Ivy stayed in her chamber until late afternoon. No one came to check on her. She grew hungry, but felt no willingness to go down to the kitchen. So she sat by the cold fireplace and wondered if Roald had reached Bella Reino. Wondered how he was faring with that woman he so desperately did not wish to marry.

Life was a horrendous thing.

To her great annoyance, another 'portrait' flashed before her mind. Not a good one—it made her jump. Well, she wouldn't give it any attention. She shoved it into the dark gallery inside her brain and slammed the door shut.

I... might tell Maelyn about that one, Giles said gently.

No! Ivy tightened up her body in the chair. Go away, Giles! The convenient thing about imaginary friends was that you could be as rude to them as you liked. Giles left, but she knew he'd come back. He always came back.

The door cracked open behind her and she heard Heidel's voice. "Ivy? Just letting you know things might get noisy for a few minutes. I don't want you getting startled."

"Why?" Ivy twisted to look over the back of the chair.

"They're here to take the cow," Heidel said. "Don't worry about it. Just stay in here."

"Who's here?" Ivy asked.

"Some men from Creaklee. They've brought a wagon and they're going to... bump the cow down the stairs, if that makes sense."

"Now?" Ivy grabbed her crutch and stood. She felt the blood leaving her face. "Already?"

"Already?" Heidel looked bewildered. "That cow has been in our castle for four weeks. And we've got eight days left until Uncle Jarrod's visit. This can't happen soon enough. We've got to get her out, get the room cleaned, and make it look like this never happened."

Ohhh, you better tell her! Giles said.

Ivy ignored him and made for the door. "I want to watch."

"You sure?" Heidel held the door so Ivy could pass through. "It won't be pretty."

"I know." Ivy passed into the corridor, where she heard multiple voices and the thumps of something heavy getting dragged up the stairs. She walked past the doors of her sisters' chambers until she neared Shulay's; first room on the right for those coming up the staircase.

She saw the men's heads first, then the long wooden handles of a cart, angled upward. Her heart jumped and she prayed these men were not bandits, or worse, the assassins she had seen in her dream. They didn't look it—but no one did.

"Two more. Two more!" said a deep voice. With heavy clattering, the large handcart rolled up the last step and into the corridor, maneuvered by three peasant men of astonishing size. They all looked similar, with dark, curling hair and bodies like giants. Ivy had never seen such enormous hands in her life.

They hadn't come alone. Maelyn climbed the stairs behind them, along with Shulay, and Arialain. Ivy assumed Arialain had just come from curiosity.

"This door here?" said the man in front. The only one Ivy recognized because he'd been coming to work on Coralina's play. His hair was a few shades lighter—more of a camel brown rather than the dark maple syrup of the other two—but they looked so much alike, they had to be related.

"Yes. Just give me a moment and let me talk to her," Shulay said. "She's going to be frightened." Shulay pulled open the door of her chamber and the barn smell enveloped the hallway. Heidel wrinkled her nose and passed a sidelong look to Ivy. "She wants to explain to the cow what's going to happen?"

"Hush, Heidel!" Maelyn looked both nervous and relieved at the same time. "Thank you so much for doing this, Gord. I've been so worried. My uncle is coming soon and I couldn't possibly have the cow here. I've been at my wit's end."

Tell her, tell her, Giles sang softly.

Stop it. I'll just upset her for nothing! It isn't real, Ivy hissed.

"No trouble at all," Gord said kindly, though his forehead shone with sweat. Ivy counted in her head and realized they had brought that cart up six different flights of stairs.

Heidel seemed to have similar thoughts because she folded her arms and smirked. "That's a sturdy-looking cart you have there. Must be heavy."

"Burial cart," Gord said. "My father built it in Red Fever days when there was lots of folk dying at once. To cart them to the burial pits. You can fit near twelve human bodies on this. Or one cow." He smiled and Heidel laughed.

They heard Shulay speaking in soothing tones. She instructed the men to fill the cart with straw, then carefully guided the cow through the door. "All right. She's ready."

It didn't look that way. It took another ten minutes to convince Pearl to step onto the cart, and several more before she lay down. Then came the slow, painstaking process of lowering the cart, one step at a time. They rolled it backwards, with Gord bracing himself against the backboard while the two other men held the long handles. Ivy couldn't remember the last time she had witnessed anything so stressful. And as Heidel had predicted, very noisy. The cow mooed almost constantly, the men grunted and shouted directions to each other, and the cart made a shuddering bang as it settled onto each step. Ivy and the other princesses followed from behind, since Gord would allow no one in front of the cart in case they lost control. Heidel looked huffy since her offer to help with the cart had been declined, and Arialain looked continuously guilty.

Not as guilty as you'll feel if you don't tell Maelyn what you saw, Giles said smoothly. They had stopped on a landing so the men could catch their breath and Shulay could stoke Pearl's head and reassure her.

And if I'm wrong? Ivy said. Being right about Briette's bandage or Maelyn's goldfinch doesn't mean I'll be right about everything. I'm not a fortune teller. I'm not going to upset Maelyn for nothing.

Giles watched the men wipe their brows and make ready to hoist the cart again. His fingers drummed the stone railing impatiently. I think you need more trust in yourself.

That isn't possible. Ivy then realized Heidel had spoken to her and she hadn't heard a word.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said, two more flights to go," Heidel said. "Then we begin the massive clean-up. I bet you Briette will love it."

The clamor had drawn the attention of the others, and by the time the men reached the last flight of stairs down to the main corridor, every one of the nine princesses was there to watch it. Briette shook her head the whole time, and Coralina—Ivy noticed—watched Gord a lot. Lace and Jaedis observed quietly, with Jaedis trying hard not to laugh.

Still caught behind the cart, Ivy cast her eye down the stairs, up the main corridor, and ended on the enormous front door of the castle, where the late sun gave a furnace glow to the windows and poured beneath the gap in the door. Her heart quickened as she recognized the scene.

What if you're right? Giles said aggressively. Why don't you think about it that way? What if you're RIGHT?

"M-Maelyn?"

"Yes?" Maelyn said without looking at Ivy. She watched the cart make its descent on the last set of stairs.

"Um... I think Pearl should go out the back door. Not the front door."

"Why?" Maelyn said. "That's so much further. This is the most direct."

The men shunted the cart down a few more steps.

"No, the front door is right there! Let's just get her outside," Shulay said.

"Her stable is in the back," Ivy said.

"I can easily walk her around the outside of the castle. The cart won't fit out the back door, anyway," Shulay said.

She wanted to say they could get Pearl off the cart and walk her through the castle to the back door. But Ivy had already given up. Unless she explained why, her suggestion would make sense to no one, and she wasn't willing to explain. No matter what Giles said.

Everyone released sighs of relief when the men settled the cart onto the floor of the main corridor. They were red-faced and sweating, but looked satisfied.

"Thank you so much," Maelyn said again. "We will reward you handsomely for this."

"No money needed." Gord waved a hand. "Just glad to be of service."

With greater ease now, they wheeled the cart toward the front door of the castle. A trail of escaped straw lay scattered on the floor and up the stairs. But no one seemed to mind as they finally reached the point of getting the cow out of the castle.

"Open the door, Ari," Maelyn said as they rolled into the entry hall. Arialain rushed to the enormous door and tugged the iron ring.

Perhaps it was the age of the cart, or the fact it had just been slammed down several flights of stairs. As Arialain open the door, the righthand wheel buckled under the cart, and with a hard crunch the entire thing lurched sideways, dumping all the straw and nearly Pearl. Shulay screamed and the men shouted and most of the princesses rushed to the cart to offer what help they could.

Ivy felt the back of her neck tingle and turned around to face the open doorway.

She should have listened to Giles.

A man stood in the doorway watching the scene before him. Tall and impressively stout, he wore rich clothing and a well-shaped salt-and-pepper beard.

Maelyn gasped and sank into her deepest curtsy.

"Hello, Uncle Jarrod."