Berenice flipped her head and wrapped her wet hair into a white towel. She had just stepped out of the shower and was dripping wet. She wrapped a towel around her body and headed towards the room she shared with her older sister Arsinoe. She walked into their room then stopped dead. Arsinoe sat in the middle of the room surrounded by thick white candles and books. She sat cross legged with her hands on her knees and a piece of notebook paper in front of her. She chanted something, rocking back and forth. Then gradually and white glowing sphere appeared over her head. Berenice watched dumbfounded as the sphere glowed brighter and brighter, and got bigger and bigger. Soon it surround both the girls in it's blinding light. "Arsinoe, whats happening?" Berenice cried as she realized something really weird was happening. "Berenice?" Arsinoe's voice seemed distant. The glowing light that had been blinding them gradually started to fade and suddenly the girls found themselves in a room that defiantly was not their bed room. They were in the middle of some kind of stone lecture room. Men and women in varying colored robes, some in what Berenice thought of as 'Renaissance clothes', sitting or standing, all stared at the two sisters. Berenice let out a high pitched "eep" at having been seen by so many people in a towel. She moved closer to where Arsinoe still sat still surrounded by books and candles. "Arsinoe, what'd you do?" she asked staring back wide eyed at the funny looking people surrounding them. "I did it," Arsinoe whispered, "I brought us to Tortall!" "You WHAT!!" Berenice cried, she knew her sister had chosen to become Pagan, but she didn't know she could do stuff like this. Arsinoe looked up at Berenice disgusted, "Chill out, Berenice, you weren't supposed to be here." she told her. "It's not as if I can help it, I just needed my pajamas! I didn't know you'd be doing a spell!" Berenice started to grow distressed, not at all happy to have been transported to Tortall, least of all in a towel. She clutched her towel to her chest as a man with striking blue eyes and black hair imerged out of the robed people - having read the Tamora Pierce books guessed they were mages. Berenice paled realizing she was standing face to face with King Jonathan of Tortall. Berenice stared wide-eyed at King Jonathan as he stared at her. After a moment Arsinoe nudged Berenice out of the way and held out a hand to the King. "Hello, I'm Arsinoe," she said. "I brought us here from a parallel dimension. You must be King Jonathan, pleased to meet you!" The Jonathan absently shook her hand, " A 'parallel dimension'?" he asked. "Yes," explained Arsinoe, "You see where I come from you are characters in books." she bent and picked up Alanna: The First Adventure one the books that had been surrounding her when she had done her spell, and handed it to King Jonathan. "See. I found this ancient book of spells in the basement of the library I work at and one of them had the word Tortall in it. So I checked it out and tried it and here I am." Over her shoulder she took a look at Berenice who had been trying to hide behind her. "Berenice wasn't supposed to come. She just walked in on the transportation process." At the mention of Berenice's name King Jon sharply up from the book he held. He peered at her over Arsinoe's shoulder, "You are Berenice?" he asked her. Suddenly very shy and scared Berenice timidly nodded and let out a weak "Yes," at the King's appraisal. The king turned around and beckoned to a tall dark man who was already coming forward. "The prophesy." the King said to him. The tall dark man nodded as he stood next to King Jon staring, just as he was, at Berenice. "Oh my God," Arsinoe breathed the words as they went through Berenice's head. Both girls were struck dumb. It was Numair! Daine's Numair! And he was really tall! Both girls stared up at him their heads tilted up. "You are Berenice?" he asked. Berenice stared at him for a moment before answering. "Yes," she squeaked and moved closer to Arsinoe. Why were they making a big deal over her name? "Don't be scared," Numair said smiling, "We're not going to hurt you. Come out from behind her." Berenice gulped, wishing she at least had some underwear on and stepped out from behind Arsinoe, clutching her towel tightly. Numair saw her discomfort. "Anyone have a log of wood?" he asked the mages that still surrounded them. A young handsome man with light brown hair and deep brown eyes stepped forward, " Already taken care of, " he said as he handed Numair an deep maroon dressing gown. He smiled at Berenice who smiled a small thankful smile back at him. Arsinoe let out a disgusted snort as she took the dressing gown from Numair and helped Berenice into it. Berenice always got all the attention. After helping Berenice Arsinoe, who had always had a soft spot for Numair, stared up at Numair with renewed awe. "You're Numair," she stated. Numair eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement, "How did you know that?' he asked. "Probably the same way she knew who I was," King Jonathan said, "We're characters in books." Arsinoe picked up Emperor Mage and gave it to Numair, "This one about Daine," she told him. "There's four series, four books about Alanna the Lioness, four books about Daine and so far two books about Keladry of Mindelan." her eyes suddenly caught an angry glint. "Of which I have a few points to pick with you. How could you have put Kel on probation? Are you an idiot or something? The first girl with sense comes along and you have to ruin her experience! And I'm not even going to begin on the emotional distress you caused Alanna! and furthermore-" "Arsinoe, please, shut up!" Berenice cried. growing even more embarrassed. She couldn't believe Arsinoe had actually said that. "I'm speaking on the behalf of Tamora Pierce readers everywhere!" her eyes narrowed as she looked at Berenice, "You always did like Jon the best. Thats why you always defend him." Berenice blushed, "He had reasons for putting her on probation....." "You know about that?" King Jonathan asked, his face void of any emotions. Berenice nodded, "It's in the first scene of the first book about Keladry of Mindelan. You made a lot of people in our dimension really angry by doing that." she said regretfully. She did always like Jon the best. She shivered. She had never really realized that castle were so drafty. "Maybe we should put them somewhere warmer, where they can wait for the reality to sink in," Numair wisely suggested. King Jonathan nodded and called for a servant to come forward. He told him to take to girls to an apartment in the wing of castle that housed the scholars and mages. Before the sisters knew it they were situated in their own separate chambers, that shared a sitting room. Arsinoe couldn't be happier, but Berenice wasn't so sure. Berenice was awake late that night thinking. Her room was the coolest she had ever been in. She lay in the huge bed with a deep red and violet coverlet and deep red bed curtains. The whole room was done in red, violet and deep brown mahogany. At first it took her breath away and she spent her first 15 minutes in there walking around touching her new furniture, utterly awed. A maid had been assigned to Berenice and Arsinoe, a rosy cheeked brown bunned young woman named Hattie. She had given Berenice and Arsinoe night gowns and took their measurement and said she would find them some suitable clothes to wear until their own clothes were ready. Arsinoe was overjoyed with her new surroundings and it wasn't that Berenice was ungrateful, she'd just rather be in her own world. Tears formed in her eyes as she stared at her ceiling from her bed as the reality of the situation sunk in. She'd never see her mom, or her dad or her step-mom and half sister ever again. She'd never go home. Berenice originally lived in France with her dad, step-mom and half-sister, Claire. She had been visiting her mother and sister when it happened. As the tears spilt down her cheeks she wish she had never gone to the States, wished her parents hadn't gotten a divorce. They had gotten divorce eleven years ago, but if they hadn't maybe she wouldn't be in TORTALL right now. Tortall! She couldn't believe she was in Tortall, an imaginary land from books! She had met and talked to imaginary characters. Tortall! What was she supposed to do here? She had liked her life in her world! Why did Arsinoe have to go and ruin it with her little spell? Berenice fell asleep with these thoughts, tears soaking her pillow. She woke groggily the next morning, rubbing that gunk you get in your eyes(*whats that stuff called anyway?*) of her eyes. She first had no clue where she was, but the unhappy remembrance soon came rushing back. Not really knowing what to do she slipped out of bed, and went through the sitting room she shared with Arsinoe and went into to Arsinoe's room, stopping in the doorframe. Arsinoe, who had been daydreaming gave Berenice an injured look, as if offended to have her day dreams interrupted and asked in a little sweet voice, "Yes?" "Um, I was- I was wondering if you had any counter spell of some kind to bring us -or me- back to our world." Arsinoe stared at her as if she was crazy. " Are you serious?" she asked getting out of her bed, "This is the best thing that has ever happened to us, at least me, why would you want to go back to our world when you could be here?" Arsinoe stood in front of her and put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "I liked my life there," Berenice said, "Won't you miss mom and dad, Diane and Claire or your friends?" "First of all, Dad, Diane and Claire are your family not mine, and second of all don't think I didn't think it through before I did the spell the spell. To come here I sacrificed mom and friends to be here." Arsinoe said. "I don't understand why would want to give up your whole life just to come here," Berenice told her. "What are we supposed to do here anywayz?" "We could teach them about our world," Arsinoe said, but before she could go on there was a knock on there sitting room door. Berenice ran to open it while Arsinoe peered out her doorway to see who it was. It was Hattie, the maid. She juggled an arm full of clothes and a tray with food on it. Berenice immediately helped by taking the tray and placing it on a low table in the sitting room. Hattie outfitted Arsinoe while Berenice breakfast, and vice versa so that soon they were both properly dressed and fed. A short while after that King Jonathan, Numair and another mage showed up. ******** Berenice had just finished being outfitted when there was a knock on the door. Hattie scurried to open it revealing Numair and two other people. One, a woman in her late thirties, had a kind handsome face, if not pretty. The other, a man in his late fifties, had graying brown hair, more gray than brown. He wore glasses and had a kind face with a disheveled air about his clothes, an obvious book worm. Numair flocked by his companions stepped into the girls' sitting room. "Hello girls," he said, "As you probably already know, I'm" "Numair Salmalin, we know, we know," said Arsinoe with a flirtatious smile. "How's Daine?" Berenice asked, seeing Arsinoe's motives and received a glare from her. "She- she's fine," Numair told her momentarily backwarded by her question. "Uh yes well, this is Mage Syrianna of Eldian," the woman nodded, "and this is Sir Mattieu of Rider's Peak." "Eh, hello," the man stumbled over a greeting while staring at Berenice, as if searching her face for something. Numair gestured to Berenice, "This is Berenice," he gestured to Arsinoe, "and Arsinoe." Arsinoe tried an awkward curtsy while Berenice, not wishing to further embarrass herself simply nodded. "We, " Numair continued, " are very interested in this world or dimension you come form and it's history, religion and so on and so forth, so I hope you will answer some questions." "Of course we'd love to answer any questions you ask us, isn't that right Berenice?" Berenice rolled her eyes and said "yeah sure," Numair smiled a genuine smile then said: " Fine, Berenice, if you would come with Sir Matt and I, and Arsinoe you go with Mage Syrianna." Berenice followed Numair and Sir Matt out the door as Arsinoe sulkily followed the mage. Numair led them through a maze of hallways and soon Berenice had lost of her orientation of which way led her back to her room. "Where are you taking me?" she asked, wondering what they where to do with her. "To the library," Numair told her, "We have something to show you." Berenice silently wondered what they had to show her, but she let it pass, she'd find out in a little while anyway. They soon reached the library and were led into a large room connecting to the main room of the library. Shelves were full of old looking books and scrolls. "Get the book, " Numair told Sir Mattieu. He skim a shelf with his hand then picked out a book opening it to the front page. Something was written in symbols unfamiliar to Berenice. "That's old Thak," Numair told her, " the rest of the book and all the other books and scrolls are in a language we don't understand. We have no idea what's in them, but we think they will give us information about the Old Ones." 'The Old Ones' Berenice remembered Alanna and Sir Myles talking about them in Alanna the first Adventure. She had always thought they were a bit like the ancient Greek peoples, but she never had been sure. "You don't know what they say?" she asked not really understand why he was telling this to her. "No, but we can read the old Thak," said Numair looking at her oddly, " It's a prophesy." "A prophesy? What does it say?" Berenice asked. "Well translated it says 'There will come a one to bring our scrolls to life again, a girl with the name of a princess, Berenice'" He watched her face. Berenice stared at him," No really, " she said, " what does it say?" "By the Goddess that is what it truly says," he told her. She stared at the writing, "I can't be, " she said, "how would it know I would come here?" "It's a prophesy," Numair told her, "You don't really ask how it would know." 'A girl with the name of a princess, Berenice' "My parents named me and Arsinoe after Egyptian Princesses," she told them not caring if they didn't know what Egypt was. Numair turned the page to reveal a page covered in writing, " Can you read that?" he asked her. Berenice looked at it, "Of course," she said, " It's just French." Numair raised his eyebrows, "French?" "Yes, it's a language...,"She paused realizing that maybe there was no French language here,"...from my world, you don't know it don't you?" Numair shook his head, "You know what it says?" " It says, ' In the beginning Earth was only a rock, lifeless and barren, no plants or animals grew in it's soil, no fish swam in it's seas' Do you want me to go on?" she told him easily translating the French into English. Numair smiled a large very happy smile as did he quiet Sir Mattieu, "No don't go on, not now," he told her, "I must go tell the king, you stay here and Sir Matt will tell you what to do." He left them quickly hurrying out the door. Berenice sighed, watching him go. She thought, Was there a reason she had been brought her, had some higher being been planning out her life? She shook her head, she was getting a headache. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% "I can't believe it, " Sir Mattieu said, " I've spent over thirty years studying these documents and now you're here and can translate them." Berenice wasn't sure if the man was anguished or happy, he seemed a little of both. Not really knowing what to do she shrugged and said, "They're in French, I've been speaking it almost all my life." Berenice and Arsinoe's parents had split up when Berenice was three. She lived with her dad in France since then and though they spoke English at home, Berenice had quickly picked up the French language. She went to an American school "Here," Sir Mattieu rummaged around on a desk that had been partially hidden by a shelf. He put a piece of parchment and quill onto the table next to the book Berenice had just read from, "You, my girl, have yourself a job. I mean, I hope you won't mind, but it would really mean a lot to us if you would make a job out of translating the scrolls. There are literally hundreds of them, so you won't run out of work any time soon." He waited for her to answer. Berenice stared at the items on the table. Never before had she ever in her dreams imagined she would be right here, right now. (sorry cliché- stupid car commercial).Was she brought here to spend the rest of her life translating documents? She still couldn't comprehend that her coming was prophesied. Well, she thought to herself, what else is there to do? It could be interesting. She looked up at Sir Mattieu, "I don't think I know how to use a quill pen." Sir Mattieu smiled with relief and showed her how to correctly hold the quill. And so Berenice began. The quill was hard to use at first, her ink inconsistent and blotty, but she soon got used to it, only making a blot or two now and then. The writings were interesting, or so Berenice thought. Sir Mattieu read what she wrote over her shoulder, annoying Berenice, but she over looked it. The ancient myths had quickly encaptured her attention, as myths commonly did. Ancient civilizations had always fascinated Berenice. She loved to learn about ancient beliefs and see the common sense in them, and see how and why they had started. She was deep into the reading when, Numair and a preoccupied looking King walked in. "Look," Numair gestured toward her, "I told you she was the one." The king walked over and picked up a piece of parchment that Berenice had finished writing on and read it. He looked at her, "You understand it?" he asked. Berenice nodded, a little shy around the King, as Numair said, "Well of course Jon, you don't think she made it up." King Jon shrugged. "Do you know what this means?" Numair asked, "No other country has a translator for their scrolls, this puts us for ahead of them in our knowledge of the Old Ones." he paused, "There could be ancient spells in these scrolls, who knows the knowledge they will unfold." "You have a large weight on your shoulders, little one," King Jonathan told Berenice. Berenice shrugged, "It's nothing I can't handle," she told them shyly, "I actually find it very interesting." King Jon smiled, " I believe you are the perfect match for Sir Matt," he said. "Now if you will excuse me, I think Numair and I have some business to attend to," he turned to go. Numair gave a nod of farewell and left behind him. Berenice translated for the rest of the day, only pausing to eat a lunch of a hardroll cheese sandwich. The translating would have been faster if Berenice had been more used to translating French into English, some of the phrases were hard to say in English. At around six o'clock Sir Mattieu tapped her shoulder. She had been deep into the reading and started, adding another inkblot to her work. A servant had come to take Berenice back to her rooms. She bid goodnight to Sir Mattieu and followed the servant into the main rooms of the library. As she walked through one of the rooms she saw a group of pages, she could tell by their uniforms. She stared at them wide eyed as she closely followed the servant. No, she thought, It couldn't be. It was. A girl page looked at her as she passed. Berenice exited the Library with the servant, mentally calming herself. She could not believe she had saw Kel!, Arsinoe would flip! It was kind of weird though, she thought to herself. She knew practically everything about these people's lives. Half of her wanted to avoid them while the other half wanted to run up to them screaming. It was weird. By the time she had reached her rooms she had calmed herself down. She thanked the servant and entered her rooms. Arsinoe was sitting at their coffee table eating some soup. A steaming bowl was on a tray on the table, waiting for her. "Hey," said Berenice as she sat down with her soup. "I saw Kel and her group." Arsinoe spit out the soup that had been in her mouth in a fireworks-like spray, "You WHAT?!" ^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^%^^%^%^%^ It was a week later when Berenice was eating her dinner when Arsinoe came prancing into their sitting room with a huge grin on her face. She hummed happily to herself and sat with a plot onto a couch across from Berenice's chair. Berenice looked up at her older sister. Arsinoe in a good mood? she thought, Never. Arsinoe worked with some mages and scholars and the study of Wiccan magic (I know theres a 'k', but I don't really feel comfortable using it in fanfiction, it's like scared, ok anyways...). She also told them of their culture and things connected to that, she mostly just answered questions all day so Berenice couldn't figure out why she was so happy. "Whats with you?" she asked. "I made friends with Kel's group today!" she cried happily. "It's like every Tamora Pierce's fan dream to meet some of her characters, and here I am, newly made friends with them!" she squealed, "This is what I came to Tortall for." Berenice thought a moment. "Isn't kind of weird though?" she asked, "knowing like every intimate detail of their lives? Do they know you know about them?" 'They know I came from a world where some of the people here are characters in books, but they don't think it's them. Besides," she went on, " whats so bad about knowing every intimate detail about them? Now I don't really have to take the time to get to know them and it might prove to be very interesting blackmail, if I ever need to use it." Berenice sighed. It would be stupid to start an argument with Arsinoe plus she didn't want to burst her bubble. Just because Arsinoe was friends with them didn't mean she had to be. She was just fine the way she was avoiding Kel and her friends at all costs. It was Saturday and Berenice had decided to take a break from translating for awhile. She had gotten a book form the library that Sir Mattieu had recommended. It was a book on the earliest document history of Tortall. Berenice found it very interesting, learning a whole new history. So she settled down on a couch in the sitting room and prepared for a long read. And then there was a knock on the door. "One second!" she called, a little peeved to have to get up when she had just sat down. Putting a finger in her spot in her book, she hopped up and run to the door and quickly opened it, expecting to see Numair or Sir Mattieu. She gasped. The moment she saw him, she knew it was Neal, it was the widows peak that really gave him away. "Hallo," she said, unintentionally staring at him as if he had three heads. "Um, Hello, is Arsinoe here?" he asked, he too was staring at her. "No, she's out talking to some mages or something, she doesn't really tell me where she goes too often." Berenice regained her senses, she might as well be friendly, it was awkward for her, but she might as well be friendly. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Berenice, Arsinoe's sister." He shook her hand, "Neal of Queenscove, I didn't know Arsinoe had a sister," Berenice shrugged, "She probably doesn't talk about me much, I don't really think she likes me that much." "Oh, I doubt that, she seems really nice to me," Neal told her. " Thats because your Neal," Berenice muttered under her breath. "What?" "Nothing!" You really have to stop thinking out loud, Berenice told herself, it was one of her habits. Neal looked at the book in her hand, "What are you reading?" he asked. "Oh!" Berenice brought up her book, " 'The History of Tortall, 101 to 200'" she told him. "Sounds interesting," he commented sarcastically. "No, actually it is," Berenice told him, "Boring title, but a good book." Neal chuckled, "Well, if Arsinoe isn't here I guess I better go, unless you want to come to the market with us?" Neal looked at her beseechingly. Berenice shook her head, "No, thats all right," She said a little too forcefully, If she found talking to Neal weird, she doubted that she would like to go somewhere with all of Kel's friends. "Well, if you're sure," Berenice nodded, " I want to start my book," she assured him, hoping it was a good enough excuse. "Well all right then, bye!," he headed down the hall. "Bye!" Berenice called She shut the door and leant against it. She sighed. "Well that wasn't so bad." ********* It was the next day, when Berenice had just finished her translating for the day, she was still decoding history/myths and legends. She walked through the rooms of the library slowly with her head in her book. By now she had learned her way back to her rooms and to a couple other places in the palace. As she walked through the main room of the library, a voice stopped her. "Hello." Berenice looked up the tiniest bit from her book, two booted shoes stood in front of her. She slowly looked up into Neal's face. "Hello," she said. "Still reading your book?" he asked. Berenice stared at him for a second. "Oh, yeah, yes I am. Really, it's very interesting." "So, I was wondering if you wanted company on the way to your rooms," he looked at her nervously. "You want to walk me to my rooms?" Berenice couldn't believe it, Neal wanted to walk her to her rooms, NEAL! "Well, yeah," Neal replied, in obvious discomfort. Berenice looked at the study group of the Protector of the Small. They were all staring at her and Neal, some with grins on their faces, but they quickly turned away and turn extremely studious when she looked. Placing her attention back at Neal, she shrugged and said, "Sure." "So," he said, as they made their way through the library to the door, which he graciously held open for her, " what do you do in the library?" Berenice bit her lip, she wasn't sure if she should tell him or not. She had never been explicitly told not to talk about her situation and knowledge and she didn't feel it was necessary to lie about it, but then she wasn't sure if Sir Mattieu or Numair would be too happy if she screamed her news from the top of Balor's Needle. "I, um, I translate documents and do paper work and help out Sir Mattieu of Riders Peak, the, uh, keeper of the, uh, documents." Well, she hadn't really said anything untrue, she just evaded the question. "I see," Neal said, obvious he didn't, "Well, Arsinoe told me about she brought you guys here." Berenice stopped and stared at him, "She did What?!" Berenice couldn't understand why Arsinoe would want to go around bragging that she was from another world. She had no discretion whatsoever, and she was purposely making them into outcasts. If she had no consideration for her own secrecy why ruin Berenice's? Berenice steamed with anger and frustration. Worry lines etched Neal's face. "She told us you were from another world, what? Was she not supposed to tell or something?" Berenice continued to walk again. "No," she said, "not really, we were never really forbidden from telling people we were from another world, I just thought we wouldn't really tell anybody," she sighed, she would have a talk with Arsinoe later, "Well it's already done, so oh well." She smiled up at Neal, deciding she should look on the bright side, "So, hows pagedom treating you?" Neal smiled back at her, "It's the same as it always was, total and complete torture. Berenice chuckled. "So," Neal said, " are there knights in your world? Arsinoe doesn't really talk about it much, she just says this Tortall is a lot funner." "ttt, Arsinoe would say that," Berenice said scornfully." There aren't knights, though, at least not what you have here. There were knights and squires and stuff a long time ago." "Really?" Neal asked, deeply fascinated. Berenice nodded, "Yeah, hundreds if years ago in the Middle Ages. Actually the culture of Tortall is very similar to that of the Middle Ages, except we don't have the gift, which is like a really big difference." "You don't have the gift?" Neal asked, "How do you do serious healing, or warfare? It must be terrible." "Not really," Berenice said, trying not to get defensive of her own world, "Though, we don't have the gift, your world, compared to mine, is technically primitive. Instead of candles we have lightbulbs, that you can turn on and off in seconds, and electricity and cars and heating and TV and showers, oh god I'd die for a shower and a Milky Way bar-" she stopped. Neal didn't know what she was talking about. "I'm sorry, I got carried away, I guess, I'm just home sick." "I understand," Neal said, " I guess I'd be home sick to," They stopped, they had reached Berenice and Arsinoe's apartments. "Though maybe you'll tell me what a 'shower' is, besides rain, and a 'Milky Way'. Sounds interesting." " Don't worry," Berenice said, " I will, or you can ask Arsinoe, I'm sure she'll be happy to tell you. Well, thanks for walking me, I really appreciate it." "It was my pleasure," Neal said gallantly. "Well bye!" Berenice said and opened and closed her door behind her. She was beginning to like Neal in spite of herself. Later when Berenice had decided to go to bed early, Arsinoe stormed into her room, seething with anger. Berenice, laying on her bed reading, warily looked up from her book. "You've really done it this time," Arsinoe said, standing at the foot of her bed, angrily shaking her head. "What?" Berenice asked, she hadn't done anything to Arsinoe lately so she couldn't imagine what was wrong. "It was bound to happen, I know, once a guy meets you he falls to his knees. Let me ask you, why? Why must you make every guy you see fall in love with you? You must have known I liked him and just did it to spite me, you may play the innocent, but I can see right through you, no you don't fool me!" Arsinoe's words dripped with anger, Berenice was sure she had never seen her so angry before. "Arsinoe, what are you talking about?" Berenice was a little frightened of Arsinoe this mad. "As if you don't know!" she laughed, but it was and empty, angry laugh, "You've got Neal of Queenscove spouting love sonnets over you! It was so close to being me he like, but no, no one ever likes me once they meet you," years of jealously and rage poured into this one moment. "What!" Berenice cried, "thats impossible! he only walked me back from the library once, he hardly even knows me!" "Thats all it takes with you, you and your wiles and flirting. He didn't even stand a chance." Berenice was getting angry now too. "It's not my fault he likes me, I can't very well force him too. And besides, it's Neal! He falls in love just for the sake of falling in love!" "Yeah," agreed Arsinoe, angrily," And not with me!" "How can I help that?" Berenice cried, " It's not my fault he's that way, if you blame anyone, blame him not me, I didn't so anything!" Arsinoe's eyes narrowed. "No, you did something, you purposely got him to fall in love with him, just to spite me! You knew I liked him so you flirted your way into his heart just to hurt me!" Her eyes filled with angry tears Arsinoe stormed out of Berenice's room. "Arsinoe, wait!" Berenice cried jumping out of bed, " How was I to know?!" Arsinoe had reached her door, " I'm never going to speak to you again! Ever!" She screamed and slammed the door. "Arsinoe please!" Berenice cried through Arsinoe's door, but she knew it was useless. With a sigh and a heavy heart, Berenice headed back to bed for a restless night. ****** And so began a horrible week for Berenice. Everyday Neal would walk her to her rooms from the library and everyday Arsinoe wouldn't speak to her. For all that Berenice disliked, or pretended to dislike, Arsinoe; it hurt her that she wouldn't talk to her. All the same Berenice wouldn't tell Neal not to walk with her anymore. She liked Neal and as long as he remained unromantic, she would like to be his friend. It changed one day that week when a young mage walked into the library's scroll room where Berenice worked. Berenice was deep in a scroll when he walked in, the scrolls had gotten more interesting, she was translating ancient spells. Now Numair and some other mages often came to read what Berenice translated, so she was not surprised when a visitor came and did not look up from her scroll right away. "I just translated some weather spells there...." Berenice stopped looking up realizing it was not one of the normal mages who visited. It was a young man, who looked to be in his early twenties or late teens. He was handsome with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He looked oddly familiar to Berenice. "Hello, " she said, not really knowing what else to say. "Hello," he answered with a smile. "Ah!" cried Sir Mattieu from his desk where he edited, went over and some times copied Berenice's translations, "Michael! How good it is to see you, my lad! How goes it at the University? What brings you here?" He stepped forward and gave the young man called Michael a hug. "Uncle! It's good to see you too! I'm doing pretty well at the University and I'm here on very important business!" he said returning his uncle's hug. "Important business, eh?" asked Sir Mattieu curiously. "Yes, for your little protege," Michael turned to her, "Do you remember me?" he asked. Berenice had been staring at him as he greeted his uncle, trying to figure out why he looked so familiar. Then it came to her, "You're the mage who gave me a robe when I first came here," she said. He smiled brightly, "You remember!" he said. "Whats this ' important business' you have, then, " asked Sir Mattieu. "Oh yes, I forgot for a moment," Michael looked at her, "We have gotten word that foreign counties, have a need for your services, as you might say. Basically, they know that we have an ancient scroll translator, and they want one too. It may be unnecessary, but we fear that a kidnapping might take place, if these foreign countries get desperate." Berenice paled, "Kidnapping?" "It's highly improbable, but you can never be too safe," he told her. Berenice was dumbfounded. Kidnapped? Never had the thought crossed her mind that foreign countries would want to kidnap her just for her knowledge. Sir Mattieu was astounded too. "Kidnapped? How can she protect herself from it?" "I am going to be her body guard," he said proudly. "You?" Berenice and Sir Mattieu at the same time, "Why you?" asked Sir Mattieu, "What have you got to do with it?" "I'm now part of the 'Intelligence' headed by Sir Myles," he said, " He thought it would be productive to have a mage on the team." He smiled proudly. "So what are your duties?" Berenice asked, kind of unsure of his abilities to protect her. The prospect of being kidnapped scared her, more so than it would in her old world, at least there she had been positive of her surroundings. "Well I basically have to be with you all the time, " he told her. " What does that mean?" Berenice asked. "I sleep outside your door, I walk with you to here, come back to escort you to your rooms or anywhere else you want to go. During the day when your here with uncle, it won't be necessary to be with you, so thats when I take my classes at the University." "Oh," sleeping outside her door? That sounded pretty throurough. "Well I guess I'll be seeing a lot of you then?" He smiled, " I guess so."

Out of the shower and into Tortall Written by Maid of Mystics

LoSt In ToRtaLL