As he entered my home, I was off-kilter from his perusal. He looked like an ordinary man. He was willowly thin, but everything else about him screamed nondescript side character.

And yet I fell on my butt and stared up at him in horror. Memories of when he led the group through the forest sucked me back into that awful night.

"Gavin?" I asked, even though I knew that was his name before it had fully formed out of my mouth.

"Wendy." He smirked as he said my name. But he tilted his pronunciation again, making it sound like he knew it was a fake name. "It's time for you to go."

Yet again, things moved quicker than I could react to. Adam appeared seemingly out of thin air. His appearance shocked Gavin, who looked visually perturbed, and he even recoiled away from us so swiftly that even I got whiplash.

Gavin rapidly spat out words I couldn't understand. Adam bravely placed himself in front of me just in time because Gavin had recovered. I wanted to do something, even if that meant exposing my abilities. There were no plants in the front of the house or even on the porch…come to think of it, the plants outside hadn't alerted me to his presence, and even Molly in the back didn't bark. How did Gavin slip in so effortlessly?

As these thoughts formed, Gavin was already on the move. He attempted to shove Adam aside, but with ease, Adam dodged his hand.

I pulled out a bat from my space and attempted to swing it down on Gavin's outreaching hand.

Gavin caught it and, with a smirk, crushed the wooden bat with one squeeze of his palm. He's not human. Panic and fear curdled my stomach into a sticky, untangable mess.

An uncharacteristic roar from Adam caught Gavin and me off guard as Adam launched headfirst into Gavin's stomach. The two tumbled through the opened front door and off the porch.

I tried to catch up with them, but I was already out of weapons. I focused on defensive strategies. I hadn't come up with anything to attack someone with; even the thought made me uncomfortable. At this moment, I derisively regretted this choice.

The seconds I took to race towards the two wasted my chance to see how the scuffle ended. Gavin was running into the forest for all he was worth. I spared him only a nanosecond of attention and instead lasered in on Adam. He was on the ground groaning with his eyes closed. I couldn't see any blood, but a bruise was forming on his forehead.

"Adam!" I knelt down to look at him, but with my nonexistent medical experience, there was little I could deduce. I did the only thing I could do. I ran into the house, grabbed the satellite phone, and returned to Adam. He was still groaning and twitching but wouldn't respond when I called out to him.

I called the number for Adam and connected to his bodyguards as I hoped. I only managed to tell them that Adam was unresponsive after falling before the phone clicked.

"What the hell!" I screamed as I redialed them. While the phone dialed, I realized something was happening above me. I watched transfixed as a slim helicopter touched the ground. We didn't have that big of a front yard, but it was just enough for them to land safely.

Doctors, actual doctors in scrubs, came running out to examine Adam.

One of the men from the suit brigade pulled me aside, and I shakingly explained the incident. With complex expressions that gave away nothing, they grabbed Adam and disappeared.

Only the disruptive wind was my companion. What felt like an eternity to recover from this was over in mere minutes.

A loud crashing noise from behind me had me turning defensively. If Gavin came back this time, I would use the trees! It was a red-faced Wyatt who looked way too excited.

"Did you see the helicopter that flew by! That was my first time. It's so fast blah blah blah." Wyatt said excitedly.

Okay, that last part was different from what he actually said. Still, he might as well have said blah blah blah because he started spewing nonsense facts about the type of helicopter and how expensive, sleek, and fast it was. How did a country boy know so much about such a stupid thing?

My lip quivered as I lost the battle to contain my tears. It was hard to follow along with everything. My eyes met Wyatt's, and he frowned when he saw my teary eyes.

"Wendy, are you okay?" Wyatt's gentle question opened the floodgates. I started to sob, and when he approached me, I launched into his stinky arms for comfort. I think this action shocked both of us because he faltered, and a tree had to catch the two of us. Between sobs, I told him that Gavin from the break-in night had come up to the house, pushed his way in, and injured Adam.

Wyatt, for once, said nothing as he awkwardly patted my back.

"We'll call the police and make sure to report it," Wyatt said once I wound down and the entire tale was spoken.

"Tell them what?" Lucia approached, her eyebrows lifting at the sight of Wyatt hugging me. We weren't exactly on the best of terms most days, and this was the first time any touch between us wasn't a physical altercation of some kind. I awkwardly tried to pull away, but Wyatt tightened his arms, to my surprise.

"One of the men who wasn't apprehended from the break-in last year came back. He injured Adam." Wyatt's calm voice was so unusually steady I relaxed. I could hear his heart; like his voice, it was calm and consistent like a drum.

Strange. Who would have thought I'd ever seek comfort from Wyatt. The initial break-in allowed us to meet, so it may have stayed in his mind.

Lucia came forward to embrace the two of us, and we had a moment before it was down to business.

A police call and an all too quick report later wrapped it up with a nonexistent outcome. The police did nothing but take down what happened and Gavin's description. Worst of all, the number I had for Adam was disconnected.

I was left in the dark.

I did the one thing I could do and buried myself in work to keep my hands and mind busy. Lucas, Wyatt, and I ran around together, checking doors, windows, and other possible entry points. We didn't have cameras, but we had to devise a plan for alert and prevention. While we walked around the perimeter, I checked on my plant system. It was still active, and nothing was perturbed. It was time to upgrade my system, so I didn't have to be connected to the plants to be alerted when trouble came.

Why couldn't I talk to Adam? What if Gavin came back? I wouldn't get answers to anything.

Days went by, and no matter how many times I tried to call Adam, all I got was a disconnected sound. I lay on my bed, allowing this dark cloud of emotions to take over. Adam tried to protect me, and he was injured…or worse. I had no answers or way to get ahold of him. I could not talk to him outside of this phone or him coming over. This disturbed me, but there was nothing I could do about it. I had no magic to cast a searching spell, no last name to look him up…

I have magic, though. Some part of me would, or Gus' note to me, not have said I could use my lessons to escape this world. I never really tried after the first attempt…once again, a sharp stab to my chest reminded me of my complacency. I skated by doing the minimum because my natural talent for magic meant I never had to try. I could try to do some kind of spell. My grandmother's conduit had done magic to change the tent to our family's colors, and she left her robe to me. The Effaced board also had magic coming off it from home.

I could wing it somehow; I thought about the needed supplies. At the very least, I had to try. I waited for Grandpa Evans to take a nap with baby Sonja. They could sleep for three hours on the couch, and Grandpa Evans was outstanding about changing and feeding the baby. He came to life for her, still singing and chatting with her.

I grabbed my diary and my grandmother's robe and Effaced. On the way out the door, I caught sight of my hair, which was loose and unkempt. My eyes looked wild, and my skin flushed. I spared my appearance a brief glance before I sprinted out the door.

The trees welcomed me with a shiver as I entered the forest. With no one around, I let my power loose and allowed my connection to tether. Leaves, branches, and even the glowing spores tickled me from my head to my toes.

I needed to try the spell at the center of my plant network. The original tree I tied the plant network to had grown, and I welcomed it as an old friend. "Originis." I laid my forehead on the warm bark and felt the tree shiver. Originis had a pulse, and I could feel my heart match its beats. A bubble of happiness, the first in a long time, started to spread in my head.

"Let's do magic." I felt a thrill in the pit of my gut as I spoke and pulled away from the tree. I missed that familiar hum of magic.

The red robe almost slipped off my tiny shoulders as I used a stick to draw my family's house sigil in the dirt. I crafted the sigil so that Originis was in the center of it all. "I'm a witch, damn it. I should be able to do something to fix this. Plant power just doesn't cut it."

The symbol glowed red, and a relieved smile broke the fear I didn't know gripped my heart. My magic is still here, even though I've assimilated into Wendy. I am still Gwendolyn.

I sat down with my butt to the tree as I closed my eyes and reached for that familiar ball of energy. All I could see was that ball of primal energy. Instead of giving up or poking it this time, I tried to push it aside. My power should be underneath it, right?

That inner part of me was entangled firmly with this ball of energy. If I were to rip the two apart, there was no telling the amount of damage it would cause.

I opened my eyes to see if anything had changed after my attempt. My family symbol went from glowing to burning, and I sighed as I stared at it. The glowing fungi spores were pulsing almost in time with the tiny embers.

I held a hand to where I had stored my diary and the Effaced box. My diary was more than an ever-growing novel of everything I'd been through. It was magicked to release lessons and charmed to grow as thick as my life lasted. I never bothered writing in it or studying it after I learned to access my magic through my inner self. I thought I wouldn't need it at the time, but now I need it more than ever.

Magic was still pouring off them, and I closed my eyes. My hands attempted to leech the energy into me, and it worked. Both of them launched off the ground and into my awaiting hands, though Effaced clapped me on the head before falling into my arms..

In response, the energy in the forest grew thicker with spores, flames, and magic.

Something wet trickled down my forehead, and I lifted a hand to touch it. Blood. I was bleeding. Effaced grew annoyingly hot, as did my diary. I stubbornly kept both in my arms as I sucked their energy into me. Using my blood as ink, I onehandedly drew my family's symbol, but this time into Originis' bark. My magic relied on symbols and words, though words were just symbols at the heart of it. If I use my family's symbol with my name, I should have enough power to do a location spell on Adam.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"I, Gwendolyn Girru, known as Wendy Evans in this conduit, call forth my magic." My words and blood seemed to stir the air and make it pregnant with brute magical energy.

I did it. I have my power back! That all too familiar ball of energy was burning in my center, and I didn't need to close my eyes to feel it pulsating in my blood, feel that hum of power in the air.

Now, all I needed to do was find a way to trace Adam…Oh, but I didn't have anything of Adam's, did I? I wasted a few precious seconds using my blood-free fingers to pull things out of my space. I had plans I crafted with Adam that had his handwriting. I got nada when I tried to use it to trace his whereabouts.

"How do I have nothing from Adam to find his whereabouts?" I whined to Originis as my mind pulled up a blank. The lemon trees could have worked, but he's never touched him. I pulled out the little dessert boxes. The combined sparks of essence were enough; I just needed his full name to finish the literacy spell.

That spark of my power was fading, and I closed my eyes as I wrote Adam's name on the tree. I didn't have his surname to add, but my magic could at least show me any Adams that were around? There couldn't be that many people named Adam.

Wait, his uncle came over and gave his name, right? "Charles…Dickham." I smiled as I sat up. No, that was the dumb nickname I gave him. Shit, what was his name? I pulled the phone book out of my space and thumbed through the pages with one hand.

I spent the next few minutes saying various versions of his surname until one felt right. "Charles Wickham!" A smile grew on my face when I finally had it. How is it spelled? While I worked out the various ways to spell it as I thumbed through the pages… none of it panned out. Either Charles didn't have his name in the phonebook, or I wasn't remembering it right. This small phone book included Green's Mountain and Alcom's Cove. When I first met Adam, he said he was visiting his uncle in Alcom's Cove…that didn't mean he lived there, though. With a suit like that, maybe he just had business there.

But I had the spelling, and maybe this was Adam's surname, too, if his uncle was from his father's side? I tried to write it, but it must have been incorrect because it faded. "Ugh, what is your last name, Adam?" It was yet another big mystery…

Back to where I started, but for a brief moment, searching for information gave me hope and something to do. My energy was fading as my hope died. And without both, what was the point? The flame symbol burned bright and hot for a second before it went out, leaving only scorched earth behind.

The spores that came to life settled back into the crevice of the forest, and the energy of the two burning objects in my arm went cold, and I dropped them to stare at my hands.

I failed.

"Adam, where are you?" I flopped to the ground in agony. "Please be okay." I curled up into a ball, wishing I had asked for a power to give me actual answers. I couldn't use my premonitions to scry even if I wanted to.

I could try, but it wouldn't be a good idea. I unfurled from my ball and tried to think of something I could do. My grandmother's robe had wrapped around me in my writhing, and a sharp stabbing pain hit my chest.

If I left with my grandmother, Adam would never have gotten hurt. If I wasn't here, then Gavin wouldn't have attacked, which means Adam wouldn't have defended me. I'm the reason for his pain. I don't even know if he'll be okay after the incident, and it was all my fault.

My selfish greed changed everything for the worse. I hurt my first friend, and now I can't reach him.

I didn't bother covering up the still-smoking ground and instead tossed anything I had out into my space. I searched for Effaced, but the dang thing must have been sucked dry and disappeared as a result. I trekked home with a heavy heart. I needed to do something to undo all of this.

Life was even more challenging after the realization that I was a piece of selfish shit.

Lucia, Wyatt, and Lucas visited more often and spent the weekends over, but their presence barely helped. I spent most of my time in the forest wrapped in dirt and tree roots as I tried to recover from my greed. I couldn't tap into my witchy powers again, and I chalked it up to Effaced being my one shot at it.

My time in the woods wasn't all pointless. I went out into the woods daily, and even without my literacy witch powers, I had plants.

I took seeds from nearby plants and attempted to breathe life into them. Due to the amount of concentration and force of power, I was used to putting into the other seeds, I hadn't expected the reaction I got. Everything exploded around me in sprouts, and I gaped as everything grew and grew…

"Adam was right about those not being seeds, so now I can grow anything I desire…" Yet I couldn't share the news with him. I rubbed my heart as I sorted out the mess of roots and sprouts around me.

Every day I tried to call Adam, and without fail, no matter the hour I attempted this, the line was dead.

Each day that passed, I could feel a dark and twisted thought grow in the pit of my stomach. If I left, wouldn't everything be fixed? That thought wouldn't leave; instead, it took root, growing stronger and more challenging to dismiss. I tried meditating with my grandmother's robe, but that didn't work. I attempted to find the door that had helped me leave before, but it was impossible.

There is a more drastic way to ensure I left, which is how I found myself on the roof of the house, getting ready to leap. It should be high enough that I wouldn't break a leg or just hurt a rib cage. I needed to make sure my neck snapped and or my head slammed hard enough on the ground.

My absence should be enough to fix all of this. The book world could reset. At the very least, Gavin wouldn't go near Adam, and…maybe everything would be okay.

"Just jump, Wendy," I said this to hype myself, but my knees locked, and I couldn't move forward. I pumped my arms, trying to get my legs to move. I jump, kill myself, and then Adam will be okay, and none of this would have happened… I'll go back home as I should have before, and everyone will forget me…What was the point of being here anyway? None of this mattered if Adam was gone.

That thought stopped me, and I froze. My affection for Adam ran deeper than I thought, but it was worth it. He was worth this.

Wait, when I first left this world, I had a body to return to. My grandma did the same, but she was able to make it go…the world remained the same after she left, but maybe that's because I was still here? She was simply following the magic that brought me in.

My lip quivered as I felt my body tremble with emotions. "Stop delaying it. Here I go. Time to reset everything and go home." My voice cracked at the word home. It was hard to call that place home. Despite everything that happened, this was my home. The Unruly Forest became more than just a project. I loved this place. I love this world, but… it's not my world. It's not my place to be here, and I messed up everything enough already.

I can do this; it won't be too painful, and once I'm on the other side, my grandma can help me get rid of my conduit so that Adam will be fine and everything will reset. No more excuses to stop me. Time to do it.

"What the fuck are you doing?" A hoarse yell startled me, and I turned around to see a seething Wyatt.

I tried to run to vault myself off the roof, but Wyatt was quicker. My face turned red as the two of us scuffled, and with far too much ease, he had me pinned on the tiles.

I avoided Wyatt's red face as he glared at me, panting with fury and effort. Why was this monkey boy so strong? This was the second time he pinned me, and now escape was futile.

"Oh, hi, Wyatt. I didn't see you there." I grinned up at him, attempting with all my might to look unbothered and like a girl who hadn't just tried jumping off the roof.

Wyatt, for obvious reasons, was unfooled. He held my annoyingly weak arms above my head and used his free one to squish my face as if to force the truth from my mouth. "Wendy." He didn't need to call me out. His heated and furious face spoke volumes.

I ignored the brewing storm and attempted to shrug my shoulders, but they were snugly pinned; he wasn't giving me an inch. I tried to say, "I don't know what you're so upset about." But it sounded more like a hogposh of words.

I was tempted to use my powers to urge a tree to grab Wyatt off me. I hadn't gone on the offensive like that before. There was no telling if I'd mess up, and if I messed up, the jump on top of that…why was nothing working out the way I needed it to? It was like something else was nudging things to make it difficult…maybe I was cursed?

As I spent this time lamenting and trying to find a plan of action, Wyatt was becoming more and more irritated. I could feel it reach a boiling point as his body tensed, but all he said was, "Why were you trying to jump off the roof?"

It was an open-ended question. I wish he'd simply ask if…but with why, I had to answer just as directly…or maybe not. I tried to blink my eyes innocently, but the pressure of his fingers on my cheeks made it hard to bat my eyes. "Whatever do you mean?" But again, it sounded all jumbled.

I just needed to distract him long enough. I used my fingers, still trapped under his warm hand. I twirled my index finger and thumbed it subtly as possible, but I must have moved too much because he pressed down harder.

I've never seen Wyatt look this mad. Something else was brewing in his eyes, but I don't think it was directed at me because it looked like…pain. We bickered like siblings and weren't best friends, but I think I touched a raw nerve…or I had more place in his heart than I thought I did. At the very least, he would be sad to see me jump off a roof, and for that, I felt my own pangs of sadness. He shouldn't have witnessed this. Next time, I'll hide it better.

I'd miss you too, Wyatt, but this was for the best.

"I was just trying to grab my…" I furiously jerked my head and gestured with my eyes to my right.

Not trusting me for a second, Wyatt turned slightly and saw my bright red robe flapping in the wind. I tossed it when I first got to the roof. I watched it float like a shimmering giant leaf until it landed in a tree. I left it when I opted to jump off the roof. I wasn't sure if the magic on it would interfere with my attempt to leave this world. I'd use it the next time if things didn't work. This was all a work in progress, and once I got home, I was going to read up on everything on world-hopping and the rules of magic that my family imbued into their spellwork. I didn't want to be this vulnerable again.

"I just wanted to jump and reach it." I attempted a smile, but again, the pinching of my face showed I did nothing to persuade Wyatt. It wasn't easy pretending I hadn't used my powers to urge a nearby tree to grow by a lot. I would have to give it some energy for its efforts because now it was low on reserves.

The level of distrust in his eyes was frankly astonishing. I wasn't the kind of person who screamed suicidal, after all. I could barely go through with it after all. Have some faith…I was asking him to have faith and then just forget me. None of this conflict would matter if I could just leave this world and reset the board.

But I'm more of a coward than I thought. I didn't much care for pain, and even if I broke free from Wyatt to finish this…could I go through with it? The momentum was over, and where determination once filled me was replaced by apprehension.

"Wendy." Again, all he said was my name. I drew out of my thoughts to stare into his disbelieving eyes. Still, he got up from me; he didn't let go though and grasped one of my wrists tightly as if I would attempt to sprint off the roof again. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, he smacked my forehead with a flick of his fingers. My still-healing forehead wound twinged, and I glowered at him.

"Doing this won't fix what happened with Adam," Wyatt said sternly.

I jerked and met his eyes, trying to push any guilt aside. "Why would grabbing my robe have anything to do with Adam?"

His hardened blue orbs became more severe, and I looked away. Why did I feel like I was being scolded by a big brother who knew far too much? There was no way that Wyatt did, though. I met his eyes and gulped at the emotions that churned visibly on his face and in his eyes.

"How much do you know?" I asked him so softly I was sure he hadn't heard me.

Wyatt's grip loosened before it tightened, and he said one word that stopped my heart. "Enough."

Enough? About what parts? "About?" I said.

"You." Wyatt's voice was clear and precise while mine was unraveling by the heartbeats.

"Wendy, I never forget anything I learn or hear, and I have above-average hearing," Wyatt said. His words despondently echoed as I tried to pierce his meaning.

I feel like he was trying to tell me something, but what? "You make that sound as if you hear everything and remember it just as well." A memory from months ago flashed in my mind. Sunny had said something that no one but Wyatt had caught. It wasn't the first time he heard things we couldn't. I never did follow up on that.

"I know how close you are to Adam, and I understand what you're going through. Lucia's been hurt because of me before, and I've never forgiven myself."

She had? Lucia didn't say, but there was still so much about their past that I didn't know. The doors to their life before I met them were firmly shut still.

"It will get better. Adam will recover. He wouldn't have defended you at risk of his own life if he didn't care about you. So cherish your life. Don't take stupid risks." Wyatt lifted his hand, and I flinched, expecting another smack to my forehead. His touch was gentle this time as he patted me on the head.

"This isn't the way to reach Adam," Wyatt said.

But it was the way to help him. I lowered my gaze to the roof tiles to hide my scheming. Wyatt, you're wrong. And, "You're suspiciously sweet."

"You're strangely dumb but consistent," Wyatt said with a shadow of a smile.

This time, it was Wyatt who initiated a hug. He yanked on the arm that he was holding until I fell into his arms. I tried to stop the tears that I wanted to drop, but I was becoming quite the crybaby because they spilled down my cheeks, shamefully thick and unending. I wiped my snot and tears on Wyatt's shirt, blowing with all my might as I gave into the volcanic emotions I'd been holding onto. To his credit, he said nothing and didn't seem to mind that I was using him as a handkerchief.

The ache in my chest that wouldn't go away made it hard to breathe, think, sleep, and even eat. How could I plan when I only wanted to scream and curl into a ball? I was trapped without my magic in a world that wasn't mine… I had ignored this surmounting panic with all I could, but it was ever present, and without a buffer, I had to confront an ever-growing fact.

I just wanted Adam back.

A strange crash jerked both of us, but Wyatt firmly held me to his chest so I couldn't see what had happened. "A tree just broke…" Wyatt muttered, and I flinched. If it was the tree I urged to grow, then it was my fault, yet again, someone was hurt. I cried harder as the dam entirely broke.

Why am I such a failure? If I went to fix it, would I only make it worse?