Page 27 of Ascension of the Pack

‘What about burning it?’ Xander suggested.

Ben shook his head. ‘Not with the orb inside it. We could destroy it by accident.’

That didn’t bear thinking about. I took a deep breath and tried to calm the nerves twisting in my gut. Maybe itwastime to tell Tarkers that I could commune with plants.

‘I’m a piper,’ Isaid quickly. ‘I can communicate with the plant but only to a certain degree, and for some reason this one is harder than most. Like Ben said, humming helps a little and touching helps my powers even more, so if I can I’ll creep close and hum. I’ll tell it not to hurt us then I’ll hold it still while you retrieve the orb. I’ll need you guys to distract it while I edge closer. If it realises what I’m doing, we’re screwed.’

‘Right then. One distraction coming up.’ I appreciated Tarkers’ matter-of-fact attitude; there were no probing questions, just a calm acceptance of my strange skills.

He eyed our gangly young teenager. ‘Xander, can you climb?’

‘Yeah, sure.’ Xander gave a thumbs-up.

‘When the plant is immobile, you’re the man to run and grab the orb,’ Tarkers told him.

‘Woah,’ I objected. ‘Let’s keep Xander out of this.’

‘It’s fine, Alpha,’ the boy said firmly.

Tarkers looked at me. ‘He’s fast, Alpha, faster than me or Ben. We will keep the plant focused on us. Xander can whip in and get the orb – but only when you say so, when you know the plant definitely can’t move. If you think about it, he will have the safest job.’

I grimaced but nodded reluctantly. ‘Okay.’

Xander squared his shoulders. ‘You can count on me.’

Tarkers patted his arm. ‘I know I can, kiddo. Ben, let’s go. Time to distract a plant.’ He paused. ‘That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say,’ he muttered to himself.

Xander crouched down and I could see the nervous energy buzzing under his skin. Tarkers darted to the left and Ben followed, both of them moving with the liquid grace of wolves on the hunt. The plant hissed as they got closer and its vines snapped towards them, but they hastily pivoted, dodging and weaving around the slithering tendrils.

The purple pods reared back and spat something at them. They dodged in time but the acidic liquid landed on the path and the corrosive spit started to eat into the stone. I swallowed hard; I didnotwant that shit hitting any of us.

As Ben and Tarkers moved around the plant, I hummed my go-to melody ofTwinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.I reached out to the vile plant with my magic and inched closer to it.

Be calm,I commanded it, but my hold on it wasn’t complete. There was a sort of sliminess, which meant my magic struggled to keep it in thrall. Every time I thought I had it under my control, it slithered out from my grasp; it was like trying to hold onto a slicked-up eel.

The plant’s movements slowed as I took a firmer hold and its vines swayed as if it were caught in a trance. Xandertook the opportunity to vault over a twisted root and made a run for the orb.

I couldn’t stop humming to shout a warning to him that I didn’t have a proper hold on the plant. Dammit, he was supposed to wait until my say so! I hummed louder and redoubled my efforts as he leapt up the stem of the plant. The plant was fighting me with everything it had, its foul wrongness seeping into my mind. The heavy alien touch in my head was sending waves of revulsion through me and my humming faltered.

Xander was right next to the orb. He reached down and tried to take it, but a vine snapped out and wrapped around his wrist.

‘Hey, let go of him!’ Tarkers shouted at the plant, his voice strained. ‘Not cool!’

Shit, shit, shit! I pushed the confusion from my mind and hummed even more loudly, moving quickly to close the distance between me and the plant. I reached out and touched the nearest part of it.Let him go,I hissed into its dark mind. Then I started singingTwinkle, Twinkleat the top of my voice.

‘Keep going!’ Ben urged me. ‘It’s working!’

I poured more of my magic into the tune and the plant hesitated and slowed. Its grip on Xander loosened justenough for Tarkers to shift and dive in, claws out, to slice through the vine.

Xander stumbled back, cradling his injured arm; the skin was red-raw where the plant had touched him. ‘I’m okay,’ he called but his voice warbled and I knew he was lying. Still, he was free from the plant and that was a blessing.

Now that I didn’t have to worry about Xander, I hit the plant with everything that I had and then some. I was sweating, but whether it was the absurd heat in the room or the exertion, I couldn’t tell.

Somehow Esme reached out with me, adding her strength to mine in a way she had never done before.Stay STILL,we roared at the plant.

All movement ceased.

Since Xander was injured, Tarkers decided he’d play fetch – literally. Still in wolf form, he leapt up the coiled vines until he reached the glass orb and grabbed the ancient magical artefact with his mouth. Nice.

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