by H. K. Varian
“We’re so relieved you’re all right,” Gabriella said.
“Me too. How’s everything with you?” he asked. “Where are you?”
“We’re stranded somewhere in Indiana,” Fiona told him. “Waiting for backup to arrive.”
“Why Indiana?” Darren asked.
“Mack burned Margaery’s arm pretty badly during our escape,” Fiona explained. “We were on our way back to Willow Cove, but she couldn’t make it all the way—we had to stop here. Backup forces are on the way, along with a healer, so we should be able to come and get you soon.”
Fiona heard a voice in the background.
“I’m putting you on speaker,” Darren said. “Esi wants to talk to you.”
“Did you see my father?” Esi asked. “Or any of his guards? I’ve been calling him, but his phone keeps going right to voice mail. He hasn’t answered any of my texts.”
“I’m sorry,” Fiona said. “I didn’t see him when we were leaving. I did see some Changers escape the battle early on. Maybe he was with them?”
“Did you see him at all? Big man, dark suit? Cropped haircut?”
“It was too chaotic for me to be sure,” Fiona told her. “But when we escaped the restaurant, we were the only Changers still battling Sakura’s forces. Your father and his men must have already left.”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Professor Zwane assured Esi. “You know there are protocols in place for attacks like this, Esi. He’ll be in hiding for a few hours more. You’ll hear from him soon.”
Gabriella noticed that Professor Zwane didn’t mention that he had also been trying to contact her father with both magic and human technology and getting no response.
Why hasn’t he been in touch with his daughter? Gabriella worried. Something must be wrong.
“Thanks for letting us know what’s going on,” Darren said. “We’ll stay right here until we hear more.”
“Okay,” Fiona said. “Be safe. I’ll talk to you later.”
There was a knock at the door. Backup had arrived and with them an older nahual healer named Daniel. While the professor and Fiona filled the others in on what had happened in New York, the healer made a beeline for Margaery. Gabriella was drawn to Daniel by his calm, soothing manner. And his confidence. She could use some confidence of her own right now.
Healing was something that very special nahuals could achieve. It wasn’t an ability for everyone—most nahuals tended to focus on their offensive abilities and magic first. Gabriella hadn’t been trained in healing yet.
I should have trained harder, she thought. Even if I couldn’t heal Margaery, I might have been able to lessen her pain when she was injured. Instead, she was in agony while we waited for help. Just one more thing I failed at today.
The nahual healer gently took Margaery’s arm and then turned to Gabriella. “It’s a pleasure to meet one of the Willow Cove younglings,” he said to her. “We all owe you our freedom.”
Gabriella didn’t want his thanks or his praise; she just wanted him to heal her friend. And she wanted to learn from him if she could.
“Would you mind if I watch the healing?” she asked.
Margaery smiled through her pain. “Fine by me,” she said.
“How does it work?” Gabriella asked Daniel.
“Have you used spiritual energy yet?” Daniel asked her as he examined the wound.
“I’ve spirit-walked, and I learned how to use defensive techniques while I’m spirit-walking, but I haven’t trained in healing yet.”
“It’s unusual to find someone as young as you who has trained in the spiritual arts at all,” Daniel said. “Healing is about channeling that same spiritual energy, but in the external world instead of inside the mind. You have to make your energy solid but flexible.”
“Solid but flexible?” Gabriella asked, confused.
“Once you experience it, it will make sense,” Daniel said with a patient smile. “If you’re too forceful, if you try too hard, it won’t work. You have to allow your spirit energy to envelop the wound and find its own pathways into healing.”
Daniel was silent for a moment. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Gabriella could see by his deep, even breathing that he had entered a meditative state.
“Once you’ve done that,” he continued, passing his hand over Margaery’s wound, “it’s easy as pie. The body wants to heal itself. We’re just helping it along.”
Gabriella couldn’t believe it. One second before, Margaery’s arm had been blistered and burned, her skin blackened. Now she had a smooth, clean arm. There was absolutely no trace of the injury.
It’s like it never happened, Gabriella thought. What a beautiful power.
Margaery breathed a big sigh of relief. The pain that was etched on her face disappeared. “Thank you, Daniel,” she said.
The three of them joined the rest of the group. Professor Zwane and Fiona were just finishing up telling Miles Campagna, a bull who had helped them out before, about the battle in the restaurant.
Since they were still waiting for Yara and Ms. Therian to arrive with another tengu who could transport them while Margaery got her strength back, Gabriella and Daniel volunteered to pick up lunch from the Chinese restaurant two blocks away.
On their walk Gabriella asked the older nahual more questions about healing.
“The way you cured Margaery was really cool,” Gabriella said. “I wish I could have known how to help her; at least how to lessen her pain while we waited.”
“Healing is becoming a rarer and rarer skill,” Daniel said. “But it’s one that I’ve never regretted learning. I’ll never stop being amazed and grateful for the gifts that I’ve been given.”
Gabriella nodded. “I would like to master healing someday too,” she said. “My grandmother and my aunt taught me to spirit-walk, but I know there’s still so much more for me to learn.”
“Healing magic doesn’t seem to be all that interesting to young nahuals anymore. Everyone is focused on learning how to fight. They don’t see that healing magic can be even more important than warrior skills. If only we could find a way to heal our differences instead of trying to battle our way to victory.”
“Heal our differences?” Gabriella asked.
“I’m sure by now you’ve learned that not all fights are won by the strongest opponent. Sometimes it’s the person who is smarter, or more determined, or has the most to lose. And sometimes the real winner is the one who is willing to concede.”
Gabriella thought about what Daniel had said while they waited for their order. As soon as they had the food in hand and were on their way back, she picked up the conversation again.
“But in our war with Sakura, we can’t concede,” she said. “She’s evil.”
“That’s true,” Daniel said. “If fighting is truly the only way we can protect the ones we love, then it can’t be avoided. But many of the old fights in the Changer world—between the selkies and the mermaids, or between the anansis and the impundulus—can be won if we embrace our differences and heal the old hurts that get in our way.”
“I think I see what you mean,” Gabriella said thoughtfully. “If we could all listen and understand one another, we wouldn’t feel the need to fight. I hope when this war with Sakura is finished, we can get to work on that. I’d like to help make that happen. I know my friends would too.”
“I believe you will, Gabriella,” Daniel told her. “You kids are different from us. You might just change our world.”
They had only just stepped inside the motel room when Yara and Ms. Therian arrived with the tengu, a young man, and a mo’o, a Hawaiian water dragon.
Gabriella had never seen Ms. Therian look so solemn, not even when Mack followed Sakura through her dark portal.
“Lunch will have to wait,” Ms. Therian said. “Akira and Sefu will meet us in New York. We need to come up with a plan, a foolproof plan.” She eyed the group gravely. “We’ve got to get to Darren before Sakura does, or we might never be a
ble to save him.”
Chapter 9
Circe’s Diadem
Darren hung up the phone and turned to Esi and her cousin, Tani. “It won’t be long,” he said. “My friends will be here in a couple of hours with backup—as soon as Margaery, our tengu friend, is healed.”
“Healed?” Tani asked. “What happened to her?”
“She was badly burned in the battle,” Darren said. “But she’s going to be fine.”
Esi had been careful not to share too many details of the battle with her cousin. She only said that there had been trouble at the restaurant.
Nonmagical people tended to freak out when confronted with the harsher aspects of Changer life, and Darren couldn’t blame them. He still had trouble believing the fact that all these mythological creatures went to battle against one another on a regular basis. Now Tani held up her hand to stop them from telling her anything more. She clearly didn’t want to hear it.
“I’ll be in the kitchen,” she said, backing out of the room. “You two talk about whatever you need to, but I don’t . . . I don’t want to know.”
Esi smiled at her cousin, but she hadn’t stopped pacing since they arrived in the apartment. She checked her phone. It was silent. She sent a text and waited for an answer that didn’t come. Then she called, and Darren could tell by the look on her face that her father’s phone had gone to voice mail—again.
She’s really scared, Darren realized. Maybe I can get her to think about something else while we’re waiting to hear from her father.
“So what’s your school like?” Darren asked. “Are there other Changers in your classes?”
Esi wrinkled her nose. “It’s a fancy New York City private school,” she answered. “I wanted to try public school, but my dad said it was either private school or homeschooling.”
“It must be so different growing up in a place like New York City,” Darren said. “I live in a small town. There’s one public middle school. If my parents wanted to send me to private school, I’d have to leave town.”
“That must be kind of nice,” Esi said.
Darren looked at her with a quizzical expression. “Having to leave town?”
“No, not leaving town—living someplace small. You must know a lot of people. Like, do you know your neighbors?”
“Of course. I see them all the time. How could you not know your neighbors?” Darren asked.
“You’d be surprised,” Esi said with a laugh. “There are only four apartments on our floor, and I swear I’ve never seen anyone go in or out of one of them. I know someone lives there. Sometimes I can smell cooking in the hall, but I’ve never seen an actual person.”
Darren laughed. “Maybe it’s a hungry ghost.”
“Speaking of hungry,” Esi said. “Tani’s kitchen is almost always stocked with the important food groups—root beer, ice cream, and whipped cream. Want a root beer float?”
“Sure,” Darren said. “We were rudely interrupted at lunch after all.”
He saw a cloud cross Esi’s face as she remembered the fight and her father’s disappearance.
He followed her into the kitchen, asking about her Changer training to keep her from worrying about her father again.
Tani was leaving the kitchen as they walked in. Esi’s cousin seemed determined not to hear too much about that day’s Changer activities.
“Do you get to hang out with other Changers in your training?” Darren asked.
“There are three other anansi younglings in the city,” Esi said. “We train in an old soccer stadium on an island in the East River. Everyone else thinks it’s abandoned.”
“You don’t train with other kinds of Changers?” Darren asked. “I work out with a kitsune and a nahual.” He stopped himself before he could say “and a selkie,” suddenly remembering that Esi didn’t—and couldn’t—know that he was from Willow Cove and connected to the First Four. “We learn a lot from one another.”
Esi handed Darren a couple of tall glasses and a carton of ice cream. He scooped vanilla into each glass, and then she added root beer and whipped cream.
“I wish I knew more Changers,” Esi said. “My dad’s been pretty mistrustful of anyone who isn’t anansi. And it’s only gotten worse since Sakura reemerged.”
“He seemed willing to help me, though,” Darren offered.
Esi’s voice tightened. “The impundulus are a strategic ally for us. He has a good reason to want to break the curses.”
“Were you at the Youngling Games at Wyndemere in the spring?” Darren asked.
“No,” Esi said, taking a spoonful of her root beer float. “We were visiting relatives in Ghana. I really want to go to Wyndemere for high school, though. I’ve heard all about it from my aunt.”
Darren stirred the ice cream around in his glass. Esi’s life sounded really lonely. She didn’t have many other Changers to talk to, and she hadn’t mentioned any nonmagical friends. “Maybe your dad will let you train with me sometime,” Daren said hopefully. “When this is all over.”
“Maybe,” Esi said, draining her glass. She checked her phone for texts, but there were none. So she dialed her father again. “Why isn’t he answering?” she asked. “Why hasn’t he gotten in touch with me?”
“Don’t worry,” Darren told her with a confidence he didn’t really feel. “I’m sure he made it out okay.”
“I’m not worried about him,” Esi said. “I just don’t want him to worry about me.”
Everything about her behavior proved that she was worried about her father, but Darren didn’t challenge her statement. He simply waited for her to say more.
“My father is the strongest, most powerful anansi I know. There’s no way he’d go down or even get hurt in a battle against such small fries as those Changers in the restaurant.”
“Okay,” Darren said with a wry smile. “So why haven’t you stopped pacing and checking your phone since we arrived?”
“I’m not sure what he’d want me to do right now. The anansi alliance pretty much fell apart when some of the families decided to go over to Sakura. My father told me not to trust anyone outside the family.”
“You’re with your cousin,” Darren said. “So you’re doing exactly what he told you to do.”
“I’m also with you—an impundulu that was cursed by one of our ancestors. I’m not sure he’d like that. And Tani’s not a Changer. She can’t help me if Sakura’s soldiers come back. And I don’t want to put her in danger.”
“You’re welcome to come back to Willow Cove with me,” Darren said quickly. “You’ll be safe there until we find your father.”
Esi stopped pacing and faced him. Her expression completely changed. “Willow Cove? So my father was right,” she said. “You are part of that group of younglings working with the First Four.”
Uh-oh, Darren thought. I wasn’t supposed to tell her that. . . . But I guess the cat’s out of the bag now.
“I am,” Darren said quietly.
Esi eyed him in mock surprise. “I knew it,” she said. Then she sized him up. “There are rumors that you and your friends are going to be the next First Four,” she said, cocking an eyebrow.
Darren shook his head, but he didn’t feel comfortable lying to her outright.
Now Esi took on a teasing tone. “But judging from how useless you were in our subway fight, there’s no way that could be true.”
“Hey,” Darren said, laughing. “I kept that impundulu at bay until you could knock him out with your magical miasma.”
Wow, as worried as she is, she’s still able to joke around. She’s strong. I’ve never met anyone as cool and confident as her before.
Then he got more serious. “So it’s an easy guess why Sakura is after me. Now it’s your turn to come clean. Why is Sakura really after you?”
They were interrupted by a knock on the apartment door. Esi ran over and peeked through the peephole. “It’s my father!” she said.
Before Darren could stop her, she threw open the do
or and jumped into her father’s outstretched arms, breaking the anansi protection spells they had activated around the apartment.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” she said. “I’ve been worried.”
Esi’s father awkwardly patted her on the back. The guards around him were completely silent. No one smiled. No one seemed relieved. No one said a word.
Something’s not right, Darren thought. He got a sick feeling in his stomach.
One of the guards pulled Esi away from her father, locking his arms around her shoulders and clamping a hand over her mouth.
The illusion they were using dissolved.
Instead of Esi’s father’s bodyguard, one of Sakura’s nykurs had the girl in his grasp. And Esi’s father was really Mack, now openly smirking at Darren. He was surrounded not by anansi bodyguards but by more of Sakura’s soldiers.
“Remember me?” Mack asked with a sneer.
“Mack,” Darren answered, trying to stay cool even as he stumbled backward. Of course it was Mack, but the mean expression he wore didn’t look like Mack at all. “It’s time for you to come home, Mack. You’re grandfather misses you—we all do.”
Mack threw his head back and laughed. “You have no idea of the power I’d be giving up if I did that. It’s not gonna happen. But you—you could join us. Darren, we can help you become the most powerful impundulu of all time.”
Darren shook his head and echoed Mack’s words. “Not gonna happen,” he said.
While Mack and Darren were talking, Esi struggled to get away from her captor. She bit his hand, and he yanked it away with a yelp. That was all the opening she needed. She jerked her head back and forth, blowing her paralyzing miasma at the group. The nykur holding her fell to the floor, unconscious. But Mack managed to jump out of her way just in time.
In the confusion, Darren concentrated on bringing electricity to the tips of his fingers. The sparks came together, and he threw up a force field, pushing Mack farther into the hallway with the others. Even after everything Mack had done, Darren couldn’t bring himself to hurt his friend. Esi scrambled back into the apartment while the others were distracted.
