"Let it go," the person who'd grabbed me said.

"Let it go? Are you insane?" They must've found the same thing that made Kyton act weird. "I can't let it go. You let me go. I can help him." I struggled, but the arms holding me were stronger than me in my befuddled state.

"It's not me, Lilly. It's a monster. Look, it's not me."

I shook my head. What was he saying? It was Kyton, my friend, my- my crush. I couldn't let him die.

"Let me go!" With one tremendous jerk, I yanked myself out of the arms. Falling to my knees, I pressed my forehead to Kyton's again.

The stench of rotting flesh soured in my nostrils. I jerked back. Kyton was already dead. Long dead. His wings and antennae were gone. Flesh hung from his bones. Before my eyes, he dissolved into a pile of ashes.

I grabbed handfuls of ashes. "No, no-" Why hadn't I stopped him? I could've stopped him from coming here, from leaving me to scout the area. I should've stopped him. Tears ran down my cheeks and sizzled in the ashes.

"It's not me." Someone hugged me from behind. "Look, Lilly, I'm fine."

I spun around to glare at him. My tears blurred them beyond recognition. "Why'd you stop me? I could've saved him. Why-"

Feathery-soft fingers brushed the tears from my cheeks. "It takes a minute for the spell to wear off. Just look at me."

Rubbing my eyes, I pushed him away. As my vision cleared, I got a better picture of who I was talking with. Blue face, huge eyes, hovering antennae--it was Kyton. How...? I looked back at the ashes. He'd died. I looked back at Kyton. He was alive.

"What?"

He sighed and sat back on his heels. "Dopplegangers. I've heard of them before, but I've never seen them. They use your surface thoughts to make a replica of someone close to you--friends, family, lovers. Then they drug you with magic, wrap you in a cocoon, and drink your juices."

"Oh." The fog lifted from my mind. "Where's Piper and Nissa? Did you see them?"

His cheeks turned a darker blue. "No, I was preoccupied. I can go-"

"No." I realized I was holding his hands in a death grip, so I let him go. "We can't get separated, or we could get tricked again."

"I wasn't tricked the first time. I'll be fine." He glanced past me. "Your potion's boiling over."

I twisted around to the cauldron. White liquid was boiling over and splashing onto the soggy ground. Quite a lot of it was splashing onto Eva. Her stone covering cracked, and she exploded out of it with a screech.

Wet wet wet! Shaking herself furiously, she hopped out of the stream of potion.

I reached over and turned off the hot plate. Then I grabbed Eva in both hands and squeezed her against my chest. She squirmed, but I didn't let her go.

This is why I didn't want you to come. You got hurt, you could've died.

She nipped my hand and wiggled out of my grip. I fine now. You fix. Fix me easy, fix you hard. You no phoenix. That why I come. No complain. Fluffing up on my knee, she started preening the white goop out of her feathers.

Kyton patted my shoulder. "I'll be back soon."

"What if-"

"I won't be fooled, I swear. If I run into a version of you that's interested in me, I'll spear it. If you run into a version of me that can't keep his hands to himself, stab it. Stay here in case the others come back." With a flick of his hand, he made a spear-shaped column of water fly up to hover at his side. It froze in an instant, and he flew off.

I grabbed my flail-mace and gripped it tightly in both hands. The fog parted for a second, and I saw something silver flash in the distance. Squinting, I made out the vague form of a dragon. A wingless, silver dragon.

Oh heck no. I jumped to my feet and knocked an annoyed Eva off my leg. The last thing I needed right now was a doppelgänger of Clastor.

"Shut up," someone shouted nearby. Piper stormed out of the fog, followed by Kyton. Only, it had to be a doppelgänger, because he kept trying to mess with her hair.

"Will you please stab this guy?" Piper threw up her hands. "Tranq darts don't do anything to him."

Sure enough, there were three red-feathered darts sticking out of the fake Kyton's neck, but he was still on his feet. He sighed, leaning his head on her shoulder. "I know you love me. Why do you keep talking about that Lilly tramp? I don't care about her."

Was I the only one who'd been fooled by a doppelgänger? My cheeks burned as Nissa stormed out of the fog with what looked like the real Kyton. At least, this Kyton was carrying an ice spear and arguing with Nissa. I guessed that Nissa could be a doppelgänger, though.

"How could you not tell it wasn't me?" Kyton asked. "It nearly got Lilly."

Nissa shoved his shoulder. "Believe it or not, I don't like being in your head all the time. I didn't read your thoughts when you showed up acting like an idiot. It's ridiculous what romantic prip you've got in there. Do you really think any girl wants-"

He clapped a hand over her mouth. "Fine, forget about it. We're fine, there's no reason to talk about that." He looked over at the fake Kyton and frowned, then twisted to look at his wings and tail. "Do I really look like that?"

Piper rolled her eyes as fake Kyton tried to kiss her cheek. "Physically, it's spot-on. Will someone please kill it already?"

Kyton speared the doppelgänger, and it fell back into a nearby deep puddle of water.

He shivered. "That's the second time I've killed myself today."

Piper glared at him as if he'd been the one toying with her emotions. "Third time's the charm."

"Hey, that wasn't me. It was a doppelgänger."

"Of course not." She crouched down next to my cauldron and aggressively dunked it in a puddle of swamp water. When she brought it out, it was mildly cleaner. She shoved it and the hot spot into my backpack. "We need to find somewhere to stop for lunch, away from the doppelgängers."

***

Thus began the worst day in the history of bad days. Besides fighting off hordes of buzzing insects and dodging doppelgängers, we also had to avoid poisonous frogs (normal size), choking-spore mushrooms (medium size), and pythons (extra large size). Not to mention the pits of quicksand. It was more like quickmud, and I'd seen it swallow a forty-foot long python in a matter of seconds.

We tried to find some sign that the swamp was ending and we were getting closer to Icorit Island, but nothing changed for hours. Finally, darkness fell, and we found what looked like a safe spot. Four trees in a circle provided cover from any dragons flying above, and mud pits all around the trees would keep any land-based monsters from getting us in our sleep.

Even so, we decided that a lookout was essential. Nissa volunteered (probably because she didn't need to sleep). No one argued with her. We were all exhausted. We stumbled through setting up our tents (just two of the four we'd brought, so we could ditch them if absolutely necessary). Once we were done, Piper stood and sighed.

She waved at me. "I need to go. Bathroom. Lilly?"

We'd long since decided that no one went anywhere alone. This helped with doppelgängers and assumably any threats we hadn't seen yet. We also tried to make sure that one half of a telepathic pair--me and Eva or Kyton and Nissa--were with each group at any point in time. As Eva was exhausted and already resting in one of the tents, I left her.

I stood. "Let's go."

We moved far enough from camp that we wouldn't be easily seen but close enough that we could scream for help if needed. After we both relieved ourselves--and I silently thanked Nissa for packing self-cleaning toilet cloths--I turned around to head back.

Piper stuck her arm out to stop me. In a conspiratorial whisper, she asked "what do you think the doppelgängers turned into to trick Nissa?"

I shrugged. "Maybe a crush, I mean that's what they did for the rest of us."

With a little shriek, she slugged me in the shoulder. "You admit it, you've got a crush on-"

"No, that's not what I meant. I just-" I shook my head as she hopped from one foot to the other. How could she have so much energy after a day like today? "Fine, maybe I like him, but it doesn't matter."

"How can you say it doesn't matter? He likes you. As soon as this whole crazy thing is over, you have to tell him." She put a hand on my shoulder. "Better yet, tell him now. He's pretty bummed after the whole doppelgänger thing. This would cheer him right up."

Guilt twinged in my chest. When the doppelgänger appeared to Kyton, it had to have been me. Would it have looked like my human form or my changeling one? Either way, he wouldn't have fallen for it. He would know that I would never turn human in a deadly swamp, and he wouldn't have been attracted to my changeling form at all.

How had I ever fallen for the doppelgänger that impersonated him? Even drunk or drugged by some swamp plant, he would never look twice at me in changeling form. At least, not in that way. Last night, the image of him staring at me with horror had drilled itself into my brain.