Page 62 of Poison Nights & Twilight Alchemy

If the branch he rested on hadn’t been made of stone, Reed would most certainly have fallen into the water.

Not a notion he particularly admired, after the realization that the lake was full of what looked to beverylifelike human statues, and what he guessed were not statues at all. Reed imagined falling, the cold dark water soaking his clothing, weighing him down, until he couldn’t swim, the drowned coming to life, their stone hands pulling him to his death, preventing him from rescuing Dulce…

Reed knew he was no match for the sorcerer. The puking lout, aside from being completely deranged with power, was centuries old and apparently had years of practice vanquishing his enemies.

Aldrich was not yet aware of his presence. Reed’s only hope was to use the element of surprise to his advantage and create a diversion. There would be only one chance to accomplish this. He needed to do something to distract this sorcerer clotpole long enough to give Dulce a fighting chance to use her magic against him.

She was no longer outside the cage but imprisonedwiththe witch.

Reed frantically searched around, finding nothing but floating cages hanging well out of his reach, stone trees even the leaves of which proved unbreakable, water he had no interest in touching, and flame in wide basins.

He had to do somethingnow—or it would be too late.

Climbing silently to the ground, Reed moved like a panther in the shadows toward the largest basin. Aldrich’s attention fixed not on Marguerite but solely on Dulce, who he looked at as if she were an enticing meal. Reed’s hands balled into tight fists at that. They didn’t have much time before the sorcerer made some sort of decision, and whatever it was, it would not be advantageous to anyone but himself.

Reed freely admitted Marguerite’s life made his seemluxurious by comparison, yet he knew where his sympathy would lie if it came to a choice between helping the witch or helping Dulce. Regardless of any hardship Marguerite endured, the fact nevertheless proved she was a woman willing to see the entire world destroyed as a direct result of her actions. While Dulce was determined to put aside her grief and trials and do everything in her power to save the world around her, even at the cost of her life.

“I’ve been waiting for a fresh replacement,” Aldrich cooed, his voice resonating across the circle of water as if by some vaingloriously fashioned magic.

Though Dulce lingered inside the gilded cage, her expression remained resolute when she straightened her clothing and stood tall.

The sorcerer sniffed the air, his grin lascivious. “Your magic smells delicious. Fresh and young. You will do splendidly.”

What a fobbing lout, Reed thought while reaching the basin of flame, its sides large as a carriage.

Surprising him, Marguerite moved to stand protectively in front of Dulce, her stare like icy daggers when she faced Aldrich.

“No.” She gritted her teeth. “You will not harm Waverly’s child. If you do, I will never execute another spell for you again.”

The sorcerer’s chilling laughter echoed across the water, and the creatures cowered within their cages, a few whimpering at the sound.

“Do you actually believe I still need your spells?” Aldrich drawled, inspecting his nails in apparent boredom. “Pathetic, really.”

Dulce wasn’t only resting her hands in her deep pockets—Reed could tell she was in fact studiously gathering some mysterious mixture from the many ingredients she always carried with her. He didn’t know how much time they had before the sorcerer put a chain around her throat as he had Marguerite.

Her hands stilled, and Reed knew that now was his chance to perform a distraction.

He pushed on the basin, and it moved slightly beneath the force. So, the mewling malt-worm hadn’t bothered to notice his garden wasn’t as well-built as a Glen tavern after all.

Reed prepared to topple the flames, his overcoat draped across one shoulder, ready to ignite.

“Hey, spongy toad barnacle!” he shouted, pushing the metal basin to the ground, where it crashed to the stone with an ear-splittingclang. Aldrich turned, a comical look of surprise etched across his face, and Reed swung his overcoat into the fountain of sparks and guttering blaze, allowing the oil-soaked silk and fur to burst into flame. While the churlish canker-blossom stared in dumb surprise, Reed sprinted across the lake’s submerged steppingstones and straight at Aldrich, spewing curses like a madman.

He planned on wrapping the sorcerer in his burning overcoat, but he didn’t make it that far. Leaping at the man, Reed found that the sorcerer had vanished. The burning overcoat became nothing but a hoard of charcoal moths, their wings covered in dying embers as they fell in slow spirals to the ground.

Reed spun to find Aldrich smiling in apparent delight, clapping his hands in a slow, mocking fashion.

But at his back, Dulce had carried out her magic.

The witch’s stone necklace and chain holding both her magic and her prisoner disappeared, along with the bars of the golden cage surrounding Dulce and Marguerite. As had all the rest above them, leaving the creatures sitting suspended above the water on mere platforms, free to fly to freedom.

They didn’t seem interested in escape, though. One by one, they stood, eyes blazing wrath while they honed their gazes on the sorcerer.

“Nice try,boy.” Aldrich curled his lip, sauntering toward Reed. “But your blood holds no magic.” He lifted his hand, and in a flash of red, some invisible force struck Reed in the chest like lightning, making him stumble backward, his vision blurring.

For a moment, Reed thought he was dead, until his sight cleared. He remained in place and patted his chest, where there was only a tear in his shirt, not his flesh. Dulce’s poisonous kiss, along with her spell, had spared his life.

“Soyou’re protected,” Aldrich purred. “No matter. I have other ways of ending your life.”

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