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The air about tonight was unsettling. Or maybe it was in my head.

Ripley hadn’t shown up beside me out of the blue yet, and it was nearing three in the morning.

By now, I would be begging her to return to the castle and leave me alone.

She was four, a full five years younger than me, and needed her sleep, but I did like that she’d rather spend her time near me.

Between her absence and this strange dread weighing in my gut, something felt off.

I stared at the starry skies above, agitated and distracted, swinging my cream-colored hammock with the one leg that hung over the edge.

She would have loved this. She loved the stars.

And this was the first time in weeks it wasn’t overcast.

Maybe she didn’t come tonight because she was still upset.

I didn’t mean to push her away so forcefully, but she had been chasing me all afternoon through the market and alleyways.

She had hugged me in front of a crowd and her parents.

I didn’t know how else to react. I saw the disapproval in their eyes.

Me with the princess of Elizy. What a joke.

That dread in my gut latched onto something even darker, and my heart began hammering.

Something was coming for me. It weaved its way through the kingdom, slithering beyond the borders of Elizy, climbing the steep hill and up the two trees my hammock was tied to until its presence wrapped around my throat.

If even me, an outcast, could sense the thick chaos headed for Elizy, then treachery had to be in our midst.

I sat up in alarm, carefully observing the kingdom that ran by the bottom of the hill. The scatter of houses planted in a field of grass at the base of the mountain all had their lights off. Even the castle that stood high above its residents was in a deep slumber.

I squinted my eyes, relieved that a glimmer of light from the crescent moon shone over Ripley’s balcony on the third story. Through the glass doors, I noticed her light was off too.

Then, like a screaming cannonball, it hit me. Something was wrong.

Something with Ripley.

I could feel it in my bones. I could feel it in my magic. I tensed as my breathing hitched. She was in trouble. She was lost. Hurt.

Had she tried to teleport here and missed? Had her magic gone wonky again?

My magic pulsed lilac beneath my skin like a lighthouse beckoning for Ripley. Or was she calling out to me ?

Her vibrant gray eyes appeared in my mind, and they glittered with tears. The echoes of her cries exploded within me as she screamed for help. For me. She was screaming my name.

Fletcher!

It was as if she had sunk an arrow into my heart and was trying to yank it free. But, until she did, I was hooked .

I shook my head, scrubbed my hands over my cheeks, and listened again, trying to discern from which direction her distress signal was coming.

Then, three houses lit up. One on the outskirts of the kingdom, one in the middle, and one near the castle.

I watched carefully as three boys stepped out of the houses with flashing purple skin. They took a moment to stare up into the mountains before I watched them all lean into a run.

“Ripley,” I breathed. They heard her too. They were going for her. But she didn’t want them. She wanted me.

I scrambled out of my hammock, clasped a hanging branch in front of me, and swung myself off the hill into a forward roll.

With the momentum, I leaped into a sprint in the direction of the mountains.

I called my magic forth, but it felt trapped, stuck in my body.

It wouldn’t swirl down my arms in the only way I knew how.

Instead, my skin continued to strobe, slow and steady.

Why the hell wasn’t my magic working? I lengthened my stride until I could feel the pull on my legs as I moved even faster, continuing to reach for my magic .

A fresh wave of dread hollowed me again. Her distress signal was getting louder. I was getting closer. I could see the snowcapped mountains close by as I hurdled over fallen trees.

Her screams echoed through the crisp air, mixing with her sobs. The lilt in Ripley’s delicate voice clutched tight around my heart, dragging me faster. I had to reach her before the other boys did. Because if I failed, she would never trust me again. I’d lose her.

Fletch— Her voice was strained and reverberated as if she was calling me on the other side of a canyon.

“I’m coming,” I whispered, hoping my magic would send her my words to calm her suffering.

I reached the mountain before the other boys, hands slamming against the cool rock to brace myself from my sprint. But as I gripped the rock to begin the climb, something shifted in the air. She was moving.

Help!

“I’m coming, Ripley. Don’t worry,” I assured. I looked up the craggy rocks I was confident I could climb and tilted my head, listening.

Help.

There was an odd undercurrent. Something was different about the way Ripley spoke in my head. That needless, incessant happiness that encased her voice was missing.

“Where are you?” I muttered to myself. My attention shifted away from the climb ahead of me.

Help—Hmmm.

Humming. Was she humming? My fingertips treaded off the mountain as I turned to the castle, latching my eyes to her bedroom window.

One by one, each of the other three boys reached the mountain and began climbing.

But she wasn’t up there, was she?

I looked up at the boys, and they had a lead of a good few yards. Even so, if I started climbing now, I was confident I could pass them. They didn’t have the nimble grit I had from years of survival outside of Elizy’s borders.

Her sobbing filled my ears and my heart nearly split in two. Panic that I was headed in the wrong direction had me looking back and forth between the strenuous climb ahead and her window again. Her magic was calling to me, desperate for me to reach her.

So, I ran. Away from the mountain and away from her call. I let her energy lead me. It was a gamble, and though it felt wrong to leave, I strayed away from where the other three boys were heading. I knew better. Because I knew Ripley better.

I committed myself to reaching her room.

I knew her magic well enough to know that I had made the right choice.

It was distinct, light, and airy. Powerful, yet comforting.

I could sense it with or without using my own magic.

And it was leading me to her window. I would find her no matter the cost to my own well-being because I refused to let her down.

This need for her presence had never let up since I had first laid eyes on her. That cool day of Autumn where the leaves had turned colors and the wind had shifted as if it ushered in a new season of my life. I had made it my duty to protect my princess—to protect her.

With each step closer to the castle, my mind reeled as I envisioned her being harmed, bleeding all over her room. I could not let that happen. The wind stung my face as my steps quickened.

I reached the castle, head already craned back to search her balcony three stories above for any sign of Ripley.

I reached for my magic once again, urging it to come to life.

No response. Taking a deep breath, I drifted my hand across the smooth rock that made up the exterior of the castle until my fingers grazed the coarse surface of a ledge.

Grasping its raised edge, I started climbing.

And I didn’t stop scaling the castle until I reached her balcony.

I grabbed hold of the cemented railing and hoisted myself up and over.

Please, Fletcher! Help m—hmmm, hmmm .

I pressed my hands against the glass doors that led into her room.

It was dark, but on her bed, Ripley’s magic glowed, shining as brightly as the twinkling stars in the night’s sky.

But unlike the stars, her magic shone blue.

Not the common blue seen in so many others but a distinctive aqua that shimmered in its own way.

I wasn’t sure why it looked so different.

Maybe it was because she was royalty, or special.

Or, maybe it was because I knew she liked me, or because I knew that in my bones we were linked. We belonged to each other in some way.

Fletcher! Her scream pierced my ear and rattled through my whole body. I grasped the two handles of the double doors and threw them open. I barged in, aiming for her bed.

“Ripley? Ripley!”

A quiet yelp burst through the room. In the water hues of her light, her large, gray eyes latched onto me. She cocked her head to the side, looking me up and down. “Fletcher?” Then, a wide smile graced her face. “You scared me.”

My heart pounded like a drum, seeing her there and in one piece.

Relief swallowed me whole that she was within reach.

I had found her. And she looked okay. I took a step forward, watching her throw the blankets off her tiny body, get on all fours, and crawl to the end of the bed.

In a smooth motion, she fanned her fingers out, lights to her bedroom turning on.

Then, she dismounted the bed, sliding off the edge on her stomach and giggling as she went.

She ran to me, wrapping her arms around my hips, and I felt my shoulders relax with the knowledge that she was safe.

“What are you doing here?”

Sweat poured down my temples as I swallowed hard. “Are you okay?” I clung to her tighter, refusing to push her away this time. Not when no one was here to judge.

“Yes. Why?”

“I heard you screaming for me.”

“I was? I don’t think so.” She rubbed her forehead against my chest like she was tired. “I wanted to visit you tonight, but my mom and dad said I wasn’t allowed out of my room until tomorrow.” Her head turned up, eyes latching on mine, thick black lashes batting at me. “Come play with me.”

I wedged my hands between us, moving her away. “No! I don’t want to play! Is that why you called me here?”

Ripley flinched at my volume and took a step back. “I didn’t call you,” she said timidly.