“But how are we going to clear our names if we’re stuck in a forest without any mini magical scrolls or Pegasus Post?” Sasha asks. “We’ll have no chance to—Aaah!” She vanishes into thin air.

“Sasha!” Raina rushes forward at the same time I do and disappears as well. For the love of Grimm, what is going on? I rush toward them.

“Devin, STOP!”

Heath’s eyes are wide with terror as he yanks Logan back by his shirt and yells at me. “Devin, listen to me. Walk backward—slowly—retracing your steps. Do not take another step forward.”

I know Heath is trying to act all macho and in charge out here, but I know how to navigate a forest too. I step forward, mid–eye roll. “Heath, what are you—”

The ground disappears beneath my feet, and my body free-falls. My scream gets lost somewhere in the darkness. I plummet down, down, down until boing! I hit something soft and bounce up, then down, then up again, like I’m on a cloud. It’s so dark I can’t even see my hand in front of my face. When I stop bouncing, I feel around for a wall or something to grab to begin the climb back up.

“Ouch!” someone says.

“Hey! You’re banging into me!” says someone else.

“Sasha? Raina?” I feel around and yank someone’s hair.

“That hurts!”

“Sorry!” My eyes finally adjust to the darkness. My two roommates are staring back at me.

“What just happened?” Sasha demands.

“I think it’s a trap of some sort.” I look up. The opening we fell through is so far away I can barely see it. But the ground is squishy, like I’ve heard it is in Cloud City, where most giants live.

“What kind of trap?” Raina says worriedly. “Do you think it’s giants? Or trolls? Oh my bees, I really hope it’s not a troll.” She starts to sniffle again. “I lost the Royal Academy Rules book on the way down, and I just want to go home.” I hear Sasha pat Raina’s back as she gulps back tears.

“I don’t know about home, but we are definitely getting out of here.” I look around to see what our options are.

“Heath is still up there with Logan,” Raina says brightly. “They can help us.”

“Maybe we can bounce up and grab hold of something.” I begin to spring up and down, hoping to grab onto a rock ledge. “Let’s try to do it at the same time. One, two, three, and jump!” We start to bounce at the same time and crash into one another.

“Oww, oww, oww!” Raina complains. “It’s not working. Plan B!”

“Hey, do you hear something?” Sasha asks.

I hear a distinct whooshing sound as if something is falling fast. I hope it’s not Heath or Logan barreling down on us. “Watch out!” I brace myself against the cool, rocky wall and wait for something to hit the bouncy ground. Nothing does.

“It’s a vine!” Sasha shouts. “The boys must be trying to pull us up.”