“We don’t have time for that!” I exclaimed. “We don’t have time for this. You guys ... we need to go.”

Neither of my companions moved. I hurried back over and jerked Jasmine to her feet, dragging her away from the dryad. “Hey!” exclaimed Jasmine, with the first spark of energy I’d seen all day. “Why’d you do that?”

“You need to snap out of this. We need to get back to the camp. We’ve been here half the day!”

At first, Jasmine looked disbelieving. Then, glancing up, she deduced what I had about the time. She frowned, and I could see clarity returning to her eyes. “What the hell?”

I tossed Jasmine her satchel. “Keeli,” I called. “Keeli, we need to go.”

Keeli didn’t respond, and I strode toward the dryad, grabbing my silver athame along the way. “What have you done to her? What have you done to us?” I demanded.

“Nothing,” replied Astakana with another sweet smile. She finished the last of Keeli’s braids and stood up. “Nothing but spend a pleasant morning with you. It’s what we do. We bring peace and joy and leave happy memories—at least for women. With men, we leave nothing at all.”

The men. “What’s happened to them?” I suddenly felt cold all over. “Why were you distracting us? Never mind. Just get the hell away from her.”

I advanced with the athame, but Astakana moved with all the speed of the doe I’d likened her to earlier. She sprinted away, laughing merrily.

“We’ve done you a favor,” she called. “You don’t need those men. Men cause war. Now you can pass through our land serenely and maintain Varia’s great peace.”

Before I could attempt to figure out what that meant, Astakana bounded off into the woods and melted away. It was unclear if she simply slipped into the trees or became one, but I had no more time to care. She was gone, and I turned back to my friends. Jasmine was dressed, and Keeli was staggering to her feet.

“We have to get back,” I told them. Assuming they’d follow, I set off at a hard run back to where we’d left the guys.

If our experience had resembled a slumber party, the men’s was about two steps away from an orgy. I found the five of them exactly where I’d left them—only, they weren’t alone. Half a dozen dryads were there, performing the same kind of spa treatment Astakana had been giving us. Kiyo sat shirtless while a dryad rubbed some kind of flower oil into his back. Another dryad twined flowers into Danil’s hair. Still another held Dorian’s head on her lap and crooned to him as one of her cohorts rubbed his feet. All the men had the same dreamy, glazed-eyed looks we’d had at the lagoon.