Page 73 of The Guardians of Dreamdark
They tried to stifle their laughter. As she rolled over onto her side, Magpie felt something dig into her hip, and she sat up suddenly. “Oh!”
“What is it?” Talon asked.
Magpie was holding a little metal flask that was hooked onto her belt. “I forgot about this,” she said sadly. “Poppy gave it to me the day she...” Her mind rejected the worddied, and she just trailed off. “It’s a potion she made. It’s supposed to help you remember your dreams.” She unscrewed the little cap and took a deep breath before drinking a swig of it. “Hmm,” she said. “Ittastes nice. Want some? Dreams, you know, Bellatrix said that dreams are everything.”
Talon shook his head and murmured, “Bellatrix,” with wonder as he reached for the flask. He took a sip and handed it back.
They flopped down back-to-back and nestled snug in the deep silks. “Good night, Talon,” said Magpie.
“Good night, Magpie.”
They were fast asleep within a minute. On the edge of the trunk Calypso muttered, “About time!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
That night Talon dreamed of flying, as he did most nights. But when Calypso woke him a few hours later, he was filled not with longing or disappointment as he often was on waking to his real wings, but with an idea. His eyes snapped open, and he stared unseeing at the dust drifting overhead as an image spun slowly in his mind. An image of all twelve glyphs for flight joined into one exquisite pattern, a pattern he was certain had never existed before in all of time. A new spell for flight, which he would use to knit his next skin.
Magpie dreamed she was pursued by darkness, and in the dream she stood and let it steal over her like a numbing tide. She tossed in her sleep, murmuring. All around her the emptiness spread like a devastated sky, its dead and dying stars all but extinguished. But then in her dream she held aloft a light, a pure and piercing light, and those sparks flared in answer, one by one, and began to shine. She turned in a circle, and they were everywhere. She walked on with her light, and they began to fall into step behind her, and all night long in her sleep she walked through the darkness, until at last she found the edge of it and stepped back into the world. They filed out of the emptiness behind her, one by one: Poppy, Maniac, the tattooed warriors, even the fishermen, their turbans fallen sadlyaskew on their huge human heads as they came blinking back into the light.
She woke with a gasp and sat straight up, expecting to see them all around her, but she saw only Talon lying on his back, staring at the ceiling with a look of awe. He turned slowly to her, and when their eyes met, they were shining, bright with dreaming, filled with new magic, new ideas, and new hope.
“I think I know what happened to them,” Magpie said. “The Blackbringer’s victims, I think I know how to save ’em!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The huge human cook awoke before dawn with her mouth watering from a dream of strawberries, but when she went yawning into the dooryard to gather some, she found the runners plucked clean of every last fruit. She didn’t know who to blame, the kitchen maids or the cat, so she woke them all by banging two pots together and set them to work early without any breakfast. Some hedge imps took advantage of the noise to knock over a jar of nutmeg and stuff their pockets full before vanishing in a blink.
Not far away, two faeries and a crow stood on the lip of the old well with their bellies uncomfortably full of berries. “You shouldn’t have eaten that last one,” Magpie whispered to Talon.
“Couldn’t leaveone,” Talon replied with a groan. “Got to finish what you start.”
“I don’t know if my floating spell will hold you up now!”
Talon snorted, remembering the floating spell that had swept every soul in Rathersting Castle off their feet. “You’ll manage,” he whispered back.
“Ready, love?” asked Calypso. The other five crows had positioned themselves in the trees to keep watch from every direction.
“Aye. Here we go.” Magpie touched the spell to Talon’s shoulder, and when he stepped into the darkness, he driftedslowly downward. His moth wings fanned the air, guiding his drift, while Magpie hovered beside him and Calypso heaved overhead. They descended. A small ring of spelled light clung to them, but it made the darkness below all the blacker. The plumes of magic wafting up the well shaft were stronger than they had been the first time Magpie had come, and the air was hot and acrid as bad breath.
Magpie glanced at Talon and saw his face was white. “You sure you want to come?” she whispered, at which he looked irritated, and some color came back into his cheeks.
“Aye,” he said. “Why? You scared?”
“Sure. Only a fool doesn’t fear. But it’ll be okay...” she said, and mumbled as an afterthought, “I’m almost sure of it.”
Down below, the Magruwen could hear their whispers as clearly as he could smell their bouquet of scents. Crow and cheroot, a breath of berries just eaten, and a curious whisper of nightspink that reminded him of the imps who used to bring Bellatrix’s messages from the next world. He also detected the faint musk of that other imp, the Blackbringer’s stooge, and wondered what business the lass had with such a dismal creature.
His pacing had worn a track through the treasure, and the smoke had taken on the motion of a tide, surging with him as he strode. He stopped now, an inferno contained by nothing but will, and faced the door.
He wasn’t wearing a skin before,” Magpie whispered to Talon when their feet touched down. So be carefulfor your eyes.” She pushed the door open and called out “Lord Magruwen?” as she stepped into the cave. “It’s Magpie Windwitch, Lord. I hope it’s okay—”
The Magruwen swept toward her. She felt his great restless energy and saw he had grown still brighter than when she had sparked him awake. His flames whipped in a frenzy within his rough shape, and she could scarcely look at him. He was pulsing, frenetic, thinly contained. Here was the Djinn King at full strength, and he was terrifying.
“You should have come years ago,” he hissed. “You must learn to see before you wreak more havoc.”
“Havoc?” Magpie blinked in surprise, but before she could say any more, the Magruwen sucked her toward him in a funnel of heat and then flared wide, whipping himself into a vortex around her and sealing her from sight.
“’Pie!” Calypso squawked, charging forward. The ends of his feathers sizzled against the wall of fire, and he had to hop back. He couldn’t see through it. He tried to fly around it. There was no opening. Magpie had been enveloped. Frantic, Calypso called out to her.
