"You can't expect me to take you to the Lost Forest and not even tell me why," Jawad stated coldly. "To be clear, I don't trust you and we both know you haven't told me the full truth."

"What is there to say?" Noelle answered. "We want to find the Lost Forest People because it's a safe space and you're the only one who can take us there."

Jawad fixed her with a cold stare, one that seemed to pierce through her very soul. He stopped the horse in the middle of the road and spoke again, this time his voice lower and meaner.

"Or we can do it this way: you tell me what's going on and I'll take you where you need to go... or you can keep your secrets and I'll drop you off on the side of the road and return home," he threatened. "The choice is yours "

"You- you can't do that! We have to get to the Lost Forest," Lolita, who was stirring next to her in the cart, cried out. She looked outraged as she whispered in Noelle's ear, "you're going to have to tell him who you are, otherwise we'll never make it."

"Okay... fine... I'll tell you. Just promise you won't leave right away," Noelle finally said.

"I promise," Jawad drawled, yet he looked curious to hear the story.

She told him about all of their adventures up until the present moment. She told him of how she woke up in the castle and how she escaped with Roland, how they went on the run and met Lolita, how Roland got injured and how Adron's soldiers found them in the first village they visited and how they escaped, leading them up to the moment when they were found by the Hunters. She also told him why they wanted to find the Lost Forest and start an uprising against Adron so that she would be able to return home. But most importantly, she revealed that she was the missing Bride of Adron and was being searched for by the entire guard force.

She purposely left out the witches and what she saw in the nightmare forest, letting Jawad's imagination fill in the blanks.

When she finished her story, she looked to see Jawad's reaction. She had expected it to be something akin to Lolita's, maybe wonder or pity, but the emotion that Jawad wore on his face could only be described as fury.

"Are you guys crazy?!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Do you even realise how dangerous that is! The entire nation is searching for you and- so that's why Adron's soldiers searched my village... they were looking for you!"

Jawad got off of his horse, and began walking away from the group.

"Hey, where are you going?" Roland shouted.

"I need a moment to myself. Don't touch the horse," Jawad snarled, and Noelle watched him go a generous distance away and lie down on the grass, staring up at the sky.

He stayed there for the next few hours.

. . .

Noelle was not typically the type of person to talk about someone behind their back. Even when Donna had turned on her and her friends, she was never brought up and never put down. Yet with Jawad, she could not stop herself.

"When Karol introduced me to him, he didn't speak to me once, only being really rude whenever I spoke. He didn't want to take us to the Lost Forest because there would be girls there," Noelle ranted to Lolita. The two girls sat side by side in the wagon, discussing all of their previous encounters. Roland was near them, leaning against the wagon and picking up small stones before throwing them in the air.

"To be honest, I haven't spoken to him much or haven't been spoken to, but his reaction did seem fairly reasonable," Lolita said. "I mean, we did cause his town to be raided by soldiers." She looked guilty at the final statement, much like Noelle.

"Lolita has a point," Roland mentioned.

"I suggest we just give him some time to get used to us. He's way older and being with kids is probably annoying," Lolita argued.

"We're not kids, Lolita, and he's not that much older," Noelle counteracted. "Besides, why are you defending him?"

"Because I don't know enough about him to judge him. We know nothing about his personal life. And I don't think you should either, even more so if you want him to take us to the Lost Forest," Lolita said, and that was final.

Noelle sighed, looking over to where Jawad was. Since he had left, he had not moved from that spot at all.

"Do you think he's asleep?" Roland asked, and Noelle nodded as Lolita gave a quiet "yup."

"Should we wake him up?" Lolita asked.

"No, he'll just be even angrier at us," Noelle replied.

After a while, she saw Jawad beginning to stir. He sat up on the grass, looking around him and stretching, before spotting the wagon where the group waited. Roland stood up from the floor, before mounting Jawad's horse as he approached.

Noelle had noticed that over the weeks they spent on the run, his leg had gotten significantly better. He rarely ever complained about pain and was able to walk easily without assistance. Lolita had taken a peek at his wound, noting that the scar had healed nicely, and thanks to the work of Dr Dyson, it was almost invisible.

"Is Midnight alright?" Jawad asked, motioning to the mare. Despite herself, Noelle chuckled at the name. She found it funny that a tough and cold guy like Jawad would name his horse Midnight.

"She's fine, don't worry about her," Roland assured him. "No one touched her at all."

"Good. Ready to go?" Jawad asked, also mounting the horse. He did not wait for a reply, instead immediately setting off down the road.

Noelle noticed he did not say a word about what had previously happened, be it good or bad. He chose to completely ignore it, which Noelle assumed meant that he had come to terms with who they were and decided to help them regardless. She appreciated it greatly.

They meandered down the road, and Noelle leant back in the wagon, allowing her head to rest on Lolita's shoulder. She looked up at the fluffy clouds, watching them as they drifted by. It reminded her of her time in Dacnella. She did not have a calendar or watch, so she did not even know how long she had spent in this strange world. Her only indication of time was the sun and moon switching their positions in the sky.

How did time pass back in London?

Noelle wondered if anyone noticed she was gone. What if time passed by slower in Dacnella, and her parents were worried sick? Maybe the police were involved, and her case was on national television? Her friends and family must be terrified, and her heart ached when she thought about how much pain her disappearance was causing them.

Though on the other hand, maybe no time had passed at all? Perhaps she was still in bed, asleep, and when she woke up in London again she would go about her day like normal?

Would she remember Dacnella at all? Noelle desperately wanted to exclude that possibility.

"You're really quiet. Tell us about yourself," Roland said to Jawad the next day. They were taking a break from travelling, and everyone was gathered around in a circle eating the food they had brought. At his words, Jawad looked up from cleaning his shotgun with a wipe. Noelle rolled her eyes, that he sat so comfortably with such a weapon of destruction in his calloused hands.

"What is there to say?" Jawad replied, reluctant to speak. "It's not like we're friends."

"Well not yet," Lolita said. "You'll be stuck with us for a while, might as well get to know us, right?"

"I was born in Hunter's Ville... I live alone... I've been training since I was ten, so seven years now... what else do you want?"

"Tell us some story from a hunt," Roland suggested enthusiastically, and Lolita agreed. Rolling his eyes, Jawad began to speak. However, Noelle noticed he no longer looked angry or uncomfortable, instead began smiling slightly.

Makes sense for someone as self-centred as him to want to talk about his achievements, she thought bitterly.

"Well there was this one time Givan, who's like the head Hunter, by the way, sent all of the young Hunters alone on a quest, and we had to catch and kill a bear. This was during a time when we were short on food, so we needed a big catch. Givan thought it would be great training," Jawad began. Once he began talking about his adventures, he was remarkably more open and more talkative. "It was pouring rain, and we weren't getting anywhere, so Karol and I broke away from the other boys to hunt to try and find the bear ourselves. We did end up finding it, but we were almost killed in the process. When I tell you that it was some aggressive bear, I mean it. The other guys were alerted by our shouting, so they joined to help and we took down the bear. I've still got my scar from it."

"Woah, really?" Roland gasped, and Jawad pulled up his sleeve to show him the jagged scratch marks on his bicep. They stood out greatly against his dark skin, and Noelle wondered how she had not seen them before.

"What other scars do you have?" Roland asked. Out of all of them, he was certainly the most interested and Noelle could sense a friendship between the two. Not that she cared.

"I've got another one on my leg, from my training days when Karol shot me. Let me tell you right now, that boy was the worst shooter I had ever seen," Jawad joked, showing the bullet wound on his leg proudly.

Noelle chuckled, her mind wandering back to Karol. She wondered how he was, and if his village was alright after being raided by Adron's guards. What if they did not manage to fight them? For every potential loss, it was another strike at Noelle, apprehending her for even hoping to find a safe place. Wherever she was, Adron would find her. He would stop at nothing to drag her back to his castle and lock her up forever. Furthermore, Noelle feared that he would eventually find the Lost Forest too.

"The Lost Forest People are those who have been shielded away from society for centuries," Jawad informed them, once they were back on the road. "They despise the monarchy."

"So that means they will be on our side, right?" Lolita hopefully asked.

"Possibly," Jawad said, but Noelle sensed a heavy "but" in the air.

"So if they're on our side, we should be able to defeat Adron," Roland mentioned, but Jawad shook his head.

"It's not that easy," Jawad sighed. "Adron has a powerful army, armed with guns and swords alike. We would need thousands of men and women together to even hope to defeat him."

"Besides, it would stop Noelle from getting home, and that's our main focus," Lolita said, and Noelle felt everyone's eyes on her, waiting for her to speak.

"I'm not going home until Adron is defeated. Then, I'll be able to sleep peacefully knowing he won't cause any more harm," Noelle stated. As much as she wanted to return to London, she could not leave her friends in a world where Adron holds terror over everyone, and people are too afraid to speak out against him. They all beamed, and even Jawad cracked a smile as she was hugged at Lolita. She smiled too, but it never met her eyes. Bittersweet.

"I want to fix all the damage I caused," Noelle added. She would not back down until Dacnella was a utopia once again.

. . .

"How much longer?" Lolita whined. "We've already passed like what- twelve forests? Surely one of them must be the lost one!"

"Will you shut up?" Jawad groaned. "I'm tired too! How about you come up here and steer the horse?"

"Maybe you should, Lolita," Noelle butted in, her words spiteful. "Maybe then we'd go faster."

"Can you guys not fight?! We're all tired, big deal!" Roland shouted.

"Easy for you to say, you've done barely anything since we set off!"

"I helped cook!"

"No, I did most of the work!"

"Yeah, well I had to find the food we ate!"

"NO ONE CARES!"

Noelle's head killed her. She didn't even know who was shouting anymore, all she wanted was for the voices to shut up. Travelling for as long as they had with a limited supply of food and more essentially water, adding to that the factor of the sweltering sun, Noelle could barely function. She blinked open her eyes, heavy with fatigue, and leaned out slightly of the wagon to look at what was before her. She could see a blurry mass of green, which she assumed were trees. Maybe she should get glasses once back in London?

"Not another forest! I'm sick of them," Lolita's voice sounded, but this time Jawad did not reply to shout at her. He replied the words they had all been dying to hear since the very beginning.

"Wait... we're here!" He breathed, and the sound evolved into a laugh. Roland whooped, punching the air in relief, and Noelle finally felt at ease. Now that they made it to the forest, things would be easy for them.

"What now...? Do we just go in?" Roland asked. "Is this the actual forest, or do we need to find it?"

"Damn right we need to find it," Jawad said. "Let's go."

They entered the forest, and within seconds, it was completely dark. The vast trees completely blocked out any sunlight, and they had to rely solely on Jawad's navigation and Midnight's night vision. Noelle wondered how many people had gone missing in those ominous woods, never to be seen again. At every noise, she felt herself jump, and Lolita's death grip on her arm was doing her no favours. Just when she felt like they were hopelessly lost, Roland pointed out a light in the far distance.

"Hey, what's that?" He asked, pointing towards it.

"That, my friends, is the Lost Forest Village."