With eyes closed and pain in his heart, Mousey pressed his paw to his sister’s stone forehead.

He tried to imagine all of her turning back to normal. He’d never seen a mouse’s stomach before, but he did his best to envision a cure for petrification spreading from that point.

“She’s gone!” Nycht hissed.

When Mousey opened his eyes he could see that, indeed, he had failed to turn his sister back to normal. More tears flowed from his eyes, and he closed them and tried again.

“You cannot undo the harm you’ve done!” Nycht said. “Just accept it. This is the damage you’ve caused.”

Mousey’s eyes snapped open, and he swung his stave at Nycht’s head. The lieutenant fell back and drew his sword.

“Is that the way it’s going to be?” he said. “I swore I wouldn’t hurt you again, but if you attack me then I have little choice.”

“You seek to blame me for this?” Mousey yelled. Nycht glanced back and forth and raised a claw to tell him to be more silent. “Don’t tell me to shush! You’re part of the army that did this! You commit atrocities like this all the time!”

“Watch your tone with me, pup,” Nycht yelled back, his brow furrowed in anger. “I’m still your fa—”

“You were her father too!” Mousey interrupted, pointing at Button. “You should have stopped this!”

Nycht sneered. “I couldn’t have stopped it even if I tried! We both would have ended up dead! You are the only one who could have done anything to prevent this!”

Mousey aimed his stave at Nycht. “I don’t want to hear…”

He trailed off when he heard paw-steps approaching. Before he could even find a spot to duck behind and hide, a dozen weasels surrounded him and Nycht, each with spears pointed.

“Mousefred Souris!” shouted one of the weasels. “We knew you’d come for your sister. Surrender and your life will be spared!”

Mousey felt that familiar rage burning inside of him. For a moment, he imagined all of the weasels bursting into flames then and there.

No… never burn anyone again…

It was then that he recalled Sir Ranae’s story about the “octopus,” and got an idea.

He aimed his stave at the ground in front of him, and a strange creature formed on the spot. The body looked like a giant ball made of gelatin, and the arms looked like Sir Ranae’s arms, though far longer. Since Mousey had never seen an octopus before, this was the best he could conjure.

The weasels shrieked and scattered as the creature’s arms reached out for them.

One of the creature’s many arms seized a weasel and tossed him high into the air.

Another arm grabbed a weasel and repeatedly beat him against the ground.

One of the weasels attempted to fight back, only for the creature’s arm to seize the shaft of his weapon and break it over his head.

As madness ensued all around them, Mousey pointed his stave at a horrified Lieutenant Nycht. “Consider yourself lucky. As you said, you are my father, so, even though you’ve done so much wrong to me and those I love, I cannot bring myself to end your life. And I never will.”

With his stave in hand, Mousey walked away from the scene, wiping tears from his eyes.

How am I going to tell Mom? Button’s gone…

“There may be a chance to save her,” said Sopher.

“Really?” thought Mousey. “How? Is there a spell?”

“Not one that I know,” said Sopher. “But, before he died, Erinac, my first master, knew of a book that taught powerful healing magic. If we can find it we can save Button.”

Mousey breathed a sigh of relief and wiped more tears from his eyes. “Good! Just tell me where this book is. Maybe I can get it and hurry back before Mom even knows what’s happened.”

“It’s in the ruins of the tall apes,” said Sopher. “It’s day’s journey on foot from here.”

Mousey felt a chill creep up his back. The ruins of the tall apes. Every mouse knew the ruins were dangerous. The place was a graveyard for all manner of beasts, including the tall apes themselves. Then there was the Domesticult, beasts who called themselves “Pets” and guarded the ruins from beasts they considered too wild. Furthermore, the ruins were where Mousey’s father had disappeared.

Supposedly disappeared.

Mousey looked back at Nycht, who still stood where Mousey had left him, staring at Button’s statue. All the weasels were long gone, having fled from the octopus’ attack.

I need someone to show me through the ruins…

Mousey hurried back over to a confused Nycht. “Were you really a scavenger? Or was that a lie too?”

“What has that to do with—”

“There may be a way to save Button!” Mousey interrupted. “Now, were you really a scavenger?”

“I was,” said Nycht. “But, Mousefred, no amount of old magic from the tall apes is going to save her. No one has ever cured petrification before!”

“There’s a book that teaches the magic I need to save her,” squeaked Mousey. “But I need help getting to it. I need to fly there, so we can arrive as soon as possible, and then I need help getting through the ruins. Can you manage it?”

“This is a fool’s errand.” Nycht shook his head.

“Dad!” Mousey groaned. “You can give up if you want, but I’m not going to! The book in the ruins is the only hope we have! Now, are you going to help me or not?”

Nycht sighed and nodded. “Fine! We’ll chase after fairy legends and fables if you wish. Maybe then, when we’ve proven the book doesn’t exist, you’ll be an adult and own up to what you’ve done.”

Mousey cringed, tightened his paws around his stave, bit his lip, but ultimately said, “Yes… if we fail I’ll accept full responsibility for Button’s fate.”

Nycht spread his wings and gestured for Mousey to climb onto his back, which Mousey did. The lieutenant beat the air, until the two of them left the ground, and started on their way to the ruins.

They soared over the canopy of the trees, and cold wind rushed all around them. From so high up, even the biggest trees looked like they could fit in Mousey’s paw.

The sun was still rising over the horizon, its light illuminating the gray and brown clouds that hung low in the sky. Those dull colors turned to gold, red, and pink when the rays hit them a certain way.

In the distance, Mousey beheld a bizarre sight. There stood great, gray pillars, far taller than the tallest trees. When the light hit them a certain way, something on them glimmered. Some of the pillars were broken, with jagged edges and gaps.

“Are those the ruins?” Mousey asked, his voice drowned out by the roaring wind all around them.

“What?” Nycht yelled back.

“Up ahead!” Mousey yelled, trying to be louder than the wind this time. “Are those the ruins?”

“Yes!” Nycht shouted. “If you’ve never been there before, how do you know that’s where the book is?”

“Don’t tell him about me,” Sopher pleaded. “It’s still his job to see me burned.”

“I read about it once,” shouted Mousey, “Back at the tower.”

Nycht shook his head and groaned. “You could have learned so much more if you’d stayed!”

The green and brown paths beneath them soon turned to black, and the air stung to breathe. Down below, Mousey could see hundreds of those odd boxes, much like the one in which the Toad King had made his palace. Some of them were overturned on their backs, others smashed into each other. The white bones of some animal Mousey did not recognize littered the black below.

The ground below them was broken up, and cords protruded from underneath. The wires were split in places, revealing copper beneath, which sparked and fizzled. Arcs of what almost looked like lightning leapt out at anything which moved near them.

“We have to land soon,” yelled Nycht, “Or some of the Pets will spot us. Which direction are we going?”

Sopher whispered to Mousey, “According to what Erinac said, the book’s keeper should be northwest from here.”

“Northwest,” said Mousey, pointing with his stave.

Nycht glided down, and found a place to land just beside an impossibly tall, steel pole. “Alright. Lead the way.”