Page 36 of Truth's Blade

“Do you have a handkerchief?” she asked.

He patted his pockets absently, and then brought one out with a flourish.

It was bigger than her own, and she struggled up, pulling it over her head and then knotting two corners just below her eyes.

He was more confused than she was, but that’s because she still wore the mouth covering, and she could see the sparkles. She was aware of what was happening to her. And confused as he was, he was willing to help her, and listen to her.

As long as she understood what to do, they could get out of this.

“Pull me back if I fall,” she told him, and then she got on her hands and knees and crawled to where the rock had landed.

She moved back to him, and handed it over.

“Can you hit the side of the box?” If it couldn’t go in, it could hopefully knock the box over. “The side where you kicked the leaves away?”

Theo pushed up on an elbow, lifted the rock, and spun it like he was skipping stones on a lake.

It hit the box with a crack, and it flipped over.

The sparkles winked out, trapped beneath the overturned box.

She smiled and snuggled down in his arms. The air was clear now, and she pulled the handkerchief off her head and the one around her mouth down around her neck. Kissed his cheek.

“What was that for?” he murmured.

“For your great aim.”

Neither of them spoke for long minutes, and she gave a sigh and sat up. “That was so strange.”

He was watching her with eyes that were clear now, rather than dreamy. “Magic?” he asked.

“A confusion trap. It’s still going, inside that box, so we’ll have to find a way to stop it.” She looped her arms around her knees, in no hurry to stand, and looked at the box a little more.

“You got caught in it, too?” he asked.

“It was hard to see it until the sun went behind the hill, because the magic was tiny dust motes, riding the wind. I only noticed the sparkle of them when the light was gone.”

“Dust motes?” he asked.

“They worked by touching skin, or being breathed in.” She shuddered at the thought of how much she must have breathed in before she realized. “I followed them here, and found the source. It’s a crystal inside that box.”

“You tried to smash it?” He frowned, as if remembering her asking him to throw the rock into the box.

“Yes. But there was some magical barrier around it. And it came right at us when it realized we were trying to destroy it.”

She saw some sparkles edging out from the bottom of the box. Forced herself to stand. “Cover your mouth and nose,” she said, tossing him back his handkerchief and raising her own back over her mouth and nose.

She scooped up the rock again and crouched down beside the box. A moment later, Theo was beside her, thigh and shouldertouching, his lower face covered. With a deep breath, she flicked the box away and smashed the rock down.

She heard a crack.

She smashed the rock down again, and this time when she looked, she thought the glow was dimmer. When she lifted the rock and brought it down a third time, the light winked out.

The sparkles that had landed in thick layers on her gloves still shone, and she carefully reached out to grab the box and wiped them off into it.

The rest of the sparkles were black specks of soot, but there was at least a handful of active magic dust left.

She untied the handkerchief around her neck and laid it out, tipping the sparkles into the middle and then tying the four corners into a knot.

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