During the following days staying in the town, the group's routine continued the same. They got up early and had breakfast at the inn with a simple menu of bread, cheese, milk and fruit. The morning was the quietest part of the day. Some of them spent their time arranging the stage, among other preparations, although it was also the best moment to take some time to go around the town, which Olivia did in the company of Elyssa, Celestia and Deema, who wandered around the market and other stores in search of new fabrics and accessories to improve their costumes.

Aside from the plays, this had become Olivia's favorite activity of the day. Stranded among colors, aromas and the bustle of merchants and shoppers, trying not to loose sight of anything and enjoying every instant, she walked slowly behind her companions who stopped in front of exotically scented spice stalls, fabrics of all colors and textures, wooden figures, necklaces, bracelets, shiny stones, rings, cookies and candies. That was such an explosion of sensations that left her stunned for quite a while.

At lunchtime they met again with the rest of the group before starting the busiest part of the day, which consisted of rehearsing and getting everything ready for the afternoon and evening performances, at the end of which the group would gather in the tavern with some villagers to enjoy some beer and wine in a much quieter atmosphere, very differente from the first night. Sometimes Gorwan would start playing and other musicians would join him with some drum or flute and the rest of the customers would start singing songs both romantic and funny.

It didn't take Olivia long to get used to the rhythm that was so different from her life at the castle. By the fourth day she was seriously wondering whether she should not forget the island and continue her journey with the actors. In that simple way of life she found a quiet pleasure she could have been content with. She could already imagine herself traveling all over the kingdom, getting to know all the cities and villages, learning to perform until she became the leading actress and even meeting someone with whom she could share that life, in the same way as had happened to Deema and Gorwan.

However, there was always something that clouded her illusions and that was the fear of another witch taking possession of her body. Since her last conversation with Dawn, nothing like that had ever happened again. She didn't know if that should make her feel reassured or even more nervous. The longer it went on, the more likely it was that one of those beings could manifest.

At night, while the rest of her roommates slept peacefully, oblivious to such worries, she kept sleepless until late thinking about what could have triggered her unusual power.

Actually, she was not sure whether to consider it a real power. It seemed to be more like a weakness. Her body had become the vessel of unknown beings of whom there were no records, or at least no records of them in the books of Shadowrock's library. It would be strange if even the wizards themselves didn't know about the existence of witches, but Eldrin had never mentioned anything to her... although now that she thought about it she couldn't trust anything her old master had told her throughout her whole life.

For a few days she had considered the possibility of visiting the library that was to be found inside the Town Hall but then dismissed it because, even if she dared to approach that place, she doubted that she would find any information that would be of any use.

She had inhabited the world for seventeen years completely unaware of what lay hidden within her own body. Not even when she began to learn magic did she feel anything special. She was nothing more than a regular Initiate with mediocre powers, even if Eldrin insisted on her potential.

All that time she had thought her master was being nothing more than too kind to her, because of her high position, but in reality his enthusiasm was because he knew about Olivia's true nature, though she couldn't know how much Daephennya had told him.

Perhaps it had been Eldrin himself who had been tasked with keeping her power stable at Daephennya's request, and everything fell apart the moment she found herself away from his influence.

If she believed Dawn's words to be true, the witch who had attacked the lake had taken advantage of a moment of vulnerability. Perhaps the same thing had happened in the water when she lost sight of Silas and hours later after she thought he had died.

In other words, she could not let her guard down at any moment, but neither could she let herself panic because perhaps that would also put her in a risky situation. That was one of the reasons why she spent so much time with Elyssa and Celestia, who helped her forget about her former life for a while and pretend that she was just an ordinary commoner living a happy wandering life.

It wasn't hard to get caught up in the mood of those two sisters who seemed to know nothing but joy. Olivia even felt a little jealous. Their only concerns were to learn by heart their lines, to keep their clothes in good condition and to look for possible suitors. It was for that reason that they took advantage of their morning walks to meet boys on the street, something Olivia found quite unusual due to the boldness of those two who did not hesitate to react to any hint of flirtation in the form of a wink or a whistle.

Olivia had also been the target of those bold gestures, which made her feel flattered, although she forced herself to snap out of her daze as soon as she remembered that she was supposed to show her affection for Silas, which had become a difficult task due to the few moments they found themselves in the same place.

Anyone who knew the truth about Silas would assume that it would be he, not Olivia, who would be most curious about life in the town. However, after the initial scare he had gotten the first night, he barely separated from the group, especially from Meldo, the puppeteer, with whom he seemed to get along quite well. Olivia would never have imagined that Silas would prefer to spend the whole evening entertaining children locked inside that huge wooden box. But it made sense if he wanted to avoid contact with humans as much as possible without anyone finding his actions strange.

Because of that, Olivia only came across him at mealtimes and just before the last performance when everyone was getting down to help with the preparations.

It even seemed like he was avoiding her as well, and she couldn't understand why. She hadn't done anything wrong or at least she didn't think so. Maybe her dance request had been foolish, but he couldn't stay mad about it.

Though she also felt guilty. Silas thought there was something wrong with him, but it was quite the opposite, and she had failed to tell him the truth because she hadn't had enough courage.

So, yes, Olivia could no longer deny it.

Silas was handsome, perhaps the most handsome boy she had ever seen in her life, which surely must be an exaggeration since she hadn't been able to spend time with many members of the opposite sex, with the exception of wizards, soldiers and servants of her own castle, who were not, according to her, noted for their beauty, and perhaps it was only a matter of time until she met someone more handsome than him, and then she would manage not to feel so troubled.

In fact, his unwillingness to talk had made it easier for her to behave like a normal person.

Several times she had caught herself staring at him for a while until she realized what she was doing. Silas didn't seem to have noticed or, if he had, maybe he still thought there was something wrong with his face.

Because of that she decided that when they left town she would take some time to talk to him alone and come clean once and for all.

After all, saying he was handsome was no big deal. It was a simple objective fact that had nothing to do with what she felt, because it was unthinkable that she could feel any interest in someone as sullen, indifferent and cold as he could be at times. They were like oil and water. In his fox or dog form she could tolerate him, even consider him adorable, but as a human, or whatever he was, she found him unbearable.

She would simply tell him the truth so he would stop worrying. It was the least she could do, although she resented the idea that he would start acting arrogant once he knew that girls could go crazy over him. That idea outraged her.

But she considered herself an honest person, so as soon as she had the chance she would end the matter once and for all.

However, it took another few days for that talk to happen.

The Princess and the Jester” had been followed by other plays that had been received with great enthusiasm by the public. Among them was “The Mystery of the Enchanted Forest” in which a group of villagers set out in search of their lost friends who had come under the spells of the fairy queen played by Deema. “Songs of the Old Tavern” consisted of a musical show in which both Elyssa and Celestia shone with their commanding voices accompanied by their father's lute. “The Wizard's Trial” was an intense drama about a wizard wrongly accused of treason, played by an impassioned Alder who had to prove his innocence before an unforgiving court. “The Dream Hunter” was a favorite of Gorwan who excelled in the role of a mysterious being who traveled between the waking and sleeping worlds to protect people from nightmares that became reality and to confront a demon that begins to pollute everyone's dreams.

The last night concluded with “The Dance of the Elementals” when all the actors came out to the square dressed in their best costumes pretending to be fairies, gnomes, sylphs, undines, dryads and salamanders awakening at the beginning of spring. The townsfolk joined in the dancing and another big party broke out, only in this case Silas went back to the inn earlier while Olivia stayed dancing until dawn in the company of her friends. Several boys asked her to dance, including the distrustful Alder who approached her with much embarrassment.

In all that time, she had kept participating in small roles that did not require her to speak, and with each new performance she became more dazzled by the theatrical art. However, the success of The Walking Dreamers, had gotten them lost about ten days before they continued their journey to the next town.

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Silas had barely spoken to her, but she could sense his growing impatience behind his grim looks.

“Lovers' quarrel?” Alder had teased one day when he caught her looking at Silas from afar.

“Alder!” she exclaimed, startled. “It's none of your business!”

As the days went by, Alder seemed to get used to the two new members and treated them with more familiarity.

“He's an idiot,” he told her. “He should take responsibility for what he did to you.”

“What he did to me?”

“Of course, he forces you to run away with him...”

“He didn't make me do anything!”

In fact, it had been the opposite. She had convinced him to continue his journey to the island.

Alder gave her a skeptical look.

“In these circumstances, the man is responsible for the woman's honor,” he said with conviction.

Olivia's face turned all colors.

“If I were him...” Alder continued. “I would worry about your wellbeing...”

“Well, you're not him, and you don't have to worry about me!” Olivia exclaimed, turning away, although she felt bad about her rudeness.

Elyssa had committed the naughtiness of telling her that her brother was interested in her.

“If things with Silas don't work out... who knows? We could be sisters!"

So that had been another thing to add to her long list of worries. In those days, she had also heard rumors about the attack on the lake. No one mentioned her name, at least. Everyone was more amazed that a group of wizards had attacked the untouchable sirenians. Nothing was said about the daughter of the Count of Shadowrock, except that the nobleman was on the scene at the time of the attack. Apparently, the Council did not want to make a fuss or her father had come up with a convincing explanation for her disappearance.

But that didn't mean she could rest easy. The royal family could become impatient and start looking for her all over the kingdom. When she reached the next town, they would have to think of a way to speed up their pace. Perhaps there was no choice, but to separate from the actors, although that filled Olivia with an anticipatory sadness.

So, after a day's rest, the group returned to the roads once more. They set out early and so as not to waste the hours of sunshine they did not stop until late in the afternoon to break camp.At some point, as they began to prepare everything, Olivia noticed that Silas had disappeared. With a smile, Celestia told her that she had seen him walking away in the direction of a nearby river. Maybe he had gone for a swim.

Olivia decided that should be the time to discuss their future plans and confess to him what she had not had the courage to admit before.

However, when she reached the river she couldn't see him. She moved slowly along the bank until suddenly something dark moved under the water and a figure emerged causing her to startle.

“Silas!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing? You're going to drown!”

The current in that part was not very strong, but she already had a suspicion of what he was actually doing there.

“It's no big deal,” he told her in an indifferent tone while running his hands over his face to remove the water. His long hair, normally a cascade of unruly golden locks, was now wet and clinging to his head and neck, further highlighting his striking, harmonious facial features. His golden eyes seemed to burn in the light of the afternoon rays.

“Why do you have to do that in the water? It's dangerous!”

“What do you think I'm doing?”

“Well, that's obvious...” Olivia lowered her voice in case there was someone from the group nearby. “You're trying to transform... You want to go back to being an orca.”

Silas looked to the side and that gesture indicated Olivia that she was right.

“We have lost so many days,” he said as he got away from the water.

Olivia turned away from his naked body. He went to look for his clothes which had been left lying next to a tree.

“I know... I wanted to talk to you about it...” said she.

“You, on the other hand, have been having a great time,” she scolded him.

Olivia gritted her teeth.

“So have you!”

She felt him spit behind her.

“I had to.”

“Sure, just like the dance,” Olivia muttered.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing...” she replied and changed the subject. "Why don't you try becoming a fox? If you spend too much time under water...”

“I've tried a thousand ways... This was only a last attempt.”

“Have you given up then?”

“Of course not! I know it's very difficult to go back to being an orca. We chimeras learn by imitation. We can't transform ourselves into what we haven't seen. That's why I couldn't hold on to my orca form for so long, because those memories belonged to the Sirenians.”

“Then...”

“I was trying to turn into some fish...”

That sounded pretty insane to Olivia.

“But if you turn into a fish someone might catch you, or a bigger fish might come and eat you!”

“That's better than staying in this form.”

“Silas!” Olivia turned around and her heart stopped. He had put on his pants but his muscular chest was still uncovered.

She promptly forgot what she was going to say but Silas, more concerned about his power, didn't seem to notice her predicament.

“You don't understand! What if I'm trapped in this form forever? I don't even want to think about it!"

Olivia sighed.

“It wouldn't be so bad... I know it from experience,” she wanted it to sound like a joke, but that didn't work with the chimera.

“Leave me alone,” he said as he grimaced and put the talisman back on and continued dressing.

“Of course not. If I leave, you're likely to drown.”

Silas didn't contradict her.

“You are not responsible for what happens to me.”

“It's not about responsibility... you're my...” she was about to say “friend” but even that word made her feel uncomfortable. “We are allies... remember?”

“You are nobody to me. We're together for convenience.”

That hurt Olivia more than she would have liked to admit, even to herself.

“How can you say that? I know you're frustrated but that's no reason to...!”

“Frustrated?” Silas exclaimed furiosly. “You have no idea how I feel! I'm a chimera! My power is what defines me! A chimera incapable of transformation is nothing!”

“Silas...”

He vented his rage by punching the tree.

“Don't call me that! I'm nobody! I have no name! I'm nameless!”

“You have a name for me, even if it doesn't matter to you.”

“You're nobody, you're not part of my pack. I was just an excuse to run away from your father!”

“Forget your pack! They abandoned you!”

She was there with him, she did not abandoned him. How could he not realize that?

“You have no idea how things went!” exclaimed Silas.

“I only know what you've told me!” Olivia tried to calm down. “If you told me the rest of the story, maybe...”

“From the beginning you have been like this... always meddling in matters that don't concern you... ever since you took me out of that cage...”

“You were trapped!”

“Not for long.”

“What do you mean? The cage was full of shields! It was impossible for you to get out on your own!”

“Your father said it was to keep me safe.”

Olivia looked at him blankly.

“What are you saying?”

He lifted his chin arrogantly.

“That. Your father didn't want to hurt me... on the contrary... Before you showed up he had come up with a plan to trick the king.”

He went on to explain that the night they met, just a couple of hours before Olivia reached the experiment tower, the Count had told the chimera that he had never intended to hand him over to the king, but that Silas would be taken in front of the monarch so that he would sign the annulment of the betrothal. Once they achieved that, the chimera would be secretly rescued by one of Count's own spies inside the royal palace.

“I am Alaric of Shadowrock, Guardian of the Circle, and I have sworn to protect every magical creature that dwells in it,” the Count had told him. “I will not let anyone harm you, but I need you, in return, to do me a great favor for which you will be generously rewarded. It is about my daughter.”

That clumsy wizard, Leander, would take care of creating a seal on Sila's cage to get out of it at the most convenient time. In turn, the Count had told Silas that, if he did not want to return to the mountains, he could offer him an escape through the islands, towards the territory of the League of Pirates, where no wizards lived.

“So you see,” continued Silas. “It was never necessary for you to rescue me. All this time, ever since you ran away from the castle, you've done nothing but make a fool of yourself.”

Olivia felt cold all over her body.

“You're lying.”

“Is your father not an honorable man? Did you really think he could hurt me?”

She swallowed hard. Her father might have many faults but cruelty was not one of them. Every wrong decision he'd made was based on the belief that it would protect his loved ones. In truth, it had been Eldrin who had convinced her. Eldrin had wanted to take her away from her father and had made her believe the worst about him.

“But you... you agreed...”

“I changed my mind. It seemed to me that it would be simpler to leave with you but... perhaps I should have returned to the castle. Your father would have taken better care of the matter.”

In contrast Olivia now felt a warmth inside her awakening.

“You fooled us both then,” she said. “Congratulations, as a human you have truly excelled yourself.”

A fire was lit in Silas' eyes.

“I'm not human!”

“At the moment you look very much like one! And I know what I'm talking about! And I must tell you... my father's plan is the dumbest thing I've ever heard! There was no guarantee that it would work!”

“It would have been preferable to be in this pathetic situation!”

“Like it or not I did rescue you from making the worst mistake of your life!”

“Stupid human!”

“You insufferable chimera!”

“I hate you!”

“I hate you too! I hate you like I've never hated anyone! I wish I'd never met you! You're right! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!”

At that moment, Olivia heard a clap of thunder and everything went white as if the sun itself had come down to earth and swallowed her whole in one bite. The last thing she managed to see was Silas' unfocused gaze.

Fear came over her.

“No, no! Who are you? Let me go! Don't do anything to Silas! He didn't do anything to me! Leave him alone! You don't gain anything by hurting him!”

No one answered. Olivia continued to scream at the top of her lungs, not knowing how much time passed as she remained floating in the middle of nothingness itself.

Then suddenly a shadow began to form above her and spread until it swallowed all the light.

Her eyelids felt heavy. As she moved her hands, she felt the wetness of the grass.

A sky of orange and pink colors loomed above her. The sun had set behind the horizon.

When she sat up and looked around, she found Silas leaning against the tree trunk and breathing heavily as if something had frightened him.

“Silas...” groaned Olivia as she stood up feeling her body in pain. “I don't know what happened to me...”

“Stay away from me!”

She looked at him confused.

“I...” suddenly she remembered the whiteness that had engulfed her. “I don't know what happened... I'm sorry! If I did something to you...” she came closer to him to make sure he wasn't hurt, but he pulled away.

“Don't touch me!” he screamed.

Seeing the horror reflected in his eyes, Olivia felt like crying but tried to hold back.

“I can't control it!” she exclaimed.

“I think you can control it! You just wanted to scare me... Well, congratulations, you did it. Thank you for reminding me what my ancestors felt when they were hunted.”

“Silas... please... what did I do? Tell me, please!”

“Look around you.”

Olivia turned her head to the side and her shock was such that her feet buckled and she fell back to the ground.

On the grass, lay the three siblings, Celestia, Elyssa and Alder, completely motionless and with their eyes closed.