Coming up with a plan proved harder than they thought. No, it was impossible! Jillian and Kit talked nearly all night but no idea came. Well, not any ideas that would have them coming out alive. After awhile, Kit suggested that they get some sleep and they both lay quietly in their cells as the dim light from the sun slipped between the cracks of the prison walls.

Jillian stared up at the ceiling. She couldn't go to sleep. Her mind was buzzing with so many different things that it couldn't shut down. Help the Snow Queen! But we're in prison. Get out of prison. How?

How was the right question. They had no tools, no special keys. Kit's wand had been taken and it was doubtful it would ever be seen again. And as many times as he tried to convince her of it, Jillian didn't have magic. Even so, what if he was right? In the silence of the dawn, she sat up and tried to make something happen. Anything.

Nothing. She leaned back against the wall. "I knew it," she muttered. She felt relived, that she was the one who was right. But a tiny part of her wanted to be wrong. She had seen the magic Kit could do and she wondered what it would be like to wield such power.

She went to the hole. She could hear steady breathing coming from Kit's cell. Jillian smiled. At least one of them could sleep in a place like this. She wondered who he was. They hadn't really talked about their personal lives. Kit did mention an aunt and his father. Did he have other family? Siblings? Anything was possible. If they didn't make it today, she had to know.

"Kit," Jillain whisphered into the hole. There was a rustling sound.

"Hmmm?"

"You awake?"

"I am now," he mumbled. He sat up and put his eye to the hole. "What's up?"

"I can't sleep," she said.

He sighed. "You woke me up for that?"

Jillian laughed. "No, I just want to ask you about...you. I mean, if we don't...." She couldn't finish the sentence.

Kit understood. "Yeah, okay. Well its not that happy, just a warning."

"I know all about not happy. I grew up in an orphanage. I never knew my parents."

"I'm sorry," Kit said quietly. "In a way, we're a lot alike. My father was a wizard like me. I like I said, he fought in the Snow Queen's army when I was young. I wanted to be like him. He returned home with terrible injuries and then died when I was twelve."

"How awful," Jillian gasped.

"Yeah, it tore my mother apart. She wasn't magic but she loved my father so much, a bit of her seemed to die along with him. About a year later, she was gone too." His voice broke. He paused and sniffed a couple of times. "My only family left was my mother's sister. She was terrified of magic. I don't think she hated me, but she was scared of who I was and what I could do. She would tense up everytime I was in the same room with her. I don't know who suffered more, her or me.

"One day, it became too much. I left. No money, no wand, no home. I got lost in the woods and met an old man, named Terrin. He wasn't magic but he could have been. He knew so much! He helped me make a wand and taught me the best he could. I had been out one day, practicing, and when I returned, he was gone. No mess, no sign of a struggle. I was on my own again. Then after ducking out on those Snow Queen guards, I met you."

Jillian was at a loss for words. "Oh, Kit, I..I don't know what to say."

He chuckled. "What can you say?"

"Only that we are the same. Orphans without a family."

"But we're not alone. We have each other."

They stared at each other for a long moment. Violet and blue.

The sound of boots thumping up thr stairs brought them out of their trance. "Its the guards!" Kit exclaimed.

Jillian was gripped with fear. "They're coming for us! We're out of time!"

She was yanked out of her cell and her already sore wrists were chained. As she was shoved down the stairs, she could hear Kit struggling with the guard. He was soon subdued and shackled as well. They found themselves again in the prison courtyard. Jillian looked and froze in her tracks. She was staring at a tall wooden stake with firewood piled at the base.

Her heart hammered in her chest. She felt immobile but the guard dragged her forward and threw her down right next to the deadly stake. Her chained hands hardly caught her. She gasped as they cut painfully against the metal. A thump, and Kit landed next to her. She turned and saw his face clearly for the first time since the inn.

It was almost like looking at a stranger. She had forgotten his dark hair and handsome smile, but his eyes were still the same. Except now they were dark with fear and anger.

A pair of boots walked infront of her nose. She looked up and saw a cruel-looking guard standing above her. His face was contorted into an ugly sneer as he gazed down upon them with loathing.

He spoke, "I suppose you all know why you have been brought here. Our King Palumer has made it clear that magic was illegal but you chose to defy him! There can be no mercy for this formiddable crime so today, you will be burned at the stake."

The words sent a chill down her spine. She inched closer to Kit, who smiled bravely. "Its going to be alright," he whisphered.

He glared at Kit, for speaking, who glared right back. Jillian nudged him and he looked away. She didn't want him to make things worse.

"As you probably know," the guard continued, "burning is the only way to kill magic. Don't try anything. You're scum and your bodies need to be burned away so we don't have to look upon filth like you!" He spat at Jillian's head.

There was a blur of motion as Kit lept on the guard's back, knocking him to the ground. "Don't!" Jillian screamed, but no one listened as the two rolled on the ground.

Kit was obviously outmatched but it took three guards to pull him off of the other man. He had a cut lip and was panting. The ugly guard straightend himself. "Excellent. We have a volunteer to go first."

They dragged Kit to the stake and tied him to it. She tried to catch his eye but his face was hidden by his hair. She thought she saw a tear trace his cheek. The guard got a torch and prepared to light the kindling.

No, Jillian thought. It can't end this way. One last chance, perphaps he was right about her. She stood up and streched her hands out towards her friend and concentrated. A guard yelled at her to sit down but she ingored him. "I can do this," she whisphered. "I can."

She thought about how he laughed. How he stood up for her and was going to die for it. That they became friends after one day. Her first friend.

Kit's voice floated towards her like in a dream. "Look away, Jillian."

"No."

The kindling ingited and there was a scream.