that won’t be an option. He won’t tell me why,” Cassandra said. She was quiet for a moment before she added. “I know it can’t hurt me here, but sometimes I just want to…” Cassandra held the hand not holding Luna up near her head, electricity vibrating between her fingers. After a few seconds, she pulled her hand into a fist, extinguishing the magic, and dropped it to her lap. “But…that would probably kill me…in any realm.”“Yeah, maybe don’t do that,” Eve said, looking at her with concern.Cassandra laughed at the look of alarm on her guest’s face. Luna scurried out of Cassandra’s arms and settled on the mattress between the two women. Her hands suddenly freed, Cassandra sunk down into the bed, her heavy head resting on one of the soft pillows.“What about you?” Cassandra asked. “Do you think you would’ve made a good queen?”Eve sighed and rolled onto her back, her eyes fixating on the ceiling, almost as if she were suddenly too ashamed to look at Cassandra. “It’s probably not a life I would’ve chosen for myself,” she admitted. “But it was my duty, and that responsibility was important to me, whether it was something I chose or not, so I used to think I would. Now…now, I don’t know.”“Why not?” Cassandra asked.“I abandoned my kingdom for self-serving reasons. That’s not something a good queen would do,” Eve said. Despite the fact that she was looking at the ceiling instead of her, Cassandra shook her head in rebuttal.“You saved your kingdom from a partnership you knew would be terrible for its people,” Cassandra said. “That’s exactly what a good queen would do.”Eve looked at her then and found Cassandra lying next to her, with the same look of sincerity that had been present on her face since she’d met her. Eve simultaneously knew she was right and didn’t really believe her, so she shot her a small smile in return. Cassandra saw right through that and playfully rolled her eyes.“Will your brother be a good king?” Cassandra asked.“I hope so. I don’t think it’s something he’s ever really considered before,” Eve said. She rolled onto her side to face Cassandra. “Can I ask you another question about this place?”“Of course,” Cassandra said.“Who here knows you’re a princess?”“You,” Cassandra said. “Galahad. The family in the house nearest me, over…this way,” she continued, pointing in the direction of her nearest neighbor. “This teenager I met in the library who ran away from home and seems to know every well-to-do family in all the kingdoms – we’re kind of friends, and he still won’t tell me how he knows all that – and an older woman who lives in the snowy mountains who’s also from my kingdom and recognized me when I went exploring one day.”“That’s it?” Eve asked with surprise.“That’s it,” Cassandra confirmed. “As far as I know anyway.”“So what do you tell people?” Eve asked. “You must be asked where you’re from now and then, right?”Shades of mischief curled the ends of Cassandra’s lips into a smile. “I tell anyone who asks that I’m from the Southern Isles,” she admitted. “That royal family’s all boys.”Eve’s lips curved into a matching grin at the cleverness behind Cassandra’s go-to lie; it only took a moment for Cassandra’s prideful chuckle to turn into a yawn. She pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side of her bed.“I’m gonna go back downstairs,” Cassandra said as she leaned over the mattress and reached for Luna.“No!” Eve said. “She can stay.”“Are you sure?” Cassandra asked, tilting her head towards Eve. “She’s a little crazy.”“She’s okay,” Eve promised.“Okay,” Cassandra agreed. “Goodnight.” The next morning, Cassandra was roused from her sleep by Eve walking down the steps, bag in tow, and by Misty, leaping from her stomach onto the floor as Eve appeared. Cassandra sighed a sleepy sigh and brushed her hair out of her eyes as Eve noticed she was awake.“Hey,” Eve said. “Sorry for waking you up.”“That’s okay,” Cassandra said. She spotted the packed-up bag in Eve’s hand and asked, “Going somewhere?”“Yeah, I’m not really sure where, but I’m gonna get out of your hair,” Eve said, pointing towards the door. “Thanks for the hospitality yesterday. I really appreciate it.”“Wait!” Cassandra called as Eve hiked her bag up onto her shoulder. She hurried around the couch, planting herself between Eve and the front door. “Stay,” she breathed.“What?” Eve asked.“Stay,” Cassandra repeated. “I mean, you don’t have to; obviously, it’s your choice, and if you want to go, I can’t stop you, but…I’ve never met anyone else like me here. All those other people who know…I can’t talk to them like I can talk to you. I know the house is small, but we can make another bedroom somehow, or…or we can share mine! We can put a curtain up until we figure something out, or…I just…I’ve always kind of been alone, even back at home, and I’d really like it if you stayed.”Eve looked at Cassandra, her eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. Cassandra closed her mouth and, realizing how desperate she’d started to sound, sheepishly glanced at the floor as she waited for Eve’s response. Eve held her gaze for a few moments before turning and glancing at the home behind her, her eyes taking everything in as she contemplated Cassandra’s enticing offer.“I might be hard to live with,” Eve said with warning.“I might be hard to live with,” Cassandra echoed with a shrug. She rolled her eyes immediately after the words left her lips. Not helping your case, Cassandra.“You were right; I don’t really know how to do anything for myself,” Eve said.“Except slay dragons,” Cassandra muttered.“Cooking…cleaning…all those things that just kind of happened in the castle,” Eve started.“Also fine,” Cassandra promised. “I had to learn, too.”“Your cat will hide under the couch all day,” Eve said, no longer sure whether she was trying to talk Cassandra out of the idea or trying to talk herself out of the idea.“She’ll get used to you once she sees that I like you,” Cassandra said. Silence hung between them for a few moments as Eve ran out of counter arguments. Cassandra watched her and said, “You can say no.”“Okay,” Eve said simply.“Okay no, or…” Cassandra wondered.“Okay,” Eve said again.“Okay?” Cassandra asked, breaking into another of her dazzling, toothy grins.Eve dropped her bag back onto the floor and repeated, “Okay.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Four Years Later…
In a small kingdom in the Enchanted Forest, a new king and his guards rode on individual horseback to a small stone house in the town surrounding the royal palace. The four horses came to a stop just outside the handmade fence, and the king instantly dismounted, his feet hitting the dusty dirt road. Neighbors from the surrounding homes stilled, shooed their kids inside, or watched with bated breaths from their windows, not because of the king’s presence on their humble street, but because of the troubling fate that had awaited the young man inside the home the last time a king had made his way out to their part of the woods.The king’s guards started to dismount their horses, too, two of the three intending to follow the king inside, but before they, too, could hit solid land, the king raised his hand.“That’s not necessary,” he said.“Your majesty…” the head of security tried to protest.“Stay here,” the king insisted. “I don’t need guards to talk to my old friend.”The guards reluctantly did as they were told, sitting back down on their horses’ saddles. The young king handed the reins for his horse to his head of security and made his way up to the house. He knocked on the front door, as if he were any other visitor. Another young man opened the door. His eyes instantly widened a bit in an instinctive alarm as he cautiously looked over the king’s shoulders, taking in the scene outside.“Jac…your majesty,” Flynn said, quickly correcting himself with a small bow.“Jacob’s fine, Flynn; you know that,” the king said. “Can I come in?”  “You’re…the king now,” Flynn said. “Pretty sure you can go wherever you want.”Much to the dismay of the king’s guards, Jacob entered Flynn’s house, shutting the front door behind them. Flynn took a seat on a chair in the living room, expecting Jacob to follow suit. When he chose to remain standing, pacing around the small room, nerves settled in the pit of Flynn’s stomach, and he rose to his feet again.“Sit,” Jacob said. “It’s still me, Flynn.”“But it’s not, really, because now you’re…you’re the king,” Flynn said with a bit of an unbelieving laugh. Nevertheless, he sat back down. “What, uh…what can I do for you?”“Where’s Eve, Flynn?” Jacob finally asked, halting his steps in the middle of the room.“Is that…that’s why you’re here?” Flynn asked.“I need to know where she is,” Jacob insisted.“I haven’t talked to her in years,” Flynn said, stalling, though his words were honest.“Just tell me where she went; you have to know where she went,” Jacob said.“And what makes you think I was privy to that information?” Flynn asked, obviously playing dumb.“I know my sister,” Jacob said. “I know how my sister felt about her relationship with you. I know she’s capable of getting herself out of here alone, but I also know she probably wouldn’t just disappear. You telling me I’m wrong about any of that?” Flynn remained silent on the chair, and Jacob, again, asked where he could find her.“I can’t say,” Flynn admitted.“But you know,” Jacob stated. Flynn’s mouth stayed shut. Jacob sighed and finally took a seat across from him. “She ran because Pop was going to make her marry Moriarty, right?”Flynn hesitated and then nodded his confirmation. That wasn’t really a secret; with the escape coming just days before the wedding, everyone in their little kingdom knew that’s why the princess had fled so many years ago. Surely, the brother she’d been closest to would’ve figured that out long ago.“Where’d she go?” Jacob tried again. Flynn maintained his silence. “They never found her in any of the surroundin’ kingdoms, so I assume she left the Enchanted Forest.” He looked to Flynn for some answers; Flynn remained quiet and still in his chair. Jacob tried again, “And I assume she ain’t dead?”Flynn wanted to help him; he really did, both because Jacob was now the king of their kingdom and because Jacob had once been almost as good of a friend to him as Eve had been, but Eve had sworn him to secrecy, his loyalties had always lie with her, and that was a promise Flynn intended to keep, so still, he said nothing.“Look,” Jacob said. “I know my father captured you after they couldn’t find her. I know he tortured you for information on Eve, and I know you never gave her up, and that’s noble. I admire that; I do, but I’m not my father, and I’m not here to hurt you. I’m not here to hurt Eve, either.”“What do you want with her?” Flynn finally asked, knowing the words Jacob said to be true.It was Jacob’s turn for silence as he stood, pacing the room as he weighed revealing the motivations behind his visit against potentially not getting the information he needed without a disclosure on his part. “What I’m about to say doesn’t leave this room, you understand?” Jacob asked with a pointed finger in Flynn’s direction.“You have my word,” Flynn promised.“Moriarty’s about to invade the kingdom,” Jacob said. “At least that’s what I’m hearing.”“What? Why?” Flynn asked with alarm. “Why now?”“He and his father couldn’t get their foot in our door the way they wanted four years ago, and I think they held that over Pop’s head, since it was ‘his’ fault their deal fell through,” Jacob said, putting the word ‘his’ in quotes. “So my father maintained a relationship with them, even after Eve had gone.”“And?” Flynn asked, knowing the story couldn’t stop there.“And I just told you I ain’t my father,” Jacob said.“Why do you need her?” Flynn asked again. “If you think I’m going to help you turn her over to them...”“You think I would do that?” Jacob exclaimed with a bubbling rage. “I was as against that marriage as she was! I need her because she knows him. All that time my father forced her to spend with him…she has to know things about him, about his father, about his kingdom that I don’t. I need her to help me stop this before everyone gets hurt!”Flynn was reduced to silence again, knowing again that Jacob was probably right. Eve had always told him that she’d been as quiet as possible during all the time she’d been forced to spend with Moriarty, punctuating the silence with sarcastic quips dripping with disdain that nobody but her seemed to hear. Flynn knew she’d probably overheard things, picked up on information that nobody else in the kingdom would hold. Eve could help; Eve would help, but just before she stepped through the portal, she’d said goodbye to Flynn and with fear in her eyes, made him promise to never tell anyone where she’d gone. Jacob sat down across from him again, sensing Flynn’s mental retreat.“You know where she is,” Jacob said. He said it as a statement again, not a question, and Flynn knew he was past the point of being able to pretend otherwise, so he nodded. “Where is she?”“She’s…somewhere nobody can get her from,” Flynn finally said.“Where the hell is that?” Jacob asked.“The Mysterious Island,” Flynn finally admitted.Jacob let out a breath and wiped his hand over his face, processing that information. Part of him couldn’t believe she’d been so desperate as to go to a magical place no one was quite sure even existed; part of him couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of that possibility before.“How’d she get there?” Jacob asked.“Magic bean,” Flynn said. “Almost died trying to get it.”“You helped her?” Jacob asked.“Of course I did; I…okay, I stood guard while she did all the dangerous work,” Flynn admitted. Jacob was silent in response, so Flynn added, nervously, “Is that a crime?”“No,” Jacob said. He thought about it and amended his answer to, “I don’t know. Not under my watch, it ain’t.”“But she used the only magic bean we obtained, so…” Flynn said.“There’s a key in the castle,” Jacob revealed.“A key?” Flynn asked.“In our vault,” Jacob said. “Turns any door into a door to the Mysterious Island. I didn’t know about it until I took the throne. It’s how I found out the place is even real.”“I’ll go get her,” Flynn said automatically. He rose to his feet quickly, equal parts excited to see Eve again and excited to see the island of legends with his own two eyes.“Wait,” Jacob said. “As far as I know, that’s a one-way key. It stays in the door; I don’t know how you get back once you’re there.”“Somebody has to go if you want her to help,” Flynn said. “Can’t be you; you’re the king.”“Flynn,” Jacob said.“Consider it service to the kingdom!” Flynn argued.“Be serious about this for a minute!” Jacob exclaimed.“I am serious. I don’t have anything left here,” Flynn said, honestly. “If it’s possible to come back, I’ll bring her back, and we’ll help you stop this. If it’s not…well, then I’m with my best friend, and your position hasn’t changed.”Jacob stood and paced around the room for another minute before he looked at Flynn and nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Come to the castle when you’re ready to leave. I’ll get the key.”“Okay,” Flynn agreed.“And Flynn?” Jacob said. “Hurry. I don’t know how long we have.”The pattern of the rain pounding on the grounds outside of the little cottage matched the beating of the metaphorical drums inside the princess’s head. Rain had been pouring all day in the Mysterious Islands, thunder periodically rolling through the trees, and Cassandra was paying the price. Eve had been surprised, at first, when Cassandra would have a day where she simply didn’t feel very good – with the tumor stalled and Cassandra safe from the constant threat of death, she had thought Cassandra would be spared from any of the symptoms and side effects, too, but her senses were still heightened, and the sounds of the day’s storms reverberated around Cassandra’s skull, making it difficult for Cassandra to even get out of bed.Eve had been reading in the bay window when Cassandra wandered downstairs in the same long, white, lacy nightgown she’d gone to bed in the night before, bleary-eyed and not very fit to be vertical. Eve looked up from her book, but without a word, Cassandra simply started pulling things off the couch, making a mound of cushions and blankets on the floor near where Eve sat.“What are you doing?” Eve finally asked.“I can’t be up there anymore,” Cassandra sighed, plopping down in her fortress of blankets beside the spot where Eve read. She still needed to lie down, but by mid-afternoon, she’d needed a change of scenery, too.Eve glanced down at her as she curled her arm underneath a pillow, holding it to her head as she closed her eyes. She’d learned to stop asking if Cassandra was okay; that never seemed to go over well, but Cassandra looked only slightly short of miserable, and Eve hadn’t quite learned how to just let that go.“Explain to me again how you’re getting headaches like this if biological time is frozen?” Eve said.Cassandra sighed again. “The same way I end up falling or bleeding when I think too hard. It’s still there. It can still be…provoked,” she said. “The low atmospheric pressure that comes with this kind of weather probably isn’t helping.”“What can we do?” Eve asked.“Nothing,” Cassandra said with a bit of a chuckle. They had a near identical conversation nearly every time something gave her a crippling headache. It would be annoying if it weren’t so sweet. “I just have to wait out the storm.”“I could make you a potion,” Eve offered. “Something stronger than you’ve already tried?” Cassandra’s eyes opened, skeptically looking up at Eve, knowing better than to believe what she’d just said. Eve rolled her eyes slightly and said, “Okay, so I don’t really know how to do that, and you’d have to walk me through it, but I’ll give it a shot.”“There isn’t anything stronger,” she said. “Not that I know of, anyway.”“Then what can I do?” Eve asked again.“Just stay where you are,” Cassandra said, slipping her eyes shut again. “Knowing you’re there is nice.”They rested side-by-side in silence until Eve eventually joined her on the floor. The women lay on their sides, facing each other, at a right angle to the window, their heads nearest the opened blinds. Cassandra slightly curled into Eve, her head still resting on a soft pillow underneath Eve’s outstretched arm. The light spilling in from the open window, though dulled from the stormy weather, was still bright enough to allow for reading from her new position on the floor, so one of Eve’s hands held her book behind Cassandra’s head, its pages bewitched by the younger princess to turn on their own when Eve was ready for the next spread. Eve had offered to read to her to provide a distraction from the storm outside, but Cassandra had said no, longing for stillness amid her mental chaos, so Eve read quietly, and Cassandra focused on her own breathing, hoping the pattern could dull the pain.Cassandra wasn’t sure how long they’d been lying there in a comfortable calm; the innate clock in her head tended to malfunction when her head was spinning. Eventually, the thunder stopped, the rain subsided to a more moderate fall, and Cassandra felt a little more up to opening her eyes and facing the world. Moving just her eyes, she glanced up at Eve’s serene face. As if she felt her looking, Eve’s eyes met hers, and the girls shared a smile.“How’s the book?” Cassandra asked in a quiet voice.“Did you change your mind?” Eve asked, matching her tone. Cassandra narrowed her eyes in confusion. “Do you want me to read out loud?” she clarified.“No,” Cassandra said. “Just wondering.”“It’s good,” Eve said.They were quiet for a few more moments until Cassandra asked, “Is that the romance I picked up from the library last week?”“Yeah,” Eve replied. Cassandra hummed in response, her eyes slipping shut again. Eve’s lips curved into an amused smile. She was like a child trying to get someone’s attention without coming off as annoying. “Cass,” she said. Cassandra simply hummed again, her eyes still closed. “Cass, you want to talk?”Cassandra’s eyes shot open then, and she shifted a little closer to Eve, a smile on her face. Taking that as an affirmation of her suspicions, Eve closed the book. Her newly freed hand curled underneath her own pillow, while Eve’s other hand found its way into Cassandra’s hair. Cassandra didn’t say anything else, and Eve suppressed another laugh as she thought the younger woman might have just wanted a bit of undivided attention. Nevertheless, Eve’s long fingers lightly massaged Cassandra’s scalp near where she knew the hurt was originating, drawing the occasional, pleased little mewl from Cassandra’s throat as silence settled over them again.“Tell me a story you’ve never told me before,” Cassandra finally requested as soon as she’d once again grown bored of the quiet. “A story about you.”“Like what?” Eve asked with a laugh.“I don’t know,” Cassandra shrugged. She thought about the book Eve had just discarded and said, “Tell me about your first kiss.”Eve chuckled again and said, “Not that great of a story, I’m afraid. It was Flynn.”“Really?” Cassandra asked. “But I thought…”“Yeah,” Eve said. “But we were teenagers and wondered what it felt like, and since neither of us had any prospects on the horizon…”Cassandra laughed, despite the still-lingering pain and said, “But you were best friends, so that’s still a cute story.”“It is?” Eve laughed with skepticism.“Where were you?” Cassandra asked.Eve rolled her eyes, knowing Cassandra was going to love the answer she was about to give. “A treehouse Flynn’s father built for him when he was little.” Just as she suspected, a cry of adoration left Cassandra’s throat, and Eve laughed. “We didn’t even like each other like that!”“Still cute,” Cassandra insisted.“What about you?” Eve asked. “You ever kiss anyone?”A mischievous smile covered Cassandra’s face as she said, “Estrella.”“Who’s Estrella?” Eve asked in a teasing tone.“She wasn’t from my kingdom; her family was just traveling through,” Cassandra said. “But they were royalty, too, so my family hosted them in our castle for the duration of their stay.”“And?” Eve asked.“And she wasn’t from my kingdom,” Cassandra repeated. “So she didn’t know about…she just saw me.”“That sounds nice,” Eve said with sympathy.“I mean, she might’ve known; I’m sure the queen being pregnant when the only princess was eighteen seemed strange, and Estrella seemed rather intuitive, so there were a few moments where it kind of seemed like she might…but if she suspected, she didn’t say anything,” Cassandra explained.“And that was a good thing?” Eve asked.“Perfect,” Cassandra said wistfully. “It let me just be me again. Anyway, she was there for three days, and we snuck around the tunnels kissing for two of them.”“The tunnels?” Eve asked.“My castle had this network of tunnels underneath,” Cassandra said. “I don’t know why, but they were great for getting around unnoticed. Even though we did plenty of kissing above ground, too.”“Anyone catch you?” Eve asked.“Nope,” Cassandra said with pride. Her chuckle turned into a sigh as Eve’s fingers moved against her scalp. “That feels good,” she said.“Is it helping?” Eve asked.“Yeah,” Cassandra whispered, her eyes closing again.Before the quiet could truly fall across the room again, a near maniacal laughter sounded outside of the princesses’ small home. Cassandra’s eyes shot back open as Eve’s widened, and both women sat up slightly, looking towards the front door and the direction of the unexpected noise.“Flowers that look like the night sky!” the voice guffawed outside. “I found the…I finally found the flowers that look like the night sky!”Eve’s eyes widened even further for just a moment before the expression on her face contorted into a mixture of confusion and disbelief. “Flynn?” she called, questioning.“Flynn?” Cassandra asked, looking at Eve. “Your Flynn?”“Flynn!” Eve called again, sitting all the way up.“Eve?” Flynn called back from outside. The women watched from inside as the shape of a person traveled across one of the curtain-covered windows towards the front door. “Eve, is that you?”Sure it was him, Eve hurriedly stood and traversed the room. She called his name again as she undid the locks and threw open the door, and there, standing in the pouring rain, was the best friend she thought she’d never see again.“Hello, Eve,” he said smoothly, despite the rain soaking his body. Eve thrust her arm out and pulled him inside, shutting the door behind him. He stayed in the foyer, his clothes and hair dripping on the mat just inside the door, and Eve fought her instinct to hug him.“What are you doing here?” she asked desperately. “How did you find me?”“The grumpy old man in the library,” Flynn said. “He told me you’d be here.”“Galahad’s not grumpy!” Cassandra called from her place on the floor. “Maybe just a little misunderstood.”“Gala…Galahad?” Flynn stuttered in shock as Eve looked at Cassandra with an amused grin. “Galahad from Camelot? I just met a Knight of the Round Table?”“Yes,” Cassandra said. Flynn let out another laugh of hilarity, and Eve finally chuckled, too.“That’s a secret,” Eve said. “Only Cassandra calls Jenkins by his true name.”“Oh, who cares what his name is,” Flynn said. “A Knight of the Round Table, Eve!”“Flynn!” Eve exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”“I came to get you,” Flynn said, his tone suddenly more serious. “You need to come home.”

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Before Eve truly had time to comprehend what Flynn had just said to her, Cassandra rose to her feet on the other side of the room and starting heading for the stairs, mumbling words of excuse as she walked by. Suddenly more worried about Cassandra’s reaction to Flynn’s words than her own, Eve watched her run up to their shared bedroom.“Cassan…” Eve started, cutting herself off with a sigh. She glanced at Flynn. “I’ll be right back.”“Sure,” Flynn agreed. “I’ll just…” He pointed towards the couch as if to say he’d just wait right there; then, as if suddenly remembering how soaking wet he was, he simply leaned against the door instead.“I’ll get some towels, too,” Eve promised.She hurried upstairs and found their bedroom empty. Cassandra’s bed rested against one wall, the covers still crumpled from where she’d crawled out of them a few hours earlier. Eve’s own bed was against the opposite wall, neatly made with two sleepy gray balls of fur curled up together in the center of the quilt, their tiny tails wrapped around the other. Eve was about to call out Cassandra’s name again when Cassandra appeared from the walk-in closet, pulling a large cardigan over her nightgown.“There you are,” Eve sighed in relief.“Yeah,” Cassandra said, looping the buttons on the cardigan through their proper holes. “Sorry; Flynn walked in, and it sounds like he’s going to be staying for a while, and I was just suddenly feeling a little exposed.”“I thought…” Eve started. She decided against finishing that thought and shook her head. If she had been wrong about why Cassandra abruptly run upstairs, she wasn’t going to bring it up herself. Her mind shifted back to the long-lost friend standing in her home as she said, “I never thought I’d see him again. I never thought I’d see him again, and now he’s here…in our living room!”Cassandra grabbed a purple-colored potion from her bedside table and took a small drink from the vial as Eve loudly tried to wrap her head around the appearance of their unexpected guest. She closed her eyes as the magic ran down her throat. She wasn’t entirely sure the storm had subsided enough for the remedy to actually work, but something inside her was telling her that whatever Flynn had come to tell Eve was going to require her to be more attentive than she had been so far that day.“I am excited to get to meet your treehouse lover,” Cassandra teased. Eve audibly groaned at that, causing a fit of laughter to escape Cassandra’s throat. She closed the vial of medicine and slowly returned it to her table, her face growing somber once Eve couldn’t see. “Eve?” she said seriously.“Yeah?” Eve asked.“You’re not really going to go home, are you?” Cassandra asked, a hint of poorly-concealed desperation in her voice. A wave of sympathy crossed Eve’s face as she sighed; that was what she had been afraid of when Cassandra speedily made her exit downstairs. Cassandra continued, “I know the idea of eternity is hard for you sometimes, but I can’t imagine this place without you now. It’s selfish, I know, but…”“Hey,” Eve whispered. She crossed the room, closing the distance between them, and gently held onto Cassandra’s shoulders. Her hands slipped from her shoulders down her arms, and she felt Cassandra relax beneath her touch. “Let’s just see what he has to say first, okay? This is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.”Cassandra nodded solemnly, and Eve shot her a reassuring smile. Cassandra returned the grin briefly, and Eve headed for the closet to get Flynn those towels. Cassandra pulled her sweater a little tighter against her chest as she headed back downstairs alone.Her pace slowed halfway down the stairs as she spotted Flynn carefully perusing one of her bookshelves. She had eventually cleared some shelves for Eve, making room for her things, too, but Flynn was staring at one of hers, mentally cataloging each of the titles, seemingly fascinated by the mix of science and math and magic and fiction before him. Her movement caught the corner of his eye, and he stood up straight, shooting her a pleasant smile.“Eve’s just getting you some towels,” Cassandra said. “I’m afraid we probably don’t have any clothes that would fit you.”“Oh, that’s okay,” he said. “I’m Flynn, by the way, but you…probably already know who I am.”“Cassandra,” she replied, matching his smile. “It’s really nice to meet you.”“Likewise; I’m glad to see Eve has someone here,” Flynn said. He glanced at the bookcase beside him again and asked, “Is this your house?”“It’s our house,” Cassandra replied, even though it had once been only hers.“Did I...interrupt something?” Flynn asked with a hint of awkwardness in his voice.“What?” Cassandra asked, confused. “Interrupt…”“Well…” Flynn replied. He gestured towards the mess of pillows and blankets under the window across the room before bringing his eyes back to Cassandra, his eyes glancing over her outfit.“No! Nothing like that,” Cassandra said, her cheeks flushing red as she nervously laughed. She pulled the sweater tighter around her chest again and said, “We were just chatting.”“On the floor?” he asked.“It’s comfier than it looks,” Cassandra insisted. She headed for the couch then, suddenly unable to stand any longer. “I’m sick today,” she said as she noticed Flynn watching her, with concern he’d said something wrong. “The weather…it’s giving me a migraine.”“You can get headaches here?” Flynn asked.Eve headed down the stairs as Flynn asked the question, her arms full of towels for him to dry off. With a roll of her eyes, she said, “It’s a sanctuary, Flynn, not a paradise.”“Right,” Flynn said, taking the towels from Eve’s hands. “Right, of course. I still can’t believe it’s actually real! Nobody could tell us for sure that it was when we started pondering this possibility.”“I think that’s part of the point,” Eve said, joining Cassandra on the couch. “How’d you get here, Flynn?”“I used the key,” Flynn said.“The what now?” Eve asked.“There’s a key to the Mysterious Island, turns any door into a door here,” Flynn hurriedly explained. “I got it from Jacob, who found it in your family’s vault. Did you know that was in your castle that whole time?”“Yes, Flynn,” Eve said sarcastically. “I just thought it’d be fun to fight the dragon for the magic bean.”“So you didn’t know,” Flynn muttered. Realizing what he’d just said and remembering Jenkins’s warning that he couldn’t find her by walking around asking for Princess Eve because that was a secret that was hers to keep, he glanced at Cassandra, then back at Eve, then back to Cassandra again.“Should I…not have said the thing about the castle?” he asked, drawing out the ‘I’ sound. “I didn’t mean castle. I meant her…house. All the houses in our land have underground vaults; that’s normal – mundane, even, and there’s nothing special about her at all. Well, that’s not true; there’s a lot special about her, but you probably already know that, too, and…”Cassandra glanced at Eve as he rambled, her lips curling into an amused grin. Even Eve was entertained, so she let him try to cover his tracks for a sentence or two longer than she should’ve before cutting him off with a simple, “She knows, Flynn!”“Oh,” Flynn said, abruptly stopping his impromptu speech.“It turns any door into a door here? Just like that?” Eve asked, her mind still fixated on the key. Flynn nodded. Eve, thinking of everything she went through to get the bean that brought her to the island all those years ago, sighed, with a slight roll of her eyes, “I’m just going to pretend I didn’t hear any of that.” She turned to Cassandra. “Your castle have one of those?”“If it did, I didn’t know about it, either,” Cassandra replied.“Your castle?” Flynn asked her. “You’re…”“Princess of the Northern Isles,” Cassandra said. “Or…I was. A long time ago.”“So anything you have to tell me you can say in front of her, too,” Eve said. “What’s going on, Flynn?”“Uh…well,” he said. He looked around the living room for a moment before draping one of the extra towels over a stool across from the couch. Flynn took a seat on top of the towel, wrapping another around his shoulders. “I guess I should start with a bit of a recap of what you’ve missed.”“Might be a good idea,” Eve agreed.“Do you know how long it’s been?” Flynn asked. “I haven’t seen a clock or a calendar since I got here.”“Since I left? Four years, give or take,” Eve said, looking to Cassandra. She nodded in confirmation, and Eve looked back to Flynn. “Nobody seems to really keep track of time, but it’s only people that are frozen here.”“And animals,” Cassandra added.“And animals,” Eve amended.“Fascinating,” Flynn said.“So what have I missed back home?” Eve asked.“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Flynn admitted. He paused for another moment before finally saying, “Eve, your father is dead.”Cassandra instantly sat up from her slumped position at the end of the couch and scooted towards Eve’s end, reaching for her hand. Eve turned her palm and let her fingers lace with Cassandra’s.“I’m okay,” Eve said after a moment, patting the top of Cassandra’s hand with her free one.“You are?” Cassandra asked softly. A glance at Flynn told her he wasn’t surprised by this reaction.“I knew I’d probably never see him alive again when I came here,” Eve said. She didn’t let go of Cassandra’s hand as she said, “I’m…I’m okay. What happened?”“Heart attack, they think,” Flynn said.“I guess that’s not surprising,” Eve muttered.“Jacob – her oldest brother – has been the acting monarch since it happened; it hasn’t been that long, but Jacob hasn’t officially been sworn in yet,” Flynn explained. “His coronation was set for next week.”“Was?” Eve asked with a little bit of dread in her voice.“He came to me yesterday,” Flynn said. “He believes Moriarty is about to invade the kingdom.”“What?” Eve replied.“Apparently he and his father and your father had some sort of arrangement after you left and the marriage fell through,” Flynn explained. “I don’t know what that entailed, exactly, but it ended with your father, and I guess he’s not happy about that.”“So he’s going to try to take the throne before it officially passes to Jacob,” Eve sighed.“It seems so,” Flynn said.“Wait, what are you asking her to do?” Cassandra asked.“Cassandra,” Eve muttered, squeezing her hand.“No, Eve, it sounds like he’s…” Cassandra said. “She’s not going to marry him!”“Cassandra,” Eve sighed again, dropping her hand this time.“Oh, no,” Flynn said quickly. “No.”“She’s right, though, Flynn,” Eve said. She stood and started pacing around the living room, between the couch that held Cassandra and the stool that held Flynn. “I’m not going back to just pick up where we left off, so what are you asking me here?”“Admittedly, that preposterous proposition is where my mind first went, too, but Jacob just wants your help. He thinks you're the key to defeating him,” Flynn explained. “You know them better than any of us do.”“Unfortunately,” Eve groaned, halting in the middle of the room.“He doesn’t think he can stop this without you,” Flynn explained.“Flynn…” Eve sighed. “Coming back as Moriarty’s trying to take the throne he believes is rightfully his…you don’t think that’s a bit of a slippery slope? He believes I’m rightfully his, too, and now I’ve wounded his pride by as good as leaving him at the altar.”“I know, Eve, but…I helped you escape once,” Flynn said. “I’ll do it again if I have to.”“Flynn,” Eve sighed again as Cassandra stood from the couch.“Go,” Cassandra said in a small voice.“What?” Eve asked in surprise, looking at her.“Go,” Cassandra repeated. “One of the first things you ever said to me was that what you wanted was to be able to defend your kingdom, so…go. Save your people.”“Are you sure?” Eve asked softly, unconsciously stepping towards her.“Yes,” Cassandra said, reaching for her hand again.“Cassandra…” Eve said softly, not quite sure what to say.Cassandra dropped her voice to a whisper and said, “Flynn has a key; just promise me your leaving won’t be forever.”“I’ll come back,” Eve said without hesitation and with a sympathetic smile.“Then go,” Cassandra said again, squeezing her hand before she let it fall. Eve nodded, took a breath, and looked at Flynn.“Well, I guess that’s that,” Eve said.“You’ll come?” Flynn asked. Eve nodded.“How do we get back?” Eve asked.“I was hoping you’d know that,” Flynn admitted.“What?” Eve asked.“Uh…” Flynn stuttered. “I don’t…really know how to return.”“What do you mean you don’t know?” Eve asked. “You just flung yourself through a portal to come get me without knowing if you’d ever be able to get back?”“Maybe not the best plan, admittedly, but we took a shot,” Flynn admitted.“You can use the door,” Cassandra said.“The door?” Eve asked.“Galahad has a magic door in the library. It works kind of like the key Flynn described,” Cassandra said. “It can turn into a door to anywhere. You just have to tell it where to go. I don’t know how to do it, but he will.”Eve stared into nothing for a moment, processing this new information and the reality of her imminent return to her kingdom. Finally, she nodded slightly, and her gaze flicked up to meet Flynn’s eyes. “Okay,” she said.“Okay,” Flynn repeated with a grin. That night, Eve wandered down the stairs well after dark, looking for Cassandra. Part of her had been hoping to spend some time with Cassandra before she left for her old kingdom; part of her just couldn’t take Misty’s little cries as she circled Cassandra’s empty bed anymore. Their little home had magically grown a second bedroom several months after Eve had arrived (long after they were both settled into sharing Cassandra’s), and Cassandra was supposed to be setting Flynn up in there, but as nearly two hours passed since they’d all decided to turn in, Eve began to wonder what was going on.She shouldn’t have been surprised, she thought, as she heard tinkering coming from Cassandra’s workroom. She rounded the corner towards the lab and spotted Cassandra and Flynn inside, huddled around the corner of the table, working on a concoction, both of them giddy with an unbridled glee. Electricity buzzed from Cassandra’s fingers into the potion, and unlike the first time Eve saw her use her magic in her work, she was slow and methodical, and Flynn watched, mesmerized.“Wow,” Flynn breathed as Cassandra lowered her hand and curled her fingers into her palm. Cassandra shot him a wily little smile and asked if he was freaked out. “No! No,” he said quickly. “I’ve heard about people who possess such magic. I’ve just never seen it in person.”“Eve was a little freaked out,” Cassandra told him. “Though I suppose I was a bit nervous when she first got here; I probably overdid it a little.”“Magic’s feared where we’re from,” Flynn said.“So I’ve heard,” Cassandra said. She nodded towards a jar near Flynn, and Flynn scooped a handful of the ingredient into his palm as Cassandra stirred the potion.“So then I just…” Flynn said, questioningly. Cassandra pulled her hand back as Flynn tossed the ingredient into the cauldron. A loud pop filled the room as a flurry of pink smoke rose from the brew.“Yes!” Cassandra cried with excitement as exactly what was supposed to happen happened. She stepped back up to the table to stir it again and glanced up at Flynn. “You’re really good at this.”“You sound surprised,” Flynn said.“Eve said your kingdom isn’t much for science.”“Yeah, well, my kingdom isn’t much for me,” Flynn replied as they shared a smile.“How did you two meet?” Cassandra asked, turning to her cabinet to get a vial for the newly-completed potion.“Eve never told you?” Flynn asked. Cassandra shook her head in the negative. “We met at school.”“Eve attended a normal school?” Cassandra asked with surprise.Flynn nodded. “Most royals are home schooled; I assume you were?” he said. Cassandra nodded, too. “Eve’s mother was insistent they attend school with other children. She wanted them to see beyond the castle’s walls. Still, the school was small and mostly kids from more distinguished families, of which I was not – far from it, in fact – but my mother saw my academic potential and used every cent she had to send me there.”“That’s nice,” Cassandra said.“She was a wonderful woman, my mother,” Flynn said fondly. “Anyway, it was obvious, of course, that I didn’t really belong there, and I was an outcast…to everyone except Eve and her oldest brother, who is now the king.”At that, Eve finally made her presence known, leaning against the doorframe as she said, “How is Jacob doing?”“He’s doing okay,” Flynn said. “But he’s no you.”“What’s up?” Cassandra asked.“It’s late; there’s a very meow-y kitten upstairs missing you,” Eve revealed.“Where’s the moon?” Cassandra asked, her brow furrowed.“What?” Eve asked.“The moon, where is it?” Cassandra asked again.“I don’t know,” Eve shrugged. “Above the chimney or so.”Cassandra looked to the space directly in front of her eyes, quickly calculating what that position of the moon over her house would mean in terms of time. Flynn watched her fingers move in the air in front of her, enthralled, again, by something Eve had witnessed a hundred times before. Cassandra’s eyes grew wide as she reached her conclusion. “I had no idea it was so late,” she said.“Time flies when you’re having fun,” Flynn said.“Time’s not actually moving,” Cassandra reminded him. “Well…sort of.”Flynn looked at Eve and said, “All those days we spent wondering what this place would be like…if it was even real…”“It’s nothing like we imagined it,” Eve said.“I could spend a lifetime studying this realm,” Flynn said.“Come here, and you could spend several lifetimes studying this realm,” Eve pointed out. Cassandra grinned, their awe infectious, and started cleaning up the mess she and Flynn had made, preserving the finished remedy for her stockpile. “Did Cassandra set you up in the guest room?” Eve asked.Flynn nodded. “But what does she mean the house grew it?”“It just appeared,” Eve said with a shrug. “The only bedroom when I got here was the one upstairs, so we split it; Cass took half, and I took half, and about six months later, we came downstairs one morning, and there was a new room.”“I don’t know why it took the house that long to realize she was staying,” Cassandra said. “But I also didn’t know the house could do that, so…”“Fascinating,” Flynn mumbled again.“I’ll be upstairs,” Cassandra said, shutting her cabinet after putting the new vial safely inside. As she headed out of the room, she gently grabbed Eve’s arm and whispered, “He’s brilliant!”“I know,” Eve replied, matching her tone. She turned to Flynn and said, “I’m going to hang out with her, make sure she’s really okay with all of this.”Flynn smiled knowingly and said, “Go; we’ll leave in the morning.”Eve nodded and repeated, “We’ll leave in the morning.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Morning came far too quickly, and in just a few short hours, Eve, Flynn, and Cassandra were standing in the empty library as Jenkins worked out the destination settings on his magical door. The door was another well-kept secret on the Islands, Jenkins having only confided in Cassandra about its existence long after they’d become friends, so they’d shown up early, long before anyone else would be utilizing the library, to preserve Jenkins’s secret.“You can get them to the castle, right?” Cassandra asked.“Cassandra, I’ve told you many times that this door’s location abilities are not always exactly precise,” Jenkins said with a disgruntled tone. He caught a glimpse of Cassandra’s disappointed face, and his voice softened as he said, “But I’ll do my best.”“That’s all we ask,” Eve said quickly, before Cassandra’s nerves could start a real argument.“Anywhere in the kingdom is fine, really,” Flynn said. “We can work it out.”A few more minutes passed before Jenkins declared, “I think I have dialed in to your castle.”He swung open the door, and as the light dissipated, the sight of the room on the other side came into view. Eve and Flynn stepped forward, while Cassandra hung back, all three of them peering around the door frame to get a look at the destination Jenkins had managed to catch. Eve snickered.“What’s funny?” Cassandra asked.“That looks like my parents’ bathroom, but it’ll do,” Eve replied.Flynn tried to wander through the open door but was met with resistance. Eve looked at Jenkins with confusion as Flynn bounced back, and Cassandra’s gloomy demeanor momentarily brightened to sheer fascination as she watched the attempted departure with wide eyes and slightly parted lips. She had long known about this door’s existence, but she had never actually seen it put to use.“What happened?” Eve asked as Flynn regained his footing.“You might need to get a running start to get through the wormhole,” Jenkins said casually.“Together?” Flynn asked, looking at Eve.“Yeah,” Eve said with a nod. She turned around and caught sight of Cassandra slumped against the table nearest the door. Her blue eyes looked sad, and the forlorn look on her whole face tugged at Eve’s heart. She walked over to the table and curled her finger under Cassandra’s chin, making the younger woman look at her. “Talk to me, Red,” Eve said softly.“I know it’s only been a day, but if the invasion is that imminent, you don’t really know what you’re about to walk into,” Cassandra anxiously said.“That’s why we need to go now,” Eve said.“I know, just…come back alive, okay?” She threw herself around Eve, wrapping her in a hug she probably couldn’t escape from if she tried. “Just come back,” Cassandra whispered.Eve hugged her back, wrapping one arm around Cassandra’s small waist while the other cradled the back of her head, her fingers slipping through Cassandra’s red hair as she laid her head on Eve’s shoulder. After a few moments, Cassandra pulled back from their embrace and closed her eyes as she kissed Eve’s cheek.“Thank you for understanding why I need to do this,” Eve said. Cassandra nodded and softly smiled at her, her lips closed. Eve stepped back, holding onto Cassandra until her arms slipped from her grasp. As she walked backwards towards the portal, she said, “It’ll be okay.”Cassandra waved goodbye to Flynn, too, as Eve walked over and took his hand. He nodded towards Cassandra and looked at Eve. Eve took a deep breath and silently confirmed she was ready to go. She and Flynn ran towards the open portal, the force of their departure swinging the door shut behind them. Cassandra let out a little gasp as they disappeared and the portal sealed, unconsciously taking a few steps towards the door that now looked like just an ordinary door.As Cassandra’s gaze lingered on the closed passage and her movement slowed, Jenkins walked over to her. He wasn’t much for physical gestures, but he came up behind Cassandra and placed a steady hand on her shoulder. “Eve’s right, Princess,” he said. “It’ll be okay.”“I wanted her to go, but I didn’t want her to leave,” Cassandra said. Jenkins sighed, the sentiment familiar, and squeezed her shoulder.“There’s still a little time before I need to open the library,” he said. “Why don’t we go upstairs and have a cup of tea? You can lecture me about the nonsensical mathematics in that ridiculous novel I gave you last week.”His promise drew a genuine smile to the ends of Cassandra’s lips and she nodded, letting him lead her to his residence above the library. In another realm, Eve and Flynn wandered through the halls of Eve’s former home, just as they had done so many times before. Unlike before, Eve peered into every room she passed as they walked, as if to see if anything had changed in the castle that hadn’t really changed in over two hundred years. Flynn grinned as she looked past him to glance into an empty room.“Is this weird?” he asked.“A little,” she admitted.“Eve!” a voice from behind them called. Eve and Flynn quickly turned around and found Jacob turning into their hallway a few feet behind them.“Jacob!” Eve replied. Flynn stepped back as Jacob pulled his sister into a hug before he could really get a good look at her. As they pulled out of the embrace, Eve said, “Or is it Your Majesty now?”“Not yet,” Jacob said modestly, looking towards the ground. His eyes traveled back to Eve’s face, and he froze in place, simply looking at her.“What?” Eve asked.“You look…exactly like you did the last time I saw you,” Jacob said with wonderment.“And not a day older,” Eve said simply.“So all those rumors are true,” Jacob said. “Time stands still there?”“Time’s not frozen; people are,” Eve said quickly.“Does that…does that make me older than you now?” Jacob wondered.“I guess…biologically speaking…?” Eve questioned. She glanced at Flynn and said, “Why do I suddenly feel like I just time traveled?”Flynn smiled again as Jacob pat his shoulder and said, “Thanks for bringing her back, man.”“My pleasure,” Flynn said with a nod.A royal advisor’s head peered around the corner of the same hallway Jacob had appeared from. “Your Majesty!” he said, his tone panicked. “You’re needed downstairs.”“Be right there,” Jacob promised.As soon as the advisor had disappeared again, a loud noise outside rattled the halls, despite its obvious distance, causing both Eve and Flynn to jump. “What the hell was that?” Eve asked.“That was Moriarty,” Jacob said. “He and his army breached the kingdom overnight; he’s trying to break through the castle walls. We’re holdin’ him off, but I don’t know for how long.”“So imminent really meant…imminent,” Flynn mumbled. Jacob’s eyes widened as he nodded with pursed lips.“So we’re at war?” Eve asked with the same dread in her voice that had been present when Flynn first told her what was going on.“Yeah,” Jacob sighed.“This is my fault,” Eve said.“It ain’t your fault,” Jacob said quickly.“Yes, it is,” Eve said with despair. “I should’ve just married him. I should’ve just…”“Stop,” Jacob ordered. “Eve, I didn’t want that anymore than you did; it ain’t your fault.”“What do we do?” Eve asked.“We try to hold ‘em off,” Jacob repeated.“How?” Eve stressed.“You always wanted to command the military,” Jacob said.“Yes, but neither of us have any actual training in that arena,” Eve reminded him.“I’ll cause a distraction!” Flynn offered. “Maybe they’ll follow me instead!” He started running down the hall Jacob had emerged from before anyone could stop him.“Flynn!” Eve yelled. She groaned and looked at her brother. “He’s going to lead them right into the villages. Has Moriarty done any damage out there yet?”“We’re trying to figure out how to get someone out there to determine the scope of the invasion,” Jacob explained. “My gut says he hasn’t actually hurt anyone yet.”“Well, I’d rather him attack us than them,” Eve said. Jacob nodded in agreement. “You go downstairs. See what they need; keep working on getting someone out to assess the damage.” She nodded in the direction Flynn had left them and, with a slight roll of her eyes, said, “I got him.”“Two of you can meet me downstairs,” Jacob said. “We’re hidin’ out down there, figure out a strategy.”“You want me to bring Flynn?” Eve asked with skepticism. “He might make things harder if he’s going to keep running off like that.”“I trust him,” Jacob said. His voice grew softer as he said, “Dad tortured him, you know.”“What?” Eve cried in a wounded voice.“When they couldn’t find you,” Jacob said simply.“He didn’t tell me that,” Eve said in a near-whisper.“Go get him…and be safe,” Jacob said, raising his arm.Eve allowed herself another brief moment, the shock of the information Jacob had just presented still consuming her. Then, with a deep breath and a little shake of her head, she tapped her forearm against his and said, “You, too,” before running off after Flynn. Jenkins flicked off the last of the lights in the library, intending to retire to his residence upstairs, when a light but insistent pounding on his door pulled him in the opposite direction of the stairs. A fiery shimmer of red hair was all he caught upon his quick glance out one of the front windows, though he hadn’t really needed to look outside to know who would be knocking on his door at such a late hour. Jenkins opened the recently-locked door and found Cassandra standing on the library’s front stoop with a small bag on her shoulder and a basket full of kittens locked in the crook of her elbow.“Cassandra,” he sighed heavily.“No ‘Princess?’” she asked.“I suspect I’m not going to like what you’re about to say,” Jenkins said honestly.“Can I stay here tonight?” Cassandra asked.“No,” Jenkins said.“I know you have room,” Cassandra said. “I’ll sleep on your couch. I won’t make any noise. I promise.”“No,” Jenkins said again.“Please,” Cassandra said, practically begging. “It’s been almost two weeks, and I know I lived there by myself for years, but the house is just so quiet and lonely, and I can’t stop thinking about Eve, and…please?”Jenkins sighed again. “Oh, very well,” he said. Cassandra instantly perked up, smiling sweetly as she moved to enter the library. He held up his hand and stopped her; she looked up at him quizzically. “You may spend the night, but you cannot bring the kittens.”“I can’t leave them alone! They’re babies!” Cassandra cried.With one final sigh, Jenkins simply walked away, leaving the door open behind him. Knowing that was his way of acquiescing to her requests, she quickly entered the darkened room, locking the library door behind her. He was already starting a fire by the time she made it upstairs, and she quickly ducked into the bathroom to exchange her clothes for a nightgown and one of Eve’s warm shirts, wanting to settle on the couch and get out of his way as quickly as possible.Just as if they were at home, Luna settled on the floor in front of the dancing flames, and Misty curled into the curve of her reclined body on the couch. Cassandra pulled a blanket up to her waist and moved to sink down into the cushions, preparing for another night of mindless worry and little sleep, despite the brief relief she felt in having another person around for the night. To her surprise, Jenkins wandered into the living room with two glasses of wine. He held one out to her, and she sat back up against the arm of the couch.“Oh, I don’t really…” Cassandra said.“It will help you sleep, my dear,” Jenkins promised.“Not even my potions are helping me sleep right now,” she admitted.“Try it,” he requested.Cassandra took the glass, swirling the liquid around for a moment before taking a sip. He took a seat in a chair adjacent to the couch, and Luna whirled her head around, eyeing the new arrival. Cassandra immediately held out her hand.“Stay there,” she ordered, knowing he wouldn’t appreciate a kitten trying to crawl all over him. Luna laid her head back down in the soft carpet. “You don’t have to sit out here with me,” she told Jenkins. “I really don’t want to bother you.”“You said you did not want to be alone,” he reminded her. “And you’re not bothering me.”“I miss Eve,” Cassandra said softly.“I know,” he replied, matching her tone. “You’re worried.”“She went off to war, Galahad,” Cassandra sighed.“Is that all you’re worried about?” he asked knowingly.“Isn’t that enough?” Cassandra asked.“Of course,” he said. “If that was all that was troubling you.”Cassandra was quiet for a moment, insecurity swimming in her blue eyes. She took another drink of the bitter wine and said, “What if it’s not a war that’s keeping her there?”“What do you mean?” Jenkins asked.“What if the crisis was averted, and she…” Cassandra said, trailing off. As if the kitten knew she was growing upset, Misty meowed and laid her head across Cassandra’s arm.“And she what?” he prompted.“Her father’s gone,” Cassandra said. “She left because she didn’t want to be forced to marry the man who might’ve invaded her kingdom. There’s nobody there to force her to do that now.”“And?” Jenkins prompted again.Cassandra frowned at being encouraged to keep talking, but she continued. “What if she got home and decided she wanted the throne? Her brother hadn’t been officially sworn in yet; she could have it,” she said. “What if she’s still gone because she doesn’t want to come back?”“You are forgetting one thing, Cassandra,” Jenkins said.“What’s that?” Cassandra asked.“The lure of a throne is powerful. You gave one up; you know how hard that is,” he started.“I gave it up because I had to,” she reminded him. “I didn’t exactly do it willingly.”“Nevertheless, your worries aren’t unfounded; I’ve watched many men be driven mad by their quest to reign,” Jenkins said. “But the thing you are forgetting is that there are things that can be more powerful to a person than sovereignty.”“Um…by definition, that’s not true,” Cassandra said.“Yes, well, the heart doesn’t always care about definitions,” Jenkins said.“I don’t understand,” Cassandra admitted.“I’ve watched many men be driven mad by their quest to reign, but I have also watched you and Eve for many years now,” he said. “And I believe that she loves you just as much as you love her. That, to some, can be more powerful than the promise of any crown.”Cassandra had been mid-sip when the words about love slipped from his lips, causing the glass to still between hers. She brought her arm back down to her side and swallowed slowly, her already big eyes slightly widened. “I wasn’t…” she started. She blinked in his direction a few times before a dumbfounded look crossed her face and she simply asked, “Love? Like…love?”Jenkins chuckled to himself as he finished off his glass of wine. “Sometimes I forget how very young you are,” he said.“Is that bad?” she asked.“Not at all,” he said. He stood and wandered over to the couch, hovering over Cassandra to place a kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight, Princess.”As he left the living room, Cassandra audibly exhaled, her mind still lost in his previous words. She glanced down at the red liquid in her glass before swirling it around again and downing the last drink of the wine. She placed the glass on the table and rolled onto her back as she sunk back into the couch. Cassandra stared at the ceiling, willing her mind to fixate on the patterns created by the dancing firelight instead of thoughts of Eve and uncertainty and war and love.She had a whole new reason not to sleep tonight. The next morning, Cassandra struggled to stay upright in a chair in the quiet library, the lack of sleep finally getting to her as she tried to read a book that she wished was more interesting than it was proving to be. She hadn’t yet been home after staying there the night before; the kittens, much to Jenkins’s dismay, still running around his spacious apartment. Jenkins kept an eye on her from his place behind the front desk. He’d heard her a few times throughout the night, often not making it through an entire night himself, and as Cassandra fretted over Eve, Jenkins began to worry about her.Jenkins watched her nearly fall onto the floor as her eyes slipped shut; she caught herself at the last moment, righting herself at the table and sheepishly looking around to see if anyone had noticed. Nobody else had seemed to witness the near collapse, and she hadn’t noticed him watching, so she turned back to her book, head slumping into her palm again. Jenkins sighed, ready to close the book he was cataloging and go keep her company instead when the only boy on the island who seemed to know everyone’s secrets, fifteen-year-old Ezekiel Jones, slid into the seat next to her. Jenkins wasn’t terribly fond of the young man – he thought for sure he was up to something, though he could never quite pin down what – but he was a regular in his library, and he knew Cassandra had taken a liking to him. Her eyes lit up a little, and she sat up a little straighter as her friend appeared, and Jenkins turned quietly back to his work.“Hey,” Cassandra said with a half-hearted smile.“Hey,” Ezekiel said. He glanced around the room to see who might be watching before he reached his hand into his front pocket and pulled out a necklace, dangling it in the princess’s line of sight.Cassandra gasped and instinctively reached for it, pausing just before her hand clasped the chain. “Is that for me?” she asked. Ezekiel nodded. She giggled as she took the necklace, turning it around in her hands as she studied every groove. It looked a lot like her crown from the Northern Isles – delicate and silver, with little blue stones woven into an intricate pattern. A matching set.“You like it?” Ezekiel asked with a mischievous gleam in his eye.“It looks just like the one I left at home,” Cassandra breathed. “The one thing I’ve always wished I’d thought to bring with me. I can’t believe you remembered that story…or that you found one so much like it here.”“Who says it’s from here?” Ezekiel taunted.The necklace stilled in Cassandra’s hands as she looked at him. “What?” she asked.“Maybe I found it,” he said. Cassandra frowned in confusion, unable to connect the dots in her sleep-deprived state. “That’s yours,” Ezekiel said. “From the Northern Isles.”Cassandra looked down at it again, a new look of surprise on her face. “How’d you get that?”“I have my ways,” Ezekiel said boastfully. “Your castle’s way better than most, by the way. All those tunnels…fantastic. The castle on the Southern Isles doesn’t have anything like that; neither do most of the castles in the Enchanted Forest.”“How do you know that?” Cassandra exclaimed quietly.“I have my ways,” Ezekiel repeated.Cassandra’s face fell into a knowing and disapproving glare. “You’re wanted, aren’t you? That’s why you’re here, on these islands; you’re running from the law somewhere?”“In seven different kingdoms,” he said with pride. He glanced down at the necklace in Cassandra’s hands, and, with a smirk said, “Well…eight.”Before Cassandra had time to do more than roll her eyes and shake her head, the bells on the library’s front door rang loudly as Flynn Carsen burst into the room, hanging onto the doorknob as his own forward motion nearly propelled him off his feet. Cassandra stood up slightly, her knee still resting on the chair as  a startled look crossed her face, and Jenkins made his way around the front desk towards their unexpected arrival.“Mr. Carsen?” Jenkins asked as Flynn, still bent over the door, caught his breath.“Cassandra,” he breathed. “I need…”Jenkins pointed towards the table where Cassandra and Ezekiel sat, and Flynn scurried over to meet them. Jenkins wandered up behind him, too. Something was wrong.“You need me?” Cassandra asked with alarm. She looked behind him and fearfully asked, “Where’s…where’s Eve?”“That’s why I need you. You have to come with me,” Flynn said urgently. “Eve’s life depends on it.”

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The horse’s hooves galloped against the ground, leaving a dusty cloud in their wake as Flynn raced to his home in the village outside of his kingdom’s castle. Two palace guards stood at the end of his makeshift drive, with two more at the doorway, and three more, positioned in equal distances apart around the entirety of his home, leaving no doubt as to who was inside. Once again, the surrounding neighbors hid in fear, watching carefully from their windows, knowing something terrible had happened inside the home so close to theirs. Flynn quickly climbed off his horse, tying the reins to the fence outside, and haphazardly ran inside.“What happened?” Flynn asked, flinging open the door. He’d been hiding in the castle, waiting for Jacob and Eve to return when everything went wrong. “The messenger was so flustered, all I got was Eve and curse and come quick.”“He put her under a damn sleeping curse,” Jacob growled, pacing around the front of the large wooden table that once served as the Carsen family dining table and currently held his sister’s motionless body.Face colored with worry, Flynn wandered over to Eve, marveling over how peaceful she looked, her eyes closed, her breathing steady, as if she were just sleeping a normal slumber. Despite knowing it would do no good, Flynn jostled her arm, trying to shake her awake.“Really?” Jacob asked.“I had to…try,” Flynn muttered. “Why did you leave her here? Won’t she be safer in the castle? Surely the guards could provide enough cover to get her…”“Can’t move her,” Jacob said, cutting Flynn off. “At least not outside your house. Nice little twist from Moriarty. He knew we’d stay with her or have guards watching over her here…”“Leaving fewer defenses at the castle,” Flynn realized.“Exactly,” Jacob said. “I hate to prove him right, but I can’t leave here without protection.”Flynn nodded his agreement, then said, “The only way to break a sleeping curse is true love’s kiss.”“I don’t know much about magic, Flynn, but I know that,” Jacob grumbled.“Did you try kissing her?” Flynn asked. “A brother’s love…surely, that’s pure enough to wake her.”“Yeah, I tried,” Jacob admitted, finally halting his pacing near Eve’s feet.“Didn’t work?” Flynn asked.“Does she look awake to you?” Jacob raged, his voice rising. He took a calming breath and said, “I thought maybe you…if it’s not me, it has to be you.”“Right,” Flynn agreed. He quickly hurried over to the table and without hesitation, leaned down, placing a soft kiss on Eve’s cheek.Jacob watched closely, still standing near Eve’s feet. Flynn immediately looked at him after his lips brushed her cheek, only to rapidly turn his head back towards Eve in a near double-take when nothing happened. Worried was the look the men shared after that; they had both expected Flynn’s kiss to work. Flynn’s nervous eyes settled back on the unconscious princess in his dining room, and he kissed her cheek again, harder this time. When that still didn’t work, he moved towards her lips, but Jacob grabbed his arm.“What are you doing, man?” Jacob asked.“I thought her cheek might not be good enough,” Flynn admitted with an anxious tone.“She didn’t even stir when you kissed her; it ain’t gonna matter where,” Jacob said.“What do we do?” Flynn asked.“I don’t know,” Jacob admitted.“You’re the king; you have to know what to do,” Flynn pushed.“I don’t know!” he said again. “If her closest brother and her oldest friend aren’t good enough, then she’s got another true love out there, and only that person can wake her, and I have no idea who that is or where they might be because I haven’t so much as talked to her in four years!”“Only that person…” Flynn repeated quietly. A small smile graced his face before he whispered, “Of course.”“What?” Jacob asked, detecting the change in Flynn’s voice. “What did you just figure out?”“Cassandra,” Flynn whispered.“What?” Jacob asked again.“But how could Moriarty have known about Cassandra…?” Flynn muttered to himself.“What are you talking about?” Jacob asked with a firmer tone.“Cassandra!” Flynn exclaimed with a newfound confidence. He turned around and ran back towards his horse. It took a moment for Jacob’s brain to catch up to the sudden change in events, but soon, he was hot on Flynn’s heels.“Who’s Cassandra?” Jacob called from the doorway as Flynn continued to run down the drive.“She’s the princess Eve lives with on the island!” Flynn called as he mounted his horse again. He pulled the reins and directed the horse back to the castle, yelling, “I’ll be back!” as he ventured back in the same direction he’d just come. Back on the island that Eve now called home, Cassandra’s eyes grew wide as her grip on the back of her chair tightened and fear coiled in her belly. “What do you mean Eve’s life depends on it?” she panicked.“She’s under a sleeping curse,” Flynn explained, his voice a lot calmer than he actually felt. “She was gaining on Moriarty, and he put her under a sleeping curse before she could truly get the upper hand.”“You mean, people actually use those?” Ezekiel asked.“Yes,” Flynn said. “They’re a staple in all the stories because they’re easy to cast and can be hard to break, depending on the victim’s circumstances. They’re more common than you’d think…even in lands like ours that don’t readily use magic.”“I don’t have a potion that can break that kind of spell,” Cassandra said, her voice shaking slightly. “Nobody’s ever been able to create one.”Flynn smiled a little at her innocent obliviousness, and Jenkins, given their conversation from the night prior, did, too. “We don’t need a potion,” Flynn said. “I think we just need you.”“What do you mean?” Cassandra asked.“True love’s kiss,” he said. “You just need to come wake her up.”Cassandra’s eyes grew wide as Flynn explicitly laid out the solution that, deep down, she understood but wouldn’t quite admit to herself yet. “True lo…what?” she stuttered, her mind rapidly spiraling out of control. She clutched the back of the library’s chair harder to steady herself and her thoughts as she began to feel like the walls of the spacious library were closing in on her.“Well, that should be easy,” Flynn said. “You’ve been together for years, right?”“No! No, not like…not like that,” Cassandra replied.“Really?” Flynn asked. Cassandra shook her head in the negative, confirming what she’d just said. “Why?” Flynn asked simply.“Because…because I don’t know; we just aren’t,” Cassandra said honestly. “But I can’t…”“You can’t what?” Flynn asked.“I can’t go wake her up,” Cassandra said.“But don’t you love her?” Flynn asked, his own apprehension rising.“Of course! Of course I…” Cassandra anxiously replied. Her face broke into a small grin as she admitted, for the first time, “Of course I love her, but I can’t, Flynn. I can’t ever leave this place.”“What do you mean?” Flynn asked. “Sure, you can! We’ll get the door, and then we’ll set the door, and then we go. Easy peasy!”“It’s not that simple,” Cassandra revealed in a sad voice. “This place is keeping me alive.”“Cassandra,” Jenkins said softly as Flynn’s face fell.“You kiss her,” Cassandra said to Flynn, a sadness shining through in her tone. “She said she could’ve married you. You can kiss her.”“I tried, Cassandra,” Flynn said. “Jacob did, too. It didn’t work.”“How is that possible?” Cassandra asked. “I know your love is true!”“You’re Eve’s love,” Flynn said. “You’re the only one who can wake her; I know it.”“I’m afraid Mr. Carsen is right, Princess,” Jenkins said. Everyone turned to look at the watchful knight as he explained, “Those curses are designed so that only the one who has the strongest hold on a person’s heart can wake them. It doesn’t mean Eve’s love with Flynn or her brother isn’t real or true; it doesn’t even mean she loves them less. It just means…”“That if someone told Eve to follow her heart, it would lead her to me?” Cassandra asked softly.“Precisely,” Jenkins said. He grinned and added, “And you were worried Eve would choose to not return.”“So…” Cassandra said, struggling to find another solution. She knew she was the answer to Eve’s problem, but she also wasn’t sure she’d be able to bring herself to step through that door. “You have the key, just…just go back home and bring her here. Nothing in this land prevents us from breaking a curse here, right?”“No,” Flynn said softly. “Moriarty’s made her impossible to move – outside of my house, that is.”“She’s in your house, not the castle?” Cassandra asked with alarm.“I’m sure that was no accident, either,” Flynn said.Cassandra groaned. “He really is awful, isn’t he?” she said. “Okay, so what if…”“Cassandra,” Flynn said, interrupting. A hint of begging creeped into his voice as he said, “You have to come with me; it’s the only way.”“I’ve been frozen in time for a long time,” Cassandra said, helplessly, her voice fearful. “What if all those years catch up to me as soon as I step through a portal?”“That won’t happen,” Jenkins told her. “I’ve traveled between worlds many times myself throughout the years; I can promise you that time will not catch up to you all at once.”“But when I’m there…” Cassandra whispered worriedly.“Time will be moving, yes,” Jenkins said. “Your body will pick up where it left off, for lack of a better description.”“So what if I can’t get back? What if I can’t get back before it gets worse?” Cassandra wondered.“Cassandra,” Jenkins said calmly, looking right at her. Cassandra’s watery eyes caught his, and he waited until she took a breath to continue. “You were well when you came here; you’re not like those who arrive at the brink of death. You will be okay. Do you really want to let fear cost you the woman you love?”“No,” Cassandra said softly. With another shaky breath, she collected her thoughts and said again, a little bit more surely, “No.”“What do you want?” Jenkins asked her.“I want Eve to come home,” Cassandra said.“So you’ll come?” Flynn asked hopefully. The room fell silent as Cassandra lost herself in her own thoughts again.“What about the kittens?” she finally asked, looking at Jenkins. “They’re still upstairs.”“I will take care of them until you return,” Jenkins promised.“You hate them,” Cassandra reminded him.“I love you more,” Jenkins said.Touched, Cassandra smiled in his direction briefly before she turned to Flynn and nodded. “We have to wait, though,” Cassandra said. “The door…we can’t, with all these people around.”“Alright, everyone!” Ezekiel yelled, standing from his place at the table. Cassandra’s eyes widened in surprise at the outburst. “Library’s closed! Come on; everybody out! Let’s go now! Chop, chop!”Cassandra and Jenkins both watched in silence as Ezekiel hurried around the room, shooing everyone out. Flynn joined in, too, scurrying behind people on their way out to prevent them from trying to turn back in. When the last person outside of their small group of four was gone, Ezekiel closed the door behind them with a satisfied smirk on his face.“Problem solved,” he said. When nobody said anything, he rolled his eyes and headed back for the table, muttering, “Thank you, Ezekiel. Great thinking, Ezekiel…” to himself.“Ready?” Flynn asked, looking at Cassandra.“Before I change my mind…” Cassandra said with a slight nod. Cassandra and Flynn stumbled through the portal door, back into the castle Eve once called home, and Cassandra immediately reached for the nearest stable surface she could find, a wave of dizziness washing over her as a small, panicked cry escaped her throat.“It’s okay,” Flynn said, hurrying over to her as soon as he caught his own footing. “Eve was a little shaken when we walked through the door, too.”“She was?” Cassandra asked.“How long have you been frozen?”“Seven years,” Cassandra said. “Coming up on eight.”Flynn’s eyes widened as if he didn’t expect her answer to reflect so much time. “Okay, and we’re sitting,” he said.They’d stumbled out of a closet near a staircase; Cassandra’s hands were clutching the top railing of the stairs. Flynn gently helped her over to the top step, where they both took a seat. Flynn promised to be right back, running to Eve’s old bedroom, where he’d used the key to get back to the Mysterious Island to get Cassandra. Once the key was safely in his pocket, he returned just as Cassandra was picking her head back up and out of her open palms.“Are you okay?” he asked, sitting down next to her.“Give me a few more minutes,” she requested. Flynn nodded. “How did you know?”“Know what?” he asked.“That I’m the one Eve needs to wake up?” she asked.“Besides the fact that I have eyes?” Flynn teased, causing Cassandra to roll hers. “It wasn’t her brother. It wasn’t me. It had to be you. I only saw you together for a day, but I knew it had to be you.”Cassandra was quiet for another moment before she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go get her.”She followed Flynn down and out of Eve’s family castle, and Flynn helped her up onto his horse; Cassandra held onto Flynn’s sides as he, once again, guided the horse to hurry back to his home in the village. Cassandra wanted to get a look at the kingdom, at the place Eve had once called home, but the forests around her were a blur of greens as Flynn’s horse traversed the well-worn dirt paths, his hooves beating against the ground in a fast, rhythmic pattern.Once they arrived, the guards surrounding the home stood a little more at attention upon seeing the new arrival, and Cassandra kept her nervous eyes on them as she climbed off Flynn’s horse. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Flynn took off again, running for his front door. Just as he was about to pull the door open with wild abandon, he noticed Cassandra wasn’t with him.“What’s wrong?” he asked, hurrying back over to her.“They’re looking at me like I shouldn’t be here,” Cassandra whispered, eyeing the guards, her gaze briefly shifting to a next-door neighbor staring out their window.“Ignore them; I’ll take care of it,” Flynn promised.Flynn’s version of taking care of it proved to be no more than grabbing Cassandra’s hand and hurrying her to the front door, calling to the guards that she was here to help the princess as they passed. The guards stood down, and they entered the home, Eve’s body coming into view as Cassandra slowly came around the wall separating the living room from the stone dining table.“Oh my god,” she whispered.Her voice alerted Jacob to the fact that he was no longer alone. He was sitting by Eve’s side, on one of the benches surrounding the table, but he quickly stood when he realized Flynn had returned.“Cassandra?” Jacob asked as Flynn walked up behind her.“Yes,” she said. “Jacob, I presume?” Her eyes widened as she caught her mistake. “I mean, uh…Your Majesty,” she corrected with a slight curtsey.“Jacob’s fine,” he replied. He looked her over with a smile, and Cassandra frowned.“What?” she asked.“My sister’s got good taste,” Jacob laughed.“Okay, less of this, more true love kissing. Come on,” Flynn said. He grasped Cassandra’s shoulders and hurried her over to Eve’s makeshift bed. Leaving Cassandra next to her, Flynn stepped back to stand by Jacob and give the girls some room.Cassandra climbed up onto the table and sat next to Eve’s chest; she looked Eve over before nervously glancing up at Flynn and Jacob again. Jacob’s eyes widened in waiting, and Flynn nodded encouragingly. This wasn’t at all like how she thought kissing Eve might go, the few times she allowed herself to think about kissing Eve, that is. She didn’t expect to have an audience, waiting with bated breath. She didn’t expect to be Eve’s only hope, but seeing her again and knowing she wasn’t in as peaceful a sleep as she looked made Cassandra want her back more than she’d already been wanting Eve to come home. With a small breath, she leaned down and simply touched her lips to Eve’s – actually kissing an unconscious person seemed so weird, especially for something as special as Cassandra thought a first kiss should be. She pulled away quickly, but nothing happened.Cassandra’s eyes welled up with scared tears, and she looked over to the guys again. Jacob looked concerned, but Flynn just nodded slightly again. Cassandra leaned in again, and this time, as the touch of her lips turned into the press of a kiss, she felt Eve begin to stir beneath her.Cassandra sat up straight at the slightest flutter of Eve’s lips, and it only took another moment for Eve to fully awake, sitting up with a gasp. Cassandra gasped, too, her hand moving to cover her mouth, tears still pooling in her eyes. Eve took a minute to get her bearings, looking around the room to figure out where she was and what had happened. After a quick glance at a happy Flynn and relieved Jacob, her eyes turned to the girl sitting opposite her on the edge of the table. Eve grinned.“I knew it would be you,” Eve said quietly, so only Cassandra could hear.Cassandra let out a little laugh, a tear finally spilling down her cheek, as she dropped her hand from her mouth and leaned in to capture Eve’s lips in a proper kiss. Eve returned the kiss right away, and Cassandra moved towards her until she was close enough to wrap both of her arms around Eve’s shoulders. Eve’s hands found Cassandra’s waist, pulling her closer still as she smiled against Eve’s lips. Her eyes still closed, Eve could feel Cassandra’s smile against her mouth, and she grinned, too, before softly kissing her again.“Are you okay?” Eve asked as they parted, her thumb caressing Cassandra’s cheek. “You’re…you’re here,” she said as if she couldn’t quite believe Cassandra had left the island.“I feel fine…for now,” Cassandra promised with a smile. “I can’t believe you’re worried about me when you’re the one who was cursed.”“I feel fine, too,” Eve shrugged.Cassandra let her forehead fall against Eve’s for a moment before tilting her head slightly. Eve’s lips parted, meeting her halfway in a kiss deeper than the ones before. Cassandra sucked on Eve’s lip, pulling back slightly as she slowly inhaled, and Eve moved with her, not ready to let her go. They tilted their heads in the opposite directions and kissed again, and they kept kissing until Flynn finally, awkwardly, cleared his throat from across the room. The women reluctantly ended their embrace, letting each other go as they simultaneously looked over at Flynn.“We’re kind of in the middle of something here,” he reminded them.“Right!” Eve remembered.“What are you going to do?” Cassandra asked nervously.“He’s gotta be making his way towards the castle with all of us here,” Jacob said. “Maybe we can cut him off, corner him somehow.”An idea flashed in Eve’s eyes, and she looked at Cassandra. “I think we could use your help.” Cassandra rode with Eve this time as everyone hurried outside and climbed back on horses to head back to the castle, her warm hands a steady but distracting force on Eve’s waist. Jacob held up his hand as they reached the edge of the forests, and everyone came to a stop. Ahead of them, down the hill, a battle was raging in front of Eve and Jacob’s castle, their guards fighting against Moriarty’s men.“What’s wrong?” Eve asked. “Why are we stopping?”“He ain’t there,” Jacob said.“What?” Flynn asked.“Moriarty…he ain’t down there in the middle of that,” Jacob clarified.“Then where is he?” Cassandra asked.Eve’s eyes started scanning the trees; it would be like him to be nearby, watching everyone else put their lives on the line for him, instead of him. She spotted a horse and a man between the trees, a couple dozen feet down from where they stood, concealed within the forest. “There,” she said, pointing.Jacob directed half of the guards with them to help hold Moriarty’s men off from the castle. The rest, along with himself, Flynn, Eve, and Cassandra headed for Moriarty. When Moriarty realized his cover had been blown, he grabbed his horse’s reigns and turned the animal around, heading deeper into the forests. With Jacob in the lead, their team charged after him.“Cut him off,” Eve said when they’d gained on Moriarty. She turned her head just slightly towards Cassandra without taking her eyes off where they were going.“What?” Cassandra exclaimed. “How?”“Use your magic,” Eve said. “Make something big and heavy fall in front of him. Make him stop.”“Here?” Cassandra asked worriedly. “You want me to use my magic here?”“Yes,” Eve insisted. Cassandra hesitated still, so Eve said, “Cass, I wouldn’t tell you to do it if I thought something bad would happen to you.”Moriarty was a couple paces in front of them; everyone was maintaining their relative speed. Cassandra scanned the trees ahead of them in the forest, squinting slightly as she struggled to do the necessary calculations with a forest flying past her. Eventually, Cassandra threw out her hand; electricity flew from her fingertips and hit a large branch of a tree in front of them. It only took a few seconds for the branch to crack, crashing to the forest ground just in front of Moriarty and his horse.Moriarty’s horse made a startled noise, leaning back on two feet as it abruptly tried to change course, and Moriarty hit the ground with a strangled groan. Behind him, everyone else had come to an abrupt stop, too, and Eve and Flynn traveled their horses up to meet their fallen adversary.“You’re awake,” Moriarty snarled at Eve.“You can’t defeat me that easily,” Eve taunted.Moriarty tried to stand up, only to fall back to the forest grounds with another groan, his body not quite ready to move. It was only then, when Moriarty fell back to the ground and the dust began to settle around them, that Eve and Flynn realized they were alone. They, along with Cassandra, quickly looked back to see what had happened.Jacob sat on his horse behind them, exactly where he’d been when the electricity began flowing from Cassandra’s hand, frozen in fear and awe of Cassandra’s power. The guards had stopped just behind him, their reactions similar. Magic wasn’t so widespread here; Flynn had never truly feared it, and Eve no longer did, but everyone else began looking at Cassandra as if she were no safer than the man on the ground that they were trying to stop from stealing their kingdom.They were so distracted that nobody noticed Moriarty finally gather his bearings and rise to his feet in front of them until he drew his sword from its sheath as he charged towards Jacob’s horse. Jacob was none the wiser, still paralyzed by Cassandra’s display of the kind of magic he’d only heard about in stories, and Eve didn’t know why Moriarty was choosing him instead of her, but as she saw him approach her brother, his sword ready, she panicked.“Cassandra, get him,” she breathed.“What? No, I’ve never used my magic to hurt anyone,” Cassandra said.“Cassandra,” Eve pleaded.“I don’t want to kill him!” she cried.“So don’t kill him; just immobilize him,” Eve frantically reasoned with her. Moriarty pulled his arm back to strike, and Eve yelled, her voice high with worry, “Cassandra, do it!”Cassandra stretched out her arm again, her power zapping Moriarty in the shoulder and sending him spinning in the air across the forest with a scream, his sword falling from his grasp. Cassandra yelped, too, her hands coming to cover her mouth in shock at what she’d just done, and Jacob’s eyes widened a little further.“She’s a…” Jacob stuttered, looking at Cassandra. “She’s a sorceress.”“Go get him,” Eve called, pointing to the unconscious enemy sprawled out on the dirt a few feet away. “Before he comes to and comes back to try again.”Jacob and one of his guards moved to capture and arrest Moriarty, as the rest of the men on horseback turned towards the horse holding Cassandra and Eve. Cassandra gasped, leaning into Eve’s back for protection, and Flynn moved in, too, putting himself between the palace soldiers and the women. Eve threw her arm back around Cassandra as best she could, and Cassandra clutched her waist again.“She’s fine,” Eve asserted. Nobody made any moves to back down.“Eve,” Cassandra whispered fearfully.“She’s alright,” Eve promised again.Everyone stood still for another few moments before the guards nodded to one another and backed off. Cassandra let out the breath she was holding and loosened her grip on Eve as Jacob rode back over to the group.“C’mon,” he said. “We still got a castle to defend.” When Moriarty woke up again, he would find himself in a jail underneath the castle that he wanted to claim as his own. Jacob secured him in a cell next to his defeated men with a satisfying click of a lock and jingled the keys in his hand as he walked away, slipping them into his pocket. He made his way back above ground and moved to join his sister and her friends in the palace gardens. Eve and Cassandra were sitting close on a little bench, their hands entwined, and Flynn was standing across from them, tending to their horses. Cassandra let out a big yawn, her head falling on Eve’s shoulder.“Did that fight exhaust you that much?” Eve teased, glancing at her as best she could.“I haven’t been sleeping,” Cassandra admitted. When Eve narrowed her eyes in a question of why, Cassandra simply said, “Missed you.”Eve leaned in to kiss Cassandra’s forehead, but Cassandra tilted her head up, meeting Eve’s lips with her own instead. They shared a sweet kiss, Cassandra’s face breaking into a brilliant smile as they separated. Eve smiled fondly, too, her excitement over their changed relationship a little more contained, and Cassandra let out a giggle as she laid on Eve’s shoulder again.“Okay, really, Eve?” Flynn asked incredulously after witnessing the exchange. “Really?”“What?” Eve asked with a laugh.“You were there for four years, and that didn’t happen before today?” he asked.“How fast would you move if you were looking at literally eternity with someone?” Eve challenged.Flynn stuttered awkwardly in response, and Jacob took the opportunity to enter the conversation. “Told you we needed your help,” he said to Eve as he properly joined them in the gardens. “We wouldn’t have been able to stop this without you.”“I think Cassandra did more than me,” Eve said with a laugh. Cassandra rolled her eyes from her place on Eve’s shoulder, too exhausted to do anything more than that in protest.“That was some magic,” Jacob said hesitantly, sinking to another bench adjacent to his sister’s.“She’s good,” Eve insisted. “She helps people.”Jacob sighed and nodded. The power contained within Cassandra still terrified him, but he couldn’t refute what Eve had said. “She definitely helped us today,” he conceded. “We couldn’t have done this without either of you.”“So what are you going to do when his father comes looking for him?” Eve asked.“If,” Jacob shrugged.“You know it can’t be that easy,” Eve said.“You let me worry about that,” Jacob said. “Unless, that is, you want the throne.”“What?” Eve asked. She felt Cassandra sit up a little straighter beside her.“It’s still your birthright,” Jacob said. “Even if I am kinda older than you now.”Eve glanced over at Cassandra. She shrugged and honestly said, “You’d be an amazing leader…if that’s what you want.”She let her eyes travel over Cassandra’s face, knowing that Cassandra genuinely wanted her to have everything she wanted, even if that wasn’t in line with what Cassandra wanted herself. A small moment passed before she turned back to Jacob and said, “No. Castles and balls and queens, that’s not me. Never was.” She squeezed the arm around Cassandra’s waist and tugged her snugly into her side again. “But if the kingdom ever needs saving again, you know where to find me.”Cassandra happily sunk back into Eve’s side as Flynn said, “I know you guys can’t stay much longer, but I’m really going to miss you, Eve…again.”Eve glanced over at Cassandra then, and Cassandra grinned and nodded, answering the unspoken question. “Actually,” Eve said. “Why don’t you come back with us?”“To the islands?” Flynn asked.“Yeah,” Eve said. “You always said you never quite fit in here.”“And you said you could spend a lifetime studying that realm,” Cassandra reminded him.“You’ve got a place with us, if you want it,” Eve said. “If you don’t mind living with a couple for a while.”“A couple?” Cassandra asked softly.Eve chuckled and said, “You came here to wake me up with true love’s kiss; what did you think we were going to be after that?”She looked over at Cassandra as she asked the question; when she had finished talking, Cassandra tilted her head up slightly against Eve’s shoulder, beaming with excitement again, and Eve leaned down, meeting her lips for another gentle kiss. They shared a small grin as they separated, and both women looked at Flynn expectantly.“Well?” Eve asked.“Do you think Galahad will let me work in the library?” Flynn asked.“If you don’t call him Galahad,” Eve muttered.“Galahad?” Jacob asked with interest.“Cassandra’s best friend is a knight from the round table,” Flynn said.Jacob looked at Cassandra and Eve with interest, and Eve snickered. “You got a key,” she said. “Come visit some time.”“Are you sure about all this?” Jacob asked. “You don’t have to hide anymore.”“I know,” Eve said. “But I’m sure.” She looked at Cassandra fondly again. “I’ve got a new home to go back to.”