"Maybe if you just turned into a flower for half a second." Juniper pleaded.

I threw my head back in exasperation. "I refuse to be a flower again."

"But we've been walking for ages, and we keep ending up in the same place. It's the curse. It's keeping us here. If we don't start following along with the story, we'll never find Chord." She reasoned.

I knew she was right, but I was also determined never to become a little pink flower again. "The stupid curse is just going to have to deal without a flower this time. I'll find Chord on my own."

"But how? We've already tried your way and it didn't work."

"What? You think walking around in circles was my idea?"

She shrugged. "I was the one following you."

I narrowed my eyes at the girl. "Then maybe you should become a flower. Never again will I allow myself to be so pathetically fragile."

"But the curse needs a flower!" She protested again.

"The curse can live without getting a freaking flower!" I froze as an idea came to me. "Unless a flower is exactly what we give it."

Juniper got excited. "So you'll do it?"

I shook my head. "No. I just got done telling you that I'll never be a flower again. I'm talking about something different."

Juniper frowned. "You're going to turn yourself into a pile of baking flour?"

"What?" I stared at her a second. Was she serious? I couldn't tell. It was hard to read her expressions under all the warts and the crooked nose. "Why would I do that?"

"What other kind of flower is there?"

I rolled my eyes and stepped over to a nearby red stone. Similar to the one I'd been transformed into earlier. I wasn't sure this would work, but I was willing to try anything at this point. Taking out the wand, I tapped the rock lightly, imagining it as a pretty pink flower. To my surprise, it actually worked.

"That's your plan?" Juniper asked skeptically. "Turning a rock into a flower isn't going to fool the curse."

"Really?" I countered. "I've found in my time here, that if you're stubborn enough, the curse will eventually give up and take the next closest thing it can get to match the story. As long as I keep refusing to be turned into another flower, it should take this flower as the bait to bring in Chord's character." I hope. I added silently. I mean, the whole being more stubborn than the curse thing had worked before but only by chance. I'd never tried to actually trick the curse into doing my bidding this way.

We stood there for a while in silence. I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Was Chord's character even human? How would we recognize him when he came? Would he even come? I had too many unanswered questions and they were starting to drive me nuts.

"So how long do you think we should wait before calling it quits and finding another way around the story?" Juniper asked. She was restless, shifting from foot to foot and fidgeting with her fingers.

"You aren't overly patient, are you?" I sighed. "When I said we had to be more stubborn than the curse, I meant we'd be waiting a while. It might not even give in."

"Don't do that."

I frowned. "Do what?"

"Talk about the curse like it's alive. It creeps me out." She shuddered.

"Iris' magic is insanely powerful." I said with a shrug. "There's a good chance she gave the curse the power to manipulate the tales on its own. I doubt she sits around all day monitoring the tales herself."

Juniper looked like she really wanted to object, but she knew I was right. "It's just wrong. A spell should never be given that kind of power. It's dangerous."

"Tell me about it. This round is different from the last one. Isis' curse was dangerous, but it was clearly her own imagination at work. I mean, a giant squirrel attacked me once. There was no denying she was controlling things. This time though, things are different. I can literally feel the magic pulsing beneath my feet. It's the very core of this place. The world we're trapped inside is raw magic. I don't know how I know, I just do. I've never been more certain of anything before."

"So, theoretically, if we were to somehow gain control of that magic, we would control the curse."

"Yeah, I guess. But there's no way either of us would have the ability to control that kind of magic. If we could, I wouldn't still be here."

Just then, Chord came tromping through the underbrush. He cursed as his foot caught on a root and he tripped. Thankfully, he looked like himself. I'd never been happier to see the boy.

"See?" I smiled at Juniper who was staring at Chord with heart eyes. "I told you I knew what I was doing."

Chord looked up and grinned. "Hey guys! Long time, no see."

"Only took you long enough to get here." I crossed my arms, trying to look annoyed.

He grinned that impish grin of his, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "Sorry, I had a bit of hard time getting here. It seems someone refused to play by the rules."

"Are you accusing me of breaking the rules?" I asked in mock surprise. "How dare you do such a thing."

Chord slapped me on the shoulder. "It's good to have you back, Taryn."

"Of course it is. You'd never make it without me."

"Hi, Chord." Juniper finally choked out.

I smiled when I saw her nervously straightening her clothes and hair.

Chord grinned. "Juniper! It's kinda nice being in the same tale again. Just like old times."

Her cheeks flushed and she giggled nervously. "It is."

I smirked. "So, Chord, your girlfriend here is pretty smart."

Juniper choked and sputtered at my choice of words and Chord's face had gone brighter red than a tomato.

He was able to pull himself back together and cleared his throat. "I could have told you that."

If it was possible, Juniper went even more red.

"She knows more about the curse than you do, that's for sure." I pointed out. "She told me where we can find Iris."

"What? Seriously?" He looked between me and Juniper with wide eyes. "You know where she is?"

"Yes and no."

"What does that mean?" He turned to me for an explanation.

"It means she knows that Iris will be in her castle, but she doesn't know where the castle is." I explained.

"I just know that it's in every tale. Which means it's here somewhere, we just have to find it."

Chord turned to me. "I'm guessing you have no intention of completing this tale."

"You catch on quick. So, anybody got any ideas? I'm open for suggestions."

We stood in silence for a little bit as we thought about it. I really hoped one of them would come up with an idea. Iris clearly didn't like us messing with things. Every time I tried to focus on our goal of finding the castle, images of August, bound and gagged, appeared in my mind. The more I thought about the castle and where to find it, the more prominent the images became until it was all I could see.

"You can not beat me, Taryn." Iris' voice echoed through my head. "You and your friends can search for eternity and never find my castle. The girl may know a lot, but she does not know enough. I am not like Isis. You can not outwit me. Continue to search for me if you wish, but their will be a price to pay for your actions."

Suddenly, there was a very clear image in my head. August, lying on the ground, bloodied and bruised. I couldn't even be sure he was alive. My breath hitched and I had to force myself to keep breathing. There was so much blood. What had she done to him? I tried demanding that she let him go, but my voice wouldn't work. I was trapped inside a nightmare I couldn't escape.

"Those who defy me, suffer by my hand. Isis may have thought she had you under her control, but I know better than that. You have a strong will, Taryn Bauer. You are not easily broken. You do not have many weaknesses. I must admit, I'm impressed. But you do have one fatal flaw. The one thing that grants me power over you. You are far too loyal, Taryn. Whether it is an old friend, or someone you've only just met, you will lay your life down before allowing harm to come to them. It is a noble trait, true enough, but it is also a disease. A disease that will bring your demise."

I wanted to strangle the woman. She was going to hurt August to get to me? Of all the dirty, lowlife, rotten moves . . . she was going to pay.

She wasn't wrong. I'd give my life before I allowed someone I loved to get hurt. Maybe it was a flaw, but it was flaw I'd embraced. She wasn't going to make me feel weak. I wouldn't allow her to do that. One of the perks of growing up with Colton. I'd learned to hold my own early on. I'd relied on myself to be my own cheerleader and I would do it again. If keeping the others safe meant heading out alone from here, I was prepared to do it. She could have me, but she'd never touch the others.

Her laugh was like nails on a chalkboard. I wanted to punch her in the face so bad. "As I said, your will is strong. I will take pleasure in breaking you slowly."

Good luck with that. I refused to be broken. She forgot to mention that I was stubborn. If someone told me one thing, I usually went and did the opposite out of spite. This case was no different. If she was so sure she was going to break me, there was no way I was going to let her.

"We shall see how long that resilience lasts."

Her voice faded from my mind. I blinked several times to clear the image of August from my mind. He was fine. She hadn't done anything to him yet. That I was sure of.

"You're awake!" Juniper's worried voice shouted in my ear.

"Hey, Juniper, give her some space." Chord pulled the girl back from practically laying on me.

I realized I was laying down and quickly sat up. "What happened?"

Chord looked me over with concern. "You just passed out. Are you alright?"

"Well, considering I just passed out, I'm gonna say no."

"You muttered something about August and then you just collapsed." Juniper looked like she was ready to call 911 on me. "What's so special about August? Is it August now? I don't know. Time is hard to measure here."

I shook my head. "It's midway through November by now. No, August is my boyfriend's name."

Chord frowned. "That name sounds so familiar."

I shrugged. "You've heard my story. August was a big part of it. Of course it sounds familiar."

"No, not like that. I mean, I've heard that name somewhere else, but I can't remember where."

Juniper nodded along with a frown. "Yeah, I've definitely heard that name somewhere before. Isn't that the name of one of the Ingreman sisters' kids?"

Chord snapped his fingers. "That's it! That's the son of the third sister, right?"

"I remember now! What was her name?"

"Isn't it something like Ivy?"

She shook her head. "Maybe at one point, but she goes by another name now. Didn't her family disown her after she had her son? I'm not sure of the details, but she changed her name after that so people wouldn't associate her with them."

"Ok, hold on." I interrupted. "What are you guys talking about? I'm so lost."

Chord filled me in. "The Ingremans are made up of four siblings. You know three of them: Iris, Isis and Colton. But there was a third sister. Her name was Ivy, I think."

"Irene!" Juniper shouted, jumping up. "Sorry, I just remembered. Her name was Irene."

"Right," Chord continued, "so anyway, Irene didn't believe in the work that the rest of her family was doing. Some things happened, she had a baby boy and they disowned her. After that she changed her name and made a new life for herself. Rumor has it that her son's name was August."

I felt like someone filled my lungs with mud. I could hardly breathe. It all made sense now. That conversation back in the pub before Chord confronted me. The woman and the son she was trying to protect. She had mentioned being Isis' sister. How hadn't I pieced it together until now?

"Let me guess," I swallowed hard, "she changed her name to Sam, or Samantha?"

"That's it!" Juniper clapped excitedly. "But how did you know that?"

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"Taryn?" Chord reached out and put a hand on my shoulder in case I might topple over again.

"That August, and my August . . . they're the same person." I forced the words from my mouth, though they had a rotten taste to them. This whole time I'd believed that Isis had chosen August because we had hated each other so much. Now I knew she'd done it as leverage. I wondered just how much his mother had been involved the last time. How much of that magic had been Sam's? How was I going to tell him that I'd found out who his mother was and she was related to the person who'd basically destroyed our lives?

I nearly fell over again but Chord caught me and lifted me into his arms. Juniper was too worried about me to even be jealous.

"Come on," he said, "let's get back to my house. We can talk more there. I think Taryn needs to lie down for a while."