But where? Dina thought. It's too dangerous to remove him from Iron Gate. That was when she remembered the tombs along the edge of the property. On one of her missions to retrieve artifacts from Iron Gate, she had discovered the tombs; they went deep into the hillside along the estates property line and were creepy enough that n.o.body would consider looking for them there.

Dina rummaged through the satchel on her hip, pulling out several potions and guzzling them down. Her energy was so wiped that the only chance she had of making this work was with the help of a few strength potions. Tossing the gla.s.s vials back into the bag, she took a deep breath. It was time.

She closed her eyes and grabbed hold of her beloved Raimie, tightening her fingers around his arm. Dina pictured the tombs in her mind. The place was beginning to slip from her memory after all this time, but she still remembered just enough to transport Raimie and herself safely. The two faded in and out for a moment, until at last she managed to concentrate her focus enough to complete the spell.

She looked down at Raimie, whose eyes were still closed. His body sat on the dirt floor while she held his upper body in her arms. Carefully she shifted him, allowing the rest of his body to lay flat before she released her grip. The tombs were darker than she remembered and then she realized that when she had last explored them, it was during the day. Now in the evening, not a shred of light found its way into the dark halls of the forgotten tomb. Dina made quick work of casting a fire spell on the torches that were mounted along the stone walls throughout the maze of rooms.

The old tombs would have been fascinating any other time, but not now. Now she had a mission that needed carrying out and time was of the essence. Dina ripped open the backpack Madame Laveau had stuffed full of essentials for the spell. She felt her stomach twist, her palms dripping with sweat, all of her guardian senses were telling her to stop and turn back. Dina refused to listen, this was her only chance to save Ramie and she wasn't about to give up.

One by one she pulled out the thirteen candles the witch had tucked into the bag, placing them in a circle around Raimie. She then pulled out the small silver dish from the bag and placed it in front of him. Leaning forward, she pulled her dagger from her waist and without hesitation, cut away a small piece of Ramie's flesh from his arm. He didn't flinch or cry out; he gave no indication of life. Placing the flesh into the dish, Dina continued with great intensity.

She opened a small velvet pouch that had been concealed in the backpack, shaking the contents out into her open palm. Out rolled a snake's fang and a small vial of what the witch referred to as unholy ground. Dumping the contents into the dish, Dina prepared to add the last ingredient.

As if it was nothing, she ran the blade of one of her daggers across the palm of her hand. Without fear, she boldly squeezed the warm, red liquid rushing from her palm into the dish. This is it, I'm almost done, she thought.

Frantically, she slipped off her jacket, tearing away a sleeve from the body. She wrapped and secured it around her injured hand. Raising her hands high into the air, Dina shut out everything her mind was telling her, pushing forward with what her heart was saying. She had convinced herself that she could not go on without Raimie.

Hear me, keeper of the gate, master of fate.

Accept my offering, as it is a part of me.

I give it to you freely, release him.

Dina repeated the words over and over; she wished she had written them down, as she feared that perhaps she was remembering them incorrectly. This had to work, she had no other options. She began to shout the words, as if perhaps the granter of the magic was too far away to hear her cries.

But he wasn't, and as she finished saying those words for the last time, she was blinded by a bright orange spark, the explosion sending her backwards against the stone wall. Hitting her head, she slipped into unconsciousness.

Dina's head was spinning. Through the throbbing she could feel a wetness dripping down her cheek. Reaching up to her forehead, she rubbed two fingers into the liquid and attempted to examine it. Through blurred vision, she saw red. The spell must have knocked me unconscious, she thought, and when it did, I must have hit my head.

"Hey, babe," she heard the familiar voice from across the stone tomb.

"Raimie?" Dina called out, "Is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" Raimie answered.

Dina rubbed her eyes before shaking her head, trying to get the fog to dissolve.

"Looks like a nasty gash, you okay?" Raimie asked as he approached her. Dina held her breath; she couldn't believe it as he walked towards her.

"It worked?"

"What worked?" Raimie asked, dropping to his knees and touching her face with his hand. His hand was as cold as ice and she couldn't help but shudder as a chill ran through her.

"Baby, do you feel all right?" Dina asked concerned.

"I guess," he began, then paused for a long moment with a perplexing stare on his face before adding, "I'm really hungry."

"Do you remember anything that happened to you?" Dina pushed for a clearer picture of his state. As she stared at him, she could see the paleness still loomed on his skin and his eyes contained an off putting hollowness as he stared back at her.

"The last thing I remember is going to tell Bishop that we were under attack," Raimie explained before looking around the room and realizing their foreign surroundings. "Where are we? What happened?"

Dina noticed how as he spoke, his voice was very flat and calm. It was not the way she was used to him sounding. "There was an explosion at Rampart, Bishop was killed and you were injured."

"I see," Raimie answered, tilting his head as if he were a robot processing her response.

Dina thought it was odd that he wouldn't probe further about the state of Rampart or the status of their friends. She expanded without his prompting, "We're at Iron Gate."

"This is not how I remember Iron Gate," Raimie said, looking around once again.

Dina smiled at his response, the unfamiliar simplicity of his words had her envisioning a much younger and simpler Raimie than the one she had fallen in love with. "We're in the tombs."

"Why?" he questioned, again reminding Dina of a child. She wondered if perhaps there were lingering brain injuries from the explosion.

"Raimie, this is going to be hard to understand, but I need you to listen carefully. You were injured very badly. Everything we tried didn't help you. Michael and the others, they tried everything they could think of to save you, but none of it worked."

"But I'm right here."

"I know, that's the part that is hard to understand. I found a spell, one we're not allowed to use, and it gave me the ability to fix you."

"Is that why your hair is white?" Raimie asked.

Dina laughed. Not only did he have zero emotional outbursts about all of the information she was relaying to him, but now he was suggesting something ludicrous.

"Sweetheart, my hair isn't white, I just cut it."

"No, it's white, too."

Dina searched through the nearby bag frantically. Finding a metal container, she lifted it and examined her reflection on the side. There, glaring back at her was the image just as Raimie had described. Her now chin length hair, a stark white color.

"The spell!" she exclaimed. "It must have been from the spell."

Raimie didn't seem to care about her cosmetic dilemma. Turning his head wildly, searching the room, he reminded her, "I'm hungry."

"Right, sorry. My hair doesn't matter if you're all right, that's all that matters," Dina added. Though disturbed by her appearance, she was more concerned with the odd behavior of her beloved.

"I am absolutely starving," Ramie said again.

"Ok, baby," Dina chimed, exasperated by the constant reminders.

"Can I go eat?" Raimie asked, requesting permission as if he were Dina's slave.

Dina tried to ignore the oddities, focusing instead on the immediate challenge which faced her. "Let me go and get some food and I will bring it back to you."

"I'll go with you," Raimie said.

"No!" Dina exclaimed. "I'm sorry, baby. It's not you, it's Michael, he's going to flip out when he sees what I've done. I need some time to explain things. Do you understand?" As Dina explained their situation, Raimie struggled to listen as began to search the room for a meal of some kind.

She felt uneasy leaving him, clearly he was not himself. "Raimie, are you listening? I'm going to go and bring you food. Can you stay here?"

He didn't answer. Grabbing his hands and forcing eye contact, she asked the question again.

"Yes. If my Dina wants me to stay here, then that's what I'll do."

"That's right, baby, I'm your Dina and I'm going to take care of you. Can you promise me you will stay here?" She repeated, still uneasy about him obeying her request.

"Yes, I'll stay here, but I'm really hungry," he answered.

Dina tried to convince herself that this was just the residual effects of his recent medical state. After he had some time to recover, he would return to the Raimie she knew.

"All right, I'll go and get you something to eat; I'll be back as soon as I can." Dina added before turning to exit, giving him one last lingering look. Wrapping a scarf around her head to hide her new hair color, Dina slipped out into the night.

"Dina? Is that you?" She had only made it a few steps from the tombs when the voice called out to her.

Dina held her breath, turning hesitantly to see who it was. She did not recognize the girl with raven hair and dark skin. "I'm sorry- you must have me confused with someone else."

Leaning forward, she pulled the scarf up to better conceal her face as she attempted to escape the unwanted company.

"Dina, it's me. Don't you recognize me?"

Dina paused, staring again at the young face before her, plagued by the fact she did not remember the girl. "Huh? Oh- of course."

"Neru."

The memory of where she knew her from came rushing back. It was one of her cla.s.smates. The girl had shared a couple of cla.s.ses with Gabe, Raimie, and herself. She also recalled the trouble the girl had caused between Sophie and Gabe. Though the issues had not been any fault of the girl, it caused a feeling of annoyance to resurface in her. "I know who you are. What do you need?"

"What happened to your hair?" Neru asked, leaning forward.

"Nothing, don't worry about it!" Dina snapped.

"I really like it." She reminded Dina of a puppy, desperately seeking approval of its master.

"Great," Dina replied while rolling her eyes. "I'm busy, do you need something?"

Neru looked over Dina's shoulder, staring at the entrance to the tombs. "Nothing. I just saw you and wanted to know if you needed help with anything."

Dina sidestepped, standing directly between the entrance of the tombs and the young girl's body. "No. Anything else?"

"What's in there?" Neru asked.

"Where?" Dina felt a rush of panic flood over her.

"There," Neru replied, motioning towards the tombs.

"I don't know, looks like their tombs of some kind. If I had to guess, a bunch of dead bodies, snakes, bugs, and all around creepiness," Dina offered, hoping to discourage Neru's curiosity.

"But I saw you come out of there."

"No you didn't!" Dina insisted.

"I did," Neru argued.

"Drop it, there's nothing in there. All right? Just leave it alone," Dina growled, her rage visibly coming to a boil.

Neru took a step back, looking at the seething anger in Dina's eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything. I was just trying to see if you needed my help."

"Well, I don't!" Dina decided she needed to get rid of this girl once and for all. "n.o.body needs your help. You already came between my friends' relationship. Wasn't that enough?"

"No, I didn't do-"

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say, little girl. I don't want you around me. None of us want you around. Don't you get it?"

Neru's face twisted into a reflection of horror and rejection. "I-I-" she cried before throwing her hands over her face just before bursting into tears. Not waiting for any further abuse, she turned and ran.

Dina felt remorse that she had to be so mean to the girl. Once she had sorted things out with Raimie, she would go back and explain the situation to her. For now, she had to be certain her secret would not be discovered.

"No, I swear it's her," Sera insisted.

"That can't be her," Uri argued, shaking his head while staring at the figure moving amongst the crowd.

"I'm telling you, it's Dina."

"Don't you think I could tell if that were one of my best friends? You can't even see anything; she's wrapped up in a scarf. And see- look there, a little bit of hair sticking out, it's white. I told you, it's not her," Uri said, hobbling a bit on his injured leg.

"You really are thick headed, aren't you?" Sera snapped before chasing after the figure. "Dina! Hey, is that you, Dina?"

The woman looked back over her shoulder before turning and pushing her way through the people more rapidly.

"See, it is her, and she doesn't want to talk to us apparently!" Sera yelled back to Uri who was struggling to keep up.

"You are crazy. Why on earth would Dina be avoiding me? You're probably freaking out some poor refugee," Uri said as he hurriedly limped to catch up to Sera. She was now closing in on the fleeing target.

"Please, Dina, I know it's you, will you wait up?" Sera pleaded.

Realizing she could not escape, Dina decided her best course of action would be to lead them away from the tombs. She wasn't ready for anyone to see Raimie, not yet, not until she could be certain he was back to normal. Making a sharp turn, she darted towards the nearby tree line, never slowing her pace.

"That is her!" Uri exclaimed in disbelief. "Hey! Stop! Where are you going?"

Finally, Dina slowed before coming to a stop and facing the pair. Seraphine reached her first, but simply stood there, silently looking her up and down, attempting to figure out the girl's odd behavior.

Uri caught up at last, bending over to catch his breath and shift his weight off of his injured leg. Though the wound was nearly healed, thanks to the clerics, the depth of the injury caused severe phantom pains to linger. "What is going on with you?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean," Dina answered, trying to act casual.

"Well, for starters, you took off running when we called after you," Uri groaned, standing upright at last.

"I didn't hear you," Dina answered.

"Fine, then what's up with the hair?" Uri pushed.