The next week, Marek had one of his men come to the palace as her brother, John Tirragen. She made her escape with him to the inn, where Marek greeted her and her fire lizard, Zamora. She stayed there for the night, and returned to the palace as herself the next morning.

"The gold's Melody," she heard Christine saying of her fire lizards. "She's the queen. The bronze is Caspian, the blue is Bowie, and the lazy green over there is Serenity."

"Remarkable," she heard Eric comment, and she quickened her step. Zamora, perched on her shoulder, squeaked in protest to the faster pace. Instead, she flew out of Alex's shoulder and into the sky, where she disappeared.

"Alex, there you are!" Eric announced upon seeing her. "Good, now that everyone's here, we can go..." He reached out his hand.

"No!" Alex stopped him. "Zamora. She just left-"

"She'll find you, don't worry," Christine reassured her, and then nodded to Eric. "If you'll continue..."

"Right." With his hand, he seemed to pluck out an imaginary- or invisible?- string in the air, and twisted it. The palace surroundings disappeared into black nothingness. Alex couldn't see any of the others or feel anything except for a very cold wind hitting every angle of her body. She almost cried out in shock and pain when suddenly, she was standing in front of another, different palace. She looked around and saw everyone else standing near her.

"So, that's between," Christine said softly. "Yes, the description was accurate enough, now that I've been there." Then she turned to quiet Jimmy, who had been thoroughly frightened by the experience.

"Master Eric." Everyone turned towards the voice and saw a middle-aged woman coming to them. "You must be his guests. I'm Jenny, the maid and nanny of Medazzaland. I'll show you to your rooms. Master Eric, would you like your usual room?"

"Yes, please. Thank you, Jenny," he replied, and Alex realised he had come here a lot in his life, especially recently. This was confirmed by all of the people, even the young children, greeted him as the group walked into the palace.

"Eric, I'm glad you could make it!" The speaker, a woman of at least sixty, came over to them.

"Yes, Jasmine, I came. And with my family and friends, as promised," he said, and politely kissed her on both cheeks.

She looked over the group silently, but her eyes widened when she came to Christine. "You bear the mark of the unicorn," she said quietly, but everyone in the busy palace seemed to stop whatever they were doing.

To Alex's surprise, Christine blushed and covered a mysterious star-shaped scar on her left cheek with a hand. "Yes, I was sick with a rare fever a few years back, and the only cure was to be touched by a unicorn's horn. Adam here travelled the world, searching for a unicorn. When he finally found one, it touched me with its horn here-" she gestured to the scar- "and I became healed. I bear this mark as price, though few know what it means, and that was when my magic opened up." She sighed. "I don't even remember the unicorn, since I was so delirious with the fever. I didn't get to thank it-"

"Your life is your thanks," Jasmine told her. "As for the unicorn, there is only one unicorn on this planet. She belonged to us, as much as one being can belong to another, but we let her loose for her safety."

Despite this tale, Alex was frowning. Adán had gone all over the world, looking for the fabled unicorn horn to save Christine's life, yet she had no idea how much he cared for her? She was oblivious, then. Or, maybe she was just saving herself from being hurt again...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a young man. He looked to be twenty-five, but was shorter than most men at 5'8". He had sandy blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes, and a few freckles were scattered across his nose to his cheeks. Very handsome, Alex thought to herself.

"Hello, I'm Pinky," he greeted them.

"Pinky?" The word was out before Alex thought about it, and she immediately blushed. "I'm sorry..."

To her relief, the man smiled. "It's okay," he said. "It's not my actual name, but a nickname my sister gave me. My actual name's Thom, but nobody except my father calls me that. But, come, follow us to your rooms. You may make yourselves at home in them however you wish. Breakfast is in a half hour."

Pinky led them up a flight of elegant stairs, but the woman Eric had called Jasmine politely excused herself and walked off to some other part of the palace. The group walked down a long hall on the second floor until they reached seven blank, wooden doors. All of the other doors had plaques on which a person's name had been etched. Alex assumed the names were of the rooms' inhabitants. This was confirmed when Pinky waved a hand over the plaque of a blank door and Eric Grossi appeared on it. Alex stared.

"But I didn't see any magic, and you don't appear to have the Gift..." she said to Pinky, and he smiled.

"No, I don't have the Gift," he agreed. "The people here have many different magics. I was not born with any, and I am not native to here, but I managed to learn some magic, the kind created by spells belonging to ancient people, resembling witchcraft. After all, if one lives in a magical land where every other person had magic, one must have some kind of magic to protect oneself." As he talked, he had made other names appear on the doors. "If you'll excuse me now," he said as he bowed, and he suddenly disappeared.

Everyone found their rooms and entered, shutting the doors behind them. Alex was the last, only mildly curious to see what her room for the summer looked like. She was more interested in what Pinky had said. Magic one could attain, but not witchcraft, and definitely not the desert magic? She silently wondered how many different types of magic there were.

"Many," said a voice behind her. Alex whirled around and glared at Adán. "Yes, more than you can count."

"Don't you know it's rude to listen to other people's thoughts?" she asked him. "But maybe that's because you don't have any of your own to listen to." He smiled.

"Yes, it's rude, but I was curious as to why you were still standing out in the hall," he answered. "I noticed you standing here because I wanted to tell you that you have class with me after breakfast." She opened her mouth to protest, but he stopped her. "You may be on break in matters of other things, but your magic does not go on vacation. I want you to start making a drawing of a fire lizard's bone structure by going inside the creature."

"Zamora- where is she?" Alex remembered she hadn't seen the fire lizard since before going between.

"Don't worry, Christine said Serenity told her all of them are sunning themselves on the far side of the island and you need not worry," Adán told her. "Now, go get ready for breakfast."

She obeyed with a grin, opening her room and stepping inside. She was pleased to see that the carpet, bed, and curtains were a deep, lush green while the walls were a spotless white. How had they known that was the exact shade of green she loved? Then she looked at the rest of the room. It was big and comfy-looking, with furniture of a bed, table, and sofa against the walls so the middle of the room was empty. In one corner stood a vanity table, covered with perfumes, makeup, powder, and such. That made Alex laugh; she was not about to submit herself to putting on makeup or other traditional things for a girl her age. Well, the oil would be useful for Zamora, whose skin and scales were starting to become dry and flaky. A fireplace was set in the wall opposite the bed, and at the far end of the room was a glass door which opened out to a balcony. Alex liked that, since she could converse with her animal friends easily. On each of the other walls was another door. Alex went to the one on the left wall and opened it, revealing a bathroom, complete with a shower. That made Alex smiled; the royal palace in England only had baths, which she was not fond of.

She sighed and went to the other door, which she assumed was a closet. She had to get ready for the breakfast, which meant she probably had to change her clothes. Her father had said not to worry about bringing their own clothes, since "they" would have clothes for the group, so she had only worn some raggedy clothes Iris had provided her. Alex doubted what her father said, however. She'd be lucky if there was even one pair of jean shorts in her size.

She opened the door and grinned. In the closet were numerous outfits she had hoped for. She took out dark blue shorts and a white t-shirt and put them on. She was just pulling on socks when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" she yelled in response, and Christine walked in, took one look at Alex, and made a face. "What's wrong?" Alex asked. "And where are the children?"

"Oh, nothing that can't be fixed," was the quick assurance. "And I stuck Adam with the children. Uh...Eric says that everyone expects us to be formally dressed for breakfast."

"But I looked in the closet, and the only things in there were jeans and-" She stopped, for Christine had opened the closet, which was now full of dresses.

"It's a magic closet," Christine told her. "Quite handy, I must say. I have a few of them at my house, along with magic doors, which is why my house looks smaller than it actually is. It's another of those acquired magics."

Alex picked out a dress and sat on her bed. "I don't understand," she said quietly. "I thought people were born with the Gift and wild magic, but they just appeared when a unicorn touched you?"

"They didn't 'just appear'," Christine told her. "They were hidden, like your wild magic. Although, not as well, since I always had a strong bond with animals, and I could control wind and move little things if I concentrated very hard." She smiled. "Which I wasn't prone to do very often, except at graduations and during very long speeches- or any speeches that didn't directly interest me, long or short. But when the unicorn healed me, I found my magic."

Alex sighed, but it was not the frustrated noise she usually made. "How wonderful it would have been to see a unicorn, even if you didn't remember," she said dreamily. "Just the knowledge that I met one would be enough for me. How long ago was this?"

"Over ten years ago, before my mother died," Christine answered. "And yes, the knowledge is enough, and the hope that one day I'll see the beautiful creature again."

"Is that why you always wear that unicorn jewelry?" Alex asked.

"Partly, yes, but it was my symbol long before that," Christine told her. "The unicorn, and the spider."

"I've often wondered about that spider," Alex admitted.

Christine laughed. "Oh, it's just from a song- Boris the Spider. I love that song, and the band who made it. I was 'Boris Girl' to my friends, among other ridiculously funny nicknames. Another was 'The Amazing Tork Girl' and my sidekick was 'The Invincible Monkee Girl'. My sidekick for Boris Girl was 'Whiskey Girl', which is not what you think. But shouldn't you be dressing instead of listening to me tell stories of days long gone?"

Alex silently picked a dress, but her thoughts were not on it. The Invincible Monkee Girl...she had heard of that name before. She would have to figure it out later.

"We hope you find our food satisfying," Jasmine was saying as she led the group down a flight of stairs, and Eric grunted. "Eric here, however, feels our food is better than anywhere else in the world. Perhaps that is because we do not use pesticides on our plants?"

"How do you keep the bugs from eating them, then?" Joshua asked her.

"We made an agreement with them," Jasmine answered plainly. "We have plants for them to eat, and that is all they get for the year. They understand that, and thus there is rarely any trouble." She turned to Christine. "You look positively radiant in that dress!" she said.

They had reached the dining area, at which some people were already seated. "Thank you," Christine replied. "The closet was extremely helpful."

At her voice, someone at the table turned around. "Christine?" the lady asked while standing and walking over to them. "So, you are the bearer of the unicorn mark! I thought the description sounded like you, but I haven't seen you in ages, so I couldn't be sure. Oh, it is good to see you again!" The two ladies hugged, and then the stranger's eyes turned to Adán. She raised her eyebrows. "Not- Adam Ledo? Christine, I thought I told you to forget about him twenty years ago." Alex thought at least one would get mad at that, but they surprisingly smiled instead.

"It's good to see you again, too," Adán said. "So, Erica, how did you get to be here?"

"Oh, I was swimming in the ocean, and I swam right onto the island," she said with a laugh. Alex was surprised to see a bit of copper, which meant wild magic, outline her shape.

Who is she? Alex asked Christine.

One of my friends from high school, was the reply. Her name's Erica. Yes, she has wild magic, but only a little. She can talk to sea creatures. Part sea creature herself, I'm sure. She loves to swim like no other human I know.

Thent hey stopped their conversation, not because Erica might overhear, but because it was rude to hold a conversation in public, yet nobody could hear it. Alex had quickly learned to mind-speak to one animal (or Christine) without any other animals overhearing, and so their thoughts were safe from everyone unless she put her shields down. Breakfast started, and she politely joined in on the human conversation, strengthening her present shields so she wouldn't submit to the urge of running to her animal friends.

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