Crack! One of the retreating Wizard Apprentices stepped on a branch and snapped it.
"You can all move farther away now. Those with a way to leave this space early may leave immediately." The old woman stared fixedly at the rabbit and the cottage. "I dislike noise. The rabbit has already explained the situation to me. There are three places available, and I want one. Sort out the remaining two yourselves, and remember not to disturb me."
Even as she spoke, the corners of the old woman's mouth remained curled upward, and her eyes never once left the soundly sleeping rabbit and the cottage.
Although the Wizard Apprentices had already suspected as much, her words still changed the air around them. Amid the fluctuations of their mental power, discontent filled the woods surrounding the Rabbit Cottage.
Some of the Wizard Apprentices, however, quickened their pace as they left.
Seeing this, Ruger immediately took the opportunity to turn away. Striding off now would not look out of place.
In truth, the two of them did feel a little guilty, even if they had not volunteered to play the troublemaking thieves.
Watching the Wizard Apprentices scatter, Ruger realized something more interesting. That glittering key from earlier-the rabbit Tuzel's sweet dream had yet to end. If their agreement still stood, the old woman's arrival had unwittingly raised the stakes of the rabbit's little game.
Vito suddenly looked conflicted.
"Vito, if you would prefer to act separately, that is fine too," Layden said.
Vito's smile shifted. "I just instinctively wanted to connect to the false ears I set up... but then I remembered what happened earlier. As I am now, I probably won't be much use."
The three continued walking without changing pace. They neither returned to their previous location nor headed toward the