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I threw the front door open and ran out of the cabin and into the sunshine. I took big gulps of air. Despite being outside, I felt like I was drowning.
The sunlight grew brighter still, and even though it looked like summer, the feeling of something brushing up against me got worse and worse.
This couldn’t be magic, could it? Magic didn’t exist. This wasn’t magic. It couldn’t be.
Someone came toward me. I heard footsteps through the trees, leaves crunching, but that wasn’t what alerted me to someone being here. It was the way the atmosphere shifted yet again.
Fear knotted into a fist in my stomach, and I struggled to breathe. What if it was the men who’d been looking for me? I looked over my shoulder, looking for a way out. I could run to the orchard. I could run into the cabin.
I could run into the forest to find Ash to help me. I’d be running right toward them if I did that.
I was frozen in place with fear, although I thought of a million ways to get away.
Someone stepped through the trees, appearing on the path that led to the cabin, and my heart beat in my throat… until I recognized Philippa.
“Oh, it’s you,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. My body gave way, and I sagged to the ground, the fear that had held me rigid and upright fading away.
“Hi,” Philippa said with a bright smile before she frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I… thought you were someone else.”
“Oh, no, it’s just me.” She offered another bright smile.
“Is magic real?” I blurted out.
Philippa’s smile faded again, her eyes shifting to the cabin before she looked at me again. “What do you mean?”
“Is magic real?” I asked again. “Tell me it’s real, and I’m not just going crazy.” I covered my face with my hands. “On the one hand, I wish I were going crazy and all this is nothing. On the other hand, I can’t stand feeling all of this… I don’t even know whatthisis.”
When I peeked at Philippa through my fingers, her face had sobered. She jutted her chin into the air. Her dark brown hair with the flowers woven into it looked like something from a fairy tale.
None of this could be real—she couldn’t be real.
Ash…
“It’s real,” Philippa said.
I sagged in relief again.
“Let’s go inside, then we can talk,” Philippa suggested. “And you can get into something more…”
“Yeah,” I said, realizing I was still just wearing my T-shirt and didn’t look very presentable.
I stood up from the ground, and we walked to the cabin together. While Philippa waited in the living room area, I twisted a tunic around my body and tied my hair into a knot behind my head, using a bit of twine. It had been a while since I’d been able to use special shampoos and conditioners, and my hair had become accustomed to just water. It wasn’t oily anymore, as it had been at one point, and I didn’t feel dirty.
Philippa stood at one of the windows when I came out of the room. She turned to me and smiled.
“So, magic, huh?” she said. “That’s a big revelation.”
I nodded. “I feel it all the time. Everywhere. It wasn’t like this when I got here at first, but the longer I’m here, the more I feel like nothing is what it seems.”
“It might be your bond with Ash that causes it.”
“What bond?” I asked. “Is it because we’re together, in a way?”
“I guess you could say that, but it’s?—”
“Where am I?” I asked. “This isn’t the human world, is it?”
