My foot landed on a circle.

Like outside, the light didn't come through the black. It was just a cavern of darkness that stretched to the ends of the earth, lit only by a glowing sphere in the center of the room.

There was no ground. Just circles a shade lighter than ebony every few feet, showing where to step.

My muscles tensed--tightened into immovable balls. A strangled noise tore its way from my throat and bounced around the room. Heat burned my chest, my head, my body.

There wasn't anything where the black was. Nothing. Just a place to fall. Down, down, into nothingness.

Falling forever, then some more.

Any movement I'd make would send me tumbling down. What if the circle gave out beneath me and I fell? What I stepped to the next one and tripped?

I'm not afraid of the height, but of the fall.

Speaking couldn't hurt me. It wouldn't. Speaking wouldn't hurt me.

"William."

Speaking louder certainly wouldn't hurt me.

A choked word flew from my lips. "William."

If I didn't breath, I'd pass out.

"Curly!"

He was on the other side. He'd make it. Bounced across to the center with the light in no time.

He waved his arms. "What are you doing here?"

A voice could get lost in all the darkness.

"Elora."

One word. That was it. All I could force from my mouth.

With my one word, William ran over to the light. He knew what I was saying. He knew Elora, along with the other Fiannu, was trying to get to us. "Come on!" he yelled. "Help me!"

No. Help me.

I barely shook my head. The black in between the circles could've gone down to the very depths of the earth, then back.

"Clair, c'mon!"

I can't. I can't. I can't, I can't, I can't.

I need to.

A small stab of pain shot through my head. Get over it, stupid. Go, help the boy.

Even Rosinka thought I was being dumb.

Then again, her words were quieter than they'd ever been. Maybe she had a great dislike for heights, too.

You won't fall.

Considering that I had yet to make myself move a millimeter, I certainly wouldn't.

"Clair?"

I looked back at William again. He stared at me, close to the edge of the black. "Are you okay?" he called.

Through rapid breaths, I managed to respond. "No. I'm not. I--I can't come over there."

He waited a moment, then did something I never thought he would do.

He hopped onto the first circle and made his way to me.

My chest constricted as he made the step to my circle, like the back of my mind was saying the stone would collapse with just a few extra pounds. William wrapped his wooden hand around mine.

"Breathe in slowly through your nose. Copy me." He raised his shoulders up, then down to show me the timing.

"Heights?" he asked.

I shook my head. I had relaxed a little--not much, but enough I could think. "Falling," I breathed.

He moved back a little, forcing me to follow. "My mother was afraid of heights. My family used to go visit kingdoms, and one of those times, she almost got sick on the top of a tower. There was a window that started at..." With his free hand, William held it above a little below his head, "around there, and she went to it. There was no danger of diving through the hole in the wall, but she could not stand at that place."

He took another step back. Again, I followed him, but started to look down.

He placed his free hand under my chin. "Don't. If that's what you're afraid of, don't look at it."

I moistened my lips. The lit part of the room seemed to be growing closer. "I've never hated height. It's always so... exhilarating to see. Beautiful. I feel like a bird when I look at the world from above. It's just--every time I get near a railing or something that blocks my way to the height, or even nothing that blocks my way, I want to--some part of me wants to know what it'd be like to fly through it. I either want to jump to fly, or I want to hug the ground and never let go."

William stopped moving. "You know," he said, almost sadly, "you would've liked my mother. You're complete opposites in your fear, but sometimes, the opposite needs the other in order to learn to live."

He dropped my hand and ran toward the light. My heart skipped, then I looked down.

Solid ground. No stone circles. No blackness.

He took me across.

A weak laugh tumbled from my lips. I went over to Will and stared. "You brought me over."

He didn't answer, staring at the center of the light. There was a sea-blue stone about an inch long that looked to power the light.

"Is that the cavalier?"

He nodded. "It is. The problem is the spell that keeps it there." He stuck his hand close to the light, and with a shove, it was pushed back. "I can't get the stone without breaking the barrier."

"Then break it. Quickly. The wall I put up won't last forever."

No sooner than I had spoken, there was a shout from the other side of the room. Three Fiannu stood at the entrance, taking in their surroundings.

Their hesitation was what I needed.

Without thinking, I moved toward the edge of the floor. One of the three saw me.

"Stop!" he yelled. He waved his hand. A ball of ice appeared in his palm.

Ice.

Fire beats ice.

"Kaique!"

Aiming is hard.

I pointed my hand to the ice ball, but the flames veered to the left too much, missing it completely. It also made the other two Fiannu snap out of their daze and start coming toward us.

William smacked his hands together. "I know what I have to do. Clair! Hold them off!"

I shot another fireball toward the first Fiannu. It hit its mark, extinguishing the ice he had ready in his hand. "That's a lot easier said than done!"

He didn't answer me.

I didn't have time to see what he was doing. Three bursts of ice came sailing our direction.

"Eep! Glacies pagum!"

I smashed my hand into the ground. At the edge of the center, ice crawled up from the ground, building on top of itself. It crackled and splintered as it grew, blocking us from the Fiannu.

I whirled around. The wall wouldn't last for long. A snap sounded from behind me as a loud bang echoed around the room.

"William, hurry up!"

I froze. Will stood, frozen in time, staring at a translucent woman. Long, dark hair trailed to her waist. Her mouth was slightly open. She held her hands out, with her palms facing upward, like she was begging. Red stained her tan skin and dripped off her fingers.

"Will?" I grabbed his shoulder. Another thud came from the ice wall. Spider-like cracks formed against the frozen water.

"Will?" I said again, louder. He barely moved, staring at the woman like he hadn't seen her in years.

Crack!

The wall exploded into shards of ice.

I screamed. "Will!"

He tore his gaze off the woman. In one quick movement, he grabbed the stone from the light.

One of the Fiannu shouted. Pain raced up my arm. I didn't look to see what had happened. Will grabbed my hand.

"Alagito!"

*****

I woke up with my face in the snow.

Slowly, I pushed myself up. I wiped some of the snowflakes off my face. My arm throbbed. The white ground had a stain of light red against it from where I had been.

I glanced down. A dagger of ice stuck out of my forearm. Blood trickled down my skin.

My fingers flexed, as if to touch it, but stopped. Suppose I removed it, then had nothing to bandage it with. I'd bleed to death in the middle of who-knows-where.

Speaking of... where on earth did William take us?

And how?

I scanned the ground. There was no evidence of any other living soul but me in the area. So where was Will?

I started to stand. The world blurred and swirled around me, tree mixing with tree, snow mixing with sky. My uninjured arm brushed against something hard and rough. I grabbed it.

And proceeded to vomit.

I heaved, my stomach in my throat. The world slowed its spinning, righting itself as it should've been.

Breath in. Breath out.

My heart thundered against my chest. Bark from the tree dug into my forehead as I rested my head against it. A sickly-sweet smell burrowed its way to my nose.

I recoiled. Ugh. Everwood.

The one time I'd been around an Everwood tree, I had wanted to burn it. The tree itself was beautiful. Shiny green leaves formed a diamond on it when it was a small sapling. My mother told me it was even more magnificent when it was fully grown. The smell--the foul, burning smell--was its one drawback. It was the main thing about it I could still remember incredibly clearly.

But, Everwood is only found in Dulcia.

He didn't...

"William!" I shouted. Almost immediately, I regretted it. My throat felt like sandpaper.

Not to mention, I had probably just alerted our location to everything that was trying to kill us.

Yay for me.

A bird flew overhead, rustling the branches of a few trees. A ray of sunshine broke through and hit the snow, glinting off something behind a tree. 

With the world no longer spinning, it seemed okay to move to the shiny. Carefully, mainly so I wouldn't barf again, I shuffled through the ankle-deep powder. A square of red lay in the snow, with tan cylinders attached to it.

I smiled. "William." Relief washed through me. I wasn't alone after all.

As soon as that relief came, it fizzled up. Will's arms and legs bent at the joints, turning in different angles. His head was turned to the side--turned too far. The hand sunlight hit was clenched into a tight fist.

"Will?" I bent down beside him and brushed my fingers against his arm. "William, are you okay?"

He didn't move. Didn't say anything.

He had never breathed or had a heartbeat in the first place, so I couldn't tell if he was even alive. He just didn't move.

"William?" My heart raced. He couldn't be... dead.

I met his painted eyes. There was no life in them. Just stillness.

The cavalier. At least get that.

I reached to his clenched fist. The wood had frozen in place, so it was immovable. I pulled at his fingers, but they didn't move.

He was a life-size nutcracker.

Okay. It's okay. He's just unconscious. Start moving, find shelter, bring him with you. He'll wake up.

Shelter. How can I find shelter if I've no idea where I am?

"Allargi."

William straightened like he was standing, then hovered in the air, barely skimming the surface of the snow.

I started to walk. I didn't know where to, just somewhere. Anywhere. Every few feet, Will's foot kicked up a pile of snow.

The longer I held him in the air, the move I realized how easy it was. The heavier the object, the harder to keep floating, but in Will's case, I could barely feel his weight. He really was wood, through and through. No blood, no heart.

Was he wood cursed with a soul, or was he human cursed to wood?

I kicked at a rock, sending flakes of snow into the air. What I would give for someone to talk to.

How much longer are you going to walk this?

"Rosinka, go away. I'm not in the mood."

No one's ever "in the mood." That's why this is fun. Besides, you wanted someone to talk to.

"You don't count. Go away!"

If you want me gone, you'll have to use that temporary solution.

I glanced at Will. He was still.

"If you aren't already dead, I will kill you when you wake up," I whispered.

Rosinka laughed. That defeats the purpose of worrying about him.

"What, now I'm worrying?"

Yes.

Point taken. I was terrified.

"Just help me find a spot we can stay," I mumbled.

Can't. What you see, I see, remember?

"Now I do."

She fell silent. I didn't ask for anyone else to talk to. With the options of her or me just being bored, I'd take the "bored."

After an hour or so, I found a small gathering of trees. Their leaves fit together so well at the top, it was like there was a roof. A few vines hanging down tangled with the diamond shaped leaves, knotted them together and dragged them close to the ground, making a small cover.

I floated William to the floor. Throughout the day, my arm got progressively worse. My shoulder to wrist ached, and the hole where the dagger was screamed with each of my breaths.

I fingered it gently. If I didn't take it out, then I flirted with the danger of it sinking in deeper.

I held out my left hand, Palm facing the sky. "Kaique," I whispered.

A small flame flickered at my fingertips. It didn't burn my skin, just tickled. I held it to the ice dagger and let the fire melt it down to water.

"Are you trying to set yourself on fire?"

At least when I jumped, my fire-hand moved away from me. I just set some of the snow aflame.

"William! You're alive!"

He chuckled, then started to push himself up. His arms shook with the effort. "Yeah, I'm alive. That's always nice."

"Only most of the time." I held back the urge to slap him, hug him, and/or toss snow at him, and went back to melting the ice in my arm.

He moved closer to me. "What happened? You're hurt?"

"Hurt? Yes. Dying? No."

"You're copying me."

"You didn't lay claim to the saying." The last bit of the ice melted. I moved my hand away.  "Elveni."

A roll of material plopped down at my feet. I started to unwrap it. "Where did you take us? And how?"

Will nodded. "We're in a forest in Dulcia. I used to come here with my family. It was the first place safe I could think of."

"Oh. I was right, then!" I pointed to a tree. "I saw the Everwood trees and assumed that's where we were."

"Yep." He sighed, looking down at his fist where the cavalier was.  "I used a spell that, uh, doesn't exist."

"Um... I'm not sure that's how that works." I fumbled with the roll of cloth. It kept falling away from my arm.

William scooted over and started to wrap it around the cut. "I think it was the cavalier," he said. "It gave me extra power or something."

"The cavalier did that? How strong are they? No wonder the muraes want them so much!"

He tied the two ends of the bandage together. I nodded my thanks.

"I don't know very much about them. Mostly, all five of them together can free a being that is basically all magic. She can do anything and everything. That's why the muraes want the cavaliers so much because whoever controls them, controls her."

"Wow." I looked at Will's hand--the hand that still held the stone. "What's she called?"

He looked at his hands, then moved like he was pushing hair away from his face. "She doesn't really have a name. I, uh, always called her the Sugar Plum Fairy?"

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