“What if we were to search for the string?” Raj asked.
“Possible, yes. Will you live? No.”
I stood at the bars looking out. In the pulsing, greenish glow cast from the well, the floor and walls seemed to be underwater. The dim lighting made it hard to spot anything, especially a thin strand of unicorn hair.
“It’s a bloody shame,” Drekken said, gently running his fingers over his lute’s strings, “I could create the most beautifully haunting music. It would’ve brought tears to your eyes had you heard it.”
“Then we’ll find that string,” Raj said. “If you can calm the vines with your music, it’s our only chance of escaping.”
“How?” I asked. “If we go out there, the vines will kill us while we’re searching.”
“I don’t know yet,” Raj said, staring intently at the well, and at the single vine growing from it.
As I stood trapped inside the cell, I racked my brain, trying to think of a way out. The image of the corpse in the dungeon surfaced in my memory, and I wasn’t sure our fate would be any different from his.
But I couldn’t think that way. There had to be a way out. I just needed to concentrate and come up with something. This was my mother’s magic after all, if anyone could beat it, then surely, I could, except I knew my mother’s powers had far surpassed mine. I possessed no natural magic. If I practiced and trained the rest of my life, I would never become as skilled as she had been. Magic was a part of her soul, a piece of herself. What chance did I have of defeating it?
Raj paced the cell behind me, his face pensive, as if he were deep in thought. Drekken sat on the floor, his back to the wall. His fingers moved deftly over his lute’s strings. He didn’t play, keeping his fingers just above the strings, yet his faraway expression told me he must’ve heard the music, even if no one else could.
An idea struck me, so I walked to him and knelt at his side.
“Drekken,” I said, “what if you were to use some other hair besides unicorn hair?”
He shook his head. “No. For the magic to work, it has to be unicorn hair.”
“But what if I could create something so similar, you couldn’t tell the difference?”
His eyes narrowed. “You could do that?”
“I think so. I can’t promise I’ll be successful, but I think it’s worth trying.”
He straightened. “Very well. Try it. We’ve got nothing to lose.”
I picked up my pack. Searching through its contents, I found a vial of yarrow oil, some twine, and a satchel of dried lemon balm leaves. I used my knife to cut the twine and laid it on the floor, straightening it out until it formed a line.
Grasping the vial, I pulled out the stopper. The faint, floral scent tickled my nose.
“What’s she doing?” Drekken asked Raj.
“What she’s best at,” Raj answered.
I looked up at Raj. He stood over me, a faint smile tugging at his lips, and I couldn’t help but smile back. As our gazes connected, my heart skipped a beat.
Blast it all.
Raj was nothing but a distraction—an attractive, swoon-worthy distraction.
Looking away, I concentrated on the enchantment. The glass vial warmed in my hands as I held it. I placed my finger atop its opening, tipped it over until a drop of liquid moistened my finger, then I ran the oil along the twine, whispering a spell.
“Into the light, change your form…”
Chanting over and over, I watched as the twine began to glow. It was almost imperceptible, and took longer than it should have, yet as I continued with the spell, the twine glowed brighter.
I placed the vial aside and grabbed the satchel of lemon balm leaves. Pulling open the drawstrings, I reached inside and grasped a single leaf. I held the brittle leaf carefully to keep it from breaking. Gently, I brushed it over the twine.
“Out of the earth you come, from twine to a unicorn’s hair, make us see what is not there…”
Magic pulsed from the leaf and into the twine. It was a simple spell. I’d seen my mother use it so many times, I’d memorized it and didn’t need her journal. Still, the magic came strongly as I continued to chant, running the leaf from one end of the twine to the other.
White light blinded me as the twine transformed completely. I sat back, clutching the leaf as the intense heat of the magic radiated from the twine. As the light dissipated, I crawled toward the twine, no longer made of wool, but appearing to sparkle with the silvery glow of unicorn’s hair.
Drekken stood over me. “Is it really unicorn hair?”
I gingerly picked up the strand. “Not exactly. But it’s close. Let’s hope the vines can’t tell the difference.”
He took the hair from me, running it through his fingers, looking suspiciously at the silver strand.
“Only one way to know for sure,” he said, then turned to his lute. He ran the strand through the missing space, tightening and wrapping the long end until it held firm.
“Go ahead,” Raj said. “Give it a try.”
He looked up at us, hesitating as he held his fingers over the strings. “I don’t think I should.”
“What? Why not?” I asked.
“My music is bold, to put it lightly. I doubt you’ve heard anything like it. Plus, it has a strange effect on people. I’m not sure you’re ready for it.”
“We’ve heard music before,” I said.
He shook his head. “Not like this.”
I placed my hands on my hips. It had been a long day. I’d been nearly killed by vines, and before that, attacked by wolves, traversed the Spirit Woods,
