After explaining to them that Phillip wouldn’t bring any harm to them or cast a spell on them. They stayed by the river a little longer. Adaline's idea, wanting to sit and rest for a little bit more. Phillip decided to sit a few feet away from them, noticing their wary movements. Juliet came and cuddled up on his lap, purring as he stroked her fur. It helped ease up some of his stress, he continued to stroke her furr until Adaline got up. 

“Why didn’t you try using a spell while we were fighting?” She asked.

“It slipped my mind.” Phillip nervously chuckled.

“You hungry?” Alex asked.

“Yes.” Both Phillip and Adaline answered

The last time Phillip ate was yesterday when he was snacking, while reading this book. 

“Good, you’re catching the meal.” Alex stated, pointing at Phillip. 

“I’m what?” 

They didn’t let him argue against the idea. He understood that they still didn’t fully trust him and wanted to see what he could do. 

Killing wasn’t in his blood. Phillip couldn’t even remember the last time he killed an animal, he couldn’t even remember a time he had killed an insect. After trying to get out of the situation, Adaline had sent him off on his own to try and get something to eat. Phillip was warily walking around, picking a few berries here and there. He couldn’t kill anything. 

“Here.”

Juliet dropped a dead rabbit at his feet, licking her paws; cleaning them. 

“Ew, Juliet!”

“What it’s not like you were going to do it.” 

Phillip could’ve sworn that she rolled her eyes at him. She picked up the dead rabbit and started trotting back over to Adaline and Alex. Phillip let out a dejected sigh and followed close behind her. 

When they returned, Juliet got praised for catching something. Phillip just ate his berries in silence, giving a few to Alex and Adaline. 

“So were you born a witch or trained to become one?” Alex questioned in between bites. 

“Born.” 

“You want to become King, that’s why you are coming to the tournament?”

“No.”

“Then why are you going?” Adaline asked. 

“I have someone I need to speak with.” Phillip answered. 

He couldn’t say that he was going to look for the prince, knowing that everyone knew that he was kept locked up inside the castle. Ian’s parents didn’t keep his coming out a secret. It was on the flyer, informing the recruits that their son had developed a terrible disease and that they were in need of a new heir. Also that no one was to speak or even look at Ian. 

“Are they a contestant? You going to fight with them?” Alex wondered. 

“No, I just need to speak with them. I’ll stay and cheer you guys on though.” Phillip quickly added, wanting them to ease up around him. 

“That’ll be sweet, maybe during one of the fights you could give us a boost. Ya know, like magic spells or something?” Adaline suggested. 

“I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“How could they find out? You’re a witch, you can cast some spell or something; making them forget about it.” Alex explained. 

“I’m not sure.”

Phillip didn’t want to mess so much with the story line. They weren’t destined to be Kings. Silas was. Phillip didn’t want to change the whole story, just the part where Ian dies. So then he can have the happy ending that he wanted. He had to keep in mind that the novel was the one who put him in this situation in the first place. He didn’t know what it could do while he was in the story or how much extra energy it had left from casting the spell. 

If he changed too much then the novel would definitely know and would change everything or just try and kill him. Phillip shuddered at the idea of dying in this book. He wanted to make it back home. He couldn’t die here and he couldn’t let anything happen to Juliet either. As much as he wanted to help Adaline and Alexzander, he couldn’t. 

They continued to eat in silence, Alex trying to sneak Juliet some meat. While Phillip ate the rest of the berries and had a few pieces of meat. Adaline kept looking over at her side, still amazed that it had healed up. Finishing up the rest of the food, they headed up towards the kingdom; trucking as much as they could before night fell. 

As the sun slowly started to go down, Phillip lit a fire on his hand, helping light the way for everyone. 

“How well can you sleep in a tree?” Alex asked, stopping in front of a big, twisted tree.

“Not well.” Phillip chuckled, not thinking that he was serious. 

“I think he’ll be fine.” Adaline spoke, climbing up the tree. 

“Wait, you're serious?!” 

“Yes.” Alex answered. 

Alex followed Adaline up the tree, leaving Juliet and Phillip on the ground. 

“It’s not that hard.”

“Easy for you, you’re a cat.”

Juliet shook off her fur and started up the tree. Phillip rubbed a hand over his face, not believing that he was actually going to sleep in a tree. He grumbled to himself before letting the fire go out and went up the tree. Alex was positioned on the lowest branch, while Adaline was up high. Phillip decided to take a branch in the middle, placing Juliet on his stomach. So he could at least have some warmth. Phillip closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, feeling oddly comfortable on the tree branch.