When Claire lifted Owen's head out of the flowers, he wasn't breathing. "Curse this place!" she shouted to the trees. But she noticed that his face wasn't pale. He wasn't breathing, but he looked alive.

Claire gasped with realization. Her parents had told her about her curse when she was still was very young, only a little time before her mother had died. Ever since then, she learned everything there was to know about fairies and sleeping curses. In her research, she hadn't found much about her own; it was a unique case. But she had come across mounds of information on another sleep-related spell.

"The Death Sleep," Claire whispered. It was the most common sleeping spell, and its effects exactly matched Owen's.

But what had caused it? She had read that it could be administered in a variety of ways, including incantation, poison, and odorous vapors. Claire looked around. Everywhere she looked, there were flowers, giving off their scents. She yawned when she breathed in too deeply. "We need to get out of here," she thought.

Claire stood up and bent over to lift Owen, struggling to find a good way to hold him without him slipping out of her arms. She managed to get most of him off the ground, but his legs remained weighing him down.

"You need to be shorter," Claire grunted, trying to sling his arm over her shoulder. After a few fruitless minutes, she gave up and decided to just drag him out of the deadly forest.

"Sorry!" Claire apologized after pulling him roughly over a large root. It wasn't the best transportation, but she was eventually away from the flowers and surrounded by darker, greener woods.

"Okay," Claire said with a sigh. There was a way to break a Death Sleep spell. Like her own curse, it required a true love's kiss. She knelt beside Owen. "It's funny how many spells can be broken this way," she muttered, looking down at his face. She took a deep breath and kissed him.

Nothing happened.

Claire drew back, shocked. Why hadn't it worked? Could it be that she wasn't his true love? "That's not it," she told herself. She kissed him again.

Claire heard a squeak from behind her and turned. There was a red-haired woman--a fairy, judging by her wings--standing nearby.

"I can go, if you want," the fairy said, her high-pitched voice cracking. "If you want to keep kissing..."

Claire stood, glancing briefly at Owen. He still wasn't awake. "Who are you?" she asked the fairy. "Can you help me?"

The fairy shifted on her feet and bit her lip. "What do you need help with?"

Claire pointed to Owen. "See him? He's under a sleeping spell. The Death Sleep."

The fairy's eyes grew huge. "You've been in the forest?" she whispered.

"Yes, we just left it."

"It's here?!" the fairy exclaimed, looking around in panic. "Oh dear. I wondered why he wasn't moving." She looked at Owen, taking a few steps forward. "Wait just a tiny second," she said. "I know who that is! Prince Owen!" She looked excitedly up at Claire. "Are you his sweetie?"

"You know Owen?" Claire said, confused with everything else the fairy had just said.

"Yes, I gave him directions to find Eye. What fun! Friends visiting friends..."

"Then you're Honeyflower," Claire concluded.

Honeyflower smiled. "You already know my name! You must be his sweetie, and he told you about me! How lovely." She glanced over at Owen. "He doesn't look good, dear. The Death Sleep is a serious thing in Etherea. Why were you in the Sleeping Forest?"

"I don't know why," Claire said. "I just found him there, and now he's like this."

"The forest does move around a lot," Honeyflower said thoughtfully. "Not even Eye can see where it goes. It must have been in the way of where he was supposed to go. Poor dear! Nobody warned him. I haven't seen the forest travel near me in a while, so it's easy to forget."

"Great. A magical, moving forest," Claire muttered. "How do I wake him up?"

"True love's kiss, of course. How exciting!" Honeyflower said with a giggle, tapping Claire's nose lightly. "You're his sweetie; you can fix this!"

Claire's heart fell. "I already tried. He's not waking up."

Honeyflower's eyes knit together in thought. Then she grew pale. "Oh no," she mumbled.

"What is it?" Claire asked, terrified.

The fairy ran a hand through her hair, loosing a few flowers that had been woven in. "I know why it's not working. It's not good."

"Tell me!"

"He's been snatched," she said in a whisper.

"Snatched?"

Honeyflower shook her head dolefully. "It isn't safe to sleep in Etherea at daytime. Shadows don't bother people at night, but when the sun's out they are weak enough to be controlled. She controls them during the day, and she makes them snatch people away into her dark nightmare world, where they stay forever, tormented by shadows and darkness and all their greatest fears!"

"She?" Claire asked.

"Lumbia." Honeyflower shuddered. "The evil fairy queen of Etherea."

"Lumbia?" Claire repeated, suppressing a laugh. "Evil?" Her laugh escaped. "She saved my life!"

"That wasn't Etherea's Lumbia. Your Lumbia and our Lumbia are opposites. One is good, and one is pure evil." She made a sour face. "This Lumbia hates it when people wander into Etherea and mess it up. She's angry at Owen; that's why the shadows snatched him. And they had the perfect opportunity when the Death Sleep made him sleep in the daytime!"

Claire was growing increasingly scared. "What can I do?"

"Nothing easy," the fairy said in a grave tone. "His mind is trapped in the Shadow Lands. You would have to go there yourself if you want to free him."

"How do I get there?"

"You have to go where Lumbia lives. Her castle is surrounded by deep tar pits. You have to go into them. And take this." She reached into the folds of her dress and pulled out a gray ball that seemed to suck the light out of the air around it.

Claire took it in her hands. "What is it?"

"It's a Spiderweb Sphere. It can be used to travel to the Shadow Lands. You have to hold it and jump into one of Lumbia's tar pits." She shuddered. "I can't imagine how that would feel. Ugh! So gooey and sticky!"

"You've never been to the Shadow Lands?" Claire questioned, turning the Sphere in her hands.

Honeyflower shook her head vigorously. "Oh no. No no no! Why would I?" She shook her head. "You can go in there to save your sweetie, but please promise me you'll get out as soon as possible!"

"Don't worry. If that place is half as bad as I imagine it is, I won't have any problem leaving quickly."

"Good!" Honeyflower clapped her hands. "Now, what all will you need? You have the Spiderweb Sphere already...What else? Oh! You must bring Prince Owen with you. Not into the Shadow Lands; just to the tar pits. His body needs to be close by so you can lead his wandering mind back to it."

"I have to take him?" Claire glanced behind at him skeptically. "That will be a bit difficult since he's basically dead weight right now."

"I was getting to that. You can use my horse. His name is Plenty, and he's a darling! Even better, he knows the way to Lumbia; he'll take you straight to her if you ask nicely. And even even better, his hooves are enchanted!"

"Enchanted how?"

"They make him fast, faster than any horse you've ever seen!" Honeyflower was dancing around. "He can get you to the tar pits in no time."

Claire smiled hopefully. "That would be wonderful. Thank you so much for helping us."

"It's no trouble at all. I always help my friends, and I'd like to say that we are friends now. But let me get Plenty." She raised her hands high, clapped them three times, then whistled a few notes.

In an instant, a white horse emerged from the trees. It tossed its mane, braided with flowers and leaves, as it trotted gracefully (and quickly, Claire noticed) toward them. At Honeyflower's side, it stopped and pawed the ground and whinnied.

"My dear Plenty," Honeyflower cooed, stroking its nose. She turned to smile brightly at Claire. "Here you are! He's yours for the journey. If you want him to start moving, say 'adventure!'"

Claire chuckled quietly.

"The command to speed up is 'more!' To slow down and stop is 'too much!' and 'that's enough!'"

"Those are some creative commands," Claire pointed out. She took a step forward to scratch Plenty behind the ears.

"I trained him that way by accident," Honeyflower said with a shrug. "I always said those things when I was riding, so he started to think they meant something! Silly horse. Or is it silly me? Anyway, he's ready for you. You should leave as soon as possible."

After a few minutes of Claire and Honeyflower struggling together, Owen was lifted off the ground and set on the horse's back. Claire used a tree stump as a stool to mount the horse herself, sitting side-saddle behind the prince to keep him from sliding off. She took hold of the horse's mane gently and took a deep breath. "Okay." She turned to Honeyflower. "Thanks again."

The fairy glowed with joy. "You're welcome, dear. Oh, how I love helping sweet people like you!"

Claire nodded. "Adventure!" she called to Plenty.

The horse didn't move.

"I forgot!" Honeyflower said, taking a step closer. "You have to declare his name and mine in order for him to obey you."

"I just say your names?"

Honeyflower nodded encouragingly.

"That's easy. Plenty!"

The horse snorted.

Honeyflower bit her lip. "Actually, dear," she said, her voice subdued, "that's not his real name. You can't take command unless you declare his true name."

"And what's that?"

"Dearth," the fairy whispered.

Claire's eyes widened. She looked between the horse and the fairy in shock. "Dearth?" she repeated. "But that's such a...a negative name."

No matter how ill-fitting the name, the horse nickered in acceptance when he heard Claire say it.

Honeyflower's eyes shifted uncomfortably. "You've said his. Now for mine. It's..."

Claire leaned until she was almost falling off the horse. The fairy was growing almost too quiet to hear.

"...Ira."

"IRA?!" Claire almost screamed.

Honeyflower grimaced. "I really do hate that name. But now you've declared it. There's no time to waste on explaining myself to you. You need to go."

Claire was starting to dismount. "Your name is Ira? As in evil fairy Ira? The one who tried to kill me?"

Honeyflower shook her head. "To the tar pits, Plenty. Adventure!" she called, reaching forward to briskly pat Plenty's haunches. With the princess still shouting and hanging half on, half off of him, the horse trotted away swiftly, leaving his mistress behind, to take a very shocked princess to the tar pits of Lumbia's land.