Izzy looked down at her hands and gasped. Fine black hairs covered them completely. She flexed her fingers, and sharp gray claws extended, then retracted again.
Slowly, Izzy turned her head over her shoulder. Bright-orange fur ran down her back all the way to the fluffy taper of her tail, which swished slowly back and forth.
Her pulse whirred. She had Changed into a fox without even trying. No tricks, no breathing exercises. Not only that, she was still a fox. At this point in her tutorials with her friends, she would have looked down, seen that she Changed form, and then promptly lost hold of it. But this time was different. It didn’t feel like she was trying to pretend to be something she wasn’t.
This wasn’t a Likeness. This was her.
Izzy swished her tail up and down a few more times. She padded down the hallway. Still a fox. She hopped up and down on the carpet. Still a fox. Excited, she bounded to the end of the hallway and leaped up, doing a quarter turn in the air. She landed softly on padded paws. This was unbelievable. She was just about to run downstairs and show the others when she heard voices.
With a minor adjustment, Izzy could turn her ears toward the sound. It was like dialing in a signal on an old-fashioned radio.
Not quite.
Not quite.
There.
Izzy’s ears scooped the words out of the air like she had big dishes on top of her head. The whispers snapped into sharper focus, and she could make out who they belonged to.
It was Good Peter and Tom Diffley. Izzy padded farther down the hall, closer to Peter’s room. His door was shut, but she could make out their words as clearly as if they were standing right next to her.
The first voice, low and anxious, belonged to Peter. “You saw nothing at all? Are you sure?”
“Sure as a tack in your seat,” whispered Tom. “The scouts have been up and down the Liadan River on both sides. And I’ve been up in the Muscadine for two days, covering the rim of the Edgewood. I’ve spotted Ungler tracks, but they’re all old ones that I found before.”
Peter didn’t reply, but Izzy could hear the faint sound of his flute tapping against his palm.
“I think we’ve finally driven them off,” continued Tom. “We always used to see at least one or two a week. But I think they finally scattered away.”
“Hmm,” mused Peter. “That seems too easy, doesn’t it? Morvanna bred almost four dozen Unglers. At best, we’ve taken care of half that number. Where are the others? They wouldn’t just vanish.” Peter’s voice alternated between loud and soft as he paced the room. “I’m leaving for the Edgewood in an hour. I can check things out for myself on the ground. If you’re right, it will be the best thing we could have hoped for.”
“It’ll make our job easier, that’s for sure,” said Tom. “You going to check on how she’s getting along?”
“I’m going to light a fire under her feet if that’s what it will take to get her going. I want everything in place in three more days at the latest. Whether she thinks she’s ready or not. You stay here. I need someone keeping an eye on Lufkin and that useless Watch.”
Shoes clanged harshly against the stone floor, and Izzy knew she was seconds away from getting caught eavesdropping. She dashed down the hall and slipped into her room before Peter’s door clicked open.
Panting, she looked down at her paws. They were hands again. She hadn’t meant to return to her normal form, but it didn’t matter. She’d done it. She’d Changed. She had to tell her friends right away.
Downstairs, the dining table had been transformed into mask-making central. Feathers and sequins, wool scraps, dried flowers, and ribbons in every shade lay scattered all over the tabletop.
Izzy gathered Dree, Lug, and Selden in a corner of the dining room to tell them about Changing and everything she’d overheard in Peter’s room.
“Well, that’s good news about the Unglers, isn’t it?” said Lug quietly. “It sounds like they’ve finally gotten rid of them. We can all breathe a little easier knowing that.”
“Yes, but what’s Peter planning?” asked Selden. “What are he and Tom in on?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” said Dree. “He’s getting ready to do an Exchange.”
“He did talk about getting someone ready,” said Izzy. “A girl.”
Dree chewed the tip of her finger. “It must be Hale. She’s the oldest. And it’s past her turn to go to Earth.”
“But why keep that a secret?” asked Selden.
“Maybe for the younger ones’ sakes,” whispered Dree. “They’re going to bawl their eyes out when Hale leaves.”
Izzy watched Hale helping Sibi attach a veil of netting to her spider mask. “I have a feeling Hale will be even more upset. She loves them.”
“That’s the whole reason for having her go,” said Dree. “She’s been here too long, and she’s making it too comfortable for the little ones. If I had Hale taking care of me, I’d never want to go to Earth.”
“This way, she’ll have a family of her own,” said Lug. “Someone to take care of her for once. It’s nice of Peter to let her stay for the Solstice. One last fairy party before she goes.”
Selden shut one eye halfway and shook his head. “I don’t know. Peter’s a lot of things, but since when would you describe him as ‘nice’? Something else is going on.”
“Aren’t we forgetting something?” said Dree. She hooked one arm around Izzy’s neck and yanked her close. “Izzy Changed! And she held it for ages without even trying!”
“Right you are, Dree,” said Lug, pinching one of Izzy’s cheeks. “A monumental accomplishment.”
Izzy covered her head, because Selden looked ready to give her a celebratory noogie. “Thanks, thanks! OK, can you let me go now?”
Dree released her. “And what’s the first thing you did in your Changed form? Spied on someone.” She pointed her finger at Izzy’s nose. “Some things never change.”
Izzy smiled. “At least I can say I’m not one of those things anymore.”
10
A Proper Spy
Izzy sat at her bedroom window, watching the Solstice Celebration crank into full swing down below. The plaza glowed under the rainbow lights of paper lanterns as dancers jigged to a nine-piece band while other fairies watched from the edges, holding drinks and plates piled high with food. Everyone was decked out in elaborate masks and costumes.
Dree had been right—Peter forbade any of the Changelings to set foot outside the castle until he returned. They’d stayed up listening to the band and watching the dancers past midnight. Now everyone but Izzy was asleep. She’d spent so much time trying to Change into her fox form that evening that she wondered if it had made her temporarily nocturnal.
After eavesdropping on Peter, Izzy had tried and tried to Change into her fox form again but with no success. The others said she was just tired and told her to wait until morning. But Izzy worried. What if she could never manage it again?
She pressed her cheek to the glass and looked across the castle to the window of Peter’s study. Normally, she’d be able to see golden candlelight flickering behind the glass, no matter what time it was. Lug said Peter never ate, and Izzy didn’t think he went to sleep either.
But tonight, Peter’s window was dark. He must not have gotten back from his trip to the Edgewood yet. Izzy tapped one finger on the window, thinking about the stacks of papers on Peter’s desk and about that small leather journal he hadn’t wanted her to see. What was he hiding from her this time? Dree always teased Izzy for being a spy. Maybe it was time to start living up to the name.
Izzy slipped out of her bedroom. The carpeted hallway muffled the sounds of music and shouting from the Solstice Celebration outside. She started toward Peter’s room.
As she crept down the hall on tiptoe, trying to be as quiet as possible, she was struck by the strangest sensation. She had done someth
ing like this before. But when?
Izzy continued on, trying to figure out what she was feeling. It was a little like trying to remember the lyrics of a song or a line from a movie. The words were there somewhere, floating in the back of her mind, on the tip of her tongue. Suddenly, she felt a rush, like a memory clicking into place, and she realized what was happening to her.
She was Changing.
Izzy crouched down, and by the time her hands touched the floor, they had become tiny mouse paws. Without pausing to think about what she’d just done, she scurried down the hallway. Air rushed past the long whiskers in her peripheral vision, tickling her upper lip. She glanced down at her feet. Her four paws tippety-tapped so fast, she couldn’t even see them. It looked hilarious, the way animals ran in cartoons.
The sight of it made Izzy giggle. The sound of her mouse laughter was so high-pitched and squeaky that it made her laugh even harder. Her sides started to ache, and she had to slow to a trot. And then—
WHAM!
Something heavy and sharp slammed into Izzy from behind. She curled forward and somersaulted across the floor. Somewhere in midroll, she Changed back to herself.
“Ah!” she yelped. She felt the tight pinch of sharp teeth on her right shoulder. She reached behind her, grabbed something furry, and flung it away from her.
A sleek ball of black fur rolled to its feet and Changed from a stoat into Selden. He rubbed the spot where Izzy had grabbed the back of his neck.
“What’d you throw me so hard for?” he hissed.
Izzy put her fingers to her shoulder blade, surprised there wasn’t any blood. “You bit me!”
Selden rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. That was hardly a bite at all. You’re lucky I knew you weren’t a real mouse. I could have snapped your head off.”
“You knew I wasn’t a real mouse?”
“Are you kidding? You were laughing like a maniac.”
“Oh.” Izzy felt her cheeks blush. “What were you doing out here anyway?”
“Me? Nothing. I was just—hold on.” Selden tilted his head to one side. “What are you doing out here? And don’t tell me you wanted to practice Changing in the middle of the night.”
Izzy chewed her bottom lip.
“Why, Isabella Doyle,” said Selden slowly, a grin spreading across his face. “Are you getting up to mischief?”
Izzy smiled. “Well? Are you in or what?”
• • •
Izzy jabbed the piece of wire that Selden had given her into the keyhole in Peter’s door.
“Shoot!” she whispered as the wire kinked on itself.
Selden leaned against the wall beside her. “You know, if you’d Change back into a mouse, you could just crawl through the crack under the door and let us in.”
Izzy rolled her eyes as she straightened the wire back out. “I told you. I can’t just Change like that. Everything has to feel right. I was doing fine until someone had to tackle me and mess it all up.”
Click!
“There!” said Izzy, opening the door with a satisfied sigh. “Wow, that’s a lot harder than they make it look in the movies.”
She tiptoed after Selden into Peter’s room and shut the door quietly behind them. They lit one candle and set it down on the floor so no one could see it from the window. Selden went straight for Peter’s desk and started looking through the tallest stack of papers. Clearly, he’d come with the intention of doing some spying of his own.
“What is all this?” said Selden. “Izzy, you’ve got to take a look.”
He pushed a packet of documents into her hands and pointed to the word written across the first page.
“Hale?” Izzy whispered.
“Peter must have put all this information together to get ready for her Exchange,” said Selden, flipping through the other pages. “I had no idea he did all this.”
The next piece of paper in the packet was a hand-drawn map of a town with one house marked in red pen. A trail had been drawn running from the back of the house to the woods, where it disappeared in a cluster of trees.
The packet contained notes about the family that lived in the house, down to what they ate for breakfast and how they treated their pets. And, of course, there were pages and pages of notes about the human child whose place Hale would take. This is what Peter must have meant when he said the Exchange was a lot of work.
Izzy spotted the leather notebook on the corner of the desk. She picked it up and flipped it open.
“This is so weird,” she whispered. “All the pages are empty. Why did he want to hide it from me then?”
A quiet growl came from Selden’s throat.
Izzy looked up at him. “What’s wrong? Is there something else in Hale’s file?”
Selden held out a folder full of paper. “This isn’t for Hale. Look.”
Izzy opened the folder and started reading the first page. It was a detailed description of a family. “…kind mother and father…patient…keep to themselves…” There was a scribbled note at the bottom: “Perfect fit for Selden.”
“That’s not all,” said Selden, his voice crackling with anger. “There’s a folder here for Dree too. And Lug. This whole desk is full of information about families for every single Changeling!”
Izzy picked up the folders as Selden handed them to her. “But that means…”
There was a loud metallic click at the door. Izzy and Selden froze as it swung inward.
Peter strode into the room, his face all sharp angles and shadows in the moonlight.
Izzy gulped and shut the notebook. If she could have Changed into a mouse at that moment, she would have been halfway down the hall. “I’m so sorry, Peter. I can explain…”
“What are you doing?” His voice trembled like a taut line about to snap.
Selden didn’t back away. If anything, he was even angrier than Peter. “What are you doing?” He held up the folder with his papers and waved it back and forth. “What’s all this stuff about?”
Before Peter could answer, they heard boots in the hall outside.
“Saw you got back,” said Tom Diffley, swinging the door open. “So did you talk to—” He froze midstep when he saw Izzy and Selden.
“Talk to who?” asked Izzy.
“To…uh…to…”
Tom looked at Peter for permission to answer. Peter sighed and nodded.
“…to Marian,” said Tom.
“Marian!” cried Izzy. “Is everyone in on this secret except us?”
Peter ran his fingers through his hair, his anger giving way to resignation. “Come inside and shut the door, Tom,” he said quietly. He looked at Izzy and Selden. “I suppose it’s time to finally tell you the truth.”
11
The Piper’s Plan
Izzy sat on the couch in Peter’s study between Selden and Tom Diffley. Peter had rung for a servant to bring coffee up for Tom. Izzy didn’t see why he needed it. She’d never felt more awake in her life.
Peter paced the carpet steadily. He kept taking a breath to start talking and then shutting his mouth again. Normally, Izzy wished she could know all Peter’s secrets, but at the moment, he looked so worried and agitated that she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what he was about to tell them.
Selden, still angry, sat with his arms crossed tight. “I can tell you’re trying to figure out how to tell us what’s going on without actually telling us anything,” he said. “Don’t you think it’s time to stop keeping us in the dark?”
“It isn’t like that,” said Peter. “When you’ve been alive as long as I have, you know a great many things. It makes it tricky to decide where to start telling a story.” He stopped pacing and stood in front of them. “Perhaps it’s best to work backward and start with what you know. With Morvanna.”
The witch’s name echoed a little too loudly. Izzy remembe
red they were sitting in her old bedroom, and it made her shiver.
Peter resumed his pacing. “Morvanna first came to Avhalon because she was looking for Changelings. When I met her, she’d already discovered that Changeling heart was an ingredient in the elixir that would make her young and strong again. I always wondered how she learned that. It’s not really the sort of information you find out by accident.”
Selden snorted. “Are you kidding? I can’t think of anyone more likely than Morvanna to go around cutting children’s hearts out just for laughs.”
Tom Diffley gulped his coffee.
“So how did she know?” asked Izzy.
“Someone told her.” Peter walked to his desk and picked up the slim notebook Izzy had flipped through just moments ago. “After Morvanna’s death, I found this among her things. It’s her journal.”
“But it’s blank,” said Izzy. There was no point denying she’d already looked through it, since she’d been caught in the act.
Peter took a candle from his desk and brought it with him to the couch. He blew out the flame. A wisp of white smoke streamed up from the wick. Peter held the journal behind the candle. The smoke acted like a flickering lens, revealing dense blocks of words scrawled onto the page.
“I guess that’s a pretty good way to keep people from reading your journal,” said Selden.
Peter snapped the notebook shut and took a sheaf of papers from one of his desk drawers. “I transcribed everything from the journal here,” he said, flipping through the papers in his hands. “This entry is dated one month before Morvanna first arrived in Avhalon.”
“At last, I know the ingredient I have been missing. I should have thought long ago to ask those dear, devilish ladies at the bottom of Lake Umbra…”
Tom sucked in a plug of coffee and started choking.
In a Dark Land Page 8