Page 34 of The Abandoned Princess

“As entertaining as this is, we should probably be more cautious,” Xander said. “Eulalie can see us, even if no one else can.”

My insides twisted at his words. I thought I’d changed in my five years, but had I learned nothing? I should know better than to chase risks for the sake of excitement.

“Daisy?” called an incredulous voice from between two houses.

“Eulalie isn’t the only one who can see us!” I said, groaning. “We forgot about the children!”

A girl and boy, clearly brother and sister, raced into the street, their mouths hanging open.

I put my finger to lips, gesturing for them to retreat back between the buildings, the three of us following them.

“Anaya. Arlo.” I nodded a greeting to them both. “Please keep your voices down. And can you spread the word to the others? We’re hunting Eulalie, and we think she might be in the village, so we don’t want her to find out we’re here.”

They both stared wide-eyed from me to Xander before exchanging a look.

“So it was the truth!” Arlo exclaimed.

Anaya grimaced. “I told you Charli wouldn’t make something like that up.”

“But you said it sounded far-fetched,” he protested.

“Charli told you about the prince?” I asked, surprised, remembering our instructions to keep it quiet.

“Don’t worry,” Anaya said. “She knows we’d never go blabbing about it. We learned our lesson on that years ago.”

She looked angry, sparking a twinge of guilt in me. All the children who visited my clearing had been forced to put up with their families’ disbelief.

“Obviously she didn’t tell Barnaby or Otis.” Anaya rolled her eyes.

“Is there lots of trouble over my disappearance?” Xander asked. “I don’t want any of you children getting caught up in that.”

“If the visitors have noticed, they’re keeping quiet about it for now,” Anaya said. “No one in the village is talking about it, at least. That’s part of why we thought maybe Charli had been mistaken somehow…” Her words trailed off as she looked at the evidence in front of her eyes.

“Well, there’s a blow to my pride,” Xander said with a laugh in his voice. “I thought they would have at least noticed my disappearance.”

I gave him a repressive look. “It hasn’t actually been that long yet. And it makes sense they wouldn’t start making a fuss about it immediately anyway. They’ll want to be sure you aren’t going to—” I broke off, turning to Anaya. “Where’s Charli right now?”

She blinked. “I’m not sure?” She looked at Arlo.

“She’s at her house,” he said. “You know how her sisters are. They’ve been conspiring to give her all the at-home chores while the visitors are here so they can be the ones parading themselves around the village.”

Anaya rolled her eyes again. “That sounds right. Especially since her sister was one of the ones to catch her in the clearing.” She looked back at me. “Do you know where her house is?”

“I do,” Lori said, surprising me.

Both children looked at her in surprise, appearing to notice her for the first time.

“Are you in the enchantment, too?” Anaya asked at the same moment as Arlo said, “Who are you?”

Lori ignored them both and addressed herself to me. “Charli has helped me often enough. She tells me who has useful items they’d be happy to sell, and when those items will be unattended. Then I take the item and leave coin in its place.”

“Does that work?” Xander asked. “The enchantment allows it?”

I nodded. “We can interact with anything in our environment as long as there isn’t an adult there to see something floating around or moving on its own.”

“It’s odd behavior, taking something secretly,” Lori said. “But I’m sure no one suspects an invisible person is behind it. And no one has seemed to mind, given I leave the coin.”

“That is excellent news!” Xander said. “I was afraid I was going to be limited to eating things we could hunt or forage for ourselves. Thankfully, I always carry my coins on my person, so I have them with me.”

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