Daphne and Titus hadn't left their camp since that morning. Bella pulled up in the forest nearby and swooped stealthily from tree to tree as she assessed the situation. The pair were up to something. Daphne sat in the grass amidst a potions-lab explosion of materials. The space was scattered with a variety of potion bottles, stoppers, tubes, and ingredients—some Herbal, some Alchemical, and all apparently in use. Titus sat in the midst of this beside Bryony's open notebook. Bella was too far away to hear their earnest conversation.
Anger seeped up through Bella's feathers like icy water. She'd let this pair pull her along on their investigations, but the moment she left, they went about pillaging Bryony's notes with as little respect for another Witch's privacy as a Theriologist had for familiars. Daphne was young, but not that young: she knew the full gravity of what she was doing. Her parents had surely drilled it into her.
And Titus. How long had he spent waiting for this opportunity to undercut Bryony's work? Bella was sure he would have done it years earlier if he'd had some other human shield on hand. The incident—the accident—he'd brought up before had occurred at a time when he was banned from Bryony's study for snooping where he wasn't supposed to. He'd expressed regret at the time. Not for the snooping, either: for not being able to continue it. She should have known.
She had to get that book back. Whatever else they were doing, she couldn't care less. If they were stealing Bryony's secret recipes, they couldn't continue those without the book anyway. The problem was that neither Witch nor cat looked ready to go anywhere. The remains of their lunches lay scattered on a plate nearby, indicating hours of work. Trying to decode whatever Bryony was doing in the bog before Wightnight, no doubt. Violating her privacy still further.
Titus and Daphne looked up sharply as Bella landed in a tree at the camp's edge. "What are you two doing?" she demanded.
"We could ask you the same thing," said Titus, rising to his feet. The fur along his spine was spiked. "Do you have any idea what we've found since you took off this morning?"
"Things you're not supposed to, if I was to hazard a guess. Give me that notebook."
Titus nodded to Daphne, who tucked the notebook inside her coat.
"Oh, we've found things we weren't supposed to, alright," said Titus. "Bryony coded that whole book for a reason. I don't think I've ever seen someone experimenting with magic so dangerous."
Bella's whole body chilled. That had to be the response Titus was going for: casting doubt. "The investigation—"
"Found nothing, yes. Because it's not Wight-Witch magic. She's hybridizing the disciplines, Bella. Herbology and Alchemy in particular, but there are crow-feather ingredients in at least six potions. She's been using you. She's been using both of us."
Bella laughed, a cruel, sharp sound that startled even her. "Well, nice to hear you've actually amounted to something, then. When you're done slandering the Witch who feeds you, you can turn right around and head back to Hyacinth. Bryony doesn't need any of us."
Titus tensed, claws sinking into the grass. "You found her?"
"Alive, well, and in no mood for distraction."
"What is she doing?"
"That is none of our business, I believe."
"What is she doing, Bella?"
Titus's words left him in a furious hiss. Bella stopped midway to her next comeback. The cat's back was arched now, tail puffed like a bottlebrush. He bared his teeth. "Either you tell us where she is and what she's up to, or we'll be left with no choice but to report you to the Covens alongside her."
Bella froze. "You'll do no such thing."
"There is nothing you can do to stop us."
"Oh, but Bryony can." It was Bella's turn to click her beak, feathers lifted menacingly. "Do you really want to mess with a Witch of her caliber? If she's up to such dangerous magic, I'm sure she can spare a bottle for two underhanded sneaks attempting to threaten both her and her familiar."
Titus said nothing—just watched her for a long, silent moment. Slowly, his fur lowered.
"I'd hoped you at least would see sense," he said. "That incident, Bella? A young villager with a minor infection, staying overnight with Bryony for treatment. That should have been an easy cure, with Bryony's skill level. But that girl died. She died, and her lips were blue when they took her body away in the morning. Bryony blamed her herbs, but I never saw her checking samples or uprooting those plants in her garden. You investigated, didn't you? And I bet you found something, too. You just don't want to admit to yourself what it was."
Bella's confidence, so fierce a moment ago, had begin to slip away like water through a berry basket. She had investigated. She hadn't wanted to, but Titus had gotten so far under her skin that she'd needed to prove to herself that Bryony did nothing wrong. She would have slept much easier that night had the residue in Bryony's potion bottle not smelled so acrid.
"What do you want, Titus?" she said. Confrontation was easier.
"To protect whatever she's after now. We don't know what it is yet, but I'm guessing you do."
"She's trying to find her mother's body, okay? And she didn't tell us because she wanted to do it in private. People tend to prefer privacy when they're grieving. But I guess you wouldn't know how it feels to care about someone."
"You have no idea what she's doing, do you."
"Oh, can the great descendent of D'Czernobog lineage detect lies now? Tell me, what other powers has your ancestry granted you, that I should listen to you when you do the barest minimum—if even—for the Witch you claim familiarity to? Do you have the power to liaise with street cats without getting eaten, perhaps? Or maybe the ability to lie, too, to show such pride in your apparent aristocracy. You've never had a keeper before Bryony, have you. You never answer questions about that because if you did, everyone would know you're as worthless as you prove yourself daily. Tell me, Titus, do you have anything better to do with your life than backstab Bryony and warm her potted plants?"
A shadow overhead. Bella dove forward. Daphne's coat missed her by a feather. The young Witch grabbed it and slung it at her again. Bella shot skyward.
"You are never setting a paw in Bryony's house again," she snapped at Titus. "Good luck on the street."
She beat her aching wings, soaring back towards the bog. It didn't take long to track down Bryony again.
"They're coming," said Bella when she landed on her keeper's shoulder. "Daphne stole the notebook from you. She claims to have decoded it, and she says you're dangerous."
Bryony's jaw clenched. The bog filled her silence, its warm, still, humid air singing with insects and the soft chirps of birds.
"We have time," said Bryony at last. "After tonight, I'll be done here. Then we can deal with Daphne and Titus."
"Is there anything I can help with?"
"Will you stay with me?"
"Unless something drags me away."
"Thank you," said Bryony with a smile so full of thanks, Bella's worries nearly melted all over again. She would stand by her keeper. No cat or Witch could break the bond that she and Bryony shared, nor understand what it meant to both of them.
"Can you keep watch?" continued Bryony.
"Of course."
"Thank you."
Bella took off, though her wings cried to rest. Below her, Bryony withdrew her hand from her pocket, a potion-bottle in her palm. Bella recognized the smell that wafted off of it immediately: this was the potion Bryony had hidden in her back wall to spare the house its stink. The bottle was fitted with a perforated cork now. Bryony pulled her walking stick from the peat and resumed the work she'd been doing all day, probing ahead for loose spots in the peat as she walked, boots squelching, sprinkling the bog with potion as she went.
A/N: Hi friends! Given recent changes Wattpad has been making, this will be one of the last books I post on this site. If you want to keep in touch, learn when I move to other platforms, or get insider updates on my publishing journey, sign up for my newsletter—link in the comments, or in my Wattpad bio if you can't click it here!