Anna stood in the foyer of the small cottage, the green token warm in her palm. She had found it hanging from a low branch that morning, a smooth jade circle with a bead on a string. Sasha, the pink flamingo at her heel, nudged her knee. Her mother grew weaker by the hour. The fairy realm would not open without this. Lilac Jane watched from the doorway, thin and quiet. "That's the one," she said. "The bird knew where to lead you." Anna closed her fingers around the token. She did not need more words than that. She moved to the dusty table near the cupboard. Her father's old bow leaned against the chair, the arrows still in their worn quiver. She lifted it. The wood was heavier than she remembered, but her hands fit it like they had been waiting. From the cupboard she took small bundles: a wedge of cheese, a handful of nuts for Sasha, two pastries wrapped in cloth. She tucked the blue gloves into her belt. Sasha clicked her beak and nibbled a nut from Anna's open hand. "It is not a thing most come back from," Lilac Jane said. Anna looked at her. "Then I will be the one who does," she answered. Her mother did not argue. She only nodded once, the way someone nods at weather they cannot change. Anna slipped the token's string over her neck. The jade settled against her chest, cool and certain. She opened the cottage door. Sasha stepped out first, pink against the morning. Anna followed, bow on her shoulder, and the door closed behind her. The way was open now. There was no going back to before.

Anna and Sasha took one last look at the cottage. "You can stay," Anna whispered. "It'll be a long journey." Sasha shook her head. Anna smiled. "Then you have to give me a ride." Sasha looked at the sky. Anna grabbed her, and was lifted and tossed, landing face-first in soft pink feathers. She laughed. Just then, Lilac Jane stepped to the doorway and threw something small. "Anna, catch this. It's a map that will guide you." Anna startled, but caught the wooden hair clip in one hand. Sasha took off. The wind roared. Anna almost slipped, then steadied herself and looked at the clip. Tiny carved lines showed forests, palaces, whole continents. They were in the forest. Turn left for the Palace. Anna didn't ask why her mother had this. She didn't want to. The sky in the fairy realm changed wrong. The sun didn't set so much as dim, like a candle pinched between fingers. Purple light bled across the trees. Sasha slowed, breathing hard. Anna gripped the clip tighter. Something far off made a sound that wasn't a bird. "We need to land," Anna said. Sasha dropped low between dark pines. Anna's boots hit moss. She turned in a slow circle. No caves. No hollows. Just trees and the wrong dusk pressing down. The clip warmed faintly in her palm, the carved sunflower steady against her skin. She held it like a small bright thing in a dark pocket. Then she saw it. Past a tangle of roots, a small weathered house leaned crooked against a slope. The wood was split. One window was boarded. The door hung loose. But it was walls. It was a roof. Anna ran. Sasha hurried after. Anna shoved the door, slipped inside, and pushed it shut with her shoulder. Dust rose. The floor held. She slid down against the wall and pulled Sasha close. Outside, something passed by — slow, heavy, sniffing at the boards. Anna pressed the hair clip to her chest and did not breathe. The thing moved on. The dark thickened. Anna stayed awake, eyes open, clip in her fist, and knew she had won the night. In the morning, she would turn left. In the morning, she would go on.