Ravenous (30 page)

BY THE TIME WE'RE SAFELY UNDER THE CITY WALLS, WE STOP TO REST
in the tunnels.

I'm not ready to face my parents, nor to find out whether the horror we brought to life in the forest is still there with the light of day.

Instead we sleep on the old stone foundations, clinging to each other to stay warm. We didn't think to bring our blankets from the encampment, just ourselves, the ingredients, and the old book.

When I wake, I'm not sure what time it is, but I'm certain of what we must do.

In spite of what she did the last time we saw her, I must see Old Mae again. Whether she's willingly in league with the wizard or in his thrall, she knows more than she lets on.
If anyone has a way to undo what we've done in the forest, it will be her. Trees and plants, walking like animals.

I shudder.

We should never have dabbled with magic.

I can think of nothing but why the spell went wrong, and now I believe I understand. How I wish I'd thought this through more before we tried it, instead of rushing off to cast the spell, all to show Mama I could save us from the evil wizard.

What's been troubling me is what happens to the magic the Wizard's Bane siphons off. It can't disappear. The stone contains it. And if the spell is performed with a Wizard's Bane that's already full to the brim with magic, what then?

I don't know for certain, but I fear it's like pouring more water into an already full bucket—magic spills out. And in the worst-case scenario, it could knock the entire bucket over, emptying the contents all over the floor.

We were fools and released the wild magic locked in the stone. All that is left of our hopes to stop the wizard is a pile of ash. We must find a way to undo what we've done.

“Ren,” I say softly as I nudge him awake with my elbow. He groans and opens his eyes, then bolts upright. The look on his face makes it clear he remembers everything that happened last night.

“Rosabel . . .”

“Yes, it was real. We woke the forest.” Sickening guilt swims in my stomach. Ren puts his head in his hands.

“I was hoping that was only an awful dream.”

I grimace, then squeeze his shoulder. “No, but we
must fix it. I have an idea.”

It takes a little persuasion, but half an hour later, we leave our tunnels and enter the market, doing our best to keep our faces cloaked. No doubt everyone is looking for us, though most will recognize only Ren.

The flower cart lies ahead, but the old woman is nowhere to be seen. My heart sinks as we approach. Where could she be? Ren and I risked so much. I fear this will be the last time I can sneak out. And now, in this hustling mass of market-goers, she has vanished.

“Perhaps she's getting a bite to eat?” Ren suggests, his face marred by the furrow in his brow.

“Yes, that must be it.” I am desperate for some measure of hope.

But when we reach the stall, something's obviously wrong. Her wares aren't fully set out. The curtains surrounding her cart hang haphazardly, as though they have been thoughtlessly displayed. It's nothing like Old Mae's usual meticulous setup.

Fear grips my innards and refuses to let go. One glance at Ren confirms he feels uneasy too. Wordlessly we move to the back of her stall and stop short. A gasp chokes in my throat. I can't look away, until Ren forcibly drags me back to the street.

His hands are on my arms, my face, my back. Despite his kind whispers, I can't stop shaking. The image of the old woman will be forever burned into my eyes.

She's dead. Horrifically, terribly dead. No eyes. And her gut—

I shove Ren away and vomit next to the stall. That distinct metallic smell of blood clogs every pore on my body. I feel as though it's all over me.

But Ren, sweet Ren, he holds my hair and rubs my back as I dissolve on the street. “Come,” he says. “There's nothing for us here. Let's go home before we really cause a scene.”

Somehow I find my feet again and Ren leads me back to the church and the tunnels.

Old Mae knew who I was. She was the only one who'd risk speaking of magic. Hadn't all the other vendors been terrified to utter even a syllable about the matter? I have no doubt she's dead because of us.

That horror on the street—it's my fault.

We don't bother to sneak back into the palace. Terrified and properly sorry, we limp through the gates and make our way into the front garden. A guard is dispatched ahead of us once Ren is recognized. I hope the ones we left in the forest made it out alive.

Dizziness, gnawing at me for hours, now threatens to completely pull me under. Ren half carries me into the palace.

Magic always has a price. An action and reaction. I suspect this is my price, my reaction, which I experience now. Yet I had to try. How else can we hope to fight magic but with more magic?

My parents run to greet us, a mix of fury and relief on their faces. Mama hugs me too tightly, and I have trouble focusing my eyes on her.

“Where have you been?” she demands.

When she releases me, I sway, and Ren steadies me. “We had to try to break the binding deal with the wizard. We sought out a Wizard's Bane, but it all went wrong when we tried to use it.”

Papa takes me by the shoulders. “What happened? What went wrong? Where are the guards we sent to find you?”

I swallow, but my tongue feels sluggish and my mouth horridly dry. “We released magic instead of taking it. The forest . . . it came alive. The trees are walking.”

Mama gives Ren a stern look. “What is she raving about? How could you possibly know about Wizard's Banes?”

Poor Ren can only look at the floor. “Your Majesties, we found a secret room in the library and read the books about magic hidden there. We only wanted to learn how to stop the wizard. And now the forest is stirring. We woke it up, but we didn't mean to. It was behind us. If the trees keep moving in our direction, they may reach the walls soon.”

Papa does not look as surprised as I expected at the mention of the hidden library, but Mama turns an awful shade of pale.

“The forest is awake? What have you done?” Her eyes burn at me so brightly, I have to look away. “Rosabel, you are never leaving that tower again. No more gardens. No more music lessons with your sister, and definitely no more books.”

She grabs my arm as though she means to drag me to my room this instant, and I vaguely hear my father say something I cannot make out. The room spins beneath my feet,
and suddenly all I can see is the gilded ceiling above me. Something cold and hard spreads over my back and I realize I am lying on the marble floor in
the throne room. Ren's panicked face looms over me, until it's replaced by those of my parents.

My arms and legs feel like lead weights, but I try to reach out anyway. All I can muster is a whisper, “I'm sorry.”

MY HEAD IS STILL FOGGY WHEN I WAKE, AND I'M NOT SURE HOW MUCH
time has passed since Ren and I reached the palace—maybe hours, maybe days?—but I do know one thing for certain.

The wizard approaches.

Mama is true to her word, and this time I'm locked away for real. She and Papa took the key and posted a guard in case I try to pick the lock. Fear has swallowed my parents up, leaving only empty husks behind, and now my room with a view is a prison.

Ren told them everything. As his reward, he's forbidden to ever come near me again. Even Delia won't speak to me.

Ren may not be allowed to see me anymore, but the guard has taken pity on him and lets him slip notes under my door, keeping me apprised of the events taking place
outside my chambers, and bits of conversations he has overheard. Mama and Papa have secured the key to the hidden library in the depths of the palace vault. While it was a shock to Mama, it seems Papa already knew. The room is an unpleasant responsibility that has been passed down for generations. My grandfather made Papa swear a blood oath to keep the existence of the books secret and to protect them from falling into the wrong hands, just like every other ruler before him. Moving or destroying them is too dangerous. Though Papa loathes magic, he hates the thought of those books, that knowledge, being in the hands of wizards even more. The key had been lost long before he was born, so he gave it hardly any thought. Until Ren and I discovered it.

The guards we left behind haven't returned. The forest we brought to life spreads slowly like a disease over the mountains and woods. Those who once lived outside Bryre's protective walls have come back to the fold. Strange lights and terrible keening in the woods and hills frighten Bryre's citizens day and night. The living forest hasn't reached Bryre yet, but it will soon.

It is no longer randomly chasing people in all directions—someone directs it toward our city. There is only one who could hope to control the magic we released: the wizard.

All my hopes of finding a way to break the curse, freeing us from the promise Mama and Papa made long ago, have been in vain. Instead of freeing my family, I caught the wizard's attention. Any chance for another way to save us vanished with Old Mae and the books Mama and Papa
will never let me see again. The image of Old Mae in death is burned on my brain, and it flares up again every time I close my eyes. When I sleep, my dreams are haunted by strange cr
eatures, bloodied bodies, and the horrible rustling of walking trees.

Now, all I can do is watch and wait. They say the wizard can't enter the city. That the wards he put into place to protect us from Belladoma's greedy king still hold. No one intending Bryre harm can enter.

But how long can one spell last? The wizard set those wards years ago. What if they start to degrade? He'll squeeze through any chink in our armor he can find.

And with the menacing forest, I fear he intends to do his best to weaken them.

City guards patrol the perimeter at all hours of the day. The ones attacked by the wizard are still frozen solid, and it does not seem likely they will ever recover. Mama and Papa consult with their council debating what to do if the wizard breaches the walls.

And here I sit, waiting for my world to explode while others prepare to lay down their lives to keep me safe. All because of a foolish bargain.

They should have known better than to make a deal with a wizard. Too many people pay the price. I'm not worth such a sacrifice.

The effects of using magic haven't completely worn off, but I pry myself off my bed and make my way to the window on wobbly legs. Even that's locked up tight. Outside my tower, the city is on edge. The streets are empty. Only
the guards on the ramparts and gates move and remain busy, no doubt terrified of the monstrous man who approaches.

He's coming for
me
.

As I turn from the window, something else catches my eye. Movement in the forest. From here everything looks miniature. I peer more intensely at the north gate, where it originates. Does the wizard shake the trees with his power? Or does the very earth tremble at the thought of him drawing near?

Watching the foliage makes me long for my garden hidden in the maze. How will those flowers grow without me to tend them? Who else will coddle the empty plot where the Crown-of-Roses seeds are sown, hoping to coax them from the ground at last?

My breath catches. The trees aren't shaking after all.

They're moving. The entire forest shuffles closer and closer to Bryre, one horrifying step at a time. It is almost here.

My breath returns in panting gasps. Is there no end to this terror we've unleashed with our spell? I fear the wizard has seen an opportunity to finish, for his own malicious ends, what we began. I must warn Mama and Papa. They must go to ground, use one of the escape routes and get out of the city. I have nowhere to hide, but they can. I run to the door and pound and scream.

“Mama! Papa! Come quick!”

I scream for five full minutes, but no one comes. I rush back to the window. The forest creeps closer. Thick trees press together in stark lines, forming a circular net around
the city walls. This is different, more organized than the wild, haphazard life we gave them, just like Ren told me. It must be the wizard in control now. Even from here there's no mistaking the confused, frightened glances that the guards on the ramparts exchange. The trees are right up to the main gate, blocking the road out of the city. More approach every few minutes, forming row after row of enchanted woods.

The wizard weaves a tight net, and we have no chance of escaping from it. Even if he can't come in, we can't leave. Not without risking the wilds of the woods. I can no longer see between the trunks. All that remains is a looming dark green of waving branches.

The air in the room seems to thin. I slump onto my bed, filled with awful, dizzying certainty.

I will not leave this palace alive.

BY THE TIME THE SUN SETS, MY MIND IS MADE UP. I MAY NOT LEAVE THE
palace alive, but my family will.

Giving myself up to the wizard terrifies me, but I see no other recourse, no other way to keep my city and my family safe.

He's coming for me—if I go willingly, it will buy them time to escape.

Enough people have suffered because of me, first due to the cursed deal and now because of my attempts to play with forces I should never have touched.

It ends now. I will go with the wizard, whatever that may mean. Whether I live or die, I will not let any more people sacrifice themselves in my name.

I rise from my bed, feeling lighter than I expected. A
hollow spot opens in my chest and steadily expands.

I may never see Mama and Papa and Delia again. I may never see Ren again. I cling to their images in my mind, hoping that whatever happens, they're imprinted deeply enough on my heart to endure into the next life or into death.

My nightgown won't do for this endeavor. I select a pale rose-colored gown and dress myself in the mirror. A few cuts mar my face, making me less ladylike than usual.

It doesn't matter tonight.

I take a slip of paper, a pen, and some wax from my desk and sit down to write my final words to my family. My final words to Ren.

Dear Mama and Papa,

Run. Flee Bryre and seek the safety of another country until the wizard is far away from our home. I know you will not approve of what I am doing, but I have made up my mind. Like you told me, Mama, sometimes queens have to make the hard decisions. I may not be a queen yet, but I understand what you meant.

Giving myself up to the wizard is the only way to ensure your safety and the safety of our entire city, and that is more important to me than my own. I cannot sit idly by in my tower while you sacrifice yourselves. There is no point. He will win either way. But this way, you at least have a chance.

Please, go, and do not let my sacrifice be in vain.

Your loving daughter,

Rosabel

Dear Delia,

Forgive me if I have neglected you these past few months. You are one of the dearest people in the world to me. I must leave to keep you, Mama, and Papa safe. If there were any other way, please know I would remain here and be the older sister you deserve.

Be brave, sister. You will rule the city one day, and I know you will be a kind queen. Ren will help you. I'm so sorry I won't be here to see it.

Love,

Rosabel

Dear Ren,

By the time you read this letter, I will already be gone. Please do not despair for me. I do this willingly and to keep everyone I love safe. I must put duty before everything else, and this instance is no exception.

You have always been my best friend and confidant, and as close to me as my own kin. You are as dear to me as I am to you.

Please watch over my mother and father, and especially Delia, when I am gone. And my garden.

Yours,

Rosabel

I fold each letter carefully, wrapping a tiny piece of my heart in each one. I melt the wax and seal the letters with the personal stamp Father gave me when I was just a child—a perfect rose, imprinted in red wax.

Now I only have to find a way to deliver them.

From the window, I see it happen. First the guards walking along the ramparts crumple to the ground. The forest quakes in its frenzied attempt to reach the castle but meets invisible resistance that prevents it from breaching the walls. Then a man with silver hair down to his jaw walks through the gates.

Horror freezes me to the floor. He found a loophole. But how? The wards should protect against anyone intending Bryre harm. How could he hurt the guards?

Unless he didn't. Some of the men move a little, as though they're only sleeping. . . . Outside the door of my room, I hear a gasp, and then a thud. The guard.

Whatever the wizard did to the guards at the gate must have affected all guards throughout the city. Only one thing can be so specific and travel so quickly to do its work.

Magic.

The enchanted forest. The trees have been trying to get through the walls all day. Could their attack have weakened the wards enough that he was able to slip through? I can only guess at exactly how he's doing it, but if the wizard found a way around his wards, he must be intent on something other than hurting Bryre.

I shiver.

He could only be that focused on one thing: me. Claiming what was promised him. If he gets his promised reward, he won't be able to use that loophole again; the wards will hold against his malice in the future.

It's time for me to go.

I set about picking the lock on my bedroom door. If I had a secret passage in my room, this would be much simpler. I pore over my jewelry case until I find a brooch with a pin thin enough to work. Mama took all the hairpins that I used the last time. It takes a fair amount of jiggering, but after several minutes I'm finally rewarded with a
click
.

I collect my letters and open the door to my fate.

The castle sleeps, which serves my purposes well. I go to Delia first, slipping into her chambers. She's curled on her bed in a pool of moonlight, blond hair spilling over the pillows. She looks serene and utterly unaware of the terror that creeps outside our gates.

A wave of sadness crashes over me. She won't be serene for long after tonight. I'm sorry for it.

I gently press my lips to her forehead and whisper, “Good-bye, sister.” I place the letter on the pillow next to her so she'll find it when she wakes. I close her door with a heavy heart, then lock it. The wizard may not know about my sister, and if she wakes up too soon, I can't risk her wandering the halls in search of me.

Ren's note will be trickier. Indeed, I'm not sure where he lives, having never been to his house. But there is one place I know he'll check.

My garden.

With no time to waste, I run soundlessly through the halls in my slippers and take the stairs two at time. In minutes I'm outside, the cool night breeze wrapping around me as if to say farewell. When I reach my hidden garden plot, I'm greeted by the familiar shapes of the rosebushes
on either side, the lone surviving sunflower, and the barren patch where the Crown-of-Roses seeds are planted. Sadness plucks at the backs of my eyes. I'd hoped to see what they looked like. Ren will have to care for them for me. I tuck the letter into a rosebush, then hurry back to the palace.

When I enter through the wide double doors of the solarium, a scream reaches my ears and squeezes my heart. Am I too late? Did I spend too much time saying good-bye? I run through the halls, searching for the person who screamed, still clutching the letter to my parents. I stop short in the main hallway. Two guards sprawl unconscious on the floor, and a maid and a butler hover over them.

“What happened?” I demand, unable to hide the tremor in my voice.

“Barnabas—the wizard—he—” The woman shakes so hard, she can't complete the sentence.

“The wizard is here,” the butler says. “How did he get through the wards? I don't understand.”

I fist my hands in my skirt. “Which way did he go?”

The maid points in the direction of the stairs. This is my one chance to reason with him. To convince him to take me and leave my family alone. I fly up the stairs the same way I took them down—two at a time. Muffled shouts come from the far end of the palace. The wing where my parents' chambers are.

And where mine was when I was a child.

I launch myself in that direction. They insisted Delia and I live in the opposite wing once we were both old enough
to walk. I never considered why, but now I understand. The wizard had been invited into their home when he was protecting them from the Belladomans. He knew their habits and the layout of the palace.

He'd know exactly where his promised prize was supposed to sleep.

Another scream.

Mama.

My parents' chambers lie just ahead, the door to their sitting room swung wide open. All the candles are lit, and the glow reaches into the hall, along with their voices.

“Where is my payment?” an unfamiliar man's voice growls. “She is mine—you must give her to me.”

The voice slices through me on a cold blade, rending my heart in two and stealing my breath.

“We will give you anything you could possibly want. Money, jewels,” Papa says. His voice trembles. “I would even give you the throne and my kingdom instead.”

Their moment of hope hangs in the air like a tangible force. The low voice laughs harshly.

“I have named my price, and the deal is binding. You must concede.”

I tiptoe closer, heart thundering in my chest. Through the doorway, I see Mama sink to her knees, pleading with the silver-haired man I saw enter the gates less than an hour earlier.

“Please. Please don't take our daughter. Anything but her.”

I'm so stunned, I can't move. Never in my life have I seen Mama beg. She's always been the kind, constant backbone
of our family. Seeing her grovel like this—for me—shatters my already sundered heart to pieces.

“If you do not hand her over, I will tear this place apart brick by brick until I find her.”

“I do not know how you managed to get past the wards,” Papa says, “but please take our gold and jewels and leave in peace. Have mercy, and spare our daughter.”

The wizard laughs. “The wards did not affect me because I did not enter the city with the intent to harm. I came only to collect. I have spent years learning to focus on that one thing so thoroughly that the wards have a hard time detecting what lies beneath. Besides, the more magic with ill intent the wards have to hold off at once, the weaker they get. I am sure you noticed that even the forest has turned on your kingdom. And now that I am inside the walls, the wards cannot stop me. Anything that gets in my way is collateral damage. I have no need for mercy.”

“Have you no heart?” Mama pleads. “I know you were not always so cold. Please, spare her.”

The floor quakes under my feet and I brace myself on the doorframe. “You squashed any semblance of warm feelings from my heart, my dear Aria. You made the wrong choice. And now you will pay for it.” The chill in the wizard's voice turns my innards to ice.

I step through the doorway into my parents' sitting room. The shock on their faces at my sudden appearance gives them away. A crafty grin spreads over the wizard's face. Now that I'm inside the room and closer to him, I see what I could not before.

Angry, magic heat rolls of the wizard in waves. The floor beneath his feet smokes. A faint crackling sparks from his hands every few seconds, like a barely contained lightning storm.

“Rosabel?” he says.

I nod. “I'll go with you. Just promise you'll leave them alone.” I clasp my hands behind my back so that he won't see them quivering.

“No!” Mama cries.

“Please, Rose, don't do this. Run, hide, while you still can,” Papa says.

I smile sadly. “There's nowhere to hide. Nowhere is safe from him. Not forever.”

“You are a bright one. But what makes you think I will leave your parents alone? Am I not owed interest on my uncollected debt for all these years?”

“Then I won't go willingly.”

He steps forward and the air around him sizzles. His silver hair rises from the static charge, lending him a crazed appearance.

“That matters not to me. Besides, you stole something from me too. Who do you think the Bane you found in the volcano belonged to?” He narrows his eyes. “I was furious at first when all that magic was released from my Bane. Though I admit, you did provide an excellent distraction and the perfect way to weaken my wards around the city.”

“It was yours?” Shock drains all the color from my face.

“Of course it was. They”—he points to my parents—
“denied me what I needed to take the magic from the realm in one spell, so I've had to improvise. Wizard's Banes drain magic, not just wizards. I turned it on the realm itself, and it's been slowly draining magic for years. It was almost full, too, until you stupidly released it.”

Horror makes my knees feel like fragile flower stems in a hurricane.

“Please,” Mama begs, “please take our jewels and leave.”

Mustering all the bravery I have, I step between them. “No, take me. Let them be.”

“I will consider it,” the man says. I brace myself when he reaches for me, but Mama throws herself at him.

He shoves her off with a bright light and bang, sending her tumbling to the floor and knocking over a vase of our best blush roses in the process. She lies very still, her back to me amid the falling petals. Her blue silk skirts spread out on the marble floor like flowing water, and sparks of magic flicker over her. Blood pools from where she hit her head on the corner of the table.

The world stands still. Everything is blue and red and her golden hair. I barely register Papa reaching for me or the second blast that sends him flailing.

Mama is dead. An awful certainty takes hold of my insides, making me numb.

Then cold hands grab my arms. Shockingly cold, given the amount of heat those hands burned at my parents. The cooling touch creeps over my skin like thousands of tiny insects, prickling and numbing, and cracking my skin in places. Rivulets of blood trickle down my arms, but I cannot
feel a thing. I cannot struggle. I cannot scream. I can only stare at the face of the silver-haired man as his hands wind around my neck and squeeze.

One long, black flash of cold, then oblivion.