Disclaimer: I own only Raliana, Rhylinye, and anyone else that you do not see normally. I am a poor college student. Please don’t sue me! The only thing I ask for is a little feedback. The characters from a Midsummer Night’s Dream are Shakespeare’s and any reference to King Arthur comes from the numerous authors that have previously written about him, there are too many that I am using so I cannot name them all. I am just borrowing these wonderful So Weird characters, they are Disney property. Please don’t hurt me! Feedback is the only thing I ask for. Please!

One In A Million - Chapter 4: The Struggle Called Sentience

The sky was lovely shades of red and pink with lazy clouds streaking across it. The sun had just started to peak over the tress and shone on the ground’s light layer of snow. The air was cold with a brisk wind blowing softly through the quiet sleepy town.

However in front of a little hotel the Molly Phillips bus and a bus of similar size had pulled up and sleepy figures could be seen standing in front of them. The sleepiest of them all was a young brown haired girl who kept resting her head against her brother’s shoulder as she waited to board a bus.

Fiona yawned yet again and tried desperately to keep her eyes open but it was to no avail. Unlike almost everyone else she had only been able to get a few hours of sleep the other night. After everyone else had gone sleep she had to sneak out of her room, not a very big deal because she just transported herself to where Rye and Inky were waiting for her, it was what happened after she had gotten there that was making her so tired.

Puck and Rhylinye discarded their human forms and were dressed in very dignified clothing and they dressed Fi in a similar manner. After that was done the remaining time was spent performing ceremony after ceremony, all which basically said that Fiona would not use her powers to manipulate humans in a way that might lead to their untimely death or necessary danger. That if she used her powers to harm another living being it would be in self-defense or to protect others. She promised to up hold the laws of magic use until her dying day. The only thing she did not do was to pledge allegiance to the Fey and Oberon, only because of the pervious agreement that she had with Rhylinye, which said that she and her brother would not make any decision until they were well informed on what their choice would mean.

Finally Rhylinye and Puck took Fi’s thumb ring and recited an incantation over it. Then Rhylinye placed the ring on Fi’s thumb and it gave off a strange glow. When Fi looked at her ring see could still see the glow but it was not as bright and she asked why. Puck explained that it was a sign to show that she was now and forever a part of the magic community. After they were finished the Fey took their human forms of Incanto and Raliana and told Fi to go straight to bed.

Fi would have gone too sleep once she sunk back into her bed but she stayed up looking at her ring. As she stared at the design on the ring she could have sworn she heard a voice calling to her. The voice was very familiar to her but she could not figure out whom it belonged to. Fi closed her eyes and when she did that she saw the face of a man smiling at her. She knew then that it was her father and that he was still with her, just like he promised. Fi sighed and fell asleep with a smile on her face, until Annie shook her awake at 5:30 in the morning. Fi had moaned and tried unsuccessfully to hit Annie and make her go away but eventually she got up and packed her stuff.

"Alright everyone has everything they are going to need for the next few hours right," Ned asked the group before they boarded the bus.

"Yes," came several the sleepy replies.

"Good! Irene will drive the second bus for the first leg and then we will figure out how to switch off and who to shuffle around after that," Ned knew that they were only hearing half of what he was saying but he still wanted to try and make everything clear.

"Sleep Mr. B. I just want to go back to sleep," Jack pleaded with him.

"I second that," Fi chimed in with a yawn. "I don’t care which bus I am on as long as there is a bed for me to sleep in."

"Alright," Ned felt kind of bad for the kids. He knew that they had stayed up kind of late because they were so excited to see each other again. "Jack, Incanto, Carey, and Molly will be on the first bus for right now. Raliana, Annie, and Fi will be on the second bus." The all nodded and everyone but Molly, Incanto, and Melinda boarded the busses.

"Melinda are you sure you don’t want to come with us for a little while?" Molly asked hopefully.

"No I really have to get back. I have to get all of Fi’s school record sent off to you," Melinda smiled.

"Well alright," Molly smiled sadly at her. "Thank you so much," Molly hugged her.

"You are very welcome," Melinda returned the hug and then backed away. "Well I better get going before I start crying again."

"Call us as soon as you get home," Molly requested.

Melinda nodded her agreement as she wiped away a stray tear, "When Fi wakes up give her an extra hug for me. Okay?"

"I will. Be safe."

"Oh she will be very safe," Incanto reassured the two women. "This will only take a minute. Hold tight to your bag."

Melinda did as she was told and waved good-bye to Fi who was watching from the window of the bus. Then Incanto raised his arms and a small circle of wispy blue lighting swirled around Melinda. Then the light seemed to engulf her and once it faded away she was gone. A few minutes after everyone had finished boarding the busses Molly’s cell phone rang.

Hours had passed as Fi slept in the small bedroom on the bus. She heard someone come in and check on her every now and then but they let her sleep and she would let them believe that she was asleep. Finally Raliana got tried of waiting for her to wake up.

"We are going to have breakfast now with or without you so get your lazy butt out of bed if you want to eat with the rest of us," Raliana told her in a sing song voice. She did not bother to wait for a reply and just walked out of the room.

Fi sighed and threw the covers off of her. She had been having strange dreams about a banshee she had encountered a while ago. She kept hearing the banshee tell her that someone else was responsible for taking her father. Fi thought about the banshee as she brushed her hair and found some shoes to wear. Apparently while she was sleeping Raliana and Annie had unpacked her bag. They had arranged the room in such a manner that her things Raliana’s and Annie’s would manage to fit, but Annie’s stuff was still on the other bus and Raliana had not unpacked so the room looked kind of empty.

"Morning sleepy head," Rye teased as she walked into the community room of the bus. "Like our all girl arrangement?"

"Well at least I don’t have to worry about what I look like in the morning when I wake up or who is in the bathroom," Fi laughed. "But I would have liked to get some time to spend some time with Jack and my mom."

"You will Fi," Irene called back to her. "Just not until we reach the end of our first leg."

"Right," Fi gave the other girls a funny look as she sat down and waited for breakfast to be served. "So what was made and who made it?"

"Raliana made eggs and toast," Annie told her with a smile. "It was so cool to watch her. She did the whole thing with magic."

"Sorry I missed it," Fi laughed.

"Just because I am a magician in training doesn’t mean that I don’t how to cook," Raliana told her. "Inky can’t cook to save the free world, besides I had to learn when I went to go live with my master, well mistress."

"What do you mean?" Annie looked at Raliana with a little confusion on her face.

"I was born into a very superstitious Celtic village that was rich in spirit and faith but poor in education. Many still believed in the tales that had been passed down over generations. Strange things would start to happen whenever I was around and they started to call me a baby of Mab. They wanted to burn me at the stake but my family was able to get me out of the village before that happened. They smuggled me to a hermit woman who everyone believed to be a part faery," Raliana recounted the tale to the girls while she dished out the eggs. "Her name was Raliana and she taught me almost everything I know about how to use magic, but she called it a gift of the goddess. Unfortunately she died a few years ago and the villagers that we lived near wanted me gone. They sold me to a troupe of gypsies that were passing by." Both Annie and Fi gasped in shock.

"It wasn’t so bad at first," Raliana smiled. "They were really nice to me and treated me like an equal. They weren’t scared of me at all. Then as the days went by it just started to get worse. I would be asked to use my powers to do bad things for them. Finally they decided to just keep me locked up in one of their caravans. They would let me out when they needed me to get them food or money or if they were having a problem with a villager."

"One day a few months ago Inky accidentally transported himself right into the middle of my caravan. I was so scared at first I hit him over the head with a bowl that I had. When he woke up I was about to cast a spell on him but he told me to wait. He said that he was a good person and that he did not mean any harm to me. I told him my whole story and what had happened to me. He agreed to help me I would promise not to hit him again with the bowl.

"So once the gypsies opened the door to the caravan he zapped them with this fireball looking thing. He then took my hand and we ran until he thought we were safe. After we were sure that we were safe he introduced himself."

"Wait a minute," Annie held up her hand to single to for Raliana to stop. "You went with him without even knowing his name."

"Well it was better then staying there and waiting for the gypsies to keep using me over and over. I was a mystic not a magician," Raliana tried to explain. "I only knew how to use certain spells. Inky taught me how to use the full range of my powers and I taught him how to focus his magic better. He also gave me my name."

"Huh?" Both Fi and Annie gave her a strange look.

"Well when I was sent to live with Raliana my parents were forced to disown me and I was no longer permitted to use the name that they gave me. Raliana never got around to naming me and the gypsies would just call me magic child all the time," Raliana looked down at her food and played with it for a while. "The day that Inky gave me my name was the happiest day of my life. I felt like I was cared about and I was allowed to be part of the world again."

"Wow," that was all Annie could say and Fi just nodded.

"Well none of that matters to me now," Raliana smiled beautifully at both of them. "I am free and I can do whatever I want, for the most part."

"For the most part? I would think with your skill you could do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted to do it," Annie was puzzled.

"Inky is my trainer now," Raliana collected the empty plates and took them to the small sink.

"And that means," Fi was in total shock. She thought that she had known the whole story behind Raliana and Incanto but they obviously left some things out. Maybe it was so that she would have the same reaction as everyone else around her. Still a lot of this was not making any sense. Even if she was in human form the Princess of the Fey should pull rank over Puck or Incanto.

"It means that I have to respect his wishes to the fullest," Raliana refused to look either Annie or Fi in the eye. "I mean I would not do something for him that would put me or others in danger but other than that he is basically my master. But not in the I Dream Of Genie sense of master."

"So is that why you didn’t wear the dress I picked out for you last night," Fi asked her.

"And why you dressed like it is still 1940?" Annie added.

Raliana looked down at the dress was wearing and did not see anything wrong with it. Sure it was not the latest look but she liked it, or least she thought she liked it. The dress was a cotton apron dress with a few well paced large flora appliqués that were put on top of an off white fabric that had little flower liked dots all over it with the shoulder, neck, and straps trimmed red ribbon. "I like this dress," Raliana tried to tell them but she could see the looks of disbelieve that she was being given and sighed. "Well all of my clothes are like this."

Fi and Annie looked at each other and shook their heads. It was not hard to understand there disbelieve, they both looked like they could be on the cover of any number of rock or pop magazines. Part of the result of traveling with a rock band or growing up in a house of rock. The words that Raliana spoke were the words of someone who never even picked up a copy of a single fashion magazine, much less looked at the cover.

"Well were heading to Chicago aren’t we?" Fi asked Annie.

"Yeah," Annie nodded. "It wouldn’t be much of a problem. It could take a full day though."

"What are you guys talking about," Raliana looked at them nervously.

"Rye I think it is time for a makeover," Fi told her with all seriousness.

"Don’t worry," Annie tried to reassure her after seeing the look of fear that she was giving both of them. "It won’t hurt at all and you will probably love it."

"But what about Inky?" Raliana gave them a worried look.

‘You are the Princess of the Fey! You can do whatever you want,’ Fi pathed to Raliana. ‘Puck has no hold over you in Fey form or human form.’

‘But-‘

‘No,’ Fi interrupted her. ‘You are supposed to do what you want and what you believe in. Not what Puck or Inky wants.’

‘Fiona,’ Raliana could not explain what had been going on for generations, it was just the way things were. ‘For now it is just the way life is, it is tradition.’

"Hello? Earth to Fi and Rye," Annie waved her hand in front of Fi’s face. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah everything is fine," Fi lied. "I was just trying to think of a way to convince Rye that she did not have to act like she was walking on glass when Incanto is involved."

"It is just the way things have always been," Rye was exasperated. "In the magic community a trainee does what the trainer says without question."

"I guess the magic community hasn’t heard of the women’s rights movement," Fi retorted back. Annie nodded in agreement.

"Alright think of it like this," Raliana tried to think of a way to explain why she had to listen to Incanto without reveling to Annie who they really were. "Inky is the leader of a mission that we are on. Even if I had more experience then him or held a higher rank I would have to follow his order because he is the leader. If I didn’t, or if someone in my position didn’t it would through the whole system into chaos."

"I guess that makes sense," Annie was starting to get a very weird vibe from Rye and Fi, like they knew something that she didn’t.

"Sure, fine, whatever," Fi huffed.

Raliana sighed and then she decided to sit back down with the girls at the table. "I have a trick I have been working on but you guys can’t tell Inky, ok?"

"What is it?" Annie’s eyes got wide with excitement.

"Well Inky would call it stealing, but it is not really. It is just get around the annoyance of actually having a job that gives you cash for working," Raliana smiled wickedly.

"So what is this trick," Fi had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. She really was not interested but it seemed like a more neutral topic to discuss then to try to convince Rye that she did not have to obey Inky’s every word.

"Do you have a catalog of some sort, or something that has a picture of an item that you would like to have," Raliana glanced nervously over her shoulder. She did not want Irene to see what she was about to do. If everyone knew about this ‘trick’ she could get into a lot of trouble, it was considered manipulating humans on some level, even if it was only using her powers for her advantage.

"Yeah I have this months Delia’s right here," Annie handed her the clothing magazine.

Raliana took the magazine and started to flip through the pages. The girls had been right, her clothes were completely different then anything that was being sold. "This are very odd," Raliana stopped at a page jean miniskirt that looked like it had been in a paint ball war.

"That one is kind of cute," Fi pointed to a sky blue t-shirt that had heat transfers of Ms. Pac Man and some ghosts on the front.

Raliana wondered what the word fitted meant but she decided that it would be better not to ask. She closed her eyes and pictured the shirt in her mind and then imagined her hand reaching out the shirt and brought it towards her. Then finally she visualized herself yanking the shirt to her reality.

"That is so wicked!" Annie yelled with excitement. Her voice startled Irene who looked over her shoulder for half a second.

"Is everything okay back there girls?" Irene questioned as she focused on the road again.

"Yeah everything is fine Irene. We are just going back to our bedroom and set it up," Fi answered before Annie had a chance to say anything. She then stood up and pulled Annie back to the bedroom with her and Raliana followed quickly grabbing the t-shirt, which had materialized in front of her.

"Annie!" Fi and Raliana screamed at her at the same time as soon as they were all safely in the bedroom.

"I know," Annie apologized hanging her head. "I was just thrown off for a moment. But you have to admit that was totally cool."

"Yeah it was," Fi agreed grinned at the other two girls. "You know we could give our room a whole new look with that little trick of yours."

"Yeah I guess," Raliana sat down on Fi’s bed and handed her the t-shirt. "But what will Molly and the others say?"

"She does have a point," Annie looked kind of sad. "It would be hard to explain to Molly where we got the money to buy all new things. I mean this trick defeats the whole purpose of getting a job and earning money."

"Part of the reason Inky would flip if he found out that I have been working on it," Raliana explained. "This trick of mine throws off balance of the economy across the world."

"Whoa, slow down a second," Fi was trying to think of a way to justify using magic for personal gain. "How about this? We use magic to try on things and to see what would work in our room then when we get to Chicago we go and buy what we want. That way we aren’t throwing off the balance of the economy or anything like that."

"I guess that will work," Raliana spoke with a little hesitation.

"Well we will still have to worry about money," Annie sighed a little. "And Delia’s is the only catalog that I have."

"Who needs catalogs," Fi laughed. "We have access to every store we want to go to right here online."

"And we don’t need to worry about money. I have some that I took away from the gypsies. I never told Inky," Raliana smiled at the evilly. "What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Besides you have both seen first hand how often he works for money or for anything. Most of the time he says he does not want to be paid, he just wants the privilege of performing."

Annie and Fi laughed at her and then Fi spoke up. "We promise we won’t tell him."

"Yeah," Annie kept giggling. "Promise."

The girls settled down and surrounded Fi’s laptop. They spent hours going from site to site having Raliana zap in and out anything that they might want. They tried on all different types of clothing and were having the time of their lives laughing and smiling. They dressed in their room in thousands of different styles. Finally when they were exhausted they each lay on a bed in the small room.

"Raliana tell us about Avalon and the Fey," Fi propped her chin up on her hands.

"Oh I love to hear stories," Annie looked at Raliana wide eyed. "Which ones do you know?"

"Rye knows all about the Third Race, well you can call them the Fey as well and the mysterious island of Avalon. She told me some the other day," Fi answered for her.

"Really," Annie sat up in her bed. "Please tell us Rye!"

"Alright," Rye sat so that both girls could see her. "What would you like to hear about?"

"Are the banshees Fey?" Fi remembered her dream from earlier.

"Yes, well in a way," Raliana tried to think of a way to explain the complex network of the Fey. "The banshees are Fey, they talk people to the afterlife but they do not decide who dies or lives. The Fates are the ones who decided, they are sisters of Oberon and aunts to the Dreamweaver, who is brother to Titania." Annie and Fi looked at her with confusion. "It is very confusing. But to simplify this matter, Oberon does not decide who lives and dies, his sisters do."

"So if the banshees where to say that they did not take someone from this world then…" Fi was trying to put the pieces together in her mind.

"It is not unheard of for other spirits to take the lives of humans," Raliana knew what Fi was getting at. "Oberon himself has been known to take life if the situation calls for it. But the most common spirit to take life is the Dark Lord."

"Who is the Dark Lord?" Annie shivered a little as she asked the question.

"He has been around as long as anyone can remember," Raliana started to tell the tale. "The Dark Lord is the ruler of all the dark spirits that live in this world and in Avalon. That is why Oberon has no control over the dark spirits. However, when Oberon declared that no Fey should ever take a life of a human. If a Fey were to have reason to take a human’s life their reason would have to be approved by the Court of Avalon before any action is taken. Many spirits were enraged up by this and they deflected to the Dark Lord."

"What about Fey killing other Fey?" Annie was very interested in what Raliana had to say but she could not explain why.

"Fey do not harm other Fey, not if they are true children of Oberon. If a Fey has pledged allegiance to the Dark Lord they may be asked to kill one of their former brothers or sisters to prove loyalty, but they rarely succeed in completing their task," Raliana suddenly became very sad. "At first many Fey were lost but now they have banded together and protect each other."

"Do the Fey live forever?" Annie had so many questions that she never knew she had before. She wanted to know everything at once. "Have they always lived on Avalon?"

"If they do not come in contact with iron, it is the one weakness, they can live forever," Raliana laughed a little at Annie’s enthusiasm. "And no they have not always lived on Avalon. Many moons ago Oberon order all of his children, including his wife Lady Titania, to leave Avalon for a millennium to learn a lesson in humanity."

"But then didn’t the Dark Lord try to take over Avalon," Fi did not know all the history of her father’s land and decided it was best she knew before she talked with Jack.

"No," Raliana shook her had. "He could not. The Dark Lord is part the Third Race and Oberon order all of the Third Race off the island. Since Avalon recognizes Oberon as its ruler it removed everyone, including the Dark Lord and his subjects."

"So the Fey lived as humans for a thousand years?" Annie took over from Fi. "What did they do? Did they marry, have children?"

Again Raliana laughed. "Well yes some of them did have children. Sometimes a Fey would get pregnant with a half human child but decided they did not want to go through the process of carrying the child so they would transfer it to a human mother. All the Fey thought that it was a perfectly wonderful way of not dealing with the responsibility of raising a child. After all if you have a Fey child you are the one who has to train the child in magic use. What they did not realize was that later it would cause problems for humans because the untrained half Fey children would leak magic everywhere they went and would cause disturbances and sometimes reek havoc."

"So what is done to stop the havoc," Fi was very interested in this part. For some strange reason she thought she and Jack were the only half Fey children but she should have known better.

"Well most of the time when problems are spotted a guardian Fey is sent to teach the child to control any gifts that they have. It is so rare that any of this children have gifts that similar to or equal in power to a normal Fey that it is not necessary to tell them about the Fey or Avalon," Raliana then winked at Fi. "After all would you really believe someone who came up to you and said that you were part fairy?"

Both Annie and Fi laughed at her, "You are asking the wrong people Rye. Right Fi?"

"For sure," Fi giggled.

Raliana shrugged and laughed with the girls. They spent the rest of their time together planning on how they would sneak away from the rest of the group to transform Rye into a product of pop culture. Then they finally reached the end of the first leg of their tripped and everyone was moved around to different busses. This gave Rye and Inky a chance to talk.

‘Does she know,’ Inky pathed to his fiancée

‘No she does not,’ Rye answered him. ‘But I sense her magic is contained in some manner. She is almost as powerful as Jack and Fi but not quiet. Her magic is starting to leak through whatever shield she has.’

‘Who would just put a shield around their subject,’ Inky wondered. ‘They would have to stay with the child forever. Or in Annie’s case until she realizes that she is not aging normally after she reaches full adulthood.’

‘Do you really think that will happen to her? It is very uncommon for half Fey,’ Rye contemplated the situation. ‘The only way for her to have such power is if her blood had a direct tie to Oberon’s.’

‘Well is she yours?’

‘Of course not!’ Rye was appalled but his question. ‘I would never transfer my child to someone else.’

‘How do you know that her parents aren’t her real parents?’

‘Because they would not let her magic develop in this manner. It is just not a Fey thing to do,’ Rye told him.

‘They could be subjects of the Dark Lord,’ Inky pointed out to her.

‘If they were there is no way the Dark Lord would let her magic go unused,’ Rye countered.

‘Have you sensed her guardian near her?’

‘Yes,’ Rye smiled in her head. ‘But I cannot see him. He is hiding his form very well.’

‘Sounds like one of those animal spirits,’ Inky smiled wickedly at her. ‘They like to be low profile.’

Rye rolled her eyes, ‘We should get back to the others now.’

‘Wait has Fi decided when she will tell Jack?’

‘No, but I have a feeling it will be soon,’ Rye gave Inky a hopefully look. ‘Be patient love.’

‘Aren’t I always?’ Inky let out a little laugh. ‘Come let us join the others.’

*****

Finally the Molly Phillips tour reached their hotel in Chicago. They had called ahead to make sure that extra rooms had been reserved so that the rooms could be split up equally between the teens. The boys and girls got suites so that no one would have to share beds. Molly got her own room, a first for her in a long time, but it had an adjoining door to the girls’ suit, and Irene and Ned had their own room.

The next day while the crew and band were setting up the girls told Molly that they wanted to go to the Gurnee Mills Mall. She agreed as long as they promised that they would not spend too much money. They agreed and Rye zapped them to the mall, who wanted to wait for a taxi when magic could get where you wanted to go twice as fast.

Hours later after shopping in almost every store the girls returned to the hotel with bags upon bags of clothing, bedding, and other accessories. They were laughed and singing songs that they had heard played over the mall radio when they ran into the guys. At first everyone just stared at each other. Finally someone spoke.

"What have you done to yourself!" Inky yelled at Raliana.

"You don’t like it," Raliana was upset by his reaction since it was the exact opposite of Jack and Carey’s.

"You look, you look. I can’t even find words!"

"Inky chill!" Fi scolded him. "Rye is only dressed like any normal person would be."

"Your hair. Her hair," Inky pointed to Rye’s head. "Is this your doing?" He asked accusingly of Fi.

Raliana felt her hands start to shake with anger and then slowly a bright ball of blue energy started to form in front of her. She looked at Incanto with hurt and anger and then threw the ball of energy at his feet. A hole appeared in the ground in front of him and Raliana just glared at him for a few moments breathing heavily from using her magic. Then she dropped her shopping bags and ran away from all of them.

"Look what you have done," Fi yelled at Incanto as she and Annie turned to go after Raliana.

"What I have done," He yelled back at her. "You were the one who encouraged her to do this. If she hadn’t gone and-"

"And what? Have fun? Doing something for herself for once? Not worry about what you will think every waking moment?" Fi was not going to back down. "This is the year 2001 Inky. She is free to make her own choices whether you agree with them or not."

"What is going on here?" Jack demanded of both of them. He knew that he was only getting half the story.

"Your friend Inky here is repressing Raliana’s rights. He thinks that just because he is her trainer and fiancé that he can be her master too, as the man rules the woman type of master," Fi looked like she was about to hit Incanto.

Jack waited for Inky to respond but he said nothing, "Is that true?"

"Well I might be a little harsh on her, but it is for her own good. She very naïve and does not know how cruel humans can really be," Incanto glared at Fi.

"She was forced to live with gypsies that kept her locked up," Annie joined in the cause to fight for Raliana’s rights. "How much more cruelty does she need to experience?"

"I just want to protect her," Inky shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Well there is protection and then there is domination," Fi hissed.

"Fi," Carey finally spoke up to try to calm her. He had watched the whole scene and although he agreed with Fi he did not believe that they had the right to judge the relationship that Rye and Inky had.

Inky just stood there trying to think of a way to fix everything that had just happened. He knew he should go and apologize to Raliana but he was still mad at her for not following the rules of guardianship, she was not even supposed to be here. As a blood relative of the children she was not allowed to be part of their training but she had convinced Oberon that everything would go faster if she were there to help. Oberon had agreed let her go as long as she did everything that she was told to do and never questioned orders that were given. Now she was trying to take over the whole mission and that frustrated him more than anything. After fuming in front of everyone for another few minutes Incanto went stomping off in the opposite direction that Raliana had gone.

"Would anyone mind explaining to me why there is a hole in the ground?" Jack groaned after Incanto left.

"Raliana made it with her magic when she got mad at Inky," Annie told him. "She really could have killed him with it but she just wanted to show him that she was not going to take his attitude anymore."

"It was a rhetorical question," Jack smiled as Annie blushed a little. "Well I guess I will go talk to her and see if I can get her to at least come back to the hotel."

"Hey how come you get to talk to her," Fi demanded to know.

"Because other than Carey, I am the only here who won’t take sides on this whole issue," Jack told her pointedly.

"Yeah and I have to go practice tonight’s sets with Molly so that leaves Jackie boy here to play hero," Carey patted his friend on the back.

"Thanks," Jack’s voice was laced with sarcasm.

"Anytime buddy, anytime," Carey laughed. "Come on ladies I will help you with your bags. Let’s get back to the hotel." He held an arm out to each girl.

The girls rolled their eyes at him and then weighed his open arms down with the bags that Raliana had left. Carey groaned as they loaded him down but they started to head to the hotel. Annie held back for a moment though.

"Jack be careful okay," Annie voiced her concerns. "Rye is still really upset and she might try to take it out on you even though you aren’t responsible for what happened."

"Don’t worry Annie," Jack took in a breath and then smiled at her. "I have had my share of having girls taking out their frustration on me, comes with being an older brother. I’ll be fine."

"Yeah but Raliana has-" Annie started to tell him about Rye’s special powers but she knew that he would not believe her. "Never mind, just be careful. You saw what she did to the ground." Annie pointed to the hole and ran to catch up with Fi and Carey.

"That is just a silly magic trick," Jack told himself as he bent down to examine the hole. He touched his finger to the inside of the hole and pulled it away instantly. The ground where Rye’s energy ball had it was hot and the gravel was gooey from being melted.

"It can’t be," Jack shook his head as he backed away from the hole. "There has to be some other explanation. I’ll just go ask Raliana what really happened to the ground. Yeah she will explain everything." Jack turned and almost ran in the direction that Raliana had taken off in.

*****

Raliana had been tempted to transform herself into her Fey body but she held back the urge. She kept forming little balls of blue energy and throwing them around her. Watching the energy burn little holes into the ground helped her to think. She could not understand why she was letting "Incanto" get to her so much. Sighing she started to pace back and forth.

"Daughter, what troubles you so?" A wonderful deep voice asked her. Raliana smiled and turned around. She knew that voice it was unmistakable. There before her stood Oberon, her father.

"My Lord," Raliana dipped her head a little to show respect for her king. Then when he nodded at her to acknowledge her action she ran to him and hugged him tightly. She sighed a little when he stroked her hair.

"Why are you so sad Rhylinye?" Oberon was worried for his child. She should not be here on the human world but he had allowed her to journey with Puck because he knew there was no way to talk her out of it.

"It is Incanto," Rye faced her father. "Well Puck, whatever you want to call him. He has been treating me like a child while we have been here. I deserve better."

"You know how important this mission is to our people," Oberon had gone from a caring father to a concerned ruler in a matter of seconds. "The fate of all Fey rests on the whether you can convince Riconsorin’s children to pledge their allegiance to the Court of Avalon and to me."

"My brother’s children well pledge their allegiance to the Court of Avalon but my lord I sense that they will not pledge to you. They are angry still from their loss of their father and they blame you my Lord," Rhylinye’s tone matched Oberon’s, all business. As a royal she had learned that matters of the kingdom took precedence over emotions of the rulers.

"Curse the stars!" Oberon slammed his fist into a nearby tree. "I blame their human mother. What does she know of her husband’s death?"

"Nothing more then we allowed her to see. She believes that her husband was a human named Rick and died a human’s death," Rhylinye wanted to tell her father that Molly had done the best that she could with the children but she knew that he would not listen. It was not her place to fight the will of Avalon. "Puck told Fi everything that happened on that awful day. Fiona knows that it was her father’s fault but if I were her I would feel the same way. If you were killed because you did not obey the rules of Avalon I would not pledge allegiance to the Court."

"I would hope that you would rise above such petty emotions and take charge of Avalon, keep our people together," Oberon seemed troubled. "You can not let your personal feelings get in the way of running Avalon. You have to be stronger then that."

"Yes my Lord," Rhylinye cast her eyes downward.

"Now as for Puck," Oberon smiled again. "Pay you no heed to the foolish jester of mine. I keep him around for laughs and because he is good at what he does. But he holds no rank over you even if he is the leader of this mission. You are the Princess of Avalon and do not let him forget that." Oberon touched his hand to his daughter’s check.

Rhylinye basked in the warmth of her father’s love. "How is my mother?"

"She is well but she complains every day that she heart sick from missing her child," Oberon laughed. "Then she gets up and finds something else to worry about." Rhylinye giggled at this, it was true that the Lady Titania never let anything dampen her spirits for too long. "Now my child I have a gift for you, well actually for the son of Riconsorin."

"Oh what is it?" Rhylinye almost jumped with excitement.

"This," Oberon held up his index finger and his thumb. Then a small silver ring appeared between them. He threw the ring to his daughter.

Rhylinye caught the ring effortlessly. She examined the piece of jewelry for a moment then she recognized where it came from. "Riconsorin’s clan ring," she looked at her father questioningly. "I thought you had disposed of everything that was connected to him."

"This ring rightful belongs to his son," Oberon stated as if it was the only logical course of action. "I would have had given to him earlier but now seems like the prefect time."

Rhylinye again looked that silver ring. It had the same design that Fi and Molly’s rings. The rings that were given to Riconsorin’s wife and daughter hand belonged to Titania, who loved her son’s family dearly, but the ring that his son would soon possess had been passed down directly from Oberon. "I will give it to him straight away."

"Good for he comes looking for you now," Oberon informed her. "Goodbye my daughter. Remember do not let Puck torment you too much," with that he disappeared.

"Raliana!" Jack called from behind her. "There you are. I have been looking everywhere for you."

Raliana turned and then walked towards him. "I am sorry. I did not mean to worry anyone."

"No, don’t apologize," Jack held up his hand in protest. "You were right to be mad at Inky, and if makes any difference to you I like your new look. It suits you, not that your old one didn’t, but you just seem-"

"Thank you Jack," Rye interrupted him. "I wish that Incanto was more like you sometimes. Well in some aspects. I know he is just trying to protect me but still…"

"Maybe you should talk to him about the difference between protecting and controlling?" Jack suggested to her.

"Yes, I think I will," she smiled at him. "I found something for you. I have had it around for a while now." Rye held out the clan ring that her father had given her just moments before.

Jack looked at the ring and was in total shock. It looked just like the one that Fi had. "Raliana where did you get this?" He asked her as he put the ring on his thumb.

"The mystic Raliana said that my parents gave it to her when they took me to her. She said it was the only thing that they had for me to remember them by." Rye looked that the ring on Jack’s finger. "I want you to have it now. I don’t need it anymore but something tells me that you might."

"Rye I can’t possible accept this," Jack started to take the ring off but Raliana stopped him.

"I have no use for the ring now. Happier times have found me and the ring only reminds me of what I could have had," Rye clasped her hand around his. "Please accept it."

Jack wanted to protest but he decided not to, "Alright, but don’t start asking me to care of any beloved pets or anything like that."

"Promise," Rye crossed her heart and then laughed a little.

"Come let’s get back to the others," Jack held out his arm for her and she took it. "How long have you and Inky been engaged now?"

"Oh for eighteen-. Eighteen days now," Rye stammered. "We meet a few months ago. Ask Annie to tell you how we meet. I just told her and Fi the story this morning." When she spoke Annie’s name Rye almost hit herself. She had not asked Oberon what he knew about the girl. She turned away and looked at the tree that Oberon had been standing next to. ‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter,’ she shook her head a little. ‘He did not want to talk about it so we didn’t.’

"Hey Rye are you okay?" Jack questioned her.

"Yeah I am fine," Raliana smiled at him. "I just have a lot on my mind that is all. Come on we better get back before they send a search party out for us." Jack laughed at her and they headed back to the hotel.

*****

"Listen to me Puck," Rhylinye yelled at him from the next room. "I think we might have to talk to Jack on our about this if Fi doesn’t soon, I have this nagging feeling that if we let her keep putting it off that something bad will happen."

"Don’t call me Puck," Incanto scolded her as he walked out of the bathroom into the main room. "Someone could hear you."

"I don’t think so. They are all at the club," Rhylinye had changed back into her Fey form as soon as entered the room that Incanto was sharing with the other boys.

"What is your problem!" he yelled at her. "You change into your Fey form without knowing for sure if we are alone. Someone could walk in at any moment!"

"Don’t talk to me like I am a child," Rhylinye yelled back at him. "I am Rhylinye, daughter of Oberon and Titania, the only heir to the throne of Oberon, and I don’t need you!" With that she changed back into her human form of Raliana, "I’ll see you at the club." She headed to the door.

Incanto grabbed her arm, "Why are you doing this? Why now? You know how important this is to everyone." He was speaking to her gently now. He knew he was wrong to yell at her when she was just trying to give him information.

"You treat me like I am a mindless object," Raliana whispered back to him. "I have all the knowledge of the Fey. I don’t need to be told what to do. I tell others what to do."

"Rhylinye we are not on Avalon," he turned her so that he could she her face. "Lord knows I wish were but we are not. Here nothing is the same, especially now."

"Do you think I don’t know that," Raliana spat at him. "I am more aware of the consequences then you could ever be. So why do treat me like I three years old?"

"Well right now because you are acting like it," he countered. "Before I was wrong. I am sorry. I should have not have reacted like that. It is your hair and your body."

Raliana laughed, "Oh stars you are right. I am sorry." She hugged him.

"There is a lot of stress in this mission," he told her as he held her close to him. "I am happy that you are here to help me. I don’t think I could do this without you."

"Hello, that is it the whole reason I made you take me with you," Rye laughed at him. "But I am worried about how long it is taking to tell Jack what is going. We have to make sure Fi tells Jack as soon as possible."

"Well the only thing we can do is to talk to Fi and ask her to him," Inky sighed. He started to pace back and forth in the room, "Oberon told you nothing about Annie?"

"I uh, I kinda forgot to ask him," Raliana cringed a little.

"You forgot or he made you forget?"

"Don’t know, don’t care," Raliana gave him a guilty look. "I am starving I can’t help it!"

"Okay. Let’s go find everyone else. We need to talk to Fi anyway," Incanto sighed. "Things are starting to get very complicated."

Rye nodded but she did not say anything. After a moment she held out her hand and he took it. They had made a silent pack in that moment that no matter what happened they would always be there for each other. She smiled at him and with that they left the room.

As soon as the door closed a little light became visible to the eye. It flitted about the room in an angry and chaotic pattern. "Stupid princess and her beloved Puck," the wisp cursed them as he circled the room. "They should be at each others throats calling for blood!"

‘But they aren’t,’ the voice of his Lord entered his mind.

"I am sorry my Lord. This is going to be harder than I thought," the wisp apologized fearfully to the Dark Lord. "Their bond is very strong. I did not anticipate this."

‘Well it looks like we are going to have to figure out another way to get to the children of Riconsorin,’ the Lord thought for a moment. ‘For now just observe them. I want them to be fully trained there is no need to waste time with something silly like that when the Princess and her fiancé are doing our work for us.’

"Yes master," the wisp faded into the darkness again.

*****

"Oh sorry," Annie told the person whom she just bumped into. ‘Look before you leap they always say. I think I need to work on look before I walk first,’ she groaned mentally.

"It’s okay," Jack laughed. "I wasn’t looking where I was going either. Hey have you seen Raliana and Incanto around?"

"No, not since they were fighting?" Annie shrugged. "I hope that they will be alright. It would be awful if they broke up or something."

"I don’t think we need to worry about that," Jack pointed to Raliana and Incanto who were heading toward them.

"Hey guys," Rye smiled at them. "I am starving! When are we going to eat?"

"Boo!" Fi called out as she came behind Jack and Annie.

"I tried to stop her," Carey apologized to the others.

"Hello! Starving girl here," Rye did not pay attention to a word that anyone was saying. "If I don’t get some food soon I will wither up and die!"

"Okay we get the point," Fi laughed at her friend. "Jeez you would think that you were pregnant or something."

"Ha, ha," Rye faked her laughter. "Can we just drop the antics and find your parents so we get figure what is going on for dinner."

"We’re going, we’re going," Jack chuckled as he started to lead everyone to where he last saw his mother. Everyone was so busy laughing at Raliana that they did not notice a strange light head toward Annie. All of the sudden Annie started to waver.

"Annie," Jack grabbed her hand as he tried to steady her. "Annie are you okay?" She did not hear him, instead she slumped against him. "Annie!"

"Annie please wake up," Fi pleaded with her friend as helped Jack lay Annie on the ground.

"I’ll go get help," Carey ran off to find someone.

"Annie you are gonna be okay," Jack held her head in his lap. He was not sure if he was trying to reassure himself or her. "You are gonna be just fine Annie, just hang on. We are getting help."

Raliana looked at Incanto with horror as they watched the scene before them unfold. They both knew what this meant. It meant that the Dark Lord was getting closer and things were only going to get worse.

Author’s Note: This is the first So Weird fan fiction that I have written. I hope everyone likes it. I will try to update as much as possible, but just to warn you, I am slow writer and I am working three different stories right now. There is one trick into getting me to write fast though. Feedback, I live on it. Feedback is a drug for me. Hope to give you more to read soon! Oh yeah, English is not my first language so please forgive any spelling and grammar mistakes.