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Paige arched an eyebrow. “What do you mean in his own forest?”

“This is the Forest of Isolation. Not the Forest of Togetherness.”

Paige adjusted her glasses, her features pinching.

The crow clicked his tongue. “Did you eat the candy?”

Paige snapped her gaze back to the bird. “Yes.”

“Well, there you have it. You’re both in an aberration. You’ll need to pass his test before you get out. Otherwise, you’ll be trapped here alone forever.”

Paige glanced back at the stone pillar. “I don’t know his name.”

“It’s on the post, stupid.” The crow spread its wings and flew into the night.

Paige studied the top, finding nothing. She squatted down, searching the side. She found one letter: A.

“A, A, A!”

Nothing happened.

“That’s stupid. Whose name is A?”

She circled around the pillar, finding another letter on another side.

“M,” she murmured.

She continued around, noting the letters on each side. “A, M, L, I. Amli, Amli, Amli.”

No one came.

Paige flung her arms into the air. “What gives? Amli, Amli, Amli.”

She shook her head and chewed her lower lip. “A, M, L, I. Amli. Mlia. No. Liam.” Her eyes went wide. “Liam!”

A grin spread across her features, and she bumped her glasses higher with her index finger. “Liam, Liam, Liam.”

Wind gusted past her, circling around her as it rustled through the foliage. A swirling cloud appeared near the stone plinth.

Paige stumbled back several steps, shielding her eyes from the strong wind gusts.

The smoky vapor cleared, a form emerging from it.

Paige’s heart skipped a beat, and her eyes went wide as she stared at what materialized.

CHAPTER 16

Paige stumbled back into the cover of the trees, eyeing the creature that emerged from the gray-black smoke.

Standing at three times the height of the stone structure, the massive creature’s beady black eyes scanned the area.

“Who calls to me?” his deep voice growled.

Paige stared in horror, refusing to emerge from her hiding spot. She grimaced at the hooved feet that rose into goat-like legs, a broad horse-like chest, topped with a flat face resembling an owl, and two curved horns poking from the top of his round head.

“Who calls to me?” he asked again.

Paige winced as she weighed her options. She had to confront the thing. With a glance at her sword, she tightened her grip on the hilt and stepped from behind a cotton-candy tree.