by Clare Kauter
He nodded. "It was a bit terrifying. But hey, I'm in now. No need to resurrect and then kill me again or anything."
Inhaling deeply, I decided to ignore him. "We need a plan," I said.
"You could probably walk in there and do what you did just now," Ed said. "I don't think anyone would defy you."
"I don't even know what I just did, much less how to replicate it."
"I'm happy to annoy you again if you like," said Ed.
"I wouldn't suggest it," I said.
He put his hands up in front of himself. "Of course not. No more annoying you. Got it."
I thought for a moment, trying to come up with some sort of plan. A thought occurred to me.
"Can you shift into a wolf that looks like the ones we saw last night?" I asked Henry.
He frowned at me, clearly not liking where I was going with this.
"I don't like where you're going with this."
"Can you do it or not?"
"I could," he said slowly.
"Excellent."
"But they'd sniff me out in an instant. I smell like a shifter, and even if we could somehow disguise that, my magic is light type. How exactly are you planning on masking that?"
"Well, Gladys managed to hide her dark type magic from you," I pointed out. "Clearly there's a way."
Henry sighed. "I don't know why you think –"
"Ed, am I right about Gladys?"
"You're right about Gladys," he confirmed.
"See?" I said to Henry.
"He's just saying that because he's scared of you."
"Ed, are you just saying that because you're scared of me?"
"Nope, I'm not just saying that because I'm scared of you."
Henry tried again. "Why do you think she's evil?"
"She was hiding her magic from you. Don't you think that seems evil?"
"Not necessarily."
"She has goat feet," said Ed.
Henry turned towards him sharply. "What did you say?"
"Goat feet. Feet of a goat."
Henry bit his lip. "Oh."
"Oh?"
He sighed. "If what you say about her feet is true, you could be right about Gladys."
I raised my eyebrows and waited for him to elaborate.
"The Department has been searching for a creature for years – half woman, half goat. Apparently she..."
"Yes?"
"Lures travellers off course and kills them."
"I knew it."
Henry sighed. "It's not necessarily her."
I rolled my eyes. He and I both knew perfectly well that it was her. "We need to stop arguing," I said. "They could start the ritual any moment and we have to get there before they murder anyone."
"Why?" asked Ed. Henry and I glared at him. "I'm just saying, it would help me out if they were dead."
"Ed?"
"Yes?"
"Unless you have a plan, shut up." He shut up. "OK, now maybe if I cast a ward around you, Henry, it will obscure your magic enough for the other wolves not to notice that you're a shifter."
Henry's face told me that this was about the worst plan he'd ever heard.
"Shut up, Henry."
"I didn't say anything."
"Your face said enough. We're kind of on a tight deadline, and unless you have a better idea –"
"We should call someone in."
"Who – Gladys and Fach?"
"OK, no, but –"
"Will the local magical police get here in time?"
He sighed and shook his head, looking defeated. "OK, your terrible plan it is."
"Good. Now, Henry is going to shift into a wolf, I'll ward him, and Ed, you tell me if you can sense his energy."
Ed nodded and Henry did as he was told. Once I'd cast the spell, I turned to Ed, eyebrows raised in a question. He shook his head. He couldn't sense anything beyond my dark(ish) energy.
"They'll still be able to smell me."
"I could just cloud your smell," said Ed. "In fact, I could just cloud all of us and we could walk in."
I shook my head. "I don't want to rely too much on clouding spells."
"Why?" they asked in unison.
I just looked at them and raised my eyebrows. They caught on at the same time.
"It took weeks for mine to start cracking," said Henry. "It seems unlikely that you'll break the spell in the time we're there."
"I agree," said Ed. "The risk is negligible. Besides, you've spent plenty of time with those witches and their clouds haven't broken."
"Yet."
Ed gave me a slow grin. "Rethinking rescuing them now?"
"I can see through clouding spells now," I said, ignoring him because he was annoying and definitely not because he was right. "I'm getting stronger. And if they start the ritual while we're over there, I don't know what's going to happen."
"I don't think it's anything to worry –"
"We can cloud his scent. Other than that, we're sticking with my plan. The pack is big enough that Henry will be able to blend in – the other wolves will just assume he's from a different part of the forest. As long as they don't sniff him out we should be safe."
"Should be," Henry murmured.
I ignored him. "Henry is going to take me in and pretend he captured me."
"What?" said Henry.
"I second that what," said Ed. "That's a terrible idea. Why the hell would you –"
"Because then they'll take me to the dungeons or wherever it is they're keeping the others and I'll be able to get them out. Ed, you'll cloud yourself and look for the chest."
"Uh..."
"The others won't see you. Only Henry and I will be able to. And even if someone else does spot you, you can just pop back to Hell."
"What chest?" Ed asked.
"It has another companion item in it."
Ed raised his eyebrows. "So that's what you're doing now? Going after the companions?"
"No, I'm just –"
"So you're going to hand it over to The Department."
I glanced at Henry, who raised his eyebrows at me. "Um, I..."
"Obviously she's not going to hand it over," said Henry. "It would be better if we could get it before the witches see it, so they don't know it's missing."
"They don't know the wolves have it?"
"They might suspect, but unless they see it with their own eyes then they have no way of confirming it," said Henry. "It would be best if we didn't let that happen."
"And that's my job?"
"I guess so," said Henry. "Personally I'm not thrilled about our plan relying on a bank robber and murderer who's on the run from the very people we're trying to rescue, but needs must."
"Ouch, Henry," said Ed, pressing his hand to his chest as though Henry's words had hurt him rather than just been one hundred percent true.
"Ed won't let us down," I said with much more confidence than I felt. Of course Ed would let us down. Had he ever done anything else?
"Why do you think that?"
"Because I'm the king of something, and he needs me to light up his magic rock and destroy the world or whatever he has planned."
"He nearly bailed on us once already."
"And he'd better not try it again," I said, giving Ed the side-eye.
"I won't," he said. "I'll help. Just as long as you don't arrest me afterwards."
"Don't screw up and I won't have to."
CHAPTER 23
HENRY and I waited under the cover of the trees by the side of the water while Ed headed over to the island to scope it out. The sun had disappeared completely now and the moon was rising, bathing the entire forest and lake in blue light. The wolves were still bustling around in the graveyard, setting up orbs for lighting and putting out chairs. Judging by the number of seats, this was shaping up to be quite a party. I wondered who the chairs were for. It wasn't like wolves needed them.
My question was soon answered when I noticed a number of boats approaching the island from all sides. While the guests were too far awa
y for me to see them properly, I could feel their energy radiating out across the water, which wasn't covered by the same oppressive cloud of darkness as the forest. Whoever was going to visit the wolves, they had the same strange energy about them.
"Can you see who they are?" I asked Henry, who was in owl form.
"All kinds of creatures," he said.
"They have the same magic as the wolves."
"I know."
"Something to do with the ritual?"
Henry morphed back into his human self. "That would be my guess."
"Is that what's causing the dark cloud over this forest? Whatever this ritual is?"
"No idea," said Henry. "Although I am starting to see what you mean about the dark magic in the air out here."
"You can feel it too?"
He nodded. "Not as strongly as you describe it, but I can definitely feel it tickling at the edges of my senses."
"Do you think I'm cracking your clouding spell again?"
He didn't answer for a moment. "I can't really come up with any other explanation."
"Then we definitely can't rely on clouds too much tonight. I'll tell Ed to stay out of sight just in case."
"Ed will probably just use that as an excuse to disappear."
I sighed. He was right, but we didn't have much of a choice. I was about to say as much when I spotted something across the loch that made me forget my train of thought entirely. Another boat had just docked at the island's pier, and thanks to a nearby orb of light the boat's occupants were illuminated as they stepped onto the wooden jetty. They were a distance away, but these two figures were pretty distinctive even just in silhouette from a distance.
Fach and Gladys.
I turned to Henry who was staring at the island with his mouth agape.
"But –"
"I told you," I said, voice filled with triumph.
"But they run a Department approved safe house!" said Henry.
"Yes, because it was so safe when we were there."
He ignored me. "Maybe they're here to help. Maybe they've realised this is where Alora is being kept and they're trying to sneak in and –"
Then a wolf padded over to them. Gladys bent down to give the wolf a hug and it licked her cheek.
"I think they might be in cahoots," I said, mostly so I could use the word 'cahoots' in conversation. What a great word.
"I can't believe it," said Henry, flabbergasted, as we watched more wolves greet and chat with Fach and Gladys.
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, because it's not like I've been telling you this since we met them."
"She's a fugitive. We've been looking for her for hundreds of years, and all this time..."
"Do many creatures of the light go missing around here?"
Henry pressed his lips together. I assumed that meant he knew what I was getting at.
"They must tell the wolves about the creatures of the light travelling around the forest, right? And then the wolves capture them and –"
POP.
Henry and I both screamed for a second before Ed clapped a hand over each of our mouths. "It's just me," he said. "Shut up before you give us away."
Henry pulled Ed's hand away from his face and wiped his mouth on his sleeve as if he was worried about having residue of murderer on him.
"Did you find anything?" I asked after removing Ed's hand from my own face.
"Those people you were staying with are real pieces of work."
I poked my tongue out at Henry, who ignored me and asked, "What do you mean?"
"They've been helping the wolves capture you light folk in this forest for years. They'll either give magicals the wrong directions and send them into wolf territory or just tell the wolves where to find them. One of the wolves was worried that local police would bust up this little party since you guys had been sniffing around, but the others told him not to worry about it. Apparently Gladys has a propensity for clouding spells, and she's made sure you can't find this island unless you already know where it is."
I nodded. "It makes sense. Do you think she clouds the whole forest so people can't feel the weird dark energy that comes off it?"
Ed nodded. "That would be my guess."
"You know, part of me wishes your magical forcefield hadn't broken that particular clouding spell for me, Nessa," said Henry, wrapping his arms around himself and shivering in the night air. "I can feel the darkness more and more with each passing second and it's setting my teeth on edge."
A thought occurred to me. "If Gladys is so good with clouding spells, do you think she can see through them?"
Henry and Ed both shook their heads. "You're the only person I've ever seen do that."
"Good," I said. "Either way, Ed, when you cloud yourself over on the island, I still think you should stay out of sight."
He nodded. "Good idea," he said. "Especially since I think the wolves might be on the lookout for a rescue party."
Frowning, I said, "I thought Gladys told the wolves not to worry because the island was clouded."
"She did, but then one of the wolves told her they'd captured two more witches trying to spring the other one and Gladys flew off the handle. She started swearing and throwing whips of energy at the wolf who told her," he said. "She's a bit of a psycho."
I was confused. "She was angry that they'd captured two more witches?"
Henry spoke up. "I suspect she was more annoyed that it wasn't three more witches and a shifter."
Right. I nodded slowly. "So they're going to be on the lookout for us?"
Ed nodded. "They're upping security, apparently, so we're going to need to be extra careful. Also, not to pressure you or anything, but I don't think we have too long until they start the ritual."
"And I guess you didn't manage to steal the dragon's chest?"
He shook his head. "It had a ward over it that I couldn't get through."
I sighed. Of course it did.
"Alright. I guess we'll just have to head over there and do our damnedest."
Henry and Ed shared a moment of uncomfortable eye contact.
"What?" I asked. They didn't answer. "What is it?"
"Nothing," said Ed. "Let's go.
We took Hecate's magic carpet across the water under the cover of a clouding spell and when we arrived on the island we left it parked behind a bush. The carpet was reluctant to stay there alone, but when I explained that we needed it to stay in place if we were going to rescue Hecate, it reluctantly agreed. I told it to hide if anyone came by and it thought they might see it lurking in the bushes.
I wondered briefly why Hecate and Daisy hadn't brought the carpet across when they came – after all, it was very loyal and it seemed like a much better getaway plan than a rowboat. Then I realised: their magic still hadn't been working. They'd taken the boat because Henry had already cloaked it. Gritting my teeth, I tried not to think about how dumb it had been of them to try to rescue Alora by themselves.
We'd parked close to the jetty and there were wolves patrolling nearby. By now lots of boats were arriving, so we hoped we'd be able to slip in with the crowd without anyone noticing that we hadn't rowed across. We hid in the shadows as Henry shifted into a wolf and I cast a spell over him to hide his magical aura from the others. Ed took a cone from his pocket and cracked it over Henry, clouding his scent, then clouded himself with another. Henry and I could still see him, but the other occupants of the island wouldn't be able to, provided everything went to plan – and provided they didn't spend too much time around me.
Ed headed for the castle as per our plan to see if he could somehow obtain the key to the dungeon where the witches were being held. My confidence wavered for a moment when he disappeared from sight, and I hoped to Satan that he wasn't going to abandon me if things got dicey this time.
Henry gently closed his wolf jaw around my arm.
"You're going to have to bite me properly, Henry."
His snout wrinkled in disapproval. "I'm not doing that."
; "If you don't draw blood, they're going to wonder why you're being so careful with me. They'll know it's you."
He shook his head. "I can't bite you."
"Your chivalry is charming, Henry, but honestly, just this once –"
"No," he said. "It's not that. I really can't bite you. Remember what happened to Honey when she tried to drink your blood?"
The image of the purple froth pouring out of her mouth wasn't one I was likely to forget any time soon.
"I don't want to risk it," he said.
I sighed. He had a point there.
"Fine. Claw me up, then. Gouge my arm."
Henry hesitated. "I'd really rather not. I don't like the idea of hurting you."
"Henry, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. Just cut me up a little and I'll let you heal me later tonight."
He was reluctant, but I think he recognised the necessity of it. He closed his eyes and raised his paw. I shut my eyes as well and waited for the pain.
Nothing.
I cracked one eye open and saw Henry eyeing my arm.
"What?" I hissed.
He looked up at me. "Are you sure you're not going to accidentally kill me if I hurt you?"
I glared at him. "I do have some control over myself, Henry. Although if you ask that question again I might kill you."
He sighed. "OK, brace yourself."
I squeezed my eyes shut and bit back a scream when his claws tore through my arm flesh like rusty knives.
Breathing rapidly against the pain, I opened my eyes, finding Henry staring at the wounds on my arm in horror, tail between his legs.
"It's OK," I grunted as we both watched the blood ooze from my wounds.
I realised with panic that neither the stone in my pocket nor the key hanging from the chain around my neck had grown even slightly warm when I'd been wounded. Oh crap. Was there a dampener over this island? I took the stone out of my pocket and looked at it. The inside was lit up, shimmering and swirling, ready to kick in should I need its help. There was no dampener – it had just recognised Henry as a friend. Somehow that made me trust him more. Not that I hadn't trusted him before, but I'd still been kind of suspicious of how OK he seemed to be with everything.
Henry took my other arm in his mouth, taking care not to cut me with his canines (ha) as he led me from the bushes into a crowd of people heading towards the castle.
