"What do you mean, you're leaving?"

I freeze at the sound of Madoc's voice down the corridor. I'm going through Taryn's bedroom yet again, looking for some hint as to where she might have gone. I don't know why I keep trying: none of my other searches have yielded anything. There's no hint whatsoever that she was planning to leave, or that she might have a destination. In fact, there's no hint of much of anything, really. Her clothes hang in the closet or lie folded in the bureau, in neat ranks. The books sit untouched on the shelves. Even her beloved embroidery chest, full of fabric and hoops and reels of floss, looks sad and neglected, with no ongoing project or sign of mess. There's not a scrap of writing or anything personal, nothing that indicates Taryn as a person who actually lived in this room and used these things.

It gives me a strange, uneasy feeling as I go through her neglected possessions: how well did I actually know my sister? When did I lose touch with her so badly?

But now Vivienne's voice sounds, sharp and angry, "I mean I'm leaving, Madoc."

I put down the book I was holding and hurry out into the corridor. It's after dinner, and the house is mostly quiet, but Madoc is standing at the head of the staircase, glaring down. I come up quietly, and see Vivi halfway up the stairs, holding an Ironside suitcase.

She shakes it at Madoc insolently. It jiggles around, clearly empty. "I'm leaving," she repeats, voice hard and clear and defiant. "I'm heading for the Ironside. For good." Her eyes find me. "You should come too, Jude," she adds in a gentler tone. "Please."

Madoc's fists clench. "Have you forgotten," he inquires in a soft, dangerous voice, "that your sister is missing?"

"No, Madoc, as a matter of fact I hadn't forgotten that." Vivienne's eyes snap fire. Her mouth works as she glares at Madoc hatefully. "That's why I'm leaving, actually."

"What?" Unnoticed, Oriana comes up softly behind Madoc, hanging back worriedly. "Your younger sister has disappeared and you want to run off Ironside with that mortal girlfriend of yours?" Madoc demands incredulously.

"How do you know about Heather?" Vivi demands, momentarily taken aback.

Madoc smiles thinly. "There is very little you can do, Vivienne, that I don't know about. Now. Taryn has vanished into thin air and no one has the least idea where she is. We need to find her—we all need to find her. You have no right to leave when you should be helping me look for her!"

I thought I knew what Vivienne's rage looked like before this. As she draws herself up and magic crackles around her like lightning, I realize that I had no idea.

With a shriek, she throws the suitcase at Madoc. He knocks it aside with one arm, snarling, but Vivienne doesn't back down. She stands on the stair, lightning wreathing around her, fists clenched, hair crackling fire.

"How dare you say that!" Her shout brings a few servants running, from the upstairs corridor and peering up from the downstairs, shrinking back when they see the scene. "How dare you say that, you evil piece of murdering shit!"

I recoil, gaping, and see Oriana put her hand to her mouth. Shocked murmurs rise from the watching servants. Madoc just stands and stares, like he's too stunned to react.

"Taryn's dead!" Vivienne cries, voice breaking on a sob. She draws breath, gathering herself, before going on the attack again. "She's dead, and it's all your fault, for bringing her to this hellhole in the first place! You knew what would happen to her and Jude here. You knew, and you didn't care! You let the faeries at them, you let Taryn slip away, let her become more and more miserable, and never did a thing to help her. You as good as killed Taryn, Madoc. Maybe she killed herself or maybe some evil scut of a faerie murdered her, but either way her blood is on your hands, just like our parents'."

A ringing silence falls. Vivienne stands, panting, looking torn between savage triumph and a horrified surprise at her own daring. The moment hangs, and hangs, drawn out in sick suspense.

At last, Madoc speaks. "You selfish little brat," he hisses at Vivi, eyes like pits of fire. "You selfish, self-righteous, spoiled little madam. If Taryn was in such trouble, why didn't you try to save her? Or were you too busy hating me to bother? And now you want to run away, leaving your sister in danger. You've always hated me, Vivienne, more than you cared for your sisters. You're the selfish one, and you know it."

A sound escapes Vivienne like the screech of a hawk, and her lightnings sudden coalesce and leap upward, pouncing on Madoc with claws of light. He dodges, erecting a magical shield, but Vivienne leaps up, clearing the stairs, face a howling mask of rage, going for his throat. Madoc draws a dagger, snarling, and, in a strange moment of detachment, I notice how the light shines on the honed edge, so bright, so sharp—

Abruptly, sense slams back into me. "No!" I shout, running forward. "Stop it, both of you!"

"Yes!" bellows Oriana. "STOP!"

Madoc and Vivienne both reel back, yelling, as the force of Oriana's magical barrier knocks them away from each other. It gives me a sidelong blow, and I stumble back under its force, gasping for air.

"Stop!" Oriana repeats. A strange white light glows around her hair, sparks in her eyes. "I will not have this in my house! Back away, both of you!"

There's another sick pause. Then, slowly, as though its costing them their life's blood, they do so. They glare at each other with utter hatred, but Madoc and Vivienne both back away, tension radiating from them.

Oriana turns to Madoc. "Madoc," she says, crisp and clear, "you have no right to stop Vivienne from leaving. She is an adult now, and can go if she chooses. Vivienne," she adds, turning to my sister, "you have no right to blame Madoc for Taryn's disappearance simply because you hate him. You also have no right to kill your own father. Go, Vivienne. Go to the Ironside with your lover, if that's what you want. But don't seek to punish your father for a crime he didn't commit."

For a moment Vivienne stands, glaring bloody murder at both Madoc and Oriana. Then she turns. She turns to me.

"Jude," she whispers, all her rage suddenly gone, replaced by urgent pleading. "Please come with me. I can't bear to think of you all alone here."

Slowly, I shake my head. "I can't," I say, and I hardly recognize the voice coming out of my throat. "Vivi, I can't."

Sadly, she nods, as though she was expecting this. "I love you, Jude." She turns and heads down the staircase, not bothering to retrieve her suitcase, not bothering to try to get her things, as if none of that even matters anymore.

She's really doing it. She's really leaving. For good.

I stand frozen, watching, as she crosses the entryway, watched by the whispering servants, and pulls open the door. She steps out, and it slams shut behind her, with a final, echoing thud.

I glance at Madoc and Oriana. Oriana stands, panting, the odd white light dying, but Madoc is as still as stone, still as a sword at rest. He's as astonished as I am, I realize. He never really thought Vivienne would leave.

I make no conscious decision. By the time I realize, I'm already down the stairs and halfway across the entryway. I wrench the door open and run out into the night.

There the stars cram the sky, a celestial treasure trove, and the trees murmur in the night breeze. Vivi hasn't gone far, just across the border of the property. She's already raised her ragwort steed, standing ready to carry her across the worlds. She turns to me, face sad in the starlight, but unsurprised.

"Have you changed your mind?" she asks quietly, without real hope that I have. "Will you come after all?"

I pause to catch my breath. "No. Vivi, please, don't go!"

"I don't suppose Madoc will have me in the house anymore." All her anger seems to have gone, leaving only sorrow. "And…I can't stay here, Jude. I can't stay where Taryn died."

"She's not dead!" It comes out louder than I intended, scaring off several night birds from a nearby tree. I lower my voice. "Taryn's not dead, Vivi. I know she's not."

"How can you know such a thing, Jude?" Vivienne smiles at me sadly. "Madoc was right about one thing: Taryn was in trouble, and I didn't bother to notice. I was so busy hating him that I—" She breaks off, looking away. It takes her a moment to master herself once more, straightening and looking at me. "She was dying, Jude. Taryn was dying for a long, long time, right before our eyes, and we didn't even notice. We didn't look. And now she's probably killed herself. Maybe it's Madoc's fault she's dead, but it's ours too. Especially mine. I didn't notice. Didn't protect her."

"Vivienne," I say, speaking from some deep certainty I didn't even know was there, "she's not dead. Taryn's not dead. I'd know it if she was. Please, don't go. Stay here, and help me find her!"

"You're fooling yourself, Jude." Vivienne's voice is thick with tears. "Just like you have ever since Madoc brought you here. You're fooling yourself if you think you'll ever find a place here, that the faeries will ever accept you, that they'll ever see you as anything but beneath them. Madoc did this to you. He did this to us. And now Taryn's dead because of it."

"She's not dead," I repeat, clinging to my one certainty. "I'd know if she was. Don't abandon her like this, Vivi. Don't abandon us!"

Vivienne sighs, as though it's not even worth arguing anymore. "I'll keep in touch, okay? I'll check up on you, I promise. If you want to leave, you can let me know."

I stare at her, at my sister, who is abandoning me, abandoning my twin. "You want her to be dead, don't you?" I realize slowly. "You want Taryn to be dead, so you finally have an excuse to leave!"

"No I don't!" She finally looks up a this, eyes full of hurt. "Jude, how can you even think that? Of course I don't want Taryn to be dead! But there's no point in denying reality. Taryn's dead, Jude. And I can't—I bloody well won't—stay in this place that killed her!"

My breath hitches on a sudden, unbearable pain. Vivienne's wrong—I know she is—but what if she's right? What if Taryn really is dead? I think back to her sad, neglected bedroom. Her silence, her blank, bleak stare into nothing. Vivienne's right about one thing, I realize, slow and hideous: Taryn was utterly miserable. She wasn't just putting it on, she wasn't dangling for attention. My twin sister was completely miserable and growing more miserable and hopeless by the day, and I didn't notice.

Or…I couldn't be bothered to notice. I looked the other way, because that was easier than trying to help. I think back to my very last words to Taryn, when I called her a weakling and told her she was making us look bad, and I cringe.

I was the weakling. I was the coward. I abandoned my sister when she most needed me, but I will not abandon her now. Resolve gathers in me. Taryn is not dead. I know that, deep inside. And if it takes me the rest of my life, I will find her again.

I snap my gaze back on Vivienne. "I won't leave," I say, cold and hard. "I won't abandon Taryn like you're doing. I will stay, and I will find her again, if I have to search all of Faerie myself. And if you're right and she's dead, then I will avenge her. And if I'm right, then I will save her. Either way, I will never forgive you for abandoning her."

Silence, save for the voice of the wind, and the descending call of a solitary bird, far away. Vivienne stands like she's been turned to stone, the grasses blowing around her feet. Her steed shifts restlessly, tossing its head, eager to be gone.

At last, Vivienne turns away. She swings herself up onto her steed. "Goodbye, Jude," she says softly. "I'll check on you, okay? And if you need me, I'll come. I promise."

She kicks her steed in the sides. A part of me wants to run after her, scream, beg her not to go—but I won't. I stand rigid, fists clenched at my sides, watching Vivienne gallop away, disappearing into the sky, until she is finally gone and I am alone.