I wake to a familiar touch on my shoulder, and open my eyes, my own blood, Ashlea. With her finger held to her lip she signals, to keep quiet. She unties the bridle and takes flight, waving me to follow, leaving the sleeping Shaylo behind. We fly high up into the sky, soaring above the clouds and then back down to a remote small island, traveling at a speed that is causing my eyes to tear. We descend and choose a soft, sandy warm beach. Saying nothing at first, just hugging and holding each other, neither of us holding back our tears of joy.


    I break the silence, “Ashlea you have no idea how much I have missed you.” I gasp and hug her again.


    “Ah Taylan I can''t put it to words how much I have missed you little sister.” She gently rubs my back in a returned embrace.


    “How did you get away? How did you find me?” I ask.


    “Newlyn only has a small crew at her home caring for her property. She had started a search team, but called it off soon after and then contacted Rosaleen for help so now, here I am.”


    “Are they mad at me?” I ask.


    She says, “Yes, they think this is your fault, for not telling them.” Her eyes accuse and she frowns. It is my fault. “You should have told them. Why didn''t you say anything?” Ashlea asks.


    “I didn''t know Ash.” I look at her to see if she believes me, she just returns a blank stare, emotionless. I feel suddenly dizzy and sick. “Ashlea, I swear to you, I didn''t know that his would happen. Shaylo talked about wanting to escape, but she never said when, or how.” I look to her, pleading inside for her acceptance, love and understanding, but she shakes her head at me in disappointment.


    “This is your own web; you will need to kill to get out. They are chasing you.” I feel my body grow warm and sweat droplets forming on my forehead and neck, trickling down my back.


    “Who is chasing me? Ash, can''t you make them stop?” Ashlea shakes her head no; she repeats that they are chasing me. I stand, my body is trembling, but loose balance, all is black.


    I wake to the afternoon sun beaming through the canopy of the trees. I can''t ignore the unpleasant damp feeling all over my skin, a cold clammy sweat. I know that I have rested, but I don''t feel rested. Where am I? Where is Ash? I absorb my surroundings. I am high up in a tree. The only thing is that I am hanging sideways from the branch. If it were not for the bridle straps, I would be on the ground, or worse floating away. I look around and over my shoulder for signs of life. Shaylo is not strapped behind me to the parallel branch. My eyes dart around the canopy for signs to where she could be. Would it be a good thing if we parted ways? Does she need me, and do I need her?


    I know that I certainly need her in this moment. I know that Ashlea''s destination is the Palace, and I have never been there. I need her as a guide. The other option would be that I could return to Newlyn''s home, but something tells me that if I were to do that my life would become much more complicated. It is best to stay with Shaylo for those two reasons. She is smart enough to know better than to just leave me. For one thing, Shaylo knows a thing, or two about traders with having played the mind games that comes with palace life. The risk of me returning or being found by Newlyn is too big of a risk for her. She has been around long enough to realize either way that if I end up in Newlyn''s hands, whether it was against my will, or not, I would be used to help track Shaylo down, and they would get the information from me even if I was on her side. The other thing, although it is much less significant is, I am her witness to the imprisonment. Should there be any trials conducted by the imposter King Wolfrim, I could vouch for Shaylo.


    It is time to get to work; I untie the bridle that was used to secure myself and climb down the tree instead of flying down by using the suit. I can''t risk snagging the material in the branches, and besides, I am not even sure it is charged although it should be charged with having slept in the sun.


    The sun paints an interesting image on the forest floor with the odd shrub and plant appearing to glow while others are shrouded in shadow from the canopy. I am still at the base of the mountain and figure that the ocean should just be on the other side. I can hear running water and follow the sound. I need to quench my thirst. The earth dips down a bit as I make my way towards the sound, the trees open a bit to a small brook trickling over rocks. I kneel and scoop some cool water into my mouth. As I drink, I feel eyes watching. I glance up to see my escape partner.


    “Where have you been?” I ask Shaylo. I am surprised, but relieved that she didn’t abandon me.


    “I was just gathering some nuts and berries. I figured you would be hungry because I am. You should eat something before we are back on the move.” Shaylo hops over a couple of steppingstones that emerged from the water and finds a nice dry rock near me and sits down to snack on her gatherings. She hands me some food from her pockets and even though my stomach wasn''t bothering me, I instantly feel refreshed and energized from the nourishment.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    “I tried the suit out, it works perfectly.” Shaylo manages to blurt out in between chews. “We are so lucky that you managed to find them.”


    “I figured the suits would help. It beats having to deal with horses and walking.” My nerves are more at ease even after talking and eating with Shaylo. I think Shaylo feels the same. “How far do you think we can get today? How long do you think it will take for us to get to the Palace?”


    Shaylo swallows a berry, “With the flying suits, we will cover a lot of ground today; I would say a couple of days at most.” A couple of days in the possibility of seeing Ashlea. A couple of days until confrontations happen and a couple of days until the possibility of ending this mess. I know that I am being hopeful, but time will tell, it is going to happen soon and fast. We finish eating and clean ourselves in the brook.


    “Shall we?” Shaylo asks, while directing her gaze up. The pressure is real with everything that we need to do and people we need to avoid, but I can feel the energy in the air between the two of us. Shaylo has never said it, but I can tell that she loves to fly like me. My heartbeat is quickening with excitement and anticipation of going up into the sky.


    “Yes of course!” I answer. “Hold on a second. What should we do with our linens and the bridles?”


    “I think we should ditch them.” She shrugs.


    “What about keeping them for warmth in the night, maybe we will need the bridles just like we did last night.”


    She laughs, “Taylan what are you, a hoarder?”


    “Well, I am just thinking ahead that''s all.” I feel a little bit offended that she thinks my idea is ridiculous. If I didn’t have the bridle last night, I would have been eating dirt on the forest floor.


    “There is no sense carrying the extra weight and stuffing our suits, especially with having to maneuver in the air.”


    “Good point.” I admit.


    “Don''t worry Taylan we will figure stuff out as we go; sleeping; food and shelter. Besides, if we are displaced for whatever reason, at most it will just be for a day, or two.”


    “It is decided.” I shrug.


    We hide the bridles and linen jumpers under some rocks along the brook and back track a bit by descending back into the open field. There is an inviting breeze coming off the rippling meadow grass, just kissing our skin. Ignoring everything around me, I break off into a run and extend by arms like a bird spreading her wings, leaping into the air. The takeoff always feels strange. I can''t drown out that bodily expectation that I am going to jump into the air and fall on my face. Up I go with the sensation of being free once more. The feeling is strangely known by heart even though I have only done this a couple of times. I just can''t forget that feeling, the excitement, and anticipation; the feeling is sort of like, just knowing that I have always known how to fly, though my heart is in my throat in this moment.


    Over the lush green, tree covered mountain and into the sky with Shaylo on my tail; my hair must be changing from a green to a blue color because the sky is all that is in my vision. I don''t look back at Newlyn''s island, where that cute small town and her home was. Instead, I focus on what is ahead, ocean and a trickle of tiny islands that look like steppingstones in the vast tropical waters. The air is warm and not too humid, we soar, all that I can hear is the whistle of the breeze and the world below is silent.


    We exchange few words, it is mostly just smiles, laughs and the “watch what I can do''s”, as we try to outshine each other by doing flips and tricks in the air and getting the other to watch and then out do the trick with their own new and more difficult one.


    We keep on course and are moving at a good pace. After a couple of hours, we need a rest. My arms are tired as though I have been doing push-ups, but it didn’t feel like demanding work for the two-hour trip. Now, it feels more like a tired feeling after having done a hundred of them. We glide down to this tiny little island; it is more of a half crescent of sand dune that is just high enough for some grass to take root. I decide to land in the turquoise shallows, in the inner circle of water and walk up to the sand. I plop myself down for a rest.


    Shaylo chuckles, “That''s exactly how I feel.”


    “I can use another nap.” I lay there, concentrating on the sky for a few minutes. When I was at home with my mom and sisters, I was used to having days full of activity, but now it seems like all the activity is tiring me. It is just the added pressure with being on the run that is making me groggy. Shaylo fusses near to me, she completely strips out of the suit.


    She hollers from the water, “We should sit in the shallows to sooth our muscles.” I quickly strip down, and we both relocate in the water within the circle of the half-crescent shaped island. The water is a vibrant greenish blue color. We lay on our stomachs in the soft sandy shallows.


    “Do you think we are still being followed?” I ask Shaylo, to break the silence.


    She shrugs, “Probably, but I don''t think they are on our trail just because we have the advantage of the suits. They probably think we are traveling by foot or hiding out in the town near Newlyn''s.” I sense that too. I have a gut feeling that we are in the clear and this is no longer a chase. I hope that we can travel with more ease. The water where we are lying is no more than inches deep. I crawl and roll around in the water and make my way to where the two points of the island crescent seems to line up and from there, there is a drastic drop off. I lie along the edge and gaze down into the deep blue. I see fish, a reef nothing out of the ordinary. Contemplating on going down, I am hungry, there is some sugar kelp down there, or even clams? I close my eyes and soak in the salty bath like water. A splash hits me full on. It is not a little playful splash. It is like a wall of water raining down on me. Suddenly, I am rudely interrupted from resting my eyes. I am not sure what direction it''s coming from. My instinct is to blame Shaylo; I give her a dirty look. Shaylo is shaking her head, saying she didn’t do it. I maintain my gaze; who else could it be? Shaylo asks me, “Did you see what that was?” She asks, exasperated.


    “What?” I can''t believe she is playing this stupid game, and then I realize the droplets coming down her face and her soaking wet hair. It couldn''t be her, who, or what? Fear hits me, “Shaylo what is going on?” The water is rippling; the sound of a low grumbling surrounds us, like an earthquake.