The days with Sylvia blurred together. Flora woke at dawn, dressed, and ate a small portion of breakfast, then she attempted more magic. She tried all of her healing magic, the books incrementally moving from the shelves to the floor, open to pages of diagrams and theory. She made blessings, spells, charms, potions. She studied into the night, holding a candle over her books and notes, teasing the details from the text like thread from fabric. It was the tiny, glinting details she'd missed that gave her hope: the ideal turn of the wrist, the added sprig of lavender, the swap of nouns for connotation.

She moved from blessings to High magic. It was colder, more precise. The spells had a sharpness to them that scraped along the underside of her skin, always a wrong intonation away from cutting her apart. She practiced it with a focus that made her head ache and her vision blur. It sent her to her knees.

It barely mattered. Sylvia made little progress.

She was more solid. Now when she touched Flora, she could feel the pressure on her skin, the ghost of muscles and bones that didn't exist. But death was still taking its toll. Each day, Sylvia grew more disheveled. Her hair loosened strand by strand until it hung in strings and tangles around her shoulders. Her cheeks thinned into hollows. Her skin puckered like the skin of overripe fruit.

Felix complained, but Flora barely heard him. She was stuck in the motion of reading and sleeping, casting and reading. She was losing touch with even her body. She cast her spells, letting them drag through her and out, releasing her into that fog of exhaustion. Sylvia's words slipped sweetly past her ears. Thank you, I feel much better. Look, you can even see my fingernails now. Just a little more work, and I'll be right as rain.

Sylvia glowed for a few hours, the magic making her shimmer into something that resembled what she used to be. Then it left her, and Flora started again.

Her latest attempt was a spell to combine body and soul. She changed the Latin so that it called for Sylvia's spirit instead, then traced a symbol over the floorboards in chalk. The change in the words imbalanced the magic, scratching at her as it left a little sideways and splitting her focus. The chalk caught fire beneath her distraction and she had to bless it to get the scorch marks out of the wood. She nearly fainted from the effort. She collapsed into bed and didn't awaken for nearly ten hours.

When she finally opened her eyes, it was some strange hour of the afternoon. Her tongue felt like cotton, her head hummed like it was full of bees. She tilted water from her pitched down her throat. It tasted like dust.

When she emerged into the kitchen, Sylvia watched her from her chair. The fabric along the arms had pilled and snagged beneath her fingernails, grown long and jagged. She didn't blink.

"Good morning," Flora said quietly. Her neck was prickling.

"Morning." Sylvia was gripping the chair again. "Sleep well?"

"Yes," Flora lied, eyeing her. Something felt different. It crept around the edge of her knowledge, bringing her out of her fog. She blinked against the new sharpness in her vision.

Felix wound around her ankles, fur brushing her leg. She reached down to pat him but stopped, watching as he carefully placed his paw steps in a circle around the floor, his eyes glowing.

A protection spell, she muttered to him. She felt his magic start to hum under the floor boards, but...

Her eyes snapped towards the door; the door she'd blessed to open and lock to her and Felix's thoughts. It was ajar.

"Sylvia?" she asked slowly. Felix said nothing. He kept twisting and turning. "You don't...the door...?"

"Yes?" she trilled. Stuffing was popping out of the clawed chair.

Flora touched the stone wall, feeling for the charms she'd imbued in it. It was cold.

"What happened to my protection spell? You didn't-."

"The magic in the walls?" she asked. "Yes, I took it last night. I was feeling worn down."

Felix sat firmly on Flora's feet, body tensed. His spell circled them like a turret.

"It was quite powerful," she continued in a satisfied tone, but she looked hungry. Flora could see the spell there, crushing against her filmy skin.

Flora went rigid. She picked up Felix, holding him tightly to her chest, and went to the door. It slammed.

"Where are you going?" Sylvia snapped.

"To restore the spell!" Flora gasped. Her heart beat faster. She held Felix closer.

"Why? What do you need it for?" She laughed in an unnatural lilt. "Surely your little cottage spells can't be more important then my life, Flora. You should be saving your magic, not using it to lock a door."

Flora listened, but her fingers were pressed to the lock, tendrils of magic trying to loosen Sylvia's grip. She couldn't.

Flora, you have to get out of here, Felix said.

Sylvia relaxed her fingers and breathed in deeply. The magic in the cottage pulled in and out of her lungs like a tide. Too easy. It was pulling away from her.

Felix's claws poked at her arm.

Now. Lie to her.

"Of course," Flora said to Sylvia, "You're right. Let me just go fetch some things."

Clutching Felix against her, she fled to the bedroom, legs shaking. She shut the door as soundlessly as possible and locked it with a sticking charm. Her magic drew into her like a rattling breath, then left like a cough.

What do we do? she asked Felix in a strangled voice.

"Flora? You left your journal here!" Sylvia called from the living room.

You must see Madrigal. Leave out the window, I can easily seal off the cottage.

Flora's fingers fluttered anxiously over the window, trying to pry open its magic seal.

"Flora!" Sylvia called again. Her voice was closer.

I can't leave you here alone, Flora insisted as Felix planted himself opposite the door.

You must, or she'll follow you!

The door knob rattled. Stopped. Silence.

BOOM. The whole door banged against the frame.

"Flora!" she squawked, "Open up!"

Flora scraped and tugged at the window with her nails. It didn't budge. The door shook violently back and forth, splintering the frame.

Flora, get out! Felix yelled. Get out, and I can seal her in!

CRACK. The door split down the middle.

Flora gasped, drawing more magic into her fingers. They were like roots sucking in water. Too slow.

SMASH. The door cleaved in two.

"What are you doing?" Sylvia shrieked, "Stop!"

Flora, get out of her now!

Sylvia reached out with fingers like talons to grab her leg, but couldn't reach through Felix's protection spell. He had all four paws planted firmly in the floor, but was swaying under the pressure.

I'm losing it, I can't protect us both!

Sylvia screeched and lunged. Flora turned, slamming her palms into the window with as much magic as she could muster. CRASH. The glass exploded into the grass.

Flora! Felix and Sylvia cried out in unison, but Flora had gone, tumbling head first out what used to be the window and into a pile of ferns. Felix jumped after her, racing to seal off the perimeter. Sylvia pounded her fists against the invisible barrier.

"You horrible beast!" Sylvia shouted. Her eyes rolled in her head.

"Felix!" Flora gasped, locked beneath Sylvia's fury.

Madrigal's! Quickly!

Flora scrambled to her feet and ran, tearing through the underbrush. Sylvia's angry shrieks chased her.