Josh POV I raced over to the cell door just as she appeared in front of it. The relief and worry that hit me simultaneously almost made my knees buckle on the spot. Allie was trying to communicate with her eyes, and I followed her gaze to the guard stationed nearby. She wanted me to be quiet. She approached and held out the breakfast tray, but didn’t release her grip on it. “Did you attack me?” she whispered. What the fuck? The boggart. “No, but a boggart disguised as you stabbed me,” I whispered back. She lowered her eyes and a look of guilt swam on her face that felt like a punch in the gut. “Allie, how could you think I’d do that to you?” “I didn’t want to believe it, but it was so real, Josh,” she said quietly, those

Allie POV After the dullahan left, we slowed down and walked. We were all fatigued beyond sense and needed a reprieve. The dullahan had put me on edge. I’d read about them before and Mulberry was right, they were always a bad omen. I wasn’t sure if the others had noticed, but I felt its gaze linger on me longer than them. I wondered whether that meant I was the target. Was it predicting my death? Josh and Mulberry cared about me, but then I cared about them, too. Could it mean one of them would die? I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about it. I couldn’t think about it. Mulberry was like the best friend or sister I’d always wanted, and now that I’d found Josh again… ugh.  I knew it was going to end badly. I knew it was going to end with me heartbroken, watc

Allie POV “These are giant spiders,” said Gerard. “Even the babies that have just hatched are bigger than the three of you.” Spiders bigger than us? Trapped underground with them? Oh, dear Goddess. I leaned over and checked under the bed and Gerard laughed in a slightly unnerving manner. “Won’t fit under there,” he chuckled. “You three get some rest. You look like you’ve seen better days. There’s a washroom through the back there with spare clothes and anything else you should need. I’ll be back in the morning with breakfast.” “Is it still night, or is it night again?” Mulberry mused out loud.

Josh POV By the time I’d washed up and dressed after breakfast, Allie was awake and eating. Thankfully, I didn’t think she was aware of our closeness during the night. She got embarrassed too easily over stuff like that. It was better that she didn’t know. There was a knock at the door followed by Gerard greeting us and he motioned us to step out into the village. We walked through the small town until we came to the entrance to what looked like a mine. Several gnomes stood eyeing us, holding tools. “The community has agreed to make you weapons as you requested yesterday,” said Gerard, and a flutter of excitement ran through me. If we were going to get out of the forest, we needed a way to defend ourselves. “The only thing we ask for in return is a day’s hard work.”

Allie POV We walked away from the mountain, which we had been able to determine wasn’t Samson’s mountain. Mulberry’s words about Olive’s sacrifice kept turning over in my head. They made my chest ache but also gave me a feeling of pride. Olive–my friend–did that.  Mulberry was right. She gave the entire Ivory Court fae hope. She gave me hope, too. The Obsidian Court could be made vulnerable. The only downside was that it took a sacrifice of that magnitude. Replicating that would be incredibly difficult; it could only be done naturally, not planned or forced. Josh’s hand in mine felt right, and we all walked in silence, apart from Spidey and his occasional unsettling noises. It was going to take some time to get used to being followed by a giant spider, but I was surprised at how natural it was beginning to f