I look back to the flower. “What is that?”
She looks, too. Then back at me, with a glaze of cunning in her face. “What if I told you every petal grants you a wish?”
“Ramya,” Marley says nervously.
I look her right in the eye. “Then I wouldn’t
believe you.”
She wheezes and I notice lines around her eyes. “Clever witch.”
Her finger is still stroking the palm of my hand and I feel sleepy at the touch.
“Where are my friends?” I echo, the words a chant
I need to recite when I begin to forget why we’ve
come here.
“Can you be sure they are your friends?” she challenges. “You say you trust your friend, but they hope to betray you.”
Freddy. The words sting but I ignore them. “That’s
a lie.”
“It is not. It is currently a fleeting thought, but we will see.”
“Where is Murrey?” I push. I have to physically force myself to stop looking at the rose. “And what spell is in that flower?”
“Just a soothing charm,” she says, still hypnotically stroking my hand. “You once stole two pounds.”
I freeze. “What did you say?”
“You used it to buy a pen everyone else in the class already had. But you threw it out when the handwriting remained unchanged.”
“How… how could you know—”
“It’s all here. In your hands.”
The hands in question begin to sweat, and I have to shiver myself into remembering my mantra. “Where are my friends?”
“The Druid is not your friend.”
“The Vampire is.”
“Yes.”
“So where is he?”
“Dying.”
I let out a cry and make to snatch my hand away, but she holds on even more tightly. “No!”
“I see a cell. And the Siren. She wants to know what is keeping him alive. She cannot understand it.”
“Please.” There is a crack in my voice. “I have to find him. He’s innocent. He’s a good person. He would never hurt anyone. Please.”
She regards me, her eyes casually flitting to Marley. “You are not ready for her.”
“I am,” I say doggedly. “I am, I’m ready. I just need to know where she’s keeping him.”
Her eyes flash and she suddenly releases my hands. I jerk back and keep them close to my body.
“They are being kept beneath the throne of the last great king,” she finally says. “Through a hidden door, down a narrow path, and deep in the heart. There he will be.”
I stare at her, then look to Marley. He seems as baffled as I feel, but then I see a glimmer of understanding cross his face and I am instantly alert.
“Let’s go,” I tell him. “Now.”
We rush to leave when Lylah calls, “Boy?”
Marley turns, his expression hesitant.
“Your mother knew you ran away when you were ten,” she whispers, gazing up at him. “She forgave you when you came back. Pretended not to notice. But she thinks about it. Every night.”
I frown and look to my cousin. I’m unnerved to find all the colour gone from his face. He shoves his way out of the wagon and is gone, leaving me alone with this cryptic, somewhat frightening, woman.
“Tick tock, little witch,” she warns. “And watch yourself on the stairs.”
