[Why did you run?] Leera asked.

[Exercise.] Aloud, I asked Tawny and Kuertis, "What are you playing?"

"ColorMatch." Kuertis stared intently at his cards before placing a yellow four card on the pile of cards between them. The previous card had been a gray six, and the one Tawny put down next was a purple two.

"Have either of you played ColorMatch before?" I asked.

"Yes," Kuertis said, still staring at his four cards.

"No," Tawny said.

I thought back and realized we'd played ColorMatch several times at the Academy. "Yes, you have."

She fervently shook her head. "I haven't."

"They all look the same." Kuertis threw down his cards. They were all different colors.

Clarisa had said that confusion was a side effect of the mind spell. I hadn't expected it to be this severe this quickly.

Tawny inspected Kuertis's cards. "You're right. They're all purple sixes."

They most certainly were not. Confusion was one thing, but she seemed to be outright lying for no apparent reason. "They're not all purple sixes."

"You're blind. How could you tell?"

I scoffed. All of a sudden, I felt the unwavering conviction that I wanted—no, needed—to prove her wrong. But a slim sliver of rational thought kept my mouth shut. This weird conviction wasn't logical. Arguing wouldn't force her to be logical.

I watched them play ColorMatch for a few minutes until their insanity threatened to drive me insane. Leera's ever-present watching wasn't helping. She had to be planning exactly how to separate me from the others. Sooner or later, she had to leave to go to the bathroom or eat or drink. I could wait her out. This ColorMatch game might drive me crazy, but it wouldn't literally kill me. Yeah, I could wait here until Leera left.

After a little while, I joined in on the game, despite the fact that my opponents were horrible players. They really were wretched cheaters.

"There is something seriously wrong with you guys."

Tawny rolled her eyes. "There most certainly is not."

"Then you're pretending there's something wrong with you so you can cheat," I shouted.

"Yep." She was completely straight-faced. "You're right. We are pretending. We're perfectly fine, and we're total cheaters."

"Wait, if you're fine, then why've you been lying about everything this whole time? You're still lying. Yes, that's it. You're lying about pretending to to be fine, which means you're most definitely not fine. I- I can't trust you."

Kuertis furrowed his eyebrows. "Have you always been that confusing?"

"Yes, she has," Tawny said.

Glaring, I leaned close so Leera wouldn't hear. "Both of you are a disaster, but you're the only allies I have right now. Feel up to a mini-mission?"

"No," Kuertis said.

"Yes," Tawny said.

Neither of them were going to help me. I needed a distraction to make Leera leave, and-

Wait, she was gone. How long had it been since she'd left? I might not have long before she came back. I had to move fast.

"Don't tell anyone where I've gone." Creeping to my feet, I headed for the trees.

"Where're you going?" Kuertis asked.

"To the moon," Tawny said.

Neither of them would give me away. Good. I ran into the trees, turned into a squirrel, and found a hole halfway up a tree to hide in.

After a couple of hours of trying to plan with a short-term memory like swiss cheese while snacking on the acorns I'd found stockpiled in the tree hollow, I could tell my alabri was almost out of energy. So I transformed back into a half-talme and headed further into the woods, looking for a larger hiding spot.

Before I went very far, I found a trio of weeping boulders. That didn't make any sense. It had to be a trap Leera had set up to keep me from sneaking off while she was away. I found a long, thin stick and hit the rocks from a distance.

They stopped crying. "Who- who's there?" The rocks sounded like Clarisa. She was in on it too.

I sprinted away until I found a fallen log that had been hollowed out by rot and bugs. Something seemed to have died inside it, because it smelled awful. The stench would hide me from Leera. I squeezed inside the log.

A while later—I didn't know how long—I woke up in a log, covered in rot and bugs and half-decomposed animal gunk. Gagging, I scrambled out of the now flaming log and frantically swiped bugs off my clothes.

I remembered why I'd been in the log in the first place and hurriedly threw up my mental barriers again.

[Ella, where are you?] Leera asked.

I jumped at the sound of her voice. [Taking a walk by the stream.]

[You've been gone for hours.]

[It was a long walk. I'm flying back now.] I jogged in the direction of the camp, hoping I could get there before she figured out I wasn't walking by the stream.

[Don't. We have to head out to the salt mine. Kuertis thought a dragonbee hive was a melon while he was affected by the ritual, and he tried to break it open. Tawny said salt wouldn't cure his stings. She was lying. I think.]

A lot of salt actually was the cure for a dragonbee sting, and if you didn't administer enough salt within an hour, the sting's effects would put the victim into a coma for days. We didn't have time for that, but this could easily be a ruse to separate me from the others. Unfortunately, I couldn't risk Kuertis's life on a worried hunch.

[I'm going to the mines alone. You would draw too much attention. Stay back at the camp.]

[I could hide-]

[They'd think you're a wild dragon and kill or imprison you. Stay at the camp,] I snapped, already heading back out into the woods. I'd never seen where the mine was, so I quickly delved into Leera's memories for the answer and pulled my mind back before she could read anything from it. I sensed a sort of growling coming through our mental link. Well, tough luck. At least I hadn't tried to kill her.

By the fading light of the sun, I could tell it was late evening. I ignored Leera's growling and transformed into a hawk before taking off.