The soft sound of birdsong filled the air as Lucas slowly awoke in the morning. Sunlight warmed the inside of the tent, the soft glow of the rising sun illuminating the interior of the tent as the light peaked through the fabric. And for the second time in a week, Lucas woke up peacefully and well rested.

  The reason why became quite obvious when he looked down and saw Fay still resting beside him, using his chest as her pillow while one of her arms wrapped around him to keep him in place. At some point during the night, Lucas’ arms had wrapped around the blonde as well, leaving his hands resting on her back as she rested.

  Or at least, he thought she was still resting. The opposite was proven when she shifted against him, turning her head so that one of those emerald green eyes was looking up at him.

  “Morning,” She whispered softly.

  “Morning,” He replied, finding the situation so very similar to the last time the two had wound up in the same position.

  “We really need to stop meeting like this,” He tried to joke.

  Fay giggled a bit and the arm wrapped around his chest squeezed just a bit tighter. “Why? You’re such a comfy pillow.”

  Fay’s response left Lucas on the backfoot and he could feel his cheeks lighting up with a bit of color already.

  “We… We really can’t keep doing this, Fay,” Lucas mumbled. “If your dad ever saw us like this or knew this happened, he’d try to kill me.”

  “Screw what my dad thinks. It’s my life and I can choose what I want to do. And what I want to do is help my friend.”

  Lucas was stunned into silence by Fay’s words, blinking a few times as he looked at the blonde.

  “This…” She began, her arm lightly squeezing him again. “It helps you. You didn’t have a nightmare again last night, so it worked. So what if my dad doesn’t like it.”

  “This is a bit more than what friends would do, Fay,” Lucas replied as his own arms squeezed around her once to remind her of their position. “If anyone saw a guy and a girl like this, they’d think they were dating.”

  “I don’t mind,” Fay smiled.

  Lucas just stared, wide-eyed and silent as Fay’s response completely derailed his thoughts.

  “What?”

  Fay giggled again, the sound ringing in Lucas’ ears and her smile brightening the area around them in his eyes. She pushed herself up from his chest, sitting beside him and looking down at the dark-haired teen.

  “I. Don’t. Mind,” She repeated with another giggle. “Lucas, you’re one of the most hard-working people I’ve ever met and you’re also way too sweet and kind for your own good. If mom and dad didn’t openly reject it, you’d probably be trying to pay them back for letting you stay for the month.”

  He could feel his face heating up again, but it wasn’t like Lucas could deny it. He still did want to pay Magnus and Lissa back for housing him for an entire month, even if they wouldn’t accept money.

  “Hanging out with you the last couple weeks have been a blast and I’ve enjoyed it all. Saving you was one of the best things I’ve ever done, because it gave me you as a friend.”

  Now it was Fay’s turn to go a bit red as a blush colored her cheeks. “And maybe I think you might be a little cute and handsome, too.”

  Despite the color he could feel building on his cheeks, Lucas still scowled up at the blonde and crossed his arms.

  “I’m not cute,” He grumbled.

  Fay just giggled again and dropped back down, resting her head on his chest once again. For a few seconds, the tent was silent as Lucas processed everything.

  “Fay, what are you saying?” He finally asked. “That you like me?”

  The blonde silently nodded her head against his chest, her arms wrapping around him once again and hugging him.

  Some part of Lucas’ mind wondered if he was dreaming. He knew that he had a crush on Fay, he couldn’t deny that even after just minutes of meeting her. The blonde had saved his life and quickly become his best friend. And of course he liked her, how could he not? But there was an issue that he couldn’t ignore.

  “But I need to go back home…” He whispered. The words caused Fay’s grip on him to tighten and Lucas flinched. “I need to get back to my family. And I don’t know when I’d come back.”

  It wasn’t a question of whether he would come back or not. Lucas knew that he couldn’t ignore the magical world, not after everything he’d seen. But he had no idea when he would ever get the chance to come back again.

  “I wish that you could stay,” Fay whispered back.

  “I wish that I could, too,” Alex thought to himself.

  He wanted to stay, he truly did. He felt more at home in the magical world than he ever had back home. It was somewhere where he felt like he actually belonged, that he could be someone and do something important. Back home, he was just running through the motions, but here he was learning how to use magic and how to fight.

  And the magical side of the world had Fay…

  “You could-“

  He couldn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t finish the suggestion that Fay could come back with him. It just wouldn’t be fair to take her away from her own family, her friends, and her dreams just to stay with him.

  “You could come visit,” He said instead.

  Fay was silent as she rested her head against him, the sound of their soft breathing being the only noise in the tent.

  “It could work,” Fay eventually muttered.

  “What? You visiting?” Lucas asked.

  “Us. This,” Fay gestured vaguely around them as she pressed her face against his chest. “I don’t want to lose this. Or for us to never see each other again. I just feel so happy when you’re around.”

  “I don’t either,” Lucas agreed. “I can’t just forget about you. Not after everything.”

  “So… What do we do? Fay mumbled.

  Lucas wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like he’d ever had a girlfriend before or any kind of experience dating. He’d always been the one who kept to himself back in school. He hadn’t had many friends at all, much less a girlfriend.

  “We can just see where things go?” Lucas offered. “I’m still here for two more weeks. We can visit each other. And your mom mentioned that there is a way to enchant or create two objects that can let people communicate across distances. Phones might not work here, but maybe something like that would let us stay in touch?”

  “See where things go…” Fay repeated slowly. “I’d like that.”

  “Whatever happens, happens. And if you find somebody else when I’m gone, well I can’t blame you,” Lucas replied.

  Fay’s body shook against his as she muffled a laugh. “Lucas, that definitely won’t happen.”

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  “Why not? I mean, you’re amazing and beautiful. There must be other guys in town who would ask you out.”

  Fay was openly giggling at that point, burying her head into Lucas’ chest as the dark-haired teen blushed a bit from actually calling Fay beautiful. That bit had just slipped out.

  “You’re sweet, Lucas. But there isn’t any guy my own age in town who would even try to date me. They’re all too scared of my dad.”

  That… That made a lot of sense and Lucas couldn’t deny it. Magnus was downright terrifying when he wanted to be.

  “And,” Fay chimed in. “I’ve got no interest in older men who might not be as scared of dad.”

  “But I’m older than you,” Lucas pointed out, a cheeky grin spreading across his lips.

  “By a couple weeks! That doesn’t count!” Fay shot back, lightly smacking a hand against his chest. When Lucas laughed, she lifted her head from his chest and gave him a small smile.

  “You’re sweet,” She repeated.

  Then she leaned in and Lucas froze as he felt the blonde’s lips pressing against his cheek. It was only for a second or two, but the moment felt far longer as the teen’s mind struggled to keep up.

  When Fay pulled back and rose to her feet, she was blushing a bit herself. But she also had a massive grin as well.

  “And cute, too.”

  Lucas’ expression bounced between embarrassment and annoyance, his cheeks flushed and a scowl on his lips.

  “Not cute,” He mumbled as Fay’s laughter filled the tent.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Once Fay was done teasing Lucas the two went about making breakfast and getting ready for their second day of travel.

  The trip itself was peaceful and without any issues, even more so than their first day. They weren’t stopped by or ran into any sort of dangerous beasts that they needed to deal with and were able to make amazing time as a result.

  The trip was peaceful enough that both teens were able to spend their time practicing with their magic. Lucas focused on creating and altering illusions that followed him while Fay worked with her wind magic.

  “Hey, Fay.”

  The blonde perked up when she heard her name, looking over towards Lucas.

  The little smile she wore still caused Lucas to feel his heart skip a beat. “That jump you did the other night, to get to the roof. Have you ever tried to do more than that?”

  “Well, I’ve tried. The next step for any person with a Wind affinity is to keep yourself afloat in the air. I haven’t figured that part out just yet. I can slow myself down, but I can’t keep myself up,” She replied.

  “Have you tried other things instead? Different ways to do it?” Lucas asked.

  “Not really. This is pretty much the next step. Everybody with a Wind affinity agrees. After that, I can start working on pushing myself with the wind and starting to fly.”

  Lucas could see the excitement shining in Fay’s eyes when she spoke of flying. Her desire to be up in the air was impossible to miss and he wanted to find a way to help.

  “Why not try something else?” He suggested.

  “Like what?”

  “Well,” Lucas paused and considered things. He thought back to any cartoons and comics that he’d ever seen for inspiration. Eventually, he thought of a couple ideas that could work. “You could try doing a double jump. Use the wind to push you into a second jump while in the air.”

  “That wouldn’t-“ Fay started to shut the idea down, but then she paused. “That might actually work. Maybe.”

  “The other one is a bit weirder, but it’s kind of close to flying,” The moment he’d said the word, he had Fay’s full attention.

  “I don’t know if your magic would work like this, but you could try making a platform of air under your feet. Have the wind push back against your feet to keep you, sort of, standing in the air.”

  Fay looked at him like he was crazy, but then her expression shifted to one of consideration.

  “The first idea might really work. I don’t know about the second one, though. But if it does work… That sounds like just one step away from being able to fly!”

  Lucas chuckled a bit as he watched how excited Fay got. Though, his laughter died when the blonde leaned in and kissed him on the cheek again.

  “Thank you for that, Lucas,” She replied with a small, coy grin.

  The red cheeks and silence from Lucas in response just made the blonde giggle even more. Even Dusk, who was walking beside Lucas, snickered in amusement.

  The rest of the trip after that was spent with the two both practicing their magics. While Lucas’ routine stayed the same, Fay began trying out his idea of a double jump. It was messy at first and it was only Fay’s ability to slow her own falls that kept her from hitting the ground hard multiple times.

  But as the hours passed, Fay started to show signs of the idea. She’d still end up tumbling in the air after an attempted jump, but she was sent tumbling in the direction she’d wanted to go. If she could figure out how to do the technique, Fay could dramatically change the way she moved.

  Eventually, two made it to the edge of the minor Direwolf territory. Fay even pointed out the signs that Lucas had originally missed.

  “You can see here,” She said as she pointed out a group of claw marks gouged into the pale, white bark of one of the trees. “The Direwolves are smart, so they mark their territory like this. Anything that passes this point is intruding and they don’t like that.”

  As Lucas looked around, he spotted more of the trees bearing marks in their bark. And suddenly, the Direwolves seemed a lot smarter than he’d thought they were.

  “Come on,” Fay called as she turned back. “We’re gonna set up camp a bit back from here to keep some distance.”

  “We made really good time, though,” Lucas said as he went to follow. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was only a bit after five in the afternoon. “Shouldn’t we head in?”

  “We could, but it’s too risky,” Fay argued back. “The sun is gonna set in a few hours. We’re still on the edge of their territory so we probably won’t see any unless we go deeper. And since this is one of the smaller territories, it’ll probably take a while before we find any Direwolves. You and those wolves might be able to see and fight in the dark, Lucas, but I can’t.”

  Over the last week, his ability to see in the dark had become something that Lucas barely even noticed anymore. It made his watch even more important, as he found himself having a harder time telling when it was getting late.

  “Oh… I forgot about that,” He replied sheepishly.

  Fay snorted in amusement and Dusk, sitting on his shoulders as usual, whacked her partner in the head with her tail.

  “Ow!”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The pair only backtracked for about a half hour to put some distance between them and the edge of the nearby Direwolf territory. Once they found a good clearing, the same process repeated itself. Lucas set up the tent while Fay set up the wardstones and he got the fire going once the blonde had grabbed some good kindling.

  “We should’ve grabbed more of that boar,” Lucas commented as he ate another spoonful of soup that Fay had whipped up.

  “It was really good,” Fay agreed. “I’m tempted to use what’s left for dinner. But then we don’t have it to lure out the wolves tomorrow.”

  Even Dusk agreed, bobbing her head as her gaze drifted towards Fay’s pack.

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  Lucas’ hand landed heavily on the fox’s head when he spotted the look. When Dusk turned back to look at him, wide eyed and whining, he didn’t fall for it.

  “You got your dinner already, and we need it for tomorrow,” He pointed out.

  Both teens laughed as Dusk flopped to the ground beside Lucas, her expression the closest thing to a pout that a fox could muster.

  Once dinner was done, the two began to settle in for the night. Dusk, lazy fox that she was, was already curled up asleep in the tent. Dove, meanwhile, chose to perch in a nearby tree and keep watch.

  “These sleeping bags are a godsend,” Lucas said as he unrolled his.

  “Why do you think I love them so much,” Fay replied with a laugh.

  “I’ll never doubt you again, oh wise one,” He joked.

  Lucas happily slipped into his sleeping bag, sighing as the already warm fabric fought off the slight chill in the air.

  Then Fay joined him, her sleeping bag pressed up against his and her head coming to rest on his chest once more.

  Lucas froze up and felt his cheeks growing hot. “Fay?”

  “We said we’d see where things go, right?” She replied, her voice soft.

  “Yeah… We did.”

  Fay lifted her head for a moment, her cheeks dusted pink as her eyes locked with his. “Then can we just stay like this?”

  He didn’t have it in him to say no to her, and he found himself getting lost in those green eyes all over again. But eventually he nodded, and Fay smiled as she rested her head back against his chest.

  “You really are a good pillow,” She joked.

  The distant sound of a wolf howling cut through the night and silenced any sarcastic comments Lucas had been thinking up. His body immediately grew tense, and his eyes went wide with panic. His heart pounded in his chest while his breathing grew heavy. They were out there. They were going to hunt him down again.

  And then Fay wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight and burying her head into his chest.

  “It’s ok,” She whispered. “I’m right here, we’re safe. They’re far away and they won’t hurt us.”

  Slowly, Lucas was able to relax as Fay’s comforting words managed to pierce through the panic he felt. When another howl followed the first after a few minutes, Fay’s arms tightened around him, and he was able to keep the panic under control.

  Another minute passed and Lucas was able to relax enough to wrap his own arms around Fay. He hesitated for a moment, but then he pulled her in closer to him.

  “I’m right here,” Fay repeated. “You’re not alone.”

  And she was right. He had Fay, Dusk, and Dove all with him. He wasn’t alone.

  It was that comforting thought and the sound of Fay’s soft breathing that eventually lulled Lucas to sleep. And rather than nightmares, he dreamed of flying.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~