The next time he opened his eyes, he was outside.

What had happened? He was in the barn 5 seconds ago, he thought. Cornflower was just as lost: “What the hell are you doing?!”

The rain was already coming down hard now, and the sky was already black. His legs were aching too much to even walk straight, but it felt like sharp strings were laced around his limbs, carrying him along.

He could see Marigold in front of him.

She was looking at him with a quiet, stern expression. Somehow, with no words spoken, he already knew that he was in trouble. “I’m sorry,” he said.

The hen looked him up and down. Then she reached back to grab something that she was carrying on her back between her shoulders, and she put it down on the ground in front of him.

He walked up cautiously and looked down at it. It was a leaf, wrapped around… something.

“Eat it,” she said.

His paw rolled over the leaf and opened it. He licked his lips, as they felt suddenly very dry.

“Marigold, this is poisonberries,” he said.

“I know.”

His entire body went cold. “Beats being disemboweled, I guess,” he tried to say, but his voice cracked after the first word.