“Stop that,” the Thin Man told me, as a stretcher rolled out of the fog, wheels creaking in the silence. It continued past us and disappeared into the mist, and I shuddered. “You’re doing it again.”

“Yeah, pardon me for being a little freaked-out by the whole evil carnival thing,” I growled. “I guess I should be grateful it wasn’t a mermaid or selkie that found the anchor and that the carnival wasn’t underwater. You could’ve mentioned that we might run into something like that before we started.”

“I did not think it likely we would find one,” the Thin Man replied. “Anchors are very few and far between. They are not simply lying around for anyone to attach a world to. You could wander the Between for a lifetime, a millennium, and not run across one.” He gave me a look from the corner of one pale eye. “I was just as unpleasantly shocked as you when we stumbled upon that reality, but I am discovering that you have an uncanny ability to attract trouble, Ethan Chase. It is almost a talent.”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Welcome to my world.”

And of course, at that moment, we walked through some invisible barrier in the mist and fog...and the world changed.

“Dammit, not again,” I groaned, wondering what kind of nightmare we’d gotten into now. It was not, at least, another carnival. Or creepy abandoned asylum. We stood at the edge of sleepy meadow, a huge yellow moon hanging overhead, so close you could almost see its cratered surface. Forest surrounded us, dark and tangled, and a narrow stream wound along the edges of the trees. Though it looked perfectly still and normal, there was something about the whole scene that bothered me. Not in the this is straight out of a horror movie way, just a faint feeling of disquiet.

In the center of the grove stood an enormous Victorian mansion. Towers and turrets soared into the air, spearing the night sky. Windows and balconies rose above us, archways and pillars were scattered around the stone walls, and a pair of huge stone lions guarded the end of the walkway.

“Wow,” Kenzie remarked, craning her neck up to stare at the huge house. “Well, whoever owns this crazy reality, at least they have good taste.”

Grimalkin sauntered up and leaped onto a nearby rock. “That,” he stated imperiously, waving his tail, “is Leanansidhe’s mansion.”

I exhaled in relief. Never had I been so glad to see the lair of a dangerous, impossibly fickle faery queen in my life. Of course, I’d never seen the outside of her mansion, but I’d take Grimalkin’s word that this was it. “Let’s go,” I said, and started toward the mansion. “The sooner we find Annwyl, the sooner we can get out of here.”

“Hold a moment, Ethan Chase,” the Thin Man said. I gave him a puzzled look, and he folded his hands before him. “I believe it best if you see the Exile Queen without me,” he went on with a somewhat pained smile. “I do not think Leanansidhe would take kindly to having a Forgotten inside her home. And the Summer girl might react poorly if she saw me with you. I would not want to frighten her away.” He nodded at the mansion. “You go on, meet with the Exile Queen. I shall wait until you return with the girl.”

“Where will you be?” Kenzie asked.

The Thin Man waved an airy hand.

“I will be close,” he said, gesturing back to the meadow. “Do not worry, I sense no danger in this pocket of reality. Leanansidhe, it appears, has a firm grasp on her territory. So, you go ahead, and when you are ready to leave, I will rejoin you.”

He turned away, and as he did, vanished from sight.

Walking up the long gravel path to the steps, I figured out what was bothering me before. The meadow made no sound. There was a breeze; I could see grass stalks and branches waving in the wind, but there was no sound whatsoever. Not even the stream running along the edge of the forest made any noise. Staring at the grove was like looking at a very surreal, lifelike painting or a movie with the sound on mute. It was eerie, but then again, I’d take creepy quiet meadow over creepy killer carnival any day.

But that was still no reason to lower my guard.

With Grimalkin ambling behind us and Razor perched on Kenzie’s shoulder, we walked up the large marble steps to the huge double doors waiting for us at the top, and Kenzie rapped on the wood with the brass lion knockers in the center.

No answer.

“Try again,” I told Kenzie, after a few minutes had passed in silence. She did, knocking a little harder this time, the raps echoing sharply in the complete stillness. Still, there was no answer.

“Well, that’s not very encouraging,” Kenzie said, staring at the mansion. “Do you think something’s happened to her, or that she’s just ignoring us?”

I frowned. No, something was definitely wrong. Leanansidhe might’ve been fickle, dramatic, unpredictable and prone to turning people into guitars when they annoyed her, but she’d always welcomed exiles and runaways into her home. Granted, she used them for cheap labor and to further her own ends, but she wasn’t known for turning people away. Especially if she thought she could gain from them. “Let me try,” I said, and walked up to the door as Kenzie stepped aside. But instead of using the knocker, I raised my sword and banged the hilt against the wood, making a hollow booming that vibrated up my arm.

This time, the door swung back with a whoosh, making me blink and step back. And Leanansidhe herself, the Dark Muse, Queen of the Exiles, towered over us. She wore a sparkly black gown and elbow-length gloves, and a bright mane of copper hair floated around her head. She stood in the door frame, regal, beautiful and looking dangerously pissed off.

“Well,” she announced, her cold blue eyes fixed on me. “Ethan Chase. Haven’t you made a mess of everything.”

* * *

Uh-oh. Now what had happened?

“Well, don’t just stand there, darlings,” Leanansidhe snapped. “If you’re going to come in, come in. I have better things to do than watch you gape at me like frightened deer. Chop chop, doves. Move.”

Kenzie and I shared a confused look, then stepped into the foyer and gazed around warily. At first glance, it looked the same—tile floors, marble columns, a huge fireplace against one wall and a baby grand piano in the corner. But there was something different about it, too. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on...

Leanansidhe shut the door with a bang that made me jump. She turned to face us, beaming a bright, brittle smile in my direction. “Ethan, darling,” she said in a voice that made my insides shrink. “How good of you to stop by. I was just thinking about you.”

Well, that was all kinds of ominous. I shared another glance with Kenzie and saw that she still looked just as baffled as me. I also noticed that Grimalkin had conveniently disappeared, and that Razor was hiding down Kenzie’s shirt and making no noise whatsoever.

“Uh.” I faced the Exile Queen again. “Something wrong, Leanansidhe?” I asked, trying to be diplomatic.

“Oh, why don’t you tell me, darling?” Leanansidhe raised her arms, indicating the whole room. “You’re a smart boy. Why don’t you take a look around and see if anything comes to mind? Does anything seem wrong to you?”

I scanned the foyer again, trying to figure it out. Everything looked fine to me; nothing was broken, cracked, burned or damaged in any way. But Kenzie suddenly drew in a sharp breath and glanced at the Exile Queen.