Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON ONE (Completed!)

Part 3.11

I'm making a list of all the people who might want to kill Addy. To be honest, I'm including Bronna. She's loyal to the queen and Addy, but there's always the possibility of that being a ruse. She prepared some of the poisoned food Addy ate, and she has access to her tree tent, and the queen's. I'd be stupid not to include her.

Onyx still hasn't returned. He will return, I know that - he always does. But I'm a bit worried about him this time. I want to ask him what's wrong, but when Onyx is upset he doesn't share, and that's that.

Addy's slurping the latest soup in Bronna's soup parade. This one's got singing mushrooms in it, so the soup dongs like a bell every time Addy dips her spoon into it. "I still don't think anyone's trying to kill me," she tells me. She scrunches up her face, thoughtful. "Needs more salt."

I grimace. They're going to need much more than salt to make that monstrous concoction edible.

The soup dings and dongs as Addy stirs it some more.

"Shut up already," I mutter.

Addy takes a few more sips, then settles into a brooding silence.

I sigh. "What's wrong?"

Addy pushes her soup away. "It's Hami," she answers. "While you were out looking for Bethany, Bronna filled me in on all that's happened since my last visit. Hami's had such a hard time. She tried so hard to pretend she was okay. She didn't even cry at my father's funeral. But she's been suffering on the inside, Lil. I should've stayed with her."

"You tried, Ad. You wanted to take a sabbatical to stay with her here in the forest, but she forbade it."

"I should've disobeyed her. She needed me."

"She told you no, Addy. She said it was a ridiculous idea."

Addy's gaze is solemn. She fiddles with the hem of her blankets. "Bronna told me that after Dami - my father - died, my mother would go to the spot where we found Lima every day. There's a place in the forest with a burned-out tree stump. It was one of the trees burned down by the Dark Witch, but this one never grew back. It couldn't be pulled out either. Everything around it withers and dies. We found Lima next to this tree stump, feverish and swollen. Her cheeks were rubbery. She wouldn't speak, wouldn't say what was wrong. Her skin hardened into scales, and her breathing grew shallow. We'd never seen anything like it before. People started to call it the 'snake sickness'. After Lima passed away, the authorities in Zilitron thought it was some run-of-the-mill disease that we'd misinterpreted. We hadn't used magic to diagnose it. They brushed us off."

Addy draws in a deep breath. "Bronna says that Hami would insist on going to this spot every day, alone. Then she didn't come back one day, and Bronna went to find her. She found Hami lying on the ground next to the tree stump, barely breathing. When she woke, she was different. All the grief was gone from her eyes."

I turn this over in my mind. "How do you mean, the grief was gone?"

Addy shakes her head. "Hami started talking about Lima again. She hung her portrait on the wall. She started getting involved with projects again, like the fire quartz mining thing. It's like she was cured."

I have a feeling this is one of those times when I should keep my opinion to myself. I don't think grief can just be cured. It doesn't sound feasible. You don't just wake up one day in the middle of the forest and stop mourning your daughter. I'm not an expert on feelings, but I'm pretty sure on this one.

Onyx returns around lunchtime.

"Where did you go?" I ask him.

The forest.

"What were you doing out there?"

Taking a walk.

He walks past me and settles into another sun spot.

"We should be more proactive about finding Addy's assassin," I tell him. "Maybe do some interviews, cast a few spells? Laying some traps could be a good idea too."

It may draw attention to us. We would lose the element of surprise.

"Well, we can't do nothing. Addy's assassin could strike again."

Onyx stretches out his back legs and yawns. You have not made the best decisions in the past. I would suggest listening to your elders this time.

I bristle. If he's talking about the orb of Ariadne, he's not getting a response from me. That conversation is closed. I made my decision, and he has to respect that.

I leave him to his nap. There isn't any point talking to him when he's like this. He'll be snapping away at me like a pair of crocodile jaws while nursing some secret wound he'll never let me see. I'm used to it. That's the cat I've got, unfortunately.

I get down to sweeping the tent floors. It's a good way to check for anything out of place without arousing suspicion. Onyx is probably right about that part, though I'm not about to tell him. The assassin is probably keeping a close eye on all of us. We could do with surprise on our side.

I've swept three grinning glochas out the tent flap when Queen Irine comes in to check up on Addy. Her blue hair is swept up into a messy bun, but her eyes are sharp, and they snap with displeasure when she sees me.

"Hami, how are you?" Addy pipes up nervously. "Are you alright?"

Queen Irine chuckles. "Now why would I not be alright?" She ruffles Addy's hair, and gives her a rueful smile.

"I'm moving in with you this afternoon," Addy tells her.

"That you are."

"We can talk about Lima and Dami all night. I'm really looking forward to it."

The smile stays fixed on Queen Irine's face, but there's a flash of something else in her eyes. Impatience? Annoyance? "I can't think of anything better," she says, leaning over to straighten Addy's bedsheets. "We could also talk about the fire quartz mining project. I thought I could show you the draft documents tonight."

Addy heaves a big sigh. "Oh Hami, you know I can't do that. We can't mine fire quartz. It wouldn't be right."

"It would be lucrative," Queen Irine argues. "We would have money to send all the children to outsider schools..." She stops and collects herself. That big smile of hers paints itself back on. "But it is your decision, of course."

Addy nods, looking relieved.

"Now, I'll send Bronna to collect your things in a few hours. I want you to continue resting until then." She swings on her heel, and makes for the door.

"Watch out for the gloch -" I start.

Too late.

She's slipped on it.

I grab her arm before she ends up face-first on the floor. Her energy rushes up my own arm, warm and wet.

But...there's something wrong. I yank my arm away, nauseous.

The glocha grins up at us like its entire purpose in life was to make things inconvenient for everyone else.

"You were supposed to do the sweeping," Queen Irine snaps. She regards the blue slug with disgust.

I hold my breath until she leaves. My heart's still pounding. I don't know how I didn't see it before. I suppose I was so focused on hating her, I never truly probed her energy.

But the queen...she wasn't whole. Her energy just fell away suddenly, leaving a void of absolute nothingness. And that void, that nothing-spot? It was right where her heart should be.