looked over my notes. “I think we can use bluebells to summon that thing since they typically grow in fairy rings and both of those are related to Marianne. Snowdrops are good for protection, but they only bloom in winter so I doubt we’ll find any now. Horseshoes protect against evil spells, especially after being worn by a horse in its seventh year, chalcedony helps banish illusions…” I scanned my writings, “and I’ve got a whole list of other flowers and plants and things here that we can use to try and kill it without getting killed ourselves. How about you?”
“About the same. A lot of little things that might add up. Found a lot of interesting potions that might do the trick, but we haven’t exactly got a whole month to make them, and I don’t know what half this crap is.”
“Well, let’s compare our lists and then go see if we can find some of this stuff before all the shops here close.”
We found a flower shop and a small store that sold knickknacks and other oddities, and bought bluebells, roses, morning glories still on long vines, pansies, chalcedony, boji stones, an old horseshoe, dried angelica root, fangs of a snake I’d never heard of, a vial of juniper and clove oil, and salt. We bought two small pouches, one for each of us, and divided up most of the objects into them. I didn’t know what the different sizes the squares of silver money meant, so I lied to the merchants and told them I was from a neighboring kingdom. Thankfully it worked, and they counted out the money themselves. I hoped they weren’t screwing us over.
“I feel like it’s the 1600s and we’re about to go witch hunting,” Alex muttered.
As we left the knickknack store, a long howl rose into the night. Please Wolf, don’t be getting into trouble.
“Now what do we do?” Alex asked.
We stopped outside the alley where the small house sat with Marianne tucked away inside. I wanted to go in and rescue her, but if there was one thing I’d learned since being here, it was that when I did things without knowing what I was doing, I got myself into trouble. I didn’t want to drag Alex into any stupid decisions either. We needed Wolf. Except I didn’t know how long it would be until he was lucid again. Or where he was for that matter.
“Three against one is better odds than two against one, right?” I said. “Wolf knows more about what’s going on than either of us. This thing is still resting. It’s weird, but I can feel it. We’ll keep an eye on this place tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll check on Wolf again, and if he’s,” I almost said not there, but corrected myself in time, “still not well enough, we’re just going to have to do this on our own because I don’t think we can afford to wait anymore. We’ll sleep in shifts in case it wakes up during the night.”
I prayed that once the full moon was gone, Wolf would be back to himself. He’d even said that something was wrong this time. Something had poisoned the moon, and in turn, poisoned him. Part of me desperately wanted to look for him, but another part of me was afraid of what might happen if I actually found him.
Chapter 13
Alex and I slept in four hour shifts, and soon the sun rose again to yet another glorious day. I awoke with a loud yawn, vaguely wondering if the Kingdom of Red ever had any bad weather and hoping that now that I’d thought of it, we wouldn’t suddenly receive a healthy portion of mean rain clouds. After stuffing a handful of jerky in my mouth for breakfast and eating my last candy bar, I patted Alex on the shoulder and headed to the abandoned barn again. I stopped off at the village well to fill one of my water bottles on the way. If Wolf wasn’t here, then I didn’t know where to look. He could be anywhere in the woods, and we couldn’t wait much longer before acting.
As I ran, a shrill scream echoed across the valley. I froze and spun around. It went on for a little longer before more people joined in the shouting and yelling. My heart thumped in my chest as a single word floated through the air over and over again.