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“Did she offer us any protection?” Ann asks when I catch up to them.
“What?” I ask, confused.
“Asha,” she explains.
I see Circe’s pale face in my mind. “No. No protection. We’ll do our best.”
Pippa claps in delight. “Splendid! A true adventure at last. The Borderlands have grown dull. I should call them the Boredomlands!”
I look toward the Winterlands’ churning sky and the gate that separates us from it.
“What about those terrible creatures, miss?” It’s Wendy. She holds tight to Mercy’s skirts.
Pippa loops her arm through Felicity’s. “We shall band together. We’re clever girls, after all.”
“It is the only way to be certain,” Ann says.
“I’m not leaving until I know whether the Tree of All Souls exists,” I say.
A small light blinks in the trees, growing as it descends. It’s the fairylike creature with the golden wings.
“You wish to see the Winterlands?” she whispers huskily.
“What business is it of yours?” Felicity demands.
“I would light the way,” she purrs.
Mae Sutter shoos the creature away. “Go on! Leave us be.”
Undaunted, the creature flits from branch to branch and lands on my shoulder. “The Winterlands are not easily traveled. One who knows the way could prove helpful.”
Circe’s words come back to me: Make no bargains.
“I’ll give you nothing for it,” I say.
The creature’s lip curls into a sneer. “Not even a drop of magic when you’ve got so much?”
“Not even a drop,” I answer.
The fairy gnashes her teeth. “I shall take you anyway. Perhaps someday you’ll reward my service. Leave that one behind. She’ll prove a nuisance,” she says, flicking a wing at Wendy’s cheek. Wendy gasps and puts a hand there. The fairy cackles.
“Stop it!” I snap, and she falls back.
“I don’t want to be no trouble,” Wendy mumbles, hanging her head.
I take Wendy’s hand. “She does what we do.”
The fairy scowls. “Too dangerous.”
“Wendy, you stay ’ere,” Bessie commands.
“I want to go,” she says. “I want to know where that screamin’ comes from.”
“She’ll only slow us down,” Pippa argues, as if the girl isn’t standing right there.
“We go all of us together or not at all,” I say firmly. “Now, I must confer with my companions. Shoo! Away with you.”
The creature beats her shiny wings, hovering. There’s hatred in her eyes as she zips a few feet away, keeping watch.
