Dreadlilocks was still not sure whether the little thing she had found was really Gin’s Odsplut. But she supposed its appearance made sense: Mère L’Oye’s was big and powerful and made of ink, so it followed that Gin’s would be tiny and delicate and made of caramel.

It couldn’t even speak, it simply chirped softly and swayed back and forth. Dreadli stared at it earnestly.

“Are you…really an Odsplut…?” she whispered to it.

It nodded.

“Well, then…what should I do with you? Why did Gin want me to find you?” She bit her lip. “Can you…bring her back?”

The Caramel Odsplut shook its little head. Then it hopped onto her hand, and reshaped itself into an arrow.

“Oh…you’re going to show me to the Keep,” she said. “So I can find Jack.”

The Caramel Odsplut chirped again, and the amber-colored arrow rippled.

Dreadli looked back at the dead girl and the dying girl one last time. Then, once again, she began to walk.

~~

As she traveled the moon, Dreadlilocks eventually began to understand how it worked.

It was like an endless stage— and if you walked for long enough, eventually you would come across a play.

The barren landscape melted into new worlds again and again, and Dreadli found herself wandering through dozens of different cities and castles and mountains and forests. Sometimes she even came across other characters, going about their business, blissfully unaware that the world was ending.

She waved hello and continued on.

At last she came to a particularly strange-looking place, with black and white checkered floors and tall, golden gates that stretched up into the clouds and out of sight.

“This is the Keep, isn’t it…?” said Dreadli. The Caramel Odsplut chirped and leapt from her palm. It landed on her shoulder and settled into rest, sighing.

Dreadli pushed on the door of the gate, which swung open surprisingly easily. And a few yards behind it was another gate, which did the same.

The process of opening gates went on for quite a while: every gate led immediately to another, and all were unlocked. It was a strange concept for a prison, almost as if the only real barrier to entry or exit was the patience of the prisoner.

After the 24th gate, Dreadlilocks finally came across a much larger empty space.

And in the middle of it, seated in a large wooden rocking chair, was a man.