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“You’ll find no argument from me about that, but I may have put a teensy spell on it and your apartment key,” she rushed out and winced.

Confusion quickly followed by outrage, narrowed my eyes. “You should know better than to me⁠—”

She slapped a hand over my mouth. “I know, I know. Just listen, it was for a good cause.” I raised a brow, glaring at her until she removed her hand. “We can use your journal to communicate. Basically, I made a clone of your journal so that we can write back and forth to each other. There was no way I was sending my fated bestie into the unknown without some extra witchy precautions.”

I stood there like a fool, jaw slacked. “Really? That’s, um,” I paused, sincerely impressed, “well, extraordinary.”

She smirked. “I got the idea from when you had the Devil’s Waterfall during girl’s weekend, and we wrote back and forth to cheer you up.”

“You’re the best. And my key?”

Monstera nodded. “That is your second most important tool. It’s spelled to unlock portals.” She shrugged, as if everything she created with magic was no big deal. “It’s not much, but it should enable you to track Bane with your bond without having a specific destination in mind. That skeleton key already had residual magic imbued in it. I believe it absorbed some of the magic from your ducks because you always keep them in your pocket together.”

“Huh. That explains a lot. No wonder that key could open random locks. Do you think that’s why it zapped me the first time I touched it?”

She tilted her head. “No. That was probably the library’s way of acknowledging and accepting you.” Mo chuckled. “And a good fucking thing too. I shudder to think what would have happened if it rejected you. I have some theories though.”

“Keep them to yourself, please. My brain is quite capable of imagining several horrendous outcomes all on its own.”

I shook my head as Monstera threw her hands into the air, fingers slightly curled, and emitted her villain inspired laugh, “Muah-aha-haha-ha.”

“You’re getting better,” I stated flatly. “Keep practicing.”

She winked, plucking my skeleton key from her pocket and holding it out to me. “Don’t I know it. Now then, I think it’s time you try it out.”

Nerves shuddered under my skin and I swallowed. “Okay.” I accepted the key, taking in a long inhale. “What do I do?”

Monstera tapped my sternum. “That’s where you feel the mate bond, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Clear your mind and focus all of your attention on that magical link binding you to your grotesque.”

I scoffed, the bond never let me forget its presence, especially since Bane was taken. Still, I did as she asked. I grabbed the metaphorical rope fused to my sternum, grasping it with two mental hands.

“Good,” Mo encouraged, as if she could see what was happening inside my head. Hell, maybe she could. I dismissed the thought, refocusing on the task at hand. “Now, give the tether a tug.”

I gasped as the bond rippled as if he responded in kind. “Holy shit, it’s working.”

My eyes flew to Mo and she grinned. “Keep a firm, steady mental grip, then insert the key into the air in front of you, just like you would unlocking your apartment.”

Trying my best not to doubt her, I did just that, stumbling back a step as an oval aquamarine portal swelled into being.

“It worked,” I whispered to Huff, then squeezed Mo in a tight hug. “I wish you could come with us, Mo, but we’ll see you soon.”

“I know, Fated B, me too. Don’t worry, I have plenty to do while trying to convince different fairytale people to aid us. Write to me at least once a day and let me know if you need help or anything at all, please.” She stepped back and offered me a grin. “Love you, Koko! Be safe, kids. Have a nice trip and shit,” Mo called as I stepped through the portal. She waved, blowing us a kiss, then snapped the portal closed.

Ominous, oppressive energy coated my skin as I surveyed our surroundings causing goosebumps to cover my body. Grey dunes of what must be sand spanned far into the murky distance.

“This is definitely not the right place,” Huff insisted, shifting his paws on my shoulder as if he was anxious. “We need to leave. Right now.”

I wasn’t going to question the Heechu’s judgement. Keeping my feet planted in the sand, I opened a new portal and rushed through it, sighing in relief as the familiar essence I’d grown to associate with the Fairytale Realm hung in the air. My shoes sunk into sand once more, a different seashell pink sand. I scanned the horizon and squinted into the blinding light arrowing from the sun shining from its zenith, then laughed as I noticed something hovering in the air.

Huff poked me in the neck with a paw. “What?”

“We’re on a beach,” I sucked in a breath and laughed harder, “in Neverland.”

The Heechu let go of my braid, then climbed down onto my forearm, his wide eye staring into mine. “Annnd that’s a good thing?”