“Who? Who?Whodid he call?” The djinn leaned overAnnelise.
“Leila.”
“He came,” the djinn whispered. She drifted away for a moment, a delighted smile upon her lips. “He came forme.”
Annelise almost smiled herself at the apparent success of her ruse, but the matter was hardly resolved as yet. “Thenshecame,” sheadded.
The djinn jumped, then spun to hover close beside Annelise. “So you said. Tell me all! I must know exactly whathappened.”
“She smiled at me first, but then she saw him. Heran.”
“Hedid?”
“He did. As though he had demons at his heels! She chased him, grabbed him by the hair, begged him not to abandon her. She cried, but he struggled to get away from her, insisting all the while that he loved onlyLeila.”
“Aha!” The djinn was triumphant. “Aha! I knew it!” She flung out her hands and stretched high in the sky. “He lovesme!”she shouted, her voice so loud that Annelise bent lower and covered herears.
Abruptly, there was silence. Annelise opened her eyes to find the djinn huddled in front of her, her dark gazebright.
“Where did they go, mortal?” shewhispered.
Annelise was coy. She took a step backward and folded her hands behind her back. “It seems to me that this matter is of import to you,” she mused as she steppedaway.
Leila darted quickly in front of Annelise, and her eyes snapped. “Do not imagine that I will grant you any favors for telling me this, little mortal,” she snarled. “Confide in me or I shall make your miserable life much, muchworse.”
Annelise did not have to pretend to tremble in trepidation. She pointed one shaking finger at the dark bottle. “She pulled him in there when she heard youcoming.”
Leila seized the bottle. She grasped it in both hands and shook it. Nothing came out. She peered into its depths, called into it, but there was noresponse.
She turned on Annelise with suspicion. “Where is thestopper?”
Annelise frowned in apparent confusion. “Why would such a pretty vase have astopper?”
Leila smiled. The dark cloud swirled about her and narrowed into a plume that surrounded her. When it obscured Leila completely, the cloud dove in its entirety into the bottle, like an arrow sinkinghome.
Annelise snatched the stopper out of her stocking and jammed it into the neck of the bottle. The decanter shook with force in her hands and Annelise dropped it. Her eyes widened with horror as it rolled about, the fury of its occupant more than clear. She tried to grab the bottle again, but it was oddlyevasive.
Annelise prayed that the stopper would hold. What would Leila do to her if she escaped? Nothing good, that wascertain.
Suddenly, the bottlestilled.
Annelise waited, but it did not move again. She released her breath slowly in relief and willed her heart to slow itspace.
Leila was contained in her prison oncemore.
When Annelise took a step to pick up the dark bottle, her shoe crunched in the snow. She looked around, only to find that the palace was gone. It had vanished so completely that it might never have been. A snowy forest surrounded her on allsides.
Annelise’s old cloak was cast on the ground just a few feet away, its location roughly corresponding to the site of the room she and Rolfe had shared, where she had left the garment. The new garb Rolfe had given her had vanished into thin air, from whence it evidently hadcome.
Beyond her cloak, Mephistopheles and the two palfreys glanced about themselves, their trappings and Rolfe’s armor scattered aboutthem.
The courtyard wascold.
The palace had vanished, which had to mean that the spell wasbroken.
Rolfe was saved! Annelise had earned his freedom, just as Azima had said she could. She had found the key and solved theriddle.
She danced in the snow with delight, then considered the position of the sun. Rolfe would appear, free of the curse, and they would ride for Beauvoir and thence to Sayerne. Surely they could reach Beauvoir this night, if they rode hard. The horses were well rested. Perhaps they would reach Viandin for the Yule as he had originally hoped. She would meet his family. Surely Adalbert could not deny his brother some small property todefend.
