Jinn hobbled through the clearing, doing his best to be sneaky. His bad leg wouldn’t let him crouch low to the ground, but the cloak had some invisibility properties. If someone looked at him directly, they’d see him, but it helped him blend in more with his surroundings. It also had the ability to ward off the trees and most of the vile creatures in the woods, or he would’ve been eaten alive already.

As soon as he’d seen the cottage, he sensed that he’d found the right place. He had no magical gifts of his own, but he’d always had a strong intuition about things. That and his unfailing loyalty were the only reasons Scelestus kept him on all these years.

Standing on his tiptoes, Jinn put his bony fingers on the windowsill and peered inside. The glass had been hand-blown, making it mottled and blurry, and he almost had to press his face to it to see clearly through the window. A woman had her back to him, her long brown hair tied in a fraying braid.

But sitting across from her at the table, that beautiful young girl had to be her. Her flawless pale skin, rosy lips, long waves of hair, and dark lashes framing her blue eyes – it could only be Lily.

The older woman with Lily glanced back over her shoulder, and Jinn ducked down quickly. She might’ve seen him, but he didn’t care. It was too late. He’d already found Lily.

Jinn scurried away from the house, delighted at finding her. He wasn’t strong enough to haul her off into the night, but he didn’t need to be. His mistress had given him an opaque glass ball with which to summon her. All he had to do was hold it up and say a few words, then Scelestus would be able to find him and appear. Jinn went just far enough away from the cottage where they wouldn’t be able to hear him when he spoke to Scelestus.

The cloak and the dappled glass would have blinded Wick to Jinn. In fact, she never ever even saw him. Just his dirty fingernails pressing hard against the windowpane as he peered inside.

The tremor of the apples combined with the sight of human fingers, and Wick knew they were in real trouble. Along with that ominous warning Lily had gotten from her mysterious friend, Wick had a terrible feeling that whoever it was, it was coming for Lily.

“You need to go,” Wick said in a hushed voice as soon as she saw the fingers disappear from the sill. She didn’t know how much time they had, but she had to get Lily out of here.

“What? What’s happening?” Lily’s skin blanched, but Wick didn’t have time to explain.

“For your safety, you need to escape while you can.” Wick pushed her chair back and grabbed her cloak. Lily got to her feet more slowly, confused by the sudden shift in things, and Wick draped the cloak around Lily’s shoulders, tying it around her neck. “This has some magical properties, not a lot, but it should be enough to protect you through the night. Hopefully.”

“Why do I need to go?” Lily looked at her with wide frightened eyes. She looked so innocent and so young, and so much like her mother. Wick touched her hand to Lily’s cheek in a rare moment of sentimentality before dropping it. 

“Someone is here, looking for you.”

“Why aren’t you coming with me?” Lily asked, looking at Wick with concern.

“I promised your mother I’d look after you, and so far, I’ve done a poor job of it. This is my chance to make things right.” Wick smiled wanly at her and went over to the window on the other side of the cottage, opposite from where she’d saw Jinn spying on them. “Now hurry, while I still have a chance to do some good.”

“Where shall I go?” Lily bustled up the ends of her dress so she could climb out the window.

“You need to be resourceful,” Wick said, helping boost her out of the window. Lily hung onto the frame and dropped to the ground with a silent grace that made Wick a tad envious. “I’ll come for you if I can. But if I don’t, keep moving. Run as fast and as far as you can.”

“Thank you.” Lily stared up indecisively at her. She wanted to say more, to do more than leave a friend to fight her battles. But she didn’t know what else to do, and Wick kept insisting that she leave. She didn’t want to hold Wick back, and she didn’t know how to fight at all, let alone who she was fighting against.

Reluctantly, Lily pulled the hood up over her head and darted across the clearing. Her feet made no sound as they padded along the mossy earth, and she ran into the trees of the Necrosilvam, unsure of what awaited her or how’d she meet it.

Wick gingerly picked up her wand, a gnarled twisting piece of what appeared to be bronze, but really, it came from a deceased unicorn. She had many things around the cottage that could be used to create some very powerful potions, but she didn’t have the time to make them and had only a few actual completed potions.

She went over the vials on the shelves, rummaging through them. Most of them were innocuous things like sleep aids and wound healers, and she knocked a blue vial of plant growth serum to the ground. It shattered, liquid splattering everywhere, and almost instantly, a small white flower grew from between the floorboards.

“Impressive. For a novice witch.” Scelestus’s voice echoed through the small space, and Wick whirled around to see her standing in the middle of the cottage. An iridescent dark blue gown flowed around her, making her take up more space than she needed. Without a sound or a puff of smoke, Scelestus had appeared in her home. “But you’re not a novice witch, are you?”

“I’m not as practiced as I used to be.” Wick straightened her shoulders and did her best to hide her startled reaction to Scelestus’s entrance. “But don’t be fooled by my appearance. I know a few things about magic.”

“Yes, I can imagine.” Scelestus glanced derisively around the cottage. Wick raised her wand at Scelestus, and while it was puny enough to make the sorceress laugh, Scelestus bit her tongue and smiled sweetly at her. “There’s no need for that, at least not yet. I’m looking for someone who belongs to me, and as soon as you return her to me, I can be out of your hair. No harm done.”

“There’s no one else here,” Wick said honestly.

“I’m sure that’s true.” Scelestus looked around again. “There isn’t enough room here to hide anything. But I’m certain that you know where she is.”

“I don’t know anything, and I can’t help you,” Wick told her evenly.

“Now listen here, you pitiful wench, I want what is mine.” Scelestus swirled her hand in front of her, waggling her fingers until a ball of fire appeared in the palm of her hand. “I will burn this place down, destroying every last bit of this little haven you’ve made for yourself, if you don’t tell me where the girl is.”