Chapter 5

"Are you crazy?" Earthen asked her later that night in her bedroom after dinner. "If Father finds out..."

"Well, he isn't going to find out, is he?" Raine asked as her sister shook her head. "Bryce will be waiting for me tomorrow, and I cannot disappoint him."

"Listen to yourself, Raine! He is a human!" Earthen said, exasperated.

"Shush!" Raine replied, holding a finger to her lips. "Father will hear you!"

"Well, let him hear!" her sister said loudly. "For, if Father finds out, you will never leave the castle again! You can be sure of that."

Just then, the door flung open wide and Raine's heart was suddenly in her chest. Misty peeked her head in, her eyebrows raised. "Who's never leaving the castle?"

"Oh, never mind," Earthen said, rising to her feet, smoothing her pixie dress. "What are you doing bursting in here like that, anyway?"

Misty closed the door behind her and plopped down on Raine's bed, her face filled with curiosity. "I heard you two yelling all the way down the hallway," Misty said, matter of fact. Suddenly, her face screwed up. "Hey, wait! This isn't even your room, Earthen!"

Earthen rolled her eyes as she took her sister's hand and started pulling on her. "Come on, Misty. It's time for bed."

"Hey. Wait!" Misty protested, not budging from her spot on the bed. "What were you two talking about just now?"

"Nothing to concern you." Earthen tried to pull her off the bed again, but Misty was having none of that.

"I am not leaving until you tell me what is going on." Misty crossed her arms in defiance.

Raine took a deep breath then quickly crossed the room and opened the bedroom door to make sure that no one was listening down the hallway. Seeing no one in sight, she closed the door and sat down gracefully on the bed beside her sisters. "Okay, but you have to promise not to tell Father."

Misty's eyes grew wide. "I promise."

Raine told her of Bryce, of seeing him in the forest, and of talking to him earlier that day.

Misty regarded her sister with both amazement and adoration. "Are you going to see him again?" Misty asked in a low voice after Raine had finished.

Raine took a deep breath. "What's the point?" Raine rose from the bed and walked over to the window and viewed the setting sun as streaks of orange, pink, and purple shot across the sky. "I mean, he's so much bigger than I am ... and a human."

"You're in love with him, aren't you?" Misty asked, kneeling on the bed.

"Misty!" Earthen said.

"Well, there is a witch who lives in the dark forest. She may be able to help," Misty began, having Raine's full attention. "Her name is Virtra, the Dragon Queen, and she lives in the Dark Forest here in Cambria."

"No!" Earthen interrupted. "You are not going to send Raine to her! That woman is horrible! Downright evil, I tell you!"

"Anyway, she might be able to help..." Misty continued, unshaken.

"Yes, for a price," Earthen interjected, folding her arms across her chest.

Misty turned and glared at Earthen.

Raine laughed. "Well, I am not going to do anything right now." She let out a deep breath. "I just met him, after all."

"But you are in love with him, are you not?" Misty asked, clearly enchanted.

"Misty!" Earthen snapped before Raine could answer.

Raine had no idea what the feeling inside of her was, but she knew that the flutter in her heart every time she thought of the human was something other than indigestion, although she would never admit it to her sisters. A few minutes later, her sisters left, leaving her to think of Bryce and what Misty had said. Could she really become human for Bryce? Would she? Could she leave her people? It was too soon to tell.