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I ground my teeth.
“Drink the water,” I said. “And I’ll call for Wolf.”
“Drink the water?”
“You must drink the water to grow small enough to ride Wolf,” I said. “Do you want your apple or not?”
He looked from one shoulder to the other where the pixies still sat, and once they had confirmed what I said, Prince Flynn grabbed me and directed me to the water. He kicked my feet out from under me, and I fell hard, mud splattering my entire body.
“You drink,” he commanded. “And then I will.”
I could not wait to gouge out his eyes, and I would do it with my thumbs and revel in the feel of it beneath my nails. I bent, hand still tied behind my back, and slurped the muddy water into my mouth. As I did, I felt the familiar dizziness that came with growing small. I ended up in a pool of water my knee had created on the bank of the pond and waded from it onto the soft ground.
“Well, would you look at that,” he said, and I watched as he hurriedly scooped water into his cupped hands and drank.
When I called Wolf, I shouted his name and hoped that the wind would carry my summons to the castle as well, but the longer we waited, the more anxious I became. Would Casamir catch up with us soon? Would he realize I was gone and think I ran away? Would he even remember me if he truly had miscounted the days?
I chewed the inside of my cheek.
“You had better not be lying,” the prince threatened as a shadow passed over our heads.
When I looked up, Wolf was circling.
“What is that?” the prince demanded.
“Wolf,” I said.
“That is not a wolf!”
“I did not say Wolf was a wolf,” I replied.
The raven landed and bowed his head.
“Lady Thing,” he said. His beady eyes narrowed at me, noticing that my hands were tied behind my back and blood dripped down my face from the slice of my ax. “How may I assist?”
“This is Prince Flynn of the Kingdom of…” I paused and looked at the prince. I did not know from where he came, but I wanted to know, because later, when I had plucked his eyes from his head, I would return them to his father in a glass coffin, so that his whole kingdom would know what happened when he crossed me.
Prince Flynn hesitated and then spoke. “The Kingdom of Rook.”
“Rook,” I repeated. “He wishes to be taken to the Glass Mountains to obtain a golden apple.”
“She must go too,” Flynn added quickly. “You must take us both.”
The raven looked from the prince to me.
“Of course,” he said. “But, Lady Thing, you cannot ride with your hands tied. Allow me.”
The prince raised the ax to threaten Wolf, but he moved quickly and snapped the vines around my wrists, then he shifted and plucked the prince up by the scruff of his neck and launched into the sky. The ax fell from his hand and landed at my feet, and I was hit hard by the violent splash of mud and water.
The mortal’s arms flailed and despite how tiny he had become, I could still hear his desperate screams as the raven continued higher and higher until they were nothing more than a tiny, black dot in the sky.
“I command you to let me go!” he said, and when that did not work, he dissolved into tears. “Please, let me go! Let me go! I will give you anything, anything!”
Wolf obeyed and let the tiny prince drop, but before he could hit the ground, a large hawk shot from the trees and snatched him up, gobbling him whole.
I stood, staring blankly at the sky where he had been, before I knelt and drank from the pond, head spinning as I grew. When I came to my full height, something zoomed past my face—the two pixies who had helped the prince capture me. They came so close, I could feel the vibration of their wings and hear their shrill laughs.
I reached out and managed to capture one in my palm, its joyful cackle turning into a terrified scream as I squeezed. The pixie cracked and burst, and when I opened my hand, its bloody and broken body lay at the center of my hand, wings contorted, legs twitching.
