She turned her blindfolded gaze upon each of my friends in turn.
“Cunning child,” she said to Roz. “You kneel before a different god.”
Roz clutched Harvey’s arm. “I do, but—I respect you.”
“How gratifying.” The Lady inclined her head Theo’s way. “What do you search for in the woods, child of the pastures?”
“I wanna help my friend,” Theo said firmly.
“Nothing more?” asked the Lady. I felt a tremor run through Theo’s fingers where they were twined with mine. “I see. What of you, angel’s gift? What would you give, to aid your … friend, the Morningstar Princess?”
“Anything,” said Harvey.
The Lady’s voice was arch. “Your life?”
“No ,” I snarled.
I turned to Harvey in terror. He squeezed my hand.
“Um—another option would be great. If you’ve got one.”
“You’re a truth teller, aren’t you? Except to yourself.”
When Harvey flinched, she smiled. The storm clouds above us writhed. Behind the Lady’s head I glimpsed sun and moon sharing the same dark sky.
“So this is your fellowship, Sabrina Morningstar? On your quest to redeem your paramour from hell. The seer, the rebel, the pure knight, and the dark princess.”
Harvey made a face. “What are you trying to say about me, exactly?”
“You ask for my aid? You hope I will not find you wanting? Prove to me your fellowship is worthy. Who is your leader?”
“I am!” I declared, then turned to the others in a moment of misgiving. “If that’s okay, guys.”
My friends shared an amused glance.
“Nah,” said Theo. “I randomly demand to be the leader. Go ahead, Sabrina.”
The Lady asked, “Will you accept my challenge?”
I flung my head back. “I will.”
“My challenge, or anyone else’s,” murmured the Lady of the Lake. “You must be devoted to your paramour body and soul. But what of your companions?”
The calm before the storm turned into silence.
“Well, I like Nick,” Roz said awkwardly at last.
“Seems like a cool guy,” Theo mumbled.
Harvey coughed.
“Truth caught in your throat?” murmured the springtime goddess.
Harvey’s eyes narrowed. Harvey disliked anyone he thought was mean.
“Wouldn’t describe myself as devoted body and soul,” he said curtly. “But you don’t have to like someone to think they shouldn’t actually be in hell. We want Nick back.”
“Are you certain?” The Lady’s whisper was as insinuating as wind through thickly clustered reeds. “No second thoughts? In this chain, there can be no weak link. Each of you must consent to be tested alone. If any tries to help the other, you all fail.”
I could’ve heard a single drop of water hitting the silver surface of the lake.
“How do you mean, tested ?” Roz asked.
Roz and I tended to test well. We could coach Harvey and Theo through whatever Eostre had in mind.
“I will set you each a task. The leader will take the last and most dangerous challenge. Demons and death will threaten, but she must not falter, and she can never look back.”
“Agreed,” I said instantly.
The wind rose with the Lady’s voice, lifting into the air the hair that streamed to her feet like a bridal veil. For a moment, the shadow she cast seemed white.
“The heir to chaos knows no fear. But what of the mortals? The first mortal will have the easiest task, and it will not be easy. The second will endure a harder task. The last mortal will have the worst of all. A mortal life is brief and frail as a candle flame. Any one of them could be lost with a breath. Which mortal will you doom, Sabrina Morningstar? Perhaps the mortals should decide. Which mortal will seize the chance of safety?”
Harvey moved forward. “I want,” he said, “the most dangerous task.”
There was an immediate rush of protest. Harvey shook his head obstinately, untidy hair flying in the Lady’s wind.
“If anything happened to either of you, I couldn’t live with that. I wouldn’t want to. Guys, please .”
His voice broke on the last word. The look he gave first Roz, then Theo, was so full of terror and tenderness it struck doubt like a sword through my heart. If something happened to Harvey, or Roz, or Theo …
Maybe I shouldn’t have involved them. Maybe I should send them home, and work out a way to do this on my own.
“Okay.” Theo’s voice shook. “Harvey can do it. But I want the second worst.”
“Theo!” Harvey exclaimed.
“Hey, I’m a manly man too,” joked Theo. “No offense, Roz.”
“I could do it,” argued Roz. “I have the cunning. Visions of the future could help me. You take the least dangerous task, Theo.”
“I can shoot. And I play way more video games than you, so I understand higher levels, meaning higher difficulty settings,” Theo argued. “I already called this. I want to do it. Really.”
Theo’s voice was firm now, commanding belief. Even I felt I couldn’t argue with him.
“The choice is made,” said the Lady. “Each of you will have your night of ordeal. Each of you will find your own path alone through the woods. During each task, you will each be given one more chance to turn back and be safe. If you do not turn back then, you may be lost. First, Rosalind the seer must bring to your leader a jewel from the shadows. Second, Theo the rebel must bring to your leader a robe made of feathers. Then Harvey the pure knight must bring to your leader a sacred bough. Armed with these, your leader must find my grail. Once you lay the treasures of my heart at my feet, dark princess, I will grant you the weapon most suited to your task. Do we have a bargain?”
I nodded. “We do.”
The Lady smiled. “One more thing. My eyes will be on you.”
She spread her arms wide, becoming a splendid reverse scarecrow. A hundred tiny silver birds erupted from the surrounding trees to land along the shimmering lines of her arms.
“If you fail my test,” the Lady continued, smooth as the Milky Way, “your bodies will be consumed by my demons. Your souls will become my eyes, to watch the skies until the stars grow dim.”
Theo put up his hand. “To clarify. Our souls will become birds?”
The Lady’s smile was answer enough.
She lowered her arms. The birds fluttered into the air as though shaken from the branches of a silver tree. Their wings a bright blur, they flew toward us. I wanted to shield myself as though the birds were arrows, but I was holding on to Harvey’s and Theo’s hands. I wouldn’t let go.
They didn’t let go of me, even when the birds alighted on us. One bird perched on Roz’s shoulder, a couple flew to Theo, three darted at Harvey, and four settled on my shoulders, two on each. They gleamed as if I was wearing silver epaulettes to go to war.
“My birds will follow wherever you go. They are my eyes, my messengers, and your relentless judges. They will speak to your lonely shivering souls and learn what your souls are worth. Some still remember how it was to be human.”
One bird turned its small quicksilver head to look at me. Its eyes were not bird’s eyes. They were clear blue, brimming with tears. They were the eyes of a scared girl.