Beau looked stricken. “What about the vitae echo?”
“The Royals aren’t doing the killing,” Luc said tensely. “The wooden soldiers are killing on their behalf. The right spell could reverse someone turned to stone, but not even the greatest spell can bring back the dead.”
“Look!” Beau pointed out a team of Goblins who were fighting back by one of the fountains. They had surrounded one topiary soldier and were throwing out rotting spells to wither its branches. It was working, but slowly.
Without warning, a hiss of magic came from every direction at once. Anouk felt it sizzle in the air and spun around. A chubby Goblin twenty paces away had been turned to stone. One minute he was flesh and blood and gold eyeliner, and then he was an awful granite statue, immobile, a perpetual scream frozen on his lips. She had to blink to make sure she was seeing straight.
Anouk felt a shiver as another wave of magic shot by them. A few paces to their left, another Goblin turned to stone. That was powerful magic. Witch magic. “She’s close. The Mada.”
She followed the direction of the magic to the château’s bell tower. A figure with long black hair wearing a billowing white blouse stood in its open window next to a young man in frost gray.
Zola and Rennar.
“We have to get into the château,” she said. More sparking streaks of magic shot out from various high windows. Beautiful faces loomed there: a handful of lesser Royals, counts and duchesses, eager to impress their prince. They wouldn’t make it easy.
And then Anouk’s eyes caught on the bear. Toblerone. He had followed Tenpenny down the path through the fields and was now standing at attention by a crumbling stone wall, awaiting another order. “The bear,” she called to the beasties. “Climb on his back!”
They ran through the battlefield. Cricket whispered her cutting spell to chop off wooden arms before the soldiers could grab them. Hunter Black hung back to hiss the blue-flame spell and set one giant’s leg on fire, while the others reached Toblerone and used his branches like a ladder to climb onto his back. Anouk helped Luc climb up and straddle the trunk that formed his spine.
The bear started lumbering toward the château. Anouk wove her fingers into his twiggy bones, holding on with one hand. Toblerone barged straight through the battle, through Goblins casting whispers and wooden soldiers that exploded in flurries of splinters. Anouk tipped her head up, squinting at the bell tower. She was too far away to see Zola’s and Rennar’s faces, but she hoped they could see hers.
The most dangerous thing in all of France, she thought, is me.
“Hunter Black, come on!” Cricket called.
As Toblerone neared the house, Hunter Black climbed up the fountain, frigid water soaking his clothes, and leaped onto the side of the bear next to Anouk. He started to slip but she grabbed his hand, catching him at the last minute. He was soaked. There was a terrible moment when she felt his hand slide out of hers . . . until Luc suddenly clutched him too and pulled him out of his coat, which fell to the ground. Together they helped him climb onto the bear’s back.
“Nice of you to join us,” Luc said breathlessly.
He only growled, “I liked that coat.”
At last Toblerone reached the heavy wooden door of the château. His claws tore at the wood, splintering and shredding it. Behind them, the battle raged on. Every scream made her cringe. She could stop this. Save all the Goblins, put an end to the topiaries. Didn’t she owe the Goblins that? But the victory would be short-lived. She had to save her magic for Rennar and Zola. Toblerone reared up on his hind legs and threw his full weight at the door. The boards gave way beneath him. Splintered wood flew everywhere. He fell to his feet, and the whole earth seemed to vibrate.
Petra stood in the entryway as if she’d been waiting for them.
She was casually smoking a cigarette as though enchanted shrubbery often crashed through her front door. But Anouk could see beyond the act. The hand that held the cigarette was trembling.
“You shouldn’t have come back,” Petra said.
“She’s nothing,” Hunter Black growled. “A witch’s girl. A Pretty. She can’t do magic.”
Petra put out the cigarette with her boot and then took a rifle from behind her back. “Maybe not, but I can use a gun.”
Chapter 36
Nine Hours of (New) Enchantment Remain
“Petra.” Anouk gasped. “Put down therifle. We’re not your enemies.”
“And yet you’ve broken into my house and brought an army of Goblins with you. I’d expect something different from a friend. Say, cake.” She aimed the rifle. “Now climb down from there.”
They descended the topiary bear with no sudden movements.
Anouk dropped to the floor. “I was loyal to a witch too, once,” she told her. “I loved her. But she was rotten somewhere deep. The vitae echo eats them away inside. It destroys their minds. It makes them power hungry. They think the Pretties are like livestock, theirs to command, and the same with us and with the Goblins. Do you think you’re any different?”
Petra cocked the rifle. “You’re the one making this black and white, not me. I helped you before because I like you. And believe it or not, I’m helping you still. I’ve been around these people my whole life. Zola. Rennar. I know what they’re capable of. You have to believe me: there’s no way out of this that doesn’t end in you begging Rennar for your life.”
“You want us to surrender.”