There was a long pause. The rags that were still hanging from the clothing line swayed in the breeze. The smoke from the cauldron curled around us like mist. A rough caw cut through the terse silence.
Finally, the Crow spoke. “It was foretold that you would possess the power to help me achieve my greatest desire.”
“And what would that be?” My voice was ice cold, but the rage in my veins was still blazing.
“All in good time. To begin with, you will undo the wards.”
“Even if I could, why would I help you when you’ve confessed to killing my father? I will never let you anywhere near my friends.”
She clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Perhaps, with the right incentive, you’ll reevaluate.”
A sound coming from the edge of the clearing made me whip around. The source of the noise tore a horrified scream from my throat.
The blood-soaked corpses of Magnus and Livia. They were rising—reanimated. Magnus’s reopened eyes were bloodshot and vacant, while the rest of his face remained devoid of any expression. Livia’s body—impossibly—moved as if unaffectedby the loss of its head.
My heart plunged, and I shook with uncontrollable terror. The corpses moved quickly towards us as though they had not been dead only a moment before. Still, there was a stiffness to their movements, as if their joints were made of wood.
My throat closed up as the corpses came to a standstill before us. Amalie’s screams rattled the trees, while the others raised their swords.
“Resisting is ill advised,” crooned the Crow.
“You can’t harm us—those were the terms of our agreement,” I said, eying the corpses.
“Ah,” she said, sounding delighted. “But you see, I am not bound to your terms. You didn’t ask me to say the magic words.”
“How was I supposed to know I was meant to say the words? You never told me,” I hissed, like a kettle that had reached its boiling point.
She shrugged. “It must have slipped my mind. Oh well, now you know for next time.”
I was about to curse at her when the sound of a familiar, guttural howl stole my breath away. If I had been afraid before, I waspetrifiednow. Footsteps rattled the forest ground and dread churned in my stomach.
“Take Amalie and run!” I bellowed at the others.
“Not without you,” Tarben yelled back, grabbing my arm.
“Tarben, you need to leave now!” I shouted, wrenching myself from his tight grip. I ran towards the tree that had kept me prisoner.
It had to be around here somewhere.
There. In a patch of blood-stained leaves that smelled like iron and damp earth lay the dagger that had nearly ended my life. I wrapped my hands around the hilt, still slippery with my blood.
I turned to see the corpses of the two slain maglocuni charging down the mound, towards where we stood in the clearing.Their monstrous bodies moved rigidly, but it didn’t hinder their speed. The sight turned my legs gelatinous. I could do nothing but stare in horror as they approached like harbingers of death.
Ferocious teeth bared, they began circling my friends. Like Magnus, their bloodshot eyes were lifeless. It made them more terrifying, if that was possible. But the worst part was that they smelled like the inside of Basia’s cottage—of rot and decay.
Amalie shook and sobbed from where she stood shielded behind the others. Any shred of remaining hope fled from me as I took in the scene—Livia’s body gripped one sword and Magnus gripped the other. Both corpses stood poised, ready to strike, while the maglocuni circled my friends hungrily. We could hold our own against Livia and Magnus, but those beasts? We had no chance.
“On my command, they will attack. Now undo the wards,” said the Crow.
I glanced at my friends. Raw fear was etched on their faces.
“Don’t do it!” shouted Tarben.
There was no way out of this situation. My powers would not be enough to save my friends, not when we were against such odds. My eyes found the Crow, now standing betweentwo trees. “I don’t know how,” I gritted.
“I beg to differ,” she said. “See, I suspect that your elevated power is the ability to sense and undo magical enchantments. Perhaps you could have even reversed the amulet’s effect on your mortal if you wanted to.”
It was Tarben’s turn to snarl at the Crow. “You did that?”
