on his head as a hat was a familiar blue shoe from my dream.
An anguished cry fell from my lips, and I turned and flung myself back onto my bed, burying my head under the pillow. Then I screamed, releasing my grief, sorrow, and fear into the mattress.
The wolfsbane tea wasn’t keeping the visions and the blackouts away. Why? Why now? What reason would I have for them to come back?
Wiping my eyes, I knew I needed to find out what happened. I dressed quickly and used my magic to bespell the guards into a deep sleep so I could slip out of my room. Right before I closed the door, I heard my wardrobe open and the pitter-patter of goblin feet as he slipped out the door after me. I couldn’t see Gobbersnot but knew he would be hiding in the shadows—my small rabid protector.
Making my way out the servants’ entrance of the palace, I headed toward the woods and felt the intense pressure in my head resume.
Go away!
Leave here!
But the compulsion was weaker, not as strong as before.
Kneeling, I brushed the leaves aside and saw the great stone with the engraved sigils of protection. I mentally traced the location of the wards in the garden to my location out by the woods and realized it was a giant circle. A protection spell. More of my mother’s handiwork that was safeguarding the palace against magical beings. This constant thrum of power would also drive most fey away; to them it would be like wearing a bee’s nest over their head.
But there was another symbol hidden within the ward. Translated roughly in fey, it was the word “shift.”
The farther I traveled, the closer I came to the woods. I turned to look back up at the palace on the hill. Lights shone from a few windows, casting a glow around the area. Even in the middle of the night, it looked like a signal shining far into the valley and the woods beyond.
The woods. That was what drew me. The dreams and feelings were coming from here. Having to use the land drained me, and a mage light would take too much power, so instead I pulled out a glass marble and used it to amplify the moon’s light, lighting my path like a torch.
There, in the tall grass at the edge of the woods, I saw her.
Her face was turned down, her legs sprawled at awkward angles with one blue shoe still on her small foot. I couldn’t breathe. The world started spinning, and I collapsed next to the girl. It was Herez.
Gobbersnot moved over to the girl and picked up her hand, about to take a bite out of her finger.
“No!” I shooed him away. “Don’t!
“Furfmuggin,” he grumbled angrily at me, then moved down by her feet. Giving me his back, he proceeded to try and pry off her other shoe to add to his collection.
“Gobber, no!” I chastised my goblin, but his hand came up, sending me a signal of his disdain. If he couldn’t have meat, then he wanted the shoe.
Sighing in resignation, I reached out to touch her cool skin, and her death washed over me like a raging river. I felt her fear, her terror rising up inside my own stomach. She had snuck out to meet a boy and had run into something much more dangerous. Herez knew she was being hunted but was cut off from the palace, so she ran for the woods instead. The beast chased her down, and she slipped in the mud. When she looked up, all she saw were teeth, dark fur, and claws. Then it was over.
I shuddered and gasped, trying not to throw up what was left in my stomach.
Poor Herez.
A loud crack echoed around me. My head snapped up as I stared into the darkness.
I wasn’t alone.
Rising to my feet, I caught a glimpse of a large shadow moving through the trees and heard a threatening growl.
Before I could attack, Gobbersnot let out a war cry and ran into the woods. The silky dress he wore made him look like a screaming will-o’-the-wisp as he ran.
A soft groan came from Herez then, and I cried out in relief. She wasn’t dead—yet. There was still a chance I could save her. Scanning the woods, I searched for the beast, but both he and Gobbersnot were gone and the night was still. Sensing no other immediate threat, I collapsed next to the injured girl.