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prison, and we are
certainly not your keepers.”
That made no sense, but I wanted to keep those
privileges so I stayed quiet.
“I want to go home.” I told them.
“We know, dear. You’ll be allowed to return to the
human realm when you complete the task.” Netalia said.
    “Then tell me what the task is now, so I can get it over
and done with,” I snapped. “Why all the dancing around
it?”
“Netalia will take you to the library first. She will stay
with you and escort you anywhere you need to go.”
    I didn’t budge, though I’d obviously been dismissed.
“I want to go home,” I told them firmly. “Who are you
to take me out of my life to do your bidding? Home.
Now.”
From the look on Iain’s face, he was working to conceal
the fact that I’d greatly pissed him off.
Good.
    “The thing is, dear,” I noted the fact that the ‘dear’ was
very forced. Netalia went on. “Without the man who got
away, we can’t send you back to your realm. We’re
hunting for him, though. We will find him and send you
home.”
I saw the catch immediately.
    “Let me guess,” I said slowly, leaning my hip against
Iain’s desk. “You’ll conveniently find this man when I
complete whatever task you want me to do.”
    “You cotton on quickly,” Iain said, but the praise was
empty and cold. “From that, I’m certain you can deduce
that we may never ever find this man. Wouldn’t that just
be so terrible... You’d be stuck in this realm forever.”
    I bit my lip, forcing back a plethora of responses. They
had me in the palm of their hand; they could crush me
whenever they wanted.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. It felt like admitting
defeat. “Tell me what the task is.”
    “I think you might want to get your head around the
fact that you’re in a different world first,” Iain said,
beginning to go through some of the papers littering his
desk. “In a few days maybe, we’ll talk.”
I didn’t say anything, but left the room before Netalia. I
didn’t want to feel like I was being towed by someone.
    The library was magnificent, and I did get caught up
reading some of the books. The large room was empty, but
I couldn’t help but feel like it was usually occupied. When
I asked Netalia about it though, she said that the library
was hardly ever used; that it was just her and Iain in the
castle.
    As I stuck my nose back into my book, I remembered
the boy who’d come down to my cell. He’d recognised me,
I was sure of it. As they were yet to mention him or offer
any explanation for him being there, I was guessing that
Iain and Netalia had no idea he’d seen me, and vice versa.
And Netalia had let slip that this building was an
Academy. What kind of Academy didn’t have students?
As far as I was concerned, they’d slipped up twice, and
could do so again.
~Chapter Six~
    The next few days passed without incident. I was
allowed into the library, and at one point, the stables.
Only one horse was present, a pretty bay mare, but as I
passed by the other stalls, I noticed that they were all
made up, as though there’d been other horses occupying
them before I arrived.
    My dinner was brought up by Netalia though, and
when I asked about the girl who’d brought my breakfast, I
was immediately interrogated as to what she looked like,
what did she say, did I recognise her.
“How could I recognise her?” I’d asked, arms folded.
“Have I been here before?”
    “Of course not,” Netalia had said instantly. Her
composure was slipping. “It means we’ve had an intruder
into our castle. Let me know if you see her again, dear.”
When she’d left, I’d hurled a plate at the closed door.
    “You’re slipping up,” I said to myself one night before I
fell asleep. The sentence brought a small smile to my lips.
“Soon I’ll learn the truth.”
    Apparently they thought the same. A few mornings
after I’d made the mistake of bringing up the girl, I was
brought to Iain’s