In horror, I peeled away from my hiding place and began racing back. But an endless forest surrounded me. I didn’t know which way was home.
It didn’t matter. So long as Raikama didn’t find me—
Someone grabbed my arm from behind.
“Shiori,” my stepmother hissed.
I was too shocked to struggle. The shadowy serpents over her shoulder had vanished. Her face had gone back to normal, too, but the ivory gleam of her scales still spun in my memory, making me dizzy.
Kiki flew, slapping my stepmother with her wings, but Raikama batted her away with a powerful swing.
“Kiki!” I cried as my bird disappeared from view.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Raikama said angrily. “Look at me when I speak to you, Shiori.”
I glanced up into her eyes. They glowed in a way I’d never seen before. Luminous and gold, so mesmerizing I could not look away.
“Forget everything you’ve seen here. You are exhausted—it was all a dream.”
A wave of fatigue washed over me. My mouth stretched into a yawn, my vision swimming in and out—then I stopped. Blinked. I wasn’t tired. And I hadn’t forgotten why I was here.
My stepmother’s lips dipped into a scowl. She grabbed my shoulder. “Forget everything you’ve seen,” she repeated, her voice deep and sonorous. The water in the pool behind us rippled as she spoke. “Forget it and never speak of it.”
“No,” I whispered. “No, let me go. Let me go!”
I wrestled out of her hold, managing only a few steps before she caught me again. Her strength, like her speed, shocked me. She easily lifted me off my feet, her long nails wrapping around my sleeves.
She held me up until my brown eyes were level with her yellow ones, and I screamed.
Kiki returned, diving to bite my stepmother’s cheek. A scarlet gash pierced Raikama’s skin. As she yelled out, I scrambled away, grabbing the ball of thread from her hand at the last second.
I ran from the forest. I’d seen all I needed to.
My father had married a demon.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I threw the thread high into the air and cried, “Take me home!”
At my command, the ball gave a great shudder and leapt away. I rushed after it, hardly able to blink for fear that I would lose sight of it cutting through the forest. Sweat drenched my temples, the summer heat clinging to my skin, but I didn’t dare slow down.
I had to warn my brothers. Had to warn Father.
Finally I reemerged from my stepmother’s garden, and I hurried into the palace.
What a sight I was. Leaves entwined in my hair, mud caking the embroidered hem of my robes. I’d even lost one of my slippers. The guards gawked, baffled by my dishevelment.
Nothing could stop me.
I barreled into Hasho’s chambers, gasping, “She’s—a—demon.” I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath. “We’ve got to tell Father.”
Hasho shot to his feet. He wasn’t alone; Reiji and the twins were there too, engaged in a game of chess.
“Slow down. What are you talking about?”
“Raikama!” I gulped a lungful of air. “I saw her transform. She knows…she knows I was there.”
Kiki burst out of my sleeve, and Reiji nearly overturned the chessboard.
