“I am?” Dayton says, blinking doe-eyed at me.
“Yes.” Quickly, I reassemble the celery crystals, making sure the path is connected all the way to my mother’s prison, then, using a napkin, I pick up a mushroom. “Tell me about this, Fare.”
“They’re called the leach mushroom,” he says. “They only grow on a few select islands in the Byzantar Isles. This species thrives by draining energy from nearby plants or animal carcasses.”
“All right.” I place the leach mushroom on one piece of celery. Instantly, it turns black, before sprouting to the next one, then the next, until the rot shoots across the table and devours the sticks surrounding the tart.
“She’s free!” my father gasps.
“Congratulations, you destroyed some vegetables.” Caspian rolls his eyes. “These crystals are formed from the Green Flame’s power and infused with Aurelia’s magic. It’ll take more than a little mushroom to destroy them.”
“Maybe there’s a way we can find out if it will work,” Farron says softly. “Wait here.”
Dayton stills, probably sensing the same seriousness in Farron’s tone as I do. Farron returns shortly and sets a bundle of cloth on the table. Slowly, he pulls back the edges to reveal Perth Quellos’s shattered crown. The one he used to harness the Green Flame’s magic and raise an undead army.
“Why do you have that?” Caspian snarls, voice full of venom.
“I thought it might be useful to understand the enemy’s power,” Farron says.
“You don’t want to know that power,” Caspian says. “Trust me.”
“It’s broken anyways.” Farron lines up the shattered pieces of crystal. “But is this the same kind of stone? Will it work for our experiment?”
Caspian chews his lip, still looking displeased. “Similar enough.”
“Let’s try. Now, this experiment might not show exact results. For example, I could plant the mushrooms and help them respawn with my magic. The crystals would also be buried in the earth. This, at least, will tell us if they’ll have any effect.”
“All right, enough science talk,” Dayton urges. “Try it.”
Farron places one of the mushrooms beside the crystal. We all peer over, and I let out a small gasp, seeing a bit of the crystal turn black, but it doesn’t spread to the others.
“See, it’s not strong enough,” Caspian bites.
“But the mushrooms aren’t planted in the ground,” Papa urges. “A living shroom would be stronger than this dead one, don’t you think? I say we give it a try.”
“Technically, mushrooms aren’tplanted. They’re attached to the mycelium—”
“We don’t justtryto destroy a gateway to another realm,” Caspian interrupts. “We do or we die. There’s no third option. The Below isn’t a forgiving place for testing experiments.”
Farron knocks the shards away. “Caspian’s right. We can’t expect something of the natural world to triumph over such ancient magic.”
“Fare,” Dayton says intently, and everyone stills. “You know that spell you performed in Autumn to put the dead to rest. What if you did that?”
“Intensify the mushroom’s leaching ability with your own magic,” I add on.
Farron shakes his head. “That spell was for souls.”
“So, rewrite it.” I grab his hands. “Change the story. Change how the magic works.”
His auburn hair falls in his eyes as he shakes his head. “Reworking a spell that powerful … I’m not talented enough for that.”
“Now who’s afraid?” Caspian drawls, grabbing more celery to place around Aurelia.
Farron’s gaze lingers on him, before he whispers, “Fine. I’ll try.”
“It’s settled!” My father beams. “We need two teams. Farron, obviously, will go to the pool.”
“I’ll have to go with you,” Caspian says. “You’ll never get into that chamber without my help.”
