She stopped beside me and leaned over, whispering something unintelligible. The tips of her stringy gray hair brushed against my shoulder. She smelled of mothballs and decaying earth, combined with something that wasn’t tangible, but could only be described as sinister.
I should do it now, make a run for the door and slam it closed with her still inside. If I was fast enough, it could work, and I still had the element of surprise.
This time, I didn’t bother to count.
My eyes popped open. I heard her quick intake of breath as I gained my feet and lunged for the door. It was so close! Another step, maybe two.
“Hendrik!” I shouted my brother’s name to wake him, and I thought I heard a muffled groan. I was going to make it! The door was within reach.
Her bony hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I squirmed, trying to shake her off, when a sharp pain sent me to my knees. Liquid fire raced through my veins. I sucked in a breath, struggling to keep going, but her magic held me in place. The throb in my shoulder moved down my arm, and my eyes widened when my skin started to glow.
A burst of power expanded inside my body, shaking me to my core. The witch gasped and jerked her hand away. Stumbling through the cell door, she slammed the iron bars closed and removed the key.
She seethed on the other side, watching me tremble, unable to move. My arm had gone numb, but there was still a faint aura clinging to my skin and a humming in my veins. Her heartless gaze captured mine, and it took everything inside of me to hold that stare. A minute passed, then another. When the glow vanished, so did she. Spinning on her heel, she fled the room.
Air rushed from my lungs, and I fell forward onto my palms.
“Liana, are you all right?” Hendrik asked.
The witch had left the lantern, and I saw him sitting up in his cell rubbing the sleep from his eyes. I wanted to scream. I’d been so close! Crawling toward my meal, I flipped the tray of food, sending the bowl of gruel flying. I grabbed the wooden spoon, intending to throw it against the wall.
But something stopped me.
The numbness in my arm had faded, replaced with pins and needles, and the faint glow returned, growing stronger.
“Liana, what’s happening?”
My voice trembled. “I don’t know. The witch used magic on me. I can’t explain it, but I think some of it’s still inside me.”
“Whoa.” Hendrik’s gaze landed on my fist where light bled from my fingers. I unfurled my hand, and the wooden spoon melted, morphing into another object.
A key.
Impossible.
The glow vanished, and so did the tingling sensation in my arm. I was left feeling drained and slightly dizzy. Whatever magic had transferred through me was gone, but it had given me exactly what I needed.
Scrambling across the floor on my knees, I slipped my hand between the bars and located the lock.
The key fit perfectly.
Hendrik’s mouth hung open as I unlocked the cell and hurried to do the same to his. He climbed awkwardly to his feet, leaning heavily on one leg. I ducked under his shoulder to give him leverage as we hobbled toward the door.
He slowed our steps and whispered urgently near my ear, “If she catches us, I want you to run.”
“What? No! I’m not leaving you here.”
“You have to. With my leg the way it is, I’ll only slow you down, and we’ll both be trapped. I know it’s hard, but you have to be brave. Promise me you’ll run.”
I drew in a deep breath, feeling the air as it shuddered inside my lungs. “I promise I’ll come back for you.”
“I know you will. Now, let’s go.”
The door creaked open, and we froze, listening for the slightest sound. All I could hear was the rhythmic pounding of my heart. Slowly, we crept down the hallway. Each squeak of the floorboards made my breath catch.
Where was the witch?
The layout of the house was a fuzzy image in my mind. Its twisting turns and shadowed spaces left me worried we’d run into a dead end. Was it left at the end of the hallway or were we already heading in the wrong direction?
