The world suddenly whirled around me as the carrier lifted in the air, forcing me to scramble to keep my balance with both feet and senses that were foreign. “No time for chitchat,” said Ms. Terwilliger. “We need to move.”

Adrian must have followed her because his face appeared again through the door. “Be careful, Sage. I love you.”

Ms. Terwilliger and Eddie made their farewells and headed out the door. We walked through the building and then outside. I knew from an earlier clock that it was still nighttime, but the world I was able to see through the gaps in the carrier looked wholly different from what I was used to. The scattered lampposts more than lit up the darkness to my enhanced vision, and even if I didn’t see a full range of colors, I could see much farther than my human eyes ever could have. We had at least an hour on the spell’s longevity, but my companions kept up a good pace, walking briskly through the Court’s grounds to visitor parking.

There, Ms. Terwilliger reclaimed the rental car she’d driven in and set my carrier in the backseat. It gave me a poor view of our surroundings but still allowed me to hear everything. At the main gate, guardians interrogated Ms. Terwilliger about her visit, wanting to know why Eddie was with her.

“I’m currently on leave,” he responded in a way that was brisk but not defensive. “I’ve got personal matters to take care of, and she offered me a ride.”

“I know the roads outside your Court aren’t always friendly in the dark,” Ms. Terwilliger added. “So I don’t mind the company.”

“Wait, and the sun’ll be up in less than an hour,” said the guardian.

“No time,” she replied. “I have a flight to catch.”

As Adrian had predicted, the guardians searched the car thoroughly, and I heard one of them whisper to the other, “Make sure there are no stowaways.”

My anxiety rose, and I found myself experiencing the strange sensation of whipping my tail back and forth.

A dhampir face appeared before me, and he made some clicking sounds. “Hey, kitty, kitty.”

I made no response, afraid it might come out as a hiss.

The guardians finally cleared us, and like that, we were on the road, free of the place that had been both a sanctuary and prison for the last month. Ms. Terwilliger drove us another half hour to put distance between us and Court, and then pulled the car off on the shoulder of a rural highway. Once parked, she opened up the carrier so that I could come out onto the backseat, and she set a pile of clothes beside me. Beyond her, I could barely discern the sky lightening.