“What happened?” I whisper.
“I traveled into a closet, that way I could hear everything and find out if the visitors were still there before showing myself.” She wrings her hands. “I overheard a woman talking to my parents. But my parents sounded strange. Nothing like they usually do. They were assuring the woman I could be found at that spot and if not, then I was bound to come back home any minute.” She glances behind her warily. “They were going to hand me over to them. Just like that. But I didn’t like the look of this woman, or the servant boy she had with her. Something about them made my skin crawl. And I really didn’t like the effect she was having on my parents. I’ve been hiding ever since.”
I wonder if the boy is the same one who nearly caught us as we fled with Noah last night. I suspect he is one of Lady Aisling’s shells like Simone, though I can’t hazard to guess what his talent is. But it must be powerful if the Lady keeps him close.
“That must have been Lady Aisling. She’s awful. She collects people like us and steals their talents. It’s a smart thing you hid.” I frown. “We’ve seen several sets of parents after their children have been taken and they’re different. Like she’s done something to their minds. That must be why they told us that they never had a child when we got here, let alone a talented one.”
Pearl shivers. “Thank you for taking me with you. I’m afraid to stay here any longer. If my parents see me, they may try to hand me over again.” Tears shimmer in her eyes, and I reach out a hand to comfort her.
“That’s why we’re here. We’ve been hoping to find other talented people to help us fight back against Lady Aisling. Lucas’s parents were stolen, and so was Cary’s brother. And Noah’s parents are probably like yours now. We’re going to get our families back. Will you help us?”
Pearl’s eyes sparkle with a new light now. “Do you think defeating Lady Aisling might undo whatever it is she did to my parents?”
“I hope so.” I glance over at Noah. “And if not, we may have another means to help. I can’t promise we know exactly what to do, but we have some ideas, and that’s a start. Besides, there is safety in numbers,” I say.
Pearl smiles at me. “Then count me in.”
“Why don’t we try to help Pearl’s parents now?” Lucas says. “Noah could use the practice.”
Noah’s eyes widen. “But there are so many guards,” he says. “And I’ve never canceled a spell before.”
“You can cancel spells?” Pearl says.
“Sort of,” Noah says. “I’m a talent taker. But I just found out.”
“Oh,” Pearl says, her hope deflating. “The current situation is a bit dangerous for practice. My house is still crawling with guards. I don’t want anyone to get caught.”
I pat Pearl’s arm. “Once Lady Aisling is defeated, we’ll come back and help your parents, I promise.”
We are all tired, but giddy with excitement. We’ve now found two people with talents, which only a few days ago seemed an utterly hopeless task. I feel emboldened, like we might actually be able to free them all if we keep at it.
But wariness falls over our little group as we near the border to Zinnia. We’re encroaching on enemy territory, and while I’m sure not all Zinnians are evil like Lady Aisling, who knows how many might be under her spell? We must be extra careful to remain undetected in her home territory.
We are going to have to save our friends and as many other talented folks as we can on our own.
The sun and moon are both high overhead, and the long trees cast short stumpy shadows when we reach the border. It’s marked by an arched wrought-iron fence stretching as far as the eye can see. There must be an entrance somewhere, but it is nowhere in sight.
Cary sighs, then eyes the iron bars. “We’re going to have to climb,” she says.
Pearl pushes forward and puts a hand on Cary’s shoulder. “Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary.”
One snap, and the two of them vanish. Seconds later they reappear on the other side of the fence. My jaw drops.
“You can bring people with you?” Lucas says, equally impressed.
“Of course. Though we all have to be connected through touch if I want to bring more than one at a time.”
Lucas and I hold hands and Pearl brings us over, but has difficulty when it’s Noah’s turn. Try as she might, she just can’t seem to use her talent when she’s touching Noah. He concentrates, trying to hold his talent back, but he can’t do it for long enough for her to make the jump. It’s like his very skin exudes his nullification magic. Before we can decide what to do, a loud cry breaks the silence. We all stop and glance around, but see nothing. Prickles run up and down my back.
Then the cry comes again, loud and piercing.
Pearl pops away, and Noah ducks behind the nearest tree. I grab Lucas and Cary and do the same, weaving my shadows around us, and Noah too. Something is coming, and there is nowhere for us to run. Not without abandoning half our group.
My heart pounds in my throat, but at the third cry, I can’t help but peer around the trunk of the tree. A giant shadow lumbers through the trees toward us. Then it shrinks as it gets closer. When I finally see the figure weaving through the trees, my breath catches in my throat.
It’s me.
Or rather it’s Dar, twisting my mouth into a maniacal grin. She bounds toward us, sprouting huge arms with thick giant hands as she goes.
“Dar, what are you doing?” I say. But she just keeps laughing. When she reaches the bars, Noah cowers behind a nearby tree, but she pays him no mind. Instead, she braces her new hands between the iron bars and pushes them apart until there’s a space big enough for her to step through. She grins at me as her hands and arms shrink back to normal size and she leaps through the hole.
“I’m helping, Emmeline. Can’t you see?” She gestures to the hole. “Now your friend can get through too.” She tilts her head and smiles sweetly, but it reminds me of Simone in a chilling way.
Lucas stands beside me with his arms crossed, but his expression softens a little once he realizes Dar did actually help.
“Thank you, Dar. That was nice of you.” I gesture to Noah and Pearl, who has just popped back to that side of the fence out of Dar’s line of sight. “It’s safe to come out and cross now.”
Warily, they approach the gate like it might be poisonous. Pearl steps through first, shy to reveal her power in front of Dar, and Noah follows behind her. They both gape at Dar-Emmeline, glancing back and forth between us.
“Do you have a twin, Emmeline?” Pearl asks us both like she’s not sure which of us is really me.
“No,” I say at the same time Dar says “Yes.”
I give Dar a stern glance. “It’s a long story. The short version is Dar was once Lady Aisling’s sister. She was the Lady’s first victim and became a shadow—my shadow, until I helped her become human again. Her talent is shape shifting.”
Dar sprouts the oversized arms and hands to demonstrate. Pearl takes a step back, but Noah inches closer and touches Dar’s arm curiously.
Dar instantly shifts, her arms shrinking to normal size and my face fading into one I’ve never seen before: a girl a little taller than me with brown curls framing her startled expression. Freckles dance across the bridge of her nose. She gasps, her now human hands reaching up to touch her face.
“What…what just happened?” She recoils from Noah, who guiltily pulls his hand back. As soon as he does, Dar shifts again, this time into a bird that shoots to the top of the wrought-iron fence.
“We found a talent taker, Dar,” I say. “But he can’t fully control it yet.”
The bird, cloaked in dark blue feathers, gives me an arch look.
I do my best to put on a stern face. “Now, Dar, what are you doing here? Have you been following us?”
The bird chirps her objection then flies down to alight next t
o me. Soon I’m staring into my own eyes again. Blue wings still flutter on Dar’s back.
“I’ve been helping you,” she says. “Didn’t you find what I left for you in those houses?”
“That was you? You’re the one who left us those warnings?”
Dar’s shoulders slump. “Of course. I promised you we’d always take care of each other. I meant it, even if you didn’t.” She huffs and folds her arms over her chest. “Besides, I’ve been doing what I told you I would do if you let me go: scouting out Lady Aisling’s weaknesses.”
“And what did you find?” Lucas asks.
Her face falls, and her hands begin to fidget. “I’m…not sure anymore. I know I had a plan to defeat her, but when I try to remember what it is, it’s just…gone.”
“Of course it is,” Lucas says, shaking his head. “You never had a plan, did you?”
“What do you mean gone?” I ask.
She ignores Lucas and only answers me. “I’ve felt different ever since I attacked that hollow boy in the woods.”
“The one who almost caught us?” I say. “So you were that owl?”
“He felt like Simone, strange and empty. He’s one of Lady Aisling’s damaged children. He must be a memory stealer. She has no trouble transforming talents that deal in the physical into flowers, but for some reason, it never goes right with those who have mind-based talents. But as you know from Simone, she still found a way to use the shells.”
Cary shudders. “A memory stealer under Lady Aisling’s control would explain a lot.”
Dar nods vigorously. “Yes! Like why I can’t remember my plan. It was perfect too! I was so excited to share it, and now…” She throws up her hands. “But I can still help. I remember everything about my sister, and we can form a new plan to defeat her together.”
“I don’t know. You haven’t been honest with me before. How can we be sure what you say is true?”
She pouts. “I wouldn’t lie about my plan.”
Lucas frowns. “We need to discuss this without you hovering.”
Dar clicks her tongue. “Still so untrusting.” But she moves off a few yards, and the five of us huddle together.
“We can’t let her come with us,” Lucas says. “She’s up to something, and she’s bound to betray us if it suits her purposes. I don’t believe for a second that the boy stole just the right memory. Too convenient.”
“Plus, we can’t control a creature like that,” Pearl says, glancing over her shoulder.
I sigh. “I know controlling her is an issue. But Lucas and I can try to trap her in her cage again if she gets too far out of hand. And for what it’s worth, I do believe her about the memory stealer, and she has left us warnings and help along the way. The only way she’d know about it is if she was the one who did it.”
Cary eyes Dar suspiciously. “Shape shifters always struck me as the most untrustworthy of talented people.”
Noah glances back and forth between us all. “But if she’s Lady Aisling’s sister, she really is in a position to help us, isn’t she? I mean, she knows her. And we know only a little.”
“That is true,” I say. “If there is one thing we can trust about Dar it’s that she will do anything to get revenge on her sister.”
“I think we should let her come with us,” says Noah. Pearl and Cary consider this.
Lucas sighs exasperatedly. “She’ll betray us. In Zinnia that could mean getting caught by Lady Aisling and her men. It’s too risky.”
But Pearl and Cary seem more willing to give her a chance.
“I don’t know Dar, though I can say I don’t trust her,” Cary says. “But Emmeline makes a decent point. We know she wants to take down her sister—we have the same goal. I don’t see any harm in letting her come with us, as long we all keep an eye on her.”
“That makes sense to me,” Pearl agrees.
Lucas frowns. “Fine, but I still think it will be our undoing.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Despite Lucas’s reservations, Dar proves true to her word. She leads us through the woods surrounding Zinnia in a roundabout way that ensures we do not encounter anyone else.
If I ever doubted she grew up in Zinnia before, I certainly don’t now.
Sometimes, though, she seems to forget we are following her and stumbles too far ahead. I keep us cloaked in shadows as best I can, but she makes it difficult to keep up.
It is much harder to keep her in line now that she’s no longer tethered to my feet.
In Zinnia there are flowers everywhere. It started in the woods near the wrought-iron fence, but becomes more noticeable the farther we venture into the territory. Delicate wildflowers like bluebells, queen’s lace, and daisies cast their intricate shadows in the woods and fields, then as we get closer to the main town, they bloom brighter and have more variety, many of which I don’t know the names for. It’s sad that such a lovely place is lorded over by a cruel, dangerous ruler.
When we approach the town, Dar takes a long way around the city wall to avoid the main entrance. From afar we can see the telltale green cloaks of Lady Aisling’s hunters lingering by the gates.
My stomach flips. This is where Simone lives when she’s not out hunting. And if that creepy boy—the memory stealer—is any indication, there are others like her just as dangerous.
Dar stops at a point by the wall far enough into the woods that no hunters patrol here as far as I can tell. I breathe a little easier. The wall is too high to see over, crafted from red bricks and covered with creeping vines.
“This is how we can get in.” Dar makes a few quick movements I don’t quite follow, and a hidden door swings open smoothly.
“How did you do that?” I say.
She grins. “It’s a mirage of sorts. Carefully crafted to be nearly invisible. All you have to do is press here, here, and here.” She points to three spots on the now open door. “And then it unlocks. Just be sure you do it in that order.”
“Can I try?” I ask.
Dar shrugs, her smile dimming as if she’s losing interest in this game already—that is when she’s at her most dangerous. I’d better be quick. She closes the door, and I press the three spots. I don’t quite get it right on the first try, but on the second, the door swings open.
Now it’s my turn to grin.
We march through in single file and find ourselves in a back alley, cloaked in darkness and with no idea where we’re going.
“What now, Dar?”
She giggles. “Just follow the flowers, and you’ll be safe.”
I frown as she skips ahead to point at something on the wall. Imprinted into the brick is a many-petaled flower, about half the size of my fist.
“So that’s the sign to look for?”
“It will keep you on the fastest route through the back alleys of the town. I used these all the time when I was a child to sneak out and explore the woods.”
Lucas casts around nervously. “Why don’t you show us somewhere safe to spend the night? It’s getting late.”
I’m almost startled to realize he’s right. We’ve traveled much farther than I expected today, but the unnervingly bright moon that refuses to wane makes the days seem longer than they really are. It is huge now, seeming to loom close to the ground and rivaling the setting sun.
“But I’ve only just begun to show you the good stuff.” Dar’s face falls, and I intercede.
“Lucas is right. Maybe tomorrow we can come back, and you can show us more.”
Lucas and Cary both give me a sharp glance, but I ignore it for now. Keeping Dar happy and stable is important—especially within the enemy’s home territory.
She sighs dramatically. “One condition: you and Lucas promise not to try to put me back in that awful cage while I’m sleeping.”
Lucas chokes behind me, but I have no choice but to agree t
o her terms. We need a safe space to spend the night. “Yes, we promise.”
She gives us a sly look, then marches back out the secret door toward the woods. I have to hurry my shadows to keep up with her.
“Zinnia wasn’t the first town to be built around here, though it did become the one the territory was named after,” Dar mumbles more to herself than anyone else. I try to engage her in conversation to find out more.
“What was the other town?”
She shrugs. “No one remembers its name anymore. But the ruins are nearby.”
I frown. “They didn’t build over it or incorporate it into Zinnia?”
She shakes her head. “Why would they? The ruins were already in shambles when Zinnia was founded.”
“And how long ago was that?” Now she has piqued my curiosity—a thing almost as dangerous as Dar’s boredom.
“Two hundred years? Maybe more? It was a long time ago when I was a child, so even longer now.”
I recall what Alsa told us of Lady Aisling. She was an adult nearly one hundred years ago. These ruins must be ancient.
Without warning, Dar sprints ahead of me, sprouting wings on her back as she goes. “We’re almost there!” she cries, making me wince.
“Dar!” I admonish. “Hold on! And don’t yell, please. We don’t know who else might be out in these woods. They must have patrols.”
Dar laughs and keeps running. The others chase after us. Was I wrong to argue for trusting her even a little? She did get us through the gates and into the town, and provided a means for moving around largely unnoticed. It doesn’t make sense that she’d suddenly desert us now.
Of course, not much about Dar makes sense on a good day either.
With my heart in my throat, I follow her, running as fast as I can until my legs ache and my chest burns. Up ahead, I can see she has stopped at the top of a hill. When I reach her, I take in the sight before us while the others catch up.
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