There was only silence, no matter where Bonnie turned. Only silence.

When she thought she could hear the muttering and murmuring of the soldiers that she felt were solidly behind her, their voices fade. It was like the more she tried to listen, the faster the voices faded.

Her eyes sprang open and she looked around quickly to realize that she was alone. The boy knight was gone. His friends were no longer there. She had no idea where everyone had gone.

"Greg?" she called.

Maybe he had gotten news of her planned revenge and had abandoned her. Why could she not just accost him and make him tell her the truth?

"Greg?" she called again.

The silence of the forest replied. Her voice echoed on and on. There was only the singing of the birds and some static humming from the heart of the forest. It took her back to their time in the garden at the palace. She had fallen in love with him right there because of who he was. Now that she had realized he was not the person he claimed to be, she could not wait to make him face some form of punishment, but she was beginning to have cold feet about it.

If the soldiers had their way, Greg and his friends may be killed.

I have to warn him, Meredith thought to herself.

She was looking for a way, a sign, anything that would show where the trip had gone off to. The more she looked, the more it seemed that everywhere was the same. Finally, she found a pathway and was about to proceed up it when she heard the rustling of the bushes.

She paused, terrified.

Someone was coming from the vegetation. The captain burst out without much ado, looking lost. He looked this way and that before he realized that someone was standing in front of him. He turned to look at her.

"Alphonso," the princess said. "I have been looking for you."

"Liar!" Alphonso screamed. "You were looking for your friends. You wanted to tell them about our plans, so they would be wary of us."

"I cannot find them. Do you know where they are?"

"I had them all killed while you slept. Do You see? You cannot do anything without the king and his advisor noticing it."

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Alphonso was coming towards him, looking menacing. Without thinking, Meredith started moving backward, one step, two steps, then she realized what she was doing, what was happening.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Making sure you receive your own punishment," was the reply.

"Don't come near me!" Meredith screamed. Her voice was without conviction. There was no weapon around her, nothing to defend herself with.

"Or you will kill me?" Alphonso asked, chuckling.

"You betrayed me," another voice said, coming from behind her.

She turned around quickly and found Tum standing there.

"Greg," she called, moving towards him. Then she came to an abrupt halt. The young man in front of him had no pupil in his eyes, just a cornea that was black all through.

"This cannot be real," she muttered and turned back from the danger she had run from only to discover that Alphonso was missing. As she turned back quickly to face Tum's image, she found him standing in front of her. A resounding slap knocked her out.

Time passed slowly and she felt herself being dragged across the ground. She was slipping in and out of consciousness. Finally, she pulled her eyes open and found that she had been tied to a tree. The only thing she could move was her neck. Tum was standing by the side with a whip. He grinned at her when she turned towards him.

"You betrayed me," he said. It seemed to be the only words that he could say.

"This isn't real," Meredith said.

The whip cracked on her back, making pain run through her body. There was no telling what was real and what was not. The pain seemed real enough. She found herself screaming. Behind her, Tum was laughing hysterically. He brought the whip down on her back again. This time, harder. Meredith could not contain the pain. She wanted to pull herself away from the tree and her bonds or uproot the tree entirely. But she did not have the strength. She could only struggle frantically while waiting for the next swing to bite pain into her back.

The whip landed again. Meredith screamed louder. The pain was much.

Meredith!

The voice called in her head.

The whip landed again, distracting her. The voice was getting distant, but she was trying to listen to it.

"You made me lose everything!" Greg screamed and flung the whip again.

Focus on my voice!

The princess tried her best to focus. It was hard, but it was hard. The pain was stinging her back and there was another whip coming towards her. She let her mind wander from her body after the voice that was calling her. She could hear other voices as well. They were all there, her companions.

When she turned back, she realized that the whip coming for her back seemed to be stuck in time. The Tum that was punishing her was gradually disappearing. The forest was fading, but the pain remained.

"Princess," Buckle called.

The princess opened her eyes to see different pairs of eyes staring down at her. She recognized Tum's own and was glad to see that his eyes were not covered with black color in all its entirety. She sighed weakly.

"You were caught in the forest's spell. Come on, get up," Bonnie said.

Tum helped her get to her feet, touching her back. She whimpered in pain. Gingerly, Tum pulled her gown from her back. Meredith knew what she was going to find. Apparently, the spell in the forest was as strong as she had been made to believe; it was not a fairy tale.

"You have marks on your back," Tum said, disbelievingly.