The forest got thinner as if relieved that the darkness hadn't spread out this far. It seemed to stay limited to kingdoms and certain regions. Good. If the entire world was dark, I couldn't imagine surviving much longer.

  "We'll reach Mary's village in the morning," Stilt told me. "It's on the border of the Fox Kingdom and wild forest. Spending the night out here won't be as bad as spending a night back there. Brie and I already did that in the village and even that was unpleasant."

  The light faded, and we searched for a place to spend the night. We found an ancient oak with acorns all around its base and climbed that. I once again used my hair to hoist myself up and then dropped it to allow Brie and Stilt to climb as well.

  "Are you sure?" Brie asked. "Doesn't that hurt your head, having people use your hair as a rope like that?"

  "I'm used to it."

  Brie and Stilt tried to be careful, but it still pulled like mad. They settled on a branch on the other side of the trunk as me and I got as comfortable as I could, watching the colors fade below. The purple flowers faded to their familiar, soothing blue and a wave of homesickness washed over me. I wanted to throw up. I wanted Mother to be here with her basket of food and the lantern's familiar, yellow glow, but I had left it back in the tower. It was lying under rubble now, along with the rest of my life.

  But at least there were no screams tonight.

  No death.

  Once the blues had faded and only faint moonlight had taken its place, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

  * * * * *

  When I woke, the sun shined hope into the forest. I shifted on the branch. Below, Brie set up the pot on another pyramid of branches and got more water boiling. Stilt was plucking weeds from the ground and he had the leather sack spread out on the grass. On it rested several eggs like the ones Mother brought home. Most of them were brown, but a few paling green ones had joined them.

  I climbed down from the tree, landing better than I had before.

  "Hey," Stilt said. He picked another weed from the ground. Dandelion weeds. Mother hated them and always wanted them out of her garden. "How are you feeling?"

  There was no trace of darkness in Stilt today. I couldn't believe this was the same elf who had almost gotten us killed back in the clearing.

  "Hungry," I said. I looked around, but we were the only three people here. We'd gone far enough off the trail to hide us from the view of anyone passing. Around us, the whole forest glowed in green and gold. "Why are you picking dandelion greens?"

  "Because you can eat them. You didn't know?" Stilt asked.

  "You can eat dandelions?"

  Stilt walked over and dropped them next to the pot. "We've got to get our veggies somehow. There isn't a market out here. I didn't want to risk stealing any chickens from the farm I found half a mile from here, so I made away with some eggs instead."

  "Those come from chickens?" I asked. Mother had never told me where eggs came from. I'd always assumed someone made them, like butter.

  Stilt laughed, but not in a way that made me feel stupid.

  I helped boil the eggs, which was something I had seen Mother do plenty of times. I couldn't stop thinking about her and Henry.

  Brie boiled the greens, and we waited for our food to cool. After eating the bitter greens and the eggs, I once again felt stronger.

  "You're always so good at stealing," Brie told Stilt.

  "Do that sometimes," he said. "I left the farmer two gold coins for the eggs, so I hope that makes up for this."

  "We should hurry," I said. "Mother's still out there and she's still sick with darkness. I have to get back to her after what I've done."

  Brie faced me. "It sounds like you owe her nothing."

  "But she's my mother," I said. "She's done everything for me. I have to go help her."

  Her features shifted as if she wanted to tell me something. But Stilt spoke before she could. "She kept you a prisoner for your entire life. I think she only kept you because of what you could do for her. It sounds like she's not a nice woman. Rae, you should not have to go back to her."

  "I know a lot about that," Brie said. She took a step closer as Stilt went to work putting the supplies back in the sack. "I used to spin gold. My adoptive parents only kept me around because I helped make them rich. The same thing is happening to you. Your so-called mother is holding you hostage because of your hair and your magic."

  "Because she doesn't want to be dark," I said. "She's scared of it. That's why I have to be there for her."

  "What has she ever done for you?" Stilt asked. He hiked the sack up. "She's kept you locked in that tower. Think about that. Your story must be to free yourself from her. You also need to find that guy who she used those brambles to attack."

  It was no use. "Let's be on our way," I said. I didn't want to face these thoughts. They confused me. "Maybe Henry went back to his old kingdom?"

  We found the trail again. Brie faced me. "Did Henry say which kingdom is his?"

  "He said he was the son of King Franz the Second, I believe."

  Stilt and Brie stopped on the trail and faced each other. Brie's mouth fell open.

  "What's the matter?" I asked.

  Stilt cleared his throat and Brie backed up as if she were uncomfortable. "King Franz," he explained, "Got shrunken and imprisoned along with his entire kingdom by Alric only months ago. Henry must not have been around when it happened, or he wouldn't be wandering around Fable right now."

  A memory tickled at me. "Henry told me he was there because he was investigating the dark spot near my tower. Could he have been searching for a way to get to Alric?"

  Stilt kept walking. "If he was, I don't blame him for wanting revenge. But I don't think it's a good idea to go up against Alric himself. So far, no one has killed him."

  * * * * *

  We emerged from the forest a few hours later.

  By then, I was so tired of walking I wanted to detach my aching legs and set them up somewhere so I could rest. But strength returned when I saw that a village waited up ahead, and it was a lot more calm and peaceful than the one back in the other kingdom. This one had plenty of houses with straw rooftops and a clearing in the center with more of the strange birds—chickens—pecking the ground. No panicked crowd gathered in the middle, wondering what to do. This place was alive and well. Women in black dresses worked in a field nearby and an old man with a pitchfork hung around outside his house as if waiting to yell at someone.

  Stilt and Brie wasted no time introducing me to anyone. They escorted me past the old man in a hurry who scowled at me as I passed and held my braid close. Stilt knocked on the wooden door of a small house near the edge of the village and the door opened after a long moment of waiting.

  An old woman in a bonnet and a black dress like the others stood in the doorway. She stood hunched and looked even older than any of the gray-haired ladies I had spotted at the other village. For someone supposed to be from another world, she seemed ordinary enough. In place here. Her kind eyes welcomed us. Wrinkles drew closer together as she smiled. "Come on," she said. "I see you've brought someone. Do you have any news for me?"

  "We do," Brie said. "You had better sit down. The Stone Kingdom is dark."

  Mary shuffled over to a table in the middle of the house. This room was so small. People lived like this? And the inside of the house smelled of dirt. I couldn't imagine having that in the air all the time.

  When she reached the table, she turned to us and raised a finger at Brie and Stilt. "How dare you," she said, wagging it. "How dare you not let me sit down before you give me news like that?" But Mary was smiling. She was only jesting. It was something that Mother never did.

  I let my braid fall to the floor. At least it was wooden planks here. Mary watched it gather on the floor and a knowing look came over her face.

  "Do you--" I began.

  But Mary was already leaving the room. "I think I see." Shuffling sounds came from the next one and my curiosity grew to where I wanted to follow her, but Brie and Stilt were waiting, which I took as a cue I should do the same. Mary returned with a thick, leather bound book with golden letters on the front.

  The book.

  She set it down on the table with care and opened it. It made a creaking sound. The book looked as old as she. Mary flipped through the pages as if she knew what to look for, and at last she arrived at one with an illustrated tower.

  I drew closer, not breathing.

  It was my tower, complete with the single window and the loose bricks that led up to it. The world went silent as I stared at the beautiful text right below it.

  Rapunzel.

  My full name, the one that Mother had used only a few times.

  "All right," I say. "This is all a story. I need to know how to fix it and make the darkness go away. I understand that. What am I supposed to do?"

  Mary faced me and put one wrinkled hand on the book. She was serious now. "What has gone wrong? You know what that is."

  I didn't waste time explaining. We were in a hurry here. "The young man I'm supposed to be friends with. He's missing."

  Mary turned away and flipped through the text, tracing it with one finger. She muttered to herself as my heart pounded. "Was he chased from the tower by the enchantress?"

  "Yes."

  "Did he land in thorns?"

  "Yes." This felt like a dream. Did I have no privacy? Brie drew closer, and I was glad for her comfort. She must belong to a story, too. It made me feel less alone.

  Mary faced me. "Then your story has progressed the way it should so far. But something stands in the way of your happy ending. I don't know what that is. Maybe Alric has made sure you and the young man can't reunite. Or it could be something else that is keeping you from your goal. It might be up to you to figure that out."

  "I don't know what it is." I waited for Brie and Stilt to say something, but they remained silent. This conversation was between Mary and I only. Frustration rose inside of me. "All I know is that I need to get to Henry before Alric kills him. What if the kingdom's dark because he's already dead?" Deep down, I knew that might be false. The Stone Kingdom started going dark before Henry and Mother even met.

  Mary flipped through another page. "Don't lose hope yet. In your story, the enchantress sent you to the desert after she caught you and the young man together," she said. "It is there that you meet the man again. That could well be the reason that your kingdom has gone dark. If you don't go to the desert, you will never reunite and your story will not end properly."

  "I don't know the way there. Mother said the desert has a tower hidden in a valley of cliffs. Alric knew the place."

  Mary held up a finger. "A lot of deserts dot the dark region, but it sounds like the one closest to the border. To get there, you will need to go through the wild forest until you reach the dark region. When the road forks, turn right."

  Stilt cleared his throat. "I think I know which desert that is. Where is the tower?"

  "I don't know," Mary said. "I've heard of it but have never seen it. You must ask when you get closer."

  I didn't like the look of fear on her face. "The dark region?" I asked.

  "It's the part of Fable that's evil. All the time," Brie told me. "Alric rules it now, but it's always been that way."

  "It could even be where the enchantress who's kept you prisoner came from," Mary said. "I know she's allied with Alric."

  "Mother doesn't like Alric," I said. I felt an urge to defend her, despite her horrible actions. She hadn't been able to help but throw Henry out the window. "She's not evil so long as she braids my hair. It saved Stilt. I have light magic and it can heal the darkness."

  "I'm not surprised," Mary said. She turned back to the page with the tower. "Let me see. I remember there's a reason for that. It's right--"

  Stilt jumped. "I hear cawing."

  My heart leapt and Mary closed the book.

  He was right.

  The cawing was returning. It was very distant, but there, floating in through the still-open door.

  Stilt seized my arm. "We need to get away from Mary. If Alric knows where she is, it's all over."

  "But I thought those birds were neutral out here," I said, following.

  Mary slammed the book shut and rushed into another room without a word. The three of us burst outside.

  The cawing got louder, but the ravens weren't visible yet. Forest surrounded this village on all sides. The women were running back towards their houses, baskets of vegetables in tow. The old man herded the chickens towards a low building that had ramps and doorways only high enough to permit entry to the birds. They scampered inside as if sensing the coming danger.

  "They become neutral. It takes time," Stilt said, not stopping. "If they find you here, they might kill everyone in the village."

  Stilt let go of my arm and the three of us ran through the village. The sound grew louder, and I checked to make sure the flock hadn't come into view yet. All clear, but I knew any second, the black cloud of ravens would crest over the forest and come right for us. Around us, doors slammed and shutters closed. These people had dealt with this thing before.

  I had to leave for their sakes.

  The forest seemed so far away. And these trees weren't close enough together to hide us like the dark ones had.

  "That won't work," I said. "The birds will find us. We need another idea!"

  We all stopped, and I whirled in a circle. Why couldn't we hide in a house?

  "The barn," Brie said. "The hay."

  "Good idea," Stilt said. The thunder met my ears now. The ravens would appear any second. I wasn't even sure which way they were coming from. Alric was expanding his search.

  Brie ran to the right, and we followed. A large building looked over all the houses and I saw that it had no windows. Brie pulled open the door, and we piled into a darkness that smelled of hay. I sneezed. Stilt and I pushed the door shut and darkness swallowed us.

  "How are birds going to not look here?" I asked. Tiny pinpoints of sunlight were blinding in the dark and my eyes adjusted. There didn't seem to be any holes big enough to let ravens through.

  But even in here, the thunder grew louder.

  "Up this ladder," Stilt said, pulling me through the dark. "There's a hay loft up here. We need to bury ourselves under it. They might try to peek through these holes."

  I flailed and my hand hit something with bars. I grabbed on. This thing might be like the bricks back at the tower, meant for climbing. I didn't think too much about it. I scrambled up the bars and my hands met dry, dead grass. The hay.

  "Bury yourself under it," Brie said.

  I went to work burrowing like a terrified gopher. The hay smell grew overpowering as the birds' cawing reached a horrible pitch outside. They must be over the village by now or close. They had at least cleared the forest. Next to me, Stilt and Brie went to work doing the same. I could barely breathe with the weight of the hay pressing down on my back. I felt like no one would find me here ever again. Someone's hand brushed mine and stayed there.

  And at last, the hay cleared and I could peek out from the huge pile.

  I sucked in a tiny breath of fresh air. There was a small hole right in front of my eyes that looked over the village. And what I saw made me hold it all over again.

  A black cloud had settled over the village. The cawing continued and birds descended from it, landing on rooftops and grass and dirt. A stray chicken tried to flee, only to get caught up in the crowd of ravens. It ran in circles, unsure what to do. No one remained outside.

  The entire cloud descended at once. The roof of the barn sounded as if someone had dropped thousands of stones on it. Skittering echoed above. I flinched. There was nothing but cawing outside and the ground was black. Ravens jumped up and pecked at windows. Many tried to crawl under doors but failed. But most of them were pecking at the thatch straw roofs, trying to invade every home in the village. Pieces of straw flew. Ravens burrowed down inside buildings and flew out again. They were doing a thorough search of the place.

  Now I knew why Brie and Stilt hadn't wanted to hide in the houses.

  And they were pecking at the roof above us from the sounds of it. I burrowed deeper inside the straw, so much that it toppled back down over my face. If they got in, they would search here if they were smart. They would land on our pile and peck until they found us, and then there would be no escape.

  I closed my eyes.

  I would die here and it wouldn't be fast.

  The pecking grew louder. I imagined the barn's roof black with ravens. Thuds sounded on the surrounding walls. They were trying to find a way in.

  But at last, the sounds died down.

  The ravens cawed as loud as ever, but the pecking abated. It was as if a storm were calming into a gentle rain.

  And I could hear my own thoughts now.

  Someone shifted next to me. "I think they're going neutral," Stilt said. "We might leave the barn in a few minutes."

  "It's about time," Brie said.

  "They only just left the dark area," Stilt said. "Animals don't go back to normal right away. We should stay here a little longer to make sure they're not dangerous."

  We waited for several more minutes and I poked my face out of the hay again. The ravens still blanketed the ground and the rooftops, but now they seemed to caw at each other like they weren't sure why they were there. They reminded me of the scared crowd back at the other village.

  "They're normal again," Brie said. "We need to leave, just in case. If Alric shows up, all of them might go back under his command. He can control animals sometimes even if he's not in a dark area. And if that happens, we're dead. He can't be far."

  Terror squeezed at my heart at the thought of walking through all of those birds. But this might be our only chance.

  I pulled myself out of the hay and felt around for the ladder again. I found it and scrambled down, unable to stop myself from cringing as the ravens cawed all around us. They had this whole village covered. Brie and Stilt landed next to me and Stilt opened the door a bit. He waited there, a dark form against the light trying to invade the barn.

 

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