While In the stifling greenhouse, Esther watched Fortune raise the heavy silver mortar, its surface catching the eerie glow of the Eternal Leaf.
"Don't!" she commanded, her voice ringing with newfound authority. She knew panic wouldn't save her. Knowledge would. "If you destroy the plant now, the shockwave will alert the Pack. Samuel's father will send hundreds of wolves here. You won't get the clean break you want."
Fortune paused, lowering the mortar slightly, intrigued by her sudden calm. "A good point. But I only need a few seconds of chaos to activate the Stone and claim the city's energy. And you, Esther, are the detonation device."
He moved with blinding speed, dropping the mortar and grabbing her wrist, his touch like ice searing her skin. He pressed her hand, clutching the silver bloom pendant, onto the surface of the terrarium containing the Eternal Leaf.
The silver necklace instantly became agonizingly hot, and a wave of dizziness washed over Esther. She felt a profound, psychic pull—a rushing vacuum as her very essence, her energy, was drawn through the silver and into the small, fragile copper plant.
The Folium Aethel reacted violently. It shuddered, its copper leaves turning brilliant, shimmering silver, and then, in a burst of light and power, a single, perfect bloom unfurled at its core: a five-petaled flower, the exact shape and size of the silver pendant around Esther's neck.
The light emanating from the plant was blinding, and the earth beneath them began to tremble.
"The Silver Bloom!" Fortune gasped, his eyes alight with victorious, terrifying power. "It's working! Your grandmother failed to prevent this! The Stone is overloading!"
Esther, though dizzy and weak, focused on the pain in her wrist. She saw the energy rushing from her into the plant. She remembered Madam Chinwe's words: The colour of truth, and the shape of protection.
The protection wasn't just to slow the drain; it was to control the flow.
Drawing on the last vestiges of her strength and clarity, Esther yanked her hand away from the terrarium, breaking contact. But instead of letting go of the silver bloom, she gripped the pendant hard, channeling the pain and the draining energy back onto Fortune's icy hand.
The silver bloom was a conduit. If she was draining, she could also overload the circuit.
Fortune cried out, a sound that was less human than the shriek of grinding metal. His hand, where it had touched the pendant, began to smoke faintly.
"What have you done?" he roared, backing away, clutching his injured hand.
"My grandmother designed the silver to protect the Keeper from the wolf's need," Esther said, breathless. "But the silver doesn't care who the energy-drainer is. It just cares about the balance. You may be the Shadow, Fortune, but I am the living conduit of the Stone, and I choose who I empower!"
The Silver Bloom in the terrarium pulsed rapidly, dangerously unstable, releasing waves of raw magical power. The tremor intensified.
Esther knew she had bought seconds, maybe minutes. But she had to run. The overload was coming, and she was still too close to the Stone's center point.
She bolted out of the greenhouse, her silver pendant now cold and dead against her skin, leaving behind the furious vampire and the dangerously blooming flower. She was weak, alone, and the Pack was looking for her. She had to find Samuel.