Page 39 of When Ashes Fall

Before he could reply, something screamed in the woods, drawing his attention to the trees. My hand stilled on the headstone as the hair on my nape rose. I didn’t know what had made that sound and didn’t want to.

Knox rested his hand on my shoulder. “Gather your basket; it’s time to go.”

I hated the idea of leaving Archie alone in this place, but I didn’t argue. I hated the idea of being some creature’s lunch more.

“Take me with you!” Archie cried as I rose.

Regret pounded through me as more tears spilled down my cheeks. Beneath Knox’s intense scrutiny, I wiped them hastily away.

“I’ll have to come back,” I said to Knox, but I was really speaking to Archie.

I’m talking to the dead.

It seemed so surreal. However, I couldn’t deny the grave or the voice that led me to it.

Casters don’t speak to the dead. It’s not one of our powers.

But it was one of mine.

“Please don’t leave me!” Archie cried.

Archie’s desperate plea pulled me from my thoughts. I rested my hand over my heart as I tried not to sob. I could tell Knox what was happening to me, maybe then he would be more understanding about moving Archie.

But can you trust him with that information?

I couldn’t trust him with anything, and as much as I wanted to help Archie, I couldn’t risk sacrificing myself to do so. He didn’t trust me, at times he barely tolerated me, and he hated my kind; I couldn’t expose my secrets when I had no idea what I was exposing.

“I need more mushrooms,” I persisted as Knox steered me through the trees.

“I’ll bring you back,” he stated.

“Soon.”

Doubt swirled through his eyes as they met mine, but when something released an awful, screeching noise far different than the earlier one, our pace picked up. Whatever was out there, it was better not to encounter it.

Gizzi climbed my leg, dashed up my back, and perched on my shoulder.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Briar

To keep up pretenses, I went straight to the healer’s room when we returned to the castle. Knox didn’t say anything when we parted, but Gizzi hounded me with questions. I was still too busy processing what happened in the woods to fully answer him.

I was halfway through making the newest potion when I felt capable of revealing what happened. I didn’t know why I could talk to Archie; I’d never done anything like it before, and no other casters possessed such an ability.

While I communicated mentally with him, Gizzi didn’t speak; his nose didn’t even twitch.

“He can’t be left out there. I have to get him moved,” I told him.

Gizzi took a few minutes before responding. “How do you plan to do that?”

“I don’t know. Knox can’t know about any of this. He already sees me as something he can use and manipulate; I don’t know what he’d do with this information.”

“Shit,” Gizzi hissed out slowly.

“I have to get to the library.”

“What do you plan to find there?”