Silver opened his eyes again, eager to view the city he had sensed, but nothing had changed. He still stood in the forest clearing, surrounded by berry bushes, alone except for Devon and Fiona. Devon watched him expectantly, Fiona impatiently.

The feeling of being surrounded by people disappeared abruptly, along with the bustling sounds of a crowd going about its business.

His shoulders drooped and he sighed. He met Fiona’s cynical gaze and his lips curved. She just knew he’d fail, didn’t she? Well, maybe she was right, but he wasn’t going to give up just yet. It might be petty to want to prove her wrong, but he was only human. Probably.

He closed his eyes again and consciousness was suddenly all around him once more, fae and animal, and a few that felt… in between, like Fiona did. Those must be the half-fae. He wondered how his aura seemed to the fae. Was he an animal to them?

Slowly, eyes still shut tightly, Silver reached out a hand toward a passing fae, and his fingers brushed against flesh, finding purchase on a low shoulder. He rested his hand there and opened his eyes.

He could no longer feel the fae in his mind or against his fingertips. He closed his eyes again and heard an unfamiliar flutelike voice speaking to him.

“—how to find us. Just shift your perception.” He felt the fae take his hand and draw it into a gesture, sweeping in an upward curve.

Silver nodded and focused on perception, straightening his spine and tightening his face with the effort. He observed the energy of the metropolis spread out before him, on the surface of the earth. Below it, underground. And above, among the trees.

He listened to the din of passersby, concentrated on the feel of the fae’s rough, bumpy skin in his hand.

In his head, he isolated the part of him that could sense the city. And he swept it upward, to explode beautifully in his mind’s sky like psychic fireworks, streams of brilliant ruby, emerald, and sapphire light drifting across his senses.

Then Silver opened his eyes again.

In front of him stood a diminutive four-armed lemon-skinned being, her blue dress cut to accommodate her extra limbs. She grinned broadly and wiggled her large pointed ears triumphantly, still grasping his hand in two of her own, the top of her head reaching only to Silver’s shoulder. “You got it! This must be your first time in Faerieland. Who has been training you, mage?”

“No one,” Silver replied. “I’m not a mage.”

The fae’s golden eyes widened, her smile fading to a surprised O. “You’re untrained?” she whispered. She glanced at Devon and Fiona as though noticing them for the first time, nodding her head to respectfully Devon. “Devon Gwennethson. This must be the boy of whom the rumors speak.”

Fiona scowled. “Yeah, okay, so he found Harbour. That doesn’t mean he’s our damn savior. He’s still an untrained human.”

“That just makes his feat all the more impressive,” chided the other fae. She released Silver’s hand and bowed her head in his direction. “My name is Oria, and I am honored to make your acquaintance, mage.” She shot a defiant glance in Fiona’s direction as she stressed the honorific.

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“I’m Silver.”

“Are you?” Her eyes twinkled. “You’re Silver and I am gold. Well met indeed.” Oria turned and went about her way, following what Silver could now see was a road leading into the forest, lined with beautiful structures built among the trees.

Other fae traveled along the broad avenue as well, all on foot. Glancing up, he saw more flying overhead amid the buildings perched in branches. Even with his eyes open, he could sense that there were further beings below their feet, and a quick visual scan of the area revealed several tunnel openings.

Remembering Fiona’s rebuke upon his examination of the moss, Silver turned to Devon. No more wasting time. “Which way now?”

Devon’s lips twitched. “You’re ready, huh? Don’t need to stand around and panic a little at your first sight of a fae city?”

“Panic? Why would I panic?” Silver furrowed his brow in puzzlement. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s alien.”

Silver shook his head. “No. This place feels like it has always been within me. It’s strange, but it’s not alien. Let’s go. Fiona said we were in a hurry.”

Fiona nodded impatiently. “Yes, we are. Come on, Devon.”

She turned and strode in the same direction Oria had taken, across the glade and into the woods. Silver followed and Devon trailed behind.

After only a few steps, Fiona turned off the road, following a narrow path that ended several feet later at the base of a tree. Affixed to the trunk were dull metal rungs like enormous staples, spiraling up the column.

She stepped her bare feet onto the lowest rung, gripped another above her head, and without hesitation began to climb.

Silver reached the tree and paused, his palms suddenly sweaty. He tilted his head to see how high the ladder went, flinching at the height of the platform above. Fiona, rising swiftly, had only covered about a quarter of the distance.

Silver felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun around, startled, laughing shakily as he realized it was just Devon. “I’ve never had a great head for heights.”

“Can you make it?” Devon studied Silver’s face with worried eyes. “If you’d prefer, I can fly you up on my back.”

That sounded far scarier, and Silver shook his head wordlessly.

He turned his attention back to the ladder. Fiona was a third of the way up now and still ascending.

He wiped his hands on his jeans and put one foot on the bottom rung, the metal cold and unyielding against his bare sole. Maybe shoes would help.

Silver put his foot back on the ground and set down his sneakers. He lifted his left foot and pulled on a sock, then repeated the process with the right. He stepped into the shoes, stooping to lever his feet securely in and tie the laces.

He looked back up the tree. Fiona had stopped halfway up and was frowning down at him. Her lips moved, but she was too far away for him to hear her words.

He gave her a nervous thumbs-up sign, then wiped off his damp palms again. He stepped onto the ladder with both feet, grabbed onto a higher bar, and began to climb. He forced himself to watch the rough bark as it passed his face, rather than looking up or down, step after step after step. Rung after rung after rung. After a few minutes, his arms and legs were crawling automatically and his gaze began to roam upward.

The platform looked no closer than it did before and Silver stopped himself from checking the distance below. He glanced to his left instead and saw a huge red ant, the size of a tarantula, heading downward, its six legs carefully exploring the textured bark as its antennae waved idly back and forth.

He looked away, only to find himself face-to-face with a tiny, naked ginger-haired green-fleshed man, frowning at him from an inch-wide hole in the tree trunk. An odd odor wafted from him, a blend of copper and jasmine.

Startled, Silver found his fingers slipping from the hand-hold. He scrambled to balance with his feet, trying to lean forward against the tree, but the stiff soles of his shoes found no grip and he felt his bodyweight dragging him back into thin air.