Logan looks like he might hyperventilate. “They’re full of omens! They bring doom! And they only appear at the start of long journeys and—Aaah! It’s coming to get me!”

The bird is swooping down toward the two of us. I make eye contact, but I’m too stunned to speak. The bird does not look friendly, and I’m scared anything else I say might make it even angrier. I knock Logan out of the way and prepare to slide to the ground next to him, but I’m not quick enough. I feel a claw snag my dress, and my feet lift off the ground. I kick out, trying to get free when the firebird dives again, grabbing a fleeing Logan with its free claw.

“Noooo!” Logan shouts as we start to rise. “Where is it taking us?”

“I don’t know!” I shout. The wind is rushing past my ears as each flap of the bird’s wings pulls us higher.

Ping! Something pelts me in the leg, and I look down.

Heath and my roommates are throwing things at us! Fairy be. They’re going to get us killed.

The firebird takes a pinecone to the wing and screeches in annoyance before diving fast with us along for the ride. Logan and I scream. I feel us whooshing toward the ground at an alarming speed and wonder if the bird even remembers we’re still under here. We’re about to become pancakes.

“Caw-caw! Ca-ca-ca-ca!” I shout, because I’m pretty sure that means “Please put us down!” But the firebird either doesn’t hear us or doesn’t want to, because instead, it uses our dangling legs to send the others diving to the ground. It takes off again, soaring into the sky.

For a moment, I see just how vast this forest really is. It goes on for what feels like an eternity, spreading all the way to the snowcapped mountains at the edge of Enchantasia off in the distance.

Then whoosh! The firebird lets us go.

Logan and I let out identical bloodcurdling screams as we begin to free-fall, then plop! We land with a slight bounce on a bed of hay.

“We’re alive!” Logan shouts. “Yes! Yes!” He fist pumps the air in excitement. “Maybe the firebird was a good call after all. Where did it go?” He looks around. “Maybe it’s gathering all of us first before taking us to Enchantasia Village. That would save us a hike.”

Logan is so busy jabbering he doesn’t realize what we’re sitting in. We’re in a mass of sticks, hay, and leaves, and all I can see beyond the ledge of the mass is blue sky. This is not good.

“Logan!” I shake him by the shoulders. “We have to get out of here before the firebird gets back. This is not a rescue. It’s his nest.”

Logan’s smile disappears. “His nest. That would mean…” His face looks green. “We’re his breakfast?” His voice squeaks.

“Let’s make him go hungry.” I pull myself up and peer over the edge of the nest. We’re too high to jump. “We need to climb down.”