True to her word, Cat returned the next evening as dusk was falling. This time, however, she didn't just appear. She arrived in a glistening white coach drawn by six white horses, with two footmen standing on the back of it and a coachman in a powdered wig holding the reins.
"What in the..." J'onn shook his head. "Has she gone mad? Who are these people?"
"They aren't people," Cat answered, stepping gracefully from the carriage. "And I'm perfectly sane, Sir Knight. They won't spill any secrets. The coach is a pumpkin, the horses are mice and the coachman and footmen are lizards. I just did a little fairy magic to suit our purposes tonight. Oh, and speaking of which, I can't permanently enchant living things, so the spell will wear off around midnight. Unless you feel like making some very awkward explanations, Winslow, you should probably be back here by then."
"Midnight," Winn repeated, swallowing hard. "Right. Well, I guess I should be going then." He took a step forward. but Kara put out a hand to stop him. Throwing her arms around him, she squeezed him in a tight hug.
"Remember what I said," she whispered. "You can do this."
"I'll look after him," Alex promised, moving to his shoulder. Winn drew a deep breath, managed a smile, and disappeared into the coach. The driver flicked the reins, and the glittering carriage vanished into the distance, bound for Reign's castle.
The remaining three- Kara, J'onn and M'gann- watched until it was nothing but a speck on the horizon. "I hope he's alright," Kara said. "This really isn't easy for him."
"Remember what Cat said," J'onn replied. "He'll be more than anyone knows he is. There's no better situation than this to prove that."
"But she also said he'd be less than he wants to be," Kara said. "Who knows what that could mean?"
"Believe me, none of Cat's riddles make sense until the moment you're meant to understand them." M'gann shrugged a shoulder. "Let's not waste time worrying about it. There's nothing to do but wait and see what Winn manages to find out about this Luthor princess."
And wait they did, but the waiting wasn't easy. J'onn and M'gann were patient, talking in low voices as M'gann checked on the progress of J'onn's wound, but Kara found it hard to keep from fidgeting. She was worried for her friends, worried they wouldn't find out what they needed to, worried that whatever they found out would be bad news. When they finally heard the rattle of the coach's returning wheels an hour or two before midnight, Kara was the first one on her feet, running to meet the carriage as it came to a halt.
The door swung open, but no Winn appeared. Instead Alex hopped down onto the carriage step. Kara leaned down to scoop her up in her cupped hands.
"What happened?" she asked eagerly. "Did you find out anything about Lena?"
"No, Kara, we didn't. It was alright at first- no sign of Reign, and Cat was right, no one even suspected that Winn wasn't royalty. I even got him having fun and dancing with some baroness. Surprisingly, the ladies in attendance seem to think his bumbling awkwardness is charming. There's no accounting for taste." Alex drew a long sigh. "I thought it was going well, but then we ran into a bit of an unexpected hiccup."
"What hiccup?" J'onn asked. But Winn's voice cut in first.
"I can't go back there." He stepped out of the carriage, almost falling in the process, and Kara drew in her breath sharply. It was as if he'd seen a ghost. He was white-faced and wide-eyed, shaking like a leaf in a storm. The carriage, as if it knew its task was done, vanished, but no one was paying attention.
"What happened?" Kara asked, running forward to take his hand in hers.
"There were a couple of familiar guests," Alex said.
"My stepsisters." Winn's voice was a whisper. "I don't know what they're doing there, but I can't go back. I can't face them. I don't even know what they'd do. They could reveal who I really am."
"Oh, Winn." Kara squeezed his hand, searching for words, but J'onn beat her to it.
"Did they recognize you?"
"No. I don't think they even saw me."
"Do you think they would recognize you if they saw you disguised like this?"
"Like this?" Winn laughed, though it was strained. "No. I doubt they'd realize it was me even if I walked up and said hello."
J'onn put a hand on his shoulder. "Then what do you have to fear?" Winn started to answer, but J'onn held up one finger. "Listen to me, Winn. Ordinarily I wouldn't ask you to go back, to face them. But the fact is that you're the only one who can do this, and we need you. I know what they did to you, and I know those feelings don't fade. But no one knows better than I that you can't live in fear of the past. Someday you have to stop running. You have to face it. You're the only hope we have of finding Lena, and if we can't do it soon Kara could fall asleep again. We need you."
Winn ran a hand over his face, blinking rapidly. "I don't know if I'll ever stop being afraid of them."
"And you don't have to. Just don't let that fear stop you. You're better than that."
For a long moment Winn didn't say anything. Then, slowly, he nodded. "I'll go back," he said. "You're right. I have to. I won't let this quest fail because of me, not when all of you have given up so much. But if something goes wrong, and they recognize me, I don't know what will happen."
"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," M'gann said. "It's a brave thing you're doing, Winn. No need to make it harder wondering what-if."
Winn nodded again, but his eyes were troubled, and Kara's heart ached. It's not fair. It's not right to ask him to do this, but I have no choice. First M'gann falls in love with the one person who won't forgive her curse, then J'onn gets injured, and now Winn has to face his horrible family. And I can't do anything to stop any of it. How many more times am I going to have to stand by and watch my friends get hurt?
The mood was much more subdued on the night of the second ball. Cat sent the pumpkin coach again, but didn't make an appearance herself, distracted, as she said in a note, with other matters of the fairy realm. Winn was nervous, Alex tense, and Kara worried; they shared a quick goodbye and then settled down again for another torturous evening of waiting. This one, knowing how bad things had gone the last time and how much worse they could get tonight, was even harder to sit through. When they heard the carriage coming back it wasn't just Kara who shot to her feet. Even J'onn stood up, limping and leaning heavily on M'gann as he made his way to where Kara stood waiting.
Kara's brow furrowed as the coach drew closer. She could hear voices. Alex's, specifically, irate and dripping with sarcasm, like an older sister scolding her little brother. "I can't believe this. I just can't believe this. I knew this wasn't going to end well, I knew it from the start, but I never expected this to be the way things went wrong! What is wrong with you? How could you do something so unbelievably stupid?"
"Whoa, whoa, Alex, easy," J'onn said, as the door swung open and a sheepish-looking Winn stumbled out with Alex on his shoulder. "What on earth happened?"
Kara was wondering the same thing. The Winn she was looking at looked nothing like the frightened, cowering Winn of last night. His cheeks were flushed, and his green eyes sparkled, and despite the tongue-lashing from Alex he couldn't stop smiling.
"Before you ask, we don't know anything else about Lena," Alex said. "Somebody was too busy making goo-goo eyes at Princess What's-Her-Name from the kingdom of God-Knows-Where. He barely even looked at anyone else all night, much less spoke to them."
"Her name is Ayla, and I think I might be in love with her!"
A stunned silence fell over the group. Kara felt her jaw drop, and saw M'gann clap a hand to her mouth as if she didn't know whether to laugh or not. "I don't believe this," J'onn muttered.
"I'm serious! I've never felt like this before! We talked, and we danced, and we drank...probably too much punch, and then we danced again. She's a terrible dancer. She stepped on my foot. It was wonderful. And I'm in love with her, at least I think I am, I've never really been in love with anyone." Winn looked suddenly panicked. "Wait, how do I know if I'm in love with her?"
"Well, let's see," Alex said. "Babbling like an idiot, forgetting the entire reason you're there and falling all over yourself like a buffoon. You're in love with her alright."
"That's...better than last night, at least!" Kara said, still slightly in shock and unsure how to respond. This certainly wasn't how she'd imagined the second ball ending.
"I'm sorry I couldn't learn anything, Kara," Winn said. "I just...I couldn't think of anything else. I'll do it right tomorrow, I promise."
He was so earnest, so suddenly worried about disappointing her, that Kara couldn't help but giggle. "It's alright, Winn. I'm glad you had something good happen for once. You deserve it. And I don't have any doubt that you'll find out just what we need to know tomorrow."
Winn smiled, squeezing her hand in silent thanks before J'onn called him and Alex over to discuss their plan for the final ball. Kara really had meant what she said; she was glad for him, pleased to see him so genuinely happy. But then she glanced over at M'gann. The older woman's eyes were troubled.
"This won't end well," she said softly.
"How do you know? If she feels the way about Winn that he does about her-"
"But she doesn't. Anything she feels, she feels for the mystery prince who leaves at midnight. The prince who isn't one. Two people in love, one of them not who they claim to be- that story never has a happy ending."
As hard as the first two nights of waiting had been, the third was even harder. There was a seriousness to it, a knowledge that this was their last chance to learn what they needed to learn. If they failed tonight, the quest was over.
For a final time the glistening white coach rolled up, with Cat still conspicuously absent. For a final time Kara said goodbye to Alex and Winn. "I'll find out tonight, Kara," Winn said, throwing his arms around her. "I promise."
"I know you will," Kara said, but still she worried. She knew he would try his very best, but what were they supposed to do if he didn't succeed?
For a final time Kara sat waiting with J'onn and M'gann, staring up at the stars as the hours ticked by. Nine...ten...eleven. "It's midnight," J'onn said softly, and for the final time they heard the coach returning. As always, Kara ran to meet it, her heart pounding in her chest.
"Did you..." Kara began, as Winn stepped out of the carriage with Alex on his shoulder.
"We found someone," Alex said. "He recognized the painting, and he says he knows where Lena is."
"But we may have a problem," Winn said apologetically. "I started asking questions, just like Cat told me to, but I guess I made him suspicious. He asked to see the picture, and when I showed him, he asked if we were working for Lex. I said that Lex had sent us, but that we weren't on his side. He wanted proof that we weren't, and I may have accidentally let it slip that we're from-"
"Kryptonia," a new voice cut in. It was an unusual voice, smooth and cultured. "However, he neglected to tell me he was in the company of the princess."
Kara stared in confusion at the new figure who stepped gracefully down from the pumpkin coach and made a shallow bow in her direction. He was tall, with a lean build and a handsome face framed by soft, shoulder-length dark hair. His eyes were dark too, with an intelligent, cunning look to them. He was clearly a lord; though his clothing was plain black, it was made of expensive fabric, and the way he laced his fingers together behind his back was something Kara had seen many a nobleman do back at court. Like Lena, this stranger intrigued her, and she found herself wanting to know more about him.
"My name is Querl Dox," he said. "And your identity, Kara Zorel, is proof that you're not allied with Lex Luthor. Which means I can safely tell you the location of the lost Luthor princess."
"Why should we trust you?" J'onn asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"Logically, you shouldn't. You have no reason whatsoever to trust me. But neither do you have any other options. Whether you trust me or not, the fact remains that I know where Lena is."
"And how do you know that, if no one else even knows for sure if she's alive?" M'gann asked, putting a hand on her hip.
"Because I am the huntsman Lex sent to hide her."