SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMER!

The conversation takes too long but eventually, Perry does let me stand on the ground and that's when I realize there really is something wrong with my legs.

It's more than merely fatigue, but they feel—strange—for lack of a better word and there's enough of a frantic warning scream rattling through my very bones, for me to know that something is very wrong.

"So you just have to change back, then get out of the garden?"

"Orchard," he corrects. "And it's not that simple. If I could leave—if I could simply walk out of here." He stares down at his thick roots.

I stare at them too, but I'm still a bit confused—and now—I'm in a hurry too. "I'll help you change back, but then you owe me the antidote and we both have to get out of here. Now."

"I have heard that promise many times before."

"I'm not like the others, Perry."

"I've heard that one too. You don't understand, Harry. This isn't what it seems. Nothing here is—you-"

"Antidote, Perry." I said, firmly. "If anything should happen to me—then you staying alive, will be the least of your worries. Dying might be better."

"Perhaps death is all I am good for," he said, mournfully.

"Do I have to—eat one of your pears or something?"

If a tree could actually turn green in that sense, Perry did. He shook his branches rather violently.

I was almost amused at that. "What? Eat a root? Boil bark?"

Perry's branches curled inward. He seemed to shrink his great hulking self down inside of his lightly pebbled trunk.

"The only way to get an antidote—" He hesitated.

The answer dawned with that single tell. "The Grand Tree? That's what's controlling this? All of this?" No wonder my arms and legs had felt so heavy after climbing up the whole mountain.

There had been many kinds of prickly bushes and shrubs along the half-hewn pathway up the mountain. I'd suffered a fair share of scrapes and bruises, treating them quickly each them, as I noticed my natural healing ability starting to peter out.

"It's not that easy."

"Right. Find the key for the gate—we need it—I'll be back."

"Harry—you can't-"

"You know, a lot of people have told me what I can't do and the funny thing is—they're always wrong. Because I can. I really can. And I shouldn't have to prove that to them. They should know."

"You'll never-"

"Get out of here, if you don't find that stupid key. Maggie needs it." I turned away from him, fumbling in my pockets. There were a few experimental potions I'd pilfered for moments like this.

Now all I had to do was find the Grand Tree and leave the rest to Perry.

A rumbling roar sounded a bit too close to comfort.

I winced. Great. It wouldn't be that hard to find after all.

Harry is escaping and it seems that Perry is helping. :P Enjoy! ~Scion