Page 128 of Kingdoms of Night

Idalno held up her hand. “I remember it. And I’m thinking about it. I just—it’s hard to think like this.”

“When you’re afraid?” Black Annis asked a little too sweetly.

“I will think of the answer,” Idalno snapped.

“I know you will.” He seized another carving on the wall and ripped it out.

“We’re going to need more time.”

Time was definitely in short supply here. As long as Black Annis wanted to play with them, they had a chance, until the instant she decided she’d had enough.

Black Annis tsked. “So destructive to my home, children. So very destructive. What’s wrong with the carvings? This one is too toothy. This one is too gruesome. Well, this one is just right!”

She charged out again from the bear statue, this time so tall she nearly struck her head on the ceiling. Her hands turned into massive claw-tipped paws. Her entire body bristled with thick coarse black hair.

She swiped at Idalno with a paw the size of her head.

Dropping, Idalno slid under the table and rolled out the other side. Black Annis’s paw struck the table, sending food tumbling.

Feron locked his jaws on Black Annis’s thigh. Dark blood spattered across the wood floor, but she dematerialized, laughing as she surged into the wall of carvings once more.

A leopard. He wrenched it off the wall, snarling.

Idalno remained crouched and spread her hands out. “We’re too far from the earth. I can’t reach it! Where are the plants? They could help us. I thought you said witches were good at growing things!”

“Not all witches! Can’t you grow something?” He clawed at the wood, ripping out chunks. A goblin carving fell away entirely, but the wood wall remained intact.

Sap poured down, but not even a fracture of daylight peeked through. How thick was this wall? Black Annis’s high-pitched cackle shook the room.

“Bread!” Idalno screamed. “There’s bread!” She lunged back at the table.

Was she going to club the witch with a loaf of bread? He ripped off another carving from the wall and flung it across the room.

“I need to focus!” Idalno screamed as a roasting pan struck her in the shoulder.

“Finding it hard to concentrate, dearie?”

A cast iron skillet slammed through the air toward Idalno. He leaped for it, only managing to clip it with one of his claws. She narrowly evaded it.

“You have to be able to see as well as focus, don’t you, dearie?”

Two knives rose into the air on their own. It seemed Black Annis was done playing with her food. Their time was about to run out.

“Idalno,” he urged, swatting one knife into the wall as she dodged the other. “If you have a plan, now’s the time.”

More laughter bounced off the walls.

The wet wood and sap where he’d torn out carvings glistened, then began to seal.

“Keep her busy!” Idalno rubbed her shoulder, then broke a loaf of bread and centered it on the floor.

“Keep me busy? Am I a child to be kept occupied?” Black Annis articulated each syllable with great amusement. “Well, if I were a child, I’d throw a tantrum just like this.”

The house rocked, sending everyone off their feet. Although the table stayed in place, the two benches slid out at sharp angles.

Then they levitated.

Idalno picked up the bread and moved it back to the center. Blood trickled down her temple.

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