Page 63 of Casting Butterflies

Nada.

“I see we’re gonna have to do this the messy way,” I murmured. “Okay, magic spirit, I want to blast a hole through this rock.”

The wall trembled and began to crack. Daylight crept through, but before I could crow, “Freedom!” Dasha interrupted.

“You can’t leave.”

I whirled to see her standing at the far end of the entranceway. “I’m not staying so I can die for you and some stupid tree.”

“You would go without your friend?” A cage dangled from her side, a glaring Cedric trapped inside.

“Cedric! Are you all right?”

“Do I look all right? I went from being mauled by a smelly beast to ignobly trapped like a rat.”

“Let him go,” I demanded.

“Only if you agree to cooperate.”

“You’re asking me to give up my life for strangers. Are you mad?”

“Misha wasn’t a stranger.”

“Do you really think Misha would approve of your plan to kill me?”

Her lips pinched tight, giving me my answer.

“Why must you jump right away to murder? Did it ever occur to you to let me try and see if we could fix your damned tree without death?”

“All the magic in the world won’t revive it. It needs the spirit you hold within, and the only way for it to untether is if you die.”

“And what if you kill me and it still doesn’t work? What then?”

“Then we will try again.”

“Ah yes, because once I’m dead, you can store your precious spirit in another vessel until you figure it out,” my acerbic reply.

“I understand you’re upset, but you have to understand, without Anivivi, my people are fading. Our magic is nothing like it used to be. We are aging quickly. We’ve not had any births since its theft. If we don’t do something, the Luxalis will be no more.”

Finally, a persuasive argument, one that almost managed to sway me.

“You’re desperate, I get it, but how about instead of going all Aztec on my ass to appease your tree god spirit, you give me a chance?”

Dasha sighed. “You can try, but without a life, it won’t work.”

“We’ll see about that.” There had to be a way to shove the spirit inside back into the tree without me croaking in the process. And if it didn’t work…I had been likened to a magical nuclear bomb. I wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Which way to the tree?”

“Follow me.”

“Will you at least let Cedric out of his cage?”

She glanced over her shoulder at me. “No. He is the only bargaining power we have.”

I wanted to yell I hated the damned cat. That she could keep him. Cedric and I had butted heads so often, why should I put my ass on the line for him?

Because we were friends.

Ugh.