Page 89 of Autumn L.A.W

“Ah, yes. Archaeological borrowing. That always ends well.”

They waited until dusk, when the crowds thinned, and the air shifted. The pyramid seemed to hum, ancient magic woven into every stone.

“Careful,” Duke murmured. “Respect matters here.”

“Don’t worry. We witches always respect natural flora and fauna when we pinch some. Although rocks are neither flora nor fauna…”

Victoria crouched, brushing her fingers along the lowest step. The stone seemed almost alive.

“Relax,” she said softly. “We’re not here to mess anything up. I just need a pinch of your dirt.”

The moment she collected the dust, the ground gave a subtle tremor.

She froze. “Did I just anger a civilization?”

“Possibly.”

“Fantastic.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Au revoir, ancient wonder!” And they left quickly.

Indonesia was worse.

The corpse flower announced itself before they even saw it.

Victoria stopped dead. “Oh no.”

Duke winced. “Yes.”

The smell hit like a physical force.

“Sweet Goddess,” she gagged, covering her nose. “That is not a scent. That is an olfactory attack.”

The massive bloom loomed ahead, obscene and magnificent.

“That’s it,” Duke said.

“That thing looks like it eats witchlets.”

“We have to wait for peak bloom. Which means sitting in the smell.”

Victoria wrapped a scarf around her face. “If I pass out, get me back to the mansion. I don’t want my last memory to be this.”

“You’ll survive.”

“I might not want to.”

“Tell you what… Why don’t we leave this one until last? We can always come back and move it quickly, since we know where it is.”

Victoria leaned as far back as possible. “Good idea. If that leaked in my bag, I’d burn everything in there with it.”

Northern Queensland tried to kill them with humidity first, then bugs and animals.

“Nepenthes Temax,” Duke said, pointing to a spot in the bush.

Victoria eyed the pitcher plant suspiciously. “That looks like it eats things that have names and a heartbeat.”