Owen stood at the castle gates, craning his head upward to find where the thorny vines ended. They had broken through the ground, thick as trees, and stretched to the sky and around the castle grounds as far as he could see. The spaces between the thickly woven plants was only big enough for rodents to crawl through.

Obviously, something was not right. These were not just naturally overgrown plants. Owen had been in Etherea long enough to sense when magic was at work.

He placed a hand on one of the enormous stems thoughtfully. "If these are magical vines," he thought to himself, "there's probably some magical way to get rid of them."

While he was silently puzzling over how to get in, the sound of thundering hoofbeats grew in the distance. A scream reached his ears that sounded like it came from a wild animal. But when he turned to see what was quickly approaching, he saw that it was not the animal that made the noise. It had been a fiery-haired fairy, riding swiftly toward him on a pitch-black horse.

"Omnia, pulvis fi!" the fairy screeched, stretching her hand in his direction. Magic shot out, and he narrowly dodged it. The spell hit a clump of vines behind him and turned them to dust.

That spell was familiar; those words were some of the ones Honeyflower had said to help him. This wasn't any ordinary fairy. It was Ira, obviously coming to destroy his chances of breaking the curse.

It was convenient that she was destroying the vines instead, though.

"Try to hit me again!" Owen called as she continued to charge closer. He waved his arms in the air for added effect.

"Ugh!" Ira grunted. "Stop bumping me around so much, Dearth. I need a good aim!"

Her horse neighed angrily, and she shot off another spell.

Owen sidestepped the blast again and watched with satisfaction as it took out another large growth of vines. There was almost enough space to squeeze through. "One more hit."

Ira was getting dangerously close. "You missed again!" he yelled. He backed closer to the wall of vines. "I'm right here! Don't you want to hit me?"

Ira screamed with fury, her glow as deep red as blood. She took no time to criticize her horse before launching more magic. The wind was more violently disturbed by the vicious blast than by any of the others. Owen dove out of the way, a few tips of his hair turning to dust along with the vines at his back. "That was a close one," he gasped. He quickly pulled himself to his feet and turned to work his way through the new opening in the vines.

Forgetting about her horse, Ira beat her wings and took off into the air, screaming with fury. "No! Not one step farther!" she demanded, pulling at her hair and watching the prince disappear through the thorny plants. "Those plants were my best defense! How dare you destroy them!"

Owen kept running, ignoring the raging fairy behind him. He made it through the castle wall and into the courtyard. As long as he avoided the fairy, he could easily reach Claire's tower.

Ira stopped at the gap in the vines, her stormy eyes sparking with inspiration. "If you want to try me," she said, her voice growing louder, "try me. You are asking for a fight, sso I sshall fight you as you pleassssse." The last words were drawn out in a hiss as her pupils narrowed and she began to grow. Sharp red scales broke through her skin, her fingernails stretched into razor claws, and her shoulder blades bulged into expanding wings. In only seconds, there was no more fairy--only an enormous red dragon that flew just outside the castle wall. She shot a stream of fire out of her deadly jaws, flooding the remaining vines with flames and embers.

Owen looked back for only a second before continuing his frantic dash. Although his leg had not yet recovered fully from his run-in with Black Wolf, he ran as fast as he could. "She's a dragon!" he muttered. A dragon certainly made things worse, but if he could just get through the palace doors, he had more chance of defending himself.

"Come back to die," Ira growled, her monstrous wings propelling her into the air above him. Hot air streamed from her nostrils, singing him slightly. The palace doors were not much farther. If only it wasn't so hard to run...

Owen glanced back and saw an orange glow rise in Ira's throat in preparation for another gust of fire.

There were guards sleeping on the ground on the way to the doors, holding spears and shields in their limp hands. The fire was almost ready. Owen picked up a spear and threw the shield in front of him just in time to deflect the ball of fire, the force of the blow knocking him off his feet and flinging him through the palace doors.

Owen started dragging himself slowly to his feet, groaning with pain. The palace doors were heavy, and he had run into them hard enough to go through. However much he ached, he sped up his movements to avoid the other blast of fire that shot through the doorway seconds after the last one.

A moment later, the wall exploded in a shower of rock and dust. Ira's huge dragon head and shoulders broke through, her tongue flicking back and forth, thirsting for violence. Owen backed farther into the room as she scrambled with her claws to slide through the opening.

"You're trapped," she taunted, stretching her wings until the tips brushed the vaulted ceiling. She took one giant step forward, backing Owen into a corner.

Owen raised his eyes to look into the fiery gaze. The dragon's pupils widened into slits, deep as black canyons. The prince let out a shout and charged at the beast's legs, raising the spear over his shoulder and lunging forward with fierce determination.

The first jab scraped against Ira's tough scales harmlessly. Before Owen could pull back for another blow, he was thrown into the air by a violent backhanded swipe from one of the dragon's clawed feet.

"Sssorry," her voice boomed in his ear as he tumbled over the floor. "But I can't have you ruining my revenge."

Owen had only just barely lifted himself off the ground when a set of giant talons wrapped around him and yanked him into the air. He pushed against the scaly skin to no avail, the malicious eyes of the dragon seeming to grow bigger as he was drawn in closer.

"Maybe I sshould jusst eat you," the dragon hissed, her forked tongue flicking out and whipping toward him. Owen winced and continued his desperate struggling.

Without warning, Ira tossed him upward and caught him in her other hand. "Or maybe I could crussh you." The little breath he had left from that dizzying fall was squeezed out of him. Spots danced in his vision before the dragon finally loosened her hold.

"On the other hand, I am a dragon," she mused, smoke curling from her nostrils. "I could burn you to a crissp." Owen coughed. The air smelled like sulfur.

"Do you know what else you could do?" he said, his voice strained.

"Don't you dare say, oh, I could forgive these fools and forget their crimes," Ira spat. "I'm the fairy of anger. This is my job."

"I wasn't going to say that," Owen grunted, eyeing the ceiling. He had to get to the tower. "You know, I fought a really powerful fairy recently. Almost as powerful as you."

"Well she obviously wasn't good enough to get the job done, since you're still here."

"Of course. She tried to kill me by making me fall from really high up. Isn't that interesting?"

Ira scoffed. "That doesn't sound fun at all--"

"But I'm sure you could do it much better than she did," Owen continued. "Use your wings and lift me hundreds of feet in the air, wind whipping around me, my heart pounding in fear as I watch the ground pull away beneath me. Really, I can't think of anything more terrifying."

Something like a grin appeared on the dragon's face. "So you're afraid of heightsss?" The dragon dropped him, catching him again only seconds before he hit the floor. He made sure to shout loudly to make it more convincing.

"I have to get to the tower," he repeated in his mind.

"This puny castle is starting to make me feel a bit cramped," Ira muttered. She starting wriggling backward, and soon sunlight was streaming down around them.

Owen's eyes didn't have time to adjust to the light before the dragon beat her enormous wings and took off into the sky.

Owen peered over the gnarled talon wrapped around him and almost sighed with relief when he saw Claire's tower nearby. "I just have to think of a way to get to it..."

Luckily, he didn't have to think about it for too long. The dragon swung him in her hand, flinging him high into the air. He fell back down for a few gut-wrenching seconds before being snatched up by the dragon's claws again...only a few dozen feet away from the tower window.

"Hah!" the dragon exclaimed maliciously, pulling him closer to laugh in his face, her wings still beating to keep them airborne. "Were you scared? Terrified?"

"Why are you doing this to me?" Owen exclaimed, the tremor in his voice a little exaggerated. But the question was genuine.

"Because I'm angry," Ira retorted, eyes narrowing. "I'm angry at those pompous fools for not inviting me to their party. I'm angry at that obnoxious princess for...well, being born. And now I'm angry at you for trying to get in my way!" The red glow in her eyes grew and grew until it seemed as if it would explode in chutes of fire. But it faded quickly. "Besides, you were the one who had this idea." And with that, she tossed him up again.

As he fell back down, Owen watched for where the dragon's claws would be. They were coming closer and closer. He had to get it just right...

Owen kicked off of the dragon's outstretched hand. She let out a gasp of annoyance and tried again and again to snatch him out of the air. But he had escaped. He continued to fall.

There was the tower window! Owen just barely caught the sill under his fingers, the rest of him dangling over hundreds of feet of nothing.

When Ira realized what had just happened, she screamed with rage. "How dare you trick me?!"

Owen didn't stay around long enough to answer. He kicked at the tower wall and pulled at the window, tumbling into the room just as a shower of flames burst around him. He ducked under the window until the fire died down, then stood quickly.

"Claire," he breathed.

She looked as if she would scatter in the wind if he wasn't careful. The dust that coated her made her seem pale and fragile. Even the sheets that covered her would probably disintegrate at a single touch. And, of course, she was covered in cobwebs. But she was still beautiful. Owen smiled.

Boom! Something shook the entire tower. A horrible crumbling and tearing sound reached Owen's ears as he struggled to keep his balance. A moment later, light flooded the room, catching on the dusty air. Through this hazy screen the fiery eye of Ira appeared, looking down through the now open roof of the tower. She threw the ripped off pieces of rock to the side and growled. Owen could see the fire glowing in her throat. "Now you've made me very angry."

Owen didn't know what else to do. If only...Claire!

Claire could help!

He didn't have much time. Fire would flood the room any second. He ran, broke through the cobwebs carelessly, and planted a kiss on the princess's dusty lips.

A tremor rocked the castle; a light buzz of energy zipped through the air. Ira choked on her own fire, screaming with horror. Owen turned away from Claire and watched as the fairy shrank back into her normal form, stumbled back, and began plummeting from the tower.

It was out of instinct that he saved her, running over to the window to catch her before she fell to her death. It wasn't until he held her, hanging there, that he realized how good it was that he had.

"I just saved Honeyflower's life, too."

Ira blinked up at him, the red glow faded from her eyes. "Why," she said, subdued. "Why did you save me?"

Owen gritted his teeth. He was hanging almost halfway out the window and struggling not to tip out the rest of the way. "It wasn't a problem, really."

"But why?" Ira pressed. "I was so angry, and cruel. I was trying to kill you for goodness'--WHOA!"

Owen slipped. For half a second his heart stopped beating as he felt himself falling. But then someone took hold of him. Light gray flecks fell around him, making him sneeze.

"What are you doing?" Claire asked him. Her voice sounded hoarse from underuse. Her breath wasn't doing too well either.

Owen didn't mind. He let out a gasp of relief. "I'm so glad you're awake!"

"And I'm glad you're alive! But why are you hanging out my window?"

"I'm trying to save the fairy that cursed you!" he answered.

"Hello!" Ira called up from below.

"It sounds strange, doesn't it?"

Claire was still struggling to keep them from falling. "Why can't she use her wings to save herself?" she demanded.

"I'm a little weak at the moment," Ira retorted. "Dark powers and magical, curse-breaking, true-love kisses don't mix well!"

Claire groaned. "I don't want to hold you two while we wait for your powers to come back! Owen, why don't you just drop her? She tried to kill me!"

"I tried to kill him, too, but that's not stopping him!" Ira pointed out. "He's pretty noble."

"Of course he is!"

With all the yelling around him, Owen felt like raising his voice also. But to his surprise, and to the surprise of Claire and Ira, he laughed instead. First it was a short burst, but then he couldn't stop. Tears were in his eyes, he was laughing so hard.

"What are you laughing about?" Claire asked.

Owen had to take a few deep breaths before responding. "Here we are, hanging out of this tower window!" he exclaimed. "A princess who just had a hundred-year curse broken, a fairy who just moments ago was bent on killing us..."

"And a prince who is literally caught between both of us," Ira pointed out, her own eyes beginning to sparkle.

"That's right!" Owen said. "And what are we doing? We're hanging here and yelling at each other!"

It took a moment, but Claire finally laughed. "And I'm completely covered in dust. We must look like a troupe of fools!"

"Yes, that's it!" Ira bursted. "Oh, how ridiculous!"

Maybe they were giddy from the excitement of fighting a dragon, breaking a curse--or fighting a prince and trying to preserve a curse--and dangling precariously between life and death. Maybe they were genuinely happy. Whatever it was, they laughed. Prince, princess, and fairy hung in their odd chain and laughed.