After so much dread of death by cooking in the Duke's manor Mimi found the place itself rather anticlimactic. Perhaps the experience of growing up in the magic-infused castle of her father's had ruined her for the homes of others. It was a building, large and square, standing pompously above the town. A fence of tall, black iron surrounded it, but only to laughable threat. Who was this Duke trying to impress?

The gate was guarded by two soldiers armed with spears and muskets. They greeted Dwarf Long-nose pleasantly, not even noticing Mimi and the other stupid geese. "Ah. Dinner," said one. "Save me a piece?"

"If no one picks it to the bones first," replied Dwarf Long-nose. "They're to be prepared for the Duke. What remains is no concern of mine."

The guards laughed. Despite his looks, the creature certainly was popular.

"They'd eat me?" she whispered to him.

"Shh."

Inside the gate was a nice-enough garden and grounds, though Mimi was not sure what she felt of the uniform trees. Before she could look further around, Dwarf Long-nose had stepped through a door and into a dark hall.

"Ah, Jacob!" came a booming voice. "I thought you had died in the market. What took so long?"

"I'm picky," said Dwarf Long-nose. "But I am more or less prepared for dinner. See these beauties?"

A bald, round-faced man appeared at the cage. Mimi felt horrible trapped and instinctively beat her wings.

"Feisty. I'm sure the Duke will appreciate them. Though you might want to save one. We've a guest coming tomorrow, I hear."

"A guest," Dwarf Long-nose repeated darkly. "Who has insulted the Duke now? Neither of us are up to preparing poisons."

"A real guest, I hear."

"Intriguing." Dwarf Long-nose did not sound as if he cared. "Well, if you'll excuse me, Michael, I need to make someone pluck these. Where is Abe when I need him?

"Lucy has come back here again. Make her do it. Or I will." Michael turned his round body and bellowed "Lucy!"

"I don't work here!" a girl's sing-song voice replied.

"Then leave and go wash something!" Michael shook his head. "Pity. She is so handy when she is in the mood."

"I can't get her to do a single thing," said the dwarf as he side-stepped Michael.

"Abe is sleeping outside, by the way." A young woman stepped out of a door Mimi assumed to be the kitchen, judging on how the woman had a piece of bread in her hand. "He's trained to pluck chickens, not me. Or geese. Whatever you have there. Your bread is done, Michael, by the way. And it burns my tongue. Jacob, your rolls are better."

"Thank-you, and are you sure you don't want to pluck the geese?" Dwarf Long-nose heaved the cage from his back. Mimi slid into the side.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I'll drag up Abe for you." She stepped past them all, stood in the doorway a moment, then dragged a drowsy boy from seemingly nowhere.

"What?" the boy whined, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"I don't have time for this," the dwarf muttered.

Michael grabbed the boy around his skinny arm. "Jacob has work for you to do." He grabbed the cage and dumped it roughly into Abe's arms. Boy, Mimi, cage, and geese crashed to the floor.

"Ow!" cried Abe. "Pluck all of these?"

Oh, no.

"Except that one," the dwarf said quickly. He opened the cage and took Mimi around the middle. "I'm saving her."

"Like a pet?" Lucy asked with a laugh. "She's a pretty little thing."

Geese were not pretty. Stupid girl.

"Like future dinner. Abe, start on those geese. I'm going to find a spot for this one."

Michael gave a deep laugh. "I'm thinking Lucy is right. It is like a pet. One that His Maddness will eat."

"Exactly."

"All right, have fun killing your birds," said Lucy with a farewell wave. "I'm off."

"Finally working?" Michael called after her.

"You almost let that boy kill me," Mimi said as soon as she could no longer hear the noise of the kitchen. "You just gave him the cage."

"Truthfully, I did no such thing," said Dwarf Long-nose. "Michael took the cage from me and gave it to Abe. I once again saved your life. Abe may look lazy, but he's a fine kitchen boy who would have wrung your neck by now." He climbed a short case of stairs and rounded a corner. "Servants' quarters. My rooms are down here."

"Who were those people? Were they all going to kill me?"

"Michael is the Head Cook. My boss, you might say. Lucy is a maid who thinks enough of herself to associate with those of us in kitchen."

"What?"

"I'm joking. She's very nice." He pushed open a door into a small room furnished with a couple of chairs and a small table. Everything was blue, including the other door set against the back wall.

"They called you Jacob," Mimi said. "But in the market place—"

He laughed. "Yes, my parents were silly enough to name me Dwarf Long-nose. That's just a nickname that sort of cropped up with my customers. I think it suits me. My real name is Jacob."

A goblin creature named Jacob. That was a name that did not fit. Still, it was easier to say than Dwarf Long-nose. "Jacob, then."

"Whatever you'd like to call me, Miss Goose. " He set her on the floor. "You can stay here for now. I have your goosey friends to see to."

She was free. At least as free as she had ever been that day. She stretched out her wings, wishing painfully they were arms. "Thank-you. But what about my friend?"

"Later on." He smiled at her with his freakishly sharp teeth, and closed the door.

Suddenly the freedom was no longer so satisfying. She was trapped in this room. She could not even open the door. She was still under this horrible spell. Blake had no way to find her.

She began to cry all over again.

Mimi must have cried herself to sleep, for she suddenly came to in a dark room. Moonlight streamed through the window. She sat up straight. What time was it? She was still a goose, at any rate.

Two dishes sat not far from her, one supplied with water and the other with what appeared to be bits of bread and something she did not recognize. How long had it been since she had last eaten? Despite the lack of ceremony of the food, she dug her bill in. It was oddly natural in feeling. Apparently this was how geese ate. The bread was filling, and the strange food proved to be delicious and rather spicy. Some kind of vegetable stew. She took a long drink. Jacob had at least come through on food. She should not have doubted him. Apparently an ugly little dwarf could cook. Unless of course Michael had prepared everything.

Now what? Go back to sleep? She hopped up onto one of the chairs and stared out the window. Blake was supposed to meet her back at Elva's home. Where was he now? The moonlight did not reveal much. No sign of any talking squirrel.

The faint chime of a clock stirred her away from the window. Sure enough, against one wall was a small wooden clock she had not noticed. It chimed again.

Two o'clock.

The change came. Sweet, wonderful change. The goose feathers melted into her body as her wings stretched into arms.

Human. Human again. For one hour.

While she was trapped in this room.

Did she dare leave? In one hour she would be a goose again and she did not know where Elva lived. By now Blake would realize she was not there. There was no point.

Still, she had to do something. She tried the door. Unlocked.

She pulled off one of the blue curtains and wrapped it around her body. There was no way she was going to stay here for her hour. She rapped gently on the other door. "Jacob?"

No reply. Just as well. She stole out the door and into the hall.

The hall was lit no brighter than the Dwarf's sitting room. Sconces lined the walls, golden with small flames. The light bounced around like small fireflies, showing nothing but shadows of who-knew-what on the walls. It was a strange thought to think, but for the first time Mimi's curse seemed almost romantic. Almost. Of course, if some princess had been cursed to her home castle, she probably would have thought it almost romantic as well, and the romance pretty much ended when she realized she had absolutely no idea where she was supposed to go.

So she wandered. The manor's halls, which were most likely logical and few in number in reality, were at night a labyrinth. She felt like a phantom, an eerie and delicious feeling. This placed was hers.

At least until she heard the footsteps.

Mimi was examining the dim painting of some overly dressed woman when she heard the footsteps. They were not loud, just the footsteps of someone trying not wake the entire manor, but still heavy. She froze, hoping her curtain-covered body would disappear into the wall. The footsteps stopped as well.

Had she imagined them?

She could hear her heart pounding. The Dwarf's room was… oh, she had memorized the way back, but it was far. She had to get back there before three o'clock.

Carefully she rounded a corner.

A man stood there, his profile lit by the nearest sconce. His hair was brown and curled gently at his ears. His clothes belonged to the finest travelers to visit Weatherbold. She had no idea why she noticed such things. And he stood there, blocking her way back to the room.

When would he move? She had to do something. It was late and maybe she would be assumed a ghost. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and ran right past the man.

"Hey!" he cried, voice full of shock.

Mimi did not stop. She only ran faster, opening her eyes for a quick second to see if he followed. Then they were closed again until she was back in the Dwarf's sitting room and the door was locked and she was turning back into a goose.