Windburn

“Peta!” I couldn’t believe what she’d done.

She spat the dog out at my feet. “Pick it up, Lark.”

With a grimace I did as she asked, and realized it wasn’t a dead dog. Though it looked like it. The fur was silky soft, and the eyes were made of a black material that was not natural.

“The humans use them as fill-ins for real companions,” Peta said.

I touched her on the head, gently. “Thank you.”

We hurried back into the house. Cactus was having his palm read.

“ . . . broken over and over. That is all I can see,” Giselle said, putting his hand down.

I held the soft, stuffed dog out to Giselle. “For the dark nights. It isn’t the same as staying, but it—”

Her eyes lit up, and a smile curved her lips. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

Peta shifted and leapt to my shoulder. “Of course it is, I picked it out.”

Giselle smiled even wider but it slipped as she looked to me.

I touched her cheek. “I’m sorry, we have to go now.”

Her eyes welled up and a tear trickled down as she clutched the stuffed dog. “This path you are on won’t end well. You should stay here with me.”

I took a step back. “I’m sorry, you know we can’t.” Not wanting to drag the goodbye out longer than we already had, I gave Cactus a quick look.

He slid a hand through my belt loop and I reached up and twisted the armband counter clockwise. We had to go back to the Traveling room in the Rim before we could Travel to London.

The memory that washed over me as we Traveled was not Cactus’s this time, but Peta’s.

Her body was tiny, she knew, but already she’d been chosen for an elemental. Her first charge! How exciting. Wouldn’t her mother be proud . . . no, her mother was a simple snow leopard. Yet she, Nepeta, had been chosen to become more. To become a familiar who could talk and teach and help an elemental.

How wonderful! Her purrs grew with each step the mother goddess took toward wherever they were going. It didn’t matter, she knew it would be good. That she would belong. She trotted beside the adult snow leopard who resembled her own mother, the deep snow making it difficult.

“Nepeta, your life is going to be different from other familiars,” the mother goddess said. Her voice was kind even though the words were a little concerning.

“But I will have my charge, and he will love me.”

“He will love you, that is true. But he will be the only one to truly love you for a long time.”

Nepeta frowned, her lips turning downward. How could that be? Would she not only have one charge? Rare was the case where a familiar outlived their charge, or was handed to another elemental.

“Whatever you wish for me, Mother, I will do,” she said as they trotted through the belly-deep snow.

“I know. That is why I must ask this of you.” There was a thread of sadness in her words but there was no time for more questions. They stopped at the bottom of the mountain where a young man waited for them. His hair was a deep brown, but his eyes were blue, so blue they made her think of the sky high in the mountains after a storm. So blue they pierced. Yet on closer inspection the blue was rimmed with a pale gold edge.

The mother goddess nudged her forward. “Go to him, he is the first of your charges, and only one other will know your heart better.”

She trotted forward, eager to meet him. He crouched down and held his arms out to her.

“Peta. My very own snow kitten.”

With a leap of both body and heart, she jumped at him. They tussled in the light dusting of snow until they both were short of breath. He grinned at her as they sat side by side, and the sun dipped down behind the mountains.

Contentment rolled through her. Here was safety, here was her heart and the place she’d longed for since the moment she’d been brought into the world. Not that long perhaps, but her whole life still.

“Talan, what will we do first?” she asked as the night fell around them.

He leaned back in the snow and stared up at the sky. “There is so much to do, Peta. So much. In the morning we will talk about it.”

I opened my eyes and stared at the interior of the Traveling room. I wanted to think about what I’d seen but I didn’t have the luxury. Unless Vetch was a fool, there would be a guard—or guards—on the door.

Cactus’s hand still gripped my belt. I put a finger to my lips. The interior of the globe glowed softly so there was no need of light. I lifted a hand and positioned the globe over London. Peta sat on top of my right foot, a light shiver running through her body.

Almost there. I lifted my finger to touch the spot over London.

“Why is that door shut?” Vetch boomed from the hall.

Cactus jumped, which yanked me off balance and away from the map. We thumped to the floor in a tangle of limbs far too loud to be missed even through the thick doors.

We were so screwed.

CHAPTER 8

“Get that door open now!” Vetch yelled.

I lurched, dragging Cactus with me. Peta dug her claws into my leather boots and I fought to get to my feet. The door swung open and three guards stared at us, shock on their faces. One was my ex-lover Coal.

He gave me a strange look, his eyes a mixture of longing and frustration. He shook his head. “Take her. She can’t make the jump if more than one person is touching her.”

I couldn’t stop the scream that ripped out of me as the first guard put his hands on my shoulders. “I don’t want to hurt you.”