“We should find out her last name,” Heath suggests. “Maybe then we can figure out what royal family she’s part of.”

“Good idea! We will have to find out a way to ask her. Maybe she arrived at Royal Academy a totally unknown royal.” Sasha looks at me. “Kind of like you.”

I try not to bristle. Tara and I are nothing alike.

Tara looks back suspiciously. “All okay back there?”

“We’re fine,” Heath tells her, “but if you’d like a hand with blazing that trail, I can help.” He flexes his biceps.

Tara gives him a withering glance. “I’m fine on my own, thanks, but stay close.” She shields her eyes and looks upward. “A storm is coming. We need to be inside before it gets here. I know the way around this forest better than anyone.”

“Again with this?” I mumble.

Heath nudges me. “What’s wrong with you? Aside from the fact we’ve been ejected from the kingdom?”

“I’m fine.” Aside from being ejected from the kingdom. “I just don’t trust her…or them.” Up ahead, Raina still has her arm around Corden and the two are laughing.

“Why? They didn’t abandon us. They’re taking us back with them,” Heath argues.

“After originally trying to make us disappear for setting foot on their property,” I remind him. I watch Tara closely.

“It was a misunderstanding!” Sasha counters. “We’ve smoothed things over. We’ve got a place to stay for a day, and we can use that time to learn who they are, what they’re doing out here, and why they were banished. Hopefully, they can put us in touch with Red too. It’s going to be fine.” She nudges Heath and me forward. “Now let’s try to be more social and make nice. Trust goes both ways, you know.”

“But your mice costumes looked so real,” I hear Raina say as we approach the group. “They were brilliant! How did you make them so lifelike? I never would have known you were human. Never!”

“Thanks,” Corden says as he helps Raina over a rock in her path. His nails are painted black, and he’s wearing eyeliner. A skull earring dangles from his right ear, and another skull appears on his weathered black-leather vest. Underneath he has on a white shirt that looks fashionably distressed and bright-red leather pants. “I’ve been working on those costumes for a while now. Sewing is a hobby of mine.”

“Hobby?” Tara repeats, turning to look at Raina. “Don’t let him fool you. Corden is a master of disguises. How do you think Robin Hood’s Merry Men get around without being seen? Last week, Corden dressed a bunch of them up as garden gnomes. Every time someone turned around, they froze. It was excellent!”

Corden shrugs. “It was all right. My best costume so far was a black bear. Friar Tuck was able to get into the Three Little Pigs restaurant without anyone bothering him.” He starts to belly laugh. “You should have seen it! The pigs went running. I even gave Tuck a voice changer, which gave him a ferocious growl.” Raina’s pink mouth widens in an O shape.