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CHASE MOVED SWIFTLY. He wasn’t safe. True, his female body concealed him from the Influencers, but she lacked strength and endurance. Not to mention he constantly tripped on the hem of his dress. But the Influencers could easily track him as a man and if they caught him, they would drag him back to his shackles in the Neverworld. This had happened before when they caught him poking around in the Closet of Gains. It wasn’t enough that they suspected him of espionage. If they found out that he stole their transformation magic they would torture him and then kill him. He needed to cover ground quickly—more quickly than Jareth’s wife and her children. Yes, he knew where they were and where they were headed.
So, he changed back into a man as he passed the portal of Ogress, aware of the Neverworld’s dark hallways that crossed under the river to the Indoctrination rooms. Many Influencers kept guard above ground here, and on invisible islands that floated on the water. If he could run fast enough he might avoid them. They were spirits, unable to kill, but they could terrify and torture.
Still, the real judge would condemn him to death. Chase would be proven untrustworthy. He knew too much. They would have to kill him.
A film of blue appeared ahead. A gust of wind chilled his cheeks as the form of a winged-eel appeared, a creature who could not bear sunlight but who heralded the presence of an Influencer. Chase swallowed, and in his haste, he stumbled and fell.
The Influencer passed the eel-creature and galloped toward Chase, a rope dangling in his hands. The same sort of rope Chase had been tied with before. Only this time they wouldn't bind him to a post and torture him with it. This time they would hang him with it, after they excreted the magic from him.
Chase leapt to his feet.
A loud whistle pierced his ears. The call of pursuit. Soon other huntsmen joined the lone Influencer. They burst out from shadows in the forest—ghastly fellows of bone white flesh, sunken eyes, and fingers long and gnarled. Already Chase had lost his breath and his heart thumped. Cold sweat rained from his brow and tears from his eyes. Ahead of him the film of their presence appeared. He veered toward the river, but two of the seekers emerged from the Neverworld. Trapped, Chase stopped. The putrid smell of death and iron on their breath wrenched his stomach. The one with the rope took his arm, sharp nails cut into his skin. Chase closed his eyes tight, enduring the pain.
Panic triggered him to change. His body quaked with each movement through time and space as he hurried the process, transforming from male to female in bouts of tremors, excreting puffs of blue and gold vapor. The Influencers swarmed him as the coarse fiber of a rope scratched his neck.
But he was gone—to them.
With the magic he had stolen, he slipped from the noose and vanished from their sight, leaving them huddled around the spot where he had been.
Chase hurried away, tripping on the gown, and stubbing his toe. He did not stop to take a breath until he was well out of the forest.
When the threat of capture lessened, and the great wall of Kolada appeared on the horizon, Chase slowed to a walk, panting and wheezing. He contemplated all that had happened. The magic of transformation wasn’t his, and had he known it would consume him, he’d have found a better way to package it other than in his body. It's presence turned his stomach. He despised it.
He had stolen it not for himself, but to keep it away from the children. He had just cause to take it. Lord Sylvester had lied to him about their mission and when he found out this magic would be given to a child assassin, the news appalled him and so he sabotaged them. If only he could find someone to help him escape to the sea, he could lose his scent in the salt water, somehow dispose of the sorcery there, and then perhaps find a ship to take him to the islands.
He hadn't the strength now, though. Now he needed to find a hiding place and he knew of only one such retreat.
When he came to Lord Sylvester’s manor in Kolada, he climbed through the window into Anna’s room, his hands still trembling. He stood by the bed. Pulling back the hood to his cloak, he glanced at the mirror on the wall. He was not just a man dressed as a woman, he was a woman. A young, fair-haired maiden with topaz curls that flowed off her shoulders. The gown she wore sparkled under her velvet cloak. His face had smoothed so that no harsh lines wrinkled his skin, his cheeks were rosy, his blond lashes long, lips full. “Evanora,” Chase whispered, not sure if he hated the woman in him, or loved her.
“Anna,” Evanora whispered. “Anna, I must talk with you.”
Anna hadn’t been sleeping, not soundly, for she blinked and quickly sat up in her bed.
“Who are you?”
“It’s me. Chase. I escaped.”
“Chase? As a woman? So, it’s true? You did steal it?” Anna pushed the covers aside and reached for her robe. “There’s a rumor spreading in the Neverworld that it was you. You’re in deep trouble and this was the wrong place to come. If my parents find you here, I’ll be arrested, and I have no intention of facing the same fate as you.”
“They won’t find me, not like this. And your parents won’t arrest you.”
She snickered.
“You have to help me.” He couldn’t accept that she wouldn’t. He’d beg her until she tired of hearing him.
“I cannot.” Anna answered with a roughness that angered Chase.
“You won’t have to do much. Get me a horse, that’s all I’m asking for. A horse to ride to the coast. One that you have permission to use so your father’s soldiers don’t chase me. Tell them it got loose from you. Tell them it threw you and ran off.”
She scoffed at him. “Go back and turn yourself in, Chase. Perhaps the Influencers will be merciful to you. Return what is theirs and own up to your mistake.”
“They shouldn’t have this magic, Anna.”
“And neither should you. They’ll kill you if they catch you.”
“But you’ll help me escape. You have to. You’re all I have.”
Anna shook her head and regarded him with curiosity. “You’re quite lovely as a woman, Chase. If I didn’t know better, I’d be jealous. Look at those curls. And blond hair? Did you plan that yourself?”
Chase blushed.
“You do know if you hold onto that magic, you’ll be transformed forever. There will be no returning to a man, nor a wizard. You’ll be a woman for the rest of your life and have to succumb to all the oppression and burdens women are born to bear. It’s despair. You won’t like it at all.”
“I’ll only keep this magic until I can escape from their clutches. Then I’ll lose the spell somewhere.”
“Well, I won’t put myself in the position you’re asking me to. I won’t defy my parents.”
“You must.” It repulsed him when she spoke of being under the strong arm of her parents. The girl was of age and yet she cowered to her father as if he held her by the throat. “You’re your own woman. Exercise your independence,” Chase pleaded.
“If I ever do, it won’t be to rescue an eccentric wizard whose loyalty...and gender...is questionable.” Anna’s voice softened. “It’s best for all of us if you relent. Tell the Influencers you made a mistake, that you’re sorry, and that you’ll be obedient from now on. And change out of that ridiculous dress. No woman would wear such extravagant clothes at this hour unless you’re a woman of the night. Are you?”
Chase blushed.
“And where is your cap?”
“What cap?”
“A hat. A woman always wears something on her head when she goes out. Did anyone see you enter the castle?”
“Of course not. No one has seen me since I left Ogress.”
“And what were you doing in Ogress? And how did you escape? Who helped you?”
Chase stormed to the window clenching his fists under his cloak. Already she had him on the defensive and he needed her help. If he tells her about Jareth, she might tell her father. He shouldn’t have come here. He couldn’t trust Anna.
“I won’t tell you.” He had sworn fidelity to Jareth and his family for saving him. He wouldn’t incriminate them. He’d been tossed to-and-fro all his life, continually bowing out of his obligations. Look at him! He had never given his all to wizardry. He couldn’t even commit to being a man. Would he commit to being a woman, now? No. This body felt so weak and vulnerable, and yet he was more protected as Evanora than as himself.
“Chase,” Anna sighed.
“What is life if you don’t honor your promises?” he mumbled, not meaning for her to hear. But she did. Anna had acute hearing. That’s what made her such a good spy for her father.
“I don’t know why I came to you.”
“I do. Because I understand. And because I’ve been your friend for almost fifteen years. But that doesn’t mean I approve of what you’re doing.” She paused as Chase stared out the window.
“What promise are you honoring?” she asked.
“It’s a private matter. I can only tell you that there is a woman coming this way with her children. She needs help, not more heartache.”
“Who is she?”
Chase put the cloak over his head, still gazing at the moon through the window. “Tell on me if you must, but do not take her children to the Neverworld. I beg of you.”