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She nodded. “They are the most reasonable of all magical creatures. Your cookies would not have worked on a dragon.”

I gulped. “What works on dragons?”

“Oh, it depends entirely on the dragon. But rest assured, not all of them relish in burning people to a crisp,” she said lightly.

“Uh, thanks for the tip.” I folded my hands together to keep myself from fidgeting. “I’ll remember that.”

“Who are you talking to?”

I jumped at the sound of Bronte’s voice, so close to me. I hadn’t seen her approach.

“Savannah?” Her brows drew together. “Are you all right?”

“Fine. It’s just all this talk of dragons that’s gotten me jumpy, I guess.”

“Dragons?”

“Yeah, that woman in green was about to tell me all about them.”

“What woman?”

“The one standing right…” I stopped when I didn’t find the woman. “Huh, weird. She was right here just a few moments ago.”

“Savannah.” Bronte set her hands on my shoulders, meeting my gaze. “There was no woman in green.”

I laughed. “Oh, come on. You must have seen her.” My gaze cut past Bronte, to the rest of my teammates. “Someone must have seen her.”

No one said a thing.

“I’m not crazy.” I struggled to keep my voice level.

Eris peeled out of the shadows. “No one’s saying you are, Savannah.” She lifted her hands, wiggling her fingers in the air. “I believe you. I can feel it. Something was here. Magic. It feels kind of familiar—and yet it’s not familiar.” She shook her head. “I can’t describe it better than that.”

I cleared my throat. “Well, I guess we should get back to the Castle before the unicorn hair loses its magic.” I added the unicorn hair to the shopping bag dangled over my shoulder.

Eris and the team walked back toward the shop, but I stayed for a moment longer, eyes closed, trying to understand that familiar, unfamiliar feeling in the air that Eris had described. I’d felt it too. And I didn’t know what it was either. But…

“It reminds me of what I felt at the Spirit Tree,” I said quietly to myself.

I shook my head, unable to figure out what that told me. So I hurried to catch up to my teammates.

Dizziness suddenly overwhelmed me, and I stumbled. A ring of glowing magic burst out of the ground like blue fire, swallowing me whole.

CHAPTER5

THE NEVER-DRAGON

Ifelt like I was falling through the floor. I was spinning, spiraling, twisting, twirling—and then I slammed into an invisible wall, bounced back, and smacked against the ground like a fumbled pancake.

“Why hello, girly.”

I stumbled to my feet, my ears ringing, my head swimming. Blurry black smudges lurked in the foggy abyss. I blinked a few times, and the fog cleared. Sort of. I was still seeing double, and I felt like I really had to throw up.

Seven bandits stood in a crooked line in front of me. One of them stepped forward, a man dressed in a black tunic and tights that made him look like an evil version of Robin Hood.

“What happened?” When I spoke, my voice fizzled in and out, like a radio with a bad signal.

“We snagged you in a teleportation trap,” said one of the bandits, almost singing the words.