Ash

“Well,” she put a spoon into a steaming cup and stirred, making the spoon clink on the edge of the cup, “to be fair, Miko sent him. But I asked him too since I knew you were going to need help out of that avalanche.”

I found my legs finally giving out and I dropped slowly to the floor. Too much, this was too much in a short period of time even for me. “But how did you know?”

Miko grinned at me. Built like the other Yeti, the only difference was his fur was tinged gray, shot through with flecks of silver, and his eyes were brilliantly yellow and glowed like fireflies in the dim light. They were not gold like mine, but a true yellow like the center of a daisy. “Yeah, yeah, sit down, kid. We’ve got lots to discuss.”

Kid, I hadn’t been called that in almost a hundred and fifty years. But I sat on the floor, letting the heat of the warm room wash through me and take away the last of the cold and fear for the moment.

“Niah, Cassava is alive, and she’s got Peta.”

“Yes, I know. I told her you would be here looking for her.”

My jaw dropped and all I could do was stare at her. “Why, why would you do that? And how the hell did you know I would be here? I told no one!”

I couldn’t remain seated. I shot to my feet and glared at the old woman. Lark had thought of her as a friend. What had happened?

The air around Niah shimmered. For just a moment her eyes were not her own, and I thought I saw someone behind them. A man I did not know. Dark hair was the only strong image I got. But in an instant it was gone and I saw Niah as she was again.

She leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her tea. “Lark needs to break out of the banishment she’s been handed. You will go to her and tell her that Cassava has Peta. That will push her.”

Miko nodded. “I agree. Cassava is a real trouble-making bitch. I’d like to see her handed a cream pie in the face.”

Niah smiled over her cup of tea. “Do you see, Ash? Lark won’t fight for herself. That is a problem. But we can use it to help her out of her banishment.”

The words made sense. I could see what Niah was trying to do. But it felt wrong. It felt . . . like something Cassava would do. I shook my head. Lark was safe for the moment, and I wanted to keep it that way. I wanted her banishment to be lifted, I wanted her father to see she was the one who would help us stop the madness our world kept facing.

If Niah—and subsequently I—manipulated Lark by letting Peta be taken, Lark would never forgive me. Rightfully so. Peta was my friend as much as she was Lark’s familiar.

“No, I will go after Cassava.”

Niah’s lips pursed. “Ash, don’t be a fool. You aren’t strong enough. You’ll end up getting killed and we can’t have that.” I could almost hear an unspoken addition of . . . not yet. But no, Niah wouldn’t want me dead. Would she?

I snorted. “That line might work on someone else, but not me. I am an Ender. I have trained my whole life to take down elementals who have gone mad. I can take Cassava. She is weak without the pink diamond allowing her to control Spirit.”

Niah’s eyes hardened and again the air around her shimmered. “She is not the only one who can control Spirit, Ash. You’d best remember that you have no protection against that.”

The words echoed in the air between the three of us. I slowly backed away. “Unless you can help me, I will take my leave.”

Miko tsked softly. “He’s protecting the one he loves, Niah. I’m going to help him. I love a good love story, almost as much as a prank.”

She slammed her cup on the table. “And if it means the world is lost? Love is not enough; we have to be smart, smarter than those we face!” Her words were edged like a sword, hard and not like her at all.

The Yeti shrugged. “Perhaps you are wrong. He wants to save a friend and protect the girl he loves. Nothing wrong with that, as far as I can see, and I am a mage, you know.” His bright yellow eyes swung my way. “Look for the disturbance in the weather in the earth. Cassava is not stable, and so where she sets her roots, the elements will tremble and buck against her presence.”

That information was more than I could have hoped for. I nodded. “Thank you.”

Niah’s lips were pursed tightly. “You are screwing this all up, Ash.”

I glared at her. “Then I’ll screw it all up and be glad I at least did was I knew was right.”

Miko nodded in agreement. “Good man. One other thing. Take Norm with you.”

I grimaced. “I can’t, this isn’t a game. It’s not some prank.”

Miko pointed a thick finger at me. “You can and you will. I see great things for him still, but not if he stays here. You take him. Help him find his place again in this world.”

What was I supposed to say to that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Damn it. I backed out and headed toward the door, fuming. I couldn’t take the big dumb Yeti with me. He wasn’t exactly inconspicuous and it wasn’t like he had even a clue of what was going on the world. And what in the seven hells was wrong with Niah?

She was not acting like herself, not one bit, and I didn’t like it. Could she have been influenced by Spirit somehow? And she’d never answered my questions about how she knew where I was going. We’d just kind of skipped over that.

I opened the now-unlocked door and stepped back onto the edge of the pathway. Billy was the only Yeti waiting for me. His eyes flicked over me as if looking for an injury or something. “You leaving already?”