She slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, yet slowly focused, gradually becoming clearer and clearer. She sat up, and became aware of how sore her head was, and how every particle of her body seemed to be aching. She jumped as Blaze padded over and rubbed his whiskery face against hers - despite her current physical and mental discomfit she smiled, and stroked him affectionately. Then she noticed an apparently unconscious figure lying a little distance away.
"Darwin!" She exclaimed, and scrambled to her feet. She staggered, but managed to hasten over to him and dropped down on her knees at his side. Frantically, she shook him, and hastily checked his temperature. Hot. Burning. Guinevere had had hardly any experience with health, as she had a relatively tough immunity system and had never been in such a probably serious situation herself, and this was a magical injury, wasn't it? She bit her lip and turned to Blaze for help.
"You're a magical creature, for goodness's sake," she said, impatient by stress. "Surely you know what to do?" But Blaze only stared uncomprehendingly at her for a moment before focusing his attention on grooming his back leg. With a sharp, frustrated sigh Guinevere turned back to Darwin. Yet maybe the situation wasn't so bad after all. He was stirring feebly, muttering incoherently under his breath. Then he opened his eyes. He watched her without recognition for a moment, then he mumbled, "Guinevere. What - what's -" he propped himself up on his elbows and slipped a hand into his pocket. Then he froze.
"Yes, that stupid wand of yours is gone," Guinevere said, rather irritably, annoyed that she had been so worried for nothing. Or so she hoped, secretly. "That catcher took it. And there's no good complaining, it's gone for good, so you can stop these wild habits of yours."
"But - but I need my wand! Don't you realise -" Darwin fell silent, caught by despair. Then he continued, "How do you expect us survive without it? I'm going to be honest with you - Guinevere, I depend on that wand. Without a wand, well, I don't know what we'll do."
"We'll do? We'll do? For your information, I don't need a stupid wand to help me stay alive, thank you very much," Guinevere snapped. "And also, for your information, I think you're crazy. Crazy to believe in my being a witch and your being a wizard - crazy to believe that that stick of yours is magic!"
Darwin simply looked at her. Then he spoke: "So, after all you've seen, you're still not satisfied? I'm afraid there's nothing else I can do to convince you if you still don't believe after seeing everything that you've seen so far."
Guinevere remained silent. She knew, deep down, it was time to confess. But if she did she was accepting this new life, and did she really want to do that? But then she locked eye contact with Darwin and knew she would have to be truthful, and do what she needed to do. Taking a deep breath, she straightened and held her head higher.
"I know that I am -"
A pause.
"A witch."