“No!” the other mice shout.

My roommates and I stand side by side and hold out our gigantic ball gown skirts like they’re nets. The other mice see what’s happening and run over to spot us. The force of the mouse’s fall hits the skirts and pulls us all to the ground, but the mouse, thankfully, is okay. I guess ball gowns are useful for something! Embers rain down from the tree branches above.

“Fire!” Corden shouts.

“This tree is going to come down!” Heath shouts. “We have to move!”

We dash out of the way as branches begin to fall. I hear a loud screech and see the firebird take off into the sky. I can hear the trunk of the tree splintering as we race into the clearing. We watch as it hits the ground so hard that it slides right off the cliff into the ravine. We’re all speechless.

“Well, that was intense,” Sasha says, squeezing me tight.

“That truly was scary!” I said as my friends and I embrace.

Logan walks a few paces away and bends down to pick up something off the ground.

It’s a large, glowing feather. His lower lip trembles. “Good ogres, no.”

“What’s wrong?” Raina asks, clinging to her brother.

“When a firebird leaves behind a feather, it’s bad luck,” Logan tells us.

“Maybe not,” a voice behind me says. We turn around and watch in wonder as Corden pulls off his fur to reveal a human underneath. Logan squeaks in surprise. “You said you’re looking for Red, right?”

I nod.

“Maybe we can help.”

Chapter 4

Over the River and Through the Woods

“Absolutely not! We are not helping them!” says the blue mouse. The mice are huddled together talking, but they’re not exactly being quiet. We can hear everything they are saying.

“They just saved your life!” Corden argues, his face turning red. “I don’t think they’re here on Olivina’s orders. They’re lost. Just like we were.”

“Yeah, come on, Tara,” says the red mouse as it shrugs out of its costume and reveals a girl with red hair and a face covered in silvery glitter. “They’re just like us—banished. Why can’t we help them? We have the room.”

“Yes, but we are not taking in strays!”

“Strays?” Logan repeats, looking at me. “I feel like a cat.”

“We’re sticking together. Just the three of us. That was our rule,” Tara, the blue mouse, says.

“Rules change,” says the girl with shimmer on her face.

Tara sighs and steps out of her costume. Raina gasps. The girl is beautiful. She has dark-amber skin, and her hair hangs in at least six braids that swing as she paces back and forth. When she turns to talk to Corden, I glimpse a sprinkle of freckles across her nose. “No. Rules keep us safe. This is my forest, and they’re trouble! I can tell. We cannot take them home.”

I bristle. My forest? Who says, “My forest?” As if anyone could actually own the forest! The forest belongs to every living creature in it, not a girl who tricked us into believing she was a mouse and tried to send us over a waterfall.