And I'll make sure to keep my distance...

Everyone walked in utter silence. Adelaide felt completely defeated as they continued on. They had found an abandoned town a quarter of a mile from the fourth kingdom's border and had changed out of their ruined clothing back into something more practical. The elves, not always known for their practical clothing choices, had a surprising options. Adelaide found a nice leather piece and decided on it, putting on tight black leather pants and a leather top that laced up the middle. It featured a low, square-cut, long sleeves, and a stiff, high collar. She found a dark purple jacket that tied around the middle and flared out at the sleeves to keep her warm. The rest of them, with the exception of Armen, who would always be the height of nine kingdoms fashion in dark, tight blue pants and flowing white shirt with a black vest, had gone with something less distinctive. Finnley and Peter seemed to cut from the same cloth, although Peter had put a red vest over his plain white shirt and tan breeches. Finnley had gone with the brown pants and white shirt and nothing else. Adelaide didn't care if she stood out. She wanted to stand out, she wanted everyone to see them and know who she was. She didn't have any secrets any longer. In the fourth kingdom wolves were lauded as heroes, and she wasn't just any wolf. She was The Wolf, from the House of Wolf.

Finnley and Peter stepped into the fourth kingdom first. Adelaide went to follow them but Armen stopped her, throwing his arm out and catching her in the chest. "How are you feeling?" He asked her, concern written all over his delicate features.

She sighed. "I don't know, honestly. Everyone is so quiet. Maybe I should go-"

"NO!" Armen said firmly, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. "You belong here."

"Do I?"

"Adelaide? Armen? Is everything okay?" Peter called from the other side, unable to see them.

"Coming!" Armen called back.

"I feel strange," she admitted. "Like...something is calling for me, but I don't know what."

Armen nodded. "First things first. Time to fulfil our destinies." He took her hand and smiled and they stepped through. Ash and smoke overwhelmed her senses. She looked around and all she saw was smoldering ruins for miles and miles. It was freezing, and snow was coming down softly from the sky in an attempt to over the destroyed landscape, but melted on contact.

"What happened here?" Finnley asked, looking around.

"Trolls," Peter said darkly, his face pale with shock.

"This is more than just trolls," Armen added. "I think we all know that now. Trolls are brute force, but they have always been horribly disorganized."

Adelaide began walking into the burning woods. They were still standing, though some of the trees had caught fire, brought in with the wind from the villages. The rest followed her in, unsure about their route.

"This seems dangerous," Finnley said nervously, her hand clutching the hilt of her sword.

"The woods are the safest place for us," Adelaide answered. "The trolls aren't here and the trees offer us cover."

"I don't know..."Armen licked his lips, his eyes darting around wildly. "What do you people call this forest again?"

"The Disenchanted Forest," Peter responded, keeping pace with Adelaide.

"Yeah, that's the one. The name doesn't offer much inspiration," Armen continued with his usual dramatics.

"We can take our chances here or with the trolls and whatever else they've brought with them. The Huntsman was what made this forest dangerous and he's been dead for as long as I remember," Adelaide told them, grateful to still have Peter on her side.

"And how do you know they didn't just get a new Huntsman?" Finnley demanded in her usual serious way.

"I don't."

x

Virginia had fallen asleep at some point, Wolf had barely noticed. There was no light in their cell making it impossible to tell time. He himself was still unable to sleep as he worried over the fate of his daughter. He and Virginia were recognizable but they had worked hard to keep Adelaide private. If she was captured, would the trolls realize who she was? Would they even care?

The darkest part of his fear told him they wouldn't. Adelaide would never betray who she was, especially if she thought she was protecting her family. The only thing keeping him going was the knowledge she was still alive, a feeling he could not explain. He chalked it up to animal instinct, or a special sense only wolves had, but he never questioned it. He had realized Adelaide existed the moment she began to grow in her mother and he had never stopped being aware of her since. If something happened to her it would be a light going out within himself.

What he needed was a solid escape plan to get him and Virginia out alive. The trolls were not particularly observant and easily distracted, but he could not act rashly as he would have in the past. He needed something solid to get both him and Virginia and their unborn cub out safely and with minimal damage.

He needed a miracle.

x

"You're not mad at me?" Adelaide finally asked, unable to stop herself. She had debated whether it would it be better to ask and clear the air or keep it to herself. Peter had been so quiet ever since she had shown him who she really was.

"Mad about what?" Peter asked, shooting her a sideways glance. He had tried to keep some distance between them ever since his revelation at the river. She was so single-minded about her parents and he didn't want to add any further distractions. The way he saw it, he had the rest of his life to tell her he loved her. Right now could wait.

"You know...the whole wolf thing. That I lied?" She bit her lip, finally managing to catch his eye. He immediately regretted it, her eyes were easy to get lost in.

"Nah. I would have lied to me too. We didn't start in the best place for honesty."

"I don't know if I could be so forgiving," she admitted, focusing on the sounds around her. It was eerily quiet for a forest. Usually she heard the rustling of animals, the chirping of insects, the flapping of birds. It set her fur on edge to look around and see such stillness and hear such quiet, though she would never admit that to her companions.

He shrugged but didn't say much more. He hoped she could forgive him, were their situations reversed.

"Magic is nearby," Armen came up silently from behind them, startling them both. She cursed herself for not paying better attention. "I can feel it."

"Magic is everywhere crazy," Finnley responded, having caught up to them.

"Be quiet you goblin," Armen hushed her. Adelaide watched Armen walk up to a tree and put his hand on the trunk. They watched as vines began snaking up the tree and a door opened.

"This is a bad idea," Finnley said as Adelaide and Peter approached.

"Don't you want out of the snow?" Adelaide asked, watching Peter and Armen disappear in the tree.

"Magic always comes with consequences," Finnley muttered.

"It's a magic door," Peter stuck his head out the entrance of the door. "Someone creepy lived here."

"This plan just keeps getting better and better," Finnley mumbled under her breath, following Adelaide into the tree. Once inside Adelaide understood what Peter meant by creepy. It was cluttered and cramped and very obviously had been abandoned for some time. Cast iron chains circled their way up spiraling stairs and large animal traps littered the floor. Adelaide followed Peter up the stairs to find more chains at the top. There was a bell system against a wall of the tree that had obviously been used to alert the resident of activity in the forest, and a large window that surveyed the area.

"Creepy, right?" He commented, peering out the window. Adelaide scratched her head but didn't respond as she looked around him and up at the night sky.

"We're really staying here tonight?" Finnley called up to them, refusing to walk up the stairs.

"It's just one night, stop being so dramatic," Armen responded as he made a small bed next to the door.

"Oh I'm being dramatic?!" Finnley retorted incredulously. Peter, who had listened to the exchange, turned and smiled at Adelaide.

"We should head down and join them. Get some sleep, you know?"

"Go ahead," she smiled back. "I think I'm gonna stay up here and sleep next to the sky."

He stared at her for a long moment. "Okay."

She watched him disappear down the stairs to where Armen and Finnley were still bickering quietly. She was a little disappointed her had left but glad he was at least talking to her again.

She leaned against the wall of the tree that allowed her the best view out of the window, pushing aside a blood stained foot cuff, and took a deep breath of cold air. It had never snowed in the fourth kingdom, for as long as she had lived there.

"I found this," Peter said softly, jarring her out of her thoughts. He was holding a large gray coat in his arms. "Thought it might keep you warm."

He sat next to her and draped the large coat over her legs. She immediately scooted closer, allowing him to share it with her. She inhaled, pressing the jacket against her nose. It smelled of sweat, tobacco, and camp fire smoke and for some reason was oddly comforting.

"Thanks," she finally said, relaxing a little. It had been a long three days since all this had started. It felt strange when she realized she had never been away from her family this long before.

"Didn't want you to freeze to death," he said lightly, his leg brushing hers. He ignored the jolt he felt travel through his skin and the urge he had to touch her face. She didn't need the distraction.

"I would have been okay." She was unaware of his feelings still and unable to consider the possibility she may also have feelings for him. Instead she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She had only meant to rest for a moment not fall asleep. She had underestimated how tired she was.

Peter had more difficulty with sleep. He was hyper aware of her on his shoulder, the sweet smell of her hair, the softness of her skin pressing against his neck. He drifted in and out all night, waking every time she shifted or her breathing changed.

He was grateful for the dawn and Armen who rose with it. "You look terrible," Armen told him cheerfully when Peter and Adelaide came down the stairs.

"Thanks," Peter mumbled, running a hand through messy hair.

They didn't say much else as they began walking again, Adelaide four steps ahead of them sniffing for danger. The woods were completely silent again which kept her on edge.

"The snow is falling harder," Finnley complained around midafternoon. Adelaide had barely noticed, her eyesight sharper than her companions. "We need to get out of it!"

"I can't see ten feet ahead of me," Peter called over the whistling wind. "Adelaide, what do you see?!"

Adelaide surveyed the landscape around her looking for anything that could give shelter.

"Any more magic trees?!" Peter asked as pulled his cloak tighter around his head. The wind was picking up, blowing colder and faster around them, whipping Adelaide's hair almost painfully into her face.

"There!" She shouted, pointing. She could barely make out the ruins of an old castle atop a very high hill. It was far off and would likely take them the rest of the day to reach but she couldn't see an alternative.

They fought against the wind and the pelting ice, their faces buried in their cloaks. It was as if nature herself was trying to blow them back. They linked arms to keep each other on their feet and so they wouldn't lose each other. The snow was coming so fast and hard they wouldn't have been able to see each other.

"The handles are frozen!" Finnley shouted when they reached the doors to the ruined castle. Peter and Armen unlinked their arms and yanked on the frozen brass handle with force until they got the doors opened. The wind was screaming around them as they slammed the doors shut and bolted them behind them.

"Whoa," Finnley finally said, listening to the howling of the wind around them. It seemed to beat against the old walls, trying to get back at them. "That wae intense."

"I have lived here my entire life and never experienced something like that," Adelaide told them as she brushed her tangled hair out of her face.

"This place is creepier than the tree," Finnley said, her boots crunching on leaves that littered the floor. At one point it was obvious the castle had been ruins although someone had come and repaired it since.

"Yeah, well that's because this was the evil queens palace," Peter said darkly, pulling a sheet off of an old portrait. Adelaide looked at the picture of the fair-haired woman, drawn to her face. There was something about her blue eyes and red lips that reminded Adelaide of someone.

"She was so beautiful," Adelaide commented, reaching out to touch the painting. She couldn't explain the urge and didn't try to fight it. A jolt shot through her arm when her fingers connected to the canvas, pictures flooding through her mind rapidly. A barking dog, a room filled with mirrors, a handsome man with steely blue eyes and long hair tied back, a coffin with a petrified corpse.

"Adelaide!" Peter's hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality with a gasp.

"Did you see that?" She asked, noting the apprehension on everyone's face.

"See you convulsing? Honey you looked like you were having a seizure," Armen commented. Adelaide looked up at Peter, whose own face displayed concern.

"Maybe we should leave," Finnley said, her hand on her sword again.

"It's old magic," Armen told them, ignoring Finnley. "Old, dark magic. Magic can't hurt you unless someone is using it, and the old queen has been dead for a good two hundred years."

"We're better off in here than out in the cold. Come on, lets split up and look for candles and blankets," Peter said with authority. Adelaide took a deep breath and followed him down a dark corridor, leaving Finnley and Armen to explore a different section of the castle.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, poking his head into an abandoned room.

"Yeah, just old magic like Armen said. Stop worrying," she smiled, walking ahead to another room. It had a mussed bed with moth-eaten blankets atop of it, but Peter gathered them anyway.

"Oh, look!" She chuckled as a large bone fell out of the sheets and clattered on the floor. "I guess the evil queen had a pet!"

"Hard to imagine that," Peter responded, leading them back down the dark hallway. There was a large oaken door at the end of the hallway and as they approached Adelaide could swear she heard barking. She grabbed Peters forearm, stopping him as she cocked her head to the side.

"What? Whats wrong?" Peter asked with alarm, unable to hear anything but the wind.

"I thought...nothing. It's my mind playing tricks on me."

They stepped to the doors and without hesitation opened them. A warm wind flew out, blowing leaves around them in a tiny whirlwind and around them candles suddenly came to life.

"Maybe we should go..." Peter trailed off as Adelaide stepped in. The room was large, ornately furnished and surrounded by mirrors, all covered by large white sheets.

"This was her room," Adelaide murmured reverently, stepping closer to one of the mirrors and pulling the sheet down slowly.

"We should not be in here," Peter said urgently but Adelaide ignored him. Her fingers traced an ancient pattern along the oval frame, feeling that same electricity buzzing along her fingertips.

"She wants me here," Adelaide said, looking at her reflection. She saw bright eyes and dark hair but no fear.

"All the more reason to go."

"You sound like Finnley. Everything is fine, all the magic mirrors were destroyed. Watch." She turned back to the mirror and cleared her throat. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

She waited a moment and then turned to Peter smirking. "See? You worry way too-"

The mirrors surface cracked loudly into millions of pieces, landscapes flying into view. They both froze, watching until the pieces began to smooth back out. A featureless face appeared and in a monotone said, "My lady Adelaide is fair to see, but there is one more fair than thee."

The face melted away to show Adelaide's mother Virginia huddled against her father on the floor of a poorly lit cell. "Mother?!" She cried, pressing her hands against the glass. They were together and they were alive. She could feel hot tears burning her eyes. "Father?!"

On the opposite side, Virginia and Wolf both paused. "Did you hear that?" Virginia asked, scrambling to her feet. Wolf leapt up, looking around wildly.

"Adelaide?!" He whispered, expecting to see his daughter appear out of the darkness.

"Up here," Adelaide said tears spilling down her cheeks. Peter, still concerned about the dark magic Adelaide was using, stepped forward and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Find the mirror."

"Mirror?" Virginia froze, her eyes locked with Wolf's. He wore a matching look of horror as the found the mirror, hanging at the top of their cell. "Adelaide where did you find a mirror?"

"In the old castle ruins," she told them quickly wiping away tears. "Are you okay? We're on our way, the storm chased us in here."

"Adelaide listen to me very carefully," Wolf said urgently, his eyes full of fear. "You need to leave there at once. Get out of the fourth kingdom, go anywhere but get out of here."

She froze, unable to comprehend her fathers words. "What?"

"It's not safe for you," Wolf was trying to keep the tears out of his voice.

"It's not safe anywhere! Trolls chased us out of seventh kingdom!"

Virginia and Wolf exchanged a look. "Addie, there is a mirror near you, it's a travelling mirror."

"No!" Wolf interrupted his wife ferociously. "Absolutely not!"

"Where else will she be safe?!" Demanded Virginia. "Find it Addie. It has a circular handle on it that turns."

Adelaide stepped away from the mirror and began yanking sheets off of the mirrors looking for the catch her mother had described. She found it and turned it on a long rectangular mirror, stepping back when it flashed on with a large blue light. She recognized the scenery on the other end, she had spent thirteen years of her life there.

"No," she said with determination. "I'm not going back."

"It's the only place you'll be safe," Virginia pleaded through her tears. "We'll come get you, take your friend, but you have to go."

Adelaide turned the travelling mirror off and threw the sheet back over it, inhaling deeply.

"No," she said with finality. "I'm not running away, I'm not going back to that wretched place, and I'm not abandoning you to the trolls."

Wolf smiled, his own tears spilling down his cheeks. "Good girl. Now, cover up the rest of those mirrors and leave. Hide out in the forest, do not come to the palace."

"Father, something is happening," she said urgently. "It's snowing. We might not be able to get out of the castle tonight."

"Try. Stay low, promise me you won't try to find us."

She stepped back, shaking her head from side to side. "I can't do that." She turned her back on the mirror,severing the connection between her parents. Peter pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair softly as she cried into his chest.

x

"The ruined castle?" Virginia sunk back to the floor, pressing her face into her hands. Wolf sat next to her and pulled her into his arms. "How will explain her connection to that place?"

"She was going to learn eventually," Wolf told her miserably.

"Why didn't you tell her to leave?!" Virginia shouted at him, pushing herself out lf his arms. "We could spare her all of this!"

"Because I don't want to lose her," Wolf cried, drawing his knees up to hide chin. Virginia's flash of anger ebbed into misery again.

"We can't protect her, not from here."

"We couldn't, even if we were with her. Not anymore."

x

Adelaide let Peter hold her for a long while she calmed herself down. "They would just send me away," she sniffed, pulling herself away from him to face the mirrors again.

"They just want to protect you," Peter told her softly, wanting to pull her back into his arms.

"Well they can't; not anymore." She brushed her hair back and removed any remaining sheets from the mirrors, except the travelling mirror.

"Mirror," she said sternly, watching the glassy face appear before her. "Show me who is attacking the kingdoms."

"I cannot," the mirror responded in its eerie monotone.

"Why not?" Peter demanded. The mirror remained silent. Adelaide looked at him and then shrugged before she repeated his question.

"Why not?"

"Magic," the mirror said. Adelaide sighed.

"Why won't you talk to Peter?"

"I only respond to the mistress."

"Adelaide this is bad. We should go." Peter was worried about the mirror and the amount of power they seemed to wield.

"How can they be bad? We can see anything." She insisted.

"If you can see them they can see you!" He began recovering the mirrors rapidly. "The evil queen was insane, mad with her power, obsessed with ruling the world."

"I've heard the stories," she said with irritation. "But her mirrors know me, don't you want to know why?"

"No. I want to get out of here and forget all about these. Come on, I'm sure Finnley is a worried mess that we've been eaten by bears."

"Like a bear could catch me," she muttered, letting him lead her out. When they reached the entrance they found Armen and arranging blankets to make a giant bed in front of a roaring fire-place.

"There you are!" Armen clapped his hands together. "Find anything of use?"

"Just this," Peter tossed him the moth-eaten blanket. Armen wrinkled his nose and handed it to Finnley who immediately worked it into the rest of the blankets.

"This should keep us warm tonight," Finnley said, flopping down on the blankets. "I'm so tired."

"Hear hear," Armen seconded. Adelaide and Peter found a small spot and curled up for sleep. Adelaide closed her eyes and tried to find some peace but she couldn't stop thinking about the mirrors.

Adelaide...

Her eyes jerked open and she sat up, looking around. The fire had dimmed in the night and her companions were soundly sleeping.

Adelaide...come to me...

They were calling her. She very quietly climbed to her feet and began walking back to the room with all the mirrors. She expected to see the faceless face in the mirror calling her back. Instead she found a lovely, red-haired woman standing in front of one of the mirrors. She turned to face Adelaide and smiled with full, red lips.

"Adelaide," she breathed, stepping forward to brush the back of her hand against Adelaide's cheek. Adelaide saw the same blue eyes she shared with her mother, dark and deep.

"Do I know you?" She asked, feeling as if she did.

"You are my granddaughter...and my succession."

Adelaide took a step back. Granddaughter. Her mother had left that out of all the stories she had told Adelaide as a child.

"You're the queen " Adelaide responded dumbly, unsure of what else to say.

"Yes, I was. Now I am dead."

Adelaide took another step back. "I'm dreaming."

The Queen held her hand out to Adelaide. "You are very much awake. I have waited for you for a very long time. I want to give you all my power. Come, look."

Adelaide put her hand in the Queen's and allowed her to bring her up to the only uncovered mirror. She brushed Adelaide's hair behind her back, smiling softly. "You are just as lovely as your mother. You could be more lovely, the most powerful woman in all the nine kingdoms!"

"I don't want power," Adelaide said softly.

"Your whole life you . Sheltered. Lied to. You could change all that. You could protect yourself. You could have it all."

The idea was intoxicating. She knew she was being seduced and she was receptive to the darkness the Queen was offering her. She could use the power to take back the kingdoms, drive the trolls back and whoever they were working for. She could keep her parents safe.

"How? What would I have to do?"

The Queen smiled. "Give yourself to me. Give me your soul."

"Adelaide!" Peters voice called. Adelaide shook her head, coming back to reality.

"In here!" She called back. The Queen had disappeared, leaving behind a lingering, sickly sweet smell and a feeling of unease growing in Adelaide. How easy it had been for the Queen to break down Adelaide's defenses. She had almost told her yes, traded her soul in exchange for all that power.

"What are you doing in here?"

"I just...needed to see something. I'm sorry."

"What's going on?" Peter asked, looking in the mirror behind her. She turned and saw the outside of the ruined castle. Snow was falling softly and in the distance a group of people were approaching.

Someone was coming.