After dinner, Mel and Andrew ran down the stone pathway leading from the house out to the street. The birds had left the apple tree, and the sun was setting in the east. When they walked a small distance from the house, so they couldn’t be spotted in the darkness, Mel loosened her braid.

Her thick black hair swirled around her face and a wavy feeling like an ocean crashing against the shore came over Melissa. Andrew looked at her and a sour expression spread across his face.

“Mom’s not gonna be happy about that,” he said.

“Mom doesn’t have to know,” Mel said.

“She will when you come home with your hair all loose,” Andrew said. “Or if her and dad see us at the fire. They said they didn’t want to miss the lighting.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mel said, waving her hand in front of her brother's nose. “Maybe she will. Then that will be a problem for later.”

They walked down the road into town and crossed the town square. Market stalls stood empty in the evening and the school building looked far less imposing in the soft light from the setting sun. Andrew and Mel didn’t talk on the way across town to the clearing.

When they reached the edge of town, Mel saw the giant pile stretch up to the sky. The forest grew behind it and around the edges of the clearing, making it clearly visible that the bonfire was as tall as some of the trees this year.

It was filled with twigs and leaves that the townspeople had gathered here for weeks. Even wooden furniture could be seen peeking out from inside the pile. Mostly badly damaged and beyond repair. If Mel squinted and tilted her head to the side, she thought she could see the headboard of a bed that had been thrown onto the hill of kindling.

Andrew walked away from Mel’s side, causing her to look around at the gathered people. It was still early in the evening and the fire wouldn’t be lit for a while, but almost the whole town was already here. Most were standing in line to the makeshift booth Mrs. Hallden sat up each year, selling hot spiced wine and cookies.

Mel saw Andrew talking to Minnie and Marcus, and she walked up to join them. He was standing close to Minnie and talking to her in a hushed tone. Mel didn’t even know if Marcus was in the conversation or if he was just standing there, waiting for them to finish.

“Sorry, but my mom told me I had to bring my brother,” Mel said.

Andrew looked up at Mel with daggers in his eyes. Minnie gave her a sympathetic smile, and Marcus looked slightly startled by Mel’s presence.

“That’s okay,” Minnie said. “Marcus only left his sister home because she’s practically attached to your mom.”

“Yeah,” Marcus said, dragging his boot over the grass. “But she’s only three, so I guess she’s allowed to be. She’ll grow up soon and want to join me everywhere, I suspect. Just like little Andrew.”

Andrew took a step forward to Marcus, balling his hands into fists and dragged one arm back in a winding up motion. Mel grabbed his arm and stepped in between him and Marcus. She gave Andrew a warning look.

“So, Andrew, don’t you want to find your friends now?” Mel asked.

“No,” he said, glowering at her.

“Yes, you should,” Mel said, pulling harder at his arm.

“No,” Andrew repeated. “Mom said I had to keep close to you if I wanted to leave the house early.”

Mel let out a deep sigh and released her grip on his arm. He wasn’t going to disobey their parents’ orders, and Mel wouldn’t be able to explain her plan to escape to Minnie and Marcus. She really needed their help if she was going to pull it off tonight.

“Mel, why don’t we get some spiced wine?” Marcus said. “Just the two of us and Minnie and Andrew can wait here.”

Mel shared a look with Minnie, who didn’t look too pleased with being left alone with Andrew. But Mel saw the opportunity of at least being able to tell Marcus about her plans and maybe he could help her alone. Minnie had refused the other time she had asked her, anyway.

Mel shrugged at Minnie and before she could protest, Mel grabbed Marcus’ arm and towed him toward Mrs. Hallden’s booth.

“There’s something I want to tell you,” Marcus said.

“Really? Me too,” Mel said. “Or rather, ask you.”

“Okay,” Marcus said. “Can we stop here by the trees and talk alone for a moment, then? Before we get the drinks.”

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“Yeah,” Mel said, and stopped by the edge of the forest. “Do you want to start?”

“Sure,” Marcus said.

He was quiet for a while, not wanting to meet Mel’s eyes. He looked down at the grass again and made little circles with his boot. Mel waited for him to continue and stared off into the distance. In the forest, she thought she saw movement and whispering voices. She thought she heard Dorian’s voice and someone else. It sounded like they were arguing.

Mel squinted, trying to see past the trees and thought she could see something like silver glimmering where the figures moved. Maybe jewelry or a sword, perhaps. It was too dark to make anything out except the occasional glitter when the low sunrays hit the metal.

“Okay,” Marcus said.

He now had his eyes on her again and seemed to request her presence. Mel drew back her gaze to meet his, and they stared for a while at each other. Marcus looked flushed, maybe a bit warm. Strange, since the temperature was quickly dropping, and they hadn’t even lit the fire yet.

“Like, we’ve known each other for a long time,” Marcus said. “We’ve been friends and such. But not like you and Minnie friends. More like strange friends.”

Mel tilted her head to the side and regarded Marcus. She had a hard time following his sentences and wondered what he was talking about. She tried to focus harder, like if she really concentrated, then maybe she would be able to crack the code.

“Not strange friends,” Marcus said. “But I mean, not just like friends… Argh, this is all coming out wrong. I just… I…”

“What?” Mel asked. “What are you trying to tell me?”

Marcus’s eyes glimmered in the last rays of sun and Mel thought they had a golden shimmer to them in this light. It looked mesmerizing.

“I’m sixteen and you’re turning sixteen in a week,” Marcus said. “We’re adults now and we can start dating. You and me, I want us to date.”

“Why?” Mel asked.

“Because I like you,” Marcus said. “I’ve always liked you. Do you like me?”

Mel’s heart pounded in her chest and she felt her ears hot. For a moment, she thought;

Oh no, maybe I’m getting frostbite. Can it be that cold tonight?

Then she realized it was the end of March and the frost had been gone for more than a month. Even if she fell asleep on the ground outside, she wouldn’t be able to get frostbite. It was only the wind that drew the cold at this time of year.

“I like you,” Mel said. “Like, I think I do. You’re nice and pleasant. A good friend. But I don’t think I can start dating.”

“Why not?” Marcus asked.

“Well, that’s sort of what I wanted to talk to you about,” Mel said. “I’m escaping Windbrook tonight. If you’ll help me.”

“Escaping? what do you mean?” Marcus asked.

“Well, okay, maybe I should take it from the start,” Mel said. “Like, you know I have this great destiny and it’s supposed to be revealed to me on my birthday in a week.”

“Yeah,” Marcus said.

“I don’t want to have a great destiny and I don’t want to know what it is,” Mel said. “I fear that if I’m here in Windbrook on my birthday, then I will hear what it is and I won’t be able to turn my back on my destiny and go my own way. I don’t want to be tied to the cult or the dragons. I don’t want to give my whole life to serve them. Am I like the only one here who thinks that way?”

Marcus looked at Mel with a furrowed brow.

“I guess,” Marcus said. “I didn’t know you felt that way. Are you sure it’s not just nerves?”

“Yes,” Mel said. “I had a plan and everything. I thought about it for years. I practiced every day in my father’s forge. Sent a really sleek looking dagger to Aldrion, paid for it with an entire year's worth of allowance and then I failed. I got the letter of rejection earlier this week and now I have nowhere really to run to. My plan was to travel to Aldrion and train as a mage smith at Falden School of Magic. But now that dream is dead.”

“Okay,” Marcus said, nodding his head a few times too many. “So you didn’t get in. Maybe that was the dragons telling you to stay here in Windbrook and follow your destiny. Maybe you should find out more on your birthday.”

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Mel said. “I mean that even though I got rejected and failed at my first plan. The only thing I know is that I absolutely cannot be here for my birthday. I feel like every time I think about the reveal, the walls seem to close in around me and I can’t breathe. I need to get out and I need your help to do it. Tonight might be my last chance.”

Marcus was quiet for a moment before he looked around the clearing. More people had shown up now, and they were aligning themselves in a semicircle around the podium by the giant pile of kindling. High Priest Alcon wasn’t here yet, but the sun had set in the distance. A darkness fell over them and Mel thought how easy it would be to sneak out of here undetected right now.

“Okay,” Marcus said. “I’ll help you. I don’t fully understand why you want to do this and I think it’s the wrong thing to do. But my destiny is to protect you, and I will. So whatever you need, I will do it.”

Mel swallowed hard. She felt overjoyed and guilty at the same time. He was helping her for the wrong reasons, but at the same time, she couldn’t make it without his help.

“Thanks,” she said. “I will need you to distract the guards tonight. By the gate. They’ll have lots of spiced wine and it shouldn’t be too hard. Just for long enough for me to slip past. But I think we should wait until after the fire is lit. That way, they will have more time to numb their senses and feel like they’re being left out of the festivities.”

“Sure,” Marcus said. “But on one condition, promise me you’ll come back to Windbrook after your birthday.”

Mel shook her head. “No, I cannot do that. I have to hide after it.”

“Okay,” Marcus said. “Then you have to promise to send me a letter telling me where you are, so that I can come join you after the search has ended.”

Mel really wanted to disappear by herself and never to be found by anyone again. Not even Marcus or Minnie. She wanted to disappear into a different life, leaving the cult and the dragons alone. Live like they did in the other cities in the world. Be free to choose her own destiny and her own life. But she needed Marcus’s help and maybe she could use his help again later on in life.

“Sure,” Mel said. “I promise to send you a coded letter with my whereabouts.”