Epilogue

~Maddie~

I heard the alarm, but it wasn't mine. I zipped up my skirt and stepped out of the bathroom. Beca didn't move despite the annoying noise shrieking at her. I didn't blame her for ignoring it.

She'd been through a lot. She'd spent the last two weeks searching for Darren. She'd called their parents to see if they'd heard from him using the pretense that he'd disappeared without telling her. She hadn't had the courage to say he'd been kidnapped. She was still very upset after having witnessed it.

They hadn't heard anything which meant no one had sent a ransom note or anything of the sort. That was a blessing. It meant the parents who didn't know about Camelot or Arthur were out of the loop. The Starland's were obviously a normal family who had adopted magical kids. They wouldn't be notified of their son's disappearance. Not to mention he was technically an adult. Many would think he simply went to college and was too busy to call.

Drew had been having a hard time finding anything out about Darren and Casey. His magic was hampered in ways he had never seen before. He couldn't look to the future or see any outlooks clearly. He'd get snippets but never a clear picture. He couldn't see how things would play out or who would live or die.

I had tried to help in any way I could, but I was limited. I had no magic and barely any means to locate people. I felt useless and had even expressed it. But Beca had said I was doing more by keeping her preoccupied than anyone else. We'd gone shopping for new shoes and just had a girls' day. It hadn't been much, but she'd enjoyed it. I'd just wanted to give her mind a break for a bit.

School had started back. That was going to keep us preoccupied for a bit. Senior year was going to be grueling. Not only were we preparing for our college careers, but we also had to save the world. Most of us were teens. That alone would weigh heavily on anyone's mind, but we were seniors. We had more at stake, forget the end of the world. Relationships were at risk as well. We were all feeling it.

I turned off Beca's alarm and shook her awake. It took several minutes, but she finally stirred. I waited until she looked at me. She gave me a ghost of a smile, and I understood. It was very difficult losing someone you loved with your whole heart, especially if they disappeared right in front of you.

I waited until she got up and disappeared into the bathroom. She had been grying the shower daily. She acted like I didn't know, but I'd done the same. The warmth of the shower washed away the tear stains, making the face look rosy without being puffy. It was a grieving person's way of covering up.

Grabbing my bag, I left her alone in the room. She would talk when she was ready. Until then, I'd let her work through her issues.

I headed to the cafeteria, marveling at the freshmen as they wandered around. The campus wasn't very big but there was enough to make someone feel overwhelmed. These kids were away from home for the first time ever so this was pretty nervewracking. I hoped they'd find a group of friends who would make the transition easier.

Matt, Carlos, and Mitchell sat in the corner. I knew the first two pretty well, but Mitchell was still pretty quiet. He'd been taking care of the horses and the white stag so I rarely saw him. He didn't talk to anyone other than Matt, Carlos, and Bianca. As far as I knew, he went to classes, took care of the animals, and trained. Anything else was an anomaly.

Carlos saw me and waved. I nodded back with a smile, unsure if I should join them. The choice was taken from me as Parker pulled me to his table. Sam and Bruce were with him which didn't surprise me in the least. They'd been busy helping rebuild the stables that I had barely seen them. I figured Parker did it to keep out of sight.

He hadn't explained to the others why he'd 'betrayed' Darren. He didn't need to. Those of us knew the reason didn't judge him, but that wasn't the same for the others. They didn't hide their disdainful looks when we trained. Some even tried to hurt him on purpose. Simon had gotten nasty with them about it, but that could only curb their actions. Their feelings ran much deeper. He couldn't control that.

Sam took my bag and tucked it by the window. I looked at him closely. We didn't talk much, but I knew he was good friends with Drew. he'd played lacrosse and swam until he'd graduated. Now he worked closely with Drew and Simon. Seeing him with Parker was sort of weird.

He looked at me, grey eyes twinkling with mirth. "Do I have something on my face?" I shook my head, completely unnerved for some reason. He smiled again. "Don't worry. I know I'm a bit of an enigma."

Bruce snorted. "That's an understatement."

Sam laughed and looked out the window again. He didn't bother to argue with Bruce. It made what he'd said even more.

"How's Beca?" Parker asked.

"She's holding up as best as she can," I said. I mashed up my eggs and salted them. Why were scrambled eggs always hard? "It's going to take some time. Two weeks isn't enough to come to terms with these things. Hell, I still haven't."

Beca had cut Parker off. They'd talked and texted nonstop until then. Now, she didn't even mention him. When we worked out with everyone, she didn't even look at him. No one blamed her, but the others should know the truth before they judged him.

"Any word on Darren?" I asked.

Bruce shook his head. "No. Drew still hasn't seen anything. It's like he's blocked or something. He said he can't see anything he wants to but sees stuff he doesn't understand."

I was just as confused since I didn't know what that meant. As far as I knew, Drew could see anything he wanted. Maybe it meant his magic was changing now that his initial spell was coming to an end. I thought that was a reasonable response, but I wasn't sure about much else right now. I would have to do some more lore research to understand more.

We ate in relative silence until the warning bell rang. Groaning, I gathered my dishes and took them to the wash area. Senior year was just starting, and there were more things going on than last year. But as I thought about it, I knew we'd figure it all out as a group. We had to.

I watched the three men head across campus to the stables. They would work all day then train late into the evening. They wanted to be ready. They wanted to win.

They wanted their friend back.

"Maddie?" I looked at those who called my name. Matt and Carlos watched me as Mitchell watched the other guys. "Are you ready?"

Though they were younger than me by several months, they were by far smarter. We were in the same first period calculus class. They were the only juniors in the entire class, and they acted like it. But it was a dual credit course so it went towards their college credits.

"Yep, I'm ready," I said.

They smiled as we crossed the forty feet to the humanities building for class. I viewed calculus as I viewed most of this; as long as we could get the hard stuff done first, we could figure out the rest. What we faced now was the hard part. Once we got through this, I hoped we could see the end.

Until then, we had to keep working. We could see the end, but we needed everyone together to do it. We needed to be a team. I would work whatever I could to make that happen even if it meant picking Drew's brain for Merlin's knowledge.

The end for now…