Where am I? How did I get here? When I open my eyes, I see my dress glittering like dewdrops. Where did this dress come from?

I miss the pleasant fog in my head, because all these thoughts are sharp and bitter and painful, and my mind won’t slip gently away from the truth anymore. It doesn’t take long to put the pieces together: I actually managed to drive us into a faerie realm.

This can’t be happening, but it is. My head drops, landing hard in the grass again as I try to collect my thoughts, breathing so hard my chest aches. I’m so thirsty. It’s so lovely here, and nothing has tried to kill me, so it must be an enchanted wood somewhere deep in the Seelie Realm.

That doesn’t explain where my sister is, or our companions, or how we got separated from the Destiny and each other. That doesn’t explain why I’m wearing a silly, beautiful dress, dancing at a faerie ball.

I didn’t think about what would happen when we drove through the faerie circle. All I was thinking about was getting away, somewhere I knew they wouldn’t follow. I thought of it like driving through a dangerous stretch of road: not the best idea, but as long as we stayed in the wagon and didn’t stop until we found our way out, we’d be okay. Now I have no idea how long I’ve been here. Everything blurred together while I was under whatever spell possessed me. For all I know, a hundred years could have passed.

Oh, Fate, I can’t breathe.

I can’t deal with that possibility, so I’m going to ignore it for now. I need to focus. The faerie glamour has worn off, but my panic is just as effective at making me useless. I need to figure out if my sister is at this ball, and Raze and Olani. If they are, they’re probably under the same spell I was, and I’m going to have to find a way to wake them.

Which is harder than it sounds, because I don’t know how I managed to shake the spell off. It doesn’t make sense. I’ve heard the stories. I should have danced myself to death, or at least until I fainted.

I grind my hands into the dirt, forcing my head to lift slowly. White petals shower around me, sticking in my loose hair, and for the first time I feel the weight of a circlet of flowers on my head. My arms shake with the effort it takes to push myself up, and I check the compass in my left palm. The arrow spins unhelpfully in endless circles. I need to find the others. I need them to be here, because I don’t know how I’m going to get out if I’m all alone.

My teeth grind together as I force myself to stand again. I try to turn it into a smile. The faeries—I was dancing with faeries—seem oblivious to me, but I don’t know what they’ll do if they suspect I’m no longer under their enchantment. I wonder how many of the other people here are captured mortals, empty-eyed and eerily placid.