Page 148 of Brambles and Bellflowers
I nodded. I knew that.
There was a shift in the wind, and my attention snapped up as a crash rang through the air. Miles dropped his hands from my sides as he turned his head toward the noise.
We’d been stopped for quite some time, but I hadn’t even taken notice of our surroundings until now. Miles’s… stories had been a distraction.
The wind rustled through the air, carrying away the last sounds. Orange and red leaves swirled at our feet. The air surrounded us, and every movement felt like I was walking against the current.
But I stepped forward anyway. The wind washed over me, bringing with it a newfound clarity.
“What is that?” I asked, focus zeroing in on a barely-there pathway to the right. Miles was looking in that direction, too, his expression severe. But he didn’t look surprised.
“It has the same energy as the thing that distracted me at the river,” he replied. “It must be Kathleen’s monster.”
I frowned, recalling their conversation—and my pamphlets. “The Snallygaster?”
She’d said that it was the manifestation of a creature that came to her in a dream.
“Yes,” Miles said again, his voice uncharacteristically grim. “But if it’s made from her magic, it should have disappeared after Kathleen died. Why is it still alive?”
He looked at me, but I knew nothing of witchcraft besides what I’d gathered from my few sources, and I shrugged.
“Let’s go see,” he said, brows lowering. He walked past me, this time holding the stick properly, as he moved into the forest. There was a determination to him that had filled the spaces of his careful cautiousness from before, and my heart began to race.
He was no longer afraid.
I stepped after him, skipping to catch up. “Okay.”
24
We found the monster quickly.However, before I could step through the bushes, Miles placed his hand over my mouth and pulled me close. Beyond the leaves, our quintet was already engaged in battle.
“Wait.” Miles’s arms tightened around me. “You can’t go out there; you’ll distract them. They know we’re here, don’t worry.”
I swallowed hard, the weight of his words sinking in.
Then, through the gaps in the leaves, I caught sight of it.
It was a half dragon, half duck, as Kathleen had said, and it certainly wasn’t a graceful sight.
What in the world would possess someone to make it look like that?
Then it moved, and my breath caught as it stretched its massive wings and lunged in a furious swoop. I barely breathed as it snapped at Julian as he jerked away just in time to avoid two rows of razor-sharp teeth.
My heart was pounding.
I’d seen this monster before.
I’d created it.
It was a childish drawing in messy crayon strokes, scrawled across a page during a rare moment when I had been allowed togo to school. I’d been proud then, proud enough to show it off despite the laughter of the other children.
Art wasn’t exactly my strong point.
But how did Kathleen—
“Remember, it’s just a spell,” Miles reminded me, pulling my attention as Titus—in his dragon form—swooped in on the monster. “It can’t hurt you.” He said this as Damen got smacked in the face with its tail.
“Much,” Miles added.
