Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 45

Chapter 45

The second Lina got the words out. Lydia shook her head.

She tucked the dark red book behind her back and let loose another burst of Ursarian, faster than before.

Lina grabbed her arm. “Slow down.”

Lydia paused, then walked her through it.

Lina nodded along, then turned back to Lyra.

Lina translated, “Lyra, she’s saying no.

“She says you’re the strongest fighter we’ve got.

“Right now you’re in Wraith-tree form.

“If the Book of True Names actually works on you-

“The game might flag you as this round’s target and send every other ice tree after you.

“Or it might trigger something in the System. Assimilation. Turn you into a real Wraith.”

Lina swallowed hard. “We can’t afford that.”

Sergei stood off to the side and nodded along.

Sergei said, “Yeah, too risky.”

Lyra’s huge body swayed twice, the barbed branches drooping in midair.

8

She thought the worry was a bit much. Every item she’d used so far had done exactly what the description said-and on top of that, she still had a Decoy Doll.

Still, if Lydia wasn’t on board, then forget it.

Better to play it safe. She had a Decoy Doll. They didn’t.

Lyra thought it over, then slipped a branch tip into a hollow in her trunk. She hadn’t even looked at the two items from her own chest yet.

Worth pulling out for a look. Maybe one of them would pair up with Lydia’s book.

The branch tip curled back out around a token rimmed in dull gold, its surface pitted and scarred, a few blurry symbols carved into it.

Lyra held it up in the air.

[Damaged Token.]

[Useless junk.]

Lyra stared at the description floating across her vision. The dense canopy of branches went rigid.

Useless junk?

She’d charged in to fight over that chest. Watched people beat each other’s brains out. Pulled off an extreme transformation

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Chapter 45

right under an ice tree’s nose.

For this?

Just to round out three baits for the trap, the game had stuffed in something broken?

Was this trash game out of budget or what?

Her branch snapped through the air and the token went sailing back into the hollow of her trunk.

Fake. It had to be fake.

She moved another long, slender branch and curled out the black sphere. The orb was only fist-sized.

Its surface gave off a murky, dark sheen.

The status panel popped up again.

[Scrying Orb.]

[Lets you glimpse a Wraith’s deepest memory from before death.]

[One use per round.]

[How to use: stay within six feet of a Wraith. Activates automatically once drawn.]

[Note: when multiple Wraiths are present, one is selected at random.]

See its memories? So she could see the name in there too?

Lyra shook her body. The razor-edged leaves scraped against each other with an ear-splitting shriek.

Lina and Sergei flinched back half a step.

Lyra ignored them. One thick branch lowered slowly, the sharp wooden spikes pressing down into the damp earth.

She bore down and dragged it through the dirt.

Scriiitch.

The soil curled up, scored into half-finger-deep grooves.

The three of them held their breath, eyes locked on the ground.

Lyra’s writing came out a little crooked, but the letters were big enough.

“See Wraith memory.”

The words were pressed deep into the dirt.

“You can see Wraith memories?” Lina’s head snapped up to the black orb floating in Lyra’s branches. “Lyra, is that what you just got?”

Lyra’s branch dipped once in midair.

Lina grabbed Lydia and quickly translated the words on the ground and what Lyra had meant.

Lydia listened, then her head whipped around. She stared at the black orb cradled in Lyra’s branches, then dropped her gaze to the dark red book in her own hands.

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Chapter 45

Lydia blurted. “Names!

The names-they’re in there!”

WEEK

Sergei caught on too. He stepped forward and jabbed a finger at the writing in the dirt.

“Memory-true name-book-command!”

The three of them exchanged a look.

This could work.

All they needed was the monster’s true name, and the Book of True Names would do the rest.

Lyra moved over to a smooth patch of dirt beside the pit and kept writing.

“You hide. I’ll go test.”

The line done, the branch pulled back and patted the pile of leaves serving as cover.

The meaning was obvious.

Get back in the pit.

8

鎮

Lina stood up. She knew her level was no help out there; tagging along would only make things worse for the team. “Be careful, Lyra.” She turned and started pulling the branches and dirt cover back into place, ready to lead the way down into the pit.

Lydia didn’t move. After a moment’s hesitation, she strode up to Lyra and tipped her head back to look up at the ice tree towering over her, then cupped the Book of True Names in both hands and pushed it forward.

“Lyra.” Lydia held it higher. “Take.”

The dark red veins on the cover twisted in the dim light. Lydia’s logic was simple: both key items in Lyra’s hands made the combo seamless. The instant a memory revealed the name, the book could lock the Wraith down. The book was useless in her own hands.

The thickest branch above Lyra’s crown gave a single, sharp shake. Ridiculous.

“She didn’t even have a human body. She was a bristling stack of barbed wooden poles.

No mouth either-how was she supposed to open a book, speak a name, issue a binding command? And if a stray thorn punched right through the pages, whose fault was that?

A single branch flicked out and patted the book firmly back against Lydia’s chest.”

Not wasting another second, Lyra swung her massive trunk around and started to leave. The orb worked automatically within six feet, so any lone ice tree would do. This was just a field test of the two items.

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