The Villain Keeper by Laurie McKay

could’ve all been a mistake.
    The soft whispers turned to loud and impatient whistling. “WHEWWWW. WHEWWWW.” Caden turned toward the sound. Then the whistles turned into shouting. “Caden! Get me out of here!”
    Caden felt panic start to wash over him. For Chadwin to yell like such, he must be in peril. Never had Caden heard him so frantic. Caden couldn’t lose him again. Like his father taught him, he stopped and took a breath. To save him, he must find him.
    As he inhaled, he noticed a strange scent in the air. The woods smelled of fire and leather. They smelled, he realized suddenly, the way magic smelled when it was intended to ensnare. For Caden, that smell was his father’s study, where he and his brothers would gather. It smelled like home.
    The voice of his brother and the safety of the castle still felt very near, but Chadwin’s voice was not real. And as he realized this, the magic around him dissipated, and something else became clear.
    â€œCaden, I heard you whistle. Where are you?” It was Brynne calling, not Chadwin. She yelled his name again from the same direction as the whisper of his lost brother. Whatever ensnaring trap he’d found, she’d found it, too, and been caught.
    There wasn’t time to revisit grief for Chadwin, or to dwell on the fist now crushing his heart. His ally needed help. He darted toward her shouts and the false hope of those lost. Fir trees and leafless oaks towered on all sides. His nose itched and mud buckled under his boots. The drizzle intensified once more to cold stinging rain.
    Within moments, he was at the edge of a clearing. He could feel rain soak his back, hear drops pad against the earth, and smell it. In the clearing, though, all was dry. No rain fell. No plants grew from the strange sand within it. No animals scampered across the bare ground.
    Brynne was stuck in the sand and thrashed like a butterfly in a web. When she saw Caden, she reached for him. “Get me out of here!”
    He was mere strides from where she was stuck waist-deep in the sand. Her hair fell in perfect waves, long enough to touch the sand, which stuck to her skin and sparkled like Razzonian diamonds. The more she struggled, the deeper she sank.
    Looking around, Caden realized something else. Had Sir Horace also sunk into the sand? “Where’s Sir Horace?” He’d lost his brother. He’d been stranded far from home. He couldn’t lose Sir Horace.
    â€œHe’s around,” Brynne said. “ I’m the one who’s sinking.” She was now shoulder deep. Her arms were under the surface and trapped.
    Caden let out a breath. He searched for something hecould use to reach her, then glanced again at the sand. It made sense Sir Horace wasn’t nearby. “Sir Horace is too clever to be caught by such a trap,” he said.
    Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say. Though she still sounded scared, her tone turned murderous. “Your concern for that beast is greater than for me.”
    â€œHe’s a true friend.”
    â€œHe left you to those policemen.” In a smug tone, she added, “They took you down easy enough.”
    â€œSays the sorceress stuck in the sand.”
    She was fury in a sandpit. “Get me out, prince. Or else.”
    With one hand, he grasped a prickly evergreen. He reached out with the other and stepped into the sand. He sunk, but not much. Not much at all. He frowned. “Why are you so much deeper than me?”
    â€œI think it responds to those strong with magic.”
    At the rate he was sinking, it would take Caden weeks to be sucked into it. He shook some of the sand from his boots. “Perhaps it only responds to thieves with bad manners.”
    Brynne looked like she might bite his ankles. “If you had any talents, you’d sink, too,” she said. He could tell she was trying to contain her fear and anger. “Now, get me out.”
    He crouched beside