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“Here it is!” Willow excitedly dipped her staff to descend, hopping off as soon as she was close enough to the ground. “I knew we could find it out here!” Her new glasses nearly slipped off the end of her nose—they still weren’t sitting quite right, and she kept having to push them up.
Clover had already detached from the staff to buzz happily by her head, and Willow stopped to give her palisman a scratch under the chin. “These are called viper lilies,” she explained as she picked her way through the undergrowth. “We need to collect their venom sacs—but only from the adolescent ones. Once they’re fully grown, they can spit the venom right into your eyes.
Her palisman chirped, and Willow giggled as she zoomed in close enough to rub against her cheek. She was so thankful Luz had come up with the adoption event. She couldn’t think of a more perfect palisman than Clover.
“These should be good,” Willow said, spotting a group of pale pink viper lilies. “They get darker as they get older, so these should still be young enough that they can’t spit their acid at use.”
She crouched next to the lilies, gently lifting the blossom to expose the four venom sacs clustered around its base. “I’m only taking one from each,” she explained, glancing back at Clover. “They can survive with just two venom sacs, but that’s risky.”
Removing the venom sacs was trickier than Willow had first expected. She’d read up on how to do it, but it really wasn’t the same as doing it yourself. She accidentally cut into the first venom sac she tried remove, earning herself a nasty burn across her thumb from the leaking venom. The second was better, though still leaking around the top, but by the fourth one she finally had the hang of it.
Edric hadn’t said how many venom sacs he needed for his experiment...but she’d only managed to harvest four from the first patch of viper lilies. Willow climbed to her feet, resting her hands on her hips to stretch out her back, and finally located a second patch of viper lilies a few feet away. These were a little older, with two of the eight blossoms a deeper pink than the others. They were still young, so they weren’t dangerous...probably.
Willow knelt beside the new patch of lilies, expertly lifting one of the blossoms and severing a venom sac. She glanced up nervously, nudging her glasses back into place, when there was some movement among the plants, but nothing seemed out of place. “Do you think ten would be enough?” she asked Clover. The palisman chirped thoughtfully, and Willow nodded. “Okay, we’ll get eight. We know where these are now, so we can always come back and look for more.”
She reached out for another plant—one of the pink ones—and it shivered under her touch. Willow held her breath, then slowly pulled her hand away and went for a paler lily instead, which didn’t respond when she gently hooked her fingers around its stalk.
“They’re not really sentient,” she explained to Clover as she cut the venom sac free. “They hunt by vibration. They shoot their venom to incapacitate small prey, then the roots can catch it and drag it under the soil for nourishment.”
Nature was just like that; beautiful and deadly. Willow was beginning to wish she’d brought her camera; the rest of her carnivorous botanicals class would have loved to see the venom lilies. Maybe next time.
She retrieved a sixth venom sac, then sat back on her heels to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Willow pushed her glasses up just enough to rub her eyes, blinking away some of the fatigue that was setting in. She’d already been through a full day of school, then flyer derby practice, then another couple of hours searing for the lilies. The sun would be setting soon, and she still had to fly back to meet Edric and drop off the venom sacs.
“Maybe we just do seven,” she commented, reaching for another lily. This one was a slightly darker shade of pink than the other, but it didn’t react when she touched it. Besides, mature venom lilies were bright red, and these were still pink. It was safe enough. Probably.
The venom sacs on this lily were larger, and the stalk was thicker. Willow bit her lip as she worked, carefully passing the blade of the knife between the venom sac and the stalk. She’d almost cut it free when her knife slipped and nicked the lily’s stalk, and then….
Pain.
Willow lurched back with a cry, her hands flying up to cover her eyes. Her glasses were in the way, so she threw them off and yanked up the hem of her shirt to dab at her eyes.
It wasn’t helping. The lily venom burned into her skin, into her eyes—why had her stupid glasses chosen that moment to slip down—and she had nothing to ease the burning.
“Clover?” She reached out blindly, relieved when her palisman nudged up under her hand. “I need...what do we do?” The venom was potent. It was burning across her face, into her eyes. She’d brought a canteen, but water would just spread the venom out and make it worse.
Clover chirruped and flew away. She was back in a few minutes, and the smooth wood of Willow’s staff landed in her hand. “You want to fly?”
The palisman gave a loud chirp, and Willow felt the wind from her flapping wings as Clover buzzed around her face. “I can’t see, Clover.”
Clover chirped again. She moved away and chirped, and Willow stumbled after her. She propped herself up with the staff, using it to check her footing and find a clear path. All the while Clover kept ahead of her, calling out every few seconds.
The burning was getting worse. Willow knew it wasn’t helping, but she kept stopping to rub her eyes with a clean part of her shirt. She could feel the fabric itself melting away now, and had to tear a patch off that threatened to leak venom onto her shoulder.
Clover was back beside her. She nudged Willow’s shoulder, then the hand holding the staff, then hovered a few inches away to make an unhappy buzz.
“I know.” Willow could feel tears beading in her eyes, but fought to keep from crying. It just felt so hopeless. She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. She was all alone out here, blind and hurting, with just a palisman. “Okay. I’ll try.”
She hesitantly climbed onto the staff, willing it into the air. Clover made a triumphant sound, flying up to hover somewhere in front of Willow. “Go higher?” Willow guessed, letting herself float up. She’d flown with her eyes closed before—on a dare—and this wasn’t much different...except she couldn’t just open her eyes and lose the dare.
She was flying blind. Literally.
Clover gave an encouraging chirp and flew away, chirping again once they had a few feet between them. Willow gripped her staff with both hands, tight enough that it almost hurt, and nearly lay against the staff as she flew toward Clover.
They moved at an agonizingly slow pace. The warmth on Willow’s back faded as the sun set, and the cool night air made her shiver. She hadn’t been prepared to be out this late—her dads were going to be so worried.
“Clover?” Willow called. Her palisman had given a loud chirrup, and then fallen silent. Willow hung on to the staff, hovering in the darkness, blinking back her tears. “Where did you go?”
Why had she left? Willow held herself still, listening for any sound of her palisman or another living thing. Trees rustled beneath her, alive with insects and small animals, but there was no sign of her palisman. Nothing.
“Don’t leave me alone,” Willow whispered. “Please come back.”
Her tears were flowing now, and she barely noticed the way they spread the venom down her cheeks to her chin. Willow pulled one hand away from her staff just long enough to wipe at her eyes with her sleeve. It wouldn’t do any good—she was crying in earnest now, and the tears were just carrying the horrible, burning venom along her skin.
“Willow!”
She jerked in surprise, nearly falling off her broom. “E-Emira?” She nearly started crying even harder at hearing a familiar voice, and clung to the older girl when Emira pulled up beside her. “How did you find me?”
“Your palisman spotted us waiting for you,” Emira explained, as Clover flew up to nuzzle against Willow’s other side. “Oh no, this doesn’t look good...here, hold onto me, let’s get down to Edric.”
Willow gladly grabbed onto Emira’s arm, letting her lead the way down to solid ground. She felt weak and shaky as they landed, and Emira practically held her up as they walked a few feet, then lowered her to sit down on a low stone bench.
“Sit down...Ed, do you have any of that neutralizing powder? From your potions class?”
“Yeah, hang on...whoa, what happened to you, Willow?”
“Just the powder, Edric. Or I’m telling Amity this is your fault.”
“How is it my fault?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure it is. Here, Willow, tilt your head back.”
She closed her eyes—for all the good it did—and let out a size of relief as one of the twins dusted a soothing powder over her burning face.
“Is this acid?” Edric asked.
“Venom lily venom,” Willow replied weakly, reaching for the pouch at her waist. “Here, I got...I got six venom sacs for you.”
“You did? Oh, man, you’re the best!”
Emira huffed. “So it is your fault. Give me one second, Willow, let’s see if this helps.”
She felt a soft cloth gently wiping over her face, followed by more powder. Emira repeated the process until she was sure all of the venom had been cleaned off, then Willow felt the familiar tingle of healing magic.
“Okay...try to open your eyes now.”
Willow slowly blinked her eyes open. The world was blurry—but she’d left her new glasses back with the venom lilies, so that wasn’t worrying—and two blurry faces were peering down at her. Three worried faces, she realized, spotting Batric on Edric’s shoulder.
“Thanks, Emira,” she whispered. Her breath hitched and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Thank you.”
Emira looped an arm around her shoulders. It wasn’t quite a hug, but it still felt like a nice gesture. “It’s the least I could do after someone put you in so much danger. What do you need those things for, anyway?”
Willow opened her eyes again, squinting to see Edric’s embarrassed expression. “Um...would you believe they’re for a burn cream? You can reverse the effect of the lily venom, and it’s actually really good for treating chemical burns. In fact—”
His sister held up a hand to stop him. “Burn cream.”
Edric nodded.
Emira sighed. “Willow gets the first batch.”
“Yeah...of course. Sorry, Willow.”