limbs were translucent tubes. Tiny fish swam the tubes like a vicious, living blood. The house crowed with a rooster's bray and advanced on the adventurers one hop at a time.

Silvia didn’t let the pirates see her hesitation. A lump grew in her throat as architecture threatened her life. She took two more steps, getting lower to the ground with each one until she knelt and thrust her fingers into the grass. Silvia activated the growth. Out of the ground sprung three saplings. They surrounded the house, growing ten feet in an instant. Silvia flashed her teeth. On the ground, drawing from the planet, she could have summoned a single willow. The boundless energy of this place filled her, and those saplings grew further with every moment. Waswith the crook of his right arm, his hand still grasping his cutlass. Theo kicked and swung his lower half to hold onto the arm with his legs. The cogs bit into his muscles but this gave him autonomy with his arms. He crossed his heels and hung upside-down. “Stairs.”

Buttons took his meaning and took off towards the hooved stairs.

Throughout the battle, the staircase had been laughing at them. It whinnied and danced outside Silvia’s growing and dying forest. Buttons hadn’t seen it’s horsehair tail. He stuck one dagger in his belt, dropped the other, and dove for the long tail. He snagged it and wrapped a tuft of hair around his wrist.

Silvia was running out of steam. She drew most of the energy she needed from the