He was in the forest again, only this time he was alone. The tree-threaded darkness pressed in on him as Malo Mogge’s fingers had done. The idea came upon him that he would be alone there forever. This seemed worse by far than being eaten.
But then Bogomil was there, too, looking at Daniel with familiar disdain. “And here you are again. How predictable the shape of your two lives.”
“Much of it came as a surprise to me,” Daniel said.
“And that, too, predictable,” Bogomil said. “Was it your sister who sent you here? I liked that one.”
“No,” Daniel said. “My sister’s dead. My whole family’s dead. Malo Mogge sent a wave and drowned them. Then she squashed me.”
“A surprising thing at last,” Bogomil said. “Are you sure of this? You were there to see it? They are dead?”
Daniel said, “No. Maybe Carousel wasn’t there when it happened. She brought me to Mo’s house. She was headed home again.”
“I ask because the thread of magic that connects you to her has not been severed. Can you feel it still?”
Daniel discovered it, the faint, strange current. “Yes,” he said. “So maybe Carousel is alive. But I’m dead. My whole family except Carousel is dead. What happens to her?”
“Malo Mogge will have her key soon,” Bogomil said. “If you tarry here, she will eat you. Were I generous, I might offer you another choice. I might release you from my realm. I might send you across the threshold where she could not follow you. Would you ask this of me?”
Daniel said, “If I did, what would happen to Carousel?”
“A good question,” Bogomil said. “My answer is, I do not know. She is tied to you by magic. She is made of the same magic that made you. She may prove strong enough to sever the cord. She may follow you into my realm or simply be unmade.”
“Then I’ll wait,” Daniel said. “I’ll wait here for her.”
“Such patience!” Bogomil said. “Though Malo Mogge will eat you long before.”
“I know what’s going to happen to me,” Daniel said. “You can’t make me leave.”
Bogomil said, “Apparently no one can make you do anything. But there is yet another possibility.”
“What?” Daniel said suspiciously.
“You have been changed by magic already,” Bogomil said. “Your body was destroyed, unhousing you, and yet you made your way back into Life. Now you are something more than mortal and have resources others who find themselves here do not. Malo Mogge may have sent you through the door, but you escaped my realm before.”
“I don’t know how we did that!” Daniel said. “We were desperate!”
“The last time you and your friends fled, I pursued you,” Bogomil said. “Were I at your heels, perhaps you might manage once again. I believe your friends are in need of you.” Even as he spoke, he was changing, man to wolf.
Daniel fled and the wolf came after him, all helpful teeth and darkness.