He collapses to his knees, gagging fruitlessly in the bubble of water, and when I claw at it, droplets come away only to suck right back in. I can feel all of his terror, and even more, I can feel the snap of his control break and the desperate, frenzied way he draws at my magic. I’m not sure he’s doing it intentionally; this has plunged him into instinctual panic. My magic is the only thing keeping him alive, but he’s draining me, and I’m frozen, letting him do it as he drowns in front of me—
Dieter steps up to us. His face is a snarl of hatred.
“I will kill him, Fritzichen. I will kill him, and you will watch. But he will drain you for me first.”
No,no—
Tears sting my eyes, heat my cheeks, and I reach for more vines, plants, something to fight with; or the water, I could seize control of the water—
Dieter lifts the water stone, and Otto contorts his body and makes a garbled cry. The magic in me heaves out, and I don’t even try to stop it—just let it keep himalive.
I’m running out of power. I’m running out, and Dieter has the stone, and what happens when I’m drained dry?
“Stop!” I shout at my brother. “Stop—juststop this!”
Dieter towers over me. Alois is unmoving behind me; wherever Cornelia fell, she is quiet. No one else in the Well even knows he’s here, do they? How did he get in?
“No,” he says. “I don’t think I will. See, everything I want will be so much easier to get if I have your help, sister. And I have already tried askingnicely.”
Otto collapses to the floor, clawing helplessly at his open mouth, droplets of blood now sullying the water of the orb. His eyes roll back in his head, and I crawl toward him, but I’m fading, too, magic funneling out of me in a stream, both him pulling at it in fear and me giving it to him because I don’t know what else to do.
Holda, I try,HOLDA—
“Oh no,” says Dieter. Pain flares, and I rock to the side, his kick to my stomach knocking the breath from my lungs. “She can’t hear you anymore, Fritzichen. Not with your magic so low. The only one who can hear you now isme.”
Otto is dying next to us. My magic strains to help him; he clumsily pulls at it.
Then it’s gone.
The last dregs shudder and writhe as Otto clings to the tether, pulls for more, but I have none.None.
That emptiness expands, becomes a pit I fall into, panic and horror,no—
“Hm.” Dieter nudges Otto with his boot. “I would rather kill him, you know. Meine Schwester, I’d rather he die now. But do you think our magic tether would survive that? You’re bonded to him, I’m bonded to you, I’m bonded to him, around and around we go. Hedoesmake you stronger, I think, Fritzichen. As goddess touched as he is. You realize how weak that makes you? That youneedhim.”
Dieter drops the water orb.
Otto falls limp. But he’s alive. I know he’s alive. He’s unconscious only; Dieter doesn’t want him dead yet; Ineedhim alive—
There’s a ringing noise, like a bell, like—a scream. I’m screaming, and when I try to scramble over to Otto, Dieter kneels in front of me, grabs a handful of my hair and wrenches my face to look up into his.
The pendant Cornelia gave me dangles from my neck; he yanks it off, tosses it away.
“It’s time, meine Schwester,” he croons. “Let me in.”
No, no,no, no, NO—
He frames my face with his hands.
I reach out, trying with whatever is left in me, Holda,Holda, help me—or vines, maybe, plants, nutmeg and nettle and mistletoe andsomething—
Something.
Something—
I brought him something.
Dieter smiles. It unfurls across his face, and I see Mama in that smile.
