A phantasmal green.
“Look out!” I draw the bow and create a thorn arrow from my bracelet. I shoot.
A blur of green flame advances on Astrid and Marigold. My shot isn’t straight, but I feel for my arrow. The thorn catches in my mind and careens toward the flame.
A horrible keening sound fills the air, followed by a thud.
The breath is heavy in my throat, and my vision clears. Astrid has leapt from the ladder and become a trembling white hare in Marigold’s arms.
“What in the Above?” Marigold gasps.
A quick scan of the library shows no more flickers of flame, and I approach to see what exactly I shot.
It’s a goblin, but not like one I’ve ever seen before. It’s got the same rotten appearance as the ones that frequent the briars around Castletree, but veins of fluorescent green snake around its body. Dying flames curl over its hands and feet.
“What are you?” I gasp in horror.
The creature blinks its unnaturally green eyes. Black blood spews from its mouth, and it seems to notice my arrow piercing through its stomach for the first time. It doesn’t look afraid.
“So much more than before,” it says, words descending into a maddening laugh.
“How did you get into Castletree?” I snarl.
Its head flops to the ground. “Easy to infect something that’s already dying. Sick, so sick, from Brother Caspian’s magic.”
Brother?Even these goblins think Caspian is poisoning Castletree. I remember being so afraid of these things when they first ambushed me in the Briar. But now, all I feel is anger. I yank the arrow out of its stomach. “Leave and tell your kind anyone else who comes here will not be shown such mercy.”
But the creature does not try to move. It only smiles wider, showing rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth. “Death is the greatest gift one such as us can be given.” Then it takes its gnarled hands on either side of the belly wound and rips.
A terrible squelching sounds, as blood and guts gush out.
I clutch my own stomach in horror, but the creature only laughs. “My kin has already retrieved the gift for Sister.”
“There are more of them?” Astrid peeps, her little pink nose peering out from Marigold’s golden tresses.
Pushing back bile, I turn from the horrific sight before me. “Hurry, warn the rest of the staff. Tell them to barricade in the closest room. I’ll find Dayton.”
“No goblin is going to wreckmycastle!” Marigold says, a ferocious glint in her eyes. With a horrible squelch, she drives her boot down upon the creature’s throat, putting it out of its misery.
“Be careful. These things are dangerous.”
Marigold only gives me a sly grin, then pulls up her skirt to reveal a dagger strapped to her thigh. “There isn’t a citizen of Spring that doesn’t know their way around a blade, girlie.”
I nod at her, and we rush toward the exit. The floor creaks behind me. I urge Astrid and Marigold on. Then I turn.
The goblin’s body has completely been consumed by green flame. And it’s catching the brittle leaves.
“No!” I scream. I will not let my favorite place in the entire world be taken from me. Salt tingles in my nose, and I throw my hands forward. A torrent of water erupts from my fingers.
It washes over the flames, dousing the fire and revealing a skeleton clawing out of the goblin’s body.
Just like the soldiers from the Autumn battlefield.A familiar wave of fear rises, but I don’t let it take over. If I do, I’ll never get to Dayton. The flames will return and the whole library will fall.
I can’t let that happen.
The goblin skeleton hobbles toward me just as I draw my bow. I shoot, guiding the arrow to strike its ribs. The sharp thorn pierces the bone, cracking it.
But the creature doesn’t stop moving.
