EURION WASN'T SMALL BY any means, but she'd learned how to tuck herself into the tightest crevices she could find. When she heard the call and noticed Kit ducking for cover, she found the quickest place to hide.

She rushed into the house where Morgana used to be, sliding up beneath his bed and curling up into the furthest corner, pulling the extra linens stored there in front of her and on her feet.

She didn't know where everyone else went, but she had to trust that they were hidden.

It took a minute before the real panic started. She heard dozens of voices and the clicking of hooves as the men made their way into the village.

"Where are they?" the men bellowed. There were crashes and screams from outside and Eurion clapped her hand over her mouth. She wished she could be there to help, but she couldn't.

"You're violating the treaty," a druid said.

"We are not here for you, King Connor believes you are harboring fugitives," the intruder replied. "If you turn them in, we will leave you alone."

"We haven't had any visitors in decades," the druid lied with a shaky voice. "Please, we don't have any idea what you're talking about."

The druid yelped, followed by the man's rough voice. "Don't lie to me. Today is not a good day for me and you don't want to make it worse."

"I'm not lying!" the druid cried. "I swear!"

"Search the place up and down, we're not leaving until we've checked every crevice."

Eurion gulped.

It felt like an eternity, waiting there under the bed. The air was getting stale, but she couldn't afford to do anything about it. She just had to pray they wouldn't find her and leave before the air runs out.

She jumped when the door swung open and her heart started thundering in her chest, loud enough to make her hope they couldn't hear it. She kept her hand over her mouth, and took small, quiet breaths through her nose.

"Look everywhere," they said. She could hear their footsteps only a few feet away from her head, boots clunking against the creaky wooden floors. One of them started stomping.

"No one is gonna fit under the floorboards, you idiot," the other said. "Their houses are one level."

"It was worth a try," he murmured.

There was a lot of rustling and stomping and crashing while the men turned the place upside down, and it was only a matter of time before--

"Have you looked under the bed?"

"No one is small enough to fit under there."

"They have a child."

A beat. "Right."

She gulped when she heard the floors creak next to her, and she squeezed her eyes shut when she heard the voice like it was right in here ears.

"Just a bunch of blankets."

"Look under the blankets."

Shit. She had to think fast. There was a sack folded up near her. She was as silent as a mouse when tossed it over her face and froze.

The linens in front of her moved back. She could feel the man staring at her, inches away. She thought he might stare forever.

It was getting hard not to breathe.

"Just a bag," he said, and Eurion almost let out a breath of relief.

"Dammit," the other man said. "I got nothing, either."

The moment they left, Eurion waited a minute, then pulled the sack from her face and exhaled. But she didn't leave her hiding place just yet.

"You're lucky they hid well," the first man growled. "We know they're here, but we will leave you alone today."

She waited until there were no sounds of the men before slowly sliding herself out, taking gulps of fresh air and rising to her feet. Her body ached from the cramped position and her bones popped when she started moving again.

It was chaos outside. Nothing was destroyed, but several things had been upended and scattered about and the druids were holding each other, shaken and afraid.

A woman ran up to Eurion as soon as she saw her, wrapping her into her arms.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're safe. Where were you?" The woman pulled back to examine her face.

"Under the bed," she said, nodding to the house. "I made myself look like a pile of linens."

"Clever girl."

They both turned their heads when they heard Giselle's voice. Selene was there too, gripping her hand.

Eurion stepped away from the woman and ran towards the girls, who pulled her into a hug as soon as they saw her.

She sat there for a moment before stepping back again. "Where'd you hide?" she asked.

"Glamour," said Giselle. "I don't use it much but I used it today. Made us look like the wall."

Lionel appeared next, a bit rattled but overall his face was calm. Giselle was the first to run to him, scooping him up and checking him over.

"I hid under the floor," he said. "Those guards were a little stupid."

"The boys," Selene said. "They should be here by now, where are they?"

Giselle looked at her. "Maybe they don't know it's safe to come back."

"Split up, let's find them," Selene ordered.

Eurion checked around the lake, going the opposite direction as Selene. There were lots of curves and crevices where the two of them could've hid in the rock there, but she didn't see them. She called to them, but there wasn't an answer.

It only took a few minutes before Selene announced that she found them, and Eurion ran back to the village.

Kit and Morgana were completely drenched and breathing like they'd just run for their lives.

She could only guess why. "Did you two--"

"Yeah, they hid in the lake. The actual lake," Selene said in disbelief. "Seriously, I don't know how you did that."

The looks on both of their faces meant there was something they weren't telling them.

"He's a faery and I was a Knight, we can hold our breath for awhile," Kit answered.

Morgana looked uncomfortable.

"Your injury," Giselle said to him. "How did that not make it harder?"

The faery shrugged, but he was silent.

Eurion made eye contact with Kit, and the look he gave her told her everything she needed to know.

Giselle gently brushed Morgana's cheek, and he melted right into it. "We're glad you're safe."

Another druid approached them, taking in the sight of the two soaking men. "Heavens," she said. "Let's get you two some fresh clothes." She escorted them away, and Eurion followed them with her eyes, taking note of the distance they kept between each other.

"Did anyone notice how rigid they looked?" Selene noted.

Eurion let out a short laugh. "No, they totally look uptight."

"Maybe it's just because they hate each other and had to deal with it for a long time," Selene reasoned. "But no, yeah, it's probably not that."

They giggled about it for a minute, until they were reminded of the mess in the village.

Carts full of hay had been overturned, logs of firewood now rolling across the ground. Barrels were tipped over and emptied, homes stirred up and things taken from their places. The mess could be cleaned, but the thing they couldn't fix was the trauma the druids felt.

"This was our fault," Eurion heard Selene say as she gathered up logs. "We're really sorry we brought this mess to you." It was Cian she spoke to.

"This wasn't your fault," he assured her. "You didn't know this would happen, and of course, you didn't bring yourselves here anyway."

"I appreciate that, Cian."

For a couple hours, they all helped to clean the village back up. Kit and Morgana joined, too, once they were in dry clothes, and they made sure to stay far across the village from each other.

By midday, things were back in their places, and they were given a small lunch. Eurion took hers up to Chalice's rock, and she shouldn't have been surprised when Kit joined her.

"Hi," she greeted, squinting up at him through the bright sun.

He sat down next to her. "Hi."

"Hi."

Tension rolled off him in waves as he ate his apple, biting into it like he wanted it to scream in pain or something.

"What happened? With you and Morgana, like really?"

Kit didn't say anything for awhile, like he was contemplating even telling her. She was patient, she could wait.

"Apparently he breathes out what I breathe in or something," Kit explained. "I'm sure you can... figure out what that meant."

Eurion tried hard not to grin like an idiot. "Oh, I can figure it out alright."

"Now I'm just waiting for him to do something awful and bad so I can feel mad at him again instead of... Yeah."

"What's so wrong about feeling like this?"

He ran his hands over his face and clutched his hair. "I still can't trust him," he said. "And if I let myself keep feeling like this, he's gonna take advantage of it again. He's willing to play with me like that if he needs to and I don't want him to."

"Did you talk to him about your kiss?"

"I was about to, until we got ambushed."

"Right," she said, and bit into her own apple.

Kit stared down at his lap, fidgeting with the string of his pants. "Every part of me knows I should hate him, and if I'm honest, every part of me does. But... hatred is a strong emotion. I wouldn't be wasting it on someone I don't care about."

"That's profound, who told you that?"

He paused. "Morgana."

"I see." She gave him a knowing look, but he was still keeping his eyes on his hands.

They talked a little longer, about Morgana and about the raid and about stupid things that didn't matter, and they only came down when Selene called to them.

"We need to have a talk, all of us," she told them.

They rounded up the rest, Astyr included, and they gathered inside the house where Morgana stayed. He and Giselle sat on the bed, but everyone else stood.

"Listen," Selene started with a shaky voice. "I don't think it's safe for us to stay here anymore."

No one said anything.

She took a breath. "We're going to put the village in danger and I can't have that on my conscience. It's been a good break here, we've had food and beds and a place to stay, kind of cool down for a little while. But we can't risk hurting anyone else."

It made sense. They got lucky today, the knights didn't burn the whole thing down or hurt anyone, but Eurion didn't doubt they would if they came again.

"You're right," Kit said. "But we haven't found a solution for Faerie."

"We'll stay here one more night, you have until then to look," she said. "We can find another place to search for answers, but I don't need us to give anyone a reason to hurt Chalice's family."

It felt like a punch in the gut.

Sometimes, Eurion could distract herself. She could talk to Kit and listen to him ramble about Morgana. Or she could play pretend with Lionel to keep him entertained. Or she could read with the druids and scour every book in the village for an answer. But it didn't mean the wound wasn't fresh, and every reminder made her feel like her heart got ripped out again.

"If no one has questions, I guess we can carry on with our day," Selene continued, voice low. "We leave at dawn."

Kit and Eurion helped the faeries search with the druids for the rest of the day, until the sun was gone and stars lit up the sky. They found bits and pieces of possibilities, but there was nothing concrete. The Fair Folk didn't often get diseases, so there wasn't a lot of history they could go off of.

Cian gave them a sad look when they finally decided to go to bed. They wouldn't find anything there.

Eurion slept, but not well. She was the first awake again, and she spent as much time on Chalice's rock as she could, until the sun began to peak over the horizon and the others emerged from their sleep.

She didn't want to leave. This was the only piece of Chalice she had left. But Selene was right, they couldn't let their family get hurt.

"Do you have what you need?" Selene asked her as she slid back down.

Eurion motioned to the small sack hanging from her belt, and the daggers from Mab tucked on the other side. "All set."

"Good."

A couple of druids were awake now, and they took notice.

"Are you leaving?" Cian said, forehead creased with worry.

Selene held his arm. "We don't think it's safe for you guys if we stay here," she told him. "We don't want to leave, but we want you guys to be safe more than anything."

Cian nodded. "I understand. We enjoyed having you, truly. We'll miss you guys."

"We'll see you again, Cian, I promise you," Selene told him.

"That better be true. You lot stay safe."

Selene turned to gather up the others, but Cian stopped Eurion before she could follow.

"Hey, I have something." He handed her a paper with shaky hands. "I don't know if it will help, but it's the last idea I could come up with."

Eurion took it and unfolded the pages. It was pulled straight from a book, and at the top of the page, in bold letters, it said one thing.

Her face broke apart into a grin. "The Holy Grail."