Jack kept pacing. “And then the banquet was over, and I had to go to Declan’s office. He was really mad. I said, ‘I was defending my family! He was a bad guy.’ Declan said that he knew the guy was bad. I asked him why he invited him, and Declan said that he wanted to see who was friendly with this guy, so Declan could learn who his enemies are, and that I pretty much stabbed that plan through the heart. He said that he didn’t expect me to be perfect, but we can’t keep having these catastrophes every time I show my face in public. He said it’s causing problems between him and Rose, and he doesn’t want those kinds of problems, so we couldn’t keep going on like this, and something had to change. He also said that I needed more supervision and that I left him no choice. And then he told me I could go.”
Jack took a deep breath. “I know what this means. He doesn’t have to spell it out. He’s sending me to Hawk’s! For supervision!”
“Sit down!” William barked, his eyes glowing with green.
Jack landed on the floor and shut up.
“The animal thing inside you, the Wild. Has it ever taken over?”
Jack shook his head.
“You ever see red?”
Jack nodded.
William glanced at Cerise. “He needs to rend and soon, and we don’t have time. The first time is always the hardest.” He turned back to Jack. “Listen to me. We have a thing inside us, the Wild. The Wild sleeps in a den deep in you. When you get angry, or worried, or excited, the Wild wakes up, and if you let it, it will break out. When the Wild takes over, you forget that there are rules. If it ever happens, you will kill in a frenzy, and you won’t stop until you’re dead or exhausted. It will take you to a place without gods. This is called rending. We all do this from time to time. There is the right way to rend and the wrong way. Rending in the middle of dinner filled with civilians is the wrong way. Do you understand?”
Jack nodded. “Yes.”
“You must keep the Wild in check until you and I can find a way to release it safely.”
“How?” Jack asked.
“I told you, the Wild sleeps in its den. When you see red, it’s about to escape. That’s when you push it back into its den and make it stay there. If the red ever goes black, you’re gone. Don’t let it drag you under, Jack. You get me?”
Jack nodded again.
“Next, Declan won’t send you to Hawk’s. That’s not the kind of man he is. Even if he did, they probably wouldn’t take you. You’re too old. You wouldn’t survive—they would have to crush your spirit completely, which would make you a lousy soldier and useless to them.”
Yeah, yeah. They would take him if Declan asked, but now didn’t seem like the best time to mention that.
“But the Camarine Castle might not be the best place for you for the next few years, no matter how much Declan and Rose love you. Their house is the house of the Marshal. Cerise and I are leaving tomorrow morning. We have a mission for the Mirror. When we come back, I’ll speak to Declan about it.”
The full enormity of the statement crashed on Jack. William was leaving. There would be no help. “Where are you going?” Jack asked in a small voice.
“You know I can’t tell you where or how long we’ll be gone.” William leaned forward.
A weak hope flared in Jack’s mind. “Can you talk to Declan tonight?”
“No. It’s a long and complicated conversation.”
The hope died. A mission for the Mirror could take a week or a month or half a year. He needed help now.
“So what am I supposed to do?” Jack asked. His voice sounded defeated even to him.
“Keep your head down, and don’t do anything stupid,” William said. “Stay out of trouble until I come back.”
“Not going to happen,” Jack said. He couldn’t stay out of trouble because he had no idea where normal ended and trouble began. “I can’t do that. I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you can,” Cerise told him.
A faint noise tugged on Jack, the dull hum coming from above. William rose and walked out of the kitchen. Jack followed. Outside, the hum grew louder. Jack squinted at the sky. A small dot darkened the clear blue, growing in size.
Cerise stepped out behind them. “A wyvern.”
“Mhhhm. Air Force.” William growled under his breath, and he and Cerise strode across the inner yard to the gate. Jack trailed after them. They passed through the dark gateway and out into the light again.
The wyvern dropped lower, a huge, scaled creature with massive leathery wings that spread so wide, their shadow covered the entire clearing. Its two muscled legs were bent close to its scaled belly, pale purple, like the sky at dusk. The beast circled the house, tilting as it turned, and Jack caught a glimpse of green scales on its back and the tightly woven wicker shelter of the cabin. The air had a dry, bitter wyvern scent. It made Jack’s nostrils itch, and he sneezed.
The wyvern banked, flew over their heads, and landed in the wide field in front of the house, its wings spread, its two legs digging into the soft soil. It shifted in place, settling down, spread its wings, dipping them down to rest on the grass, and lowered its head to the ground. The door of the cabin swung open. A dark-haired man emerged and slid down the wyvern’s side to the ground, like it was a playground slide. The wyvern stirred, sending a gust of air their way, and Jack caught a familiar scent. “Kaldar.”
William growled under his breath, looking as if he had bitten something sour.
“Cousin!” Cerise waved. “Long time no see!”
Lean and light on his feet, Kaldar landed in the grass and strode to them with a big smile on his face. He wore jeans and a blue T-shirt that said WORLD’S BEST UNCLE on it in black letters written in the Broken’s English.
Kaldar was Cerise’s cousin. The last time they had met, Jack and Lark were still friends, and she told him to watch Kaldar at dinner. While people ate and mingled, Kaldar stole things from their pockets, then put them back.
“Hello, hello!” Kaldar grinned wider, showing white teeth. Cerise hugged him; he laughed and held his hand out to William. William unclenched his teeth and clapped Kaldar’s hand and made some sort of quiet snarl that could’ve been hello or could’ve been I’ll kill you, Jack wasn’t sure.
Kaldar pumped William’s hand and turned to him, palm out. “Jack!”
Jack took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
Kaldar’s eyebrows crept up. “Easy now. Don’t break my fingers.”
Jack hid a smile. Heh-heh.
“I’ve come to beg for help,” Kaldar said. “Professional, not personal.”
“What is it?” Cerise asked.
“I’m tracking the theft of an item for the Mirror. The trail led into the Edge, so I ran some evidence I had by a buddy of mine in Baton Rouge PD.”
“Did sirens and blue lights go off when you walked into the police station?” Cerise asked.
“Very funny.” Kaldar grimaced. “I had a fingerprint I lifted from a crime scene in Adrianglia. He ran it through the database. One of the thieves popped up. He is in California in a drug rehab facility.” Kaldar grimaced again. “To get to him, I have to fly to the Democracy of California on the Weird’s side. You know what it’s like. I need backup.”
William showed Kaldar his teeth. “Not happening. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Business?” Kaldar asked.
William nodded.
Kaldar sighed.
“You could request assistance from the field office,” Cerise said.
“And work with a stranger? Please.” Kaldar frowned. His eyes lit up. “Wait. Give me the boy.”
“He’s twelve!” Cerise reached over and gently popped Kaldar on the back of the head.
“Not Jack. Gaston.”
Jack bared his teeth. He liked Gaston about as well as William liked Kaldar. Gaston was William’s ward and Cerise’s nephew or cousin or something. He was bigger, stronger, older, and he wasn’t all human, either.
William shrugged. “He isn’t a full agent.�
�
“He’s been trained by the Mirror for three years, he’s nineteen, and he can lift a cow. I am not exaggerating. I’ve seen him do it. Let me take him.”
“I’ll think about it,” William said.
“Why is everything so difficult with you?” Kaldar raised his left eyebrow.
“I’m responsible for him,” William growled.
Kaldar’s face turned serious. It was like someone had jerked the funny mask off his face. “William, I was there when he was born. I changed his diapers. Do you honestly think I’d let any harm come to him?”
“Let me think . . .” William leaned forward. “Yes!”
“That’s ridiculous. I just need an extra pair of eyes and ears. Consider it his final exam, Professor. I can look after him much better than you.”
William took a step toward Kaldar. His eyes got a predatory glint.
“All right!” Cerise declared. “Why don’t we go to the house and have some delicious rabbit before I pull out my sword and have to separate you two.”
She put her hands on the arms of both men and pushed them toward the house. “Come on, Jack.”
There was nothing to do but follow.
JACK trotted down the path toward the woods, away from William’s house. His belly was full of hare. It should’ve made him happy, but it didn’t.
The wind brought a familiar scent of lemon. Jack stopped at a large oak and leaned against it, his back to the bark. Above him, branches rustled. A moment later, George climbed down, holding a small spyglass in his hand. He wore a white shirt, a pale brown vest, brown pants, and dark brown boots. A short rapier hung from his waist. His hair was pale blond and cut longish. His eyes were big and blue, and he looked like a girl.
“How did you know where I was?” George asked.
“You put lemon juice in your hair again.”
“The juice makes it lighter.” George leaned against the maple to Jack’s left. “How did it go?”
“William and Cerise are leaving tomorrow,” Jack said. “Mirror mission, and he doesn’t know when he’s coming back. William said he’ll talk to Declan when he comes back. He says to stay out of trouble until he comes back.”
“Not going to happen,” George said.
“Yeah.”
“So what are we going to do?” George asked.
“I can’t stay at the house. I’ll do something or say something, and they’ll ship me off. With William away, nobody will tell them no.”
“Rose wouldn’t do that,” George said.
Jack glanced at him. “She’s mad, George. Really mad. I’m going to get my bag tonight and go into the woods. I’ll wait it out until William comes back.”
“Jack, you have to think ahead.” George shook his head. “What happens if you disappear?”
Jack shrugged. He would be in the woods, that’s what would happen.
“Declan and Rose will think that you ran away. They’ll search for you. They won’t find you, because you’re good at hiding, so more people will get involved. Rumors will spread: Lord Camarine, the Marshal of the Southern Provinces, has lost his changeling brother-in-law. Obviously, he can’t control him, because the beast took off into the wild. Lock your children, or he’ll break into your house and devour them at night. Maybe we should hunt him down with torches.” George shook his head again. “They will send you to Hawk’s after that for sure. No, we need an actual plan.”
“Well, I don’t have one,” Jack growled.
George peered through the trees. “You said William and Cerise are leaving tomorrow. Who does the wyvern belong to? I got stuck at fencing, and when I made it here, the wyvern had landed already.”
“Kaldar. He has a mission in the Democracy of California. He came to ask them for help, but they’re leaving on their own thing tomorrow, so he’s taking Gaston with him instead.”
George thought about it. “When?”
“Tomorrow evening. He has to give the wyvern time to rest before the long trip.” What did that have anything to do with it?
“That’s a large cabin,” George said.
“So?”
“If they’re flying to California, they’ll pack it full of supplies, right?”
Jack looked at the wyvern. It was a large cabin. Large enough to hide in, especially if it was packed with crates and bags.
“Let me talk to Gaston. We can’t pull it off without him. If it goes well, we pack tonight,” George said. “We’ll tell Declan and Rose we have an overnight camp for school. By the time they realize we’re gone, we’ll be in California.”
“Gaston won’t help,” Jack said.
“Let me worry about that.”
Jack stared at his brother. “If we go, it will be the same thing as if I ran away. The search and the torches.”
“We’ll tell Lark where we’re going, and she will tell Declan and Rose when the time comes. They won’t be happy, but Kaldar is on a Mirror mission, and Declan and Rose won’t jeopardize it. Besides, it’s clear across the continent. Did you see the pile of stuff on Declan’s desk? It’s not like he can just take off and leave the Southern Provinces to be overrun by criminals. Lark will tell them that Kaldar will take care of us.” George smiled. “There will be hell to pay when we get home, but they can’t send you off while you are in California. This will work.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“We’ll think of something else. Now we have to go home and quietly pack. Tomorrow, we have to go to school, like normal, and be very well behaved.”
They started down the forest path.
George’s leather boots creaked as he walked. He needed to oil them or something, Jack reflected.
If George came with him, they would both be in trouble.
“You don’t have to do this,” Jack said. “I can do this by myself.”
“You remember when you beat up Thad Mosser?”
Thad was a mean Edger kid. He had it in for George, but it was years ago, back when they lived in the Edge. Besides, it only took one fight and some stitches to get it settled. “Yeah.”
“We leave tomorrow evening,” George said.
They didn’t talk any more until they got home.
THE cabin was cramped. Jack stirred in his small space, squished between the wall of the cabin and the wall of wicker trunks Gaston had stuffed into the cabin. Across from him, George leaned against the cabin wall. His eyes were closed.
They had been flying for most of the night. At first, Kaldar and Gaston talked. Something about some thieves from the Edge stealing a magic thing from West Egypt and trying to sell it to the Hand. Things didn’t go well because they broke a fountain, and one of the Hand’s people had been blown to bits. Kaldar had found something called a crack pipe, whatever the hell that might be, and taken it to the cops in the Broken. They found a fingerprint on the pipe, and it belonged to someone named Alex Callahan, who was checked into a “rehab” in the Broken’s California.
“How much did that nugget of information cost you?” Gaston had asked.
“A few trinkets from the Weird,” Kaldar had told him. “Turns out our boy has a rap sheet a mile long. The State of Louisiana got him for possession and burglary. He also earned a couple of warrants in Florida: theft and possession with intent to distribute. And his rickety 1990 Nissan Sentra was involved in a high-speed chase and somehow gave the cop cars the slip.”
“That tells me nothing,” Gaston had said.
“He outran a racehorse on a donkey.”
“You think he went into the Edge?”
“He had to,” Kaldar had said. “The high-speed chase netted him another heap of charges. Then he popped up in Alabama and Tennessee, theft and possession again, and right now his fingerprints show him checked into the Rose Cliff in northern California. The Rose Cliff is where you put your addict relatives when you have money.”
“This guy seems mostly small-time,” Gaston said.
“ ‘Seems’ is the key word here. We only know about the things
he got caught on, and on each one, he was so addled, it’s a wonder he could find the ground with both feet. You and I were both Edgers once. You know how they operate.”
“Family,” Gaston agreed. “Somewhere in the Edge, someone knows him.”
“Exactly. And that someone suddenly got a lot of money and checked Alex into rehab. Most Edgers don’t have forty grand lying on the shelf somewhere.”
Gaston whistled. “That’s serious money.”
“One has to wonder how Alex’s family came by it. If I had time, I would knock on some doors in the Edge around Macon where he first blazed a trail, but we don’t have that luxury. We know where he is, so we go to him and we ask him how his crack pipe ended up in the town square in the Weird next to the bits and pieces of the Hand’s agent.”
None of it made a lot of sense, and now everyone was quiet.
Jack fidgeted. It would’ve been much cooler to sit up front, where he could see the sky and the clouds and the ground far below. The heat rising from the wyvern’s back and the blankets Gaston had given them kept the cabin warm, but it wasn’t exactly toasty. He fidgeted again. Bored. Bored, bored, bored. He’d slept, he’d read through the book he’d packed in his bag—it was all about the Weird’s nobles on the Old Continent fighting against the ancient raiders. The book was okay, and the hero got to cut the bad guy’s head off at the end, which was fine.
They had stopped a few times, and Gaston snuck them out to relieve themselves, but that was hours ago.
Jack stretched his legs, bumping his brother. George opened his eyes, and mouthed, “Stop it.”
“You stop it,” Jack mouthed back.
George raised his arm and pretended to scratch his armpit. “Ape.”
Jack kicked him. George kicked back, and his heel landed on Jack’s thigh. So that’s how it is? Fine. Jack lunged across the space and grabbed George by his arm. George elbowed him in the gut. Jack rammed his fist into his brother’s side.
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