As the breeze rustled through my hair and across the grass, I tried not to let my mother’s words bother me. The crackle of lightning surrounded me when I stepped into Storm Cloud Forest. Letting my aura fade into the rhythm of the forest, I relaxed my shoulders. Though it could be volatile, the forest was a constant.

I looked up at a soft whinny from a few yards off. Wildflower tossed his head and weaved through the trees like a stream through stone.

“How did you know I wanted to see you?” I patted his nose, and he nibbled my hair. “Or maybe you know I won’t be here for much longer.”

He blinked and dipped his head, gently poking my shoulder with his horn.

“Come on, then. Let’s walk together.” I pat his flank. His horn glowed a faint forget-me-not blue as the forest darkened around us.

“Mom’s not happy with me,” I told him. His ears swiveled lightly and he pressed against me. “She doesn’t want me to leave her. She doesn’t want to die alone. And I know that after everything, I should be happy that she still loves me after everything, but…” I puff out a sigh, trying to find the words. “I guess I feel stifled? Is that selfish?”

A snort. I didn’t know what that meant.

“A lot’s going on, actually. Eiran knows something about my quest; maybe he even knows that I probably won’t come back. But he won’t be honest with me. He won’t tell me what he knows, and Cera just wants us to make up.” I scowled and crossed my arms. “If I could explain myself to her, then she’d take my side, but Lord Willows threatened my mother.” I sighed. “I’m in a real mess, Wildflower. I’m tired of pretending I’m not.”

He looked at me, then. All mischief gone from those big, lilac eyes. I stopped walking. His horn shone brighter and he gingerly pressed it to my forehead. I gasped. It was surprisingly cold, but then it warmed. Calm spread from the point of contact down to the tips of my toes. I didn’t have the clairvoyance to understand thoughts themselves, but I saw myself as a little girl, when we first met. My pudgy little hands held an apple up to him.

He pulled away and stamped the ground, tossing his head in the direction of my hideout. I pressed my lips together. “I’m scared.” I smiled, though. “That’s never really stopped me before, though. Has it?”

He tossed his head back with a shrill neigh as he stood on his hind legs. I threw up my hands and mimicked the battle cry Uncle Cas had shown me when he told me about his side of the family. I pulled it deep from my chest, loud and proud.

“Race you!” I took off and Wildflower charged behind me. I’d been honest with myself. Now it was time to take the plunge.

I bade farewell to Wildflower when we reached my hideout. I kissed his cheek as he pressed his face against mine. “Will you come with me on my journey? At least as far as the mountains?” I asked when I pulled away.

He stamped once, then trotted away. Lightning danced all around us, then his black pelt was lost to the shadows.

I pushed the large boulder away and brushed my hands off. I bet Lord Willows had to have someone push it away for him. That was one thing I had over him, at least.

For the first time since I’d found the abandoned land drake den, I hesitated. Leivarre was apparently already down here. If she was cursed, then who had she been before? How big was she? Would she bite me?

I shuddered. As much as I loved every other creature, there was just something else about spiders. Still, it couldn’t be helped. And I’d never met a creature I couldn’t befriend, given time. I took a deep breath and descended.

As I walked, branches I’d pulled from the lightning trees outside sparked and glowed at my feet, lighting my path.

I came into the familiar circular cavern. I locked eyes with the painting of Reialyn and Ilara Ryktor, smiling as they embraced each other and looked at the painter. I wanted to be that happy, that relaxed.

“Is this what teenagers do, now?” Asked a sour voice from behind me. I turned around, scanning the floor, then the walls. Then my pile of mattress, my bookshelf.

“Up here, genius.”

I glanced up and did a double take. Leivarre was a little larger than the standard cat. I swallowed thickly, viciously biting the inside of my lip to keep from screaming. My hand tightened on the hilt of my mother’s sword at my hip.

“Oh, come now. I’m sure you’ve seen much bigger spiders than me.” She descended from a thick strand of silk that gleamed in the soft glow of the lightning wood around us. “Doesn’t this forest have dungeons?”

I cleared my throat. “Sure. But I’ve never been in any with large spiders.”

“I see.” She lazily rotated as I took a step back. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you lived here.”

I sat on the stack of mattresses and packed my blanket into my pack. “It might as well be.” I picked up an old stuffed alabaster sabertooth plush with weighted front paws.

“Aren’t you a little old for stuffed toys?”

I forced down my revulsion and focused on my irritation. “Aren’t you a little nosy for someone with no nose?” I asked as I gently packed Muffin away. “Do you always ask such personal questions?”

“Well, I do have a proposition. If you don’t like me, then why don’t you just let me out into the wild and we’ll part ways? You know, forget we met. You could get your license somewhere else if your uppity village lord won’t give it to you.”

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I paused mid-pull of my pack’s drawstring and stared at her. “Sorry? You’re telling me you want to be a spider forever?”

“Let’s just say that this form isn’t so bad. Certainly not worth some little whelp going off and getting herself killed, right? I mean, you have plenty of books. You’re practically an extension of this powerful forest. You’re not an idiot. Your death would be a waste, right? So, don’t throw it away.”

I shouldered my pack. “Then why haven’t you left, already?”

“Because you deserve an honest conversation. The Forgotten Forest is a dead forest, and everyone who enters is forfeit.”

“Your concern is touching. But you aren’t going to convince me to leave you behind.”

I tasted my breakfast in the back of my throat as she rubbed her mandibles together. “Why would a smart girl like–”

“Stop patronizing me,” I snapped. “You think I want to go? Especially with some creepy-crawly trailing behind me?”

“What kind of idiot would throw their life away for a stranger?!”

“What kind of idiot would get cursed so badly?” I fired back. We glared at each other and I crossed my arm. “Besides. Don’t give yourself so much credit. I’m not risking my life for you.”

She lowered herself to the ground and crept around me, long legs stretched out. Weird as it was, I envied the delicate elegance in her limbs. She was still disgusting, though.

“I see,” she said again. “I should have known such a brat would be a lightning mage.”

I bristled, skin growing warm. “Just what does that mean?”

“Lightning mages are always so stormy,” She said dismissively. “They’re even worse than fire mages.”

My fists clenched. “Hey, my mother is a fire mage!”

Leivarre stopped circling and tilted her head. “So, that’s it.”

“What?”

“The noble. He’s blackmailing you, isn’t he? It’s sweet that you love your mommy that much. But if you spend so much time here, then something’s going on, right?”

“Everything’s fine,” I said coldly. “She just likes her space.”

“Oh. Is that why you’re on a transcontinental journey? Seems a little excessive for space.”

“Look here, you little insect–”

“Arachnid, actually.”

I looked at her legs. “Keep running your ugly little mouth, I’ll make you an insect. My reasons are none of your damn business.”

“Ooh, testy. I see why Lord Willows is so eager to get rid of you. Coincidentally, is that why your mommy sends you out here? You too much for her?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Spirits Above, does this creature deserve a good kick through the roof. “If you think being a pissy little bug is going to keep me from completing my mission then you’ve got another thing coming, sister.” I looked around and found a carrier tucked between my mattresses and bookshelf. I snatched it up and placed it in front of her. “We’re going.”

Eight little beetle-black eyes glittered back at me as the mandibles ground furiously. Finally, she ducked into the box and I slid the front closed and latched it. I jerked my hand back as she lunged and she cackled.

“I have to admit, I do like your spunk. I thought you’d be a timid little thing when you first walked in here. Have you noticed that you’re the smallest person I’ve met since your village leader stole me away?”

“How novel.” I used a leather strap to secure her over my shoulder and slung my pack over the other shoulder.

“By the way, a Gaelren seraph told me to let you know about the seven vials of antivenin. You won’t need them, as I have standards for what goes in my mouth, but they’re in the cage. Just in case.”

“Thanks.”

“So, what’s your name?”

“Dulsie.”

“I’m Leivarre.”

“I know.”

I took in my hideout one last time. My eyes fell on Ilara and Reialyn, again.

“Who are they? In the painting? You have lightning magic, so you must have at least a little cloud elf in you. Is that cloud elf a relative?”

“No.” Much as I hated to admit it, Leivarre was trying to find common ground. Then again, maybe she wanted to make fun of me. “I want to join their guild, one day.”

“You’ll have to survive.”

“Yep.”

I turned away and headed up the tunnel. A breeze lifted my hair and my clothes, and Leivarre shuffled uneasily in the carrier.

Come to me, Child. I froze midstep. I didn’t recognize the voice, my skin prickled as if the yearly Blitz was rolling in. One turn of the moon. We will speak, you and I.

The pressure was gone as suddenly as it had come. “Zatarri,” I murmured in awe. Never had I imagined that a guardian would deign to even acknowledge me.

“We don’t have to go. Surely,” Leivarre said quickly. “She’s known as The Playful. It’s probably a prank.”

I had a spring in my step as I walked. “Oh, we’re going. There are some invitations you just don’t turn down.”

“I really think she was joking. She’s got a sense of humor, that one. Besides, can you really afford any detours?”

“Leivarre,” I said sternly. I tapped the wood lightly. “I am not turning down a guardian spirit just because you have the social grace of a stubbed toe.”

Silence. Then a petulant little, “Well, you’re not much better in that respect.”

I grinned.