Page 55 of The Warlock's Trial

Nadine sat at the head of the table. “Mandy came to me in a dream to tell me she and Tate are in trouble. I think she’s been trying to get into my dreams for a while now. The priestesses have locked them up.”

Talia’s hands smacked against the table as a gasp traveled around the room. “What the hell are the priestesses doing with my sister!?”

Nadine shook her head. “I don’t know much—just that we need to get them out.”

Talia’s fingers trembled. “I told Mom and Dad to leave and take Tyler and Tate with them, but they didn’t want to go. Tyler said if they left, the priestesses had already won. My whole family wanted to stay to fight for us.”

“Either Tate did something to piss them off, or the priestesses are targeting her for being our friend,” I stated. “Either way, we need to get them out before the priestesses determine they aren’t of any use and hang them for treason.”

Miles drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “This could be a trap.”

Nadine’s eyes narrowed. “It isn’t. Mandy’s the only person I know who can enter someone else’s dreams. She was begging for our help. When she touched me, I could feel her terror. You can’t fake that kind of fear.”

“She betrayed you,” Miles reminded us harshly. “Mandy led the priestesses to the Gravestone, where we kept all our evidence of our plan to go up against the Imperium Council. If she hadn’t ratted out our hideout, the priestesses would have nothing on you. It’s her fault you were put on trial.”

“I know that,” Nadine bit. “But it doesn’t matter what she did to us in the past. If we leave her at the hands of the priestesses, she will die. She doesn’t deserve this.”

Miles dropped his head. It didn’t matter what he said. Nadine was determined to save our friends, no matter what, and I was with her.

“Do we know where they’re being held?” Chloe asked.

“I saw them tied up in a basement somewhere,” Nadine explained. “The walls were made of stone, and there was an archway outside a window covered by ivy. I know it’s not much to go off.”

Chloe’s eyebrows pinched together as she processed the information. “Would you be able to draw this archway?”

Nadine nodded, and Chloe conjured a pen and paper. She set them in front of Nadine, who began sketching.

“It was arched like this, with two protruding stones on either side and a keystone in the center here…” Nadine drew the keystone at the top of the arch bigger than all the other stones around it. “There was ivy growing up the sides, but I’m not sure what kind. The leaves were really big.”

“I know this arch,” Chloe stated matter-of-factly. All eyes turned to her. “It’s the entrance to my grandmother’s garden.”

“The priestesses are keeping prisoners in your grandmother’s basement?” I asked, though I couldn’t say I was surprised.

Chloe nodded. “It appears that way.”

Grant crossed his arms. “How do we get in? We can’t just waltz up to your grandmother’s front door and ask her to hand over two prisoners.”

“We’ll have to break in, of course,” Chloe said.

“If someone sees us, we’re dead,” Grant pointed out. “No one’s going to stop to ask questions.”

“We need to disguise ourselves,” Onyx agreed.

“Hold on.” Talia hurried out of the room. She shuffled around in the laundry room down the hall for a minute, then came back carrying a pile of hooded cloaks. “We still have these from the wedding.”

Nadine picked up a cloak and wrapped it around herself. “It’s a start, but it’s not going to do us much good if someone recognizes us.”

Talia passed out a cloak to each of us. I put mine on, but I agreed with Nadine. We needed more.

“Is there a potion we can use?” I asked.

Onyx bit her lower lip. “There’s transformation potions. We could make ourselves look and sound like someone else… but you need the best Alchemists to brew it.”

“Perfect. We’ve got two great Alchemists right here.” I gestured to Grant and Onyx.

Grant shook his head. “It’s not going to work without the right ingredients, and those are pretty damn expensive and hard to come by. It takes powerful fae herbs to pull off, and even if we could get into Malovia right now, you don’t walk into any shop and find that stuff.”

“We could turn ourselves into animals,” Chloe suggested. “A potion to turn ourselves into toads shouldn’t be too hard.”

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