The queen was looking at him quizzically, and it was evident that whatever he had done, she had no memory of it—or, more likely, she didn’t recognize him thanks to Pete’s transformation spell. He patted his cheeks cautiously. The soreness was gone, but their shape was still unfamiliar. The queen was still staring at him, and he realized he was behaving like a lunatic.

“Er, Your Royal, um, Highness,” he stammered. “May your, uh, bananas be plentiful and the branches that hold your houses aloft remain strong.”

The queen raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’re an odd duck, but you’re charming enough,” she said. “Where’d you find this one, Iris?”

“I caught him trying to invade!” Iris piped up excitedly. “At the Wolf Gate! I think he might be a barbarian! He tried to tell me some nonsense story about a guide, but he’s clearly a spy.”

“A barbarian or a spy?” Queen Lulu asked drily, bemused by Iris’s enthusiasm. “How perfectly terrifying.”

“He could be both!”

“I’m neither!” Hex protested. “I’m only trying to—” What was he even trying to do? Without Pete, he was at a loss.

“I think we should execute him!” Iris was bouncing up and down on her heels in excitement. “For treachery! I mean treason!”

The queen reclined even further and waved a paw. Another monkey—this one dressed in a black velvet suit with a dapper red ascot—sauntered out of the shadows, bringing her a fresh banana, which she peeled languidly. He shot Iris an unmistakably evil look, which Iris returned haughtily. “Iris, calm yourself,” the queen said. “We haven’t executed a human in—well, we haven’t executed anyone ever.”

“Think how fun it would be!” Iris squealed in glee. “May I be the executioner, Your Majesty?”

“Be silent, you little fool,” snapped the monkey in black. Iris drew back, an expression of genuine hurt flashing across her face.

“Quentin, there’s no need to be cruel to the young and enthusiastic,” the queen said. “But I am rather curious as to how a lone traveler managed to cross the Sea of Blossoms and penetrate the Wolf Gate with no weapons.” She pushed up her sunglasses, revealing intelligent brown eyes, and studied him carefully. “And no supplies.”

Hex was somewhat curious himself as to how he’d managed all those things, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. For all her monkey sass, the queen was obviously no dummy, and he had a feeling she’d know right away if he lied. Plus, he had no idea what he should even lie about. “I lost my memory in the poppy fields,” he said. “I’d been there for a long time—a really long time. I was rescued by a boy who told me he could help me find out who I was. He guided me here, but disappeared just after the wolves attacked. Then Iris found me and—well, here I am.”

The queen was staring at him incredulously. “Do you actually expect me to believe that?”

“A spy!” Iris shouted in excitement. “A traitor! Death to enemies of the queendom!”

“I know how it sounds,” Hex admitted. “But you have to believe me. I swear—”

He was interrupted by a tremendous clamor from the forest floor below. He wondered in terror if the wolves had broken through the wall. But these sounds were unquestionably monkeyish—shrieks, cackles, and almost-human-but-not-quite howls. There was a tremendous explosion and a cloud of foul-smelling smoke drifted past the queen’s hut. She leapt to her feet. “Those cursed rebels and their wretched demands! Iris,” she snapped, “take our prisoner to one of the guest huts at the edge of the forest. He’ll be safe enough there until we’ve quashed this little squabble and I can decide what to do with him.”

“But—” Iris protested.

“Now, Iris,” the queen said. “I have work to do!”

Grumbling, Iris grabbed Hex by the shoulder—none too gently—and shoved him out the door and down the stairs. The queen bounded after them, seized a vine hanging from a nearby tree, and swung off toward the sounds of battle. Her departure was punctuated by another explosion, this one even more impressive than the first.

SIX

Still grumbling, Iris led Hex away from the chaos over a wobbly series of interconnected walkways. The sun had set, and the monkeys’ city was lit by hundreds of glowing yellow balls that floated in the air. “Sunfruit,” Iris said, in answer to his unasked question. “You can eat it if no one remembers to bring you dinner, but then you won’t have a light.”

Hex soon lost any sense of direction. If he wanted to find his way out of here again, he wouldn’t be able to do it without the monkeys’ help. Finally, Iris stopped at a low hut, more roughly built than others they’d passed but still as neatly constructed as a ship. He followed her inside to a little room lit by another, smaller sunfruit. The room was sparsely furnished with just a hammock and a single table and chair, but everything was tidy and clean. Iris rang a little bell shaped like a banana, and in a few moments another monkey dressed in a butler’s outfit brought in a tray of . . . bananas. Hex almost groaned out loud. At the very corner of the tray was a small, steaming bowl. “Oatmeal for you, sir,” the butler said politely as Iris helped herself to several bunches of banana.

“Oatmeal?” Hex wondered aloud as the butler bowed and left them. “For dinner?”

“Humans love oatmeal,” Iris said authoritatively.