by Shelby Bach
The knights bowed their heads.
“It is true. Chase Turnleaf has chosen not to be of the Unseelie,” said the king. “However, he has chosen to be a friend to our people, and it was well for us that he did so. We would be dead otherwise. Or worse, captured. My knights did not lead me to my freedom.”
Chase managed not to smirk, but joy shone out of his eyes like a beacon.
The knight in green armor was resolute. “Even so, he has no right to share the secrets of our people—”
“Have you not been listening, Himorsal Liior?” the king said impatiently. So the dude with green armor was the one who had been annoying Chase so much. Not surprised. “Chase Turnleaf teaches the lost art of Itari. It would still be lost without him. The secrets are his more than ours, and he is free to share them as he sees fit.”
The king might have felt differently if Chase hadn’t saved his life the day before, but this was pretty obviously a victory for Turnleafs everywhere.
Chase didn’t have the sense to stay humble about it either. “There’s room in my class, if you want.”
Three knights sprang into the air, ready to avenge their honor or whatever, but what the king said next stopped them mid-flight. “A generous offer, Chase Turnleaf. I look forward to hearing of their progress.”
Then he swept from the room before anyone could argue with him. The Itari teacher and his new students stared at each other in horror.
“He cannot be serious,” muttered the knight with gold wings. “Will we spar against statues of our own likeness?” He gestured to the evil Fey dummies in the back wall.
Yikes. So they had noticed.
“I refuse to learn alongside humans,” the shortest knight sputtered.
Chase’s teacher mode settled over him like armor. He sounded so bossy and indifferent that Hansel would have been proud. “Then you are out of luck. I only have time for one session.”
“Okay, so what just happened?” Ben said. It wasn’t just him and the triplets looking at me expectantly. It was half the room. Even Kenneth had crept up behind us.
Chatty must have understood Fey; I could hear her cackling through the M3. I wasn’t sure if I could explain without laughing too.
“Your study group just got a lot bigger,” I said, gesturing to the Fey glaring at Chase.
Ben looked even less excited than the knights. “You mean, we have to learn with that Himorsal guy?”
“Himorsal is the stupidest name I’ve ever heard,” Kenneth said.
“That’s because it’s not a name,” Chatty said through the M3. She hadn’t warmed up to Kenneth since Ben’s Tale. “It means ‘Captain.’ ”
I probably should have told him that. Chase’s old students and his new students were never going to get along if they couldn’t understand each other. “Maybe I should go see if Lena has any spare translators. She—”
“Where are the Zipes triplets?” Hansel’s voice managed to cut across even the loudly protesting Fey and the excited chatters of the other Characters in the training courts.
Kevin’s face grew half-worried, half-defensive. Kyle looked like he wanted to get popcorn and watch Chase’s first lesson with the Fey. Tentatively, Conner raised his hand.
Hansel charged over, spotting the Canon’s champion on the way. “Jack, the Director wants you.” Jack looked extremely relieved to have an excuse to leave, but Hansel didn’t spare him a second glance. He turned back to the triplets. “Have you packed? You’re relocating to EAS today. I just finished confirming the details with your father.”
Oh wow. A lot of people were moving to EAS this week.
Kyle shoved Conner’s shoulder. “Told you. Destroying Fey courts is enough to freak out even Dad.”
“That was a factor,” Hansel said, “but the Director offered him space in the stables for his livestock.”
“For what?” said Ben and Kenneth together.
“We live on a working ranch,” Kyle said, like he didn’t understand why this concept was hard for the rest of us to understand.
“Enough,” Hansel said. “Have you packed or not?”
“We packed,” Kyle said. “Months ago. Mom and Dad haven’t.”
“Then you can wait here,” Hansel said. “The move begins as soon as your father confirms that his last herd has been relocated.”
“Got it,” said Kyle, sounding a little relieved. I was too. Tonight our whole grade would be safe at EAS.
“Who’s on call?” Kevin asked.
“The rising ninth graders,” Hansel said, surprised that this was even a question.
Our first mission since the Snow Queen’s invasion of the Fey courts. Since my birthday. Since the Snow Queen had stopped her hunt and started waging war.
Something sharp and cold pricked deep inside my chest, like an icicle had lodged itself there.
I didn’t know how the Snow Queen would find out about this mission, but it seemed impossible that the move would go smoothly. It seemed way more likely that something worse than the Wolfsbane clan would show up.
I wasn’t the only one worried. Everyone went quiet. Everyone but Adelaide. “But we can’t. Chase and I have dinner reservations with my parents.”
At the look Hansel gave her—at the look we all gave her, somewhere between revulsion and disbelief—I’m pretty sure even Adelaide wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. Her cheeks flushed a little but she pressed on. “We’ve been planning this for weeks. My parents haven’t even met Chase yet, and—”
Kyle cut her off. This was the first time I’d ever heard him sound angry. “Chase! We’re moving today. You interested in helping?”
The shard of ice in my chest morphed into a clamp, squeezing the air from my lungs. I hoped the doubt didn’t show on my face.
Chase looked up from the wolf dummies he’d been moving into position. “Kevin, didn’t you say that you had a horse as cool as a Dapplegrim? That I gotta see. I’m in.”
Hansel did something rare. He bestowed an approving smile.
“But—” Adelaide started.
“I’m going,” Chase said, and he turned back to his class. Then he caught a glimpse of Himorsal Liior’s scowl, which clearly said, Our king orders us to learn Itari and you abandon us during our first lesson for a horse? Chase turned back reluctantly. “Well, as long as the call comes an hour from now. I want to get them started on a few drills first.”
“Take your time,” said Kevin. “Dad will probably try to drag this out.”
Hansel humphed, which basically meant, Not if I have anything to do with it. “Meet me outside. I want you suited up in fifteen. Turnleaf can join later.” Then he turned and stormed out, probably to go track down our archers.
Chase looked at me, and my face must have been doing something. His grin faded. “I’ll be there.”
I wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe that something had changed since yesterday. I wanted to pretend that Chase had never let me down.
But he had, all summer.
“Great,” said Kyle, but all the triplets were eyeing Adelaide, her pout and crossed arms. I knew they expected to be disappointed too, just like I did.
evin had called it right. His dad was definitely dragging out the move, and we’d been waiting for hours. Eventually, standing around sweating through our armor gave way to stealing some of the couches from under the Tree of Hope and moving them over to the Door Trek door to the Zipes’s place, painted a dusty sort of hunter green. Paul and Vicky took over a love seat for themselves, staring into each other’s eyes and sitting entirely too close for people wearing chain mail. Tina asked them what time it was every few minutes, but I think it was mostly to keep reminding them that they were surrounded by people and not allowed to make out. The triplets had helped Lena and I move one of the tables over to the door too. Lena and Melodie kept themselves busy—attaching a stack of shiny new M3’s to easy-to-carry covers.
She’d started sharing theories on my maybe-cursed sword. “We can’t know when t
he curse will kick in,” Lena said. “You probably have a few more years, considering how slowly the Fey age. It was probably just supposed to prevent squires from depending on the magic too much. They were supposed to learn the techniques, not just depend on the enchanted sword.”
No matter what she said, I still felt betrayed by one of my first allies.
I couldn’t sit still like Lena. I didn’t even think I could practice any drills like the triplets. The ice shard in my chest had been joined by three or four more, and I couldn’t stop craning my neck around a tiny little blue house, trying to check the orange door that led to the Canon members’ apartments.
“Another day,” Daisy said, tossing one of her arrows in the air, watching it flip end over end, and catching it by the wooden shaft. At first, it had been impressive. Now it was only annoying. “Another evening, waiting for Chase.”
“That was different and you know it,” I said, more sharply than I meant to. “Besides, he was waiting with us just a little while ago.”
I wasn’t sure what had shocked us the most: the fact that he showed up or the fact that he brought the Fey with him. He’d spent most of the afternoon demonstrating how the Itari moves worked while flying. It had been nice to watch while it lasted. The Fey knights picked up the maneuvers even faster than I did. They had the potential to be great Itari warriors before the summer ended, but only if they started focusing on their lessons instead of plotting against their teacher.
“That was two hours ago,” Daisy shot back, and I couldn’t argue. She was right.
When the Fey finally showed signs of tiring, Chase had sent them back to wherever the Director had set them up. Soaked with sweat, he’d walked over to make sure we hadn’t scheduled a departure time, and then he’d looked at the triplets, at me. “Just let me go get my armor,” he’d said.
Then he’d disappeared beyond the door, and hadn’t returned.
“It’s dinnertime in New York,” said Kevin irritably.
“Almost past dinnertime,” added Conner, squinting at the sun, which was now touching the wall at the end of the courtyard. His voice was tinged with hope, like Chase might finish up and come back in time to join us.
“We never talk about Adelaide,” said Tina thoughtfully. “Have you ever noticed that? But she’s gone as much as Chase is.”
“Chase is our best fighter,” Kevin said. “Adelaide’s a good shot, but she’s no Rory.”
That was a compliment, kind of, but mostly I felt like a poor substitute for Chase.
He wasn’t just our best fighter. He was . . . Chase. He could joke his way through any pre-mission stress. If he were here, he would have asked the triplets if there were any embarrassing items they wanted to tell us about before we reached their ranch. Or maybe he would have told stories about growing up in the Unseelie Court—something to keep us all entertained.
Hansel poked his head out of the hunter green door to Texas. He’d crossed over hours ago, trying to hurry Mr. Zipes along. “It’s time,” Hansel said wearily. “Turnleaf isn’t here?” he asked me, like I was supposed to know. I shrugged, careful not to meet his eyes. If I did, he would be able to tell how ticked off I was.
Lena was already tucking Melodie into a bag and pulling the straps over her shoulders.
Sighing, our sword instructor opened the Door Trek door wider. “Well, we’ve wasted too much time already. He’ll know where to find us.” Great. Even Hansel didn’t expect much from Chase anymore.
I followed first, tight-lipped, and led the others down a corridor with worn wooden walls and old-fashioned lanterns. I hated that I’d thought anything had changed.
“They’re both getting on my nerves,” said Vicky.
“I wrote Adelaide off a long time ago,” added Tina. “I expected better from Chase, though.”
I shot them a dark look. “We’re here for the triplets. Let’s just concentrate on the mission for now.”
Hansel didn’t have much patience for it either. “If you’re too distracted, I can send you back and request the tenth grade archers in your place.”
He would do it, no matter how long we’d been waiting. He was that strict.
The stepsisters immediately straightened up, and the whole grade’s mood went from pretty irritated to mildly concerned.
“Hansel, are you threatening to take away our mission and give it to the grade above us again?” I said, determined to break the tension. “I thought those days were behind us.”
The triplets gaped at me. I couldn’t help but notice that it did sound like something that would come out of Chase’s mouth.
Hansel pretended to consider it. “To tell the truth, the tenth graders could use the extra practice more than you lot.”
I opened the door at the end of the corridor. “But the triplets could use us as their bodyguards. We’ll fight harder. We like them more.”
Hansel laughed. “Nice to see that old grade rivalries haven’t completely disappeared. We’ll fight harder. We like them more.”
The rest of the grade exchanged glances. I wasn’t sure any of them had heard that sound come out of the sword master before. Then we stepped outside into Texas, hot and dry even in the twilight.
The ranch had a bunch of buildings, all charcoal gray in the dim light. Two barns, something that was shaped like a barn but was small enough to be a storage shed, and at least five actual storage sheds. Our Door Trek door was attached to the closest structure, a large white house with red shutters and a huge porch.
It was funny. I’d spent years fighting alongside the triplets, but I’d never imagined where they came from.
“Kyle, Conner, Kevin, we need to rendezvous with your parents,” Hansel said. He nodded at the man on the porch and the dark-haired woman beside him. The triplets broke off and followed him. “Search the buildings and sweep the perimeter for any threats. Then we’re going to help them with their boxes.”
The rest of the grade turned to me, grumbling. They were clearly more interested in guarding than carrying stuff, but it took me a second to realize they were waiting for assignments. If you had told me a few months ago that I would miss Chase giving me orders, I wouldn’t have believed you, but I did. Most of the archers wanted to see the animals, so I sent them to search the barns. The spearmen were interested in the heavy machinery—they went to check the storage sheds. Lena took another good runner, Tina, to sweep the perimeter on the opposite side of the compound. Then I jogged around our side with Paul and Vicky. They tried to hold hands as they ran, which instantly irritated me for no reason at all.
We didn’t see any trolls or dragons. We didn’t hear any wolves or ice griffins.
We didn’t hear or see much of anything. Away from the buildings and their lights, the sky felt bigger. The stars were beginning to come out—brilliant bursts peeking through a growing darkness. I’d never seen so many stars in my life, not even when Mom had a film in Wyoming, and that town had seemed plenty small and isolated. We ran past some crooked shapes clustered up on the hill. We ran a little closer, weapons out, but the shapes just turned out to be low cypress trees.
Still, a creepy feeling crawled up my spine, like we were being watched.
“Stop procrastinating,” Hansel called from the main house. “If you don’t see anything, come back and help the others.”
With heavy sighs, Paul and Vicky turned and started obediently jogging back. I paused, squinting hard at the next rise. Its shape blotted out the stars, too narrow and lumpy to be a hill, but somehow familiar too.
Probably just a rock column. Everything seemed creepier in the dark.
I put my hand on my sword hilt, so it wouldn’t knock against my side as I ran. Then something did happen, something big.
The rock column shifted closer. It was roughly four stories tall.
I’d known the Snow Queen wouldn’t let this be easy for us. “Giant!” I shouted.
The giant heard. It took another step, and its enormous foot fell with a bone-rattling thump. I c
ouldn’t let it get close enough to grab me.
“Regroup!” Hansel called.
I whipped around and sprinted back to the main house, unsheathing my blade on the way. I peeked over my shoulder, hoping I wouldn’t see General Searcaster.
I didn’t. It was her son.
On my very first quest, I’d overheard Jimmy Searcaster moaning about having to feed the Snow Queen’s pet dragons. I’d heard him snoring. I’d read the love poems his wife had written him. He shouldn’t have been terrifying, but he was. He’d become a pillar, one of the giant bodyguards who couldn’t be killed except by another pillar.
Jimmy stepped into the light coming from the buildings, and then I could see his glinting teeth and green face. “Did I hear that you had a birthday yesterday, Rory Landon? I’ve been meaning to give you a present, since last time we met, you gave me something to remember you by.”
He raised his arms. Even in the dimness, the new scars were easy to spot—raised bumps and healed gashes that ran from his wrists to his elbows. Lena’s exploding bats had really torn him up.
I gulped and ducked into the open area between the house and the barn, where some of the others were clustered together.
I skidded to a stop beside Lena. Her hands fumbled inside her carryall.
“Did we call for help?” I asked.
Melodie had popped her head out of Lena’s bag to see what was going on. When Lena looked too shaken to answer, the harp spoke up. “Hansel did.”
So, Solange’s minions hadn’t put a warding hex up. Maybe the ranch was too big for the spell to work.
Then Tina screamed and hid her face. She hadn’t done that since the day we first met her, when a dragon she hadn’t known existed had cornered her in a tennis court.
Kevin tripped over his own feet, trying to back away.
I turned to see what had freaked them out. It couldn’t possibly be worse than one of the four pillars.
I was wrong.
