“It’s not after me anymore,” Jace cried from a distance. “It stopped chasing me! Watch out, guys! It might be coming for you!”
Tingles of fear sparked across the back of Cole’s shoulders. He increased his jog to more of a sprint again.
After rounding two more corners, an archway came into view up ahead. Through it he saw green grass and a couple of horses. He ran that way, then he saw Mira down a corridor he passed. She was heading the wrong way.
“Mira!” Cole called, yelling at half volume.
Mira stopped and turned. Cole waved her toward him, and she ran.
When she reached Cole and saw the archway ahead, she smiled and sprinted harder. “Nice job,” she panted. “I was hopelessly confused.”
As they dashed through the archway, the meadow came fully into view. The tower was now completely visible, reaching for the clouds like a medieval skyscraper. More than twenty horses grazed in the field, most of them on the far side of the clearing. Different colors and patterns were represented in their coats, including white, brown, gray, gold, and black. Several were white and brown. One was light blue.
Mira ran toward the main herd. Nearly all the horses trotted away from her. A gray horse with a dappled rump also avoided her, but stayed apart from the rest. Two of the horses, a gold one and the light blue one, walked over to her.
When they drew close, Mira spoke soothingly and stroked their necks. The light blue one nuzzled her.
“What about the blue one?” Cole asked.
“Honor isn’t supposed to recognize me,” Mira said. “I don’t think she’d be this friendly to a stranger.”
“It’s coming!” Jace cried, his voice nearer.
Cole whirled. Through the archway he could see the monster loping toward him. Beyond it, Jace was also running, following it.
“Mira!” Cole called. “We have company.”
“It could be the gray one,” Mira said. She hurried toward it, but the horse trotted away, cantering briefly to increase its distance. Cole ran to cut off the horse, hoping he could drive it back toward Mira.
When the monster entered the clearing, several of the horses whinnied. The monster charged toward Cole, moving with the same loping strides. Waving his arms to keep its attention, Cole fell back toward the tower.
“There, there,” Mira cooed, approaching the gray horse, holding out her arm, grass on her palm. “Come here, girl. Nothing to be afraid of.”
The monster abruptly changed course toward Mira. The gray horse let Mira approach and nibbled some grass from her hand. Mira petted its nose.
“Mira!” Cole warned. The monster was closing in. It didn’t matter if Mira guessed wrong. If she kept waiting, she would die! “Say it!”
Mira looked up and saw the monster only a few strides from her. Jace rushed into the clearing through the archway and started yelling, “Hey! Ugly! Over here!”
Keeping a hand on the horse, Mira crouched and shielded her face with her forearm. The monster stopped in front of her, one long arm raised high, twin blades poised to scythe down. “Yield,” the creature growled in a raspy, alien voice.
“Say it!” Cole repeated.
Letting go of the horse, Mira dove low at the monster. As her fingers reached its foot, she shouted, “Honor!”
Chapter 33
FOG LAKE
Cole stood at the brink of a clear pool, surrounded by diverse crystals streaked with luminous color. In the distance rose the pearl-and-platinum extravagance of Trillian’s palace.
Not far away, Mira faced a tall adolescent girl in traveling clothes who Cole recognized from their first trial. It was Honor.
Mira beamed up at her sister. Her hair was shorter again, and her clothes were no longer fancy. Honor looked flabbergasted.
“Mira?” Honor finally managed. “It can’t be.”
“I came to find you,” Mira said, throwing her arms around her sister. Honor was a full head taller than her younger sibling.
Rather than enjoy the hug, Honor looked around angrily. “Trillian! Is this another of your tricks?”
“No, Honor, it’s really me,” Mira insisted. “I came to find you with some friends. We just won your freedom.”
A silver bird landed near them and became Hina. “It is true, Honor. This is indeed your sister, and all of you are now free to go.”
Honor gazed down at her sister, hands on her shoulders. “Mira?” she said, her voice a little choked. “Is that really you? It’s been so long! You look the same.”
“So do you,” Mira said, still beaming. “It’s been forever.”
Honor pulled her sister close in a tight embrace.
“I can’t breathe,” Mira croaked after a long moment.
Laughing, Honor let her go, and Mira stepped back. “You’re still flimsy!”
“You still don’t know your own strength.”
“Wait a minute,” Honor said suspiciously. “I was just in a contest trying to win my freedom.”
“You almost killed me,” Mira said.
Honor covered her mouth. “That was you?”
“What was your contest?” Mira asked.
“There were three scenarios,” Honor said. “First, I had to stop Father from abducting us. Then I had to prevent three rats from attacking some rabbits. At the end, I had to stop three horse thieves.”
Mira hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. “You were always the attacker!”
“I’ve been chasing you this whole time?” Honor asked, appalled.
“Me and two of my friends,” Mira said. “Jace and Cole.”
“Oh, Mira, I’m so sorry.” Honor looked over at Cole, then her eyes found Jace. “I didn’t know.”
“People try to kill me all the time,” Jace said.
“Ditto,” Cole added.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Mira soothed.
Honor sighed. “I’m a fool. I expected trickery, but nothing like this.”
“You looked like Owandell to us,” Mira said. “If I was really sharp, I might have guessed it. He never carried a sword. He wasn’t the type to get his hands dirty.”
“You three must have been the captured traitors,” Honor said. “You looked like Father, Owandell, and Serbus to me. We were both duped. We went up against one another through altered versions of the same scenario. Mira, I had no idea.”
“You had to stop us all three times to get free?” Mira asked.
“I had to kill the three of you,” Honor said. “Trillian told me it would be difficult. But I couldn’t pass up a chance to escape.”