Free Festival of Shadows by Michael La Ronn

tree off and ran after Theo faster than before.
    “You won’t get away, bear.”
    The trees rustled again and shuffled around them as they ran.
    Not again.  
    Theo squinted through the canopy and saw that he was running toward the north star; he was in the southeast corner of the forest, and he guessed that he must have entered the forest from the west end, which was where he needed to go—but so much was happening that he couldn’t be sure.  
    Cutter was unfazed by the forest movement. “Some measly trees aren’t going to stop me from having teddy bear shish kebabs.” He leaped into the air, his bony feet stretched wide to land on Theo, but Theo turned the Whatsamadoozle into a shield with spikes. Cutter landed on it instead and yelled, jumping away. He reared his wings back and fired two slicers of blue energy at Theo. They looked powerful, and Theo didn’t know if the shield would protect him.  
    The trees kept shuffling around, and he spied a low-hanging vine on a nearby tree.  

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Theo aimed whip at the vine, and he sailed into the air just as the energy slicers whizzed by him. Cutter passed beneath him, his wings cutting the trees that suspended the vine, and Theo fell to the ground.  
    Cutter pivoted and laughed; he was standing in the way Theo needed to go.  
    “Let’s see you keep your bearing now.”  
    The forest dissolved before Theo’s eyes, and he couldn’t focus. He sank into the ground, and everything became a mirror image of its former self.  

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Theo dashed past Cutter, narrowly missing the dinosaur’s wing. As he ran, several trees ahead formed a wall, preventing him from going farther.
    Theo slid to a stop, looked back, and saw Cutter gaining on him.  

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Theo jumped on the stick and bounced once; it was springy, and he knew that it could launch him high and far.  

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He landed behind Cutter; the dinosaur kept charging ahead and accidentally sawed the wall of trees in half.  
    “You’re in my way,” Theo said, turning the Whatsamadoozle into a giant mallet. He smacked Cutter on the head fifteen times until the dinosaur collapsed.
    “Ay-yi-yi . . .”
    Theo jumped over Cutter’s body and took off running. As he did, the forest reversed itself.
    A nearby tree grabbed Theo by the waist and launched him into the air; he broke through the canopy and saw the moon in the sky, and the forest exit nearby.
    When he crashed through the trees and landed on the ground, the forest reversed itself again. The tree that had grabbed him laughed and disappeared among the other shuffling trees.  
    “I’m not the one cutting down your relatives,” Theo said.
    Cutter was still lying senseless on the ground.  

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The trees settled down again as Theo ran, and he saw a burst of blue through the branches—the exit.
    I’m almost there.  
    He heard rumble in the forest again, and Cutter was on his tail.  
    “That hurt,” Cutter said. “But you’re still going to die. I’m going to cut this entire forest down to get you.”
    The exit grew closer and closer, and Theo thought only of Grant as he ran.  
    Cutter reached him and just as he was about to saw him in half, an angry tree grabbed the dinosaur and launched him into the air.  
    Theo broke out of the forest and looked back. The trees juggled Cutter, and they threw him all over the forest until he disappeared, groaning.  
    Theo fell to his knees, panting. “That was too close.”
    He stared up the hill where the caravan was—it would be a short walk. The