"I can do this," Claire told herself, looking wide-eyed back at the enraged group of fairies. "I'm going to be fine. I have magic when I'm in Etherea." She took a few steps back as the fairies' glows began expanding, preparing to cast their spells. "But they have so much more magic than me!"

The ground started shaking. At first Claire thought the feeling only came from her own fearful trembling.

A static bolt of purple shot out from Chorenne toward her. With one frantic thought, Claire imagined a stone wall forming out of the air in front of her. The magic exploded against the barrier and disseminated. Claire let out a cry of relief when she saw that it had worked.

Meanwhile, the quaking of the ground was increasing.

The fairies continued to surge forward, but a pale one--Metué was her name--tugged on the shoulder of one of her companions and said in a strained voice, "No, stop! We have to leave!"

The fairy that Metué was trying to hold back scoffed at her. "I know you're the fairy of fear, but this is ridiculous. That human hit Ruby!"

"No, no!" Metué pressed. Then she raised her voice for the others to hear. "We need to leave! Don't you feel it?"

The fairies had Claire cornered against the bushes, but they froze when they heard the fairy's shrill yell. It was only then that they noticed the rumble under their feet, which was so strong now that even Claire realized it wasn't her imagination.

The blue eyes of one of the fairies grew wide. "Metué's right. We must flee!"

"What is it?" a clueless fairy asked.

The ground shook, a loud boom reaching their ears.

"Oh. That. Yes, let's run!"

The fairies began to scatter, their wings taking them through the forest or out above the treetops. Three of them hurried over to Ruby, who was no longer unconscious but still slightly addled, and helped her escape. After a moment only one, Forti, remained staring Claire down.

"I do not fear many things," the fairy said in a low voice, glowering at the princess. "In most cases I would stay and fight until the end."

Claire took a step back, wondering if she would be able to reach a branch to turn into a sword.

Another tremor racked the ground, and Forti shuddered. "But in this case, I make an exception." Without Claire having to make a sword or weapon of any kind, the fairy fled.

Claire was relieved that they were gone, but she was also growing more scared by the second as the ground shook more violently. "What is that?" she thought. She shook her head. "It can't be good if it scared all the fairies away! I have to get back to Plenty and Owen."

Claire ran back to the horse and remembered with dismay that Owen was still on the ground. She would have to lift him onto Plenty quickly if she didn't want an encounter with whatever was making the ground shake. When she took his arms to pull him up, her distress grew. She couldn't move him even an inch.

She recalled the spell that one of the fairies had cast at her to anchor her to the ground and came to the awful conclusion that the fairy had done the same thing to Owen. But this time she wasn't around to undo it.

The quaking was getting more violent. With each loud boom the forest shook, sending leaves and branches falling off trees and animals scurrying from their hiding places in every direction. Claire gave another tug at Owen's arm, but it was no more successful than before.

"This is not good," Claire said under her breath. Or was it? How could she know how bad it was if she didn't even know what was coming?

"I have to see," she decided. Then she focused on the earth under her feet, transforming it into a tree, which spiraled up and carried her in its branches higher than the trees in the rest of the forest.

From this new vantage point she could spot the source of the earthquake. It was a man, so tall that the treetops brushed his waist. He had unkempt hair and wore an oblivious expression as he whistled an off-key tune and stomped through the forest toward her.

"A giant!" Claire thought, horrified. He was headed right her way, crushing everything under his enormous feet. Her thoughts immediately went to Owen, stuck to the ground in the path of those big feet. He would be squashed like a bug.

"Hey!" Claire yelled at the top of her lungs.

The giant didn't notice. He took a few more steps and started whistling another tune.

"Hey, Mr. Giant!" she tried again. "Listen to me! You need to watch where you're stepping!"

The giant's breezy whistle ran out. When he sucked in another breath, the wind changed direction and whipped around Claire, threatening to pull her toward him. She clung to the branches of her tree. A few birds, not as lucky as her, were caught up in the giant's inhale and drawn into his gaping mouth. The giant then started whistling again, unaware.

The mindless killing of the birds frightened Claire even more. "Please stop!" she screamed. "You might step on him!"

Even though the giant was now very close, he still couldn't hear her. Or if he did, he was either too stupid or disinterested to care.

"Shouting isn't going to work," Claire finally thought. "But maybe the giant won't even step on Owen. There's a chance he'll walk right over."

The forest shook with another thunderous footstep.

"But I don't want to take that chance!"

Claire sent the tree she was in back to the ground it came from. Looking around frantically, she tried to think of what to do. She concluded that she had two options: she could either move Owen somehow or find a way to protect him.

She considered making some kind of shelter over him, but she had no way of knowing how well it would hold up against the giant's weight. "It would be better if I could move him," Claire thought. "I'm going to have to do it eventually if I want to get him to the tar pits. But how?" She stood for a minute, thinking.

She flew into the air when a huge foot crashed through the trees not too far away. When she came back to land she looked up to a see a second foot blocking out the sun above her. The foot had almost passed over harmlessly, but the back heel was falling toward them.

It was hard for Claire to think straight when she was about to be crushed, much less think of a way to stop it from happening. A few yards away, Plenty whinnied with fright and bolted. Then an idea flashed into Claire's mind.

Without further delay, she planted her hands firmly on the ground near Owen. At her command, the dirt became water, and Owen moved when she tugged on his arm.

Claire laughed with relief. "Let's get out of here fast!" She turned more of the ground into water, and soon she and Owen were being swept swiftly down a magic-made river.

The giant stepped down, shaking the ground and sending water splashing skyward. His heel created a wave that sent Claire and Owen into the air. Thinking quickly, the princess willed the ground to be soft. She landed unharmed onto a patch of the forest floor that felt like a pillow, and Owen face-planted onto the soft ground a few feet away. "I think I'm getting better at this," Claire said aloud.

She stood up and let out a small sigh. Things hadn't been going so well, but now she was at least rid of the fairies, and the giant was safely past. She called for Plenty to come back and eventually coaxed him to crouch low so she could lift Owen more easily onto his back.

Then, after crying "Adventure," they were off again, heading for the tar pits. Claire looked up at the sky, which was turning pink with the setting sun.

"One day since I found you in the forest," Claire said quietly to Owen. "That's at least one day for you in the Shadow Lands, which I'm guessing is more than enough."

Plenty whinnied, and Claire laughed. "I'm not talking to you, silly horse!"

The horse snorted, then was silenced.

Claire pushed a stray lock of Owen's hair away from his still face. "I'll get you out of that place soon. I promise."

~*~

When the shadows finally pulled away, Owen was alone in the fog once again, curled up in a ball and trembling uncontrollably. Though the horror was past, he still muttered weakly under his breath, "No...no...no..."

A patch of loose gravel was disturbed a few feet away, and Owen flinched at the sound. "Please don't..." he started, not daring to look up.

"What's wrong?" a familiar voice said. "Owen, are you okay?"

Even the small motion of opening his eyes was difficult. He looked up and saw Claire standing above him. He let out a breath of relief, "I...thought you were a s-shadow," he stammered.

"It's good I'm not, isn't it?" Claire said with smile. She reached her hand down. "Here, let me help."

Owen took her hand and stood. "I can't believe you're here," he said. "I don't know what this place is, and it feels like I've been here for days already, with nothing but shadows..."

Claire smiled bitterly. "It has been days. Weeks." she said softly.

Owen felt a little jolt of fear. "What do you mean?"

The princess's eyes started to glow red. "You failed," she said, her voice resonating and making the ground vibrate. She grew louder with each word. "The time is up. It has been for a long time."

"That can't be," Owen said, shaking his head.

The ground rocked violently and broke into seams. There was nothing left of Claire, only a shadow with burning red eyes that was shifting and expanding. "Without you, no one came for her," the shadow hissed. "And do you want to know what happened when Lumbia's spell wasn't fulfilled? Ira's was reinstated in full force."

"No." Owen fell to his knees on the unsteady ground. "NO!" he screamed at the growing darkness.

"Your princess is dead!" The hiss of the shadow was a deafening roar. "All because you failed!"

The ground dissolved into black dust, falling under Owen and pulling him down with it into nothingness. When the roar in his ears had died down, he landed on the face of a giant clock. The hands were still.

"Your time is up," a voice hissed. "Her time is up."

Owen hid his face in his hands and cried.