Who did that witch think she was? Anger pulsed through me, and I turned to my bestie. “Let’s try the rings again.” I reached for her hand, but she pulled back.
“No. It’s not working for some reason.” She stared at the ruby ring as if it had betrayed her and then, shaking it off, returned her determined gaze to mine. “We will try again, just not yet. Maybe after the skellies are animated, they’ll be more vulnerable. For now, we need to get back to camp and warn the others.”
She gave the skeletons one last glare, and then turned and stalked back toward the path.
Clearing his throat, Alasdair followed. “Yer Highness. I’m wondering if I might have a word with ye.” Keeping my eyes on the field, I sensed rather than saw Vee stop.
“Yer Highness,” Alasdair began. “I know how you can destroy Adelaide once and for all.”
“You do?” Vee’s tone pitched up in her interested-but-skeptical voice.
“Aye. You must first make her mortal.”
“How?” I could almost see her brow arching.
“Ye must strip her of her magic. In my figurin’, there’s a couple o’ different ways ta accomplish it.”
“Go on.”
“She’s usin’ up her magic with this army. If she spends it all, the only thing left will be her human form. And if that doesna do it, there’s a good chance that the elixir will strip what remains.”
“So what you’re saying is that you really don’t know the best way to make her mortal.” I was fairly sure I could hear Vee’s arms crossing in front of her chest.
“Nay, Yer Highness. I know of one surefire way ta accomplish the task. But the method is so extreme, I’m reluctant ta mention it.”
Before Alasdair could say more, Duncan and Jamie emerged through the tree line. Other than a little limp, my boyfriend seemed all right. And he was still clutching the hilt of his sword in his free hand. “Blasted magic broke my blade in two.”
Jamie chuckled. “He’s fine. That thick skull o’ his has saved him yet again.”
Vee returned and searched both princes. When she was satisfied they were truly okay, she said, “Any insight on how to kill those things?”
“We’re calling them skellies,” I interjected.
Duncan lifted his broken weapon for us to see. “Definitely not with swords.”
“And there’s no way to predict when the witch might activate them,” Vee clarified.
“Nay.”
She frowned. “How soon do you think the Destined army can be ready?”
“Soon as Mackenna and I are able to go get them.”
“You should go first thing in the morning. But talk to Oliver first. If we can’t cut the skellies down, maybe we can blow them up. See what type of explosives Oliver thinks we should use and what he’ll need from the modern world to make them. Let’s get back to the camp.” She turned on her heel, expecting us to follow. And we did. “I want eyes on this field twenty-four seven, and if one of these skellies so much as jiggles, I want to know about it.”
As I finished packing my duffle bag for the return to Alloway, Vee slipped into the tent. Holding a finger to her lips, she motioned for me to come outside without waking the other sleeping girls.
“Take a walk with me.” There were bags under her eyes and I suspected that she’d spent much of the night worrying about the skellies and how quickly we could return with the Destined army.
The pink and orange sky had already begun fading to blue in the growing dawn. As my bestie led me out of the camp, I noted the signs of spring bursting from the earth. Delicate buds poked up from the grass and the trees were beginning to flower.
Just beyond the camp, we stopped in a small clearing near a line of wilted black petunias. On the other side of the zombie fungus ravaged earth, stood the ruin of the witch’s cottage. Just as I remembered, the place stank of rotten meat and death—being near the place gave me the heebie jeebies.
Vee faced me, taking both my hands in hers. “All night long, I’ve been thinking about how we can protect the camp while you’re gone. I have an idea—it’s a longshot but I want to try anyway.”
“Okay . . .” I couldn’t keep the skepticism from coloring my voice. Yes, we’d used the rings to find the people in the mountains, but wielding them to defeat the skellies had been a bust.