Page 88 of Devil's Deal

I nod and wipe my hands on my apron, heading out into the orchard neighboring my cottage. It’s owned by Darobor’s family, and the wooden fence is half-rotten and infested with woodworms. I know they plan to replace it next year, so I feel no compunction about taking some for myself.

“Go further down. There is a big, loose piece.” Wiosna directs me and I follow until I see the loose plank pockmarked with tiny holes.

I look around to make doubly sure no one’s here and pull it free with a crunch.

“Do the spell now,” Wiosna says, excited. “If you feel weak, you can just go home. No harm done. Remember, do it how I told you. Just a few words. It doesn’t have to be fancy.”

I crouch so the fence and overgrown greenery of the orchard hide me from the path. Feeling jittery, and yet excited because Woland’s blood still makes me feel powerful, I close my eyes.

“Eat and multiply,” I whisper, picturing power flowing from my palms into the dark plank.

I think about the tiny creatures living in the wood, how content they are, hidden inside, with plenty to eat. My goal is to disturb their contentment. It’s to make them greedy.

“Eat and multiply,” I whisper, frowning when my palms grow hot and sweat breaks out on my nape. “Be hungry. Be horny. Grow in numbers. Eat everything. But don’t spread. Only eat the wood you find close. Be lazy, little worms. Be hungry, and horny, and lazy.”

Something crackles, a current of energy tumbling out through my hands. I gasp, opening my eyes wide when an angry buzzing sound comes from the plank. It vibrates slightly, as if something inside is moving very fast.

A swarm.

“Go! Before they eat this plank to nothing.”

I set out down a back path that should be empty right now. The workers in the fields don’t go home for a meal, instead eating the food they brought with them in baskets and napkins. Those who are in the village are having dinner, just like Czeslawa.

I avoid the main road and make it to the back of the whisperer’s house within minutes, sweaty and out of breath from running in the heat.

My goal is the ugly wooden shed Czeslawa got shortly after she moved in. It’s in the back of her large lot, and she receives patients there, making sure their blood, illness, pain, or tears don’t pollute her home.

It’s something Wiosna complained about at length after she started speaking to me. How Czeslawa prizes her own comfort above the lives of her patients. By removing them into a separate building, she buys herself peace but also risks their wellbeing.

The whole point of being a whisperer is to have the more serious patients so close, their moans of pain will wake you up in the night so you can help. Yet, Czeslawa would rather sleep through the night.

But I am going to take her comfort away.

“Eat and multiply, little worms,” I whisper and throw the plank over the hedge. It lands in a patch of nettles against the back wall of the wooden shed, and I can just hear the faintest buzzing from where I stand, but the plank is hidden.

“Good thing I got the cottage roof permanently worm-proofed. They will only eat the shed, and good for them,” Wiosna says with satisfaction as I walk back home, my palms tingling with the power I expelled. “How are you feeling? Any weakness yet?”

“No,” I say with wonder. “It was… It was really easy. Felt natural. Like I really can do magic.”

She snorts with pity. “That was his magic. Yours is locked up tight. I think you’ll have to spend everything he gave you first so you can work on dismantling that block.”

My skin crawls when I remember the way I felt after I did my poppy spell. Dizzy, weak, with my heart stuttering in an uneven, sickly rhythm. It felt like I was dying and the agony was insurmountable.

“Maybe after my period is over,” I mutter. “It’s about to start soon, and I can only handle enough pain at once.”

“Hm.”

With that, Wiosna grows quiet long enough for me to get back to my cottage and resume working on the potions. I clean and cut the herbs, placing them into big clay bottles. Once that’s done, I pour apple cider vinegar in and cover the mouths of the bottles with clean cloth to keep the flies out. Now, the potions just need to macerate.

I don’t dare speak any spells over them in case it causes the women problems with the Kupala fire next year. The magic of the herbs and Mokosz’s blessing have to be enough.

“Time to eat,” Wiosna reminds me after I clean up. “And brew some yarrow and red clover for yourself.”

I sigh but dutifully put the dried herbs in a cup. “You know they barely work.”

My menses are excruciating, and they have been ever since I started bleeding at twelve. I know the reason and that it can’t be cured. I tried all kinds of treatments, and the only success I had was with a yarrow and clover combination. It makes the pain bearable, provided I stay in bed.

“Brew it anyway. A witch’s magic is the most potent when she bleeds, so I’m sorry, but you’ll have to at least try. This is important unless you want to rely on the devil’s blood.”

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