Jonah wraps his arms around me as soon as I reach him. He kept his promise and didn't move from where I left him.

"I've decided to do it."

He sighs, picks me up and swings me around. I was hoping he'd respond this way because I'm getting used to his affection and I'm starting to like it. He puts me down, holds my face in his hands and studies my eyes. "Are you sure?"

I smile at him. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I'm completely unprepared, but I need to do this. So, yeah, I'm sure."

My answer must satisfy him because he smiles widely, wraps his arms around my waist and gives me another hug. "Well then, let's get you prepared." Then he throws me over his shoulder, and we laugh and giggle our way back to Dathid and Lenox.

The return journey seems faster, but I also sleep through most of it, so I'm not sure how long it really takes. I was so elated after my experience with the Agathas that Jonah and I played for a while, but then I got tired and rode most of the way on his back. Nothing exciting happened, and no creatures broke through the surface.

As we draw closer to the beach, I hear Lenox screeching for me as he paces up and down the water line. As soon as he sees me, he takes off. He reaches us in no time and circles overhead, making me feel like a woodland animal that's being hunted. When he swoops down, I wrap myself tightly around Jonah, but Lenox easily loops his talons under my arms and plucks me from Jonah's back.

The ocean flies past at an alarming speed, and I scream in terror. It doesn't matter how soft the water is; if he drops me at this speed, I'll be seriously injured. However, after only a few seconds, my fear transforms into elation, and my screams turn joyful. I've never ridden a rollercoaster before, but I imagine this is what it would be like.

Lenox is being quite gentle. I'm grateful he didn't impale me with his exceptionally large talons when he picked me up. This position is uncomfortable, but not painful, and a bit of discomfort is definitely worth this exhilarating ride.

When we reach the sand, Lenox sets me on the beach. He's such a gentle boy, which is surprising because he's so enormous. However, I change my mind when he spins around and knocks me off my feet.

He steps over me, pins me to the sand, and gives my hair and face a thorough sniffing. It's sweet that he was worried about me. The sniffing tickles and I can't help but laugh and try to push his face away. When he's satisfied that I'm alright, he gives the entire side of my face an enormous lick and then moves away so I can get up.

After I stand, I glance over at Dathid, embarrassed about acting like a kid with my pet. He's sitting on a log near the fire, watching me, but he doesn't say anything and my giddiness vanishes.

Should I go over to the fire? Should I sit next to him on the log? I don't want to do either of those things, so I just stand there looking really dumb. I wish I were better with people.

He shifts his weight and studies the fire. "So, your voyage, it was successful?"

Dathid and I have never been alone together, and we've never engaged in conversation. I wish Jonah would hurry up and get here.

"Yes," I say to my feet. I should probably add more to my answer. "I've decided to do it."

I barely mumble it out, but Dathid heard me because he lets out a long breath. "Good." I'm not sure if he's saying it to me or muttering under his breath, but with that, our talk ends and a long awkward silence ensues. I wish Jonah would get a move on; he's taking forever.

"I'm sure you're hungry," Dathid says to break the silence. "Lenox caught some flingerts, and I have them roasting. They should be done shortly." I don't know what to say to that, so I nod slightly and watch for Jonah.

After a few minutes, Dathid adds, "I picked some wandel berries for Jonah. You may like them also."

I picture Dathid picking berries and the image is so absurd it almost makes me giggle. "Thank you," I say quietly and make my way over to the log. I sit down near the fire, but not too close to him.

Lenox follows me and smells my hair again. "Seriously, I'm fine," I say as I try to shoo him away. "All good. Nothing happened." Satisfied with my answer, he lies down in a ball next to me.

"That one there has been darting up and down the beach screaming for the last three days."

"Three days!" I squeal in surprise. "We were gone for three days? I thought it was only a day, not even."

Dathid almost smiles. "The passage of time is different here."

"I thought you didn't have time. Now I'm confused."

Dathid grimaces and takes a deep breath. He opens his mouth to speak, but stops himself and then tries again. "We have time. We age. But time doesn't work here the way you think of it."

"But you said it's been three days."

"I was using Earth time to make it easy for you to understand." He starts busily tending to the meat in order to stop my questions.

I take his cue and look out over the ocean for Jonah. He's easy to spot because his eyes are glowing brightly in the dim light. He's almost to the beach, so I leave Dathid and wait at the shoreline for him. Lenox jumps up, afraid I'm going back on the water.

When Jonah reaches the shore, he tousles my hair with the affection I'm getting used to, then turns his attention to Dathid. "You've made camp. I'm surprised you did it here."

"Well, for starters, I couldn't get the pegasus to calm down. Also, I wanted to keep my eyes open for any signals." He's not much warmer towards Jonah, but he's more relaxed with him. It's funny that I make someone as strong as Dathid nervous.

"Did you sleep?"

Dathid cringes. "Yeah."

"I would've liked to have seen a faerie sleeping on the ground."

To my surprise, Dathid smiles. I didn't think he could do that since I haven't seen him smile since we met. It's a good smile, genuine. I don't like it. It makes him seem nice and maybe even approachable, which he's not.

"Well, it gets better." Dathid laughs. The laughing is even more unsettling. "Because the bloody pegasus was so distraught, he cuddled with me all night."

Jonah laughs as he sits next to him on the log. Dathid takes one of the small roasted birds off the stick he's holding and hands it to me. It's hot and I drop it on my lap and burn my leg. Jonah picks it up, puts it on a rag, and hands it back to me.

"Sorry," Dathid says. "I didn't know the temperature would be a problem for you."

I stare at him for longer than I should because I don't know what to say. I try to mumble "That's okay," but I'm not sure it actually escapes my mouth.

"From here we should head toward Gwa Twouroch," Jonah says to Dathid.

"I don't agree," Dathid says. I tune them out. They talk all through dinner about such strange things that I give up trying to contribute, and curl up with Lenox.

I must have been sleeping with my mouth open because I awake the next morning with a mouthful of wing from him bashing me in the face. I jump up, spitting and grunting. I grimace at him, but he's not looking at me. I can't be too mad because he did what I asked: one hit, and then wait. I guess he does understand what I say to him.

Jonah hands me a cup of water and some leftover meat. They've already packed up the camp, so as soon as I finish my breakfast, we're underway.

It takes me a while to wake up, and I walk for hours in a daze. A lot has happened to me in a short time. I can't keep up with my life. I'm trying to reflect and take it all in, but it's becoming increasingly difficult.

We eat lunch on the move. Jonah seems to want to get somewhere within a certain amount of time. We're not rushing, but we're also not stopping. An alarm goes off in my head. I don't know where we're going. I'm surprised at myself for blindly following Jonah. That disturbs me, but only for a moment because even if he told me, I wouldn't know where I am anyway. Either way, though, I want to know.

"We're on our way to Cromsmead, the village of the elves. Cromsmead elves, to be exact," Jonah answers after I ask.

"Why are we going there? When do I get to read the Orb? How do we get the key?"

"Agatha, when you ask a question, do you expect an answer?"

"When you answer a question with a question, do you expect an answer?" I respond.

Jonah smiles at me. I think he likes it when I fight back a little bit. Auntie never let me fight back. My way or the highway was her favorite expression.

"Don't worry about the key, it's not time yet. You don't know how to read the Orb, so don't worry about that, either. And we're headed to Cromsmead so you can receive your training."

"Training!" I shout excitedly. "I'll be trained? Trained to do what? Read the Orb?"

"Trained to be a Knight."

"A Knight! I'm going to be a Knight? Like with swords and jousting and stuff like that?"

Jonah smiles. "Yes, stuff like that."

A flash of fear makes my heart flutter. I shouldn't have agreed to this. "But I don't know how to do anything even close to that."

"That's why you'll be trained."

I'm not strong. I can't do the things Knights do. I'm afraid of everything. How could someone like me be a Knight? I stay in my doubts for a long time and almost crash into Dathid. He's always far ahead of us, so I usually never see him outside of camp. How long has he been here, waiting for us?

Dathid glares at Jonah as if he might hit him. "Well?"

Jonah looks at me. Am I supposed to answer? What could "Well?" mean?

"Agatha," Jonah says in a tone that suggests I won't like whatever he says next. "We have a choice. We can go through Smivler's Gorge or we can walk through Montmort. Montmort will take about a week longer, but it should be uneventful."

"I don't want to walk for a week," I whine. "My body and especially my feet are in a lot of pain. I want to get to wherever we're going as quickly as humanly-or curra-ly, possible."

Dathid groans but Jonah ignores him when he continues. "We can go through Smivler's Gorge. It would only take about two days. It's beautiful. You'll like it, but that means we'll have to go through Gwa Twouroch."

"Gua Torooch?" I repeat. Why is his tone so dire? They want me to go to a beautiful place, the likes of which I've never seen. How bad could this Gwa place be?

"Gwa Twouroch loosely translates to Cave of Thought."

"Cave of Thought? What's that?"

"Well, it's what I said. It's a cave. Not a very long one. But when you go through it, whatever you think about materializes."

My face lights up. "That sounds fantastic. Really! Anything you think about happens? Like if I think about ice cream. Bam! There it is? Can I eat it? Will it taste good?"

"Well-" Jonah begins.

"So if I think about this guy, Corey, at school, he'll actually be there? What if I think about pizza? Could we have pizza?"

Dathid gives Jonah an I-told-you-so look while Jonah waits for my questions to stop. I ignore both of them. I really want to see this cave.

"This is not a good idea," Dathid mutters.

"She can do it. I want to get somewhere safer as fast as we can."

I stop my questions. There's something they're not telling me. A chill creeps down my spine and freezes my feet in place. "There's a giant spider in there that'll eat us. That's the part you're not telling me, right? Some horrible creature that sucks your guts out."

Dathid throws his hands up. "And that just proved my point."

"Agatha, if you think there's a giant spider in there, then there is one," Jonah explains slowly. "That's the problem we have with going through Gwa-the Cave of Thought."

"Oh, okay. So think happy thoughts. I can do that." This sounds pretty easy. I don't know what they're so upset about.

Dathid frowns at me. "Have you ever been in a cave before?"

"No," I respond, trying to match his condescending tone.

"Gwa Twouroch is large," Jonah says to me. "We can all walk through it easily. There are well-maintained paths and steps. It's just dark."

"Oh. Okay, that doesn't sound so bad." I'm being honest. I can't wait to think of things and make them appear.

"If I coach you on what to think about, do you think you could listen to me? Think about what I say?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"All right, then we'll take the shorter route." Jonah turns down the path that leads to Smivler's Gorge.

"Great," Dathid mumbles. "I'm going to be eaten by a giant spider."