Chapter 23

It was perhaps the last time Sarah had a normal day. A day where she could stroll around as an ordinary seventeen year old, just trying to find herself and delving in thoughts about love and emotions. The last time she would call herself Sarah.

Phileas had taken her to the forest. He made sure to escort her himself, instead of leaving her to Ella and Adam. Just as they had planned two weeks earlier, they came here to check if their suspicions were right about the forest being the source of the darkness inside Sarah.

It was the forest close to the palace, where Phileas had tackled Jake having seen Sarah being surrounded by darkness. And now they were back here, except Sarah was now in the company of the fair-haired winged boy with black orbs for eyes. The trees stood tall, reaching up to the sky, their roots crawling over the forest bed. The way the roots had spread out with wild grass growing everywhere, it was evident that these areas were not frequented. When she looked up, the sunlight peeking through the leaves played on her face almost tickling her eyes with the rays of light playing hide and seek, while the branches swayed slightly with the soft breeze.

Leaves fell and scattered around Sarah while she walked, dragging her dress and her cloak. It was Autumn. The season of yellow and orange. Her favourite season. She crouched down at one spot next to a large tree trunk to pick up a large oval shaped leaf. It had a hole in its centre, through which her eyes fell upon yellow wild flowers. When the sun's rays fell upon them, they looked almost golden. She did not know why, but she felt like plucking one. As her hand reached out to pick the flower, a shadow fell on her. She tilted her head back to find Phileas looking down at her. He had one hand hidden behind him. With the other hand he rubbed his neck; his way of showing nervousness. Sarah noticed that he still had his palm wrapped in gauge.

"Won't you take off that bandage?" she asked him in a tired tone, "Do you have a hoarding disorder?"

"Pardon?" he stopped rubbing his neck.

"Are you finding it hard to throw that thing away? Do you have any idea how long that has been on your hand? It's disgusting now," Sarah complained.

Sighing, she stood up and brushed her dress, then she turned and faced Phileas. She reached for his hand and grabbed it, "let me take it off for you -"

"No," he jerked her hand off.

She stared at him with her brows knit together in annoyance, but her gaping mouth showing shock at the same time. Her dark brown eyes asking for an explanation. Phileas looked away sheepishly avoiding her gaze and began rubbing his neck again.

"It's something her highness gave to me".

It's something you gave to me, were the words he thought about internally.

Sarah was a little taken aback by this response. She giggled, "What are you suddenly treating me like royalty for? And what is there in a bandage to keep, hahaha, are you an idiot?" she broke into laughter.

Phileas felt embarrassed. He was unable to express himself.

Sarah stopped laughing and unpinned a brooch from her cloak. She pinned it on Phileas' white uniform. A blue butterfly bordered along the edges in silver.

"There, I gave you something. You can keep it. Now let me take off that dirty bandage you have been wearing for weeks," she took his hand and began to unwrap the gauge.

When it was off, she took a look at his palm to see if it had healed. There was only a scar left. She traced her finger along the scar, "You know what, keep this too. When I find my magic, I will heal it myself, " she smiled to herself.

Phileas felt his palm heating up. He pulled it away from her and pushed his other hand towards her instead. In his fist he held a bunch of blue wild flowers. The flowers were like multiple small bells hanging from a single stem. Blue was Sarah's favourite colour. Having received flowers in the colour of her liking, her face lit up with joy. She took them in her hands and thanked him. Phileas' ears went red from blushing, but his face still remained expressionless.

Sarah herself felt happy from this gesture. Phileas used to be so reserved around her, but here he was giving her flowers. She felt that the atmosphere between them was slightly romantic. The perfect season, the perfect colours, and a not-so-perfect handsome young man. Unknowingly, she blushed too. It was a little confusing to her though. She knew she liked Jake, but then why was it that she felt happier with Phileas? She shook her head a little to get the though out of her mind.

Phileas noticed her head movement and moved closer to her holding her face in his palms, "What is it? Are you feeling the ringing again? I do not feel any dark magic around you though," he looked at her with concern.

Sarah's eyes locked with his when he looked straight into her eyes. They froze in their positions for a while, and then it all just happened suddenly.

Before they realised it, Phileas had his lips pressed against hers. His palms holding her head in place as his lips moved on hers. Sarah closed her eyes and felt her knees give, so they stumbled over until she was pressed against the tree trunk behind her. When their lips finally unlocked, and Sarah opened her eyes, Phileas was flushed red. He took a few quick steps back. Feeling embarrassed from his actions, he walked away.

Sarah was breathing heavily. All that ran through her thoughts was, what just happened? Was that a kiss?

She slid down the trunk and sat down at its base. What confused her more was that, she did not hate it. In fact, she liked it. Inside her chest, her heart kept racing.