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don't have rafters as she'd hoped they would, but the little bat had found purchase for her claws and was hanging upside down in the corner. "Isn't this exciting! I can't wait to get started."
    The carriage moved with a jolt, making Li'l sway back and forth. "Then it looks like you got your wish," I said, feeling glum. My mother wasn't happy because I didn't have a full complement of escorts. I wasn't happy because my mother had been right about one thing and now I was stuck with so many people. And as for Eadric, well, at least he had a horse he liked and didn't have to ride in a carriage.
    We hadn't quite reached the gate when someone shouted and the carriage rolled to a stop. "Now what?" I said, sticking my head out the window.
    "When you get back, we'll plan a lovely wedding for you," my mother called from the steps to the castle. 'Your father still has to arrange the wedding contract, so we'll have plenty of time to make all the necessary arrangements."
    "Great," I said, waving good-bye. Settling back in my seat, I closed my eyes and sighed.

Four
    W e made good time the first day, partly because I refused to make the frequent stops that my mother usually demanded. At least I was the only human in my carriage and didn't have to talk to my mother's handpicked ladies. Li'l slept most of the morning, dangling from the roof of the carriage like a little black tassel. We had gone only a few miles past the farms surrounding the castle grounds when I felt something crawl onto my lap.
    "Oh!" I said when I realized that it was Shelton. He must have hidden in the folds of my gown just as he had on the day that we met. "What are you doing here?"
    "I was thinking about what you said. I won't mind if you don't spend all your time with me. I like to travel and see the sights, so you go right ahead and do whatever it is you need to do. If you're going on a long trip, you need me to go with you. You never know when these might prove useful," he said, clacking his claws. "Where are we going anyway?"
    I sighed, knowing that I wasn't about to take him back and risk having my mother add to my entourage. "To visit Eadric's parents. They live in Upper Montevista, the kingdom just to the north of Greater Greensward. I've never been there myself, but I hear it's very beautiful."
    "Are there any oceans?" asked the little crab.
    I shook my head. "No oceans, but there are a lot of mountains."
    "That's too bad," he said, and then he scuttled up the wall to the window ledge. "Wow, this thing goes fast!" Grabbing hold with his claws, he fought to keep his balance until I put my hand up to help him.
    "I suppose," I said, although a moment before, I'd been thinking how slowly we were moving.
    "Where are we now?"
    I leaned forward to look out the window. "We're in the enchanted forest. This is the only road that will take us where we want to go. These trees are hundreds of years old."
    "Do they have coconuts?" he asked, swiveling his eyestalks toward the tops of the trees. The only trees growing on the island where we'd met had been surrounded by fallen coconuts that the green crabs seemed to love.
    "No," I said. "Sorry."
    "What are those?" he asked, pointing at a doe and her fawn.
    Shelton was interested in everything. After growing up on a tropical island, he had lived on the ocean floor with Coral, so all the things I was used to were new and exciting for him. He was full of questions about the animals, the size of the forest, the way some of the trees pulled up their roots and moved around, and why all the horses screamed and the ladies-in-waiting shrieked when a griffin flew by and I had to say a spell to send it on its way. When we passed a waterfall and saw a green-skinned nymph swimming in the pool at its base, his eyestalks twirled as he asked, "Is that a mermaid?" He was disappointed when I pointed out that she had legs instead of a tail, but he seemed pleased to have seen her at all.
    By midafternoon I was already sore from the jolting of the