Page 74 of Night of the Witch
He left when she was small, but even then, she’d been incredibly powerful. Mama and the other Elders had taken her under their charge early, teaching her advanced spells and preparing her for the great destiny that the Crone goddess Abnoba had planned for her, whatever it might have been.
I flinch.
Whatever it mightbe.
She was the one who helped me find Dieter in the first place.
Liesel had crouched over the low-burning embers in my cottage and held her hands closer to the heat than anyone else could bear, her brow furrowed in concentration, her little lips puckered tight.
“He’s…close,” she said with surprise. “In Trier. A big, dark building there. I see him…in an office? He’s important.”
“He’s alive?” I gasped. Alive—and close enough for a letter to reach him in a few days. I could address it to him and send it just to Trier, and hope that, if he truly was important enough, it’d find its way to him.
Liesel nodded. Then she winced and yanked her arms back and stared at her hands in a darker sort of surprise, confusion and caution as she rubbed her thumb over her palm.
“Something’s wrong, Fritzi,” she whispered. “With him, maybe. I don’t know.”
“It’s all right—we’ll help him now, whatever it is.” I gathered her into my arms and kissed the top of her head. “Thank you, cousin.”
She wriggled. “Stop—Mama just braided my hair! You’ll mess it—”
“Danke, danke!” I gripped her tighter and planted kisses all over her cheeks. “Kindchen, schnucki—”
“Stop! Friederike!” She went limp enough to slip through my grasp and rolled away across the floor. “The Three, you’re the worst. We’re not children anymore.”
“Oh, yes. You’re ten years old and a full maiden now, hm?”
She patted her hair, checking that it was still in place. “Of course.”
“So you wouldn’t have any interest in, say, sneaking into the stash of sweets my mother just brought back for my birthday?”
Liesel paused, hands on her braids, lips in a flat line.
“Well,” she said. “Maidens like sweets, too.”
What does Dieter want with her?
Is there something he wants her to find? Something to do with wild magic, maybe—or other covens? Wild magic needs evil to feed on. Does he not get enough from the hexenjägers?
What more could Liesel do for him?
She’ll fight him. She’ll fight him with every ounce of strength she has, fire at her command and in her soul, and my stomach heaves, because Dieterwillbreak her. There was nothing in his eyes, no sanity or love or empathy.
He’ll break her.
And he’ll enjoy doing it.
I do my best to curl up as small as possible on the damp floor, using my arm as a pillow and wholly ignoring the stench of whatever is streaked on the stones. My eyes close, my breathing evens, but I won’t sleep.
All these people will escape tomorrow; Otto will make sure of it. I know I promised to help him find Hilde, but I am not leaving this city without my cousin.
You will die, the voice says.Both of you. Without me.
I pinch my eyes shut tighter.
And hum to myself
That lullaby. The one Otto sang to me.
