Page 19 of This Witch Is Not Wicked

Vine wrapped around my wrist and whirled me around to face the ledge of the room. “Vine,” I whispered. “She’s up to something, and you just interrupted my interrogation.”

It jabbed at something in the distance.

“What?” I asked, annoyed by Vine and Fiona and all the other interruptions.

I stalked to edge of my room and squinted in the direction Vine was pointing. Oh, godwitches be. Humans. I hadn’t had any humans crawling around these parts in years—and the last time humans came to my bog, they’d killed a bush that ate its victims. They’d set the poor thing on fire. I narrowed my gaze at them.

“I have to go, Fiona,” I said over my shoulder. “But we will finish this conversation later.”

“No, you can’t go!” She ran to me, grabbing the end of my black robe and pulling on it.

“Stop that,” I said, nodding at Vine, who gently pried Fiona’s hand from my robe.

“But I promised him I’d keep you here.”

That stopped me momentarily. “Promised who?”

Vine pushed me toward the ladder hanging from my bedroom, and I stumbled forward, swinging myself down onto it.

Fiona swallowed thickly.

“Like I said, we will finish this conversation later, and I will find out who put you up to this.”

For now, I had some pesky mortals to deal with.

CHAPTER 8

Enid

Idropped from the ladder onto my lily pad and pointed across the zigzag of channels, where the humans were currently picking their way across the marsh—right outside the border of Fairwitch.

I gritted my teeth. “That way.” Vine slithered up beside me as I looked at the two humans roaming my bog. From their hulking, burly figures, I assumed they were both men. Vine tried to pull me down to a crouch, but I waved it off.

“They can’t see us, remember?” I gestured around us to the barrier that surrounded Fairwitch Isle, keeping the city invisible to outsiders.

“We don’t have anything to worry about.” I scowled at Vine. “Even if they could see us, what are you afraid of? You do realize you’re a python vine that can squeeze its prey to death, don’t you?”

Vine shook its head.

“You’re getting soft, Vine.” I reached out and caressed one of my sunflowers as we passed a row of them. It let out a screech that could deafen human ears if they were too close. Such a sweet sound.

The lily pad moved to the left, following the narrow channel that snaked through the marsh. As we neared the humans, I realized one of them held a shovel, which he was using to dig into my bog.

Hot rage filled me. “How dare they desecrate my land.”

Vine lay slumped next to me, and I rolled my eyes at its pouting.

“I’m sorry I called you soft. I’m aggravated about this entire situation, and I suppose I might’ve taken it out on you.”

The lily pad curved around another bend in the channel, and now we were close enough that I could see the men more clearly. One of them swiped a hand over his shiny bald head. The other one wrinkled his protruding nose at something, then rubbed the distinctive bump that made me think he’d broken it at some point.

I thought about my jab at Vine. “The truth is maybe I’m the one who’s going soft.”

Vine patted my shoulder.

“Look at those two. It’s like they’ve never heard of me. Don’t even know this is my bog. Have I lost my touch?”

Vine shook its head, and my hands curled into fists. “I’m going to teach these mortals a lesson. They can’t just come into my home and dig up my land.”