30. END

Authors note: It's done. It's over. This is the last chapter. I am so sad but I thank everyone who stayed until this far. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope I gave you what you want.

There, no more than twenty feet away, was Ray. My first thought was that I was probably going to die, my second thought was that I should probably start running, and my third thought was...he hasn't seen me yet. I saw him turn his head to peer in my direction and, quick as a flash, I slumped down to the forest floor and crawled into the hollow log I had been leaning against. It was a tight squeeze and the air inside was far from pleasant but I kept me hidden and offered some small sense of safety. From the darkness of the log I could hear Ray's footsteps pace along the forest floor, his feet crunching over the crisp fallen leaves that decorated the dirt carpet. Through a slit in the wood of the log I could see a small portion of the ground and as the footsteps came closer I saw his feet come into view. I held my breath. He was so close that I could have reached out and touched him. I felt that he would hear my frantic beating heart so I desperately tried to lessen my pulse to no avail. His feet came into view and, as soon as they were there, they were gone as he walked past me. I breathed out a silent sigh of relief but my triumph was short lived as I heard his footsteps stop just a few feet away and then there was nothing but silence. The heavy silence of the night. How could the woods be so silent? So empty?

"Y/n?" My heart stopped when I heard him call my name. Please god no.

"Y/n, I know you are there. Please come out."

I didn't move an inch, I didn't speak, I didn't dare to breathe. It was as if my whole world stopped as I felt something grab my feet and yank me out of the log. I looked up at Ray's smiling face above me. He looked...different. He had a small scratch running along his nose and a small bruise above his left eye. There was also a streak of blood on his shirt collar, blood that I could only assume was not his own.

"There you are." Ray said nonchalantly, as if this was the most regular thing in the world, as if we had simply been playing a game of hide and seek which he had won too easily. "What are you doing in there?"

I whimpered in response as he pulled me to my feet. I never found our height difference to be as intimidating as I did right then.

"Please..." I begged. "Please let me go."

"Did you know that Theo blew up your house?" He stated normally. "I went there to try to find you and then whoosh, the whole thing exploded in flames. I was worried that you might be inside but then your smell would've been stronger. I'm so glad you weren't inside."

"D-don't you want me dead?" I asked.

"Why would you think that?"

"You killed Sloane...and you killed Alice."

"You are different from them."

"They were your friends!"

"But they didn't mean much to me, not like you at least."

Ray had a firm grip on my hands. I tried to shake him off but with me trembling like a fish and him being stronger than a titan, the odds of doing so were impossible.

"W-what are you going to do to m-me?" I ask, the shake in my voice becoming violently unsteady.

"Nothing."

"So you will let me go?"

"Well no. Nothing but that. If I let you go you will run away again and I don't want that."

Then, out of nowhere, Ray picks me up by my waist and hauls me up onto his back. I panic.

"PUT ME DOWN!!" I scream as I start clawing at the back of his shirt. My fingers dig in deep and I can feel them penetrate flesh but Ray doesn't even seem to blink.

"You are going to have to try a whole lot harder than that if you want me to let you go." He says as he starts walking off with me deeper into the woods. I cry and scream and claw at him and then eventually I just go limp as hot tears cascade down my cheeks. I didn't want to cry. I didn't want to go with him. Silently, I put my hands together and pray for someone, anyone, to come save me from these monsters. And my prayers were answered.

"OUCH!" Ray screams as he immediately drops me. My but hits the forest floor with a loud thud and I immediately look up at him to see he has a wooden arrow sticking out of his right shoulder. Ray loudly curses to himself as he yanks the metal tipped weapon out of his shoulder and as he does so the woods around us seem to fill with a sort of thick white mist that engulfs all the bushes and trees.

"Shit." Ray mutters as he lunges to grab at me but I kick him and crawl away into the mist. For awhile I just crawl blind while I can hear Ray cursing behind me and then after a few seconds Ray's voice disappears and I feel someone in front of me grab my arm. I scream as I am pulled forward out of the mist and quickly close my eyes expecting to see Ray but that wasn't quite the case.

"Hello again." A soft, deep voice calls to me and I open my eyes to see Seally. The real deal. For a second I stand shellshocked and then, in a moment of desperation and weakness, I lunge at him and wrap my arms around him in a tight hug as I cling to his chest. He tenses under me.

"Y/n?" I don't answer as i feel my eyes start to water again. "Y/n please let go. Y/n, your boobs are crushing me."

I let go and smile at him as he readjusts his robes.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." I cry.

"For what?" Seally asks.

"For saving me!"

"Oh, yeah, that. It wasnt that big a deal."

"I thought you said you wouldn't get involved."

"I didn't want to but 'he' wouldn't stop begging me."

Seally points behind him and I turn to look and there is Christian, standing stiff with an odd expression on his face.

"Christian!" I scream as I leave Seally to rush over and hug my brother. He hugs me back and I can feel my tears rushing forward again. "What happened? Where did you go?" I ask. Christian doesn't answer as he looks back to Seally with a gaping mouth and creased eyebrows.

"Y/n, I need to talk to you." Seally says as he grabs me by my shirt collar and drags me away from my brother.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Well, you see, you have gotten yourself in quite the little pickle, and those boys aren't just going to go away."

I swallow deeply as I wonder just how much of this Seally knows.

"What do I do?" I ask.

"I'm going to give you a choice." Seally says. "But first I want to ask you a few questions. To start with, how much do you know about the forest king?"

"Not much." I answer honestly.

"So you have never met him and you have no clue who he is?"

"Correct."

"So...how upset would you be...if I, for example, were to tell you that I...am the forest king?"

I stare at him blankly.

"I would be pretty damn pissed." I say. " I've done so much for you, delivering documents and setting out offerings, and you have done nothing to help me even after all the hell those monsters put me through. Are you saying you are the forest king?"

"I won't answer that, but for now I have a proposition."

"What is it?"

"You can't go home. You can't go home and if you leave here you will forever be hunted by Ray and Theo and fish boy."

"But Merlin is-"

"Not dead let me tell you that. Mermen don't die easy so I assure you he will recover from whatever dastardly dead he inflicted upon himself. The main part here is that you can't go home so I offer you a proposition, either you go back and spend the rest of your life running from those monsters...or...you stay here and become my personal servant."

"What?"

"I assure you that as long as you stay you will always be safe and your brother will always be here with you. So what's it going to be? What is your choice?"

Seally grips his robes tightly and smiles at me eerily.

"Make sure you don't regret your decision."