Chapter 1

At the moment, I wished for only two things: 1) That my mother be a bit more descriptive in her diary, 2) That she hadn't randomly started to write in some incomprehensible code made on of little squares and rectangles. Although I was able to learn a bit about her childhood and her meeting with Dad, she really wasn't making it easy for me to figure out her whereabouts.

"Knock, knock," a familiar feminine voice came from outside my room.

"Come in, Autumn," I said, putting the diary down on my lap.

"Hey, Hailey," she greeted me happily. Grabbing a pillow off my hammock, she joined me on the floor, folding her purple wings back neatly.

I was back in my room in the Kingdom of Aeolus, home of the Winged people. After spending two weeks back in the human world, I had explained to my dad I didn't feel I belonged there anymore. Reluctant to see me leave again, but wanting the best for me, my dad had agreed to let me come back, given I visit him at least twice a year.

With a sigh, I handed Autumn my mother's diary, recently unlocked with a key from my new swiss army knife.

"Here, you're the smart one."

Autumn's eyes widened. "I'm flattered, but I don't speak random geometric figures."

"Do you think Grandpa might know what the code stands for?"

"Possibly." Autumn flicked through a few more pages. "Let me see if I can figure out something. Vowels should be repeated more often."

"Yes, maybe that'll help."

Autumn went over to my desk and found some sheets of paper, and we stayed in comfortable silence, while I picked up a book and started reading.

There was another knock on my door.

"Come in," I looked up.

"Room-service," someone said in a squeaky, heavily accented voice. "Apparently it stinks of boredom here." The door opened, and my friend Aiden poked his head inside. "Surprise! It's your all time favorite person ever!"

"Oh goddess, not him," Autumn joked.

I pretended to sigh heavily, and he glare at us playfully.

"Careful, Princess. Your traitor of a boyfriend told me your great weakness."

"And what is that?" I asked, a stupid grin on my face appearing at the mention of Chase as my boyfriend.

"You're ticklish!"

He jumped towards me, and I grabbed a pillow just in time to defend myself, whacking him in the shoulder.

"Oh, it's on." Aiden grabbed the nearest pillow.

In answer, I threw mine in his face.

The fight continued until a stray pillow flew out and hit Autumn right in the back of her head. She looked up from the diary, annoyed, and we both froze.

"It was him." I pointed a finger at Aiden.

"Really, Hailey? As if I would throw that bad."

I made a face at him. "Aren't you supposed to be cleaning up the whole castle or something?"

After blatantly disobeying his commander's order to not come along with Autumn, Chase, and I on our quest, Aiden had luckily escaped being kicked out of the Junior Troops. First in Command Bree did not let him off the hook so easily, though, and now Aiden had to do any and all chores that needed doing in the castle.

"I'm supposed to be helping with the repartition of food and shelter for the citizens." Aiden shrugged.

After the big fire caused by the enemy army, Sol was still under reconstruction.  Only the castle, far away enough from the rest and protected by a set of powerful water jets, had survived the fire with only a blackened facade and damaged front lawn. Lately, I had spent a lot of time in the kitchens helping cook food for everyone.

"Why aren't you helping, then?" Autumn asked him.

"It was agreed my good looks shouldn't be wasted on something like distributing canned goods."

I snorted. "Strangely enough, I doubt that."

"Okay, the lady in charge actually kicked me out because she though I was messing up the organization of everything."

"You mean Lynn? Knowing you, I can't see that happening at all," Autumn said sarcastically.

"I know," Aiden grinned. "I have to be the tidiest guy alive." He jumped to his feet. "Anyway, wanna come with me to do something fun?"

"Actually, I'm already busy trying to read geometry." Autumn pointed at the diary.

"Hey," Aiden came to look over her shoulder. "I'm actually kinda good at geometry." He frowned as he took a look at the book. "Yeah, nope. That isn't geometry. All right, new activity, pease!"

Autumn flipped to the next page, ignoring him. "Oh, I know what this is." She handed the diary back to me.

I looked at the page which was covered in squiggles and lines. "Yeah, it's a map, isn't it?"

Autumn smiled, humor in her eyes. "That part wasn't too hard to figure out. What I meant was I know what this map represents. Or at least, I think I do. I'd have to check, but I'm pretty sure this is Peraz forest."

I looked at her blankly.

"Come on," Autumn sighed. "You know you're supposed to be studying your Aeolian geography."

Aiden scoffed. "Honestly, I don't blame her. Geography's boring."

I nodded. "I know a ton about your history now, though."

"Well, history's not interesting either." Aiden shrugged.

Autumn gave him a look. "Yes, it is. You like geometry, why not history?"

"Because, history and geography are just learning a bunch of stuff by heart. At least geometry's logical." He threw another pillow at my face, but I ducked just in time. "See, this is what I'm talking about. You guys made me have a conversation about school subject, and I'm not even at school! Can one get anymore boring?"

"Of course." I smiled cheekily. "You're a great example of that, actually."

He gasped. "Did you just call me boring?"

"Don't worry, she was kidding. You're too annoying to be boring." Autumn answered for me. "Moving on. Peraz forest is south east of the kingdom and the north west of the mountain range."

I thought about it. "Okay. I do remember a big forest there. Do you think my mom went there?"

Autumn shrugged. "It's possible. There are mostly magical creatures there, though. And trees, obviously."

"Maybe she liked trees," Aiden suggested, gathering all my pillows. "Or maybe she went for the fairies, just like Chase's dad." He snapped his mouth shut, wide eyed. "Sorry, I didn't say that."

"Why?" I looked at him curiously.

"'Cause. Now, let's make a pillow fort."

"Sounds good to me," I let the subject drop.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come on in!" Aiden yelled.

"Hey, it's my room," I protested.

Chase peeked in. "Can I still come in? Or are you guys having a secret meeting?"

"What's the passcode?" Aiden said before I could even answer.

"Cookies?" Chase guessed. Aiden shook his head. "Pillow fort?"

"What? It only took you two tries? Okay, I guess you can come in."

Chase walked up to me and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek, but one of Aiden's pillows smacked right into his face. He looked up at him with his best annoyed expression. Standing up, Autumn picked up the pillow and threw it back at Aiden's face. Then, she showed my mom's diary to Chase.

"Does that look like Peraz forest to you?"

"Is that Princess Delilah's diary? And I'm not sure. You should compare it to another map."

"Good idea." Autumn nodded. She turned to me. "We should go to the library later to check it out."

I hopped up. "Let's go now!" This map might be my best lead to my mom yet. Not that this was saying much, since it was probably also the only one, but that was all the more a reason to check it out.

Chase opened the door for us. "Why not? Come on."

"What about my pillow fort?" Aiden protested.

"We'll do it later," I promised.

"That way, we'll be able to drop by the kitchens first and get some snacks." Autumn convinced him.

Having become more familiar with the castle, I was able to navigate expertly through the different hallways up to the big library doors. Grief pinched my heart as we stepped into what used to be Anselm's favorite room of the castle. The royal advisor had passed away a few months ago after being badly injured, and I missed his wisdom and good humor.

Aiden, energized by the promise of snacks, bounded up to a shelf and quickly found the right map. We compared it with the diary's.

"It's funny," Autumn reflected. "It does look like the same place, but the diary's is  much more detailed." She pointed at a spot where the library's map showed only an endless cluster of trees. "According to the princess, there's a clearing here, and a big rocky area over there. Also, she drew a large tree here, which she drew again in more detail on the next page."

"Was your mom an explorer for maps?" Aiden questioned.

"I don't know," I answered with a sight, still looking at the map, while Chase muttered,

"Cartographer, Aiden. It's called a cartographer."

As I studied both maps, I came to a decision. "I want to go there. I need to go to Peraz forest."

So, what did you think? Is this first chapter anything like you expected?
What was Hailey's mom even doing in that forest?

This book is already #91 in Fantasy! You guys are simply awesome!
Now, SW just climbed back up to #8... Do you think the sequel can catch up? ;)

I hope your favorite character/ship has shown up already, but if not yell their names really loudly, they might be pouting in their room. At least, that's what Anna's doing. She wanted this book to be about her, not Hailey again. Grown ups are so annoying.

I admit I've missed talking to you guys in my little author notes (for those who read them).
Good bye for now, see you in a week for the next chapter!