“Holy crap….” Avalon blurted out ashe made his way over the top of the last hill that separated us. “What happenedto you?” he confirmed my obvious suspicions.

“Ugh,” I grunted back, not knowingwhere to even begin.

“Good morning, Eden,” Jerichocalled in a very chipper voice, following close behind Avalon. I waved at himirritably, remembering I had been the one to tell Avalon to bring him and bentover to tug on my ruined clog.

“Where’s Amory?” Avalon asked and Ilooked around confused. I didn’t remember when he left, or if he left; I didn’tremember anything. I must have been sleeping hard.

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling outof it.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”Avalon demanded, his defenses suddenly on high alert.

“They wouldn’t take him withouther,” Jericho, the voice of reason, chimed in.

“You don’t know that. They could behoping she leads them to the rest of us,” Avalon retorted, irritated and anxious.

“If anything it would be the otherway around and you know that,” Jericho rolled his eyes and walked over to shakemy hand. “Your brother is such a drama queen,” he joked.

“Tell me about it,” I agreedsarcastically. “And no more talking about me like I’m not here.” I addressedboth boys. “I’m as much a part of this thing as you two. From now on, I amalways included and always informed,” I folded my arms as if to strengthen mypoint.

Avalon rolled his eyes and began asearch of the premises. I let him without any intention of joining him. I tookJericho’s side in that I thought wherever Amory was, he was just fine.

“You look like you just camethrough hell,” Jericho, still at my side, remarked.

“I pretty much feel like it.” Iremembered my stiff body before I used the healing power of magic and cringed.

“So, what are you doing hereanyways? I thought you had been ordered to stay at home?” Jericho pried for anexplanation; but I was not totally sure if I was emotionally ready to relivethe last seventy two hours.

“I don’t even know where to begin,”I looked past Jericho at the breathtaking view of the Carpathian Mountains. Thesunrise had painted the sky beautiful shades of pink and orange, and the softlight made the autumn hues of the trees brilliant.

“You better figure it out,” Avalongrunted grumpily, while continuing his sweep of the perimeter. “I want a fulldebriefing, and I want a good reason why I had to leave my mission in thegoddamn middle of the night,” I let out a burst of laughter when I looked overat Jericho and watched him roll his eyes.

“Your brother thinks he’s NapoleonBonaparte,” he shook his head and watched Avalon disdainfully.

“Seriously though, have you heardanything?” I asked a little more humbly. I was the reason Avalon had to leavehis mission. What if they weren’t successful and it was all my fault?

“No. We haven’t heard anything,”Jericho responded in a meek voice. “They’ve been incommunicado since before weleft them.”

“When will you find out?” I wasmore nervous now than I had ever been.

“Not sure. If all went as planned,hopefully soon,” Avalon stopped his busy work to join us. He bit his thumbnailanxiously.

“Jericho and I are going to findout exactly what happened right now,” Amory was suddenly involved in ourconversation, making his way over the same rise that Avalon and Jericho hadcome by. He was carrying a cloth bag with him that smelled like a bakery. Mystomach growled loudly and I realized that I hadn’t eaten in days.

“Is that breakfast?” I asked,barely able to restrain myself from pouncing on Amory and ripping the bag opento find out myself.

“I thought you might be hungry,” hegave me a timid smile and opened the cloth satchel to reveal several loaves ofbread, apples and bottles of water.

I grabbed a loaf of bread anddiscovered that it was still warm; it must have just finished baking.Immediately I tore off a piece and shoved it into my mouth. I could not havebeen more unladylike, but I was having trouble caring. Jericho watched medevour a loaf of bread in seconds with his mouth slightly open.

“What?” I mumbled through a fullmouth.

“Like I was saying,” Amory alsowatched me with an expression that was both disgusted and amused. “Jericho andI will return to the Citadel to check the progress of the mission. If theyfailed last night without you, then most likely Jericho and I will have to dowhat we can alone this morning. The executions won’t start until the afternoon,so we have a couple of hours yet to do the impossible. Did everyone go lastnight, are we alone?”

“We left Roxie and Fiona to runcommunications once the channels were open again,” Avalon responded stillchewing on his thumbnail. His stance was wide; he was totally in his element.

“Good, that will be good. Ok, so wewill clean up in Sibiu. What about Lilly Mason? Is she with the others or in adifferent part of the castle?” Amory asked the question that had been gnawingat my heart since the boys arrived.

“Lilly Mason was releasedyesterday,” Avalon said incredulously.

“She was!” I practically shouted; Ialmost didn’t believe it was possible.

“Ok, good,” Amory responded, morecalmly than I had managed. “Avalon you will take Eden back home immediately.And under no circumstances is she allowed to make any decisions. Do youunderstand?” Amory looked directly into my eyes. “Your friend is safe; thereare no more reasons not to listen. You will do exactly as Avalon says. Got it?”I nodded quickly, I had no intentions of ever stepping out of line again,although I couldn’t help but feel like my efforts were worth it now that Lillywas free.

“How do you want us to go?Timisoara?” Avalon asked as if he were a travel expert.

“No, it’s too exposed. You’re goingto have to go the long way. I believe our most efficient but incognito optionis to cross into Hungary, ditch the rental and take a bus or train intoAustria, once in Austria utilize the trains. I think the Zurich airport will beyour best bet to leave Europe undetected,” Avalon nodded along to Amory’sdirections, but I felt completely lost. I tried to conjure up a picture of aEuropean map in my head, but couldn’t trace the route mentally. I guessed Ireally would just have to trust Avalon. Oh boy.

“Do you want us to take our time?”Avalon asked all the right questions.

“No, get out of here as quickly asyou can. The last thing we need is for you two to join the exiting traffic. Gethome before the Festival is over,” More instructions I felt like I just barelyunderstood. “Where are the cars?”

“Sighisoara,” Jericho answered.

“Good, good,” Amory paused forseveral moments and appeared to be going over things in his head. “Ok, I thinkthat’s everything. We’ll see you at home,” Amory shook hands with Avalon andthen Jericho and Avalon shook hands. The boys all began to walk back over thehill and I followed quickly behind them.

Once over the hill I saw that wewere at the edge of the town they had just been talking about. The town ofSighisoara was spread out in a quaint and quiet cityscape that fanned over thesmaller foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. The buildings were hundreds ofyears old and the still sleeping city had a very ancient world feel to it.

I kept pace with Avalon until wefound the cars tucked away in the rustic village. Both vehicles were theclassic Dacias that seemed to be the only style of car allowed in Romania.Avalon pulled out a set of keys and politely opened the passenger’s side doorfor me.

“Oh Eden, take this,” Amory walkedover and handed me the cloth bag of food. I pulled out an apple and immediatelytook a bite. My grimy teeth were grateful for the natural cleansing the appleblessed them with. “There is a set of clothes at the bottom of the bag,” Amorykissed the top of my head before returning to the other rusted Dacia whereJericho was waiting.

“What’s wrong with what I’mwearing?” I asked sarcastically. Amory grinned happily back. “Hey Amory,” Iyelled quickly as he began to enter his car, he paused, looking up at me.“Thank you,” I said, full of emotion.