Another unexpectedly long one. I have no idea why this suddenly keeps happening to me. I'm not excessively happy with this chapter, though the second half was fun to write. How exactly I wanted to do the ending was giving me trouble so that caused delays. That's how it always goes at this phase of the story though. Hitting a wall right in the middle of the plot.

We're close to the culmination of things, and I'm starting to get all paranoid that I haven't build up certain themes well enough in the earlier chapters so that they carry weight for the end. Oh well. That's what you get when you post a WIP, I suppose. Still, I'm very thankful so many of you have stayed with the story for so long. Knowing there are some of you patiently (or impatiently haha!) waiting for an update really makes me push myself to be disciplined about my schedule and work.

And for those who missed the update: keep track of progress and see meta for the story at my blog tagged/lemon-writes-airmid

Cheers!

Chapter 13. Breaking Curfew

"You came back!" Dagda exclaimed when he saw her enter his room. His explosion of joy made a smile spread across MK's face, in spite of the thoughts that preoccupied her. Even Amianth, with her bright eyes glimmering, looked genuinely happy to see her.

"I made a promise, didn't I?" MK said. Being back in the Hollow surrounded by the sea of grey-brown struck a sharp contrast with the glistening green of the Brightwood and Neutral Territories. The melancholy colors seeped back into her veins like clouds sweeping across an open sky.

"Still, no one was forcing you to come back," Amianth said. "If you were in the Neutrals the whole time, no one could make you." She peered at MK. "So why did you?"

MK sat down by the porthole that overlooked the southern expanse of the Wrathwood. "I guess I'm just not very good at sidelining myself—even though I've tried before. The person I am keeps wanting to walk back into the thick of things." The life she left behind in New York kept rising up before her in new forms, and every time she rushed forward to meet it. "When I saved Dagda, I got involved. I guess I don't know how to back out once people start to rely on me." She folded her arms and rested them on her tucked-up knees. "Not that I'm really making a difference here. I can't help but try."

"I think you made a big difference," Dagda said.

"You saved both our lives at some point," Amianth added. "I'd say that's pretty big."

MK's heart lifted at their sincere attempts to cheer her. "I suppose you're right." She had burrowed herself deep in the politics of this world, and sometimes she forgot that she belonged to a different one before. Yet, wherever she went, people—both Jinn and Boggans alike—would give her strange looks, reminding her that she straddled two lives. "The thing is, I keep feeling like I can't settle. It's like I'm caught in a tornado. The situation can change at any moment. I never get to rest. Maybe tomorrow I'll be back in the Brightwood. Maybe I'll have turned back into my regular self again. I don't know. I can't even guess, so all the potential futures just hang over my head, everywhere I go!"

"I wish we could help," Dagda said, sitting next to the rock MK was perched on. "It feels kind of the same for us too—not knowing what tomorrow is going to be like."

"At least we know where we belong, though," Amianth said. She stood on the opposite end of the porthole.

Judging from the dark of the sky, morning was still a long ways away. MK's mind wandered back to the ledge on Bufo's hideout. The memory of Nod pulling away from her and disappearing into the darkness played over and over in her head—that and his confession out of the blue. He had been her first friend when she arrived in the Brightwood, but they hadn't spent more than a week getting to know each other. And with her future so up in the air, MK honestly could not even begin to consider the possibility of returning his feelings. Contemplating it sent her mind into a tumult, but no matter how she tried to turn her thoughts to other, lighter things, she kept returning to him.

"I'm not sleepy anymore," Dagda complained. "Not after all the activity from when we found out you were trying to come back." He watched MK as she stared out the window. "I'm supposed to wake up early for a scouting trip. It's my first since I got injured, but I might sleep through it if I can't sleep now."

MK raised her head. "I couldn't go to sleep either. My mind is racing."

"Well, I don't want to sit around and stare until morning," Amianth said. She leaned out the porthole. "We should do something. Maybe it will make you both tired enough to sleep."

Dagda wrinkled his nose. "Like what? Everyone's asleep."

The other Boggan nocked her head. "Could go flying. Anywhere."

"That might actually be nice," MK chimed in. To feel the wind in her face and not have anywhere in particular to go—it did sound nice. All three of them could escape their problems and soar off into the night, at least for a little while. They all seemed to realize this at once, and got up together, Dagda reminding MK that they needed to be quiet, since they weren't exactly supposed to be wandering around anywhere they wanted in the forest.

"I do it all the time—especially when I go to get your food, MK. Plenty of time for side trips," said Amianth.

MK's footsteps stuttered. "You just called me by my actual name."

The female Boggan didn't turn around as they clambered down the side of the Hollow toward the perches where the grackles slept. "Everyone else does, so I might as well."

Despite Amianth's flippant tone, MK smiled to herself and kept following.

"She won't say, but she's impressed that you tackled your own friend to defend her," Dagda whispered with a toothy grin.

"If you two stop yammering back there, maybe you could keep up," Amianth hissed. She stood, arms akimbo and fingers drumming, at the bottom of the slope.

MK's cheeks tightened with suppressed amusement as she and Dagda jumped down the last ledge, a small cloud of dust puffing up under their feet when they landed. She had yet to get used to her newfound ability to take larger falls and leaps than her larger self would have. Most of the time, she forgot about it, until someone her size would lift off like a bungee jumper.

When they awoke the grackles, the birds expanded their feathers in irritation at being roused when the sun was still asleep.

"Amianth isn't a bat rider," Dagda explained, when MK asked why they were taking the diurnal birds along instead. "Besides, the grackles are smoother fliers."

The two Boggans moved with practiced quiet, knowing exactly what to do to keep the other birds from waking up and screeching. They clambered up the backs of the grackles and took off, the cool dark night surging around them as they rose up under the clouded sky.

Amianth wheeled her bird out west almost immediately after they took flight. Dagda grunted, pulling the reigns to catch up with her. Unlike flying on Maia, each massive wing beat of the grackle sent the two riders pitching upward. MK's thighs burned as she worked to match the rhythm of her mount while avoiding bumping into Dagda.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"The deep forest," he replied, voice nearly lost in the wind. "It touches the westernmost border of the Wrathwood. Hardly anybody lives on that side so it's quiet, and the deep forest is…interesting. Well, you'll see."

They flew for twenty minutes before they reached the far edge of the Wrathwood territory. Out there, small sprouts blanketed the ashen ground, mixing together with the decay in quiet harmony. Vines wrapped around the mushrooms that coated decomposing stumps, and the pale green shoots stood out against the stark black compost like stars amidst the deep void of space. MK leaned over to stare at the view below, admiring the portrait of tranquility, where the forest was left to tend to itself, and the air was clear of bitter rivalry.

They landed in the grove of new growth, and when MK slid down the grackle's back, her feet sank into the porous mulch. Her steps bounced on the airy turf, as though she were on a moonwalk. Above them, the edge of the forest loomed like a great dark wall, barely visible in the gloom.

"Does anyone live out here?" she whispered.

"Not that we know of," replied Amianth. "That's why we like it. It's peaceful."

"No Jinn or Boggans or any of the other talkers hang around here for very long. Just the quiet ones like the birds and moths and rats and stuff. But these ones don't listen to anyone," Dagda continued.

"So you'd better be careful. Not all of them are friendly to outsiders," said Amianth. She dropped backward, letting the plushy dirt break her fall, and she started making leaf angels in the carpet of sprouts.

"What do you do out here?" MK asked, sitting in the knee-high brush.

"Not much. Wander around, look for cool hiding spots," said Dagda.

"In the middle of the night?"

He tilted his head. "It's the only time we can. We're not actually allowed to be out here. It's too close to the Brightwood and Stomper territories."

MK perked up. "We're close to Stomper land?"

"Yeah, if you go north far enough."

"I wonder if my dad has gotten that far," MK muttered. "He's a scientist who's been trying to prove the existence of the Jinn for years. Hasn't actually seen them, but he's got a whole collection of their weapons and armor and stuff."

"Whoa, really?" Dagda asked. He peered down at her from the large rock he'd scaled while she was talking.

"If he got all the way out here, he'd be lost for sure," Amianth said, twirling a spindly stem in her hands.

MK's shoulders drooped. "Yeah, probably. I guess it was a long shot."

"What was?"

MK shrugged, leaning her head on her shoulder. "I don't know. I thought I could find one of his cameras again at least. Like I said: long shot. I just wanted to…I don't know, touch that world again." She laughed humorlessly. "Whatever, it's probably for the best. I would probably end up feeling worse."

"It's nice, though, isn't it? Being out here, I mean," said Dagda. "You can actually relax."

"It's better in the forest," said Amianth, leaping back onto her feet. "There's cool stuff you'd never see anywhere else. Come on, let's show you."

They climbed back onto the grackles and fluttered through the dense trees. The trunks were thicker and mossier, coated in a permanent layer of damp. If Marcie, the old cashier back in Oak Bridge, had shown MK this the first time, she might have believed in the idea of spirits a little more. Unlike the Brightwood, the deep forest did not glow with the Draíochta, but there was definitely a presence there.

As they moved, a light glimmered along the forest floor, and MK strained her eyes to see it. The Boggans guided their birds, hopping along the nearby branches and fallen logs to get to the ground, and a wondrous sight came into view.

Coating the forest floor were spiraling paths of bioluminescent mushrooms. A gasp escaped MK's lips as she hurried to dismount, dashing amidst the bloom. Dusty green particles puffed up into the air like floating embers as the mushrooms released their spores. They filled MK's nostrils with a sweet, earthy scent that calmed her nerves.

"It's amazing!" she breathed.

"We found this a while back," Amianth said. "I don't know why they glow, but they're pretty so this is one of our favorite places."

"You can't tell anyone though," Dagda said. "Or it'll spoil it."

A soft smile spread across MK's face as peace washed over her. "I totally get it. I wouldn't want anyone to find out about this. I could stay here for a long time."

"Sometimes, I wish I could convince Dad to quit fighting and come out here, and we and our families could live and no one would be able to bother us because no one would find us. Then we could just be ourselves and not worry about anything," said Dagda.

"It might be nice, but it's too green out here. Nobody would like it," Amianth said. "I like it when it just belongs to us."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm just saying sometimes I wish I could stay out here longer. We always have to go back before everyone wakes up."

"Uh, guys?" MK squeaked.

They turned around. "What?"

She pointed up into the branches, where the great white face of an owl loomed over them like a terrifying moon. "That."

"Oh muck," Amianth hissed, backing away. The owl screeched and dove from the branch. "Run!"

They ducked for cover as the talons crashed down, scattering the mushrooms and sending bright green powder exploding into the air. The spores stuck to MK's face and her clothes as they all scrambled away. Amianth and Dagda whistled for their grackles.

"Quick, up here!" Amianth shouted, leading them up a slanted branch that leaned against a larger trunk. The frightened keening of the grackles echoed in their ears as they hopped through the thick branches, trying to find their mounts.

MK felt the wind of the owl's wings without hearing it, and she glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the pale form with its empty stare fixated on her. She took a flying leap off the branch she stood on, just before it stomped a furry talon down where she had been seconds ago.

"Dagda! Amianth!" MK called, whipping her gaze back and forth trying to find her friends in the dark. Panic surged up her spine, feeling the tingle of being watched.

"MK!"

A claw seized her, and she let out a shriek, struggling against the grip before realizing the talons were smooth. "Dagda?"

"Don't worry, I'm not an owl," he shouted. The grackles maneuvered through the branches, climbing up toward the canopies before bursting out of the treetops in a spray of leaves. The grackle tossed MK up and caught her on his back.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The grackle accelerated, and MK started skidding down the back of the bird before she grabbed onto the nearest thing possible which happened to be Dagda's coat.

He squawked in alarm. "MK! You're gonna choke me," he croaked, grabbing onto her hand so she could right herself properly.

"Sorry!" MK watched over her shoulder as they flew away. "Did we lose it?"

"Nope!" Dagda veered hard to the left, separating them from Amianth. The owl erupted out of the treetops, its silent wings guiding it quickly toward them.

"Hey!" Amianth shouted. The owl reeled around at the diversion, flapping furiously in midair as it tried to decide who to pursue.

"Come on, Kevrel, let's show it who's boss," Dagda muttered, spurring his grackle back in Amianth's direction. The grackle shuddered before obeying its rider, surging in a full force charge toward the owl.

MK braced herself for the collision, her teeth crashing together as they slammed claw-first into the chest of the owl. The raptor let out an enraged screech as it tumbled, righting itself into an unsteady flight. Kevrel screamed in terrified triumph before launching himself higher into the sky. The owl circled a few times before dropping back into the forest, deciding that it was no longer worth it to pursue.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they soared away. The clouds had thickened while they were under the cover of the trees, and not an inch of sky was visible.

"We're way off course, and I can't see a thing. Where are we?" Dagda asked, rubbing his eyes.

"No idea," said Amianth, looking around. A sea of dark leaves spread out below them, its edges fading into inky night. "I can't even tell which way is east or west."

Concern rose in Dagda's voice. "What should we do? We need to be back before dawn." He chewed on his fingernails. "It's usually never this cloudy."

"And we're usually not chased by owls," Amianth growled. "Let's just pick a direction."

"Don't look at me for that," MK said, holding her hands up. "I'll definitely pick the wrong one."

The Boggans had argued for ten minutes about which way to go before Amianth finally won—it involved a grackle scuffle, much to MK's displeasure—and they headed off in a direction that they were hoping was east, though they weren't exactly sure.

"I don't think this is right, Ami," said Dagda in a miffed tone. His entire posture pouted because of the lost argument. "We've been flying for way too long."

Amianth spat out a string of nasty sounding names in response. The grackles flapped along through the molasses air, heads drooping. "Hey, what's that?" Amianth pointed down below.

MK followed the gesture and squinted into the dark. Her eyes were by now well adjusted to the poor lighting, so she quickly focused on the blue LED that glimmered in the trees. Her heart leaped. "No way," she murmured.

"What?" Dagda turned back to look at her.

"Can…can we go and check it out?" She dared not let her hopes get up too high.

Dagda nodded and the grackles swooped down, eager to rest on a branch. Sure enough, as they approached the light, the glint of a camera lens caught MK's eye. She let out a heavy breath of relief at the sight but paused when she saw what was sitting below it.

"Is that an iTouch?" she whispered, crouching beside it and running her hand along the smooth, protective casing that guarded the device against the elements.

"You touch what?" Dagda asked.

MK chuckled. "No, it's called an iTouch." She frowned at it. "I wonder why it's out here. It's probably dead."

"These things are alive?" Amianth asked, her posture slanted at skeptical angles.

Again, MK had to laugh. "Not the way you and I are. They're machines. They run on electricity. Is any of this making sense?"

The blank stare the Boggans gave her was a telling answer.

"Never mind," she said, suppressing her grin. "Let's just call it magic that can run out if it's not replenished, and if it runs out, we call it dead."

"Ahh…"

"Okay…"

MK stood and began to walk back to her friends. "He's probably using it for some experiment—"

The whirring of the lens nearly made her jump a foot, and she turned around. The iTouch screen blinked and a fuzzy video feed came to life.

"No way," MK murmured as her dad's office materialized from the blurry pixels. "When did he do this?"

"MK!" Her dad's face popped into the screen.

"Wagh!" MK tumbled backward in surprise. She got back to her feet, backing up to stare at the camera that pointed itself down at her. "Dad?"

"It worked! Goodness gracious, I was honestly starting to think I was going crazy and that I hallucinated my daughter coming back to Oak Bridge and then suddenly vanishing again and—"

"Dad."

"—and then suddenly reappearing! But small this time! Riding a hummingbird! Gosh, MK, a hummingbird! Would you believe I nearly passed out at the sight—"

"Dad. Daaad."

"—well actually I did faint, but I heard what you said about eating, what was it, three meals a day and something about canned food? Anyway you have no idea how much money I threw at Apple to get all those little doohickeys installed—"

"Dad!"

He ceased his ramblings and fell still, like a puppy caught rummaging through the trash bin. MK gave an amused sigh and smiled at him. "Good to see you again," she said at last.

Her dad returned the smile. "Good to see you too. I'm so glad it worked. If it didn't work, I was going to go nuts. It was the only thing I could think of to do."

"Hang on a moment. Dad, these are my friends Dagda and Amianth. Dagda and Amianth, meet my—" MK snorted, bursting into a fit of laughter at the sight of the Boggans staring at the video, wide-eyed and mouths hanging open.

"Oh my! Actual forest denizens! Hello!" her dad said, his face distorting slightly when he got too close to his webcam. "They can understand me, right?" he whispered.

"Dad, of course they can, if they can understand me," she whispered back, still struggling with the bouts of giggling that would wash over her every time she looked back at her gaping companions.

"He's your Stomper dad?" Amianth asked, finally finding her voice. She crept up to the iTouch, prodding at it. "How does he fit in the tiny box?"

Amianth's consternation made MK laugh so hard she had to sit down on the branch for several minutes with her head in between her knees. Eventually, she recomposed herself and got back to her feet, wiping the tears out of her eyes and still stifling snickers. "It's just the image of him. He's not actually in the box. He's projecting himself into it."

"That sounds like some serious magic. I though you said Stompers didn't have magic," Dagda said.

"We don't. Not really. We invent things. It isn't really magical."

"Looks like magic to me," said Dagda.

"Hullo," said Bomba, leaning forward to peer at the Boggans. "You're different folk from the ones I'm used to seeing."

"You probably run into the Jinn mostly. The Brightwood is closer to Stomper land," said Amianth.

Bomba shifted his eyes to MK, the question knitted into his brow.

"The Jinn are the ones with the hummingbirds. Brightwood is their territory, and you and I are Stompers," MK explained. "Dagda and Amianth are Boggans. They live in the Wrathwood."

"Sounds like a lot to take in," her dad said, leaning back and rubbing his chin.

MK tightened her lips and nodded vigorously. "You don't know the half of it. How did you get all this set up though?" She beckoned toward the camera and video feed. MK put her hands on her hips. "And how are you even up so late? It must be, what, three in the morning?"

He ducked his head sheepishly. "Three-thirty more like. You know me. Insomnia and all. Can't help it when I'm thinking. Anyway, I actually set up as many stations like this as possible. I never saw you again at the first one, so I tried spreading them out. I was starting to get desperate. This one was a lot of work! The forest really did not like me coming this far out to do the installation. You won't believe how many times I got deposited out on some trail down the road or somewhere else in the backyard before I could get as far as I wanted. It took persistence, but look where determination gets you!"

"Look indeed," MK said softly. "You were right, Dad. All this time, and you were right."

Her dad only chuckled, as though he'd never doubted all along. "Hey, you were the one who told me I'd get my big break."

MK swung her leg out, shrugging. "Yeah, but I didn't really believe what I was saying at the time. I had no idea either. I was just trying to make you feel better."

"It was the thought that counted," he said. Her dad folded his arms and stared up at the ceiling. "I've spent past weeks trying to figure out how this could have happened to you, and how I could help. It was hard not knowing what you were doing, so whenever I would hit a wall, I would set up another video device. What have you been up to anyway?"

"Oh, you can't even imagine. I don't even know where to begin…"

Dagda prodded her in the shoulder. "Hey, MK, how long is this going to take? We kind of need to head back. The clouds are starting to clear up, and I think the sun is going to rise soon. We're gonna be in big trouble otherwise."

"Ah, I don't want to cause you problems, of course!" her dad said. "At least you know where to find me. I've got about seventeen stations set up like this. But I really hope we can talk again soon!"

"Yeah, yeah I'll do my best," MK said. "We'll talk more, Dad. We're going to figure this out. We'll get back to normal, I promise."

Her dad reached over the console and switched off the display. The screen on the iTouch went black, leaving them all blinking in the dark. As her eyes adjusted, MK became aware of the soft light that filtered through the thinner layer of clouds. Far off in the east, the horizon glowed with an edge of light. Sunrise crept ever closer.

"All right, let's go," she said, following the Boggans as they raced to rouse their snoozing grackles.

Dagda lifted a finger to his lips, as though MK needed a reminder to be quiet while they snuck back up the side of the Hollow toward his room. Amianth had gone off to her own residence after they returned the grackles. MK and Dagda climbed through the porthole and into his shadowed chambers, and once they got inside, he settled onto his bed and yawned.

"Now, I'm definitely tired," he said.

"And yet you were so excited to get back on patrol," a voice said. MK and Dagda both leaped into the air, the young Boggan's yawn turning into a high-pitched yelp. Off in the corner of the room, Mandrake sat, tracing circles in the dust on the floor with his staff.

"Dad…uh, you're up early." Dagda tapped the pads of his fingers together, glancing off to the side.

Mandrake stood, pacing toward them. "You were up late."

"We couldn't sleep, so we, um, went for a fly."

"For three hours."

Dagda shuffled. "Um, I guess so?"

Mandrake's eyes flashed. "You guess so?"

"Ohh dear," MK muttered, scooting away.

"What on earth were you doing out there? What possible good reason would you have to be that far in the middle of nowhere for three hours?"

"Dad, it's fine, Amianth and I go out there sometimes to get away from things. It's not that dangerous!"

MK figured that the owl chase was probably not going to be a helpful detail so she clamped her mouth shut.

"And how was I supposed to know that when I came to look in on you to find all three of you missing? And the grackles gone too. What was I supposed to assume, Dagda?" Mandrake pressed his knuckles against his temple as though he had a migraine coming on. "How far west did you even go?" He stared at the silent culprits, jaw tightening when neither of them spoke. "Don't either of you play that game with me."

Even MK was starting to squirm. She glanced at Dagda, elbowing him lightly. He looked at her, and she jerked her head toward his father. Dagda's mouth curved down, and his eyes widened at her. "Just tell him," MK muttered through her teeth.

"Why don't you tell him?" he muttered back.

"Why should I? He's your dad, not mine!"

"I do so love being excluded from your fascinating covert discussion. Please go on," Mandrake said with venomous amiability.

MK elbowed Dagda harder.

"Ow! Okay, fine!" Dagda rubbed the tender spot on his arm. "We were in the deep forest," he mumbled.

"You what?" Mandrake advanced on them, and they both stuttered backward. "That's untouched territory—the beasts untameable, and the magic feral and uncontrollable. And you thought it was a good idea to go out there?"

"Amianth and I have done it before. We don't go far, and it's not that bad—just different," Dagda protested.

"Oh, I see, so you're all experts now," Mandrake said. "Never mind that the northwestern edge wraps around the Brightwood and blends with Stomper land."

"And never mind that I found owl feathers on Kevrel, who looks like he woke up on the wrong side of the perch." Everyone turned around to see the tall female Boggan whom Amianth had called "aunt" stalk into the room carrying her squirming niece under her arm like she was a bale of hay.

"Hortensia?" Mandrake narrowed his eyes at his son. "Owl feathers, you say?"

"So, we ran into an owl, big deal. Not like it was more dangerous than raiding the Brightwood," Amianth grumbled.

Hortensia sneered and dropped Amianth on the ground. "I'm going to pretend that wasn't the stupidest analogy you could have made."

"Enough." Mandrake swept his staff out. "I want the truth—all three hours of it. Why were you out there? How far did you go? What were you doing?"

The young Boggans groaned. "Like I said, we really did want to get some fresh air," Dagda began. "And Amianth and I do go into the deep forest sometimes. We have our secret hideouts. We wanted to show one to MK, but then an owl came down at us and chased us farther in. It was cloudy, so we couldn't get our bearings and went in the wrong direction." He paused, tightening his lips.

"Where? Farther west, or…?"

"North," Dagda said with a nod. He fell silent again.

"How far north?" Mandrake pressed. His voice took on a steely edge. "Dagda."

"The edge of Stomper territory, I think," Dagda said, eyes on the floor. "That's when we realized we were all turned around."

Hortensia stared at them incredulously. "How far did you get before you realized?"

"I-I don't know. It still looked like forest to me, but MK saw a…a what did you call it?"

"Camera," MK supplied. They'd had to leave before she could truly explain what the device actually was for Amianth and Dagda, so MK figured it was her turn to tell the story.

"You've mentioned that before, when you told me the story the first time," said Mandrake.

MK nodded. "My dad lives on the edge of Stomper territory, closest to the forest as he can be. He knows you all exist, has believed it for years but was searching for proof. The cameras show him what's going on. He's been looking for me." Her lips twitched upward at the thought. "I got to talk to him again."

Mandrake's surprise washed over the anger. He glanced at Hortensia. "You met him out there?"

"Not in person," MK said.

"It was a talking projection! Like the scroll images in the Rings," Dagda interrupted. "We could see him and hear him talking in this long box, but he wasn't actually there."

Mandrake blinked twice, then shook his head. "I'm going to choose to accept that this conversation was somewhat miraculous and move on from that."

MK fell silent, turning her mind over the thought of returning. It was a long ways off, but she promised her dad she would come back to finish their conversation. She sorted through every option she could muster, but without her own transportation, the only way she could get back was on foot via a path through dangerous territory.

Noticing her pensiveness, the Boggans regarded her, waiting for her to say what was on her mind.

"I told him I would come back," she explained. "To talk to him. Is there any easier way for me to get there than the way we went?"

"No," said Amianth. "Not without going through Brightwood, or going all the way around on the other side."

"Which would take even longer," Dagda said.

MK only sighed in response, returning to her considerations. Mandrake studied her, until MK glanced up at him as she grew increasingly self-conscious.

"I've made a mistake," he said at last. At her questioning look, he said, "Bringing you back."

"But I asked to—"

"I know what you said, but if we're to be honest with ourselves, your place in this war is very different now. It was useful to have you around for your ability to heal, back when no one knew where you stood. However, it is clear to me—and should have been clear to me the moment I arrived at the toad's hideaway—your path is different from the rest of us, and you must be allowed to follow it. From this morning's little fiasco, I can see that your ends will continue to conflict with ours, perhaps on an increasingly greater scale than a simple errant field trip." He paced in front of her as he spoke, choosing his words with great care.

"What are you saying?" MK asked in a low voice.

Mandrake sighed, sounding tired. "You are no longer bound by your initial promise. You are free to go. In fact," he fixed her with a steady stare, "I suggest that you do." The way he said it made it very clear it was not just a suggestion.

"Chief, are you sure this is wise?" Hortensia asked, frowning at MK. "She could reveal important information to the Jinn."

His lip twitched upward. "I'm not an idiot," he said, ending the argument. He turned to MK. "Know this: we may be parting on friendly terms now, but if your own actions put you in my way, I will treat you as my enemy, and I will not be merciful."

MK swallowed the lump in her throat. "I understand. I just hope we don't become enemies. I guess that's up to both of us."

Mandrake said nothing, merely scrutinized her, parsing through her words as he always did.

"If I'm to leave, where will I go, then?" MK asked.

"Back to your Jinn boy, where else? He wanted to rescue you so badly, didn't he?" Mandrake said, sweeping away. "What you do after that is your choice."

MK's face went beet red. "My Jinn boy?" She strode after him. "Hey! Stop walking away!"

"I will take you to the edge of the Neutral Territory myself, since I think my son will be grounded for the rest of his life," Mandrake said, completely ignoring her protests.

"What?" Dagda shouted, chasing after them. "No! You can't do that! Are you serious?"

"My Jinn boy? Excuse you!"

Who knows what day Chapter 14 comes out. Some time next week is all I can say lol.