The day was beginning as the trees of the Shadow Forest thinned. Though the sun was rising, its light was smothered by gray clouds that blocked out the sky. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the wind was harsh and chill as it swept over the opening landscape.

Claire looked down at the ground Plenty was walking over. It was turning black and hard as stone. "I haven't seen a place like this in all of Etherea," Claire said, hushed.

"Lumbia likes the dark," Plenty said shortly.

Claire didn't like the silence. She rubbed her hands together, listening to the soft rustle and focusing on what little warmth it made. "At least there aren't any shadows here," she finally said.

"True. There aren't as many shadows outside of their forest," Plenty agreed. His hooves clopped over the solid ground. "But they're everywhere, whether you notice or not. And we'll have to worry more about the ones lurking around Lumbia's castle. Normally shadows will attack if they sense fear. Those ones will attack at Lumbia's command."

"Do you think she'll command it?" Claire asked.

"As far as Lumbia is concerned, you're a nuisance. She hates you. There's no doubt she wants to destroy you."

"Oh." Claire swept her eyes over the dark, unwelcoming landscape. The danger of the journey sunk more profoundly in her heart. She was going to the lands of a fairy. She had lived all her life dreading the curse that a fairy had had the power to create, and for seventeen years she had been helpless to stand up to it. What made her better able to do this now?

"Maybe...could I use my dream magic?" Claire asked hopefully.

"Not against Lumbia, princess," Plenty said, huffing gravely. "She's the fairy of dreams, the queen of this land. In her presence, you would have nothing."

"You mean I can't use any magic?" Claire exclaimed. "So there really is no hope. Unless I can go in and out of the Shadow Lands without her catching me."

"There's very little chance of that."

The forest was long behind them now, and Plenty assured Claire that it was not much farther to the tar pits. Once Claire cried "More!" to urge Plenty to go faster, but he sullenly informed her that his enchantment was still dampened and would be the whole time they were in Lumbia's lands.

Claire felt her eyelids drooping. The journey had been exhausting, and she had stayed awake half the night while they had traveled through the Shadow Forest. The sky was dark and the rhythm of Plenty's gait was lulling.

"Princess!" Plenty lifted his back legs slightly to jolt her awake. Claire shook her head and blinked her eyes.

"You can't sleep now," the horse continued. "Not this close to Lumbia. The shadows would certainly snatch you, and if they did, there would be no one left to help your prince and no one to help you. You'd both be trapped in the Shadow Lands forever, or at least as long as Lumbia wanted to toy with you. This is serious. Do you understand?"

Claire nodded a little impatiently. "I know. I knew before you told me. I just...I'm very tired."

"Do you want to be very dead instead? Stay awake! Do what you did before. Distract yourself. Sing some more."

"No." Claire shook her head and tried to hold back a yawn that was rising in her throat. "Like I said, I don't know many songs. I sang the same lullaby about twenty times last night. It's a nice song, but I don't want to repeat it any more."

"Then make up another," Plenty suggested. "Oh! Or just make up rhymes. Let's see. Do one about..." The sky rumbled deeply. "The thunder!"

Claire cocked her head skeptically. "That just sounds...silly."

"So was singing a lullaby to a horse and an unconscious person twenty times, but you did it. Come on! At least this will keep you awake."

Claire flushed slightly. "You silly horse!" she protested, though her resistance was weakening. "Fine. But only if you go first."

"If that's what it takes. Now, a rhyme about thunder. Hmm..." Plenty trailed off thoughtfully, his head tilting slightly.

"There's thunder in the sky," he started.

"Keep going," Claire urged.

"There's thunder in the sky. But why? Oh my!" Plenty faltered after that. "I can't think of anything else that rhymes. I only started speaking like a human last night, you know."

"If you want me to do it, you have to finish," Claire stated, folding her hands together and smiling.

Plenty snorted. "Let me think." He lifted his front legs and pawed the air with excitement. "I got it! There's thunder in the sky. But why? Oh my! Because we're going to die."

Claire grimaced. "That wasn't very pleasant. I thought the rhyming was supposed to distract us."

"Distract you from sleeping," Plenty corrected. He nickered laughingly. "What better thing to keep you alert than the thought of doom looming on the horizon?"

"That's not funny!" Claire countered, though she herself was chuckling for some reason.

"Okay, it's not. But it's your turn now."

Claire searched around her, trying to spot something to rhyme about. Her eyes lit up. "There! I'm going to rhyme about the flowers in your mane, Plenty."

"Those? I forgot they were there. Go on, then."

Claire sat still for a moment, musing silently. Then she cleared her throat and said, all in one breath:

"Each flower with care,
Placed in your hair
To ward off pain,
To beat despair--
As day-dawns and nights
Wrestle with light,
Each bloom will fight
To keep peace there."

About a minute passed before Plenty reacted. "You just made that up?" he said breathlessly. "I'm hopeless if you're the standard I'm supposed to compare myself to."

Claire shook her head and patted the side of the horse's neck consolingly. "Don't worry. It's actually one of the gifts I was given by the fairies when I was born." She smiled and said in a mock fairy voice, "She shall be a marvelous poet!"

The beginning of a whinny started in Plenty's throat but was cut short.

"Your turn now," Claire said, not noticing the horse's sudden silence.

"No need," Plenty said softly. "We're here."

Claire looked up and around. There wasn't much to see. The sky was still dark, and the land looked the same. But then she caught a whiff of something foul-smelling. She coughed and wrinkled her nose as the odor only grew stronger. "What is that?"

"It's the tar pits you're smelling," Plenty said.

"Where are they?"

"If you look closely, you can see one over there," Plenty said, stretching his nose to point. "It's hard to see."

"I think I do," Claire said when she spotted a patch of land that was slightly darker than the ground around it.

A shudder coursed through Plenty's body, making Claire's teeth rattle. "Those pits are nasty," the horse mumbled. "If anyone so much as gets one foot stuck in one, they're dead for sure."

"Unless I have a Spiderweb Sphere," Claire added. "Then the tar pits will take me to the Shadow Lands."

Plenty nodded. "I don't know which one's worse."

The smell stung in Claire's nostrils and the back of her mouth as they came up beside the first tar pit. She looked down, holding her her breath, and saw a black pool that glistened and bubbled at its surface.

She had used the pack that Owen carried to hold the Spiderweb Sphere. Now she took it out and gripped it tightly in her hands.

"So, I jump in?" she said in a frightened whisper.

"You can do it," Plenty encouraged. "You are brave, princess."

Claire dismounted and looked back at the horse's gentle face. "You'll keep Owen safe while I'm gone?"

The horse nodded earnestly. "You have my word."

"Okay." Claire slowly let out her breath. Then she inhaled deeply, held it, and jumped out over the tar with a running leap.

She had expected to sink slowly, but the tar sloshed and opened up around her, swallowing her in only seconds. For a moment there was only darkness, and she could almost feel it seeping into her mind. She started to panic.

Then it receded. Her thoughts were unclouded as the blackness was swept away from her and spread out to fill the world around her. When it was gone, she found herself standing in another dark place. The ground was harsh and rocky and blanketed with a deep fog. Formless shapes flickered around her, and the only sounds were hisses and whispers.

"The Shadow Lands," Claire breathed.