Teeth clenched, I lunged forward to pull Quen away before Ku’Sox could retaliate. Fire licked the soles of my feet as we ran, and we were both picked up and flung into the grass, the distance muting Ku’Sox’s last curse. My face planted into the clover, and I sat up fast, spitting dirt. Nearby, Etude was shaking his head, a tear in one wing bleeding slowly. Beside me, Quen slowly sat up, his hand touching his lip. “Damn.” Quen licked his bleeding lip, almost smiling as he looked back at Ku’Sox, lost under a thick black sheet of ever-after. “Think he gave up?”

“No! He’s turning into a bird to eat us!” I shoved my hand into Quen’s face. “Take the ring off. Take it off now!”

Quen’s face was guilty. “I can’t,” he said flatly as he got up.

“The hell you can’t!” I tugged him around to look at me. “I can’t tap a line worth crap. You admitted it yourself. And I can’t get the ring off!” Oh God. Had Al been right?

“I told you, the only reason we are doing so well is because of your strength and my skill. If I take it off, your strength won’t keep us alive.”

“Maybe you didn’t notice,” I said, pointing to the cocoon Ku’Sox was in, “but we’re not doing so hot right now!”

Quen’s jaw clenched. The misshapen form inside was growing larger, and like watching a chick develop, I saw Ku’Sox’s legs thin and lengthen, his arms grow into wings, his head mutate until a wicked, long beak formed.

“Etude, go!” I shouted, waving him off as Ku’Sox punched through the shell of ever-after, screaming a harsh, ugly call that echoed against the trees. “He’s going to eat you!” I exclaimed, heartsick when the gargoyle beat heavily into the air, his silhouette a darker blackness against the night sky. Ku’Sox was already his size and still growing.

“My God, Trent was right,” Quen said in awe, and I rounded on him.

“Yeah, he’s a big badass stork that eats people. Quen, we have a problem!”

Awestruck, Quen watched Ku’Sox flap his wings and croak, daring Etude to attack. “We can circle him. Now’s our chance.”

“Circle him? It won’t stand,” I started, and Quen’s attention came back to me.

“It will if we work together.”

I could not believe this. “We tried that,” I said, hunching when the breeze from Ku’Sox’s wings flattened my hair. “I want the ring off, and I want it off now!” I reached for his hand to take his ring and use it to take mine off, and Quen jerked away from me.

Shocked, I stared, three feet between us. No. Not Quen.