After Barclay reluctantly let go, he opened the front door. To his shock, a mob of men and women was already marching down the street toward their home. They were faces he recognized—the mayor, Mr. Jager, the other farmers.

The torches they carried left a trail of black smoke.

“Run,” Master Pilzmann urged him.

Barclay didn’t have time for one last look goodbye. He took off.

Even with a wounded shoulder, even carrying a heavy bag, Barclay ran as fast as he could through the town. The wind picked up behind him, pushing him along like it had in the Woods. He ran down the main street, across the bridge over the creek, and through the fields of cabbage and sheep. In a matter of minutes, he was merely a small figure in the distance, Dullshire a smudge of black across the gray, Wintery landscape behind him.

This time, when he ran into the Woods, the trees bent low to embrace him. Their branches uncurled and thickened like a shroud, allowing Barclay to disappear completely.

Within moments, he lost sight of the edge.

And only then, when he was surrounded by dark, twisted trunks and that same eerie mist, did he slump against a tree and put his head in his hands.

His entire life was gone.

He sat there for a long while. He ate a few of the mushrooms and nuts that Master Pilzmann had packed for him. He cried a little—something he hadn’t done in a long time, not since he was younger than Selby. Then he reached into his bag for his notebook and drew a map of what little he knew of the world. It had Dullshire, a few dots for other towns in Diddlystadt, an X at the bottom to represent the capital of Humdrum, and black covering almost everything else—the Woods.

A whole world of places, but none for him.

“Are you back foraging for mushrooms?” a voice asked, and Barclay looked up to find the girl from yesterday standing in front of him, Mitzi once again perched on her shoulder.

“Does it look like I’m foraging for mushrooms? Go away. I don’t want to talk to you. All of this is your fault.”

She examined his traveler’s bag with sympathy. “What happened?”

“What do you think happened?” He clenched his fists, causing the map to crinkle. “The Beast made me do magic, and it went out of control! Because I…” He swallowed. “Because I’m dangerous.”

“It’s normal to experience a burst of power like that, when your bond is so new. But don’t worry—it shouldn’t happen again. Though it seems like the damage is already done.” She sighed. “This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t tried to stop me.”

“If I hadn’t, you could’ve set Gravaldor loose on the town.”

“The same town that forced you to leave. Very grateful, aren’t they?” She crouched down in front of him, all of her golden buttons and jewelry flickering in the hazy daylight. “So where are you going to go?”