Legends: The Folklore Trilogy Book 2

Chapter 29-Where We Begin the Attack

Deynan woke me up rather rudely the next morning, involving kicking and shouting. I tried to trip him, but sleepiness slowed me down, and the villain got away.

We packed up to go, Ore curled up in my pocket. For a while, we walked in silence.

"Ok, confession time," Sierra said suddenly. "I don't actually know where the castle is."

"How could you not know?!" Deynan exclaimed. "You've been there twice!"

"Yeah, but we were kidnapped both times," Audrey pointed out. "Hard to pay attention to where you're going when you're upside down."

"We can't be far," Sierra mused. "I mean, Giselle WALKED to that clearing from the palace."

"In heels," Audrey added.

"We're five minutes away," Isaac said, looking at the book.

"Oh," Deynan said. "Awesome."

Isaac nodded. Then he started. "Oh my goodness, Sophie, this is yours!" He handed the book over to her with an apologetic look.

"It's fine," she said, kindly accepting it and slipping it into her bag. "I trust it was helpful?"

"Extremely," he said with a nod.

"More helpful than Tinder," I muttered.

"You know," Sophie said as we started to walk, "I've been thinking. Mr. Marquez must be crazy powerful to bind an imp. It's like carrying water for three miles in your hands without any of it slipping through your fingers. While running."

I let out a low whistle. "Dang."

"He must be almost as powerful as Giselle," she said excitedly. It was the most animated I had ever seen her.

"I think Giselle had more raw power," Sierra contemplated, "but Mr. Marquez had more control."

"That makes sense," Isaac said.

Audrey groaned. "Why do we have to DISCUSS it though. Does it MATTER?"

"Know your enemy," Deynan said.

"Giselle isn't our enemy," Sierra said sharply. "And Mr. Marquez definitely isn't."

Deynan looked a little taken back by her harshness. I was a bit surprised, too. Sierra didn't use that tone much.

"I think what he meant to say was that we should try to understand sorcery more, so we can understand the Destroyer," Isaac said gently. "He's definitely our enemy."

Sierra looked a little sheepish. "Yeah. Sorry." She ran her hand through her hair. "Stress is getting to me. Sorry."

"It's fine," Deynan said casually. But he looked a bit worried.

We walked in silence.

"Oh," Sophie suddenly said in a very small voice. "I guess that's it?"

I stopped and looked up. A few feet away from us was a solid wall of dark gray stone. A flush of nervousness ran through me, and my heartbeat sped up.

"The color has always reminded me of storm clouds," Sierra whispered, right behind me. "Like it's about to explode with lightening."

I shivered involuntarily. "What a great visual," I muttered.

"Alright," Audrey said in a low voice, "we need a plan."

"Storm the front door," Deynan whispered, rubbing his hands together with a grin.

"Intelligence at its finest," I sighed.

"I like it," Audrey declared suddenly.

I looked at her, shocked. "Wait--you can't be serious."