Oboe barged through the entrance of Thistle’s cave, crashing and stumbling through and over his piles of collectibles in a rush.

“Thistle!! Are you home?!” An entire heap of pots and pans clattered onto the cave floor. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to do that. Where are you?! Thistle, please! Hello?! Thistle!!”

Flailing her way past the living area, Oboe found him. He stood knee deep in his work pool, shaping dreams, his back to her.

“There you are!” Oboe said. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Yeah.” He didn’t look at her. “I heard you.”

“You didn’t answer!”

His little fingers bent in slow but familiar patterns. A delicate dream bubble bloomed out of the shifting raw magic. It balanced on the tip of his pincer. “Should I?” He waded out of the pool, and placed the dream with the others in an old milk crate. “Don’t recall you listening to me. Not sure why I should return the favor.”

Oboe sniffled. “I’m sorry! I just don’t know what to do!”

“Oh yeah?” Thistle turned just enough to peek over his shoulder. “Did you figure it out?”

“I…” She held her breath. “Grandmother stabbed someone through the chest and I’m scared and I knew she was wicked but the magic on that sword is torture and now that leshy has to live in so much pain and I can’t tell Theo because he might do something to Grandmother and grandmother might do something to him and I don’t want to tell Theo I gave away the sword but I don’t like lying to Theo but I have to lie or else I can’t be with my family and I’m supposed to be wicked but I’m not really good at it and I feel so bad I don’t know what to do help me!!”

Thistle faced her. A grimace, with four narrowed eyes. “Yeah. Sounds like the Circle.” He flicked his one good antennae. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know!!” Oboe pulled at her mane. “What should I do?”

He shrugged with all four arms. “That’s none of my business. I tried telling you what I thought, but you didn’t want to hear it.” He pointed. “You’re grownup now. You get to make whatever stupid mistakes you want. You don’t need my permission.”

Oboe didn’t feel like a grownup. She felt smaller and more helpless than ever before. “Grandmother is doing things that scare me. Bad things. And she’s making me do things I don’t like.”

Thistle climbed into an old wooden chair with a groan. “Then why do them?”

She scowled. “I get to be with my family again!”

“Yeah? So what?” He leaned over a junked cuckoo clock, tinkering with the guts. “Way I remember it, they didn’t lift a finger when you lost your name. That fell on me.” He got in there, elbow deep replacing cogs and forcing gears together. “Not going to pretend I did a good job raising you. You had shit luck to get stuck with a roach like me. Surprised you turned out as good as you did.”

Oboe hung her head. “I’m not good. I’m evil.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I enchanted that human when I was a kid. I did it again with the Percy.” Her throat tightened. “And it felt so good both times! I’m wicked! Grandmother saw that. She said that’s just how I am. That I should embrace it.”

Thistle let out a bitter laugh. “Bassoon is a real piece of work. Living for centuries must screw with your head.” He popped across the workshop to grab a spare counterweight. “Let me tell you something about the Fair Lady, kid. She expects the worst in everyone. You could tell her you’d kill all your friends for a favor, and she’d believe it. Wouldn’t even bat an eye. That’s how she sees this world. Doesn’t mean she’s right.”

“But what if she is right?” Oboe said.

Thistle shook his head. “If she was, do you think you’d be asking that question? Do you think Bassoon even stops to wonder whether she’s right anymore? Do you think she cares?”

Oboe stared at him. She tried to imagine grandmother admitting she was wrong, but couldn’t. “…No. She doesn’t.”

Thistle started to wind the clock. “Oboe. Tell me why you came to see me.”

Why? She wished he would stop talking in riddles. “I don’t know!!” She tried to think about it. “Grandmother is doing awful things, but my family won’t do anything about it! I’m scared, but I know you aren’t! You don’t care what the Circle thinks! I want to know the right thing to do!”

“What do you think I’m going to tell you?”

Oboe stomped. “That I shouldn’t be part of this!! That grandmother is wrong and stupid and I don’t have to be like her!”

The clock sprang to life with a chime, and launched its unsecured wooden cuckoo across the room.

“You already knew what I was going to say,” Thistle said. “Not sure why you bothered coming. You don’t need me. I bet you already know what you need to do. Stop wasting time and go do it.”

Oboe wiped the tears from her eyes. Thistle was wrong. She needed him. This is what she needed to hear. She pulled him into a big hug.

“Thank you!” She said.

“Let go of me!” Thistle fought, but not too hard. “Get out of here! I have work to do!”

Furies patrolled overhead, circling in wide arcs over the Inner circle. Oboe scurried along the ground in the shape of the smallest mouse she could manage and hoped no one could tell she was there. She tried her best not to squeak as she climbed the steps into the palace. It was hard. When she reached the top, the spriggans stared past her as she squeezed under the door.

It was dangerous to come here without her mantle, but there is no way they’d let her snoop where she wanted to snoop if she came like normal. Oboe wanted to tell Theo everything, but not yet. She tricked him when she took the sword away. Making this right meant getting it back and helping that leshy. That was the only way to make up for what she’d done.

The entrance hall seemed empty. She scaled a marble column, wondering where to go. The palace was like a big tangled knot. So much space folded back on itself that anywhere could lead anywhere. She ran up and down hallways that looped back on themselves until she got frustrated. She wondered what Theo would do. He was good at puzzles.

The library was simple enough to find. It was impressive enough to put right next to the main hall. Arching book cases, overflowing with tomes, loomed high overhead. She climbed onto a reading table and frowned. This was a bad idea. It would take her thousands of years to read all the books to find a map.

“Who’s that?!” Someone said.

Oboe darted across a reading table to get away. It was too late. Something clamped down around her and everything went dark.

“Got you!” Her captor said. “Guards! Come here! Now!”

Oboe found herself rattling around the inside of a copper goblet as her captor scooped her up, hand clasped over the top.

“No!!” Oboe said, trying to push past their fingers. “Let me out!”

The fingers spread, and Oboe saw her brother Fife staring down at her in the cup.

“Oboe?” His voice dropped to a hush. “What are you doing here?”

He bristled as a nymph in armor stomped into the library. “What do you want, envoy?” She said. “This had better be important.”

“I, er…” Fife’s eyes darted between the cup and the spriggan. He straightened his back. “My work has grown tiresome! Fetch me more apple wine to make it bearable!”

The nymph sneered at him. “Do I look like a drudge? Get it yourself, you worm!”

Fife puffed himself up. “You’ll regret those words when they make me a Duke!”

“Yeah!” She broke into mocking laughter. “Keep dreaming. Call me again and I’ll have you thrown in the labyrinth!” With that, she marched out.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Fife dumped Oboe out onto the table. She popped back to her normal form.

“That was close!” She said. “Thank you!”

“Quiet!” Fife said, glaring. “What are you thinking, sneaking around like this? Where is your mantle? What are you doing here?!”

Oboe crossed her arms. “It bothers me what grandmother is doing. The humans should know she’s wicked.”

Her brother’s eyes went wide. He glanced back around to be sure they were alone. “Have you gone insane? No! You can’t do that! The Fair Lady will have you killed! Or worse!” He thought about it. “Probably worse!”

“So she should get away with it??” Oboe said. “She tried to kidnap the crowned prince! She stabbed a fairy with a sword made of suffering! Are you really okay with that??”

“Yes!” He froze, mouth hanging open. “No.” A twist of pain flickered in his face. “Look. This is how things are in the Circle. You’d know that if you’d grew up here like I did. Even if the higher ups are doing things you don’t like, you keep your mouth shut. Bad things happen if you don’t.”

Theo wouldn’t have been happy with that answer. “That doesn’t make it right. If you don’t like it, you should do something about it.”

“I can’t just do that, Oboe!” He gripped the front of his mantle. “I have children to think about. I have a life here!”

Oboe took a deep breath. “Well, I don’t! I don’t have anything to lose. I can show people what Grandmother is really like.” She turned away, but Fife grabbed her hand.

“No.” He tightened his hold. “We just got you back.” His eyes softened and tears began to form. “I just got you back. Every day that’s gone by, I’ve thought about what happened to you. It was all my fault! I can’t let you throw your life away now!”

Oboe glared. “Are you going to stop me?”

Fife said nothing. She pulled her hand free.

“Somebody has to do it,” she said and made to leave.

“Wait.”

She looked back. Her brother was even more shaken than before.

“Take the third hallway on the left,” he said, walking closer. “Follow the candles to the Arena. There’s something there that you should see, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

Oboe hugged him. He returned the embrace, trembling.

“Promise me you’ll be safe,” he said.

Oboe did not like breaking promises. “I’ll try.”

Oboe followed her brother’s instructions, scurrying up and down hallways after the candles. Would this take her to the labyrinth? She should’ve asked him where she was going. The door ahead was flush to the ground, with no room for a mouse to squeeze through. She shifted back to normal when she thought no one was looking.

“You! Satyr! Come here!”

Oboe jolted at being called out. She whipped around and was confused to see a human barreling towards her.

“Yes, you!” He looked important, with loads of medals and badges all jangling off the front of his blue uniform. His mustache was familiar. This was that human Oboe had seen grandmother talking to the other day. He dressed weird for a human. His shoulders and hat were fuzzy, and he had a long skirt. Belts crossed his front with curved daggers in sheathes. “Where is your Fairy Queen? We grow sick of waiting all of the time! Yes, bring her now!”

“Um.” She looked in every direction, worried a guard might be nearby. “I don’t know where she is. Sorry.”

“That is the bull’s droppings!” He rattled a sword in its scabbard. “I know of you! Do not make pretend! Your queen said you are family, remember? Yet when I am asking where she is, you are not knowing, your harpies are not knowing, all of you are of no use! What are we to do, hmm?!”

“Who are you?” Why was there a human in the Circle? “What are you doing here?”

The fancy human sputtered in disbelief, and puffed out his chest. “You insult me, you insult all of Feymire country! I am High Sergeant Crantor of Brigade Five! The most glittering to serve the twin Empresses!”

“Oh!” Oboe said. “You’re from a faraway place. That’s so cool!”

Crantor ran a hand through his thick sideburns. “Yes. It is very cold in my country. I am missing it with all of my heart. Yet I am here, in the rain lands, waiting forever for the war. But why? You promise to take the Laien prince heir away. Yet he returns?!” He spat. “You make fools of us!”

“Wait, war?” This was the first thing Oboe had heard about this. “What are you talking about?”

The human ground his teeth and shook. “Empty headed fairy! I will show your eyes!” He took her by the shoulder and marched her through the door she meant to enter. Oboe wondered whether to run, or fight, but before she could decide she was pushed through an archway outside into the stadium that once held the Tournament of Titles. It was filled with hundreds, no, thousands of humans like Crantor. Humans with strange uniforms, who were sharpening swords and training to fight. Oboe gaped. It was a whole army.

“Ah, you remember now, yes? Seeing helped you. I know these things.” He let out a snort. “We have alliance. You help us to take Laien. Hide the soldiers so King Stonewall does not know until much too late. You take his son, we break his spirit. You magic us inside. Short war, quick. Then Feymire will have all the secrets and riches Laien hides from us, and you will rule here as servant to Empresses.”

Oboe couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “You are going to invade Laien.”

“She is getting it!” Crantor slapped her across the back. “Very good. Maybe you bring Queen Bassoon here, so she also remember? We are all of us sick of the waiting.” He pushed her back out the door. “Fetch her for me, little goat. That is a good child, yes.”

Oboe hurried through candlelit corridors, glancing over her shoulder as she hurried back the way she came. There was a whole army in the Fairy Circle. All the humans in the city were going to get hurt if she didn’t do something. She had to tell Theo.

Rounding the corner, she hit a dead end. “Auugh!” She balled her fists. This was the way she came, she knew it was. Why didn’t this place make any sense?

Doubling back, the hallway had changed. The candles were gone. Tapestries of the Woodwind family crest hung where they weren’t before. Something was wrong. It wasn’t until Oboe stopped to focus that she realized what.

She pressed a hand to the cold stone wall. Space was folding around her. Magic was flowing along the walls like an icy wind, knotting the halls of the palace like a tangle of threads. The halls were changing, forcing her down a certain path.

Oboe was scared. She had no idea where she was being taken but there was nowhere else to go. Dreading what was coming, she pushed on.

Twilight pooled on the floor of the chamber, pouring through a skylight at the tip of the tower. In the shadows, there was movement. Perched along rails all along the tower walls were ravens, black as the coming dark.

“How very peculiar to find you here, my daughter.” Grandmother’s hooves clacked against the marble floor, echoing off the walls. “Creeping naked through my private affairs. It leads one to worry, just what are you thinking?” She stepped into the light. A soft smile that did not match her eyes, watching Oboe through narrow slits. “Did you believe you could use your magic here, of all places, without my noticing?”

The door behind her sealed itself. Oboe was trapped. Grandmother loomed over her. Her heart raced, wondering what Bassoon would do. Oboe didn’t want to die. Not anymore. She clenched her teeth and looked the Fairy Queen in the eye.

“You have a whole army of humans here,” Oboe said. “Why?”

Bassoon raised her brow. “What reason has a fairy to do anything?”

Oboe had her suspicions. “You’re… trying to get Fates. You’re trying to change the lives of humans.”

The only reply was a deepening smile.

“But you’re allies with Laien,” Oboe said. The Whispers rustled around them.

“The Stonewall dynasty has worn out its usefulness. Complacent from its prosperity. Dull in its stability.” Bassoon shrugged with open palms. “Harvest time has come. I must steer the course of history to earn the Fates I need to live. Once more I will put a new regime on the throne, and in so doing, live to see the one to come after that.”

It made Oboe angry that this was how Bassoon treated a friend of the Fairy Circle. She wanted to tell The Fair Lady that she was selfish, that she was awful, but Oboe held her tongue.

Bassoon’s fingers fluttered under Oboe’s chin, her eyes wild. “I have answered your questions, but you have not paid the favor in kind. Why…” She grabbed Oboe by the throat. “Are you here?”

Oboe tried to struggle, but Bassoon’s grip was like a closing vice. She had to say something or else be choked. The truth meant death. Bassoon would never let her leave if she knew Oboe wanted to tell the humans about her plan. Her mind swam. Thistle said Bassoon always expected the worst of others.

“I want those Fates!” Oboe said, gagging. “I wanted to take them for myself!”

“You admit it!” Bassoon hurled Oboe to the floor, and laughed. “You wicked little weed! You think you can steal from me? I am your Queen!”

Oboe gasped for breath, and winced at her bruises. Bassoon circled like a vulture. Oboe stayed down. She knew Bassoon would like to see her stay down.

“I have lived for a thousand years.” Bassoon’s tone was furious, but her face was amused. “You think you have the cunning to take anything from me? I saw through you the moment I sensed your magic.”

“I’m sorry!” Oboe said, groveling. She kept her face to the floor, knowing she was a bad liar. “I’ve been nameless so long! I just want Fates!! I can’t stand it! Please, let me help! Let me have a cut! I just want to taste them again!”

The Whispers broke into a chorus of caws and screams. “And why should I give you anything? You wretched little would-be thief.”

“I’m wicked! Just like you said! But I can serve you! Like you wanted! Just give me a chance! I beg of you!”

Oboe peeked. Just enough to see Bassoon’s smug satisfaction.

“You know your place. Good.” She strutted closer, leering down. “Very well. I shall give you one more chance to serve. It would be a waste to squander your potential so soon. But know this, you have exhausted my mercy. Cross me again and I shall strip you of more than your name. Do you understand me?”

Oboe couldn’t believe this was working. “Yes, my queen.”

“Then get on your hooves.” She said. “I have work for you.”

Oboe obeyed. All she needed to do was play along until she could get away. If she could talk to Theo, he could come up with a plan to fix this.

“It is time we cashed in the Ranger Deputy’s trust in you,” Bassoon said. “He is coming here with a platoon of knights. You will work with my spriggan to deliver him to his death.”

A new day had risen. Theodore marched at the head of a half dozen royal knights, their armor clacking with each footstep, their capes bright with the nation’s colors: Green and burgundy. The best men and women the palace could spare. Theodore tuned the Aura tracker as they passed through the tree line of the Whirlwood. The Governor made sure Theodore would be ready when they found Whisper.

Something went wrong. The tracker malfunctioned. Aura trails sprang out of the machine in thirty different directions. Theodore stared at the tangled ribbon of light. There was no way they were close enough for the machine to activate. Had Whisper masked her location with false signals somehow? That wasn’t going to work. After the incident with the prince Theodore took the time to commit the aura tracker’s entire instruction manual to memory. Whisper’s vile scheme was nothing in the face of a well-documented trouble shooting section.

Theodore spun the amplifier wheel down, lowering the sensitivity, until only the strongest signal remained. A single beam of tracking light cut through the Whirlwood like a beacon. Even at the lowest setting, the signal was massive. Tracking the prince required him to get within a few miles at least. Was she that close? How bright was Whisper’s aura?

There was a chance she was hiding in the Fairy Circle. This time, Theodore took precautions. He sent word ahead by messenger bird for the Fair Lady to expect them, and drafted a search warrant. There was no need for a repeat of his botched attempt to save Oboe.

They moved in like a thunderstorm. Whisper was out there somewhere, and they were going to put a stop to her. Theodore had never felt so powerful before in his life. Or at least he would have, if the knights didn’t need to keep stopping to catch their breath.

“Do you need to wear all that armor while we hike?” he said. “It looks exhausting.”

Sir Marla Whitesail, the senior officer, braced herself against a tree and grimaced. “It is an honor to wear these colors!” She broke into a rasping cough. “We would never disgrace our country by being seen without it!”

“The creatures won’t care,” Theodore said. “We don’t know how long this will take. Let’s at least stick your greaves and gauntlets in a backpack until we get closer.” At least Conrad’s men had the sense to dress lighter.

“No!” She said, gasping and wheezing. “Honor!!”

Theodore paced. He was anxious to keep moving. The halts gave him too much time to think about what happened. His throat tightened. He tried to swallow the memory, but it was still there. The thoughts ate away at him from the inside any time they stopped.

He had killed Ella. Or whoever Ella really was. What would Oboe think of him? His mind flashed with the blood and screams of his father killing those creatures in Crookhole Mine. All those lessons in murder were still there. They were part of him. When he grabbed the sword in the vault, his heart had pounded with excitement. It was the same thrill he felt when he stalked the Tall Man through the streets of the city. The same rush of triumph when he stabbed him with the knife.

Theodore ran his fingers over the ring. He could feel the Tall Man far off, drinking tea in his home in the Hollows. What he did to the ghast was inexcusable. He had told himself he would never hurt another creature, but he was still his father’s son.

What was going to happen when they found Whisper? He could not imagine her surrendering. There would be violence. Even if he did not swing the sword, he was responsible.

No. She was an enemy of the State. She tried to abduct the crowned prince. Oboe would say they needed to fight. She would tell him that they couldn’t let bad people do bad things. He needed to stop Whisper, and the thought of stopping her made his heart pound with dark excitement. She had to be stopped, but the storm that was coming terrified him.

“Let’s go already!” Theodore said, unable to stand another moment. “Come on!”

“Alright, alright, alright!” The knights grumbled, but assumed their formation.

Theodore pressed on, leading them deeper into the folds of the Whirl. He pushed everything inside down tight. Right now, the mission was the only thing that mattered. He needed to stay focused.

Oboe spent all night screaming inside her head because she couldn’t do it the normal way. She needed a chance to get away, a chance to get word to Theo. Grandmother didn’t give her that chance. Guards kept watch hover Oboe while Bassoon prepared her trap.

The marketplace was empty. She stood alongside a troop of Spriggan waiting for Theo and his knights to enter the Circle. The scouts said he was coming any moment now.

Épée gave Oboe a side eye glare. “You know what you need to do?”

“Yeah, I do!” Oboe said, angry about it. “Grandmother told me herself!” Her voice took a mocking tone. “Take the humans to the gazebo, my sweet pet! But oh, don’t you ever be friends with them! Humans are our play things! Blah, blah, blah!”

The fury sniggered. “Good impression. Foxglove can do her laugh perfect. Or she did, anyway.” Her face sobered. “She got caught, and our Lady had all her feathers ripped out. Bottom line, don’t get caught.”

Oboe scanned the rooftops, wondering if a Whisper was nearby. “Oh.”

Épée spread her wings. “We’ll get into position. Do not let the humans know what we’re up to.” The spriggans scattered, hiding by magic or by flight. Oboe sat by the well, dreading what would happen next. She wracked her brains, wondering what to do, but all too soon Theo arrived with a bunch of tired looking knights.

“Oboe?” His eyes lit up at the sight of her. He holstered a weird human doohickey to his belt. “I didn’t expect to see you here!”

She forced the biggest, most unnatural smile she could. “The fair lady got your letter!” Her eyes darted toward the furies on the roof top, trying not to look at them. “She sure did like it! She wants me to take you to the gazebo to meet her!”

“The Fair Lady is going to help us?” Theo said. “That’s fantastic!”

Oboe tried to shake her head without moving it, managing only to vibrate in terror. She spotted a Whisper watching them from atop the rooftop behind Theo.

He raised an eyebrow. “Is something wrong?”

Oboe resumed screaming internally. “I’m fine! Please follow me!!”

Theo signaled for the knights to proceed. They walked a short distance to a small garden park where they all entered the gazebo, which was rigged so thick with runes she hoped the humans could smell it.

“I’m sorry about arguing with you at the fountain,” Theo said. His face was pained. “Do we have time? We should talk. A lot has happened.”

“Now!!” Épée shrieked. A gnome in the bushes leapt out and set off the trap. Swirls of shifting magic coiled around the gazebo.

“What’s going on?!” The humans were freaking out. “What is this?!”

It was too late. Oboe hadn’t figured out a way to stop this from happening but she had to do something. Bassoon wanted them all dead. Without thinking, she jumped inside the gazebo while the spell was unfurling.

Space unfolded and refolded around them, throttling them and churning their stomachs. Oboe imagined this was how an accordion felt when it was played. When the world felt normal again, everything had changed. The marketplace was gone. The spell had cut the whole gazebo out of space and planted it in the labyrinth.

“What just happened?!” Theo said, dazed.

“Where are we?” One of the knights shouted.

“Now!”

Spriggan leapt out from the shadows; Nymphs and furies armed with bronze daggers. The knights on their feet made to unsheathe their swords. One managed to dodge an incoming stab, but was grabbed from behind. There was a pop of magic, and the knight shrank away. His armor collapsed into a heap and a rabbit crawled out from the mess.

“Don’t let them touch you!” The knight leader said, swinging her sword to keep the spriggans at bay. There were too many of them. Her sword was knocked out of her hand and a pooka managed to sneak up and touch her. Her body froze in place, elf shot. The spriggan fell on the humans like a pack of wolves.

Theo backed away from the brawl, eyes wide, staring at Oboe. “Why?!”

Oboe’s face hung long. Theo was going to die. She grabbed him by the shoulders, eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry.”

Her magic pulsed through her hands. A sick, guilty convulsion of pleasure hit her as Theo vanished. His uniform fell to the floor in a heap.

Two of the humans were dead. Ripped up with knives. The rest were lucky enough to be enchanted, though Oboe was scared about what came next.

“Is that all of them?” The nymph captain said. A brown rabbit dangled at her side, gripped by the ears.

“Unhand us you demons!” The former human flailed, trying to get free, and made a valiant but useless effort to scuff the spriggan’s armor. “The King will hear of this!”

“We’re missing one,” the pooka said, sniffing at Theo’s clothes. He looked up at Oboe. “Where is this one?”

Oboe cupped her palm gently behind her back. “I don’t know.”

“I saw you transform him.” He narrowed his eye.

“I turned him into a bug,” Oboe said. She gnawed at the inside of her cheek. “He flew away before I could stop him!”

“Hah!” Said one the paralyzed humans. “He’s gone to tell the capital you’re all traitors! The King will send a whole army! They’ll make you pay for this!”

“It doesn’t matter.” The nymph Captain bent down and picked up the aura tracker out of Theo’s things. She smashed it against the wall. “No one escapes the labyrinth.” She turned to her troop. “Oxnard and Dandelion! You two get the captives into cages. I want the rest of you to comb the maze for this other one! Our Lady will want all the humans accounted for. Sooner we get this done, sooner we can leave.”

Oboe slipped away while the troop was exchanging bows, and hurried down dank stone corridors as fast as she could until she was sure she was alone. Under the faint glow of the labyrinth’s walls, she opened her hand to find a little worker ant.

“Oboe?” He looked up at her, wriggling his antennae. He scuttled around her hand shaking his head. “W-what’s going on? Why am I an insect?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “My magic likes beasts and birds. I wanted something small. It’s weird it picked a bug for you!” She would’ve expected at least a drone, not a worker ant. It was so odd.

“That’s not what I meant!” His tone was angrier now. “Why did you do this to me!?”

Oboe winced. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” She slumped against the wall and pulled her hair with a free hand. “This is all I could think of to keep you safe! I’ve made so many mistakes and now you’re here and I’m not sure what to do! I need to get you out of here so grandmother doesn’t kill you!”

“What? Your grandmother? Why would the Fair Lady do this?!”

“Theo, the Fair Lady is Whisper! I should’ve told you right away, but I didn’t! She’s the one who tried to kidnap Percy! And she’s doing other bad stuff too! She’s got a whole Feymire army here! She’s going to attack the capital!”

Theo froze, staring at her. “Are you serious? Whisper is…” He shook his head. “An entire foreign army? Here in the Circle?”

“I saw them!” Oboe said. “Grandmother told me she wants them to take over so she can get lots of Fates!”

“How long have you known all this?” Theo said. “Why were you helping her?”

Why did he have to ask? “I… Theo. I messed up. I wanted to be with my family so bad. Grandmother is wicked, and awful, and she made me think I should be wicked too! But you were right. I can’t just ignore bad things because she’s family!”

Theo fell quiet. The quiet was worse than if he was yelling. She wished he would yell.

“I can’t believe this,” he said. “I thought you were smarter than this.”

“I’m an idiot, okay?!” Oboe said. “I wanted to fix everything before telling you, but that was an even bigger mistake! I ruined everything like I always do! I’m sorry!”

“Stop it.” Theo’s voice was firm. How could such a little bug seem so big? “Apologizing won’t fix anything. This is serious. You’re telling me the Fairy Circle is harboring an invasion force. We need to get out of here so we can warn the capital.”

He was right, but Oboe was still worried that he hated her. She tried to calm down. “Okay.”

“We seem to be out of harm’s way,” Theo said. “Can you change me back to normal?”

Oboe remembered what happened the last time she used her magic a bunch in the palace. “I can’t! Grandmother will sense it and find us! We should get you out of here first!”

“I have to stay like this?!” Theo said. “Is this a trick? Are you just trying to take my Fates?!”

“No!” Oboe was horrified. “I couldn’t let them kill you! I’m sorry! I hate this too, but it’s just for a little while. Please! You have to trust me!”

A silence lingered. Oboe held her breath. Was he angry? Ants were difficult to read. He had every right to be angry.

“You’re right,” Theo said. “I know you aren’t wicked. I’m sorry. If Whisper is the Fair Lady, it all makes sense. I knew she was a fairy plotting to usurp the throne. I know how much you wanted to be with your family. Of course Whisper would take advantage of that. This is her fault.”

“…Theo…” Relief washed over her. She didn’t deserve him.

“We need to focus on getting out of here,” he said. “Do you know a way out?”

Oboe glanced down the dim, twisting corridors. “I’ve never been here before.”

“I have,” Theo said. He marched circles in Oboe’s palm, thinking. “I know Épée has a whistle that lets her enter and leave, but I don’t like our odds of stealing it off her.”

“But is there anything else we can do?” Oboe said. “She said there’s no way to escape.”

He looked up. “There might be. When I came here before, I ripped a tear in the fold. It might still be there.”

“This place is a maze!” Oboe said. “How are we going to find it again?”

“We’re going to have to try,” Theo said.

Theodore held on as Oboe ran through archways and down glowing stone tunnels. He thought he recognized some land marks, torture devices and cell blocks, but the way they connected didn’t stay consistent. Out in the Whirlwood, folds in space had patterns and rules. If he could just get a handle on how the paths changed, he could map it out in his head.

Oboe cantered to a halt and growled in frustration. Another dead-end wall blocked her path. “I hate this place! Nothing makes sense!”

“Quiet,” Theodore said. Footsteps echoed behind them. “Do you hear that?”

She peeked around the corner to look the way they came. “Spriggan,” she said. “A fury, a nymph, and a leshy. What do we do?! They’re coming this way!!”

There was nowhere to go. “Act natural,” Theodore said. “Pretend you’re looking for me.”

Nodding, Oboe stepped out into the wide center chamber. The three spriggan charged towards her.

“You!” The leshy said. “Stay where you are!”

“The scent is strong,” the fury said. “She has the human.”

The nymph held out his hand and conjured a sword of jagged glass. “Hand him over, or else!”

“No!” Oboe said, hiding Theo behind her back. “You can’t take him!”

Well, that didn’t take long. As the spriggan closed in with their weapons, Theodore scuttled up Oboe’s arm and into her mane.

“Run!” he said.

Oboe tried to make a break down the hallway, only for the fury to cut her off with twin daggers in hand. “I don’t think so!”

The leshy came from behind and pounded Oboe in the side with a mace. Theodore clung to her hair as she fell to the floor. The leshy leaned over her, tapping his weapon into an open palm. Theodore climbed down to her ear.

“His feet! Kick his feet!” he said.

Without hesitation, Oboe bucked the leshy in the ankles and sent him tumbling across the room. His mace clattered to the floor beside Oboe.

“Grab it!”

Oboe lunged for the weapon while the other two were startled. Theodore held on as she jumped to her feet. The remaining guards crept closer from the front and the back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The nymph said. “The Lady will have you killed for this!”

Theodore studied their opponents. Their stances and grip were terrible. He remembered his father’s training. How he battered Theodore’s hands and legs with a practice sword to show him how much form mattered. Oboe could win this. She just needed to know how.

“Bait the nymph to attack. Stay clear. Aim for the wrists. You can disarm her!”

She gaped. “When did you learn how to fight?!”

“Oboe! Now!!”

With a nod, Oboe feinted. She jumped back as the nymph swiped with her longsword. The mace came down hard on the nymph’s sword grip. She howled in pain. Oboe followed with a blow to the gut, and sent her opponent crashing down.

“Behind you!” Theodore shouted.

The fury lunged, daggers out. Oboe heard Theodore. She bolted forward and spun around to see the fury chasing after.

“What do I do?!” Oboe was shaking.

“Keep your distance! She’s fast, but her range is short.”

The fury swiped and stabbed, but Oboe put everything into dodging. There was no chance to counter attack, she was too quick. Theodore wracked his brain for a strategy. Oboe did not have the experience to parry or riposte.

“Tell me what to do!!” Oboe said.

“The sword!” Theodore said. She needed a longer weapon. “Get the sword!”

The leshy jumped out of the shadows and grabbed Oboe. He had recovered from the kick.

“Got you, traitor!”

The fury barreled towards them with a hungry smile. Oboe pulled the leshy off his feet and used his body as a shield. The daggers sank into his flesh. He screamed, and his arms fell limp. Oboe pulled herself free and ran past the fury before she yanked her blades free.

“Fig!!” The fury said, as her cohort fell in her arms. “You idiot! You damned stupid idiot! Why did you let that happen!!”

Oboe grabbed the sword off the floor, but the nymph’s hands were still tight around it.

“I’m not through with you yet…!” The nymph let out a moan. Oboe bashed her in the back with the mace. She croaked with pain, and Oboe took her weapon. Theodore cringed, wishing it wasn’t necessary.

The leshy collapsed to the floor. The fury stood over the body and turned. Eyes like fire.

“I’m going to kill you!” She said.

Theodore’s head was swimming. The fury should not have pulled her daggers free. The leshy was going to bleed out of control. He was going to die.

“Theo!!” Oboe said, backing away. “Help me!!”

Theodore flicked his antennae and forced himself to focus. “Okay,” he said, whispering. “Do not let her get close. You have a range advantage! Attack only when she can’t attack back! Lunge from as far as you can!”

This was easier said than done. The fury came screaming at Oboe, talons scraping against the stone. She swiped just to keep the fury at bay, but she was relentless. Her daggers whistled through the air and Oboe was getting backed into a corner. Theodore saw their chance when the fury’s breathing grew labored.

“The wings!” Theodore said. “There’s no armor on the wings!”

Oboe cleaved a clean cut straight through the fury’s arm, scattering feathers in the air. She shrieked, and kept coming with her good arm. Oboe struck true again, and knocked the remaining blade free of the spriggan’s hand. The fury clutched her bloodied arms to her chest, wings wrapped around her like a blanket. Oboe stood over her, weapon ready.

“N-no! Please!” The fury’s voice faltered. She looked at her fallen comrade, eyes full of fear. “I yield! Let me go!”

Feather fragments cascaded through the air like snow. Blood pooled on the floor. Theodore remembered the light fading from Ella’s eyes. Oboe pulled the sword over her head to bring it down on the last spriggan in their way.

“Oboe! Stop!!” He said. “Don’t hurt her!”

She did not lower the sword. “She’ll warn the others!”

“I don’t care!” Theodore said. “No one else has to die! We’re done here!”

Hesitating, Oboe lowered the blade. She took a deep breath. “Okay.” She grimaced at the fury, and searched the bodies. It was just their luck, none of them had a fold whistle. Oboe stood up. “Go get some help for your friends, and leave us alone.”

The fury said nothing. Oboe marched past the three soldiers, her hooves clicking on the stone floor.

“We’ve gone this way already,” Theo said.

Oboe stumbled to a halt, short of breath from running up and down hallways. “What? How can you tell??” Every gloomy room of the labyrinth looked the same. At least they hadn’t run into any more spriggans.

She felt him crawl to a better vantage point in her hair. “We passed those gibbets earlier. The blood stains are the same.” He dangled on her furrowed brow. “This isn’t working. We’re not getting any closer to the tear.”

The sword drooped in her hand. “It’s not my fault! I’m going where you’re telling me, but everything keeps changing! I don’t know what to do!”

“It’s not anyone’s fault,” Theo said. “We need a better plan to get out of here.”

Oboe tried to think. “If we fight more Spriggans, one of them has to have a fold whistle. We can use that to escape.”

“Out of the question!” Theo said. “We’re not going to pick fights! It’s too dangerous.”

“We can take them!” Oboe said, posing with both hands on the sword. “We did awesome!”

There was an icy silence before Theo said anything.

“No. We’re not hurting anyone else.”

“But they’re trying to get us!” Oboe said.

“That’s not who I am!” Theo shouted. “That’s not how we do things! Our duty is to protect creatures and keep order! We aren’t going to hurt anyone!”

He was so mad. “Theo. Are you okay?”

“No!” His voice choked. “I’m not! This is…” He buried himself in her mane. “Oboe, I killed someone! I took a sword and I killed someone! Just like my father! Just the way he taught me!”

“What?” She picked Theodore out of her mane with care and held him up in her palm. “Who? What happened?”

He wouldn’t look at her. “A fairy spy. A doppelganger. She… I found one of Whisper’s feathers. She attacked. And…”

“Oh.” She shook her head. “Then, it’s not your fault. It’s fine.”

He looked up. His antennae were flailing. “Fine?! I cut her open with a sword and watched her die! That is not fine! I killed her!”

All Oboe felt was grateful that Theo survived. She didn’t care if some wicked fairy spy was killed. That’s not how Theo felt, though. She had never heard him sound this upset. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. You did what you had to.”

“You’re wrong.” His tone dropped like a brick wall. “There’s always another way. There has to be!”

Oboe took a deep breath. She wasn’t used to Theo being this emotional. It wouldn’t do any good to get worked up along with him. She needed to listen. “Okay. So, we can’t fight our way out. What else can we do?”

Asking him to think seemed to calm Theo. He paced in her hand. His little legs tickled. “I remember there being a brazen bull and some racks near the tear. Or there were, anyway. If we mind the land marks, there’s a chance we can get back to it. But if this place is changing, we can’t be sure the land marks will stay reliable. If I could just see how things were changing, maybe I can make sense of it.”

It wasn’t quite seeing, but Oboe had something that might be close enough. She pressed her hand to the wall. Concentrating, she could feel the ebb and fold of the magic in the labyrinth. “If I tell you which way things are changing, do you think can navigate better?”

“Yes.” Theo said, confident. He was almost back to normal. “Okay. We can do this. We just have to work together and get out before they find us.”

Oboe hurried. She ran her fingertips along the slick cold walls, and Theo told her which way to go. He’d spot something, a blood smear or a familiar cage, and tell her which path to take. She’d tell him when the hallways contorted, which way they were bending.

“Try turning right up ahead,” Theo said.

“It’s curving like a horse shoe that way,” Oboe said.

“Then keep straight next. Let me know when a path bends the other way.”

Somehow Theo kept it all in his head. He had a big brain, even when he was a tiny bug. After many more loops and turns, they found rooms they hadn’t seen before to explore.

“That wall!” Theo said, almost falling out of her hair. “Try stepping through it!”

Oboe wasn’t sure why he was so excited, but touched it anyway. The wall rippled and vanished when she pressed her fingers against it. She stepped inside and found a scorched chamber, with a blinding light hanging in the air.

“There!” Theo said. “That’s the tear!”

The wall was torn like ripped quilt. Beyond was the shining walls of the upper palace. Oboe jumped through.

“Wait!” Theo said, but it was too late.

It took several blinks before Oboe’s eyes adjusted back to the brightness of the surface.

“You were a fool to throw away my forgiveness, daughter.”

Bassoon stood in front of her, hands folded with a smile. Oboe wheeled around to see an entire regiment of spriggan surrounding her.

“That’s her!” the fury said, her arm wrapped in bandages. “She’s the one that turned on us!”

Oboe made a break for the door, but was cut off by rows of pointed spears. She readied her sword, eyeing for another way out.

“I don’t think so.” Bassoon flicked her wrist, and the conjured sword evaporated in Oboe’s hands. Her arms were wrenched back as spriggans piled on her. Oboe swung to throw them off, but more piled on until she was pinned down. She thrashed on her knees, grunting and growling, unable to pull herself free. Iron shackles were forced onto her wrists, and Oboe felt the magic inside her fall silent.

“The human too,” Bassoon said. “No more mistakes!”

Oboe felt Theo crawl deeper into her hair. He was smart enough to keep quiet. “He’s not here!” She said. “He’s already gone! He’s going to tell everyone your awful plans!”

The Fair Lady rolled her eyes. She snapped her fingers and Oboe felt Theo shoot out of her mane. He spun, floating and squirming through the air until he hung in front of Bassoon. With a tap, Theo fell naked to the floor in his true body. It startled Oboe to see him without his clothes. He was so slender, pale and hairless. The scars across his chest reminded her how easy it would be for him to die.

He groaned. “…Oboe?” The spriggan seized him before he could come to his senses.

“Don’t hurt him!” Oboe said. She lurched as Bassoon yanked her chains.

“What am I to do with you?” Bassoon sidled along the length of the chain to peer down at her granddaughter. “I offer you your name, a place at my feet, and still I catch you conspiring against me.” She sighed, and handed the chain to her spriggan. “My mercy is wasted on you. It seems the old wisdom is still best. No good can come from a bad seed.”

“Let us go!!” Oboe shouted as she was dragged out into the grand hall of the palace alongside Theo. She wrestled with her shackles, but it was no use.

Bassoon smirked. “Why should I, when I can make examples of you?” She gestured toward the upper floors overlooking them. Crowds of Titled fairies watched with mixed emotions from the balconies above. Fife was among them.

“My fair folk.” Bassoon spread her arms wide. Oboe and Theo were forced onto their knees on either side of her. “There is no more need for alarm. The intruders, and the traitor, have been captured. It is time to decide how their stories end.”

“You’re the traitor!” Theo said. “We have been allies for a thousand years, but you mean to stage a coup!”

Bassoon struck Theo across the face, knocking him down. Oboe winced as he rolled across the marble floor, trailing a trickle of blood. “Do not presume to speak, human. You kneel in the Court of the Fey. We are the Third Born! The Mother’s last and perfect children. Made to punish humanity. You are our prey, and nothing more.”

“No!” Oboe stood up. “Shut up! I’m sick of you!” Their lives were in danger. She needed to stop, but she couldn’t. “Humans are creatures, just like us! You don’t get to hurt them just because you want to! I never should’ve listened to you! You’re wicked, and you made me wicked too! The sort of wicked all the humans are scared of! We could all be friends, REAL friends! But we can’t because of terrible, rotten people like you!!” Oboe looked up toward the Titled. “Bassoon wants to invade the capital! There’s a whole army waiting! You need to stop her!”

The Titled did not so much as murmur. Bassoon chuckled.

“Please!” Oboe searched their faces, but found no concern. “We don’t have to be like her! We can’t let this happen!”

“What is this prattle?” Bassoon wrapped her hands around Oboe’s shoulders, nails biting into her shoulders. “Do you think you can turn a single one of them against me? Look at them. Every one of them owes me their comfort, their luxury. They will do nothing.”

Oboe’s eyes found Fife’s. She begged him without words. He held her gaze, and then turned away. Her heart broke.

“They are better than loyal,” Bassoon said. “They are afraid.”

Her fingers twisted, and ripped Oboe’s mantle off her body. The crowd recoiled in disgust, and all the shame of being nameless flooded back.

“This fairy has no name!” Bassoon spoke to the nobles. “She is no fey, but a curse! There is no place in the Circle for this one! May she only know scorn and suffering!”

It was no easier hearing the words a second time. She shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t have stung, but it did. Oboe let out a shaky breath. Bassoon strutted out in front of her, and Theo was forced onto his knees.

“I will pass my judgment.” Bassoon said. “A clean death is too good for them. They will be tortured until their bodies give out. Then their bodies will be hung in this hall, to serve as reminder of why no one may cross the Queen of the Fairies.”

“My lady.” Épée crept closer. “It will take time to stitch the hole in the labyrinth. Do you want a guard posted to prevent another escape?”

Bassoon waved the spriggan Captain away. “There is no need of that. Have them taken to my chambers.” She ran a finger along Theo’s bleeding cheek. “I’d like to savor this.”