Welcome back to the second day of our book club read-along for OwlCrate's September book, Lakesedge!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 5 - 8 of Lakesedge, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box!
The story continues...
They arrive at Lakesedge Estate the following evening and meet Clover, Lakesedge’s resident alchemist. She gives them tea with a tincture to prevent them from dreaming and before retiring to bed Rowan (aka Lord Sylvanan aka monster) warns them not to touch anything, not to wander around, and to avoid the lake.
Upstairs Arien and Leta find their designated rooms but Leta swears she can hear something almost like water in the walls. Arien tells her to go to bed so she curls up on her thin mattress and the tea that Clover gave her pulls her into sleep. She awakes with a start when she starts to hear someone crying for Elan. She rushes to her brother’s room only to find him gone and she is soon completely engulfed in shadow and finds herself drowning in the lake.
Leta wakes in Arien’s room the next evening after having been asleep for nearly a day. It was all just a nightmare. The house is silent and when she looks outside she sees Clover, Rowan and Arien down by the lake. In a panic, Leta runs down to the black water but Rowan pulls her away. Clover and Arien are trying to fix the corruption in the lake using his powers and her alchemy, but something goes wrong and Leta fights to get her brother away. Rowan steps in, using a knife to cut open his wrist and plunging it into the mud. He tells them to get away as the Corruption takes hold. After running back up to to the house Leta says that they need to leave, but Arien insists they have to stay. He wants to learn to use his magic even if it’s dangerous, and he likes being somewhere where people aren’t afraid of him.
Florence helps Rowan back up to the house and Clover comes over to talk to them. She explains that she studied the blight and has made a spell that can mend it and that using her magic, which is light, and Arien’s magic, which is dark, she thinks they can pull it off. Back inside they all (save Rowan) gather in the kitchen to get cleaned up and eat. Clover and Florence explain that Rowan isn’t a cruel person and wouldn’t ask anyone to do something he doesn’t also do. Arien insists he wants to stay and learn to be an alchemist. Clover asks Leta if she can mend Leta’s knees and she agrees, flinging the remaining bits of glass that came out of her skin into the fire. Florence tells her she is glad they are staying.
Questions:
- What do you think the voice Leta hears in her dreams is? Or who?
- How do you think Rowan’s magic differs from Arien’s? What do you think it is about Rowan’s blood that is useful to Clover’s rituals?
- What do you think happened to the lake to make it Corrupted?
- If Clover’s tea is supposed to give them dreamless sleep, why do you think Leta is still dreaming?
Pick up your signed exclusive copy of Lakesedge in the OwlCrate Shop!
