“What caravan?” Tinder asks. The pixie seems a bite muted; her friendliness has been banked by Croi’s earlier outburst.

“The one behind you. It’s too big for you to not be able to see it.” Croi points, then looks at them. Neither the princess nor her soldier seems able to see the caravan. Croi looks at the pixie, who gives a quick shake of her head. “How did you track me here?”

“I gave you my necklace.…” Tinder trails off, her face brightening. “Oh! I can sense my necklace, but it isn’t on you.” She looks around the clearing. “Is it in this caravan?”

“I don’t see where else it could be.” Croi holds up her hands to show their emptiness. “The caravan must have some sort of invisibility spell on it.” Croi looks at Daithi. It is quite unsettling to look at someone who absorbs light instead of being illuminated by it. “Will you get out of my way by yourself, or should I shove you?”

The soldier stares at her for a long moment before reluctantly moving away. He stands protectively in front of the princess as if to prevent Croi from attacking her.

“What do you think the princess’s relationship to the soldier is?” Croi asks her other self.

Do you really think this is the right time to be nosy?

“Right.” Croi rolls her eyes at the soldier and starts walking.

“How come you can see it but we can’t?” Tinder demands, following Croi as she makes her way to the caravan.

“I can also kill Redcaps. Can you?” Croi says with a twist of her lips. When Tinder gives her a look, she sighs. “I don’t want to tell you my secrets, all right? I don’t trust you enough yet.”

The pixie deflates but doesn’t say any more. She grabs a ride on the Fire Princess’s shoulder, and the three of them follow Croi to the caravan.

They reach the caravan, and its gaping door yawns before them. Well, only Croi can see it. She glances at the two fae accompanying her. “Some light would be nice.”

Ceara snaps her fingers, and little balls of magick coruscate in the air in front of them. Handy trick. Croi wonders if she could learn to do that too. She puts a foot on the step leading up to the entrance of the caravan and turns back to the fae hanging on to her every move. She raises her eyebrow and pats the side of the caravan, making a loud thump.

“See, I didn’t make it up. I don’t know what kind of spell it is or how to break it.” There’s no magick around the exterior of the caravan, so presumably, the spell was cast on the inside of it.

“I’ll go first,” she says to the two fae and Tinder.

“I’ll go with you,” Daithi says, moving forward. When the Fire Princess moves to follow, he stops her. “We don’t know if it’s safe. Let me go see if there’s anything that could present a danger to you”—he pauses for a moment—“my lady.”