Windburn

“He was an assassin of Fiametta’s predecessor.”

“How successful was he?” I didn’t recall ever hearing about an assassination attempt that had actually succeeded.

She snorted. “He was banished and Fiametta became the queen. What does that tell you?”

Cactus spoke with a trio of girls who even at a distance I could see he’d charmed. They giggled and flipped their hair this way and that as they batted their eyes up at him. My mind, though, was still on the conversation with Peta, about her charge who had been banished.

“Did you know what he was going to do?”

Peta let out a hiss. “I did not.”

“Don’t get your tail in a knot. I ask only because I know you. If you’d known, you would have tried to stop him. Right?”

“Of course.”

But there was a hesitation in her; she wasn’t sure. Her loyalty ran deep to her charges even when they were idiots. “I will do my best not to put you in that kind of position.”

Another snort, but she said nothing more. Cactus jogged back to us. “You won’t believe it, this add-dress is right here. This is a school, which means Giselle is somewhere in this madness.” He waved a hand behind him. “The three girls didn’t know her, though. I did ask.”

Peta’s head swiveled back and forth. “Look for her aura. It will glow like fireflies.”

I scanned the crowd. “There has been nothing that looks even remotely supernatural.”

“It’s not like she’s going to have wings and be speaking in tongues, Lark,” Peta said.

We stood there scanning the crowd for many minutes. Two older humans in suits approached. The one in the lead had mostly gray hair and a bit of a gut. “Can I help you two?”

“We’re looking for someone, a friend of ours,” Cactus said, his smooth talking coming into play. Perhaps he was the best companion for this journey. Ash would have glared at them and expected them to go away.

The two human adults raised their eyebrows. “A friend? Do you have a name? This is private property.”

Something in their tone, the way they held themselves, made me reach out and touch Cactus on the arm. “We’ll catch up with her later. Let’s go.”

I knew a territorial stance when I saw one. Either of us could have forced the men to their knees and made them beg for mercy, but that was not our way when dealing with humans.

Cactus gave me a questioning look and I tipped my head. We walked away, but the feeling of being watched lay heavy across my shoulders. “Peta, can they see you?”

“Yes.”

“But they can’t hear you.”

“That is correct. Unless I want them to. And I most certainly do not.”

We walked away from the school. The crowds thinned, along with the feeling of eyes on us. I glanced back. The two men were gone. I slowed beside a fence that surrounded a large green space behind the building. An open field of perfectly manicured grass but no fruit trees. No garden or flowers. How very strange to have grass, but nothing grazing on it. What was the point?

A figure darted out of the building, her body ablaze as if she were lit from within. “There.” I pointed as she ran into the center of the wide field. I grabbed the edge of the metal fence and vaulted it, Cactus right behind me, while Peta leapt ahead of us, racing toward the girl.

But we weren’t the only ones closing in on her.

A swirl of a black cloak ran after her from the building. Blackbird would reach her before us if I didn’t do something. Niah was right: we were not the only ones looking to chat with Giselle.

I flipped my hand at him, bucking the earth under his feet, but he used the momentum to leap forward.

“Damn!” I tapped into the earth and redoubled my speed. I had to get to her first.

Whatever Blackbird wanted with her, it couldn’t be good.

Whether he was there to take Giselle for his own uses or only to slow me in my search for my father, it didn’t matter. Either way, I had to stop him. A fireball shot past me and slammed into Blackbird, sending him backward in a tumble ass over teakettle. The girl cried out and fell to her knees. Peta reached her first and curled her body around her.

The Reader was barely into her teens, if her size was any indication. A child. Niah had sent us to a child.

I went to my knees in front of the Reader, facing Blackbird. “Stay down, Giselle.”

“Who are you?”

“Friends.”

“Friends don’t shoot fire at each other,” she said.

I didn’t dare look back at her. “True, but he is not our friend.”

Blackbird strode toward us as though he hadn’t been slammed with a fireball. Then again, he carried all five elements . . . it was hard to imagine what would hurt him. Maybe nothing but cold hard steel.

“Larkspur, you are really beginning to be a pain in my ass.” Blackbird came to a stop twenty feet from us.

“Consider the feeling mutual.” I stood and pulled my spear from my side, twisting the two halves together. I pointed it at him. “Time to leave, boy.”

His whole body jerked as if I’d hit him. A sore point, then? He had to be young; being called a boy would only bother a young man trying to prove himself.

With a grin I whipped the spear forward. “Tell me something: what do you want with Giselle?”

“I do believe that is none of your business.”

Needing him to make a mistake, I poked at him. “I’m making it my business, brat.”