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through the window, they looked alike. Sleek, silvery-gold hair, bright violet eyes, and . . . oh! Kalen’s eyes had just changed color, from violet to silver and back, while he was talking to me. And I wasn’t sure if I was just imagining it, but I could swear that his ears were slightly pointed.
    I shook my head dumbly. Was I seeing things?
    “What exactly are you?” I asked quietly.
    Kalen grinned. “Never seen one of the fae before, have you?” he asked gently.
    “Fae?” I repeated.
    “Yes, fae,” he said, smiling again. “In the seven kingdoms we are sometimes referred to as fairies.”
    My eyes grew wide. Fairies. Was he serious? He couldn’t be. I knew it wasn’t possible—fairies don’t exist. But I thought magical worlds didn’t exist too, and look how wrong I turned out to be there.
    Why had Oblek locked them up in the dungeons? He had even said that they were to be executed at dawn. Were they dangerous? I had no idea who to trust, but, if Oblek wanted them dead, then at least I knew they were not on Morgana’s side.
    Kalen started talking again. “You don’t seem to be from around these parts,” he said, looking at me more closely.
    I shook my head, what could I say? That until tonight I never knew that this strange land existed? Could I trust them? I decided that maybe I could trust Kalen, but the other fae boy, Finn, looked like he would be a problem.
    “So, um, you are both fairies?” I said, glancing at Finn.
    “Yes, although most of us prefer to be called fae,” said Kalen proudly, sticking out his puny chest. “Where are you from?” he continued, but obviously became tired of waiting for an answer and proceeded to answer his own question. “Probably from Andrysia or Kelliandria. Or maybe you are a tribal princess captured from Rohron? Although I thought the people from Rohron had dark skin.”
    I just nodded, intentionally silent. Where the hell was I? I wished I had a map of this world.
    “Do you live nearby?” I asked, trying to move the conversation away from myself.
    “Yes, and we are some of the last few left in Illiador. Most of the fae live in Elfi now,” said Kalen.
    “Elfi?” I repeated after him, sounding very silly, even to myself.
    “Surely you have heard of the land of Elfi, the kingdom of the fae that lies to the south?” said Kalen.
    “Oh, that Elfi,” I said, trying to cover my lack of knowledge. “Yes, yes, of course I know Elfi, kingdom of the fae.” I was talking quickly—too quickly—and the other boy, or fae or whatever, was looking at me with an unfriendly glare.
    “Ever since Morgana became queen, our kind have been tortured, brutalized, and killed. We’ve been run out of our homes, had our festivals banned, and had our houses burned. Some say that Morgana is trying to run all the fae out of Illiador, since so many have left these lands and gone back to our homeland. Our village is the last one left.”
    “That’s enough,” said Finn. “Kalen, you can’t tell her everything; she may be one of them. Who knows why they have put her in here?”
    Again Kalen looked worried and his eyes turned silver. I felt sorry for him. It wasn’t his fault, he just talked too much, and his tongue had obviously run away from him countless times before. I decided I needed to trust someone. I had no idea where I was or why I was sitting in a dungeon.
    “Isn’t there any way we can escape from here?” I asked Kalen finally, in a whisper.
    He stared at me as if I had grown horns.
    “Do you have magic?” he asked. “Are you a mage?”
    My eyes widened. “Magic?” I repeated.
    What was a mage? I had read about magicians—was this the same? Was Oblek a mage? He had some sort of magic—I had seen him use it on Christopher, and I had felt it when he tried to choke the life out of me.
    “I am not a mage,” I said quickly, trying to cover up my dumbfounded look. “I am just an ordinary girl, and I need to get away from Lord Oblek, or he is going to take me