We're walking for maybe five minutes when I
hear a noise. I stop and put my hand up in the air. The others go
instantly silent. There's a crunch close by to the right. That had
better be some sort of animal. Another crunch follows and another,
sounding all too much like the footsteps of a person. Drat.
I glance toward where the sound is coming
from. There's a flash of black. A law officer. Just what we don't
need. With a little luck, he'll walk right by us without noticing
our presence. I hold my breath as he continues by. And he keeps
going. We've made it.
Suddenly, the man looks back, staring
straight into my eyes. I don't think, just react, slamming a
punching spell into him, the bright black and green smashing into
him twice more. He falls back.
“
Run.”
The others take off after me, Jack bringing
up the rear. There's no time to think whether or not this is going
to work against us. There's more crashing through the brush coming
our way. The disturbance must have attracted more attention.
A burgundy spell comes flying at us. Before
I can react, Jack stops it with a canary yellow spell of his own.
The spells clash in a burst of color while we put on more speed to
get away from them. I'm not sure if Annabelle can keep up with us,
but she surprises me by running faster than me, pulling to the
front of the group.
“
Is there any way to tell if there's
someone ahead of us?” she calls out.
“
Yes.” I send a spell out, a soft
yellow, searching for any hints of the heat of people ahead of us.
Nothing. “I think the way is clear. Keep going.”
We run, my legs burning with the effort.
Four more spells zip at us from behind, but each one is fainter
than the last. We're going to make it.
Out of nowhere, a midnight-blue spell
crashes into me, knocking me to the ground and sending chills
through me. Tawny stands over me like an avenging warrior, a purple
spell streaked with pink screaming from her.
There's a cry followed by silences.
Annabelle checks me over for injuries. I
tell her I'm fine, and she helps me stand.
“
There's no time to linger,” Jack
says.
Even though he's right, I glare at him. We
hurry to get moving again, running for a good half-an-hour before
Annabelle declares she can't keep going any longer. We slow to a
walk but keep moving.
Lost them. Possibly. Hopefully. I motion for
everyone to keep quiet as we continue. Our trail is all too easy to
follow with a tracking spell, despite everyone stepping cautiously.
Even a simple warlock could cast a spell to find the trail of
footprints we're leaving.
I try to cast a spell to hide our path. The
tan light covers some of our footprints, but not all the way. I've
never had a talent for it like Chadwick does. His hiding spells are
like works of art, mine a clumsy smudge of mess. This isn't the
best way for me to help. It isn't even really helping.
What am I going to do with Annabelle and the
others? How am I to keep them all safe? Not only am I struggling to
hide our tracks, there's nowhere to take them that is safe except
Envado. I suppose I could try and take them there and return, but I
doubt they'll be happy about leaving instead of fighting.
Especially since I told them all that Zade and Daniel were
captured. Jack should be the only one who won't care about their
release. Well, maybe Councilman Daniel's since he is keeping him
out of debt.
But will Zade and Daniel still be themselves
after all that time? What exactly did the Grand Chancellor mean
when he said…this isn't something I want to think on. I can't think
on it. Not now.
Jack huffs, pulling me from my morbid
thoughts.
“
What?” I whisper yell at
him.
“
Your spell casting skills are
dismal.”
Only because it's not a pampering spell.
“Like you could do any better.”
The corners of his mouth tighten. He casts
the spell, the muddy light wiping away all of evidence of us being
there, fixing broken branches, filling in dirt, and fluffing the
bits of vegetation.
He glares me down.
“
It's a good spell,” I
admit.
He cocks an eyebrow at me, and suddenly, I'm
aware of how golden his eyes are. It’s a nice distraction from all
the stress, but not at all helpful. I've got to figure out what our
next step is.
I hurry on, letting him take care of our
tracks while I try to focus on where to go and forget those
piercing eyes. I've got to get a note to Cynthia. She's not as
urgent as Serena, but she still needs to know as soon as possible.
I wish there was a way to know how Serena is doing, but all I can
do is hope she's safe. If I try to find out, I could give her
location away or distract her when she needs to focus.
But Cynthia, that I can take care of now. I
zap a spell note that's mostly clear with bits of yellow scattered
through it. Thinking of the hideout she should be at now, I push it
her way. I hope she knows what to do. Me, I haven't a clue. But
there is a safe house not far from here by some of my fellow
Envadi's Sanos, the group that's been helping Chardonians.
“
What did you do?” Jack's voices snaps
at me like a spell gone wrong.
“
What are you so upset
about?”
“
What spell did you just cast? Are you
trying to bring those warlocks down on us? Anyone looking this way
could have seen it. You are trying to get us killed.”
“
Course I'm not, you brute. I'm trying
to save more lives than just yours.”
His face changes at my words. Softens just
the tiniest fraction. Maybe, just maybe, I've found a weakness. But
probably not.
“
You might want to warn those you need
to as well,” I say.
The defensive look is immediately back. “And
get us killed in the process? I don't think so. Besides, the only
person I know doesn't need to be warned about anything. And you
shouldn't send any more spells either.”
I scoff and want to throw a good
retort, except he's right. I was going to warn Katherine
so
she would know and tell other
tarnished what's taking place, but she's not in immediate danger.
At least so much so that it's worth risking the lives of those I'm
with. Once we're sure that we're not being watched, I can send them
out. I have to put the lives of those I'm with first. Even if it
feels totally wrong not to warn the whole of Chardonia and
Envado.
To tell Mom and Dad what's happened.
My throat chokes up. Time to get back to the
spell I sent out. I mumble, “It was only one spell and barely
visible at that.”
He seems to think I'm not going to cast
anymore because he doesn't say another word. For now. We follow
Annabelle until we reach a tree with three trunks.
“
This is where Daniel told me to go if
there was ever a problem and he wasn't here to help.”
The area is a bit of a nook. There's a giant
rock and some thick trees helping to hide us from prying eyes, but
we're too close to the patrol group for me to feel any comfort.
We're not safe here at all.
“
Was there some place you were to go
after this?” Jack asks. Surprisingly, he must be thinking along the
same lines.
“
Nowhere. He said he would come and
get me.”
“
So we wait?” Tawny asks.
Jack looks at me, and I know we're thinking
the same thing, though why he's suddenly sharing the moment with
me, I don't know. It's too much like an Envadi male thing and not
at all like a Chardonian. I adjust my pack, wondering if I should
bring up the fact that he's not going to be coming for her, even
though she should know it.
“
I think that…” The words choke my
throat closed. It's not just Daniel that isn't coming for
her.
“
I know.” Annabelle is looking back
toward her home, though it's been a long time since we were able to
see it.
I force the words past the emotion clogging
my throat. “We need to keep moving.”
“
Where to?” Tawny asks, like I'm
supposed to know everything about Chardonia after being here just
over a year.
“
There's a place we can go and be sort
of safe. Other Chardonian's may be there to help or we should be
able to contact them, but it's a few days’ journey from here on
foot.” That is, if we continue to make it without being
caught.
Jack shakes his head like I'm useless at
this, which I am, but still. “Follow me.”
“
I don't think so,” I
reply.
Annabelle finally turns her gaze away from
the direction of her house and onto me, giving me a strange look.
“He knows his way around this area very well. He's explored it
since he came to work for us several years ago. It would be wise to
follow him.”
I grit my teeth and keep my eyes focused on
the group though the ground seems much more appealing at the
moment. It is strange to think about Jack coming to work when he
was so young. He's probably only a year older than me. “Well then,
Jack, lead the way. The place I need to take us is north of here.
Do you have somewhere in mind that way?”
“
Just try to keep up.”
Like he can't even give a real response. Why
bother when we're just women? If he starts taking us farther away,
I swear I'm putting this thing to a stop and making my own way with
Tawny and Annabelle, dragging them along whether they'd like to or
not. I pull my magic from my core, out to the tips of my fingers,
ready to zap him with whatever I need to should he turn on us.
T
he whole
process is much smoother than I expect
.
Even if he is a Chardonian warlock, Jack
doesn't seem intent on turning us in to the Grand Chancellor. For
now. The whole way he's been quiet and watchful, even helping
Annabelle and Tawny over fallen trees when they needed a hand.
Fine, he probably would have helped me too, but I'm too busy
keeping an eye on him to let him get so close to me.
Still, he's done a much better job at not
just leading but is nicer than I expected. Who knows what the world
is coming to? We continue our walk until suddenly Jack freezes and
motions for us to stay back.
“
What is it?” I whisper. But then he
doesn't have to reply because I see it. A brown, baby bear cub, not
four feet from where we're standing. What's she doing out all on
her own?
“
Back up quietly,” Jack
says.
We begin to do so, taking steps slowly and
carefully. Still, I can't take my eyes off the baby bear. There's a
growl from the woods, close. Now we're in for it.
“
Keep going,” he insists when I
stop.
As much as I don't want to meet momma bear,
I don't know if running from her is the best option either.
Jack presses his back into me, pushing me
toward the other. I want to swat him to make him stop, but momma
bear appears, snarling directly at us.
Panic strikes me, but there is no time to
let it. I have to think and act fast. The bear comes running for
us. Make that thinking faster.
Just before she gets to us, I manage a
spell that creates a wall between us and her. She slams against it,
growli
ng
.
“
Hurry,” I demand. “I don't know how
long I can hold this up.”
We run. The bear is livid, smashing against
the spelled wall. What's worse than just the bear is all the noise
she's making. It could easily give away our position to the
warlocks chasing us. My hope is that they can't hear her, and if
they can that they don't want to investigate why an animal is so
upset.
The bear crashes through my spell. “She's
coming!”
“
Keep going,” Jack yells. “I'll hold
her off.”
Like I'm going to let him protect us all.
What if he fails? Maybe I should let him fail and then help, but I
just can't bring myself to do it. I turn and stop with him.
“
Go!” he yells.
Ignoring him, I cast a spell that's all
light hovering around Jack and I, making us look bigger with bright
yellow and orange lights. Jack adds to my idea casting a
green-lighted spell to my own.
The bear slows.
“
That's right you bear,” I yell. “Get
away from us. Go back to your baby. Shoo now. Go on,
shoo!”
“
Don't look her in the eye,” he
hollers over my shouts.
I immediately drop my gaze while keeping up
my hollering and spell. She saunters forward still, but I don't
move. I stand my ground, hollering gibberish. Beside me, Jack is
speaking to the bear in a calm tone. At least I'm not the only one
crazy enough to speak to the bear.
Finally, the bear moves slower and slower
until she turns around and heads back toward her cub. I immediately
stop shouting. What have I done? I hope I haven't called the
warlocks to us with all my noise, but it seems effective. The bear
is no longer in sight. I drop my spell, but I don't drop my gaze
from where the bear left.
“
Let's go,” Jack says, heading
directly left of where the bear went. “Waverly, take the rear.
We've got to move fast to not only get away from the bear, but away
from here in case the law officers heard.”
I want to fight him, but I don't dare. Not
with what just happened. Someone needs to protect Annabelle and
Tawny's backs. I just wish there was someone to protect mine.
“
I hope I never see another bear
again,” Annabelle says.