Back in the Cookie Room, Hughes had been staring at the sugar map for so long that even the map seemed offended.

It glowed across the central table in shifting lines of syrup-light and crystallised mana, showing the surrounding streets in sticky golden relief. Tiny markers moved across it, each one labelled with a faint pulse of colour.

Celeste.

Mezzo.

Bonbon.

Carys.

Lumina.

Hughes leaned over the map, one hand braced on the table, brow furrowed so deeply it looked permanent.

Celeste and Mezzo’s markers had not moved in several minutes.

That was worrying.

Bonbon’s marker, however, was moving.

Not far.

Just little shifts.

Crawl. Stop.

Crawl. Stop.

Crawl. Stop.

Hughes narrowed his eyes.

“That is… unusual.”

Across the room, Arcade sat on the floor with Chip hovering beside him, Skye tucked close at his side. Pitch lounged opposite them, fanning out a hand of cards with the smug ease of someone who had never once felt shame in his entire life.

Arcade glared at his own cards.

“This game is rigged.”

Pitch smiled lazily. “Every game is rigged. The trick is knowing who rigged it.”

“You did.”

“Then you’re learning.”

Chip bobbed happily. “Arcade’s chance of victory has dropped to twelve percent.”

Arcade squinted at him. “You are meant to be on my side.”

“I am! That was the optimistic number.”

Skye sat quietly against Arcade’s side, knees pulled up, fingers fidgeting with the edge of one card. His eyes were still red from crying, but his breathing had steadied. Arcade had not moved away from him since breakfast. Not once.

Ray stood near the doorway, arms folded, chewing on a fresh lollipop stick like it had personally insulted her.

She glanced at Hughes and snorted.

“You better stop looking at that map, old man. You’ll give yourself a headache.”

Hughes did not look up. “I already have one.”

“Then staring harder is definitely the cure.”

“Carys and Lumina are on their way back,” Hughes said slowly. “Fast.”

Ray straightened a little.

Pitch’s cards lowered.

Arcade looked up.

Hughes tapped the map. “But Celeste and Mezzo have not moved. And Bonbon is moving strangely. Why would Carys and Lumina leave them?”

Ray’s mouth twisted. “Maybe they’re playing hide and seek.”

Hughes gave her a flat look.

“Or,” Ray continued, “they got into trouble again and we need to pull them out again. My money’s on a zombie general.”

Pitch tilted his head. “We have been here two minutes and you’re already betting on disaster?”

Ray shrugged. “The odds are good.”

Skye stared at the map.

His ears twitched once.

Then, very quietly, he said, “They’re asleep.”

Everyone turned to him.

Arcade softened at once. “What?”

Skye’s gaze stayed on Celeste and Mezzo’s unmoving markers. His voice was small, distant.

“They’re asleep. And scared.”

The room went still.

Hughes’s expression sharpened. “How do you know that?”

Skye looked down at his hands.

He did not answer.

Arcade’s jaw tightened. Not at Skye. At the question.

Pitch watched him carefully, cards forgotten.

Ray’s ears dipped slightly, the first flicker of guilt crossing her face since breakfast.

Arcade looked back at his cards, though he clearly wasn’t seeing them anymore. “Maybe we should tell them.”

Skye’s shoulders hunched.

Arcade immediately softened his voice. “Only if you like.”

Skye did not look up. “You can.”

“You sure?”

A tiny nod.

Arcade set his cards down.

“It’s just so they don’t repeat the mistake, that’s all, buddy. I’m looking out for you.”

Pitch leaned forward, gentler than usual. “Look, you don’t need to say a thing. None of it. We kind of know hair bows are… sensitive.”

Arcade’s eyes flicked to him.

“The hair bow wasn’t it.”

Pitch stilled.

Arcade rubbed one hand over his face, then shook his head. “Look, never mind.”

Ray’s voice was quieter now. “Arcade—”

The front door burst open.

Carys stumbled inside first, hair wild, face pale, one hand gripping Lumina’s wrist. Lumina was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

Everyone moved at once.

Hughes straightened. Ray pushed off the wall. Pitch was on his feet before his cards hit the floor.

Carys sucked in a breath.

“We need help.”

Ray pointed at the map. “Called it.”

Pitch glanced at her. “There weren’t many options to begin with.”

“Still called it.”

Hughes crossed the room and crouched in front of Lumina, lowering himself to her level. His voice turned calm in a way that made everyone else quiet.

“Lumina. Tell us what happened.”

Lumina grabbed his sleeve and immediately tried to pull him toward the door.

“Candy floss got them!” she cried. “Celeste and Mezzo—there were these things and the music and the doors shut and Bonbon—Bonbon’s gone too, and they’re trapped and please, please help my sister!”

Arcade stood so fast Chip zipped upward to avoid being smacked.

“Candy floss?” Arcade said.

Carys nodded, breathing hard. “Living candy floss. It came from the restaurant. It wrapped Celeste and Mezzo up like—like cocoons. I couldn’t reach them.”

Lumina choked on another sob. “I left her.”

“No,” Hughes said firmly. “You came back for help.”

“But Bonbon—”

Hughes looked sharply at the map.

Bonbon’s marker crawled another tiny inch.

Stop.

Crawl.

Stop.

His face changed.

“She’s alive.”

Lumina’s breath hitched.

Pitch tucked his cards away, his expression softening by half an inch. Which, for Pitch, was practically a public display of tenderness.

“Well now,” he drawled, “if there’s one thing I know about this lot, it’s that trouble sticks to them like jam on a church picnic table.”

Ray shot him a look. “Is this really the time?”

“Darlin’, this is exactly the time. Folk panic less when they know the idiots they love are predictable.” Pitch nodded toward the glowing markers. “Celeste is sweet enough to apologise to a bugbear trap for stepping in it. Bonbon is tiny, stubborn, and apparently crawling like a determined biscuit. And Mezzo…”

He clicked his tongue.

“Mezzo is what we call back home all hat, no cattle, and somehow still loud enough to scare the cows.”

Lumina blinked through her tears.

Arcade stared at him. “Was that supposed to be comforting?”

Pitch shrugged. “It means he’s ridiculous, not dead.”

Ray muttered, “That is not what that means.”

“It is today.”

Lumina wiped her face with the back of her paw. “So… you think Mezzo is okay too?”

Pitch gave her a crooked little smile.

“Sweetheart, Mezzo has the survival instincts of a rooster in a fireworks factory. Terrible instincts, mind you, but astonishing commitment. He’ll keep making noise until someone finds him.”

Carys let out a shaky breath despite herself.

“That is the worst reassurance I have ever heard.”

“Worst, but memorable.”

Bracer stepped into the room from the rear corridor, already buckling on his gauntlets. “Situation?”

“Rescue,” Ray said, summoning Heartbreaker. “Galaxy Grub in St Dante’s Mall. Candy floss trap. Celeste and Mezzo down. Bonbon missing but moving.”

Bracer’s eyes cut to the map.

Then he nodded once.

“You lot get them out. I’ll hold the fort.”

Ray frowned. “You sure?”

“If something comes here while the Egg Tree is short-handed, someone needs to be standing between it and everyone who can’t fight.” Bracer lifted his chin. “Go.”

Arcade grabbed a satchel from beside the sofa and started shoving tools into it with vicious speed.

“Good thing I upgraded the car.”

Ray glanced at him. “You mean the van.”

Arcade did not pause. “No, I mean the car.”

“It’s a van.”

“It was a car. Now it’s van called Gwennan.”

Pitch blinked. “That is somehow worse.”

Arcade slung the satchel over his shoulder. “Laugh all you want. Gwennan has reinforced plating, mana brakes, a sugar-slick tyre setting, and a cup holder that doesn’t rattle.”

Ray stared. “You upgraded the cup holder?”

“It was making a noise.”

Chip bobbed beside him. “Cup holder stabilisation increased morale by four percent.”

Arcade pointed at Chip. “See? Science.”

Carys gripped the back of a chair, still trying to steady her breathing. “We need to move quickly. I don’t know how long they can hold out.”

Bracer pointed to the sugar map. “Their health bars are still full.”

Hughes looked, then nodded. “They are unconscious or immobilised, but not injured.”

“That can change,” Ray said.

“Which is why you are leaving now.”

Lumina wiped her eyes with both paws. “I’m coming.”

Carys turned. “Lumina—”

“She’s my sister.”

Hughes hesitated.

Then, to everyone’s surprise, Ray said, “Let her come. She knows where the door sealed.”

Carys looked like she wanted to argue, but Lumina’s little face was set in a way that made it clear no argument would stick.

Pitch checked his shotgun. “Well then. Family outing to the murder restaurant.”

Ray glared at him.

“What?” Pitch asked. “Too soon?”

“Yes,” three people said at once.

Arcade grabbed a small device from the table, then looked down at Skye.

His face softened.

“You don’t have to come.”

Skye slowly stood.

Arcade crouched a little. “I mean it. You can stay here with Bracer. No one’s going to think anything.”

Skye shook his head.

“I want to come.”

Arcade studied him. “You sure?”

Another nod.

Skye’s fingers tightened around his cards. His voice was quiet but steadier than before.

“Celeste helped me. Mezzo tried to say sorry.”

Arcade’s expression flickered.

Pitch leaned back on his heels and gave a low hum.

“Well, bless his sparkly little heart.”

Skye looked at him, unsure. “Is that good?”

Pitch smiled with all his teeth. “In Uniona, kid, that can mean about twelve different things, and eleven of them are insulting.”

Arcade narrowed his eyes. “Pitch.”

“What? I’m bein’ educational.” Pitch tucked Lady Luck against his shoulder. “Mezzo’s got a heart bigger than his common sense, and that’s saying something, because his common sense is about the size of a raisin left in the sun. But if he tried to say sorry, that means he meant it.”

Skye’s ears dipped.

Pitch’s voice softened, just a touch.

“Doesn’t mean you have to forgive him on command. Don’t let loud folks rush your quiet. That’s how you end up letting a marching band make decisions in your kitchen.”

There was a pause.

Ray stared at him. “What does that even mean?”

“It means boundaries.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“It absolutely does.”

Arcade looked down at Skye. “He’s weird, but he’s right.”

Skye gave the smallest nod.

Arcade’s expression gentled.

“Stay close to me.”

“I will.”

Ray headed for the door. “Everyone done having feelings? Good. Move.”

Pitch followed, muttering, “Feelings are important, Ray. You ought to try having one sometime. Might clear up your complexion.”

Ray pointed a finger at him without turning around. “One more word and I’ll clear up your teeth.”

Pitch tipped an imaginary hat. “There she is. Sunshine in boots.”

Carys lifted Lumina into her arms despite the girl’s protest. “You can argue with me after we are not sprinting toward killer candy.”

“I can walk!”

“I know. I can walk faster.”

Hughes picked up a small holographic map snapped it into a brass holder. “I’ll guide from the van.”

Arcade narrowed his eyes. “Gwennan.”

Hughes did not blink. “No.”

“Betrayal from the educated. Tragic.”

They rushed out of the Cookie Room and down through the Egg Tree’s twisting halls, footsteps pounding over candy-wood floors. The tree seemed to sense the urgency. Branches shifted, doors opened ahead of them, and lanterns flared brighter to light their path.

At the base, the Gwennan waited beneath a curtain of hanging sugar-vines.

It looked almost the same as before.

Almost.

Except now its panels had been reinforced with mismatched metal plates, the tyres were wrapped in chain-like bands of rubber and mana wire, and a questionable number of glowing crystals had been bolted to the front grille.

Ray stopped dead.

“What did you do to it?”

Arcade looked offended. “Improved it.”

Pitch circled the vehicle once. “It looks like a toaster joined a militia.”

Chip’s voice chirped from Arcade’s satchel. “Gwennan is offended.”

“It can be offended faster,” Ray snapped, climbing in.

Everyone piled inside.

Carys held Lumina close. Skye sat beside Arcade, who immediately angled himself between Skye and the rest of the van without making it obvious. Pitch took the back with Ray. Hughes clipped the map holder into the dashboard, where it bloomed into a smaller glowing display.

Lumina stared at it, trembling.

“I hope she’s still there.”

Hughes nodded. “She is.”

Ray leaned forward, eyes fixed on the map. “Then we get there before the floss finds her too.”

Pitch rested Lady Luck across his knees and glanced toward the city.

“And before Mezzo wakes up and makes it worse.”

Lumina frowned. “You think he will?”

“Oh, honey.” Pitch sighed. “That boy could be tied up in candy floss, asleep, upside down, and still somehow start a second problem.”

Arcade snorted despite himself.

Ray muttered, “He’s not wrong.”

Pitch pointed at her. “See? That right there is wisdom. Rare as a two-headed possum, but there it is.”

Arcade slammed the driver’s door shut and gripped the wheel.

“Right,” he said. “Everyone hold onto something.”

Carys went pale. “Why?”

The engine roared awake with a sound like an angry dragon eating cutlery.

Arcade grinned for the first time since breakfast.

“Because I upgraded the acceleration.”

Ray muttered, “Of course you bloody did.”

Pitch braced one boot against the seat in front of him.

“Well, butter my biscuit and call me doomed.”

The Gwennan shot forward.

Behind them, the Egg Tree’s gates swung open.

Ahead, the ruined city waited, glittering beneath the dome.

And somewhere deep inside St Dante’s Mall, Celeste, Mezzo, and one very small hidden panda were running out of time.