Willow read through the papers to see if there was anything unusual about the news. She picked up one sitting in a shelf in Marian's living room and read it. Most of the news in it was good, except for one article on page A3 that was about bandits attacking a merchant in the Azodar Forest. Or at least, the news stories that were in the paper were probably the ones that Tareth wanted people to read, and those stories were good.

Willow wondered how they should proceed. "So, how are we going to go about invading the castle?"

Angelina said, "Have you even remotely thought about what it takes to rule a country? We're just going to . . . go and conquer a leader without a plan for what is going to happen afterward?"

"Aren't you the one who lives in a world where people choose their leaders?"

"Well, yes, but that takes a lot of knowledge and effort to do! My mom's election campaigns in America take a lot of money to run!"

Christabel asked, "What's an election campaign?"

"In my country, we choose our leaders. Our leader is called a president, and people cast their votes for them."

"You pick your ruler?" Christabel asked, wide-eyed.

"Yes. Almost everyone who is a government official in my country is elected by the people. My mother is a state representative for the district that the city of Boston is in."

"Well, I can help you rule. After all, I have been somewhat involved in government my whole life," Christabel said.

A thought occurred to Willow. She turned to the article about the merchant getting attacked. "Riordan, pour your firepants soot on this article," she said. Riordan opened his can of firepants soot and poured its contents on the paper. The letters began moving around on the paper and rearranged themselves.

The headline now read: "Princess Christabel Arthuria of Kalnoreth Missing."

The article now read:

"At precisely 9:00 a.m. Tharielsday morning, Princess Christabel Arthuria's carriage was traveling down the Centrarius Way outside Hallowdorn in Kalnoreth. Princess Hannah Arthuria saw the bodies of slain bodyguards lying around Christabel's carriage, alongside Oloredian soldiers. Princess Christabel was not at the scene of the carnage. She is thought to have been kidnapped."

"That's horrendous!" Christabel gasped. Her face turned white with fear when Willow finished reading the article aloud to her.

Boy, it sure looks like I am going to be in Ethermoor for a while, Angelina thought. She couldn't leave her new friends when they were in so much trouble.

"What is Tharielsday?" Angelina asked.

"A name for one of the days of the week. Tharielsday was two days ago, and this is Ristiansday," Willow said.

"I have an idea for how we can get into the castle," Christabel said.

"What is it?" Angelina asked.

"Tareth and the others did not see me with you when they broke into the inn. I was thinking that I could walk into the castle while causing the least amount of suspicion. The servants will surely let you in if they see you with me!" Christabel said.

"Ha, ha, ha . . . Remember that he wants me dead," Willow said sarcastically.

"Me too, but he may not be likely to kill me directly because it might be too politically dangerous for him to do so. Plus, I'm sure that people are looking for me," Christabel said.

"Why don't Willow and I go into the castle by ourselves like we did before? I turned into a firefly and she turned into a cloud. No one will see us go in," Angelina said.

Christabel's face suddenly turned red. She turned to Angelina and snapped, "He and Desdemona tried to kill me to start a war between Kalnoreth and Oloredian, remember? I want to face him and show him that Desdemona didn't succeed!"

Riordan said, "I have an idea for how we can get in there." He pulled out the bottle of dust that he had used to turn Willow and Angelina into butterflies. "This dust turns people into butterflies for an hour. We can use it to get inside the castle."

"Yes, but we will be stuck being butterflies for an hour. We can't just change back when we need to. I'm going to need to be in my human form when I perform my trick," Angelina replied.

"Oh, right," Riordan mumbled as he put the bottle of dust back in his bag.

Willow flipped through the journal.

"There's a description of how to remove a sorcerer's power and use it temporarily. According to the journal, the liquid that he used to detect fairy magic can take an essence of their magic out of a hair. It can be used to sort of 'borrow' a person's magical abilities. You have to drink one teaspoon of the stuff for every hour that you want to use their magic," Willow said. She turned to Angelina and asked, "What kinds of animals can you transform into?"

Angelina replied, "Well, I've only transformed into a bird, a firefly, and a wolf."

"We can use Angelina's powers to transform ourselves into parrots and disguise ourselves as Christabel's pets."

"How do we know the stuff isn't going to kill us?" Riordan asked.

"What is it made out of?" Christabel asked.

"We haven't figured it out yet at the library. We think it came from another world since the ingredients are unknown," Riordan replied.

"Can I see a bottle of it?" Angelina asked.

Riordan pulled out a bottle from his bag and handed it to her.

She pulled the cap off and smelled the potion inside. Suddenly, the names of different flowers popped into her mind. She wondered if her powers could determine the name of plant ingredients in a mixture. "Merign, penanor, hanvogar, and jananor are the ingredients. The mixture is perfectly safe to drink," she said.

"How do you know that?" Riordan asked.

"Those names came to my mind when I smelled it. It was as if my magic was giving me a message."

"Those are the names of flowers that only exist in Faemoor," Riordan said.

"How did he get the fairy dust to go there?" Christabel asked.

"Who knows."

"Who shall we test first?" Christabel asked.

"I guess we can test out my abilities first," Willow said.

"Can you pull out a piece of your hair, please?" Riordan asked Willow. She pulled on one of her curls, broke off a strand of hair, and handed it to Riordan. He dipped her hair in the bottle, and the bottle glowed brightly. He walked into the kitchen and returned with a teaspoon.

He gave the bottle to Angelina, and she poured herself a teaspoon of the liquid. All of a sudden, she felt electricity pumping through her veins. Her hair stood up all over her head. The others laughed at the sight. It went back down as her body absorbed Willow's magic.

"How do I check to see if it's working? Other than my static-induced hairstyle, that is," Angelina asked.

"Let's go outside, and I will tell you," Willow said. They walked out to the door to the pasture behind Marian's house. "Now conjure up a lightning bolt.

Q "What?" Angelina shouted. Willow burst out laughing at her reaction. "Can't I conjure something a little bit less dangerous?"

"All right, conjure a raincloud, then. I have weather abilities, and that's the safest my powers get," Willow said.

"I lived in Florida! I know how dangerous storms can be!" Angelina snapped fearfully. She was still nervous that she might produce a lightning strike and kill someone.

"Just stick out your hand and think about a storm!" Willow instructed.

Worried, Angelina stuck her hand out and thought about light rain. She prayed that her memories of Florida's hurricanes did not interfere. She felt her hands tingle with Willow's electricity, and she could feel all the moisture in the air floating to one spot in the sky that was just above Marian's pasture. She saw clouds begin to gather in that spot, and she was able to start a rainfall. Unfortunately, since she was trying not to produce a lightning strike, she felt her nervousness begin making the wind blow stronger. Her heart began throbbing.

"You're doing great!" Willow shouted through the sound of the rain.

"How do I stop it?" Angelina shouted. The wind began blowing so hard that she could barely stand up.

"Think of something that calms you!" Willow shouted. Christabel was clutching a fencepost and screaming in terror. Angelina thought of home, and a stab of homesickness filled her heart. Her homesickness only made the wind grow stronger, and the rain came down harder.

Suddenly, Tristan's face appeared in her mind. He whispered, "You can do this." She thought of her new friends in Ethermoor who were counting on her. Suddenly, the wind died down, and the rain slowed to a trickle. Angelina's heart rate slowed down, and she felt much more relaxed.

"Thank goodness!" Christabel sighed as she let go of the fence post. All of them were now absolutely soaking wet. They all walked back inside.

"Now, you have to try my ability to float in the air," Willow said.

Angelina was still shaken from the storm. She was not exactly eager to try any more of Willow's abilities. "After that, there is no way I am going to try to float!"

"Well, if you do suddenly find yourself floating off the ground, remember, hot air rises, and cold air contracts. Cool the air in your lungs to lower yourself to the ground."

"Don't you think we should be trying out my abilities before we go?" Angelina said nervously.

Willow replied, "According to the journal, you have to wait two hours in between ingesting abilities."

"Ughhhh! More waiting?" Christabel groaned.

"Yes." There was a line of tiny words written underneath the instructions. Willow squinted and held the journal up to her face. "DO NOT MIX DIFFERENT SORCERORS' POWERS! Mixing abilities will set off a chemical reaction that will spark a fire and engulf the body in seconds! It happened when I tried to mix the abilities of a Dream Sorceress with the abilities of an Ice Sorceress! I must remember to wait two hours between ingesting abilities!"

"But I'm not ingesting two different abilities," Angelina said.

"Yes, but perhaps my powers will absorb into the potion when you dip your hair into it. It's just better to be safe than sorry." Willow replied.

"He ingested a Dream Sorceress's powers! Do you think he ingested mine? What's the date on that entry?" Christabel asked.

"The month of Neverdoor. The date was the fourteenth," Willow replied.

"That was the last date I was at Banderon's castle! Yeah, I remember seeing a large flaming object falling from his tower window into the moat! Serves him right!" Christabel laughed hysterically.

The others laughed at the thought of a flaming Tareth jumping into the moat, screaming.

"Wait. Do you think we should take his books with us or leave them here?" Christabel asked.

"We should try to take them with us. That way, in case he comes to this house looking for us like he obviously did in Shimmerwater, we will have his books with us," Willow said. She also did not want to risk him coming to Riordan's grandparents' house in their absence because Marian and Nicholas did not have magic and could not defend themselves against Tareth.

"Put them in my bag. I will shrink the bag down small enough for us to carry it inside the castle without anyone noticing," Riordan said. Willow placed the diary and his book in Riordan's bag. He stuck his hand out. "Shrink down to near invisible, and in Angelina's pocket you will go!" The bag suddenly shrunk to about the size of a walnut and floated into Angelina's pocket. She took the bag out of her pocket. It was a drawstring bag that she was able to just pull open.

"Don't spill anything!" Willow shouted. She was worried that Angelina would spill the contents and they would never see the books again because they were so small. She was amazed by how small the bag's contents were.

Willow decided to leave her own bag with Marion. That way, Tareth wouldn't also have possession of the Sea Sorceress's cauldron and all the journals, along with his books.

"How do we get these books to grow back to normal size should we need to use them?" Christabel asked.

"You say, 'Sizus Maximus,'" Riordan replied. The bag suddenly grew to normal size and popped the pocket on Angelina's dress off.

"Just wait until I've taken it out of my pocket!" Angelina giggled. Riordan shrunk the bag back down, and Angelina put it in her other pocket.

After two hours, it was time for Angelina to try her abilities with the potion. She pulled a piece of her hair out and put it in the vial. Willow asked, "How long do you think we will be there?"

Christabel replied, "Five hours maximum. We want to take our time so that we will not look like we are up to something."

"Wait. We know that he wanted Christabel to die in that attack. What's to stop him from killing her?" Angelina asked.

"There's a chance he won't be so overt about murdering me in the castle when someone might see him do it or hear me scream. They wanted to pin the murder on Gregory's guards, remember? Besides, how else are we going to go inside the castle unless we actually try to go into the castle?" Christabel asked.

Angelina hoped she was correct. Willow shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, here goes nothing." She poured herself a teaspoon of the liquid and drank it. It tasted like the most disgusting leafy green vegetable she had ever put in her mouth. Her mouth also felt as if it were full of feathers. She spat, but no feathers came out of her mouth, and there was a strange floral aftertaste. She wondered if this was how Angelina's magic tasted. "Ugh!" She groaned as she choked back the disgusting liquid. "That was the worst!"

Angelina looked dumbfounded by Willow's reaction. "What?"

"It tasted like bird feathers, some horrible-tasting vegetables, and flowers." Willow moaned.

"How do you know what bird feathers taste like?"

"I've touched enough of them to know what they feel like, and I felt that texture fill my mouth."

She forced herself to drink four more teaspoons of the potion, then handed the nasty stuff to Riordan. Willow saw his face pucker as he drank it.

"Ugh! That stuff is horrible," he said.

"How did you turn yourself into a wolf last night?" Willow asked.

"I just got furious and wanted to attack Desdemona. So, I guess I just turned into a creature that could attack and kill a person," Angelina replied.

Willow imagined herself turning into a parrot. She felt herself shrink down to the size of one. Feathers began sprouting all over her body. She waved her arms and felt herself lift off the ground. She had turned into a parrot. Willow looked around and saw that Riordan had also turned into a parrot. She heard Riordan let out a massive squawk as he, too, lifted off the ground.

"Ha," Willow began, but was startled when her voice did not sound human at all. She tried to speak again.

"Have you ever flown before?" she squawked at Riordan.

"No, that is not one of my abilities!" he squawked as he flapped his wings.

Angelina and Christabel laughed uncontrollably at them. "How well can you two squawk like real parrots?" Angelina asked.

"Aaarrrggghhtt!" Willow squawked. Riordan bobbed his head and chattered.

"Those look like some pretty good parrot impressions to me." Christabel chuckled. "Now, can the two of you change back?"

Willow thought of turning into a human, and she suddenly shifted back into her human form. So did Riordan.

"I think we're ready now. But you can't go in there with the same names," Christabel said.

"Why don't you call us Tango and Mango? Those are good parrot names and are easy to remember," Angelina said.

Willow laughed at the sound of the names. "All right, I'll be Tango!"

"I guess that means I'm Mango," Riordan said.

Willow asked Angelina, "Perhaps you can show us your magic trick before we go?"

"Certainly! Does anyone have a match?" Angelina asked.

I"have a piece of forever-burning charcoal that I carry around with me just in case I need to make firepants soot," Riordan said. He dug in his bag and pulled out a box. "Be careful with it. Just rub it on whatever you want to set fire to, and it will start a fire. The coal itself won't catch fire and won't burn your hands." He handed the box to Angelina.

She asked, "Now, does anyone have a piece of paper? I don't want to use these newspapers for my trick."

Marian said, "I do." She walked out of the room and returned with a piece of paper.

Angelina tore the paper in half and held one half of it in her hand. She put the other half in her pocket to be used later. She rubbed the charcoal on the paper and lit it on fire. Then, she cupped her hands around the flame, and when she opened her hands up, a copper penny sat in the palm of her left hand.

"How did you do that?" Christabel gasped.

Angelina grinned and said, "I won't tell you! A magician never reveals their secrets." She turned to Christabel. "Call me Sara Smith when we are in the castle. I got arrested in Hallowdorn for practicing sorcery. Call me by another name just in case he has heard of Angelina Nightengale," Angelina said.

"So, are we all ready to go?" Riordan asked.

"I'm as ready as I will ever be!" Angelina said. Riordan and Willow turned into parrots and sat on Christabel's shoulders. Christabel and Angelina were careful to keep their bottles of fairy dust hidden under their dresses in case they needed them.

"When he tells you a lie, I will grip your shoulder like this," Riordan said. He dug his claw into Christabel's shoulder.

Christabel and Angelina walked out the door. They saddled their horses and began making their way toward the castle. "Just play along with me. I have met him on several occasions, so please don't be surprised by any interactions we might have. I will introduce you as my court jester," Christabel said.

"Are you going to give me some kind of signal when you want me to perform my trick?" Angelina asked.

"I will tell him that you would like to sing for him."

"Sing? I've never sung in front of anyone before!"

"It doesn't matter, does it? You're going to perform your magic trick! I just have to say something that would fixate his attention on you!"

When they arrived, some servants led Jinx Lightning and Sugarplum right to the stables. The guards opened the front door of the castle for Christabel. One of the young men gasped. "Your Royal Highness! We heard that Prince Gregory's guards murdered you!"

"No, and my court jester, Sarah, helped me escape!" Christabel said. "I would like for Halvor to give me a place to stay for the evening before I go back to Kalnoreth."

"I am sure I can arrange that, Your Highness." The guard led them through the hallway, right up to the door of the throne room. He opened the door and said, "Princess Christabel of Kalnoreth is here, Your Highness!"

Tareth looked up at Christabel and Angelina. His mouth dropped open in shock, and his eyes widened.

"Christabel, what are you doing here?" He looked at Angelina's finger, and a look of shock spread across his face. "That looks just . . . like a ring my mother gave me when I was a kid."

Riordan dug his claw into Christabel's shoulder.

Christabel replied, "I just wanted to stop by the castle on my way back to Kalnoreth. My court jester and I have been wandering around for days after Gregory's army attacked me and my entourage! Do you know anything about that?"

"No," Tareth replied.

Riordan dug his claw into her shoulder, and her heart began to race. "It happened outside Hallowdorn. They just ran out from behind the trees and attacked me!"

"Why don't we go into the dining room? I'm sure the two of you would love to have something to eat after your long journey," Tareth said.

"That would be wonderful, Your Highness," Christabel replied graciously.

She and Angelina followed him into the dining room. The three of them sat down at the table. He called a servant over and told him to serve up supper. The servant disappeared. "Would you like some peanuts?" Tareth asked.

"Oh, yes! I think my parrots would love peanuts as well!" Christabel replied.

Tareth walked out of the room. He returned moments later carrying a bowl of peanuts.

"Peanuts!" Riordan squawked. Christabel handed him a peanut, which he swallowed whole. He and Willow jumped down onto the table, and Christabel gave them each a handful of peanuts. Angelina took a peanut from the bowl and put it in her mouth. She tasted the most disgusting flavor she had ever put in her mouth. Immediately, her magic went to work.

The words "Thornflower deadly poison" blared in her mind. A vision suddenly flashed into her mind. Upon hearing of Christabel's arrival in the castle, Tareth ran into the kitchen and poured Thornflower poison on the peanuts. She spit the peanut out.

"Stop! It's poison!" Angelina hollered. She grabbed Christabel's arm as she was trying to put a peanut in her mouth. Tareth looked taken aback.

Suddenly, Willow and Riordan both fell over, unconscious. Both of them turned back into their human forms. Angelina was horrified at the sight of her lifeless friends lying on the table. Christabel shrieked in terror as she jumped up from her seat.

Angelina was thankful when the anecdote for Thornflower poison came into her mind. It was charcoal. The only charcoal she had with her was the charcoal she was going to use for her trick. Suddenly, Tareth let out a loud hissing laugh, the sound of which made Angelina want to hit him in the stomach.

"I'm sorry, Christabel, but you were supposed to die in that attack," Tareth sneered. Inside, though, his mind was still whirling. Christabel yanked her sword out of her sword belt, and Tareth yanked his sword and his wand out of his belt. He shouted some strange words, and a ball of light shot out of the tip of his wand. Christabel hit it with her sword.

It bounced off the wall and hit the thunderstruck Tareth in the chest. He turned to stone. "That's it?" Christabel asked.

"No, no such luck. Tristan was very specific that only I can kill Tareth," Angelina said.

She heard the instructions for how to make the Thornflower poison anecdote blare loudly in her mind. "Dissolve the charcoal in water and give the mixture to both of them." She ran outside and dipped her goblet in the water in the moat. She sensed the urgency of Willow and Riordan's situation as she realized that they only had fifteen minutes to live with the Thornflower poison in their systems. She trembled in fear as she followed her instincts to make the anecdote for the poison.

Angelina dropped the charcoal into the water, picked up her knife off the table, and pounded it in the cup until the charcoal had completely dissolved. The water kept it from setting on fire. She pressed the goblet up to Willow's mouth and poured it inside. Then she poured the liquid into Riordan's mouth. Angelina was relieved when Willow coughed and sat up.

She saw Tareth's body turning human again, and her heart started racing faster. Christabel picked up her sword and started hacking off Tareth's body parts as they turned flesh again, leaving a bloody mess on the floor that made Angelina's stomach churn. Then, Christabel sliced Tareth in half at the waist. His torso fell to the ground.

Christabel yanked the belt off his waist, covering her hands in his blood. "NOOO!" Tareth screamed.

Hahaha!" Christabel jeered.

The belt suddenly flew out of her hand and wrapped itself around Angelina's waist. She could feel Tristan's magic radiating from it.

"Give me that belt back!" Tareth yelled with audible desperation in his voice.

"No!" Angelina yelled. She could no longer perform her trick since she had used up all her charcoal.

Willow stood up and began vomiting blood. Angelina turned white as she realized this was an effect of the poisoning. She knew that she had to get her friends out of the castle as soon as possible. "I can't see!" Riordan yelled.

She pointed her hand toward a windowsill, and two vines shot out of it. They wrapped themselves around Willow and Riordan and pulled them out of the window. "Come on, Christabel!" Angelina yelled.

Christabel jammed her sword into her belt and ran to the window. Two more vines shot out of the other two vines and wrapped themselves around Angelina and Christabel. They lifted them up and out of the window.

"What's going on? Why can't I see anything?" Riordan whimpered.

"You ingested Thornflower poison when you ate the peanuts!" Angelina said.

"WHAT?" Riordan thundered. Then, he tripped and fell on the ground.

A man driving a horse-drawn cart full of hay pulled up to them. "Y'all look like you need a ride to the hospital!" he said.

"Oh, thank you so much! That is very kind of you!" Angelina said.

The man got off the cart, and he, Christabel, and Angelina lifted Willow and Riordan onto the hay.

D"o you have a piece of paper?" Willow asked. "I have remedies for blindness and stomach ulcers in my shop. I need to give you directions to it."

"With what quill will she write them down with?" Riordan asked.

"I have a map here," Angelina said. She pulled out her map, opened it, and located the village of Fernhollow. She pulled her pen out of her purse.

"Look for a shop that says Fernhollow Apothecary on it," Willow said.

Angelina asked, "What is the street address?"

"406 Durham Street."

Riordan chimed, "Knowledge Sorcerers removed the inventory. Instructions to where they hid it are written in fairy runes on the back wall. I had no part in deciding where it was to be placed for protection until Willow could return, so I don't know where it is."

"I don't know how to read fairy runes," Angelina said.

Riordan replied, "All magical people have a natural ability to read fairy runes. You will be able to read them."

Angelina wrote down the address, memorized the map to Fernhollow, and put it in her pocket.

"Go quickly!" Willow hissed. She coughed up a second mouthful of blood.

Angelina knew that she did not have much time to help her friends. She found a back alley and imagined what kind of bird she should transform into. She wondered what kind of bird was the absolute fastest. Angelina felt herself grow feathers and begin shrinking. When she was finished transforming, she looked in a puddle, and saw that she had transformed herself into a falcon.

She flapped her wings and lifted off the ground. Angelina flew high into the air, but not so high that she lost sight of the road. She felt the wind blow hard in her face as she flapped her wings furiously.

She saw one fairy ring outside Ethermoor City, but she wasn't certain that she could get to Fernhollow quick enough if she used it. According to the map, there were two villages between Ethermoor and Fernhollow. She passed over the other villages and finally saw the rooftops of Fernhollow. Angelina flew through the streets and saw a sign above a doorway that read Fernhollow Apothecary.

Angelina looked through the window and saw that the store was empty save for a few empty store fixtures. She felt a stab of pain in her heart when she realized that this was a store that had been in Willow's family for generations, and that Willow would probably never be able to return to it. She was glad to see a chimney poking out of the top of the roof. Angelina flew down the chimney and into the shop.

She turned back into a human and began searching everywhere for the writing Riordan told her to look for. Her heart raced as she thought of her friend dying from internal bleeding. Angelina turned and saw odd writing scrawled on the wall behind the desk. Please visit me at 249 Angoral Avenue in Seaside. Angelina had no idea how she read it.

These must be the fairy runes Riordan told me about, she thought. Angelina looked for Seaside on the map and found it. She took a pen out of her bag and wrote the address on it. She put the pen and map away, turned into a bird, and flew up the chimney.

It took her very little time to find the next town. Once she arrived, she found the address quickly. Angelina flew into a garden behind the two-story house, hid amongst some trees, and transformed back into a human. Angelina knocked on the door. An elderly woman opened the door and poked her head out.

"Hi, I was at the Fernhollow Apothecary, and—"

The woman suddenly grabbed Angelina's arm and pulled her inside. "My granddaughter was a Sea Sorceress, and she died three months ago," the woman hissed.

W"illow, the woman whose family owned the shop, was poisoned with Thornflower poison, and she needs ulcer medication. Our friend also accidentally ingested it, and needs her medication to cure blindness," Angelina said.

"One moment. I have all her things in my basement," the elderly woman said.

She disappeared through a door and returned moments later with three bottles of potion. "I think this might be what you are looking for. One of these is a blood-restoring potion since you said that she is vomiting blood," the woman said as she handed the bottles to Angelina.

"How come the Knowledge Sorcerers told you to take care of her things?" Angelina asked.

"My granddaughter was an apothecary just like Willow. They did not meet each other during her lifetime. When the police caught Willow's family, some sorcerers gave her things to me for safekeeping," the woman said.

"What is your name? I will have to bring Willow back to visit you sometime."

"My name is Cecilia. I met her parents on the day of their arrest," the woman said.

Angelina was unhappy that she couldn't stay and visit with the woman. "My name is Angelina Nightengale. I must go now. Thank you so much," Angelina said as she shook Cecilia's hand.

"You're welcome, Angelina." Cecilia walked Angelina to the door, and the two said goodbye. Angelina found the trees again, hid behind them, transformed back into a bird, and flew to Ethermoor City.

She found the hospital, which wasn't hard because it was a huge structure that was as big as any of the government buildings in Ethermoor City. Angelina flew behind the hospital and transformed back into a human. She walked inside and to the front desk of the hospital. "I am here to see Willow Nightshade and Riordan Firedorn," she said to the woman.

"We are waiting for a doctor to be able to attend to them. Come with me," the nurse said.

Angelina followed the nurse to a room. She saw Willow lying in bed, obviously unconscious, and Riordan was lying in a bed beside her, sobbing. She saw a doctor giving Willow some kind of blood transfusion. Christabel sat in a chair, lips pursed together in obvious worry. Angelina read the instructions on the bottle. The doctor began attending to Riordan. When the doctor turned his back toward Willow, Angelina poured the ulcer liquid into Willow's mouth.

"I'm sorry, but you can't give those things to patients," a woman said. Angelina turned and saw a nurse standing behind her. She pointed her hand at the floor. A vine suddenly shot out of the floor and wrapped itself around the woman's legs and hips, pinning her right in that spot. She shrieked in terror. Another vine shot out of the ground and wrapped itself around the doctor. Angelina walked over to where Riordan sat crying and poured the sight-restoring potion over his eyes. Foam bubbled up from them.

"Leave the foam on for five minutes," Angelina instructed.

"You . . . what are you?" the nurse asked, voice trembling with fear. Her finger shook violently as she pointed at Angelina.

She decided to tell the woman the truth. "I am a sorceress."

The nurse's eyes widened. "Let me go!" she screamed as she squirmed around in her timber prison.

"I can see color!" Riordan shouted. He blinked and wiped his eyes with his hand.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone about what you saw," Angelina said to the nurse.

"You instantly grew vines out of the ground by just pointing! How do you expect me to be quiet about that?" the woman wailed.

Y"ou should probably drink this too. The woman who had your potions gave me this one as well," Angelina said as she handed Willow the bottle of blood-restoring potion.

She took one gulp of the medicine, and the color slightly began returning to her cheeks. She still felt frail and knew she was going to be in no shape to leave the hospital at the moment. Willow sat up in bed, threw her arms around Angelina thankfully, and said, "Thank you so much!"

"Well, you two are my friends!" Angelina replied, smiling. She hugged Riordan, and he cried into her shoulder.

"Would someone like to explain what is going on here?" the doctor hollered.

Willow said, "Those potions are to heal stomach ulcers and blindness. I promise that if you don't say anything to anyone about this, I will do business with this hospital and provide you all with my medications."

The doctor and the nurse nodded their heads vigorously. "Oh, I will definitely keep my mouth shut!" the nurse said.

Angelina released the two of them from the vine, and they ran out of the room. "Do you think we can trust them to keep quiet about it?" Angelina asked.

"Does it matter? I plan on providing this hospital with medications anyway once Tareth is gone," Willow said.

"Speaking of Tareth, I no longer have the charcoal. I used it to take the poison out of your body," Angelina said.

"What?"