“It did,” Heath recounts our run-in with Rose.

“You told Rose about us?” Tara says shrilly.

“We didn’t say anything about you! But even if we had, Olivina already knows you’re out here,” I remind her. “She’s the one that banished you. Who cares if Rose knows too?”

“You don’t get it! The more noise we make, the harder it gets for us to survive. We’ve made a home out here, and if your plan doesn’t work with HEAS, you’re going to ruin it for us!”

I am flabbergasted. “This is a hideout. Not your home. Don’t you miss your family?”

Tara’s finger almost jabs my nose. “You don’t get it. I’m willing to sacrifice having a normal life if it means keeping everyone safe!”

Prue steps in between us. “Let’s all calm down. Everyone is safe. The scroll is in. Now we’ve got a real shot at reversing this banishment and setting things right at the school. Isn’t that what we really want? To get out of this forest?”

Tara doesn’t answer. “I’ll be on lookout. We need to be ready if Rose trailed you guys here.” Tara grabs a rope from the ship deck, flips a switch, and gets pulled up to the crow’s nest.

Corden and Prue look at each other. Prue shakes her head. “Sometimes I still forget all Olivina took from her.”

“What do you mean?” Sasha asks.

“This is the only home Tara has left,” Prue says. “That’s why she’s so comfortable out here. She was an orphan before Olivina invited her to come to RA. While she was there, Tara learned her mother was destroyed under Olivina’s rule. So she ran. She made her own family out here, and she doesn’t want to lose it now.”

“When Prue and I got banished here, Tara was all alone,” Corden explains. “She had been for some time. She’s rough around the edges, but she takes care of all of us like our very own fairy godmother would.”

“I didn’t realize,” I say softly.

“It’s okay,” Prue says. “Let’s just give her some space. We’ve got work to do. With your HEAS post, Olivina will be sending more gargoyles into the forest—or worse. I better put up some defense charms.”

I look at Tara up in the crow’s nest and feel a lump in my throat. At least when I was banished, I had my friends. Tara had to make it on her own until she found Corden and Prue. No wonder she’s not in any rush to give up the family she created.

“Speaking of family, has anyone seen Raina?” Heath asks.

Corden picks up a box of handheld mirrors and grimaces. “She’s still in front of the mirror. I couldn’t pull her away.”

We walk past Prue’s mirrors that show feeds of the village and the Dwarf Police Squad headquarters. Chief Pete is standing on a table shouting. I suspect it’s about us getting away. Raina is sitting in the same position where we left her. She’s cross-legged with her chin in her hands, and she’s glued to the mirror’s feed of Royal Academy. The dark circles under her eyes make me think she still hasn’t slept.