Maybe not the end of the world, but there are so few pockets of magic left in nature, we absolutely should’ve been more careful. Using magic has consequences. It’s a fact I’ve known but never understood until now, faced with the dead trees and the ash of the glade coating my shoes.

“We should get back before they realize we’re missing,” Ekaterina says.

Aysha picks up the shards of the containment jar as well as the threads, closing her fist around them. “We have to save her.”

“We will,” I say, my conviction struggling against the churn of doubt in my belly.

15

I stumble through my front door at nine forty-two p.m. and attempt to slip into the house unnoticed.

“Where have you been?” Toivo slumps on the couch, his arms folded over a cushion as he flips through the TV channels, not paying much attention to the screen.

“With friends.”

“Didn’t think you had any of those,” he says with casual venom.

This time I don’t let it get to me and head instead to the kitchen. My whole body feels like a giant icicle and the spell has left me light-headed. Tea and cookies will help and give me a minute to think about how to talk to Mom about all this. Or maybe Dad. Dad is usually easier to deal with.

“There you are, we were starting to get worried.” Mom sails into the kitchen.

“Sorry,” I mumble while making tea.

“What on earth is all this?” Mom gestures to the mud and ash I’ve tracked from the door.

I ditched my dirty boots and jacket, but my jeans are coated in the stuff and shedding spell detritus all over the tiles.

“We were in the forest,” I say carefully. “I saw the liekkiö again. I—I spoke to it.”

Toivo grunts his derision from the couch but switches off the TV.

“Taika, I thought we talked about this.” Mom looks exhausted.

“Hardly, and this is important. I really need you to listen.”

Mom looks at me and I take her silence as a cue to continue.

“The liekkiö—it’s Natalie. I spoke to her, and she told me someone attacked her. They blindfolded her and took her to a tonttukivi, but I don’t know where and they’re running out of time, all of them and—and—” I’m hyperventilating, my whole body shaking as the reality of what I’m saying hits home with the ferocity of a sledgehammer.

I can’t stop imagining it all. Images play out like a horror movie in my mind. Natalie must’ve been terrified! What would I do if it were me? Would I fight back? Would I freeze? In my head I can hear Natalie screaming, tearing at her attackers, unable to fight them off.