By the time she finally collapsed by a stream, panting and trembling and streaming with sweat, they were miles closer to Raven’s Nest.

“That was a low trick!” Rosalind landed on the ground with a groan and rolled immediately onto her back, eyes falling shut. “Tomorrow …” Her voice broke into a yawn. “Tomorrow I’ll tell you exactly …”

But Cordelia was busy slurping up fresh, cold water with her long snout stuck into the stream. She paid no attention to Rosalind’s dire predictions or complaints. They faded away soon enough, shifting into loud, rattling snores.

There. Her triplets were both safe, and they were all heading exactly where they needed to go.

Giles didn’t fall asleep so quickly, though. He sat beside Cordelia on the grass, one hand resting on her skin as she drank. He was strangely quiet as he sat there, in a way that might have worried her if she hadn’t been so tired. When she raised her head from the water at last, the only sounds in the predawn darkness were the soft burbles of the stream as it flowed past and Rosalind’s snores rising beside them.

The soft grass smelled delicious, but Cordelia was too exhausted even to nose around and eat it. She had run as long and as far as she could, well beyond her new body’s limits of endurance. Now she tucked up her long legs and prepared to fall flat onto her side for the few remaining hours of darkness.

Giles’s voice stopped her. “I know you’re keeping secrets from us.” He didn’t look away from the rippling dark water, but his fingers tightened against her. “Even Ros’ll figure that out soon enough.”

With a sigh of surrender, Cordelia slipped back into girl form. Cold, damp grass poked through her dress. Her human head ached.

“I’m not keeping any secrets you need to know,” she whispered softly. “I’ll tell you everything Connall said about our father—and about Mother, too.”

“So Connall isn’t the one who upset you. I knew it!” Giles’s whisper vibrated with intensity. “Cordy, Grandmother’s our family just as much as yours. I know she turned out to be awful. You saved us, and I’m grateful for it! But whatever she said that you’ve been burning up about ever since—we deserve to hear it, too.

“And when it comes to Raven’s Nest—I don’t believe for one second that Connall wanted us to go questing halfway across the kingdom to some mythical, dangerous place in the mountains. I know our brother—so I know he must have told you we should hide and stay safe. Didn’t he?”