“Like hell,” the pixie gripped her head. “But ready to get out of here.”
“You and me both, sister. What do you say you travel in my cloak until you’re able to fly?”
The pixie nodded, and I pulled my hood up to set her inside.
Once she was nestled in with her sister at her side to make sure she didn’t lose consciousness again, I turned to Henri. “Ready?”
“As ever.”
We marched through the woods side by side, this time not bothering to remain on the lookout for any other creatures. Instinctively, I knew that our battle with the shadow monster had made every other creature in the forest scamper far away. Only one would want to see us, and as we trekked back to him, I steadied myself for what was to come.
The minute we emerged in the caterpillar’s clearing, I threw the rubies on his mushroom. “We did it. Now pay up.”
With one of his many hands, the caterpillar picked up the rubies, and for the first time since I’d met him, he smiled. “So you have. You, the warrior princess, have done what many have sought to accomplish, yet none have achieved. You truly are of the aether, then.” He took a puff of his hookah. “I’ll say, that might be the biggest shock of my life.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just release my aether magic.”
The caterpillar tucked the jewels into a space where one of his thorax segments met another. “Would you like to go about this the fast way? Or more slowly?”
“What’s the difference?”
“One hurts much more.”
“Which one?”
“Fast.”
I cocked my head. “How much faster is it, though?”
“Hours.”
“Both hurt anyway, right?” The book had told me as much.
He nodded.
So my options were to be in excruciating pain for a short burst, or hours longer.
“The fast way.”
“Very well.”
The caterpillar gestured for me to stand directly before him, which I did.
“Now, stay still.”
He extended his hands, and they glowed brilliant white. I shot one last glance back at my friends before the caterpillar’s magic struck me.
A sensation of hot metal slicing through my core wrenched a scream out of my throat, and I fell to the ground, unable to hold myself up.
“Stay still!” the caterpillar screamed, as light—aether—streamed from his hands to me.
Had I been able to scream back, I would. As it was, inhaling a single breath took too much effort.
The caterpillar’s magic plowed through my body like a truck, knocking over everything in its wake and then crushing it. My eyes spasmed, and blood pounded in my ears as sensations became too much to bear. I released a cry, and heard a rush of footsteps behind me, closing in.
“Do not touch her!” the caterpillar commanded.
Someone, Hatter, retorted, “Do you want her to die?”
