Chapter 8
Enid
Idropped from the ladder onto my lily pad and pointed across the zigzag of channels, where the humans were currently picking their way across the marsh—right outside the border of Fairwitch.
I gritted my teeth. “That way.” Vine slithered up beside me as I looked at the two humans roaming my bog. From their hulking, burly figures, I assumed they were both men. Vine tried to pull me down to a crouch, but I waved it off.
“They can’t see us, remember?” I gestured around us to the barrier that surrounded Fairwitch Isle, keeping the city invisible to outsiders.
“We don’t have anything to worry about.” I scowled at Vine. “Even if they could see us, what are you afraid of? You do realize you’re a python vine that can squeeze its prey to death, don’t you?”
Vine shook its head.
“You’re getting soft, Vine.” I reached out and caressed one of my sunflowers as we passed a row of them. It let out a screech that could deafen human ears if they were too close. Such a sweet sound.
The lily pad moved to the left, following the narrow channel that snaked through the marsh. As we neared the humans, I realized one of them held a shovel, which he was using to dig into my bog.
Hot rage filled me. “How dare they desecrate my land.”
Vine lay slumped next to me, and I rolled my eyes at its pouting.
“I’m sorry I called you soft. I’m aggravated about this entire situation, and I suppose I might’ve taken it out on you.”
The lily pad curved around another bend in the channel, and now we were close enough that I could see the men more clearly.
One of them swiped a hand over his shiny bald head.
The other one wrinkled his protruding nose at something, then rubbed the distinctive bump that made me think he’d broken it at some point.
I thought about my jab at Vine. “The truth is maybe I’m the one who’s going soft.”
Vine patted my shoulder.
“Look at those two. It’s like they’ve never heard of me. Don’t even know this is my bog. Have I lost my touch?”
Vine shook its head, and my hands curled into fists. “I’m going to teach these mortals a lesson. They can’t just come into my home and dig up my land.”
The lily pad stopped in front of the piece of land where the humans were digging. Tall grass and a slew of wildflowers surrounded them, coming up to their waists. These were not my plants but were part of the natural habitat of the bog, here long before I ever arrived.
Bald Man stuck the shovel in the ground and leaned on it. “I don’t see any bones around here.”
Bones? Whose bones were they looking for?
Broken Nose sighed. “I don’t either. If she died, her remains sure aren’t around here. We’ve been digging for hours.”
My eyes bulged. Hours? They had been here for hours digging? My temper flared.
Broken Nose bit the inside of his cheek. “First we discover her cottage and all those unnatural plants are gone—like the earth swallowed them—and now she’s gone too.”
I nearly fell forward. Me. They were talking about me.
They were looking for my bones. For proof of my death.
If the humans thought I was dead, soon enough, they’d be crawling all over my bog.
Part of my bog lay outside Fairwitch Isle, and because of the high prince’s strict rules about leaving, I hadn’t been able to visit it for a long time, but it was still mine.
The high prince wouldn’t like that there were mortals here. I didn’t like it. For once, we might be in agreement on something.
I wondered how long it had been since humans visited the Cragh. It must’ve been since before Fairwitch Isle landed if they were just now noticing my cottage had disappeared. It made sense: humans didn’t come often, not when I’d earned my reputation for scaring them off.
Broken Nose’s lanky form crouched to study something on the ground. “No one’s been here for years, so how do we even know this disappearance was recent?”
That confirmed my suspicions.
Bald Man scratched his stubbled jaw. “I don’t fucking know.”
The High Prince of Fairwitch had made it clear only those who had permission could leave the city, since leaving put everyone at risk.
If anyone saw someone emerge from an invisible barrier, it would lead to questions.
And questions led to rumors. And rumors could get back to the Brotherhood of Magic.
I’d dealt with the brotherhood before. They’d come to my bog once, trying to take some of my magical plants.
Vine had suffocated one of them, and they’d never returned.
But I had heard horror stories about how they conquered cities, burned them to the ground, started wars, all so they could obtain powerful magic for their own gain.
The godwitches would’ve been disgusted by that behavior, even though the brotherhood preached they were doing all this in the name of the godwitches.
“Well, if her cottage disappeared, maybe she disappeared with it. Maybe her bones are at the bottom of this bog,” Broken Nose said. “Maybe the sentient bog finally turned on her.”
They thought my own bog had killed me? This was unacceptable. I had to show these men I was still very much alive. Forget Prince Cillian’s stupid rules.
I was about to step forward and reveal myself when someone shouted out, “No, no, you’re going too fast.”
I whipped around to see Nevan stumbling on a lily pad behind me, holding out a bouquet of flowers. His legs wobbled, and he swayed, unsteady on his feet.
The lily pad carried him closer until it was almost touching mine. I gaped at him as he yelled out, lost his balance, and fell straight into me.