Today, like other days, she presents her stony friend with the bounty she harvested from the market and is just about to launch into a protracted complaint about the Hag’s tyranny when a side door opens and two human maids emerge into the courtyard. They are carrying pails of water, scrubbing brushes, and soap.

“Oh my, I completely forgot this place existed,” one of them, red-haired and blue-eyed, says. “How did the King of the West come upon it?”

“Matilda from the right-wing drawing room says she saw him take a walk after luncheon. Presumably, he came upon the old king’s courtyard then,” the blond one replies.

“Right. I heard that the Old King forbade people from using this place. But he’s gone now, and the queen has her own rules,” her companion says in a lowered voice.

“Can she simply give away the stone maid, though?”

“Who’s going to tell her she can’t? Anyway, the King of the West took a fancy to the stone maid, and the queen is only too willing to please him. We are in no position to be asking questions. You know that already. Let’s clean the stone lass up and get her ready. I hear she’s being moved tomorrow.”

Hearing that, Croi turns in alarm and loses grip of a pack of toffee she was holding. It falls away from her, becoming visible in the process, and falls to the ground with a crisp sound. The maids startle. They look at the packet of toffee that has suddenly appeared, pale, and flee the place immediately after. Croi doesn’t care about their hysterics. She’s much more concerned about this unexpected danger to her friend.

She paces in front of the fountain, trying to think of a way to save the stone maid. She can do almost no magick; in fact, the only thing magickal about her is her invisibility to humans—Croi comes to a standstill and turns to the stone maid in excitement. She clutches the statue’s cold hand. “What if I make you invisible to humans, like me? If the human queen can’t see you, she can’t give you away, right?”

Croi rubs her sticky fingers on her equally sticky chin.

“The only problem is, I don’t know how.” She holds the stone maid’s hand tightly. “Do you? Can you try to tell me?”

For a moment, nothing happens. Then the hand that Croi is clutching heats; some sort of current passes through the maid’s stone hand and into Croi. She stares at the stone maid, bewildered for a second, before a sharp pain in her chest has her gasping. It feels as though there is a hot rock in her chest, trying to burn its way out. The pain is so intense that she squats on the floor and rocks back and forth.

The discomfort fades after a long while, leaving Croi flushed and weak on the cobbled ground. She gets up jerkily and scowls at the stone maiden. “What did you do to me?” She shudders. “I’ve never hurt that much before.”