Page 104 of Mirror of Malice
A power thrummed through me with that vial in my hand, and it felt good after not being able to access my magic for so long. A shadow loomed overhead, and I glanced up to see a wave about to pummel me.
“Lilypad, hold tight!” Penn yelled, yanking me up.
The water battered me, and my entire body clenched, my hands locking around the bottle, all while its power threaded through my veins.
The water pulled me in one direction while Penn tugged me in the other. All the while, I didn’t let go of the dust, knowing if it slipped through my grasp, the ocean would claim it and we’d never see it again.
I sucked in a breath and inhaled a lungful of water, which made me sputter and cough, burning my lungs and throat. Finally, Penn yanked me out of the vicious wave.
“Are you okay?” Penn yelled down to me.
“Yes,” I managed.
He continued to pull me at a steady pace, and I stared at the dust in awe. I couldn’t believe we’d actually done it. We’d gotten the weapon.
Suddenly, Penn stopped pulling me up, and I hung there, suspended on the side of the cliff.
“Penn?” I asked, panic twisting my gut. “Penn!”
I looked up and gritted my teeth. I had to get to the top. Now. Something was wrong.
Suddenly, I was being lifted again, and my panic subsided. He must’ve just needed a break.
“Penn, we did it!” I shouted.
But he didn’t respond.
Finally, I crested the top, and my mouth dropped open in horror.
Penn was on the ground, the guards pinning him, his mouth gagged. He looked at me, eyes wild, and Leoni stood over him, a smile spreading across her face. “Yes, we did it, indeed.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
“Leoni, please,” I said as I walked behind her, my hands now tied together in those water cuffs, the dust in her possession. “You don’t understand.”
“Shut up,” she said, yanking the rope and causing me to stumble.
The sky above rumbled, and rain began to fall as we trekked back toward the castle.
“I knew you were up to something,” she said. “I told Gabrielle you couldn’t be trusted, that your intentions weren’t pure. And I was right. You were after the pirate lord’s pixie dust.”
Pixie dust. I stared at the vial now clutched in Leoni’s hand. I’d heard of pixie dust, dust that had magical powers, and the only way to procure it was from a pixie. They lived in Sorrengard, in the jungle. But how was this dust going to help us with the mirror?
I glanced at Penn, his jaw locked.
Guilt stabbed at me. Not only were we going to lose the weapon, but Gabrielle was about to find out how badly I’d betrayed her. That I’d lied to her.
Penn walked in front of me, his shoulders stiff, his entire body tense. It took three guards to wrangle him and get his hands tied, and he’d fought them the entire way. Now he walked with no fight left in him. I could talk to Gabrielle. Speak reason to her. She’d understand why I wanted this weapon. I’d make her understand.
Our journey to that shore had felt like an eternity this morning, but this walk back to the castle was far too short. We arrived in front of the shining white palace, and Leoni pushed us across the drawbridge and through the front doors. Our boots squeaked against the floor, and water dripped from all of us into puddles.
“Let’s go.” Leoni yanked me again, and we walked through the double doors to the throne room.
Gabrielle sat on the throne, speaking with some of her advisors. When she saw us, she straightened in her chair.
“What is the meaning of this? Leoni, explain yourself.”
Her advisors scurried away as Leoni pulled me forward, and this time I fell to my knees in front of Gabrielle. Penn kneeled down beside me.
