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Judging from the distance between the ground and the wagon bed, he must have flown part of the way. Yet nothing surprised her about Knot. Keelie sighed and grabbed the rope and Sean's extended hand. He pulled her up easily, then motioned her to sit on a suitcase as the others had done.
    The wagon lurched forward.
    "This is fun," Keelie said brightly. "We're starting off with a hayride."
    Silence from the elves shut her up. See if she would try to lighten the mood again-if they all wanted to sulk, great. Keelie could tell that this was going to be the worst trip ever. Elia was watching her, but turned her face when Keelie looked at her.
    Keelie examined the passing forest. A huge beetle buzzed past, then swooped around and landed on the suitcase beside her. Knot looked at it curiously, but the others didn't seem to notice it. The beetle stood on its hind legs and nodded its insect head at Keelie, its feelers waving around. Keelie nodded back. The feithid daoine were secretive and although she'd seen them frequently, she'd only interacted with them once, when they'd attacked her at the High Mountain Renaissance Faire. She'd been a little leery of them ever since, but they'd left her alone.
    This feithid daoine pointed up with one pincer-ended leg. Keelie looked up and was amazed to see that bhata were following them, leaping from branch to branch overhead. The forest was filled with them. Whoa.
    "We're almost there." Elia's voice interrupted her. "I must say again that I hope you don't feel slighted, Keelie. As a daughter of the soil and, of course, because of this"-she smiled down at her bulging baby belly-"I'll be welcomed with utmost respect and joy." She smiled at Keelie. "You are a tree shepherdess, of course, so you are due respect as well, but there's that unfortunate, um..." She touched her pointed ear and glanced at Miszrial, as if pointing out that one of Keelie's ears was rounded.
    Keelie rolled her eyes. "Fine. I get it. You're the returning princess. I'm just the mongrel come to help out."
    Miszrial's eyes widened.
    "Don't you guys watch movies?" Keelie asked. "It's the mongrel who always wins in the end."
    "We destroy mongrels," Miszrial said seriously. "Among our animals."
    Cold crept up Keelie's spine. She knew she wasn't being threatened, but the fact that Miszrial had said it so coolly meant that these elves were even less compassionate than the ones back home. She couldn't wait to get back to the Dread Forest. This place was seriously creepy.
    A deer leaped onto the road, startling the horses, which jolted the wagon. As everyone grabbed the sides to keep from falling over, the driver struggled to regain control of the horses.
    The deer didn't run away. He kept pace with the wagon, close enough that Keelie saw her reflection in his liquid brown eyes. His antler-heavy head bobbed with each leap.
    Who are you?
    The voice went through her head and into her bones, deep and rich like thick chocolate, and strangely familiar. She couldn't move; her hand was frozen on the splintery side of the wooden wagon (pine, from the other side of this mountain). Who are you? she answered.
    Herne. Herne. Herne. Herne. The voice echoed in her head. The deer sprinted to the edge of the road, then leaped into the forest and disappeared.
    Herne. She knew that name. In mythology class she'd learned that Herne the Hunter was the Celtic god of the forest, the Master of the Wild Hunt.
    The Green Man.

As if she'd been held in thrall by the deer's gaze, Keelie slumped against the wagon's side, her mind whirling with her discovery.
    Herne, in this forest. When had he left Great Britain, and what was he doing way up here? He didn't seem scary this time, but she had felt his power. Why was he warning her earlier? What did he want?
    "Do not be frightened, Lady Keliel. The forest creatures often come close. They are naturally curious of us. The stag would not harm us." Miszrial's tone was condescending, as if the poor frightened human had never