In the Mouth of the Wolf

by Nicole Maggi

  The Harpy screeched with shock; I would’ve laughed if the sound hadn’t practically tore my eardrums in half. Her Foulness was blasted up about twenty feet. Where she landed, I had no idea, but she was nowhere in sight when the light cleared. The barrier glowed fierce and sure, fortified by a second layer on the outside. Up at the top of the Waterfall, I saw the Bobcat try to break in and receive a jolt that sent it upstream.

  Behind the Bobcat, the Rabbit stood tall on a stone jutting out of the stream. Shadows billowed around him just as they did around me. I raised my arms again and realized my shadow-cloak was gone; the water must’ve washed it away. Panic sliced through me: who had seen?

  I couldn’t think about that now. I conjured up the shadows and pulled them around me just as a silver streak of light shot at me. I ducked just in time. Behind me a tree exploded.

  At the top of the Waterfall, the Rabbit was laughing. “Silly child.” His voice sounded as though it were right against my ear. “You think you’re any match for me?”

  Well, yes, actually I did. I called on the power of the Redwoods again, its golden light molding around my body like a shield. The next bolt of silver light that came at me just bounced off my chest. I brought my hand up, sharp and quick, and the Rabbit’s legs shot out from under him.

  He landed hard on a rock in the middle of the stream. “Bitch!”

  Oh, please. I’d been called worse than that. Even though I was shivering from my dunk in the water, exhilaration roared through my veins, power tingled my skin. The Rabbit was on his feet again, and now he had his own shield of Redwood magic around him too.

  In the wink of an eye, I displaced myself to the top of the Waterfall, right behind him. “Hello,” I said in his ear.

  He spun around. Though we were both cloaked in shadow and light, I could see his eyes—dark, dark brown with gold flecks. Somewhere in the back of my head, Nerina’s voice was yelling at me to get away from him, but I ignored her. This dude was going down, and I wanted a front-row seat.

  We raised our hands at the same time, bloodred mist spilling out of our fingers. Whoever he was, he thought on the same wavelength as I did. But I was using the magic for good, and he for evil. That was the difference between us.

  He flicked his fingers at me. Red mist droplets seared holes in my golden shield. Without losing focus, I slashed my hand in the air, slicing a red line across him. Scarlet smoke poured from both of us. We circled each other, our shadow-cloaks dragging in the water, bursts of gold and red and blue and silver light arcing back and forth as we each tried to make the other stumble. But we were too equally matched.

  I tried to blast him out of time and space, but he blocked me before the magic was even fully out of me. Silver light crackled at his fingers, but he had barely raised a hand before I waved the light into nothingness. My chest heaved. Maybe we’d just tire each other out to death . . .

  Bree. Nerina’s voice broke into my mind. I didn’t know where she was; I was too afraid to look away from the Rabbit to find her. End this already.

  I’m trying—

  You know what we need. Do the— What did you call it? Super—

  Jedi Mind Trick. My lip curved up. I’d been so concerned with protecting myself from the Rabbit’s magic I’d forgotten what I needed him for.

  Everyone needs to keep the Malandanti busy, I said to the entire Clan. If they see what I’m doing, they’ll ruin it. Got it?

  I reached inside my little Tudor house and pulled out the green magic. The fun magic. It didn’t manifest in the air like the other magic; it was invisible to anyone but me. I cocked my head and met the Rabbit’s eyes. “You should lower your shield.”

  The green halo appeared above the Rabbit’s head, just like those stupid Stormtroopers that Obi-Wan takes care of with a flick of his hand. His eyes slid a smidge out of focus, and the golden light around him disappeared.

  I reached out and grabbed his wrist. He didn’t resist, just got this goofy smile on his face as though the hottest girl in school were suddenly hitting on him. “Follow me,” I said, and he did.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Heath at the edge of the Waterfall, blocking a smaller black figure from me. Jonah . . .

  The green halo above the Rabbit’s head flickered for an instant, and he blinked. Shit. “We’re going inside the barrier,” I told him, and the halo stabilized again. I clenched my jaw and blocked out anything but the Congo magic. I couldn’t let Jonah be my undoing . . .

  We reached the bottom of the Waterfall. I pulled the Rabbit in through the barrier with me. The moment he was inside the Benandanti’s magic, the shadows around him dropped away. He stood unmasked before me, and for a long breath, I just stared at him.

  I didn’t recognize him, not from the town or from my internship at the Guild. He was young, maybe Heath’s age, with mud-brown hair that fell into his eyes. He was shorter than he’d appeared in the shadow-cloak. His shoulders stooped slightly, as if he were trying to fit through a doorway that was too small for him. He looked completely ordinary, unassuming. Was that why the Concilio Argento had chosen him? Because no one would think to look twice at him? Not like me, who made a scene in every room I entered.

  Everybody, into the barrier now. Hurry, I said. A flurry of movement rustled the air all around the Waterfall at my command. I knew there were only a few Malandanti left who were hanging on, still trying to fight, but even a few would be enough to destroy the spell. Heath leapt inside the bubble a few feet from me, his paws imprinting deep in the snow at the edge of the water. Above me, Alessia and the Eagle swooped around the perimeter of the barrier, joined a moment later by Nerina. Where’s the Stag?

  I’m trying—

  I saw him, on the far edge of the pool, his every move toward the barrier blocked by that ugly-ass Boar. C’mon, c’mon—

  Something struck me between the shoulder blades, and I collapsed to the ground, my side scraping painfully on the rocks jutting out of the snow. I looked up to see the Rabbit looming over me, the green halo gone, shadows spiraling around him once more. “Did you really think you’d get away with this?”

  “Yes,” I screamed, and this time I fought him not with magic but with my bare hands. I grabbed his ankles before they disappeared in the cloak and yanked him onto the ground next to me.

  He started to scramble backward. I punched his stomach as hard as I could. He pulled my hair, dragging me toward him.

  Really, with the hair pulling? “What are you, a girl?” I panted and kicked him in the shin.

  He yowled, and I congratulated myself on having chosen my pointy-toed boots to wear that night.

  I’m here, the Stag shouted.

  I hauled myself to my feet. The Rabbit tried to get up too, but I jammed my heel into his chest. “Stay down.”

  The green halo popped above his head, and he slackened.

  I fought for breath, trying to remember exactly what I was supposed to do.

  Bree—now, Nerina yelled.

  But I couldn’t—not until I knew. My eyes sought the darkness, looking for that sleek black figure. I found him, at the top of the rocks, descending fast. Get back, I thought, get back get back get back.

  A Benandante and a Malandante could not communicate telepathically. But I swore he heard me. Somehow, our twinspeak reached across impossibility. He changed course, heading to the edge of the trees.

  Nerina charged toward me, her wings like a super-turbo fan. Do it, she shrieked.

  I looked down at the Rabbit, like the most pathetic of slaves under my dominatrix boot. The halo flickered. He’d break it soon . . .

  I met his gaze. “This is for Mr. Foster,” I said very clearly, and with my foot, I shoved him into the barrier.

  The scream that tore from him was so horrible I almost backed down. But I knew what I was doing wouldn’t kill him. It would just hurt—a lot. The barrier crackled, lines of silver magic fracturing across it. The Rabbit’s body fused into the barrier, sharp fractals emanating from his limbs. His m
agic—Malandanti magic—was joining ours. The two forces twisted together until the blue light of the Benandanti encased the silver of the Malandanti, overpowering it.

  I pulled every ounce of power from every corner of my body and soul. “Let the veil be lifted; let the glamour fall,” I called out, my voice echoing in every direction. “Let the world see truth, one and all.”

  A boom like a nuclear bomb went off, an invisible mushroom cloud of power exploding across the far reaches of the Guild. Magic rained from the sky, shards of the false mirror they had been holding up for so long. I wondered what it looked like to the rest of the world. To me, it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

  The Rabbit disappeared with a pop, somewhere outside this time and space. I only hoped that wherever he landed, he was in a shit-ton of pain and would be out of commission for quite a while. The sky cleared, the mirror shards gone, replaced with the serenity of the stars. The Malandanti were gone. The magic had blown them away, back into their hidey-holes to lick their wounds. I hoped Jonah had gotten far enough away and was now safe at home in bed. As soon as I was done here, I’d go home at last and check.

  Cold crept up my legs, and I realized I was standing knee-deep in the freezing water. I backed up to the shore and sat down on my butt. My whole body shook, but whether it was from my soaking-wet clothes or the magic still pulsing through me, I didn’t know.

  Nerina landed lightly next to me. Go home, she said. Take a hot bath.

  I looked her in the eyes. “I just saved your asses, and that’s all you have to say to me?” My teeth chattered.

  Her laughter tittered in my head. You are magnifico, Bree. She pressed her huge head against mine for a moment. We could not have done this without you.

  The whole Clan descended around me in a crush of fur and hide and feathers.

  “Air, air,” I muttered, but I let them smother me. My parents had never shown this kind of pride toward me, no matter how many A papers I brought home.

  At last, they released me. I met Alessia’s eyes through the fierce bird mask of her face. I could hear her thoughts without her speaking them. She wanted me to make sure Jonah was okay too.

  I pushed myself to my feet and walked backward through the barrier. “In bocca al lupo,” I shouted, my arms spread wide. They echoed the blessing back in my mind. With a soft pop, I disappeared from the Waterfall and reappeared at the top of my driveway.

  A black car idled at the side of the street, exhaust fumes spiraling into the cold night air. I slid into the trees in front of my house, but if they’d been looking, there was no way they hadn’t seen me just appear out of nowhere. Maybe the car was empty. Maybe the driver was waiting for my dad. Maybe the Guild had already started to fall apart in the wake of my spell-breaking, and he had to rush to the Headquarters for damage control.

  The rear passenger door of the car opened. One black-stocking-clad leg appeared after another, and an impossibly tall woman emerged. Her hair hung about her shoulders in snaky locks. I clung to the closest tree. She looked like Medusa. I swallowed and tasted bile. No, not Medusa. She looked like . . . the Harpy . . . only a human version . . .

  “Bree Wolfe?” She advanced toward me, her dark eyes magnetic. I couldn’t look away. I tried, and I physically could not do it.

  I tried to toss my hair, but it was still wet and clinging to my neck. “Nope. You got the wrong girl.”

  “I beg to differ.”

  The driver-side door opened. With superhuman effort, I wrenched my gaze away from the Harpy, turned, and ran. Heavy footsteps pounded after me, closer and closer. My sopping-wet clothes weighed me down. I tried to run faster, but my legs would not obey. Thick arms reached around me from behind, one around my waist, the other around my neck. A beefy hand clamped over my mouth. I kicked and bit, twisting and struggling, but the arms just locked tighter around me. I was dragged backward, toward the car. I summoned my magic, willed myself to disappear and reappear anywhere else, anywhere but here.

  Nothing happened.

  I tried again and again. Smoky silver light snaked around me, binding me. Not just my body. My magic. They were blocking my magic.

  “Please,” I said, “I don’t know anything. Really. I don’t.”

  I only had time to see the inhuman yellow eyes of the Harpy bitch crinkle with triumphant glee before a hood descended over my face, and I was thrown into the trunk of the car.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  The Getaway

  Alessia

  The morning after the battle, I headed downstairs for breakfast. I heard the news report before I saw it, blaring from the little television Lidia had on in the kitchen.

  “. . . shocking allegations of corruption, including slave labor in the communities the Guild Corporation claims to help . . .”

  My heart jolted. It was already happening. We had truly done it. We had taken down the Guild. I stepped into the kitchen and fixed my gaze on the small screen.

  “. . . an anonymous source has leaked financial records to the Wall Street Journal that details of years of misconduct . . .”

  Bree’s download from the night we’d broken into the Guild. A little financial reckoning, she’d said. She or Nerina must’ve leaked it after the battle last night.

  “. . . and the Hague has announced it is investigating Guild CEO Silvio Debrusco for war crimes in the Congo, where the Guild has several coffee and cocoa plantations. Now for the weather . . .”

  Lidia spun around from the stove, a smile spread wide on her face. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that power plant now.”

  “Guess not.” I grinned back. I wanted to dance in circles. Instead, I hugged Lidia around the waist. She smelled like maple syrup and freshly baked bread. “It must’ve been your signs, Mom.”

  She laughed. “Sit, sit. I’m making waffles.”

  That explained the maple syrup scent. We chatted happily while we munched on her thick, doughy Belgian waffles. It was like before . . . before the Benandanti, even before Dad died. He might’ve been just outside, working in the still-standing barn.

  After breakfast, Lidia headed into town to see Mr. Salter. I almost asked her point-blank what was going on between her and him, but the words failed in my mouth. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know. It was just wrong to think of Lidia with anyone other than my dad.

  Instead I headed to the hen trailers. I collected the eggs, but I left my basket just outside the trailer door. I ducked into the woods, came to the stone wall, and went below to Nerina’s.

  Before I emerged into her living area, I heard voices and clinking glass. I stepped off the bottom stair. Heath and Nerina stood in the middle of the room but, thank goodness, this time they weren’t kissing. They were drinking champagne instead. Several newspapers were spread out on the coffee table, a couple in Italian, all with the variations on the same headline: “Allegations of Corruption Will Be the Guild’s Downfall.”

  “Alessia,” Nerina sang out. “Come have a glass of prosecco and toast the Benandanti’s success.”

  “Um, it’s not even eight in the morning,” I said, but Nerina was already pouring me a glass. She shrugged and handed it to me.

  “It’s five o’clock somewhere in the world,” Heath said.

  “Your years in France ruined you,” I said, wagging a finger at him. I took the glass from Nerina and looked at the bubbles inside. “What’s prosecco?”

  “It’s like champagne, only better.” Nerina clinked my glass with hers. “Because it’s Italian.”

  I took a sip. The bubbles floated right up to my head. I took one more sip to be polite and set the glass behind the lamp on one of the end tables. “So, we did it.” I picked up one of the newspapers and skimmed the article. Corruption, war crimes, stockholders bailing. The Guild was screwed. “We can breathe easy now, right?”

  Both Nerina and Heath snapped their gazes to me. I knew exactly what they were thinking, that I was going to call in my end of the bargain I’d made with Heath
all those weeks ago. “We still haven’t won the war,” Nerina said. “Four sites are still under Malandanti control.”

  “We need to be more vigilant than ever,” Heath added. “The Malandanti will want revenge.”

  “But they’ll be preoccupied with all of this for a few days, right?” I waved a hand over the newspapers. “And shouldn’t we celebrate each victory?”

  Heath narrowed his eyes at me. “What do you want?”

  I sighed. “Fine. I want to go away with my friends for the weekend.”

  “Absolutely not—”

  “Un momento.” Nerina held a hand up. She searched my face, her eyes soft. “I think Alessia deserves a little break. How long will you be gone?”

  “Tomorrow until Sunday. Two and a half days.” I watched her cross to the couch and sit next to me, my heart hopping from one beat to the next.

  Nerina took another sip of her prosecco and set the glass on the table. “Go. Be with your friends. Take these few days for yourself. Because,” she added, drawing back and touching her red-tipped fingernails to my cheek, “when you return, we must prepare for the battle of our lives.”

  I hugged her. “Thank you, Nerina. Thank you!”

  “You can’t let her go! Come on, Nerina. I’m the Guide—”

  “And I’m the Concilio.” Nerina drew away from me and stood up. “And I say it is all right.”

  “I’m gonna go pack,” I said, dashing to the stairs before Heath could change Nerina’s mind. I glanced back just before I headed up. Nerina was looking at Heath from underneath her lashes, a sultry smile on her lips. Apparently she had an ulterior motive for getting rid of me for the weekend. I shuddered. Ew. Thinking about the two of them together was almost as bad as thinking of my mom with Mr. Salter.

  School crawled by that day. I ducked into second-period French just before the bell. My heart jumped when I saw Jonah already in his seat. He’d made it back okay, then. I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen Bree yet, but she was probably skipping school again. She’d been out all week—“sick” —but I’d bet she was home sleeping off the aftereffects of the battle.