"Fluffy Ducky!" Hippy leaped after the box, but both muses caught her by the arms. She kicked at the air, scratched any skin she could reach, even tried to bite the both of them, but it was like fighting air. The two muses carried her up the stairs and down the second floor hall.

Pierus kicked open the bedroom door. "Go play somewhere else, Nikifor," he said.

Nikifor let go and backed away.

Hippy wrenched free of Pierus's hold. He shoved her in the ribs so hard she stumbled into the bedroom and collided with a wall. For one terrifying moment she thought he was going to follow her in. If he did, she'd kill him, the future of Shadow be d.a.m.ned.

But he stayed in the doorway and just looked her up and down. "This is what happens when you forget you are my fairy," he said. "If you find a way to leave this room I'll feed you your spider for breakfast."

He closed the door. A lock turned on the other side. Then a bolt slammed home.

Hippy threw herself at the door and hammered on it with her fists. "I want my Fluffy Ducky!" she screamed.

It must have been the early hours of the morning when Hippy woke up. Her eyes were still sore. There was n.o.body there to see her, so she'd cried herself to sleep in the big bed after exhausting her voice and her fists hammering on the door.

Moonlight bathed the bed hangings in silver and the floor with white. The door was still closed, but Pierus was curled up on the floor muttering to himself.

She sat up and searched for a weapon. She could put an end to Pierus right now.

His back arched. His hair fell over his face and he whimpered.

Hippy slid off the bed and watched him, uncertain. "Pierus?"

He raised haunted eyes, but she didn't think he saw her. "Pandora," he said. "You're here. I knew you'd be here." He took a deep, ragged breath and reached out to her, but remained on his knees. "Pandora forgive me. Forgive me my love, free me from these chains of ice."

"I'm not Pandora." Hippy circled him, keeping out of reach.

"Don't you think I know you?" His voice cracked. "Don't you think I've seen you pursuing me across the centuries, wreaking your vengeance at my heels, my every step? But this, this last is the cruellest of all, my love, take this fairy curse off me!"

Hippy paused with her hand on the door. "What fairy curse?"

He stayed where he was, his back to her. His shoulders shook. "It was so neatly done, it could only have been you. To show me my death in the Apple, the one thing you and I shared."

"What death?"

"Cruel ghost," he breathed. "Must I relive it every time I close my eyes? Every time I see you? Is this how you punish me for my crimes?"

"Yes, absolutely. Tell me about your death." Hippy took a cautious step closer.

"She looked like you." His voice turned to a rasp. "But she had green hair and she was with Nikifor. They're going to kill me, Pandora. The darkness will finally take me. I will know the horrors, all of them. Forgive me. Save me." He dived forward, clutched her ankles and pressed his lips against her feet.

"Ew." Hippy tried to move away, but his hands were like manacles. "Stop it Pierus!"

"Forgive me Pandora," he said. "I beg you, forgive me."

Hippy considered kicking him in the head, but then he started to cry. She grimaced. She'd never seen a muse cry. The creature at her feet was not the powerful, cruel muse king at all, it was a wretched shadow of him. The black core of her rage escaped her grasp, to be replaced with only pity and contempt. She sighed, sank to the floor and patted him awkwardly on the head.

He released her ankles and laid his head in her lap. Sobs shook his whole body.

Hippy absently stroked his hair and looked out of the window at the moon. A woman with green hair who looked like Pandora. Who looked like her. Her daughter, the child even now growing in her belly, was going to kill Pierus. Her daughter and Nikifor. Did he know? He must suspect it.

"Pierus," she whispered. "If Nikifor is going to kill you, why do you keep him here?"

"I must keep my enemies closest of all," he said in a voice so low she could barely hear it. "Keep them close. Keep them weak."

Her hand stilled on his hair. Poor Nikifor. Poor, stupid Nikifor. She'd have to get him away from here when she was done punching him in the face.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR.

Hippy woke alone. Morning sunshine slanted across the bed, warming her legs. The door was ajar.

She jumped out of bed, ran down the stairs two at a time and made a beeline for where the wooden box lay on the floor. The lid was open. The box was empty. Fluffy Ducky had got away. Her heart pounded in relief and she started a search of the whole bottom floor, calling for him.

Hesitant footsteps approached when she neared the front doors. Nikifor stopped in the doorway of the dining room. He looked fresh and rested, but for the shadows under his eyes. "Good morning."

Hippy eyed him warily. "Where's Pierus?"

"He had to go away for the day. He'll be back by nightfall."

"Nikifor." She crooked her index finger to beckon him. "Come here."

He strode toward her. "What is it my little friend?"

"Closer." Hippy beckoned him down to her level.

Nikifor bent closer.

Hippy grabbed his ear in her fingertips, punched him in the mouth and then pushed him away.

Nikifor lost his balance and fell to the floor. He wiped blood from his lip and looked up at her with wounded surprise. "What did you do that for?"

"Just to remind you if you ever attempt to manhandle me again, I will beat you black and blue." Hippy shook a fist at him to punctuate the point.

Nikifor stared. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about last night! Now where's Fluffy Ducky?"

He got to his feet and backed away from her. "I'm sorry Hippy, I don't know where Fluffy Ducky is, and I don't know what you're talking about. I would never cause you harm."

"Oh, you wouldn't?" Hippy advanced on him. "What did you call that last night then? You took Fluffy Ducky from me when he was in that box over there! Then you and Pierus dragged me upstairs and locked me in the bedroom! What's the matter, did that horrible vibe stuff damage your mind too much to remember?"

Nikifor stopped backing away. His mouth fell open. His eyes went wide and blank while memories tried to crack their way into his brain. His hand went to his head. "No," he said. "Oh no."

"You really don't remember." Hippy's anger drained away.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"You both went crazy," she said. "I was scared, Nikifor."

He wouldn't meet her eyes. "There was no other way."

"Of course there's another way. The Freakin Fairies can help you."

"n.o.body can help me. n.o.body except my king."

"He's not trying to help you!" Hippy stopped herself. She had to be more careful than this. She took a deep breath.

"I made you breakfast," Nikifor said.

"You did?" She gave him a suspicious look. "Does it have blood in it?"

"No. It has eggs in it."

"Fine, I'll eat it, but only because I'm hungry. And then I'm going to find Fluffy Ducky. He must be terrified."

"Perhaps if I help you, you will forgive me for my behaviour?"

She glared. "Perhaps."

They searched every room in the castle except for Pierus's laboratory, where Nikifor refused to go. Then they searched the gardens outside, the fountain, everywhere. Hippy went around the entire perimeter calling for Fluffy Ducky, but he didn't come to her. She stopped to look out over the plain, bewildered. Where last night there had been only gra.s.s, this morning there were seedlings growing in long, neat rows, with two leaves each.

Fluffy Ducky wouldn't have gone that far.

She turned her back on them and investigated the bushes. Nikifor, who had either given up or was distracted, hacked at a few with his sword, teasing out the overgrown shapes hidden inside them.

"Nikifor wait."

He lowered his sword. "What is it?"

Hippy went closer to the bush he was working at. "There's a web." She pointed to a thick mat of web just peeking out of the foliage. "See, there."

"Is it Fluffy Ducky's?" Nikifor bent closer to see.

Hippy eased aside the branches. "Fluffy Ducky? Fluffy Ducky it's me, are you hiding in here?"

The foliage trembled. Something inside shifted.

Hippy's heart hammered in excitement. "Fluffy Ducky! It's okay, you can come out now, the nasty old muse king isn't here!" She forced the branches aside.

Three eyes peered at her out of the leaves. A big, hairy leg slowly pressed a branch down.

Hippy frowned. Those eyes were the size of saucers and that leg was almost as big as her forearm. "Fluffy Ducky? What happened to you?"

There was a clicking noise from inside the bush.

Nikifor took a step back. "Are you sure that's your spider?"

"Of course it is. I'd know Fluffy Ducky anywhere. But he'she's very big."

Hippy wiggled her fingers at Fluffy Ducky. "How'd you get so big? Did you eat a whole vamp or something?"

A branch cracked. The whole bush shivered. Then Fluffy Ducky scuttled out. Something gleamed behind him. He hissed.

Hippy's lower lip trembled. "There's no need to talk to me like that, Fluffy Ducky. It wasn't my fault he put you in that box. He locked me up too."

Two wickedly curved fangs twitched. He hissed again.

Nikifor's voice was unnaturally high. "Hippy I don't think he wants to play."

"Fluffy Ducky?" She blinked rapidly when tears formed in her eyes. "What are you doing?"

Fluffy Ducky leaped.

Nikifor hauled Hippy out of his path.

Fluffy Ducky landed where she'd been standing. He was almost the size of a small fairy. He scuttled in a circle to face them, hissed and pawed at the ground with thick, hairy feet.

Tears ran down her face unimpeded now. "Fluffy Ducky no," Hippy said. "It's me, don't you recognise me? We've been friends forever!"

Nikifor, who still had hold of the back of her dress, dragged her away from the giant spider.

Fluffy Ducky crept forward. He stalked them step for step until they'd reached the fountain. Only then did he scurry back to his bush.

"Fluffy Ducky!" Hippy wailed.

The branches shivered under his weight and settled.

Hippy ran towards it again, but Nikifor picked her up off the ground and hurried back to the castle while she kicked the air and pummelled him in the ribs.

He set her down in the big entry room. "I'm sorry, Hippy."

"Let me back out there!" Hippy yelled. "He knows it's me, he does! He just has toto remember!"

"Hippy that spider will kill you if you go near it again." Nikifor crouched to be on eye level with her. "I'm so sorry. That's not your Fluffy Ducky anymore."

Hippy collapsed on the floor and sobbed furiously.

Nikifor disappeared into another room and returned with a small, shiny creature in his arms. "Look," he said. "I found Fangs earlier."

Hippy took Fangs from him and held her close. After a while, she calmed down enough to stop crying. She wiped her eyes. Fangs crawled onto her shoulder and cuddled into her neck.

"What happened to Fluffy Ducky?" She kept her voice steady with an effort.