Radane halted. “Is that . . . Oh, wow, I’ve heard of them. I didn’t think they let humans see them.” Her voice was hushed, as if she were afraid a loud sound would frighten it away.
“I think this cloud bear can help hide you,” Kiela said.
“What? How?”
The cloud bear demonstrated once again, slipping within a tree. Out of the corner of her eye, Kiela saw that other cloud bears had filtered into the garden—they lurked on the roof, between the vines, and on top of the chicken coop.
Radane shook her head. “I’m solid. Flesh and blood. I can’t disappear into a tree—Oh, whoa.” The other bears flowed toward her, surrounding her in their cloudlike bodies.
Caz hopped on his soil ball anxiously. “This won’t hurt her, will it? I feel like there should be a lot more explanation. Or experimentation. Can we test this first?”
Radane looked at Kiela. “Do you trust them?”
Do I?She knew they’d want her to continue to make and use the remedies. But more than that . . . they’d allowed her to see a unicorn. “I have no idea if this is safe. I don’t know how it works. I don’t know what they intend or how to reverse it. But I do know they’re willing to help. And I know we need help.”
“So, you are saying it’s a risk,” Radane said.
“Trusting anyone is a risk,” Kiela said. “But it’s better than doing it alone.” She looked over her shoulder at Larran, who had come into the garden too. The chicken was pecking at his boot. He shook his foot gently to dislodge her.
Radane eyed the cloud bears. “What about the spellbooks? I should help you finish hiding them . . .”
“I have a plan for that,” Kiela said. What Caz had said about using a spell they already knew had given her an idea. “And bonus: if it works, I’ll be able to make a lot more jam.”
“Oh, in that case, fantastic.” Radane rolled her eyes.
She thought about telling Radane it would be okay, that it was a better idea than an untested spell, that the forest spirits seemed friendly, but she didn’t know if any of that was true. This had to be Radane’s choice. Kiela wasn’t sure what she’d do, if their positions were reversed. It depended whether Radane was more afraid of the forest spirits or of the imperials—
“Let us do it,” Radane told the spirits.
The cloud bears swarmed her. Kiela could barely see Radane between the blur of their fog-like bodies. Larran jogged up toward the tree, stopping beside Kiela. He was tense, as if ready to dive in after Radane if she called out or screamed, and Kiela didn’t doubt he’d do it.
But the cloud bears melted softly like snow under spring weather.
In seconds, the bears—and Radane—had vanished.
“Wow, that’s disconcerting,” Caz said. He shivered and all his leaves rattled.
The cactus agreed. “Meep.”
“Do we hide you the same way?” Larran asked.
Kiela shook her head. “It’ll be less suspicious if only one new arrival has disappeared. What we need is for them to go away quickly. Besides, so long as they don’t find the spellbooks, they won’t want me.” Briefly she considered asking the cloud bears to hide the books as well, but given that books were made from dead trees, that didn’t seem wise—she had no idea how they’d react. “We just have to hide the books.”
“What’s your plan?” Caz asked.
She pointed toward the brambles. “Raspberries. A lot of raspberries.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
While Caz and Meep went to retrieve duckweed from the pond, Kiela mashed rosebuds and elder-bush leaves together with a few drops of water.
“I’m sorry the false wall won’t work,” Larran said.
“It would have if we had more time,” she told him. “You tried.”
“We could put the books back in their crates and move them in the library boat . . .”
“To where?” Kiela asked. The cave hadn’t worked; Radane had found it nearly instantly. His house was no safer than hers. Besides, this was her home.I have to protect it.She pricked her thumb and added blood to the paste.
