Page 26 of Ascension of the Pack

Aw, thank you.I gave her a hug back in my mind, then refocused; we could have a meeting of our mutual appreciation society another day when we weren’t creeping around a deadly leafy hoard uninvited.

I pulled up my piping magic, reached out to the nearest plant and recoiled instantly as vile thoughts of death and putrefaction filled me. It was huge, vile and hungry, hungry like Nina had been but worse. Esme was right: Geneve didn’t need runes because her hoard itself was deadly.

‘Don’t touch that one!’ I said, pointing to the tall purple plant to our left. ‘It’s poisonous, really fucking poisonous.’ As if to emphasise my words, the plants tentacles snapped out and hissed threateningly. Sheesh.

‘Are there degrees of poisonous?’ Tarkers asked curiously. ‘Isn’t poisonous just poisonous?’

Ben snorted. ‘There’s “oh no, I have a tummy ache” poisonous, then there’s “drop dead in ten seconds” poisonous. Poisonous just means it hurts us. It doesn’t always mean death.’

‘It does if you get too close to that leafy leviathan,’ I warned. ‘Stay away from it. It can move, too. Keep eyes on it.’

Ben studied the plant warily. ‘Technically, I think that one is venomous. It looks like it’s readyto bite.’

‘I’ll watch it,’ Xander promised.

As we dived cautiously into the foliage, he kept his eyes trained on the purple monstrosity. I extended my senses again, carefully navigating through the mix of rare and poisonous plants. Frustrated, I dug deeper and found a network of roots that belonged to one tree, though many different bushes sprouted from it – not just in this room, but all through the castle.

Show me what doesn’t belong here,I said to it, thinking of a hammer and the orb.

It showed me the orb nestled deep within the deadly purple plant we’d passed, the hissy one that reeked of death. Fuckity-fuck-fuck. Then it showed me a dagger, a mirror, a gemstone and a hammer. Finally, it showed me Daniella.

What. The. Fuck?

Shehadbeen taken by Geneve’s brethren, but why? It made no sense. ‘Daniella’s here,’ I breathed. ‘Somewhere in a room off this one.’

Tarkers looked at me weirdly; he had no idea how I knew that, but now wasn’t the time to confess that I had the weird skill of communing with plants. I continued, ‘And the orb isinthe purple plant.’

Tarkers grimaced. ‘The deadly one?’

‘Yup.’

He sighed. ‘Of course it is.’

I turned to Ben. ‘Any top tips?’

‘Hum or sing,’ he advised me.

Tarkers eyebrows rose. ‘In the mood for some tunes, mate?’

We both ignored him. ‘Let’s go back to the purple thing, then we can come up with a plan of attack,’ I suggested.

So far there’d been no shouts of alarm from the brethren and I hadn’t spied any CCTV cameras. A lot of the dragons eschewed modern technology – Emory said they were still getting used to the idea of electricity and phones – and it looked like Geneve fell into the luddite camp. She didn’t even have electric lighting down here; the hoard was lit by dozens of flaming torches fixed to the wall and a central well of magical light that seemed to be acting as a light source for the plants. God knows, there was no sun down here.

We crept carefully through the plants back to the deadly one that had the orb somewhere inside it. The air was thick with the pungent scent of damp earth and something far more sinister: a foul miasma of rot and death.

I crouched behind a row of withered roses, my heart pounding as I eyed the purple monstrosity in front of us and took the time to examine it properly. It had vines that quivered and moved. I suddenly spotted a round globeof glass in its purple heart, resting on a coil of tendrils. It wasn’t glowing but ithadto be the orb of Lochlan.

‘That plant is enormous.’ Xander’s voice was shaky. ‘How are we supposed to get past it?’

‘Very carefully,’ Ben replied. ‘It’s more than just a plant, it senses intent. If we rush it, we’re dead.’

Tarkers grinned. ‘Well, I’ve always liked a challenge.’

I reached out to pipe the plant again and try to dig for information. Its vile consciousness was so warped that it was hard to commune with it for long and I quickly retreated, shuddering and wishing I could scrub its touch from my mind. ‘This plant isn’t just poisonous,’ I warned. ‘It can spit venom.’

‘Venom, schmemon.’ Tarkers shrugged. ‘We can shift and heal so we’ll be fine. And I’ve faced worse – my mum’s cooking is far more deadly.’ He started to edge closer but I grabbed his arm and hauled him back just as a thick vine lashed out and snapped at him.

‘Not that close,’ I hissed. ‘We have to do this right.’

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