Chapter 3

The Moreau mansion was as ridiculously large and over-the-top as their maple syrup empire. I walked up the long driveway feeling like I was marching into enemy territory.

Ethan was lounging by the pool when I found him, a bandage on his head. He looked surprised to see me, but a smug grin quickly replaced it.

"I knew you couldn't stay away," he said, enjoying my "attention." "Mom said you were being difficult on the phone."

"I'm not here for you," I said flatly. "I want the pendant back. The maple leaf one."

He laughed, a short, arrogant sound. "That old thing? Why, you want to replace it with a new one?"

"Just give it to me, Ethan."

He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a necklace. He dangled it for a moment, then arrogantly tossed it at my feet. It landed in the grass with a dull clink.

I picked it up. Willow, who I'd brought along in her small pot, let out a tiny, heartbroken whimper in my mind.

The pendant was a cheap, plastic imitation. The kind you get from a gumball machine.

It's not mine, she cried. He swapped it.

I looked at Ethan. He was watching me, a cruel amusement in his eyes. He knew. He had kept the real one.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

I didn't answer. I just turned and walked away, my anger a cold, hard knot in my stomach.

Frustrated, I came up with a new plan. I sent Willow, in her tiny, mobile sapling form, to sneak back onto the mansion grounds that night. Her job was to find the real pendant.

I waited for her near an old, overgrown part of the property, where a struggling plant nursery bordered the estate. The place was dark and quiet.

While I was pacing, a figure emerged from the shadows of a greenhouse.

"You're trespassing."

The voice was low and quiet. I jumped, startled. It was Jasper, the town's resident outcast. He was known for being quiet and keeping to himself, running this nursery that always seemed on the verge of closing.

"I'm just waiting for a friend," I mumbled, feeling awkward.

He just stared at me with dark, unreadable eyes.

Just then, Willow came scurrying back through the fence. She wasn't carrying the pendant. She was dragging a half-eaten rotisserie chicken.

Look! she chirped excitedly in my head. Ethan threw this out the window for me! He knew I was hungry! He does care!

I stared at the greasy chicken. He hadn't given her a gift. He'd thrown his garbage at her.

The absurdity of it all-the fake pendant, the lovesick dryad, the stupid chicken-it all hit me at once. The stress of the past few days crashed down on me. The world tilted, my vision went black, and I fainted, right into Jasper's arms.