The Snow Queen's Shadow

fruits of this garden have shown me the future. I foresaw your visit weeks ago, all save your wolf-clad friend. And I’ve seen what happens if we try to fight this demon.”
    Talia started forward, but something tugged her leg. Thorns tore her trousers as rose vines spiraled up her calf. She pulled harder, trying to wrench the vine from the earth.
    Gerta had already collapsed, asleep. Danielle managed a single step, but the vines clung to her leg. She swung her glass blade through one of the vines, and then the sword slipped from her grasp and she fell.
    Talia ripped her leg loose, even as more roses reached up to grab her other foot. A swing of her sword sent rose blossoms tumbling to the ground.
    The hell with this. Talia stabbed the sword into the dirt, pulled a dagger, and flipped it in her hand to throw.
    “Kill me, and they’ll never awaken,” Noita warned. “The spell that holds them in sleep can drag them down into death just as easily.”
    White flowers tinged with pink covered the branches of the apple tree. Those flowers hadn’t been in bloom when they first entered the garden. That tree was the source of Noita’s spell.
    A growl built in Talia’s chest. Those were apple blossoms. “Snow’s mother paralyzed her with a poisoned apple. She got that apple from you, didn’t she.”
    Noita shrugged. “There are many poisons—”
    “Poisons that work with the first bite? That could overcome Snow before she cast a single spell? I know poisons, witch. None work so quickly.” Another vine caught her wrist. Talia jerked free, barely feeling the thorns that bloodied her skin. Had Noita been close enough, Talia would have snapped her neck with her bare hands.
    “Snow is gone.” Noita stood, jabbing her crutch at Talia. “You should be more concerned about the friends you have left. Surrender that cape, or they die.”
    That cape was the only thing protecting her from Noita’s magic. Talia bared her teeth, but hesitated. The others’ breathing had grown shallower. Noita wasn’t bluffing.
    Talia dropped the knife and reached up to unfasten the red cape. The vines now trapped her legs up to her thighs. She yanked the cape free of the thorns. In a single motion, she reversed the cape and pulled it tight around her body, so the wolf’s fur was on the outside.
    Pain crushed her body, forcing her to her hands and knees. Thorns stabbed her skin as her limbs reshaped themselves into those of the wolf. She snarled, tugging and jerking as the vines tried to close around her. New strength pumped through her legs. She ripped one of her rear legs free, then twisted to bite the vines holding the other. With a snarl, she lunged forward, tearing the last few vines from the earth.
    She crossed the garden in an eyeblink, knocking Noita backward over the bench. Before Noita could do more than open her mouth, Talia’s fangs were upon her neck.
    The wolf was fully roused now, urging Talia to clamp down and rip out the witch’s throat, to kill her for her betrayal and for what she had done to Snow all those years ago. Instead, Talia simply snarled.
    Noita’s eyes were huge. Withered fingers grabbed Talia’s muzzle, trying without success to force the jaws open. Rose vines punched through the earth, twining their way up Talia’s legs. Talia bit harder, tasting blood.
    Noita made a squeaking sound and raised her hands in surrender. She gestured toward the apple tree, and Talia saw the blossoms begin to close.
    The others woke as swiftly as they had fallen. Danielle grabbed her sword and walked over to place the tip at Noita’s throat. “We need her alive, Talia.”
    Danielle’s words, spoken without sound, pierced the wolf’s rage. Grudgingly, Talia backed away, licking blood from her chops. She sat back on her haunches and used her teeth to dig at the seams of the wolfskin, peeling it from her body. The process was a painful one, but it was the sound that bothered her the most. Joints popped and bones ground together, until Talia was herself again, curled on her side and panting for breath. She used one hand to switch the cape back around, wrinkling her nose at the smell of wolf sweat.
    “My visions have shown me what’s to come,” Noita said despondently. “What the demon will do to this land. What it will do to me if it discovers I’ve helped you.”
    “So you’d do nothing?” Danielle asked. “You’d watch as this thing you helped bring into our world now seeks to conquer it? You saw Rose