Obscura fell out of her turn and sprawled on the floor. Her foot jerked out from underneath her like something had pulled it.

“Let go of me!” she screamed. “Oh, oh no, it’s got my ribbons.” She jerked her foot, tugged on her knee with both hands, but the leg stayed out. Obscura covered her already-closed eyes, snored, and shuddered. “Nice bunny,” she whispered. “Good bunny. Stay over there, please stay over there.”

Maren had considered making the nightmare about a snake, but decided it was too cruel to give Obscura the same traumatic dream that had set her on this wretched path. Besides, she knew how to make plenty of other things scary. Even rabbits.

“He loves to play with ribbons,” she said. “Look how sleek his fur is, how sharp his teeth are.”

Obscura peeked through her fingers, though her eyes were still closed, and screamed. “Get it away!”

“Give me your keys,” said Maren.

Obscura pulled off a long chain necklace with several keys on it and flung it in Maren’s direction. Her head lolled forward, her chin resting on her chest, and she snored again.

“Stay here with her,” Maren said to Henri as she snatched up the keys.

“JOLIE MADEMOISELLE! NEVER, NEVER WAKE!” The parrot perched on the edge of the trapdoor, munching on the striped moth.

“It’s pinning you to the floor,” Maren said to Obscura. “You can’t move.”

Obscura lay down flat on the stage, arms by her sides, whimpering and twitching.

As Maren flung open the door to the stairwell, a cloud of moths swept out. With a shriek, she jumped back, swatting and swiping. Obscura must have misunderstood Henri’s instructions and let the moths go, too. They landed in her hair, they covered her sweatshirt, they crawled inside the cuffs of her sleeves and pants. They coated the walls of the stairwell and zoomed in from all directions. They zipped past Maren and into the theater, where they descended on the table, swooping in to snatch up nightmares. The moths were going rogue.

“Leave those alone!” yelled Maren, but she didn’t have time to deal with them. Clamping one hand over her mouth and nose and shielding her eyes with the other, she ran into the stairwell and clattered down the stairs.

“It’s me! I’m breaking you out!” she yelled to Amos, swatting at her face as she tried each key in his lock and wondered if she should just use Lishta’s hairpin again. Finally, the door swung open and Amos dashed out. Flailing and slapping away moths, they ran to Lishta’s cell, unlocked it, and slammed the door behind them. Maren crushed three of the four moths that had managed to follow them inside. The last one fluttered up to the battery-powered light on the ceiling and began throwing itself at the plastic bulb.