Ivy clung to Vale’s neck as they stepped out into a dark forest.
She barely held herself back from whooping as she recognized the pine trees. They were in the mortal realm! And from the look of the markings carved in the trees that were only used by the Circle to keep track of where they had been, they were on the Circle’s trail.
Ivy looked up at Vale and whispered, “Can you hear anything?”
Vale shushed her. His head was cocked, his tail swishing.
The green portal glowed behind him. Ivy craned her head and saw that they had emerged through a gnarled tree. The tree looked familiar, and Ivy blinked in shock as she spotted a stone slab in the distance.
They weren’t just close to the Circle. They were close to the place she had been offered to Vale. To the place Vale had been summoned.
“They’re here,” Ivy whispered. “Right? What are they trying to do?”
Vale shook his head and started to creep forward. For such a large creature, he was shockingly light on his feet.
The green portal sealed shut behind them. Ivy bit her cheek to stop herself from swearing. How would they get back?
Ivy’s uncle’s voice drifted through the trees. Light followed it, and Ivy squinted until she could make out a large campfire burning in the middle of a clearing. The Circle was gathered around it, Christopher in the center with his robed arms raised.
Ivy strained to look. He wasn’t holding his staff, and the vial that was usually tied to it was nowhere to be seen.
“He doesn’t have the vial,” Ivy whispered. “Do you think he’s hiding it?”
Vale shushed her.
“We gather here tonight to mourn our brothers and sisters,” Christopher yelled to the Circle. “And to avenge them! Together, we will bind the monster that took them from us and bend him to our will. By now, our poison will have weakened him so much we might as well carry him out with our bare hands!”
A cheer went up. Christopher raised his robed arms higher, and Ivy frowned. He was wearing a strange headdress, one he only brought out for powerful spells. They were clearly planning something big.
“They mean to break into the void by force,” Ivy whispered. “Can they do that?”
“Not without an immense amount of power,” Vale replied. “More than any lone mortal has.”
“What’s our plan?”
Vale said nothing. He crept around the tree line, making sure to stay far away from the distant campfire light.
Ivy stayed quiet, calculating their next moves. She couldn’t fight, let alone do magic. Vale was weakened. Could they lure her uncle away and ambush him? All they needed was the vial. Surely, it was on his person. He wouldn’t let something that important out of his sight.
Vale continued to creep through the trees. Not toward the Circle, but around them. Was he flanking them?
“Where are we going?” Ivy whispered.
After a moment, Vale stopped. “Here.”
Ivy looked up.
There was a cage waiting in the dark. Hastily constructed, with fire spells melting the metal together. The bars of the cage were lodged deep in the ground and were covered in thin, flowery vines.
Ivy peered closer. Those weren’t just any flowery vines; they were the distinctive white petals of malblossom.
A cage for Vale, Ivy thought, her heart sinking. Then Vale carried her closer, and the moonlight revealed what the cage was truly for.
The Skullstalker, who was currently inside.
At first, Ivy thought it was just a man. A large man, but still just a man restrained with malblossom-infused rope. He was so much smaller than Vale that she didn’t realize it was a Skullstalker until she saw the blue tinge of his skin and the skull mask attached to his face. He was struggling, grunting in pain as his flowery bindings scored his skin.
“Brother,” Vale hissed.
