Page 98 of Tangled Hearts

“And she has only gotten more powerful as the years have gone by,” Oria said, looking at Max.

“Isn’t she dependent on you healing her though?” I looked at Oria. “If she isn’t getting regular healings from you, then that should weaken her, no?”

“She can still take the vials, but I don’t know how she would be with just the vials,” she said thoughtfully. “She always told me she needed the power straight from me.”

“How often did you have to heal her?” Gray asked.

“It wasn’t often at first, but within the last twenty years, we had started doing it more frequently.” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth. “I’m curious to see how she has fared without my abilities.”

“How did she look in your dream or whatever she pulled you into?” I asked.

“She didn’t look any different,” she said, looking up at me.

“If it was a dream and she orchestrated it, she might have fashioned herself to look the same so she didn’t give anything away,” Gray stated. “But I think we have to assume that she is at full power, so we don’t go in overconfident.”

“I agree, I think?—”

“Wait!” Oria yelled, looking wide-eyed. “If we have any chance at winning, we need to disable her powers, and I think I just figured out how.”

We stayed quiet, waiting for her to tell us.

“I need to make that potion I hit Tay with, but make it stronger.” She chewed her lips as she was thinking. “I need to make it very strong.”

“What ingredients do we need?” Gray asked, leaning over to grab his phone.

“Is there somewhere we can use someone's workshop? Like a witch or an?—”

“Alchemist?” I finished her sentence.

“Addie,” we all said together.

“If I can use her workshop to make the potion and stock up on my necklace, this might work guys,” she said, looking hopeful.

“Do we need to worry about Tay?” Soren asked Max.

“No, I will deal with Tay,” Max growled. “Even if I have to kill him.”

“Max—”

“No, Sol,” Max interrupted Oria. “He was the downfall of our people. He took you from me and he manipulated you. He doesn’t deserve to live”

“I think if you can capture him, that might be better,” Gray said. “He’s family, I don’t know if I could kill Soren even if he did exactly what Tay did.”

“I agree, Max,” Oria said, cupping his cheek. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“We’ve never been close and you’re not asking,” he said leaning into her hand. “I’m telling you, he needs to die.”

“Just think about it, ok?” I looked at him. “You don’t have to make the decision now, but just realize we don’t expect you to kill him.”

He clenched his jaw, turned away and looked out the window.

“Ok, tomorrow, let's get a hold of Addie,” Gray said. “I think we need to look for supplies anyway, some artifacts, anything we can get our hands on to prepare.”

“We also need to discuss a backup plan. If things get too hot, we need to be able to escape and possibly go into hiding for a while,” Soren said. “I think we need to think of a place where we can set up the spell Addie made us.”

Everyone stayed quiet because we couldn’t fail.

“We could take her to the islands that Merrick had mentioned,” Gray said softly. “She’d be safe there. No one goes there and it's close enough to a major port. We could buy whatever we needed or make potions to travel to cheaper places.”

---