He winced at the sight of her blood. “How can I help?”
“Can you board up the windows and doors?” Kiela asked Larran. She wasn’t sure how enthusiastic the growth was going to be, and she didn’t want it shattering the glass.
“But why . . .” He shook his head. “Questions later. Of course I can. Whatever you need.” He disappeared out to the front yard, and soon she heard the sounds of sawing and hammering.
As she memorized the syllables of the spell, her heart felt like it was hammering. There were so many unknowns in her plan. She didn’t know why the imperials had come or what they were looking for or how hard they’d look. She was working with limited information and that was uncomfortable. But she was going to try to keep the books safe. And her friends.
They finished at about the same time: Kiela finished committing the spell to memory as the plants returned with the duckweed and Larran finished boarding up the windows and doors. As soon as Kiela mashed the paste, the four of them gathered in the garden. Larran opened his mouth, but Caz shushed him, which was fine by Kiela. She was nervous enough as it was.
She’d start with the vines already on the house, she decided. Kneeling by the base of an ivy vine, Kiela placed the paste for fast growth. “Wish me luck.”
Caz backed away. Reaching out a tendril, he pulled Meep back too. “Larran, you might want to give it some space.”
Larran retreated. “What’s going to happen?”
“Watch,” Caz said.
Kiela recited the spell once, twice, and then three times. Quickly, she retreated from the vine. An instant later, it shot upward into the air. Vines sprouted out of it, and they spread over the roof. Without waiting, she moved on to the next vine. She repeated the process until the entire cottage had been engulfed in vines.
She then moved on to the brambles.
She selected a raspberry bush that was closest to the house. As she buried the paste, she hoped the brambles didn’t subsume the entire garden. They’d worked so hard to tame it and had been making such progress. “Meep, can you release the chicken? I don’t want her caught in this.”
The cactus scurried over and unlatched the coop.
The chicken didn’t budge. She clucked at the cactus, who meeped back at her.
Kiela began the spell.
As the brambles erupted, the chicken squawked and fled the garden, following Meep. The raspberry bushes grew larger and larger in bursts that shook the ground, until the whole of the cottage was obscured.
A few seconds later, they stilled.
She could barely see a hint of the roof or the walls. She swallowed hard. It had seemed like a sensible choice, but seeing her parents’ home this way . . .My home.
“That should keep the books safe,” Caz said with satisfaction.
Kiela reminded herself that was the point.We can fix it later.This wasn’t permanent. After the warship left . . . After she was sure they were all okay . . . If that ever happened . . . What if the imperials saw through the lies?
Larran laid his hand on her shoulder. “Now, how do we keep you safe?”
She’d told him Bryn’s original plan for Radane—lying about why she was on Caltrey and how long she’d been here. “There isn’t enough time to convince everyone in town to say I’ve been here my whole life. But maybe thereisa story that will throw them off the track?” She was going to have to think about it. Perhaps she could pretend to work at the bakery? That sounded harmless enough and not spellbook-adjacent. “In the meantime, we can’t stay here. The imperials have to believe this place is abandoned. Caz—”
“We’ll hide in the brambles,” Caz said. “It’s perfect.”
Demonstrating, Meep darted beneath the raspberry bush, out of view.
“Stay safe,” Kiela told them.
“You too,” Caz said.
“Meep.”
So anxious that she had to remind herself to breathe, Kiela strolled into town with Larran. It took every bit of courage she had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and not look as if she were screaming inside.
Maybe I should have asked the cloud bears to hide me too.
But that would’ve been shortsighted. She had to appear in town, act innocent, and not draw any suspicion to the cottage. She planned to slip into Radane’s role at the bakery, as Bryn’s assistant, and pretend she’d always worked there. With luck, the imperials would overlook her entirely.
