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lowered her head, pressing two fingers to her forehead between her closed eyes. She stayed like that for a long time.
    At last, Tania had to break the silence. “Eden? What’s going on?”
    The fierce blue eyes flashed open. “I sense him,” she said. “He is in the Great Hall, and there are many knights with him. Come, I will take you to a place where I can work the glamour without fear of discovery.”
    â€œWhat exactly does an Altier Glamour do?” Tania asked as she followed Eden along the corridor.
    Eden glanced around at her, and there was a strange light in her eyes. “You will see,” she said. “It will be… interesting .”

IV
    Tania crouched in half darkness, her back bent under the low slope of the roof beams, her eyes gradually becoming accustomed to the trickle of light that seeped in between the roofing tiles above her. Dust hung in the air and filled her nostrils. Her feet were balanced on wide joists between which stretched the upper surface of the lath and plaster ceiling of the Great Hall of Faerie. In better times Tania had danced with King Oberon in that grand hall to the music of lute and drum.
    She looked at Eden. Her sister was crouching close by, her eyes closed, her lips moving in a soundless incantation.
    Tania’s ears were full of discordant noise, shouting and laughter and occasional screams welling up from below them. It sounded as though most of the Gray Knights of Lyonesse were gathered in the Great Hall for some sort of feast or celebration.
    Eden’s eyes opened, their intense blue like sapphiresbetween the snow-white curtains of her hair. “It is almost done,” she said.
    â€œDo you want to let me in on exactly what’s going to happen?” Tania said. All she knew was that the Altier Glamour would make it possible for them to move among the Gray Knights without suspicion.
    â€œWe will be transformed into small animals,” Eden said, her eyes fixed on Tania. “It will feel… strange …”
    Tania’s eyes widened. “Animals?” she echoed. “What kind of animals?”
    â€œRats.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œI can do this thing alone if needs be,” Eden said.
    â€œNo, no. I said I’d help and I will,” Tania said. “Will we be able to talk to each other…afterward?”
    â€œIndeed we will.”
    â€œOkay, then.” Tania swallowed hard. “Go for it.”
    Eden lowered her head and the white hair swept across her face. Tania heard her speaking in a lilting fashion, as though reciting a lullaby to a child. She didn’t understand any of the words. Then Eden spoke one word three times:
    â€œVasistabel! Vasistabel! Vasistabel!”
    Tania let out a gasp. Something was happening. A hollow cavern yawned in the middle of her body, a sensation that was like cresting the highest peak of a roller coaster and tipping downward into a stomach-churning plunge. She doubled over, a screaming wind rushing through her brain. She had the impression offalling and of her clothes exploding outward from her in all directions. It was as if her skin was becoming the wrong shape and size for her body. She could feel hair spinning out from her flesh, her eyes bulging from their sockets, the whole of the bottom half of her face pushing hard against her lips, stretching them, tearing the upper lip in two as her teeth grew long and sharp. Her fingers grew, her nails extending and curling into claws. Her legs bent up under her, the knees pressing to her flanks, her feet becoming narrow and spindle-boned. Her heart raced.
    And then everything stopped. She was crouched in darkness with a heavy weight lying over her. She lifted her head and sniffed. Her whiskers twitched. She could smell human being all around her, powerful and instantly recognizable: the scent of herself.
    She suddenly realized what was covering her. Her own clothes. She began to burrow through the creases and