Stubborn mule.
I gave Liora a beseeching look. She got the hint. “Cai can mask our scents easily enough, so we’ll follow and stay close in case anything goes wrong.”
I spoke. “You should be able to sense if something goes wrong … Right?”
That had Frazer grumbling low, but his teeth receded into his gums.
A win.
The conversation stalled, and I seized the opportunity to take a gulp of water. Despite what I’d said, my mouth had dried out at the prospect of meeting and lying to a one-eyed witch.
I was just putting my flask back into my bag when Cai covered his nose with the top of his jacket, transferred the finished powder into a linen pouch, and pulled the strings tight. He packed his equipment away, stood, and placed the pouch in Adrianna’s waiting palm. “All you’ll need is a pinch. Blow it in her face, but don’t inhale any yourself.”
Adrianna pocketed the powder. Her eyes lifted, and she stared out into the swamp. “Maggie’s is the first cabin we’ll come to. There’s an old goat willow not too far from the house—it’d make a good place to hold up and listen in,” she said with a tiny dip of her chin toward Frazer.
He angled his head away, causing dark silky hair to fall into his eyes.
Stop being sour, I muttered down the thread.
Silence. Grumpy silence.
“Let’s get on with it then,” Cai suggested.
Adrianna pursued her lips and freed a piercing whistle. We waited.
Firelights appeared along the path, twinkling, lighting the way. They bobbed, dancing as if eager for us to join them.
Adrianna led the way. I slipped in behind her as the trail was only wide enough for one of us to walk along it at a time. We fell into a line, our pace slow.
The hazy burn of the lights above prevented us from being blinded, but the gray-lined fog still impaired human and fae vision alike. Enough that the ominous dark waters, cobweb-strewn trees, and ripples in the water had my scalp tingling and my imagination whirring, wondering what could spring from such gloom.
It took a few minutes, perhaps more, before we spotted the goat willow and just beyond, a house. Although, a log cabin on stilts would’ve been a more apt description. Moss, lichen, and hanging vines mottled the outside, giving it a speckled green and brown appearance. For a moment, it looked as if the roof was aflame; it was nothing but a swarm of firelights that had settled there. Mesmerizing: as a breeze stirred them, the soft fluttering of their shapes resembled waves breaking against a lakeshore.
We came to rest by the ancient gnarled willow with its soft, cotton-like catkins hanging low enough that they brushed against my cheeks, tickling. Our path had widened and split, so there was now enough space for us to group up. Adrianna signaled for the others to stay put, then beckoned me forward. The left path would take us straight up to the witch’s doorstep, while the right continued on into the swamp.
Frazer’s eyes met mine for a pulse. I whispered goodbye through our thread, but it was met by chilly silence. Fine. If he wanted to act like a sulky brat, then so be it.
Adrianna and I walked side by side up to the house. She gripped my elbow and leaned in a little. “If you’re okay with it, I’ll tell Maggie that you’re the one seeking the reading.”
My brow furrowed as I whispered back. “Any reason?”
“Maggie knows what I think of her profession. Will you do it?”
An anxious thrill shocked the hairs on my arms, but I still nodded.
Adrianna’s breath tickled my ear again. “We’ll ask for a general reading for you, but if she questions you, stick to the truth as much as you can. Lying under pressure is harder than you’d think. Just know that if I can’t dose her before the start … Be prepared to hear things you might not want to.”
My body grew taut. A jumble of nerves. “I’m not expecting her to predict me a happy ending.” I was so quiet.
There was no judgment or pity in Adrianna’s expression. Just grim understanding.
We reached the end of the path and took our first step onto a wraparound porch. It was littered with dried herbs, ribbons, poppets, and something that on closer inspection looked like dangling chicken feet.
I tried to swallow my fear and disgust. And failed.
Adrianna raised her hand to knock. The door swung open, revealing what could only be Maggie OneEye. I’d expected an old crone with yellowing teeth and wild gray hair. In reality, we stood before a female that looked about thirty in human years, with a carefully painted face and braided hair that fell to her waist. One eye was a rich amber, the other a bright silver. Her wings were scaled like Adrianna’s. And a pale, ice blue.
“Maggie OneEye,” Adrianna began stiffly. “I’ve come to ask you to give my friend a reading.”
I willed calm into my veins as the witch’s silver eye settled on me, and the gold eye continued to stare at Adrianna. She nodded, satisfied. “Good. I was starting to think you’d be late. I can’t tell you how much tardiness irritates me.”
Maggie flashed her teeth. It could’ve been a smile or a threat. Either way, it made my heart stumble.
Adrianna stilled. “You were expecting us?”
Her tone was light, but I thought I detected real worry.
Maggie’s gold eye widened, while her silver one narrowed. The effect was disorienting. “You know of my abilities, and yet you doubt me. You always were hard-headed—no appreciation for subtlety. By the sisters, you would’ve made a terrible witch. Now, get in. I don’t want to be standing on the doorstep all day.” She moved aside and ushered us in.
Adrianna peered over her shoulder to me. Her expression screamed, careful.
She spun back around and went to step over the threshold. Maggie threw out an arm, blocking her. “You know the rules: leave your weapons outside. That means you too, young lady,” she said peering at me.
Young lady? She sounded like Viola. A pissed off version, anyway.
Adrianna didn’t hesitate. She laid her bow and quiver up against the outside wall.
I unbuckled the Utem? from my belt and propped it next to the bow and quiver, then looked up to see strange but beautiful symbols adorning the threshold. They looked innocent—merely decorative, but I doubted that very much. My chest seized as I stepped through into an herb-and smoke-scented space. Nothing happened. Freeing a held breath, I took in the area before me.
The room’s bones were a smooth gray wood, and its furnishings included two bookshelves that groaned under the weight of candles, crystals, and mighty tomes. Right in the center was a small, rectangular table with six chairs crammed around it, and a beaten-up velvet stool that rested by a brick hearth. Maggie closed the door behind me, flooding the space with the heat from the roaring fire. My taut and knotted muscles eased into that heavenly warmth. The same muscles that still ached from my encounter with the eerie and the day’s march here.
Maggie waved a hand at the back of the door. “Hang your cloaks and bags up.”
Adrianna gave me a look. My own reservations were reflected there. I wanted this over as soon as possible, but we had to play our parts. We shrugged off our bags and cloaks. As we hung them, Maggie spun left. “I’ll make us a pot of herbal tea. Maiden knows we’ll need it.”
She cackled once and set to filling a kettle, drawing the water by pumping a black handle above a large stone sink. Maggie’s kitchen wasn’t much more than that. A few cupboards, and jar upon jar of herbs and spooky fluids scattered on counter tops.
With the kettle filled, Maggie set it on the side and dug out a tea chest. She was searching for her strainer when Adrianna reached into her jacket pocket for the powder.
My pulse jumped. One wrong move …
Maggie swiveled toward us in one graceful move. “Your powder won’t work—”
Adrianna blurred; the sedative suffused the air as a shimmering ruby-gold dust. Pulling my sleeve over my mouth, I waited for it to take effect. It never did.