Ferry limped away from the room; away from secrets and schemes which swept away the last drop of courage he had. The splinter was quite big and, after he pulled it out, he managed to bandage his foot with a piece of cloth from his cloak. Yet, the wound was still bleeding, leaving a white, viscid track of blood behind.

He looked all around him, not knowing where to. Where could Fae Queen's chamber be? The pain in his foot was growing, but the unease of knowing almost everyone in the castle-tree was looking for him grew even bigger. He couldn't wait much longer, trapped inside that place. He kept on going down the sinuous stairs, studying every room, chamber, or corner that came on his way. Nothing. Each one looked the same, dark and packed with strange things Ferry found useless. Every chest, every corner or slot in the walls was revealing the same things, over and over: dishes, tools, books, fountain pens and crayons, handkerchiefs, buttons, reels, even musical instruments. Colored statuettes, wickerwork baskets of all sizes, pasteboard and rag toys, rubber balls, gloves, and wool. Thrown everywhere as if on the booths of a country fair.

When he thought he would never find a way out of that place, something caught his eye. There were sparks at the end of the stairs; dim sparks, the ones that could trick one's mind, like firebugs melting in the night's sky. He went down the stairs, his heart racing, and the more he descended, the brighter the sparkles. Then they turned into beams of light. And when he reached the base of the stairs, a light, too strong for his eyes, blinded him. He realized he was somewhere in the middle of the tree-castle. The stairs were now leading towards a footbridge; right under the footbridge, as wide as an abyss, there was a vast round room, dominated by a giant orb of light, floating above an altar.

Ferry protected his eyes from the bright light that almost burnt him. He felt his heart almost jumping out of his chest. He's never seen anything like it. What was the marvel in front of him? He needed to study that orb closely; it almost seemed like calling him with its light.

He quickly crossed over the footbridge and then he went down the stairs at the base of it. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. It was a pretty long way to the center of that room. He waited to see if someone was coming. Luckily, there was nobody. So he could observe it in peace.

The chamber was enormous, the biggest Ferry has ever seen. There was no window delved into the walls of solid bark. Somewhere from above, the moonlight fell like a spear right in the center of the altar, melting inside the orb of light. The altar was surrounded by nine statues, as tall as temples, portraying majestic beings, four men and five women; their hair was falling to the ground and jewelry adorned their wrists and foreheads. Each being was holding a symbol against their chest. They were formed of solid gold circles, semicircles, crosses, and arrows; their meaning Ferry could not understand. He was surprised that the statues, although built of wood, just like almost everything in the Palace, were actually bright in color and crafted with the greatest mastery. Their faces were serene and kind, unlike the inhabitants of the Palace, frowned and preoccupied with secrets and schemes.

Yet, the orb of light was the one to dominate the room. It was colossal, the size of a gigantic carousel he's once seen in a film. He couldn't come too close, so blinding was the light. He could just watch, protected by one of the statues. And he was dazed to see that, inside the sphere, something was happening. He could see images as if watching the TV in his parents' living room. But the images were dim and turbid, flowing without a meaning. They all showed humans--men, women, and children. Smiles, laughter, tears, joy or sorrow, there were pieces of their everyday lives; scenes from people's past and present. There were even battle scenes with strong, brave men throwing spears towards their enemies. But there were also kind and peaceful ones, with children playing, a shepherd watching over his sheep, a young mother rocking her baby to sleep. Ferry recognized her face. It was Matilda's mother. And the baby must have been Matilda herself. But the scenes were moving so fast, he didn't have the time, nor the cleverness to see their meaning.

Ferry took a few steps back. Several doors of that room led to dark corridors. Only one was lit. A path bathed in a soft, gentle light connected the orb to that corridor. He had no choice. He needed to see where that corridor led.

Stepping closer, he realized that what he thought to be a path that was actually a wide strip of light coming out of the sphere. Ferry followed the strip. The corridor he entered was lost somewhere ahead, descending to the depths of the Palace. The further he went, the lower and tighter the corridor. After a while, Ferry could even touch the upper part with the top of his head, almost like a small tunnel. Then, the tunnel lowered so much, that Ferry had to crawl. He could feel the walls getting tighter around his body. He began to struggle to get rid of the tightness and he crawled forward. In the end, he could finally set himself free; then he rolled and fell loudly on the hard floor of another room, colliding into a large canopy bed which reigned in the middle.

He stood up, feeling the accelerated pulse in his throat. Tip-toeing, he walked against the wall so he could take a better look at that new room.

The bed was the only piece of furniture in the entire place; there was somebody sleeping in it. Which he found odd since he knew fairies didn't need much sleep. It was also weird that that person didn't wake up with the loud fall he had, loud enough to wake up an entire army. He quietly stepped closer to the bed and carefully removed the most delicate silk curtain, the color of the cloudless sky. He found a being of pure light sleeping under his eyes.

He couldn't see the features of that creature clearly because the light was too bright. A story came to his mind; a story his mother told him once, about a sleeping princess, waiting to be awoken with a kiss after a hundred years of long sleep. But he shook that thought away. He wasn't there to wake up any princess.

Yet, there was something wrong with that being. Something that made him believe it wasn't a princess at all. The strip of light that brought him to that mysterious chamber was leading to the creature's head, becoming one with it like in a symbiosis. The strip was so thin now, that it reached the size of a thread. Oddly enough, the entrance of the tunnel had disappeared, now the size of a small hole in the wall. So Ferry was captive with that strange being and the thought made him shiver. He was tired and his wound was bleeding again. He had no time to wait. He needed to find a way out. So he started to observe the walls. No door. Not even a flag or a slot in the wall.

Then he could see something with the corner of the eye. A glitter playing on the wall opposite the bed. At first, he thought they were small silver bells hanging on the wall. But they were not bells at all. They were seven... locks! Seven silver locks! And Ferry could barely hold his shout of joy. Fae Queen's charmed chest! He had found it!

He took the red feather out of his backpack and gently hovered it over the locks. One by one, the locks opened. A door appeared inside the wall, opening with a small creak. Ferry's heart skipped a beat. He looked towards the door. No movement. He had no choice-- he went through the open door. The chest was actually a secret room full of all sorts of things, this time carefully placed on shelves built inside the wall. But Ferry didn't mind those things. All he was interested in now were the charmed scissors. It didn't take him long to find them. They were placed on a crystal shelf, under a glass bell. He took them out with the greatest care. Then he wrapped them in a handkerchief and put them inside his backpack, together with the red feather.

He wanted to leave the room, in fear that being might wake up. But something was keeping him there. There were a lot of things in that room. A lot more than he has seen in all the other rooms. Hats of all kinds and sizes. Bags, satchels, and purses. Boots, slippers, and shoes of all sizes, some of them without a pair. Stuffed bears and all kinds of toys, older or newer. Beautiful boxes of jewelry, made of wood or with lids of velvet lining with gold, silver, and precious stone jewelry inside; but also worthless jewelry, bracelets of copper and rings with fake gems. Leather wallets or pouches filled with coins. He opened one of them and took out a coin. It didn't look familiar. Its surface was dull and he could read 1813 on it. 1813!

He put the pouch back with trembling hands. The objects were from different periods of time. Watching them, Ferry felt like in a museum, although he had never visited one. And maybe that's what the charming chest really was: a museum of fairyland.

He touched randomly several objects on the shelves. When suddenly, he pulled back his hand as if burnt. He had touched a cattle bell. An iron cattle bell. Which made him wonder--what was this mysterious place, so full of memories? Why were even iron objects inside a fairy palace? He knew that iron could hurt a fairy, no matter how strong. Lavender Sky told him that, once. And then a thought crossed his mind. What if those objects didn't belong to fay people at all? What if they belonged to... humans?

He took a few steps back, troubled and confused. Something caught his eye on an upper shelf. A beautiful doll, almost new, with a porcelain face. Its shiny, black hair was carefully combed and a white ribbon was pinned on one side of its head. It had a white apron over the green, satin dress and a name sewn in red wire ─ Poppy! He couldn't believe his eyes; he found Poppy's doll! He had almost forgotten about it. The doll that could bring all her memories back. He carefully took it from the shelf, but at his very touch, the mechanism inside started.

Mamma! Mamma! a small voice came from the doll's interior. In that tomb-like silence, the words sounded loud, with an echo. Ferry put the doll in his backpack and tried to hide behind a large chest. That's when he discovered a new door. He couldn't go back to the bedroom, afraid that the being of light might have been awoken by the noise. So he slowly opened the door and came out. There were more stairs descending in front of him. His mission in the Palace was over, but now he had to get out of there. He needed to go back to the highest tower. That meant climbing and going back to the bedroom. But the tunnel was gone. Ferry had no choice but to climb down the stairs. After a while, he stopped and hid in a small chamber near the stairs. He sat on a small bench to have a rest and clear his mind. He needed to find a way out. But that was useless; for some reason, he couldn't think clearly. And soon, he discovered the reason. There was a hubbub in the Palace. He could see one of the guards running up the stairs. Then, he saw Doruh, the warrior. The other two guards were following him.

"Hurry!" he shouted. "Someone broke into Fae Queen's chamber. Nook, you're coming with me! Paltin and Brad will search the Palace. The intruder CANNOT escape! Did you hear me? THIS INTRUDER CANNOT ESCAPE!" his voice thundered.

The hustle was increasing. Two Wandering Fays stopped near the room he was hiding in. They looked scared.

"What happened?" the brunette one asked.

"There's an intruder in the Palace," the other one answered. "Wounded and bleeding... The blood has been seen all over the Palace."

"But how could that occur?" whispered the first. "No one could stay unseen in the Room of the Orb. It's been charmed by the Queen herself..."

"I don't know," said the second fairy, her hair, the color of autumn foliage. "But Doruh's going to find the poor creature, I know he will. Nothing can get away from him!"

Ferry looked at his foot. He was bleeding again; he bandaged it, this time tighter. Yet he couldn't wait any longer. He was hurt, scared, and confused. He went down the stairs again, not knowing where to. Then, he could hear the song again. Oona's song. He followed the song, limping. The song got louder, clearer. At one time, the song was accompanied by claps. And eventually, after groping in all the rooms on his way, he found her. She sang as loud as she could, in the middle of a room. It looked like a theater hall, with a stage surrounded by chairs with tall backrests.

When he entered the room, Oona stopped. She knew he was there, although she couldn't see him.

"Ferry, listen to me!" she whispered. "You don't have to talk, just listen. They're looking for you and if you don't follow my advice, they're going to find you. The Palace will tell them about you," she added and Ferry could see the fear in her eyes. "I know it's you... You're the only one who could steal the scissors. And I know I made you do it. I didn't mean it," she sobbed. "But if you follow my advice, I shall get you out of here."

And Oona wanted to come out of the room, but she bumped into Alwyn. Of all people!

"What do you think you're doing?" Alwyn hissed. "Everyone is looking for the intruder and you're singing? Why do you have to be so weird?" she said between her teeth.

"I'm sorry, Alwyn," Oona muttered, "I was just..."

"I don't care about your pathetic excuse," she spat the words. "Find the intruder!" she shouted before storming out of the room. Oona waited for her to move away.

"Come, fairy-boy! Follow me!" she whispered.

Ferry had no other choice. He had to trust her. So he followed her down the stairs; the walk seemed like never ending. Then he could see they had arrived ─ the stairs led to yet another tunnel. Darkness waited for him ahead.

"Follow this tunnel," said Oona. "It will take you out of the Palace to the place where we first met," she whispered looking through him. She was beautiful, like the first time they've met. But she looked troubled and worried. Ferry touched a lock of her messy red hair.

"Thank you, Oona!" he said in a trembled voice.

The fairy smiled. "Now go! Go!" she urged him before running up the stairs.

Ferry entered the tunnel, touching the darkness with his hands. It was as thick as a wool blanket, the one to use on a cold winter night. It almost felt tangible. And the tunnel seemed endless because of it. As he walked, fumbling, dark thoughts came upon him, crowding in his head. What if Oona lied and the tunnel led him right into his enemies' arms? Soon, he felt his head touching the ceiling and the worst fears came true. The tunnel was getting smaller, tighter. And more, roots and branches were clinging at his feet and hands, making it harder to move forward. He was crawling again. He felt weak and the pain on his foot felt sharp. If he could stop, if only for a moment...

He thought about calling his Guardians. What was it Shadow said when in danger? Whistle twice short and then long, and then tweet like a sparrow? Or was it a crow? Yet, he was certain that no matter how much he would've whistled or tweeted, they couldn't have heard him. Because now, more than ever before, he knew that the castle-tree was alive; and it was trying to catch him inside.

Ferry was tired and he felt he was losing his breath. If he could only see a light ahead, no matter how small, even the size of a seed, that would have made it so much easier. He took off the green feather from his chest and hold it tight in his fist so that the tree wouldn't see him, but the tree felt him anyway. He wanted to give up, let himself be consumed by darkness. It would have been so easy...

Then he heard a small voice in his head, "Don't give up, Ferry! Please, don't give up!..."

Who's voice was that? Was Oona trying to help him from afar? That's when he thought he saw a shred of light somewhere ahead. With his last strength, he started to struggle inside the tunnel of bark. He screamed, hit the walls with his fists and grouted the roots with his nails. He kept on crawling towards the light. And the light was getting bigger. Brighter. Sending long, soft arms to pull him out of the darkness.

Soon, his face was bathed in a blinding, white light. With his last strength, he threw himself into the light. And then right into... Baldie's arms.

This chapter is dedicated to all my silent readers! Thank you for supporting this story for so long! The video accompanying this chapter is dedicated to @BlackPoisenedHeart because she said it reminds her of this story :)