Page 16 of Death of a Mortal

Questions chased each other in my mind. It said only one, but there were two Ineededthe answers to. Two that were equally important to me and to us surviving. If it had such vast knowledge, I needed to ask both.

Two questions, two lifelines. Both answers could change everything for me. For us.

“Twoquestions, and I will agree.”

The banshee seemed to think, bringing its long, thin fingers to tangle in its hair. Its lips pulled back again in a sinister, lipless smile.

“You have a deal. Now, for your task.”

Chapter 6

A Trial of Blood and Thorn

I was unsurewhether this situation had gotten better or worse, whether we were closer to escaping unscathed or to an ill fate that would result in Nella’s brain imploding and me a plaything to a banshee. But whatever this task was, I would give it my all, as if my life depended on it. Because Nella’s lifediddepend on it, and I couldn’t live without her.

I waited with bated breath, fear tingling up my spine. Nella whimpered, motionless behind me on the ground.

“I require certain items from the forest. You will retrieve them for me and find me at my home west of here to assist me in creating an elixir. That is all.”

“That’s all?” I asked, skeptical of how easy this banshee made it sound. “What are these items? What’s the elixir for?”Which direction is west?I asked myself this last question. I swore, if directions thwarted me in this task…I could already hear my old schoolteacher scoffing at me.

“A plant, an animal, a truth, and a memory. The first two will come from the forest. The latter two will come from within you.”

I could still hear the slight wailing intermingled with its words, but the banshee seemed to contain it enough for Nella to remain sitting upright next to me, ears still covered with her hands.

“Which plant and which animal?”

“The plant is a blue-petaled, orange-thorned, and black-stemmed flower. The animal can be any animal. You must bring meonlyits heart and eyes. We shall discuss the truth and memory upon your return to my home if you can accomplish the rest. Be warned. Fail or flee, and I will hunt you both down and fulfill my promise of death and enslavement.”

Its final warning sent goosebumps across my skin and upped my heartbeat even more.

“Blue flower. Dead animal’s heart and eyes. Got it,” I said with way more confidence than I had. “Anything else?”

“You find yourself on the fae side of the barrier between our lands. Take caution, for the flowers are not what they seem, nor are the animals. You have one hour before I become impatient and consider your task as failed. Starting now.”

I turned to Nella. Shock and fear mixed in her eyes.

“Wait!” I yelled to the retreating banshee. “I can’t do this for you with pain and infection from these wounds. Surely you need me alive to give truths and memories to your elixir… Can you heal me first?”

The banshee stopped and turned its eyeless head back to me. I guessed it could see in some sense.

“I can block the pain until you finish this task and remove the infection so as not to taint your blood when it comes time to spill it. But I cannot heal a wound inflicted by magic.”

“Spill my blood? You said you needed truth and memory from me, not blood.” My stomach churned.

“The extraction process will have you spilling your own blood as surely as that infection will kill you if I don’t remove it. Do you wish me to or not?”

I had no other choice. I didn’t need the banshee’s words to knowthe infection would indeed spread without intervention and leave Nella alone in this world.

“Yes.” I realized my tone was more demanding than advisable to a fearsome creature offering to take my infection away, so I added more kindly, “Please. Thank you.”

The banshee headed our direction, seeming to glide more than walk, though its gnarled and dirty feet were moving, nonetheless.

It stopped in front of me and reached a hand toward me, drawing a sharp intake of breath from both Nella and me. I braced as its clammy palm collided with my forehead.

Before my concern could make me second-guess my choice, the banshee started speaking words I could not understand, laced with that awful wail again. Its hair flew out around it as it tilted its head back and raised its other palm to the sky, revealing what I had guessed at while its black hair was draped over its chest—bare, full breasts. They were at extreme odds with the rest of the thin body. A thought made me shudder… Did it steal parts of its perished victims? The hair and breasts seemed…new while the rest of its frail body seemed ancient.

Would it steal my eyes if I failed? It was almost humorous with my left eye in the state that it was.