Author Note:

OMG I am so sorry for taking so long. I completely hit this huge wall head first. But I’m getting stuff together now.

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She looked up then just as quickly dropped her eyes back to her plate and biting her lip to stop from laughing. She was nudged from the person next to her. She let go of her fork and slapped her hand over her mouth.

“Abby.” Maureen said. The princess looked up. “Are you alright?”

“Uh yeah…fine.” Abby said, smacking Ryder. He just smirked. That is so total abuse of this power thing.

What? Using it to tell you stuff that gets you trouble? Ryder said, raising an eyebrow when Abby looked at him. She just glared at him. He chuckled a bit then stopped telepathically talking to her…at least for now.

“Where’s your friend?” Jasper asked.

“Umm…” Abby said, looking around. “I dunno…I haven’t seen him since the other night.” She ran her hand through her hair. “He’s bound to just pop up out of no where like the rest of you guys do anyways.”

“It’s where he’s going to pop up that has me a bit on edge.” Jasper said. Abby giggled.

“Kieran’s probably…afraid or something.” Abby said. Everyone looked at her. “I freaked him out.”

“She’s got a point.” Samara said.

Still don’t like him. Ryder said. Abby rolled her eyes. She yawned and stood up.

“I need sleep.” Abby said.

“Yes…you do have an early day tomorrow.” Maureen said. Ryder wasn’t really quite sure of what to do. Everything was telling him that he should go with Abby but he wasn’t overly sure if it was something he should do right away. When the two of them walked into the dining hall, all eyes turned their way. Everyone had known what had happened. Maureen caught Ryder’s eye and raised an eyebrow, almost as if asking him what he was waiting for. He stood and followed after Abby as the princess left.

“Well now what?” Abby asked.

“Thought you needed sleep.” Ryder said. Abby shook her head but yawned again. “Baby you are so out of it.”

“Am not.” Abby said.

“Don’t try fighting it. I can tell.” Ryder said, putting his arm around her waist. “I think this stuff takes a bit of time to get accustomed to.”

“So I’m gonna be tired a lot?” Abby whined.

“No.” Ryder said. “But remember, you’re body is still trying to replace the blood I took and if you’re running around it’s not going to help.”

“Damn.” Abby said. “Well then you’re spending the night with me.”

“Of course.” Ryder said, grinning. Abby giggled. They got to her room and it wasn’t too long before Abby fell asleep.

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“Well?” Regan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“She…I don’t know how to explain this.” Kieran said, frowning slightly. “When she attacked her guardian…it was almost as if…it wasn’t her doing it.”

“So she might have another side.” Regan said. Kieran nodded. “And her control?”

“Still low.” Kieran said. “She doesn’t want to take the time to learn. She’d rather it just be done.”

“Undoubtedly.” Regan said.

“May I ask something?” Kieran asked. Regan tilted his head slightly. “I know your reasons behind wanting the princess…but her guardian…I know I have never met him…but he seems…familiar to me.”

“And you ask this of me?” Regan asked. “How should I know your memory?”

“Right…I’m sorry.” Kieran said. Regan dismissed him. Sighing in irritation he stared at the door with his eyes narrowed. Oh he knew full well why Kieran thought Ryder was familiar.

Afterall…you can’t get much more familiar then brothers.

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“Abigail for the final time…just focus.” Mimi said. She looked from Abby, sitting cross legged on a large rock, over to where Ryder said, his eyes on the young girl. “Ryder…I don’t need to be telepathic to know that you’re distracting her.”

“How do you do that?” Abby asked.

“Oh please…claims may be rare but this isn’t the first one I’ve dealt with.” Mimi said. “I’ll explain later if you do as I say.” Abby sighed and straightened her back. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Frowning slightly, she opened her eyes again. “What now?”

“What am I supposed to be concentrating on??” Abby asked.

“Anything…not Ryder.” Mimi said. Abby rolled her eyes. She closed her eyes again. Ryder leaned against a tree with his arms crossed, watching carefully. Abby’s back straightened and suddenly their surrounding environment changed. Ryder straightened as well and made to move forward but Mimi waved him back. They literally seemed to be floating through space. They could see the Earth and there were stars all around them.

“What is she doing?” Ryder asked.

“Concentrating.” Mimi said, simply. Before he could say anything in response, they were zooming through the air. Everything stopped moving and they seemed to have a birds eye view…of themselves.

“Ok this is just freaking me out.” Ryder said, shaking his head and growling in irritation as his hair fell into his eyes. His eyes shot over to Abby as she whimpered and leaned forward a bit, a look of pain on her face. Time seemed to reverse and then slow down. Standing on the hill was a man and a little girl. Ryder instantly recognized the girl to be Abby twelve years ago. The older version snapped her eyes opened and looked over at herself.

“What the hell?” Abby muttered.

“Why do I want a city?” Little Abby asked. Slowly, Abby slid off the rock, trying hard to keep her concentration as she walked over to her father and herself.

“Because when you have a city…you have the people in it.” Her father said. “And when you have the people…”

“Then I have everything?” Both Abbys said except the little one said it as a question whereas the older one said it as a statement.

“Exactly.” Her father said. He touched the cube and it fell to the ground, complete. “Once you have this city, you take the next one, and then the next one.”

“Sounds like work.” Little Abby said, picking up the cube.

“Everything requires a bit of work.” Her father said. “Even if you are magical.”

“I don’t like work.” Little Abby said. Older Abby blinked and stared at her younger self. She watched as her eyes suddenly went very dull and completely emotionless. “You’re going to leave me.”

“No I’m not.” Her father said. “Why do you say that?”

“People always leave.” Both Abbys said again. Abby was too busy watching herself to hear too much more until…

“Because they say so.” Little Abby said. “They say you can’t stay with me.”

“Who are ‘they’?” Her father asked. “Abigail…who is saying that?” Abby shifted as the younger version’s head lifted and her eyes stared directly at her.

“Them.” Little Abby said. Just before Maureen and the others showed up in the vision, Abby sighed and closed her eyes. Everything returned to normal and Ryder ran forward to grab hold of Abby just before she fainted and fell over the cliff.

“What the hell was that about?” He asked, looking at Mimi. The witch looked shocked and Ryder was almost afraid that she was going to faint too. “Mimi?” She jumped and looked at him. “What is it?”

“Her…her father…” Mimi said. “He…I knew him.”

“What?” Ryder asked, cradling Abby as he walked back to the other girl.

“He was my teacher.” Mimi said.

“As in school teacher or as in the same teacher you are to Abby?” Ryder asked.

“The second one.” Mimi said. “I…I had no idea that she…that he had a child.” They were quiet for a while. “She’s going to be unconscious for a while. Might as well get her back.”

“Are you ok?” Ryder asked. Mimi nodded. She walked with him to one of the entrances and then left while he went down the stairs.

Abby yawned and stretched before waking up. She was alone in her room. Her head ached a bit. She stretched again, feeling stiff. There was a knock on the door and it opened up to reveal Kieran.

“Hi.” Abby said, smiling a bit.

“Hey…how have you been?” Kieran asked. Abby shrugged. “Want to talk about it?”

“Nah, I’m good.” Abby said. “It’s probably foolish.”

“Well tell me and I’ll let you know if it is or not.” Kieran said. Abby shook her head. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

“Nope.” Abby said. Kieran sat down on the bed with her. “Where have you been?”

“I had some…stuff to take care of.” Kieran said. Abby frowned slightly. “It was nothing really.” She would have asked more if the door hadn’t opened again and this time it was Ryder coming in. He looked at Kieran before walking over and sitting next to Abby.

“How you feeling?” Ryder asked.

“I’m good…confused…but good.” Abby said. She looked between Kieran and Ryder. Her frown deepened as she looked at them. There was something…what was it?

At the same time, both of them sighed and tried to blow their hair out of their faces before giving up on that and just brushing it out of the way.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Abby said.