“No. I don’t need it anymore.” It felt like a wrench to turn her back on those starflowers. They meant something; she was sure of it. But there was no time to explore that mystery now. Cordelia waved off her sister’s offer and pointed. “The forest ends that way. It’s our closest path out.”

“Connall really let you explore all the way to the edge of the forest?” Giles frowned.

“Of course he didn’t! I just …” I just know it was the honest answer, but none of them had ever seen a map of the forest. She couldn’t know.

And yet …

“Well, it has to end eventually, no matter which way we go,” said Rosalind, “and that direction leads away from home, so it should take us away from the knights, too. Let’s do it.”

Squaring her shoulders, she lowered her head like an angry goat and waved her stick-club threateningly at her siblings. “Go!”

They went. Cordelia’s side didn’t even twinge as she launched herself forward. The ripped sides of her gown flew out around her as she ran. Giles’s legs were the longest by far and the fastest, too, but he slowed more and more after the first minute, staring at her instead of at the trees and brambles that blocked their way.

“Why aren’t you bleeding through your bandage?” he demanded. “How are you even—?”

“Run!” Rosalind snarled at both of them.

The whole forest was urging them on now. Cordelia could feel the air thickening behind her, trying to press her farther from the danger. A sudden cacophony of angry birdcalls sounded behind them.

“They’ve reached the stream,” Cordelia panted to her triplets.

“How do you know?” Giles’s whisper sounded like a shriek as he leaped over a fallen tree trunk, gangly legs flashing in midair.

“Faster!” gritted Rosalind.

Up ahead, bright golden light lanced through the canopy of leaves, painting long, vivid stripes along the ivy-covered tree trunks. There was more space between those trees ahead, more room for light to fall. The air tasted different, too: like distant smoke and strange, enticing new scents.

They were nearing the end of the forest. They had to be.

Not far behind them, something crashed.

“You two keep going.” Rosalind skidded to a halt and swerved around, brandishing her stick-club. “I’ll slow them down.”

“No!” Giles staggered, eyes wild and long legs tangling as he spun around midleap. “Mother said to stay together, remember? We’re family!”

“I’m defending the family,” Rosalind gritted, “and this time, no one is stopping me. Go!”

There was no use talking to Rosalind when she was in a battering-ram mood. Cordelia didn’t even try. She just lunged forward and grabbed, ready to change shapes in an instant if she needed to force her stubborn sister forward.

Before her hand could land on Rosalind’s arm, though, a sudden trill of music lanced through her.