Theo stopped dead in his tracks, heart rate going from walking-through-a-desert-under-the-hot-sun to full-blown panic mode in a single second.

  “Freya?”

  He turned, but he was alone. Emberion and Bruni were nowhere to be seen either—and worse was, the plains were gone. Instead of the forever stretching plains, he was surrounded by forest once more. Tall, gnarly trees stretched toward the sky, thick leaves creating a beautiful ceiling above him. The ground beneath his feet was once more soft, the air moist.

  “Emberion?” he asked, voice trembling. “Bruni?”

  No answer.

  The squeak of Nibblet nearly made him weep with relief. “Oh, thank goodness. I’m so glad to see you.”

  Nibblet climbed out of his pocket and up his arm to sit on his shoulder and then sniffed the air.

  “Yeah,” Theo said. “I have no idea what’s going on. Do you?”

  The little glint chirruped, but even if she knew, Theo had no idea how to interpret her sounds.

  “Alone in a forest,” Theo said. “Wanna bet everything here wants to kill me?”

  How had he ended up here? He was afraid to move so much a step from where he was standing, for fear of touching something he shouldn’t. Then again, if he just stood here, he’d be easy prey for something like the snake that wanted to bite him in Grimpeak Wilds.

  He shuddered. Death by venomous snake. Unpleasant.

  He twisted to look around, searching for terrible monsters and hoping he would find none. While he didn’t spot any beasts, he did note something he had missed before: a house far off in the distance. It was dark and foreboding, the sort of house that was always haunted in the stories, and where nothing good ever happened.

  Theo looked down at Nibblet. “That does not look like a place I want to go.”

  He shuddered, and Nibblet squeaked in possible agreement. No, he wasn’t going to the house—he needed to find the others again. But where were they? Or perhaps rather, where was he?

  How had he gone from desert to forest in a single step?

  The shield. He must have passed it—but why hadn’t his friends gone through it too? They had been right next to him.

  “So, what should we do?” he asked Nibblet. “Where did the others go, you think?”

  She chirruped again, and then scurried down his arm, onto the ground and—

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  Disappeared.

  “No!” Theo cried and stepped in the same direction as her.

  He blinked at the harsh light of the Empty Plains.

  There stood Freya, looking frantic, and Emberion, pushing forward without getting anywhere, struggling against empty air. Bruni was on Emberion’s back still, a deep frown on his face.

  And Nibblet made a series of noises, sounding happy.

  Theo stared at them.

  “What—” he started, but had no idea where to go with it.

  “Theo!” Freya said. “There you are! Where did you go?”

  Theo frowned, his heart still trying to find its way out of his chest. What was going on?

  “I—there was a forest—and you were gone—”

  “Forest? We’ve been here the whole time,” Freya said.

  “The shield,” Theo said. “It must be, right?”

  “Yes,” said Emberion. “It is the witch’s shield. For some reason, it is letting Theodore—and Nibblet—through, but not the rest of us,” Emberion said. “We cannot continue, but you can.”

  “What?” Freya said again. “What are you saying? That I’m supposed to let Theo go face a mad witch on his own? Are you kidding me?”

  Theo’s heart dropped. Face the witch on his own? That could only end one way, no matter how much he wanted to be proactive.

  “But why can he get through?” Bruni asked.

  “That, I do not know,” Emberion said.

  “And the glint,” Bruni continued. “She can get through, too.”

  “She is an animal, maybe the magic lets animals through,” Emberion said.

  “And what, I’m a horse?” Theo asked.

  “More like a donkey,” Bruni muttered.

  “Hey!”

  “No, iih-oh,” Bruni said, smirking.

  Emberion turned his head to look at Bruni. “If you are running low on energy, perhaps you should not waste it on being rude to Theodore.”

  “But it’s so easy,” Bruni muttered.

  “Guys, focus,” Freya said. “We all need to get through, or no one is going through. Theo, can you go through it again, or was it a one-time thing?”

  Theo swallowed, took a step back.

  Immediately, he was back in the forest.

  He took a step toward where he knew the others were—and he was back on the plains.

  “Yeah,” he said, though it was unnecessary since they had obviously watched him disappear.

  Freya tried again, but she fought against the empty air and didn’t get anywhere.

  Nibblet scurried back into Theo’s pocket and sat there watching them. Theo wished he could read her mind, because it felt like she knew the answers to a lot of their questions—alas, reading animal’s minds (or anyone’s mind) was far beyond his skill set.

  “Do you think she has selected me?” Theo asked quietly. “That it’s… just me?”

  “That would mean she knows we’re coming,” Freya said. “And that she knows exactly who we are.”

  Theo shuddered. He wouldn’t put it past an evil witch, of course, but it was still highly unpleasant. Was she watching them even now?

  Bruni sighed and slid off Emberion’s back. “Let’s see then. The dragon and the knight can’t get through.”

  He stepped forward—but slammed into the same invisible wall as the other two. The ax on his back vibrated with the impact, and Bruni grunted.

  The ax.

  Theo frowned and looked up at his sword, hanging sheathed on the side of Emberion’s back. He turned to Freya and took her in; she had her sword, and likely multiple other weapons on her body. And Emberion… well, he had Theo’s sword, but most of all, he was a dragon, a weapon from his sharp teeth to the spikes on the end of his tail.

  While he himself was utterly unarmed, and so was Nibblet.

  “Take off your ax,” Theo said to Bruni.

  “What?” Bruni asked. “It’s my ax, why would I—”

  “Just take it off,” Theo said. “And any other weapons you’re carrying. Then try again.”

  Bruni stared at him, but for some reason, he decided to follow Theo’s crazy idea—probably just to prove that it was crazy, and Theo was an idiot. The ax came off, landing on the ground with a thump, and then two knives followed, and some little weapon fastened around Bruni’s ankle.

  He stood there and muttered, “Feels like I’m naked.”

  Theo ignored him. “Try to go through the shield.”

  Bruni gave him a long look, but then did as asked.

  And disappeared.