“Bok.”

  “Hrr?”

  “BokAAAA!”

  “Me-ow?”

  “Bokbok.”

  Tam sat watching the very intense exchange between Kraken and his mother, who was, indeed, a chicken.

  Kat stood with her hands on her hips, Pina perched happily on her shoulder, occasionally nuzzling her witch’s hair affectionately.

  “I wish we could understand what they are saying,” Tam said with a sigh while shifting Luca in his arms.

  The poor boy had been up all night. Once they were shown into a receiving room to wait for the emperor—who apparently was taking a much-needed bath—Luca’s eyelids had drooped, and his body began to sway on the chair he sat upon. Tam had gently lifted him into his own lap and rested the boy’s head against his chest. “Sleep,” he’d murmured to his son, dropping a quick kiss over his head.

  Luca obliged in a near instant.

  Even Penelope was struggling to stay awake in her chair on Tam’s other side.

  Eli eyed the little girl, then gave a slight smile as she reached over and stroked her hair.

  Meanwhile, across the long dark wood table from where Tam and Eli sat, stood Kat. At the head of the table was the duchess-turned-chicken, and beside her, Kraken.

  “Eli, do you think in your beast form you’d be able to understand them?” Kat wondered.

  “Possibly. It’s a bit small in here for me to change, though.”

  “You are huge.”

  Eli gave an uncertain frown in response to the queen’s note, as though she suspected she was being teased.

  Tam grinned. “Mum?” he called out, his attention moving to the chicken with the dome of feathers around her head fluttering about. “We’re going to try getting Eli to talk to you.” He then raised an eyebrow at his sister. “Where is the witch who turned Mum into a chicken, by the way? Or Ansar?”

  “Both of them are waiting in separate locked rooms,” Kat explained.

  A particularly loud snore echoed from Harris, who sat with his head resting on the back of his chair by himself on the other end of the table.

  “How are they being guarded?” Tam leaned forward in concern.

  “There are Zinferan soldiers, but I doubt Ansar or the witch will do anything until they talk to you and find out where the first witch is so they can bring her back.”

  Tam made an agitated noise and resettled in his chair. “I’m relatively certain that if we just bring Mum home, Da could change her back.”

  Kat’s mouth twisted thoughtfully. “That makes sense. Though… You know Mum is going to be raging mad if we leave her as a chicken for the entire trip back to Daxaria, right?”

  “BOK!”

  Everyone turned to the chicken, who hopped up on the table and strutted over to stand in front of Kat.

  “I don’t know. I think keeping the first witch far away is much more important. We’ll just take the chicken witch and Ansar back to Daxaria, and go from there.” Tam shrugged.

  Kat’s eyes snapped up to his. “Mhm. And what about the D-E-V-I-L?”

  “Why is it no one thinks Luca can spell?” Tam put the question to Eli, who shook her head in equal exasperation. When Tam looked back at his sister, his expression turned serious. “I’m serious, Kat, Luca isn’t dangerous.”

  His sister let out a long breath, her hand wrapped around the hilt of her sword out of habit. “Alright. So we take Ansar and the chicken witch. What makes you think she won’t turn you into a rooster?”

  Tam pondered this. “Maybe she has to be touching the person to turn them into a chicken. Or maybe she has to see them. We can take precautions that way.”

  Kat grumbled. “I want to hear what Mum has to say. Can we please go outside so they can have a discussion? I want to go out there anyway to wait for the carriage bringing Kezia and Sir Cas back.”

  Tam yawned. “Can we do this after some rest? Even that Ansar guy and Henrietta don’t need to hurry—”

  A bell clanged.

  Without even needing to ask, Tam closed his eyes as weariness soared through him. “Wixim came back. I knew it.”

  Kat turned to the door, her shoulders already straightened. “Godsdamn lizard…”

  “Will Uncle Thomas be with him?” Penelope asked earnestly, sitting up straighter.

  Tam glanced over at her, uneasiness and guilt brewing in his gut. “Someone can go take a look to see, but… Penelope, they are going to try and take you away again.”

  The clanging of the bell grew more frantic.

  Penelope paused, her excitement dwindling as this realization visibly settled on her.

  Seeing this, Tam knew what he had to do… But his stomach clenched at the thought of it.

  Turning as much as was possible in his seat with Luca still sound asleep in his arms, Tam stared levelly at the little girl. “Penelope, if you want to go with them, you can.”

  “Whoa, wait—” Kat started. One sharp look from Tam cut her off.

  By this point Harris was gradually waking up and looking around himself bewildered before rubbing the drool off the corner of his mouth.

  “Penelope, it is your choice. Regardless of your status as a seer, we are not keeping you a prisoner. I took you from your Uncle Thomas not realizing he was someone you knew and cared about.”

  “He’s still wanted for treason, Tam,” Kat contributed darkly. “Likon has been serving a seven-year sentence because of him.”

  Tam didn’t bother responding to Kat’s point, and just kept his eyes locked on Penelope.

  She stared back at him for a long time.

  Then she held out her hand to him.

  At first Tam thought Penelope was saying they’d stay together… But then he realized she was asking for something else.

  He gave her his hand, and the instant her slender fingers grasped them, he felt a pressure around him building.

  His magic was reacting to whatever it was Penelope was doing. Even though she looked perfectly normal, Tam had to start fighting against his power filling his eyes with blackness or drawing him back into the void.

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  The moment went on… And on…

  Until Tam was starting to worry that he would fall unconscious again, but just as soon as it started, it stopped.

  Penelope stared up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

  She looked… awed. Almost excited…

  She then looked over at Eli and raised an eyebrow before giggling… Only her giggle sounded closer to a cackle. It made Eli’s eyes narrow in suspicion.

  “I think I’d better stay with all of you,” Penelope announced matter-of-factly while easing back in her seat, her shoulders wiggling happily.

  “Do you think you might share with us what you saw?” Tam asked, biting back a laugh as his hand returned to his lap.

  “Nope!” Penelope said with a grin.

  “Alright. As interesting as this discussion is, do you hear that bell? Dragon!” Kat gently put Pina down on the table and stalked over to the door.

  Only she wasn’t the first one to reach it.

  Kraken bolted through the doors the instant she opened them, his fluffy haunches disappearing around the bend as he headed in the direction of the courtyard, still in shambles after the previous night.

  Exchanging a look, both Tam and Eli rose from their seats. Tam adjusted Luca in his arms as he did so, but the boy was dead to the world.

  Penelope hurried forward and grasped Tam’s hand, surprising just about everyone in the room.

  Harris smiled at the family as he stretched while rising to his feet. “I think your father’s familiar was a little upset he didn’t get to be a part of the fight last night.”

  “BoKA!”

  The Daxarian duke’s attention fell to the chicken-duchess, and without pausing to think about it, he plucked her up. “Yes, yes, I’ll take you along, too. I must say, Your Grace, we should see about getting you some feed. Your husband would think you’re far too skinny. Though I suppose that might be for the better. Wouldn’t want him turning you into dinn— OUCH!” The chicken had smartly jabbed her beak into Harris’s hand. “Alright, alright! Sorry!”

  The duke left the room, leaving behind Tam, Eli, the children, and Pina—who was slowly sauntering toward the door.

  “Maybe Pina can convince Wixim to join us by being cute. She’s done it with other ancient beasts,” Tam speculated as they all moved out of the throne room.

  “I’m doubtful of that.”

  Tam shrugged. “No harm in trying.”

  “He might eat her.”

  Tam guffawed. “Even if he doesn’t switch sides, look at her. You really think anyone or anything could eat Pina?”

  Tam watched as Eli’s eyes drifted down to the familiar. Evidently understanding the conversation, she widened her pupils and craned her freckled nose up toward Eli. A soft purr sounded.

  Momentarily stunned, Eli said nothing, then cleared her throat and snapped herself free from the trance. “Fair enough.”

  Smiling, Tam continued to exit the room. He wondered if they were in fact going to have to resume fighting with Wixim, or if somehow they could come to a solution that didn’t involve having to continue battling well into the new day. He really wanted a nap, and he didn’t doubt that every one of his family members—save for Kat and maybe his chicken mother—felt the same.

  ***

  “HELLO!” Aradia hollered.

  She listened to the way her shout echoed.

  She made a noise of frustration then dropped her forehead to her hand.

  Should she drink a vial of the water from the Goddess’s Pool?

  “Tamlin Ashowan… Just what are you?” she muttered as she looked around the space and started to walk again.

  In a way the dark solitude reminded her a little of the Grove of Sorrows her parents had allowed her to experience before coming to earth. Only she wasn’t plagued by memories of her misdeeds.

  Aradia halted abruptly and sat down.

  A place of silence and darkness.

  It could be restful depending on the occupant’s state of mind…

  Still.

  Had her brother had a power like this? It would make sense in a way if he had, and she had simply never known about it. A place where he could hide… a palace of darkness that perhaps he crafted all on his own.

  “But Tamlin Ashowan was alive and well when my brother was alive in Troivack…” Aradia’s mind strained against the confines of what knowledge she had about the troubled Ashowan son.

  Sighing, she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her senses.

  What could she smell?

  Nothing aside from the perfume and scented oils she used.

  What could she feel? The ground and the clothes covering her. But the ground was cold and firm. It wasn’t soft. It was like glass.

  What could she hear? Nothing. Only her own heartbeat when she focused on it.

  “Why hello, child. It has been quite some time.”

  Aradia’s eyes snapped open.

  She looked up into the weathered face of a peasant man with ethereal blue eyes and a familiar smile.

  “Carriage driver!” Aradia’s mouth opened in shock.

  She had not seen him in a millenia.

  Coming to her feet, Aradia pulled him into an embrace, tears dampening her eyes as she met the being she had longed to greet for many, many years.

  She pulled away, cupped his face in her hands, disbelief still making her thoughts a jumble.

  “How? Did the Ashowan boy finally kill me?” she asked, emotion seizing her throat.

  She had more to do in the world… But to go home? Even for a little while…

  Gods, she wanted to.

  She wanted to go so badly.

  She wanted to feel love again. She wanted to feel her parents’ embrace. To hear the words of the Goddess soothe away the centuries of torture and pain she had endured because of her brother.

  “He didn’t kill you,” Death answered softly, his gaze gentle.

  “Then where am I?” Aradia stepped back but continued to hold the warm wrinkled hands of her family friend.

  Death smiled fondly. “You are in a space that exists within all matter.”

  Aradia’s eyes widened, and she could feel the blood drain from her face. “What? You mean to tell me that a mere mortal has the power to command such a place? Wouldn’t that mean he can manipulate the fabric of creation? That… That would practically make him a God!” she sputtered.

  Death tilted his head, his expression remaining the same, unbothered by her speculation.

  “All mortal power has limits, Aradia. Your parents made it so.”

  “Yes, but they also made witches with only four elements. A fire witch had a natural balance in existence with a water witch, and so on! Then suddenly, my parents changed the natural order of things with mutated witches!” she pointed out seriously.

  Death said nothing.

  “The world is a mess. I’m trying to fix it before traveling with you back to the Forest of the Afterlife along with my brother.”

  Death’s wiry gray eyebrows rose. “Why do you think your parents never intervened in the feud between their children?”

  Aradia stilled. She had forgotten how Death seldom liked to give straight answers.

  “Because it is our duty to do our jobs to the best of our ability. I can still do better. They are giving me and the devil a chance. But he isn’t improving, and he is making the world worse.”

  “He isn’t doing better?” Death mused airily.

  A line creased the space between Aradia’s eyebrows.

  She thought back to the boy she’d abducted. She thought about how innocent he was, and how well taken care of. Loved. Not feared. How she could tell he was happy with his father.

  But if it was Tamlin Ashowan who was the devil…

  He was known for aiding his mother in her underground work.

  That was a role her brother would certainly have taken on.

  But Tamlin Ashowan was avoiding people and trying to keep this supposed family together. That wasn’t like her brother at all…

  Unless of course this was exactly the change Death was referencing.

  “Am I supposed to simply give up? The witches are not living up to the tasks assigned by the Gods! They were almost completely erased off the face of Troivack! They—”

  “There are many answers you are missing. But you will figure them out in time.”

  Aradia wanted to snap at Death. She wanted to tell him of all the pain she had endured while trying to fulfill her parents’ tasks and meet their expectations, about how her brother and the world had only buried her in suffering over and over…

  “Can you help me get out of this void?” she asked instead, barely masking her frustration.

  Death inclined his head to her. “I can. But wait here a little first, and rest. You are tired, Aradia. You can return to the world and finish your purpose there, but time has chiseled sharp edges that cut you more than any other being.”

  Aradia opened her mouth to say she didn’t have the luxury of time to wait, but then again… time most likely moved differently here. And while she knew a great deal of things, she also knew Death had his own wisdom that would be foolish to ignore. Even if it was aggravating as hell at present.

  With a long breath out that carried all her tension and stress, Aradia did as Death bade and sat back down on the ground. By the time she looked up again, Death was gone.

  With nothing else to do but what he recommended, Aradia stretched herself out and stared up into the abyss.

  Eventually, she felt her eyelids grow heavy, and the weight of her goals ebbed away as well.

  In a way, this place where she knew she wasn’t about to be stabbed, imprisoned, or tortured brought with it a peace and safety Aradia hadn’t felt in years. So it wasn’t all that surprising that she managed to fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  The fate of the world would have to wait…

  But not for long.