Breakfast is awkward. It’s like we all woke up and realized the different things that could have happened yesterday. Gerdie lets Brede use her stove and I offer to put on the next book, but Brede says we don’t have time for that. I hope he’s planning on letting us listen to it later. There’s not really a lot of talking while we eat, Agnar asks if Gerdie knows where the next fairy ring is and if there’s anything else we should watch out for. She does and there is.

  Apparently there’s been a fight going on in the forest for decades. She says a Kohlenmann climbed out of a crack in the earth and started trying to burn the jungle down. I had no idea what that was. She said that souls of crazy people can live inside different things. This one is made out of coal and fire. She said it pops up and sets a bunch on fire before a Waldschrat comes and chases it off. I’m starting to think they’re speaking another language. I ask what that is and Agnar says “Swamp Thing” before I even finish. I don’t know what that is either but if he thinks I should it must be in the archive.

  Agnar wants to fight the Kohlenmann. Brede thinks he’s an idiot but then says I get a vote. I’m glad I’m not the only one who says stuff before really thinking about it, it makes me feel better. Although he did kind of call me an idiot too. Whatever, he should have known I’’ll always vote to fight monsters. I ask a millions questions to make sure this is a monster and it’s close enough. It’s not evil or anything, it doesn’t really think from what Gerdie says. It just destroys stuff. That sounds like the kind of thing a hero would get rid of. I’d like to play hero after yesterday. Super Marie, beating up monsters and saving damsels. I get the image of me trying to carry a princess over my shoulder and have to stop myself from giggling. I have to tell Agnar about it later.

  We leave to go where Gerdie said she last knew they were fighting. I put on Black Cauldron and no one complains. Yay! That lasts us until lunch, but I’m not as happy by the end. Did I understand this right? The only way to make up for doing something bad is to die doing something good? That’s kind of messed up. That’s not something I’m supposed to know is it?

  The jungle isn’t making it hard to breathe anymore. I thought it might be worse after being dragged through it. I had a simple thought and it’s helped a lot. Something else tries to grab me and I can set it all on fire. The jungle can’t hurt me if there’s no jungle. It’s a fun thought but I know better, I’ve heard too many things die screaming to really do it. Stop Marie, just stop. Thank the goddess for whatever a Swamp Thing is. I looked it up and I still don’t really understand. It’s this dude but not really, it’s part of this universal nature force but seems to not really ever know when anything is happening. I don’t get it. What I do understand is that man in the distance is green and made of plants. That’s probably what Agnar meant. We stop pretty far away from him. He must be a big deal.

  There’s not a lot of jungle around him, and actually I can kind of see for miles. There’s a lot of plants but as we get closer to him I see the ashes underneath. This guy is just regrowing stuff and the trees haven’t had time to come back yet. The more we walk the stronger the smell of fire gets. It’s not like a camp fire either. My face kind of scrunches up, it smells like chemicals.

  “Hey there,” Brede yells. “We’re friendly, we’re here to help.”

  The ground shakes when the man replies, “Friends of the witch, she’s been told I cannot help her. Tell her not to send anymore on her behalf. This was a mistake on her part.”

  “I don’t know nothin’ about her wantin’ anything from you. She said you had a problem with a Kohlenmann and thought we could help. We’re headin’ to Ingenburg. She said you might could help get us there quicker if we took down that monster.”

  “Approach,” plant man says.

  That was easy. We walk over to him, the quiet on the way there is only a little awkward.

  “I do not understand how you might assist me in my battle,” He said.

  This time he didn’t make the whole place shake, but his voice still sounded weird. It was like he was talking out of different sized paper tubes. Like when you talk through a paper towel tube sounds kind of different but talking through a wrapping paper tube makes you sound kind of like a robot or something. He didn’t sound like a robot though, he sounded like he had a bunch of different sized tubes and he used all of them to talk. I shook my head a little and tried to pay more attention to what he was saying.

  “You lack the requisite power to defeat one such it. Perhaps before the abominable System you could have done something but not it out levels us all.”

  Really? I put my hand to my chest. Right I have my necklace on. What about him though. Advanced Identify.

  Level 0 Forest Elemental

  Level 25 Speaker for the Land

  HP: 282

  Distance: 6 Feet

  Oops. Guess what I forgot to leave off. He’s higher level than Agnar. So how powerful is coal man?

  “What level is Kohlenmann?” I ask.

  Brede gives me a kind of annoyed look. I think he’s used to doing all the talking. Why is that though? Agnar talks the most like a grownup out of the three of us. Brede is more responsible though. That’s why he’s in charge of selling the stuff they make. I guess if he sells stuff all the time he must be good at talking. I wonder if he thinks I know that. Actually I’m not even sure Agnar knows that.

  “Do not worry child, it is not here. It cannot hurt you and you shouldn’t have to consider such things,” plant man says.

  I didn’t like being treated like that before the System. That whole “we know stuff you can’t understand so you need to go away and play because the grownups are talking” thing. I understood more than they thought. Like, I knew the neighbor drank all the time. He wasn’t just being silly, he had a problem. There wasn’t much I could do then though. But now I, take off my necklace.

  “Marie, wait!” Brede says too slow.

  Plant man makes a sound kind of like the firefighter’s place makes when there’s a fire. Brede and Agnar both widen their stances like we’re about to fight. Uh oh? I don’t even know what the problem is. Plant man jumps at me, hands straight out. As he gets closer his hands and arms turn into vines. Before he can grab me I make myself as light as I can with Scales of Ma’at and jump straight up.

  No, I don’t set anything on fire. I catch myself with Mana Walking and even have to use Basic Spark Step to dodge the vines. The grass around plant man is braiding together and lifting him in the air. It’s slow though, I can out run him in the air. I guess he figures that out because the grass sets him down.

  “I just want to help,” I yell.

  Brede jumps in front of plant man. “Whoa, we’ve not offered up any violence here. She was tryin’ to show you she could fight.”

  “I do not brook with creatures pretending to be children,” plant man says to Brede, the ground shaking again. “You may leave and not return.”

  “Now wait a damn minute.” Oooh plant man is about to get a lecture. Crap, I bet I will too though. She ain’t pretendin’. That is a human girl who’s managed to stay alive by herself in the System. She’s also the bonehead who said we had to come help you ‘cause somethin’ burnin’ the jungle down had to be stopped. That was after a witch dragged her through it. You don’t want our help, that's fine but you apologize for callin’ her a creature.”

  The plant man or forest elemental stood there looking at me for a minute. “I see. I apologize, child, for the misunderstanding. Do you still offer your assistance?”

  “Sure.” I said. Still not wanting to come back down.

  “The danger will be terrible. It is not as high level as you are, but it also cares not for injury. You cannot terrify this foe, or reason with it. Only destruction will free the soul to move on, and if it nears death it will flee to find fire to reignite itself,” The elemental says.

  I guess I have to come down. Fine. “Don’t worry,” I say. “I’m ready for a good fight. And it’ll release the soul too? Awesome. So I’m helping it. That means I get to help two people at the same time. I can fight it, but I have one question.”

  “Ask it, child.”

  “What’s your name? I’ve just been calling you plant man in my head, and it seems kind of rude,” I say.

  “I am The Leaf That Reaches Heavensward in Search of the Dew that Nourishes All.”

  “Hello, The Leaf That Reaches Heavensward in Search of the Dew that Nourishes All, I’m Marie and it’s nice to meet you. Can we help you take out the coal man?”

  “It is also nice to make your acquaintance, Marie. I would be glad of your assistance in this manner. Though I am unsure what you can contribute.”

  “That’s where I come in,” Agnar says. “Let me ask you, if we could funnel this thing to you, could you take it out? Right now it runs from you but what if we could make it run to you? I think we should make a kill box and push this thing into it. How is it escaping you?”

  “When near death the Kohlenmann will dig, there is some place of fire under the ground where I cannot follow.”

  “So our killbox has to be hard to dig through. Do you know how quickly it can melt metal and rock?” Agnar asks.

  “Unclear, it avoids them. Do you mean to contain it in metal and rock? Its fuel is internal but perhaps we can remove the air. It would be better to use solid pieces I believe.”

  My grin feels like it can reach my ears. And Agnar said pit traps weren’t very useful.

  *****

  My lecture ended up just being Brede asking to check with them before removing my necklace. He was about to suggest the same thing, but he intended to warn our new elemental friend first. It was nice to be treated like one of the grownups. I think I misunderstood what happened earlier, it seems like Agnar and Brede have different jobs and they know what they are. They’re going to have to teach me, I’m not good at just standing around waiting. I don’t even think that’s a kid thing, I think that’s a Marie thing. I told them that and Agnar said ‘patience is a virtue’. I asked him what virtues he had and Brede laughed. It’s ok, he’s nice and if being nice isn’t a virtue it should be.

  I never want to make a pit trap without Brede again. The Leaf That Reaches Heavensward in Search of the Dew that Nourishes All also helps a lot, bringing us big flat rocks. Brede has some kind of earth magic that lets him melt the rocks together. I didn’t even have to dig the pit. It looks more like one of those above ground swimming pools, except for the above ground part. We’re building kind of a dome on it though with a smaller hole for the coal man to fall in. I end up spending most of the day dragging metal that I’m pretty sure is aluminum (I had a lot of time to research while I was working) over to the hole. The elemental is able to find a bunch after Brede shows him what he wants. That’s all Brede’s idea, and I think it’ll work but I don’t have as much knowledge as he does. He wants me to fill half the hole with water. When I ask why half he says when the Coal man falls in it should make a bunch of steam go out of where he falls in. When that happens it’ll cool him off and the aluminum will crunch in like a soda can covering the coal man and making it impossible for him to still be on fire. I don’t quite get it but Brede says he’ll explain it later. Apparently it’ll take a few minutes to work and that’s if he gets the sides right.

  The hole is a lot bigger than I expected on the inside, and way too small on top. We’re going to have to be perfect to get this to work. The hole for the coal man to fall through is only like 6 feet wide, and the bottom is around 40 feet. I’m going to trust Brede though, he seems to think this will work. Brede covers all of the inside with aluminum up to the opening. Then we cover it with limbs and leaves and grass. The easy part is over.

  I’m learning the difference between easy and simple. If this works it wasn’t simple, but it was kind of easy. We have a guy who can find metal by stomping his feet, another one who just seems to know where everything is on his land, and of course me to carry it all. Plus Brede seems happier than normal when he’s working. I can’t wait to get him to show me how to make stuff. Agnar calls all of that tedious, but he doesn’t have a better idea. I know because Brede asked him.

  I’m staring at the hard part right now. I found coal man. I can’t fight him like I wanted and that makes me sad. Even at a lower level than me I can’t even get near him without being set on fire. That’s what Leaf That Reaches says. I’ll say the whole thing when I talk to him but it’s a lot to keep repeating. I have to get coal man to chase me about four miles to the hole without getting too close.

  Coal man is scary looking. He doesn’t really have hands or feet. The ‘feet’ are just like big triangle lumps off of his legs. The hands are flat pieces of burning coal. The face is the worst. He has holes in the coal for eyes and a mouth and it looks like he’s screaming. Ugh, another shiver runs across my body. This guy creeps me out. Right now he’s just standing in a field that’s on fire.

  I’ve watched him for a while now and I can definitely outrun him. No problem. I’m going to make him heavier first, there’s no reason to take chances. I want to cool him off but Brede said not to dump Waterfall on him, it won’t work. I don’t get the difference between that and dumping him in the pool but whatever. I still make some shells with water in them because magic water balloons is a great idea. I swear I can almost feel a skill there, I’m going to have to keep working on this later. Alright here we go. Advanced Identify.

  Level 27 Kohlenmann

  HP 562/354

  Distance 1217 feet

  He what? How does he have more health than he can have health? Whatever. I use Scales of Ma’at on him and then shoot him with a water balloon. There goes 10 points of health. The balloon explodes into steam and actually knocks him backwards. He turns that creepy screaming face at me and starts running towards me. Ick. He runs like a toddler. I get why Leaf That Reaches hates this thing so much. Well the creepiness and setting everything on fire. It is interesting he doesn’t have a class, but he doesn’t really think apparently so it makes sense.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  He’s spreading fire as he runs but I notice all that extra health goes way down as he leaves most of the fire behind. Fire equals health, got it. That actually gives me a cool idea but it’ll have to wait till way later. When I’m stronger. I don’t even start running until he’s about 400 feet away and I’m not going very fast. More of a jog. This is way too easy I think. Then he starts throwing fire at me.

  He swings his arm and little pieces of coal come off and fly at me. Wow, his aim is really good. I have to make a shield and knock some of the coal pieces away but they’re so hot it’s burning my skin. I don’t think they’re really bad burns yet but they hurt a lot. I miss a piece and my hair catches on fire. GAH! I make a stream of water in front of me and run through it, slapping myself in the head trying to put it out. It smells terrible. This isn’t working, this thing is hurting me.

  I attach some mana to the back of my head and start creating water. Bad idea! Coal hits me and the steam burns worse than the fire did. I’m just going to have to dodge better. I get a dozen feet into the air and give myself more places to dodge. I can do this, it’s still hard though. I was worried this thing would get bored and I’d have to shoot it a bunch but it’s like a dog chasing a squirrel. I still have three more miles to go.

  I’m fast when I run. Like really really fast. Like a Cheetah or something. I’m not the Flash or anything yet but maybe one day. When this thing started running I thought it was slow, I guess it just takes a minute to get going. I’ve made it heavier and with a mile and half left it’s catching up. So I aim for the knees. Making the coal man do a face plant makes me smile. It’s just so ridiculous. It also gives me a chance to get further away.

  I slow down when I get to the hole. This is going to suck. I stand on the other side of the hole and duck down behind the shields on my arms. I’m going to get burnt. I knew this the whole time. Brede had tried to take my place here. He said he was naturally resistant to fire. I don’t care. I’ve burned enemies alive, if I can’t take it maybe I shouldn’t be using fire. He tells me I’m dumb for taking risks. I tell him he’s dumb for trying to fight monsters above his level. Agnar agrees we’re all idiots and they let me do what I need to do.

  Here he comes. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Shit! I’ve never felt anything this hot. I can see blisters on my arms. Its ‘hands’ actually hit my shields. Then it falls. It’s arms go out and it manages to catch itself on the edge. I’m already hurt, what’s a little more? I shoot it in the face with a water balloon. I shouldn’t have moved my shield to do it but I just reacted. We both get knocked backwards and it falls into our trap. I get up as quick as I can and run. I can hear the steam pouring out behind me. If I had been standing there it would have killed me for sure. I try not to think about it as I get to safety behind the rocks the others have been at the whole time. I can’t stop myself.

  “How bad is it?” I ask.

  “It’s not good,” Agnar says. “Pre-System you’d be going to a hospital. They make burn wards for stuff like this. It might still be a good idea to make sure you scrub all the dirt and stuff out, I don’t know how the System deals with that. Funny enough, being burned alive wasn’t covered in the tutorial.”

  “What?” I ask. What’s he talking about, the System will heal me. “I’m talking about my hair, do I look like a crazy person?”

  Brede looks at me like I might be one, “It’ll grow back, worry about it after this is done.”

  Right, the trap. While we wait to see if it works Agnar walks over and kneels down to me. “I think I can salvage it,” he says. That makes me feel better.

  Then I hear a noise I had tried to block out of my head. I know what crunching metal sounds like. I feel fear again like the day it happened. My chest feels tight and it’s hard to breathe. I grab Agnar’s hand and squeeze and he squeezes back. My eyes are wide and I can see I’m hurting him but he doesn’t say anything. “Oh goddess Hecate help me through this,” I whisper. There’s no way anyone can hear me over the sound of metal. And then it stops. The sound, my fear, and I can breathe again. I let go of Agnar’s hand and whisper, “sorry.” He just grabs my hand again and says, “it’ll be ok.” And I believe him.

  “I will finish it,” says The Leaf That Reaches Heavensward in Search of the Dew that Nourishes All. He walks over to the hole and jumps in. A few seconds later we get the message.

  *DING*

  Level 27 Kohlenmann Defeated

  Partial Experience Rewarded

  And it was over. What was that? Why was I so scared all of a sudden? I mean I know it had to do with the sound but I thought I was past that. I hadn’t had nightmares about it in weeks. Since before even meeting my new friends. I know there’s a conversation coming by how Brede is looking at me and I don’t want it. I don’t want to talk about this. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to them about the crash or anything, I just don’t want to think about it. Come on Marie, no pouting, we won.

  “We did it!” I say as excitedly as I can. “Go us!”

  “Good job young ‘un,” Brede says. “How bad you hurtin’?”

  Why did he ask me that? A lot. I hurt a whole bunch but I hadn’t realized it yet. Actually, this might be the worst I’ve hurt. “I don’t want to play with fire anymore,” I say. There are tears on my face but I’m not really crying yet.

  They make me use Waterfall on myself before I go lay down. Brede gives me something to drink and it burns in a different way in my throat. He takes it away after a few minutes and I lay down on top of the covers. This is so much worse than a sunburn, we’re coming up with a different plan if we fight one of these again. Apparently I said that out loud because I hear Brede before I manage to fall asleep.

  “Again? Young ‘un you really are a warrior. You’re nuttier than Agnar.”

  I’m still smiling when the nightmares start.

  *****

  We stay for two days, in the elemental’s lands. He said he’d set up something to help us get where we’re going but I’m not ready for travel after the first day. I still hurt too bad. The nightmares aren’t as bad as they used to be. I have my skills in them now and the worst part is waking up and realizing I didn’t actually save my family or even just Benji. It feels so real when I’m dreaming, like they can really still be saved. I try not to think too much about the dreams, but I hurt too much to do anything productive. Even listening to audio books is too hard to pay attention to so it’s mostly just music.

  No one lectures me about how I did. Brede and Agnar both discuss it with me but it’s more like helping me plan better for the next fight. I appreciate that. Agnar asks me what happened when it’s just me and him. They don’t leave me by myself while I’m healing, I think they’re afraid something will try to come get me. My health got a lot lower than I knew when we were fighting, like below 50. I was right all along. That’s a terrible way to die.

  I tell him. I try to keep it short and I manage not to cry. I even tell him about the nightmares. He looks like he hurts too. He says losing people is hard, it never gets easier but it does get further away. For once I don’t feel like a kid not understanding something too grown up for me. I understand exactly what he means. Exactly. I’m so glad I’m not alone anymore. He asks if he can tell Brede and I tell him please do so I don’t have to. When Brede comes by all he says is that I did a really good thing and I should be proud of myself. That makes me cry, but we both pretend like I didn’t. It was the good crying. I tell Brede he’ll make a good dad someday and he looks like someone slapped him. Dammit Marie, what did you do now?

  By the time we’re able to leave I can’t sit still. This time it might be a kid thing and not a Marie thing. I play The Castle of Llyr as we walk and it’s like nothing has changed. After about ten miles The Leaf That Reaches Heavensward in Search of the Dew that Nourishes All stops us and walks a few feet away. He starts humming to himself, still sounding like it’s through some cardboard tubes. Big blue mushrooms pop up out of the ground around him. I promise myself I won’t throw up this time.

  I keep my promise.

  By the time we stop for lunch I decide I don’t like this book as much as the other ones. The whole idea of making Eilonwy be someone she clearly isn’t and then literally using magic to do it again? Gross. She should have been swinging a sword too. I would have been. Also she had magic, she should have been the most dangerous one, and instead she was just a kidnap victim? I do love the giant kitty though. I want one.

  I’m glad to be out of the jungle. The fire plains weren’t too bad other than the smell but I’m glad we’re past that too. We can see the mountains again and Brede tells me we’ll be stopping by a village tomorrow. Apparently Sofia should be waiting for them there. They made sure to warn me to keep my necklace on unless we walk about it first. Maybe I’m not such a kid anymore because I don’t even feel bad about it. I just nod and agree. I don’t know Sofia or anyone at this village so I should listen to my friends.

  We listen to Taran Wanderer after lunch. I get it. He’s growing up and figuring out who he’s going to be. Leaving kid stuff like thinking fighting is cool behind. I’m not as excited about finishing this series as I was. It’s not that it’s bad or anything, I just don’t think I agree with it. He learns to be responsible and stuff but he’s still totally obsessed with being born to be a hero. Maybe it’s good I didn’t grow up with kings and nobles. In school we were told we can do anything we want if we work for it. I want to be powerful. I want to stop people from being hurt like I was. I don’t know if that would make me a hero, maybe it just makes me selfish. Making their hurt about me. Brede says maybe it just makes me human. Agnar says I’m his hero but I’m pretty sure he’s joking. It still makes my face warm and my chest tight.

  We don’t run into any trouble. I mention it’s weird and am told that no trouble is normal. This leads to a long argument about me being a trouble magnet. Agnar and Brede don’t disagree that I am one, just what kind. Brede thinks I somehow got powers from Morrigan that make important things happen around me. Agnar says I smell like lunch to monsters. He doesn’t complain when the mana water balloon bursts over his head. I just keep trying to remember this dream I had once with a giant talking spider. Something about what my story is. I can’t grab a hold of it, it’s like dropping soap in the sink.

  I can’t get to sleep so we decide to go ahead and listen to the High King. I’ll never forgive Lloyd Alexander for what he did to Eilonwy. He took this bright and interesting girl who was full of adventure and stuffed her in a box called ‘girl stuff’. Well, not me, mister. I’m going on adventures and slaying dragons and not giving up my magic for anything. Especially not some stupid boy who treats me like a kid who can’t fight. Next time I’m finding a book with a girl who’s awesome. I still want a giant kitty though.

  *****

  “Marie , wake up,” Agnar says.

  I stretch and kick my feet a little, throwing a pretend tantrum. “But it’s too early,” I say sleepily. I turn my head and check the zipper (23%). It actually is early. That makes me sit up.

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  Brede sits up in his sleeping roll, apparently he was asleep too. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing wrong exactly, there’s something I want Marie to see.”

  “And it can’t wait till mornin’?” Asks Brede.

  Agnar just opens the tent a little and Brede looks out. “Well now, that’s a different sort of trouble. Marie, you best come take a look.”

  I slide off the bed and walk over to look out of the tent. Outside, standing in a beam of moonlight is the biggest horse I’ve ever seen. Its fur is silver and shiny and its hooves look like black metal. Except it isn’t a horse. There’s a horn on its head.

  “That’s a unicorn,” I say.

  “Yes it is. Wake up girlie,” He says. “You probably won’t get another opportunity like this.”

  “I’m not girlie,” I say with a whiny voice, “I have a name.”

  “Marie,” he says, “would you like to pet a unicorn? You better get out there.”

  “Are you sure?,” I ask.

  Brede answers me. “Unicorns love children, the young and the innocent. You’ll be fine, you better get goin’ though they don’t stay anywhere long.”

  “Brede…” I start to say.

  “Quit sassin’ and get goin’,” he says, pushing me out of the tent.

  This seems like a really bad idea. I do want to pet the unicorn though. I walk towards it, waiting for it to run or worse. It just kind of stands there, not really paying any attention to me. I can hear Brede whispering to me to “get a move on” but I can’t make myself walk any faster. I’m scared. I don’t know if I’m still a kid. I don’t know if I’m innocent. I keep walking.

  About halfway there it does this little half hop and makes that weird blowing sound horses make. I freeze and it starts walking towards me. Well, I’ve been skewered before, at least it’s not made of fire. Somehow that thought lets me start walking again. I’m looking at its eyes as I get closer and they’re violet and bright. They’re beautiful. She’s beautiful. I don’t know how I know, but staring in her eyes she came here for me.

  We meet and I raise a hand to pet her nose. She lets me and closes her eyes for a second. When she opens them she looks different. She looks serious. She takes her head and looks behind her, then raises it suddenly. Her horn slices her back leg and she bleeds. The blood looks like blood, it’s not silver or gold or shiny. My hand is still up and she bites it. No, she just grabs it gently. She pulls me around toward where she hurt herself. She wants me to touch it. The wound is already healed but the blood is still there. I try to wipe it away with my hand.

  As soon as I touch the blood I’m somewhere else. It’s dark and nothing is around me. Then there’s a light, a little star, and I know it’s me. There are four other stars with me but they get darker and darker and go away. Then there’s another light, way brighter. It doesn’t disappear but it gets really far away. Then another. It joins the other bright one.

  I see a line light reach out and grab my star. Two other little stars appear with me. Agnar and Brede. Then another one gets pulled beside us with a line of light. Gerdie. What is that? I reach out to touch the light. A spider web. I see more lines, with smaller lights, a lynx, a wolf, a butterfly, the moon? I try to follow the spider webs but they keep leading back to me. I don’t understand.

  “I don’t understand,” I say.

  Three bright lights. They’re so far away but they’re twinkling. Laughing. Something is whisper laughing behind me. I turn and see two giant eyes. Snake eyes. I reach out and lightning comes out of my fingers. The snake catches fire and turns into ash. The ash is moving. A little snake comes slithering out. It’s wiggling on the end of a web. It’s pulled over the little lights. It opens its mouth and swallows the light that was the moon.

  I wake up sweating, hands making fists.

  “I was just about to wake you,” Brede says. “You were tossin’ and turnin’ somethin’ awful. Nightmare?”

  “What happened?” I ask, eyes wide. “Where did she go?”

  “Whoa now, calm down it was just a dream,” Brede says. “Gerdie ain’t here.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask. “What happened to the unicorn? Where’s Agnar?”

  “Unicorn? Now that’s an auspicious dream. Never seen one myself, but I heard they can show you all sorts of stuff. Like hidden treasures and such. Agnar went to relieve himself. You didn’t happen to get a treasure map did you?”

  “What? No. You pushed me out of the tent and told me to go pet it. It hurt itself and made me touch the blood. There was a snake and it ait the moon and there was a spider web making all this stuff happen to me. But you and Agnar weren’t connect to it. Gerdie was though, could she make the web?”

  “Young ‘un you ain't makin’ any sense. I ain’t pushed you anywhere. You’re safe and everything is ok. It was just a dream.”

  “It can’t be Brede, I was there, it was real.”

  “Alright then, show me your hands.”

  “What?”

  “If you touched the blood it’ll be on your hands, right?”

  My hands are still clenched. I open them and hold them out to Brede.

  “See, now…” Don’t move, I’ll get Agnar. He opens the tent and trips on the flap. Less than a minute later he comes back in with Agnar.

  “Show him your hands.”

  I hold them out for Agnar.

  “You say this belongs to a unicorn?” He asks.

  The blood on my hands is dried but just looks like blood. “Yes,” I say.

  He takes my hand and puts it near his face. He closes his eyes and sniffs it. Then he licks my palm. “Ewww,” I say. “Why did you do that? That was so gross.” He doesn’t say anything, he’s just staring off into space. “Agnar?”

  “I think you might be on to somethin’ Marie,” Brede says. “Unicorn blood has a whole lot of different uses, seein’ the future is one of them. He’s off somewhere seein’ somethin’ or another.”

  We wait for a few minutes before Agnar suddenly shakes his head and slaps himself. “Don’t ever let me do something like that again. That was awful.”

  “Did you see the webs?” I ask.

  “No, I saw some things I had hoped to never see again, even in my nightmares. I’d prefer not to discuss it. I don’t think I was meant to have done that. I can confirm that’s unicorn blood though. If you will Marie, I’d like to hear what you saw.”

  So I tell them. Everything that I can remember. I try to describe everything but I feel like I don’t have the words. Like the ones I know aren’t good enough. Or accurate enough. I have to fix that. They don’t interrupt me, just listen.

  “Djieieme or Habetrot maybe?” Agnar says to himself.

  “You think it was literal webbin’?” Brede asks.

  “Maybe? It may not even be Fae. Arachne or Jorogumo could work too. At least we can rule out the Fates. Those bright lights had to be Hecate and Morrigan, if it was Clotho or something they’d have warned us.”

  “If they could warn us. You know how fate magic works. Tellin’ us anything might have made sure that we’d have fallen into a trap.”

  “Damn, that’s true,” Agnar says. “I hate stuff like this, give me a straight fight any day.”

  “Yes, please,” I say. “We know the snake is dangerous right? But then there’s another snake? How do we find the other snake?”

  “I want to know why it swallows the moon. The only thing I know of doin’ somethin’ like that is Fenrir’s kid Hati. But that was another world if I understood the tutorial. Are we sure there ain’t some kind of wolf or something behind this? Maybe it’s a shapeshifter.”

  “What about the big snake,” asks Agnar. “Did it have webbing on it?”

  “I don’t know. I zapped it really fast and it just turned into ash. What about Gerdie though? She had web on her, maybe she knows what’s going on.”

  “I doubt it,” Agnar says. “We had her terrified and she didn’t say anything. Also, why would she kidnap you and then have you do chores. She seems more of an opportunist than a long term schemer. I don’t think she could plan this. You had web on your star too Marie, and you don’t know what’s going on. Add to that all of the animals and the moon? It’s got to be someone we don’t know.”

  “It’s makin’ my brain hurt. Why couldn’t the unicorn just be like watch out there’s this demon spider out here controllin’ folks, you oughta go squish him. Here’s his name, address and closest kin,” Brede says.

  “Well we should probably stop that little one from eating the moon, right?” I ask.

  “That’s the worst part, was it the moon or some symbol that we’re supposed to puzzle out?” Brede asks. “Did the unicorn come help because you’re young and it ain’t seen a kid in centuries this side of Fae or did someone send it?Much as I hate to say it, are we sure we can even trust a unicorn? You seemed to have a bad time with it there Agnar.”

  “That was my own foolishness,” Agnar says. “What I saw was the past, not the future. As for trusting them? I trust them implicitly. They are one of the purest creatures in Fae. If it was trying to help then it was on the side of good. That doesn’t make what it was trying to tell us any easier to figure out. It might explain some things though. Like how quickly you were able to get to Fae.”

  “She said we didn’t have any spider webs on us though. So does that mean we ain’t part of this thing’s plan?” Brede asks.

  “Yes, because we’re part of The Morrigan’s plan. It makes sense, we were in the area and she swooped down and scared the crap out of us. Who expects an Unseelie Queen on the summer solstice? Then we find out it’s a full moon on Marie’s side? Are you sure this is a spider we can squash Brede?”

  “You’re suggestin’ Morrigan knows who it is, and it’s above our pay grade.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

  “So we all agree I was right.”

  “What?” Agnar and I ask not quite at the same time.

  “Marie’s the kind of trouble that makes events congregate around her.”

  “Hey!” I say.

  “That’s not fair, Brede, she’s trouble all on her own.”

  “Hey!” I say again, louder.

  That’s the end of our serious discussion. I could try to be serious again but I can tell they’re worried. I don’t tell them but it makes me feel better to not be the only person who has no idea what they’re doing. If they can joke and smile and be scared at the same time I can too. I still don’t understand what the unicorn was trying to tell me. What am I supposed to do different? Is whatever the thing is pulling the strings so powerful that no matter what I do they get what they want? Is this a game? Is hurting me a game?

  Those aren’t the real questions though. The real question is whether or not there’s a spider so big I can’t squish it. Or at least kick it in the shins. It better hope so because the thought of this all being a game makes me really mad. Like burn spiders alive mad. I can handle the fire, can it?