“I told you your excursions to the human city are no longer allowed.” The Hag opens her eyes suddenly, startling Croi.

“You did tell me that, and I also told you that I can’t abandon my friend in the city,” Croi replies immediately.

“She’s made of stone,” the Hag says.

“So are you,” Croi replies.

“We are not the same,” the Hag says slowly. Her voice has no inflection and her face no expression.

“I agree. You’re not the same,” Croi says. “She, though infrequently, gives me warmth. You, on the other hand, are always cold.”

A bunch of gringits peek out from the shadowy depths of a tree beside the Hag, but they are too afraid to make any sound; the Hag has a way of silencing even the loudest of creatures.

Croi looks up at the Hag, irritated by her unchanging mien. “Don’t worry. I won’t ask you to save her. I can do that all by myself. Today, I made her invis—” Too late, Croi realizes that she should have kept her spellcasting a secret.

“You made her what?” the Hag asks, her slow drawl somehow even more menacing than usual.

A long moment, punctuated by the squawks of birds in the forest, passes. Croi exhales loudly. “I made her invisible. She taught me how.” She peers at the Hag, afraid of her reaction. She has forgotten; the Hag has no emotions.

“Is that all that happened?” The Hag’s words contain no rancor, but Croi’s face drains of color. She bites her lip, knowing that if the Hag finds out that she became visible to humans, she’ll make sure Croi never sets foot in the human city again. Never see those fever-burning frenetic humans. Never again feel the thrill of the market. Never see the stone maid, ever again. Never feel her warmth, have her company. The narrow corners of Croi’s loneliness will suffocate her.

“Tell me,” the Hag demands. “Clearly.”

Croi cannot lie. She has tried, many, many times, but her tongue refuses to cooperate.

“Did your magick fail?” the Hag asks, a compulsion in her voice that makes a mockery out of Croi’s resistance.

“Just a bare moment,” Croi spits out. She draws away from the Hag, folding her arms around herself. “A tiny moment. Less than a second. I blinked and it was back.”

She avoids the Hag’s gaze. The guardian looks at Croi from her great height and sighs. The trees surrounding them echo the sound.

“Follow me,” the Hag says, and starts walking without another word.

Unable to disobey, Croi follows. The Hag takes her to a part of the Wilde Forest she has never been to before. In fact, Croi has only explored a tiny portion of the forest, as the Hag won’t let her run around as she pleases. She says there are too many dangerous things in the Wilde Forest that will make meals out of little brownies.

Tall, thin poplar trees grow in two straight lines in this part of the forest. Between these two lines is a corridor filled with verdant grass and little else. The Hag pulls Croi back when she would have ambled into the corridor.