Daphne's umbrella pattered incessantly by the time the rest-house phased into view through the misty forest up ahead. Its windows flickered with firelight. A cheerful sign contrasted the dilapidated roof of the building, which Daphne had assured Bella and Titus "wasn't actually as shady as it looked" and was in fact quite a reputable establishment that Daphne's family had frequented during other travels. This, at least, proved true. A booming voice hailed Daphne by name the moment she pushed through the door, shaking water from her umbrella.
Daphne grinned. "Hi Aes. Do you have a room?"
A bear of a man sidled out from behind a serving counter and came to greet her, wiggling bushy caterpillar eyebrows. "Did you lose the family along the way? Feed them to the Wights? Carried off by crows?"
He winked at Bella, who decided she rather liked this man. Titus did not seem to agree. He was attempting to shrink backwards into Daphne's long hair, like that would hide him from the various eyes that turned to survey the new arrivals. Most turned back to their meals and mugs immediately, but this did not put Titus at ease.
Daphne fell into conversation with the man, who knew her whole family by name and proceeded to inquire about their health and wellbeing. Bella took the opportunity to look around. The rest-house was indeed a cozy affair. The main room featured a roaring hearth on one side, over which an eclectic and excellent-smelling array of pots steamed and bubbled. Nearby was what seemed to be a serving counter, arranged like a bar without alcohol. Perhaps a half-dozen people sat about the room's four tables. Two young women chatted with one another, but the rest merely stared into the fire or out the rain-streaked windows as they ate.
Off to the counter's other side was a nondescript doorway. Over it, an only slightly more informative sign read "Rooms" in block text. That must be where patrons of this establishment spent the night.
Titus had somehow blended into Daphne's hair, which was admittedly long and dark enough to hide him. When Bella glanced at him again, it was to find him eyeing a nearby woman's plate with a hungry, almost feral look in his eye.
Bella snorted. "Stealing food now?"
Titus startled, then sniffed and hunkered back with about as much dignity as his hiding arrangement would allow. "Given that we have not stopped for a bite since daybreak, I believe I can forgive myself for being hungry."
Bella's next jibe was stymied by the rumble of her own stomach. Titus had a point. Unwilling to let him gloat over it, Bella let the conversation lapse back into silence. Titus's eyes returned almost immediately to the woman's slice of shepherd's pie, his nose and whiskers twitching. His attention only shifted as Aes beckoned Daphne down the hallway and showed her to an empty room with a plain wooden bedframe devoid of anything mattress-shaped. Daphne thanked him.
"Will you be joining for dinner?" asked the man.
"I think so."
"I will see you when you're settled, then."
He left them alone. Titus jumped from Daphne's shoulders to her sleeping roll as she unpacked it, morphing himself into a tidy loaf against her pillow. The room was uninsulated, with walls that leaked small drafts, and a damp, musty thickness to the air. Bella shivered and fluffed her feathers. It was going to be a chilly night.
"Do you want to stay here, or come back to the main room with me?" asked Daphne when she'd finished setting up. "I can bring you both food."
"I'll stay," said Titus.
"I'll come," said Bella. The main room was a great deal warmer than this. Daphne patted her shoulder again, and Bella resumed her perch there. They returned to the main room together.
"For me and two familiars," said Daphne, plunking a handful of change on the counter.
"Only the best," said Aes. He pocketed the coins and set about filling bowls. Daphne took Titus's back to the room, then brought her own and Bella's to a table where the pair of young women now pored over a map together. Both were dressed in Witches' garb.
"May I join you?" said Daphne.
Both women startled, then smiled warmly, scooting over to make room. "Of course," said one. "In fact, please do. Aesculus could have our hides for taking over his tables again."
Daphne laughed. "He's done that to my family before. Do you come here often?"
"At least once a moon. We put in two days back; we're waiting on a friend. Yourself?"
"Once a year, but I wish it was more. If you've been here two days, though, have you seen another Witch come by? An Herbalist, no familiars. Wearing a green cloak. She would have been headed further south."
The Witches glanced at one another. "Did she stop here, or just pass by?" asked one.
"We don't know. We just suspect she came this way."
The woman frowned, but her companion snapped her fingers. "There was the one, remember?" she said. "Boots."
"Boots?" said Daphne.
"She came in briefly, just to grab food for the road. She seemed pleasant enough. Also like she knew the area. We only noticed because she was wearing boots. I tried to ask if she was headed for the mountains, but she didn't really answer."
Bella forced herself to relax, even though none of the Witches' attention rested on her. If Bryony had been here, that still didn't rule out Solanum. She could have gone there, then found she was missing an ingredient that could only be found farther up the road. Still, a confirmed sighting here—wearing boots like Titus suspected, no less—lowered those chances.
Daphne kept chatting through the rest of her meal. Bella tuned into some of it, but it quickly veered off the topics she was interested in. She found herself watching out the windows instead. A Wight-flicker in the forest set her heart racing, but it bobbed off and was lost from sight. If the Wights from Hyacinth were still following her, Daphne, and Titus, Bella could only hope they would take a while to catch up. Until morning, preferably, when the group would be packed up and gone again. Wights were many things, but fast was thankfully not one of them.
The rain only intensified as the evening wore on. Daphne finished her meal and excused herself, though she'd seemed to be enjoying the conversation. Bella rode on her shoulder back to the room. Titus had gone to sleep halfway burrowed into Daphne's bedroll. Bella fluttered to the windowsill while Daphne ran the cat's bowl—licked spotless—back to Aes. The window's edge was an awkward place to perch, but someone should keep watch, and it certainly wouldn't be the useless cat.
When Daphne returned, she woke Titus and took his warm spot, offering her lap instead. Titus never snuggled. Still, he appeared to at least consider it before declining and settling himself on Daphne's feet instead. Leaned back against her bag and pillow, Daphne pulled out Bryony's notebook again. Bella ignored this as long as she could. However, a half-hour soon wore by, then another, with no sign of Daphne losing interest. If anything, she only became more engrossed, forgetting to light a candle until it was so dark in the room, she had the notebook pressed almost to her nose. At last, Bella couldn't take it anymore.
"What are you finding?" she asked, abandoning her post and landing on the headboard behind the young Witch instead.
"I think I'm close to cracking the code," said Daphne, not tearing her eyes from the page she was on. Reaction maps. "I made an assumption about the date on the map, and it makes some other things make sense. Or almost make sense."
"What kind of sense?"
"I think these are Alchemical notes."
A disbelieving laugh escaped Bella. "I have never in my life seen Bryony dabbling in Alchemy."
Daphne shrugged. "It's the only way the code makes sense. Also, Bryony also studied in the city, didn't she?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"Are you sure?"
"She was in Laburnum before moving to Hyacinth. She's always hated the city."
"Did she get materials there, then?"
There was something more to this questioning. "Why?" asked Bella. "Is there something here that looks like it's from the city?"
"This." Daphne lifted the entire notebook. "Only students at the Taxus Academy in Nerium get this particular model; we're all jealous of them. I'd know for sure if I could check the stamp, but it's been inked over."
She flipped the notebook over and opened its back cover, where the edge of a round, seal-looking pattern peeked out from behind a large inkblot. It didn't look accidental.
"If she didn't study there, she must have bought this off someone who did," continued Daphne. "But then it was someone who dropped out without ever using the notebook. There are no pages missing, and the handwriting is all the same."
The Taxus Academy was an elite branch of the Nerium Witches' College, reserved for those wanting to practice magic at the highest, most delicate levels. It was known for producing professionals in fields like forensics, archaeology, and medical intensive care. Not local town Witches like Bryony had chosen to become.
Then again, it would certainly match Bryony's skill.
"What date did you assume for the map?" asked Bella. She nudged the pages with her beak until Daphne turned back to the map itself. The note in question did look an awful lot like a date, sketched in beside whatever destination the map detailed. If an assumption on this could make the rest of the code make sense, either the date was right, or the code was designed to be deceptive.
Daphne gnawed her lip for a moment, eyes darting between Bella and the page. At last she said, "I tried a few. The only one that made anything else make sense was Wightnight."