Morning came unexpectedly soon, not allowing Thea to get enough sleep to feel cheerful.

Her body ached from the intense night training. Especially her knees, which she had to lean on in the hard floor and lower back.

But she was wrong...

Her buttocks suffered the most and she realized it as soon as she sat down on a log near a campfire, on which water was boiling for morning tea.

This pain made her wince, not remembering that this was her payment for pleasure.

She warmed her hands, noticing how the rest of the group were gradually pulling up.

Adeline looked exactly as shabby as Thea herself, so there was no doubt that the night was stormy not only with her and Rafael, who looked fresh and rested.

Raphael was with Klaus when Urum approached them to discuss their future path.

Thea noticed minor, almost healed scratches on Urum’s face, and following the thought that werewolves heal quickly, she assumed that the wounds were left by Nicole’s hands. By the way, where was she?

Turning around, she could not find her friend and for a moment her heart squeezed with excitement, but the way everyone walked around calmly brought her out of this state. She was working herself up too much.

Carrick kindly poured freshly brewed tea into a metal mug wrapped in a piece of leather and handed it to her, wishing her good morning.

- I see there’s a new addition to our group.- He nodded in the direction of Raphael, who immediately turned around.

"Oh, his sharp hearing", Thea thought. No secrets could be hidden from his ears.

Raphael headed in their direction, stopping behind Thea.

- There were some difficulties with the number of stray dogs, but now the way is clear. At least until Monerda. - He said to Carrick, putting his hands on Thea’s shoulders. - It would be foolish to go there, knowing that this is the land of ogres and trolls.

- Is there any other way? - Carrick asked, who also had no desire to mess with ogres.

Trolls were pranksters who promised trouble to others at the most unexpected moment, but they were not a particular problem, while ogre giants were not only a problem, but also life–threatening. The poison in their bodies, when wounded, could get on the opponent’s skin, causing painful burns and even leading to death if the amount of poison was exceeded.

Therefore, it was not in anyone’s plans to engage in a senseless struggle with ogres in order to cross the Monerda.

- We’ll use the portal. - He nodded confidently.

Even if someone had been against it, and that was unlikely to happen, he wasn’t going to take any chances when Thea was among them.

Fighting humans was as easy for him as swatting an annoying mosquito, but with magical creatures took more time and abilities to overcome them. Therefore, he wasn’t going to disturb the hornet’s nest.

- Raf. -Thea called to him, turning her head back. – Where will the portal take us?

- To the place where the entrance to the kingdom of the elves was last marked. - he answered seriously. -Now, of course, there are no traces or evidence of the existence of elves, but with this invitation, we can try to open the entrance using your magic and my wizardry.

She thought for a moment, looking away at the smoldering embers in the fire.

- What if I say there’s another way? – she asked and immediately added. – We can’t be sure that this entrance will open if it has been sealed for a long time.

- Another way? - He frowned, his gaze wandering over her face.

Urum, Klaus, Carrick and Adeline, and Sean and Cornel, who had joined in, turned their full attention to Thea when she spoke.

- Let’s just say I’m not one hundred percent sure, but there is an assumption that the portal to the kingdom of the elves is in my father’s office.

An awkward silence hung in the air before Raphael chuckled.

"He didn’t believe you", her voice sounded in her head.

-Not quite sure? Where did you get this information from anyway? - he was surprised to hear her words.

Knowing how isolated the elves were, it was impossible to believe that there was a portal in Riliya leading directly to Eriad. It was too difficult to comprehend.

- You don’t believe me? – she voiced her inner voice, feeling a caustic feeling entrenched in the area of her heart.

Raphael exhaled deeply and combed his bangs with his hand, which fell over his eyes. She saw in his behavior the tossing, as if he wanted to believe, but her words did not sound too plausible.

- Listen, baby... Fuck... Thea... if you’re not sure, then I wouldn’t go back to Marro yet and attract too much attention. You know that. – he spoke to her as if she was an underdeveloped child who needed additional explanations and it was unpleasant.

- But if there’s a path through the Orcs in the balance and the chance of coming face to face with my father and my stepmother, which would you choose? - she asked.

Thea didn’t want to sound absurd by telling her dream in front of everyone, because it was too surreal even for her, but somewhere inside she felt that it could be true. She was tormented by doubts, but she wasn’t going to back down so easily, making one last attempt while he was considering his answer.

- Can we talk in private? – she pressed Raphael with her gaze, emphasizing his consent and he turned around, taking her with him into the depths of the forest.

Thea was perched against the trunk of a tree, her arms crossed over her chest, her face sour with slight resentment at Raphael. Why did he need to question her plan?

- I’m listening. – he said calmly and stroked her shoulders, seeing how tight she was.

- I had a strange dream again. - She looked away.

- What was it about? - he frowned. – Another nightmare? You should have woken me up.

She shook her head, remembering all the details of her dream.

- That was before you came back. But it wasn’t a nightmare, it was like a memory. No, not even memories, but something else. Like I was a ghost in my own dream? Do you think it’s even possible?

Raphael’s eyebrows were drawn together in the bridge of his nose, creating a hall. He was very serious.

- It’s called a phantom gap. This is subject to a very limited number of people, as this magic draws out too much of its owner’s strength. - He replied, still a little doubtful.

- How does it manifest itself? Is it when the body separates from the soul and you seem to see everything from the outside? - she asked, and his eyes began to slowly widen, while he frowned harder and harder.

- When was that? - his voice was firm.

- I was just a baby. No more than three months. – she said, glad that he no longer looks at her as a stupid girl. – My father was aware that something had happened to me, but he didn’t know about the Artemis artifact. He didn’t believe my mother that she saw the glow when the artifact was absorbed into my body.

Raphael chuckled and it was as if he regretted something, but it was hard to believe that such a callous person could have such feelings for her father.

- He wanted to protect me from the danger that would threaten me if this secret turned out to be true. And then he used some ancient book to open a portal to communicate with the elf king. He wanted to erase his memories, but that wasn’t the only thing he did... 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

- What else? - Raphael asked, radiating tension with every muscle in his body.

- The Elf King sealed my powers, saying I was too strong for such a young age. – she replied with indignation in her voice. – And for so long I was a disgrace to the family, everyone thought that I just didn’t have any abilities. It wasn’t my fault.

Despair was reflected on her face, through the tears that came, and he pressed her head to his hard chest, caressing her hair, soothing her.

- He said that we would meet again and that he would be waiting. – she said, not hiding her upset feelings. – I could not understand why my father’s office was sealed with magic and only now I found out the reason for this. But besides, the elf did something to the portal, as if breaking it from the outside and now no one can use it without an invitation.

She stopped talking because she was talking fast and her breathing had lost a little strength.

- But we have an invitation, Raphael. - She finally smiled in anticipation, her eyes burning at the thought that her dream might be true.

Raphael rubbed the stubble on his chin, pushing away from the tree and releasing Thea from his embrace before moving away and turning his back on her.

- If that’s the case, then we need to go and test your theory. I still can’t believe that you have the ability to phantom gap. - he shook his head as if it was beyond the realm of fiction.

Thea perked up when she heard that he supported her idea.

- We have to meet Richard and Rick. - he hoped that both of them had already begun to work out their plan, although he hoped less for the latter, because not enough time had passed for him to have time to break the connection between Horel and Lillian.