by Amie Kaufman
A new wave of shock hit Anders. An uncle. He’d spent his whole life longing to know his parents, and now he had someone right here in front of him, someone he liked, even admired . . . a member of his family.
Perhaps he and Rayna weren’t alone anymore.
Abruptly Rayna fumbled inside her coat. “We can find out,” she said hurriedly. Her hands were shaking, and it took her three tries, but she yanked the little red-and-silver purse Leif had given her free of her pocket and held it out to Hayn. “Here, open this.”
Hayn took it in one big hand, turning it over. “It’s an artifact,” he said, impressed. “Excellent workmanship. I think this was Eliot, I’d know his work anywhere. Now, what does it . . .” He studied the tiny runes engraved along the clasp, and then understanding lit his face. “It recognizes family,” he said. He hesitated, then cleared his throat softly. Anders couldn’t help but wonder if Hayn was as nervous as he was. And then Hayn’s thick fingers pushed at the little silver clasp.
And the purse popped open.
They all stared at it—even Ellukka craned her neck to see what had happened—and Hayn’s mouth curved to a slow smile as he handed the purse back to Rayna. “Well,” he said softly, and then he had to push up his glasses and use one finger to carefully wipe the moisture from his eyes. “Well. I wonder if Felix knew. I hope he did. Drifa must have hidden you with someone in the city—the wolves were hunting her, and whoever killed Felix would have been doing the same to stop her from telling the truth—but I know she would have meant to come back for you. And I think she would have meant for me to meet you.”
“You found us anyway,” Anders said softly. “How?”
“Ennar and her class came back with a story about you telling them all your sister was a dragon,” Hayn said. “And after that I spent a lot of time thinking. The first time I met you, I thought how much you looked like my brother at the same age, and that stuck with me. In fact, it was why out of all the wolves in this square that day, I led the pursuit when you ran for it, Anders. I’d been staring while you were on the dais, even though I knew there was no way you could actually be Felix’s son.”
“Except he was,” Lisabet murmured.
Hayn nodded. “Twins run in the family, and after I heard word you were claiming to have a sister, I thought back twelve or thirteen years. I knew all the dragons that came into the city to work with wolf designers. There weren’t an endless number of candidates.”
“Gosh, maybe you’re going to grow up as big as Uncle Hayn,” Rayna said with a giggle, elbowing Anders. He knew, though he was sure the others didn’t, that she was trying out the title, looking for an excuse to say it out loud.
“I thought I was alone in the world,” Hayn said quietly. “And now I have the two of you. Anders, Rayna, you two are why I want so badly to prevent another battle between wolves and dragons, which is what will happen if we use the Snowstone for an attack. I have to protect you, and we don’t have much time. Sigrid has me hunting for augmenters, artifacts that can be used to amplify the effects of the Snowstone. I’ve been able to stall so far, but that won’t last forever.”
Anders heard Lisabet draw a shaky breath beside him, and he silently squeezed her hand. Scary as it was to hear of Sigrid’s plans, it must be even worse knowing it was your own mother planning it. He was about to speak again when there was a sudden outcry farther along the docks, voices raised in screams and cries.
He, Lisabet, and Rayna twisted around quickly, peering past Ellukka, who leaned forward, ready to spring to her feet if the attention turned their way.
But nobody was looking at them. A woman came shoving her way through the crowd, sending everyone in her path flying as she pushed them out of the way, her narrow face a mask of panic. She had light-brown skin and distinctive reddish-brown, wavy hair, whipping in the wind as she ran.
In a flash, Anders recognized her. Once he had thought of her as “the woman in the green dress,” a dragon spy who’d followed him around Holbard the day of the fire, showing him Rayna’s hairpin in an attempt to make contact. Perhaps she had been here today to spy as well.
She ran by not ten yards from them, pushing a sailor so hard he stumbled, arms windmilling madly for a moment before he fell into the harbor with a splash. The woman sprinted out along the arm of the pier, and when she was halfway to the end a pack of wolves suddenly burst through the crowd after her.
Snarling, they tore along the pier, and Ellukka let out a cry, then clapped her hand to her mouth, coming to her feet as though she meant to try and help the woman. Lisabet grabbed her by her coat, yanking her back down again with a thump. There was nothing one girl could do against fully grown Wolf Guards.
The dragon was nearly at the end of the pier, and Anders’s heart was in his mouth. She couldn’t possibly dive into the icy waters—the cold might kill her. But at the last possible moment she doubled over, one hand brushing the ground, and vaulted herself into dragon form. She spread her wings, and as the crowd on the docks screamed, she was suddenly aloft, circling out over the harbor to safety.
The guards pulled up at the end of the pier, hurling ice spears after her, so powerful that a thin film of ice spread out across the water around them, and a chill swept through the air around the docks.
But she was gone, a rapidly shrinking shape in the sky, well out to sea and whirling around to head inland, no doubt toward Drekhelm.
The wolves came pacing down the pier, snarling their frustration, and all around the dock were shouts and cries, as those who had seen the chase told those who had missed it everything that had happened. Anders and the others bowed their heads as the wolves passed by, all silent. They were so big, so powerful. If they’d been chasing any of the children, there was no doubt they’d have caught them, as they’d nearly caught the dragon spy.
Hayn was the one who finally spoke. “I can’t avoid finding an augmenter forever,” he said quietly. “We have to do something, before her guards are strong enough to attack Drekhelm itself, and win.”
“We want to stop a battle too,” Anders said softly. He could barely remember how it had felt to worry only about protecting himself, his twin, and his best friend. It wasn’t even just about his wolf and dragon friends, or his uncle, anymore. It was about every person in Holbard, all the innocent people who’d suffer in the cold or the heat, who’d be in danger if another battle came.
“We do,” Rayna said. “But we don’t know how. Isn’t there a way to find the Snowstone? Take it back?”
“I have no idea where Sigrid’s hiding it,” Hayn said. “Believe me, I’ve tried to find out. She’s the only one who knows, and she’s not telling. But I think I have a way to level the playing field. If we can’t get the Snowstone back, maybe we can make her think twice about using it.”
They all leaned in. “How do we do that?” Anders asked.
“Drifa left a map, showing where she hid all her most valuable artifacts,” his uncle replied. “I saw her use it more than once back when we worked together, and she didn’t exactly have time to gather up her things, the day . . .” He paused there and shook his head. The day his brother—the twins’ father—had died. He cleared his throat, then pressed on. “It’s been useless until now, because like this purse, it’s locked to all but family members. And until today we thought she hadn’t left any of those.”
“But now we can use the map,” Lisabet said slowly. “And you think it can lead us to an artifact that can help?”
“Yes,” said Hayn. “I believe you’ll be able to use the map to find the Sun Scepter. I don’t know much about how it works, but I believe it will counter the Snowstone.”
“We have to find it,” said Anders, Rayna, Lisabet, and Ellukka at exactly the same time.
“Agreed,” Hayn said. “I don’t think it will be easy, but if we can’t find the Snowstone, it’s the best plan I can think of. The map will challenge you—it will require knowledge of both the wolf and dragon worlds, because Drifa would have expected to raise her children l
earning about the histories of both their mother and their father. And knowing her as I did, I expect it will require daring and intelligence, but I know you have plenty of both.”
Anders wasn’t used to anyone saying anything like that about him, but Lisabet simply reached over and squeezed his hand, as he had hers a minute before.
“I’m going to steal the map from where it’s stored in the library today,” Hayn said. “I’ll meet you with it tonight. I didn’t want to risk it until I was sure my theory about you was right, because I’m being watched. I think perhaps Sigrid knows I’m not working as fast as I could at finding an augmenter. I’m sure she doesn’t know about my connection to you, or she’d never have let me leave Ulfar, but times are tense, and if she’s ever suspected Felix was a traitor . . .”
“We can hide during the day,” Rayna said. “But it would be better if we could meet you by the western gate to get the map. That way we can get out and on our way more quickly. We’re expected back at Drekhelm.” And, though nobody said it out loud, the closer the children were to a gate they could use to escape, the better.
Anders thought of their curfew with a wince—Mikkel and Theo were in for an interesting time, since the four of them certainly wouldn’t get back by dinnertime. He hoped the boys were up to the challenge.
“I’ll do my best to hurry—I’ll aim to be there an hour before sunset,” Hayn promised. He paused, then reached out, laying one hand on Anders’s, the other on Rayna’s. Looking up at him, Anders found he really could see himself there—Hayn smiled suddenly, and there were his and Rayna’s dimples. He shared Rayna’s jawline, and Anders’s long limbs. “I’m so glad I found you,” said Hayn softly. “I’ll do everything I can to keep both of you safe.”
Anders didn’t know what to say in return, and it seemed that neither did Rayna, for they were both quiet. “We’re glad too,” he said eventually.
Ellukka leaned back to press her shoulder against Rayna’s. “I don’t want to break up the party, but we’ve been out in the open for a while now. I’d be more comfortable back up on the rooftops.”
“Agreed,” said Hayn. “Go. I’ll see you soon.”
They parted ways, and a few minutes later Anders was boosting everyone back up onto the rooftops again. The four of them made their way across the meadows in thoughtful silence, all of them shaken by everything they’d just seen and learned.
Anders saw the Wily Wolf in the distance—the tavern that stood at the highest point in Holbard. He and Rayna had slept there more than anywhere else, tucked into the space under a little hatch beneath the grass, curled up with Kess the cat. He’d told Lisabet about the hiding place, and Lisabet had told Sigrid—which had been the subject of Anders and Lisabet’s first and only fight—and though he wished they could hide there now, Professor Ennar had told them that the wolves were now using it as a lookout point. Guards were no doubt scanning the skies for dragons right this very moment, not knowing that two of them were walking across the rooftops not far away.
“I know we just had some really big revelations,” said Lisabet, “but I’m starving. And it’s going to be a long day.”
“Me too,” Rayna said. “We should buy something to eat.”
“What she said,” added Ellukka, who had taken her cloak back from Lisabet now that they were on the rooftops again, and had it wrapped tightly around herself, shoulders hunched against the cold.
“I agree,” said Anders, looking across at Rayna. “I don’t suppose while we were walking into town, or across the square . . . ?”
Rayna pulled out the little red-and-silver purse once again, and when she shook it, coins jingled inside. Anders had a pretty good idea where his pickpocket sister had gotten them, but for once he wasn’t in the mood to worry about it. He and the others were trying to save the world, and he figured the world owed them lunch.
Once upon a time he would have felt bad that Rayna had thought to find them some money when the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. He didn’t now. He was contributing, and he knew it. Just in different ways.
“It would be better if Ellukka went down,” he suggested. “Nobody knows her face.” He knew as he said it that everyone was thinking of the dragon they’d just seen fleeing from the port, but Ellukka simply nodded.
“I’ve never been here before,” she said. “I won’t be recognized.”
They made their way across to Dreibaum Square, one of their favorite haunts, and lowered her down into a nearby alleyway with clear instructions on how much to pay for what she wanted.
“I wish I had my fishing line,” said Rayna wistfully, as they watched her go. “I really feel like a sausage.”
“A what?” said Lisabet, confused. But Anders shook his head—it would sound ridiculous if he tried to explain what the two things had to do with each other. That was a story from their time out here on the streets of Holbard.
They sat in silence for a little, waiting for Ellukka, a gentle breeze blowing across the rooftops. “So,” Rayna said eventually. “We have an uncle.”
“He’s a great choice,” Lisabet said. “He’s one of the nicest people I know. And he’s smart too.”
“You know much about him?” Rayna asked, instantly curious.
“He’s friends with my mother,” Lisabet settled on. “Anders has met him too.”
“He’s the one who found me, the day we transformed,” Anders said. “And I met him after, at Ulfar. He was always kind to me. I think if I could have chosen any of the adults I met at Ulfar, I’d have chosen Hayn.”
It wasn’t long before Ellukka arrived, bearing a bag full of hot pastries with fish and creamy sauce inside, and a bottle of milk with a cork stopper in the top for all of them to share. “There are so many people down there,” she said, her eyes wide. “And so much noise, and they’re selling—you should see all the things they’re selling!”
“We know,” Rayna pointed out, but that didn’t stop Ellukka. She kept on, as they ate their pastries, and made their way across the rooftop meadows to the meeting point. She listed all the things for sale at the stalls, talked about the colored doors on the houses, the horse-drawn wagons, and the musicians she’d seen on one corner. Through Ellukka’s eyes, everything that was normal to Anders was new again. It was strange that she was so accustomed to extraordinary things like the dragonsmith Flic gardens up at Drekhelm, but so amazed by something as simple as a shop selling candles and imported bales of cloth.
But there was something else about the city that Anders was noticing through Ellukka’s eyes, and he was sure Rayna and Lisabet had noticed it too.
Everywhere he looked, he saw the Wolf Guard. He’d grown up with patrols, and even a couple of months ago, in the weeks before his transformation, he’d gotten used to seeing more guards on the street than usual. But now there seemed to be a pair on every corner, some in their gray uniforms, some in wolf form. They were out in force, looking for spies, for dragons, and for Anders, Rayna, and Lisabet.
The Wolf Guard stepped in front of anyone they wanted to question, looming over them, pushing for answers from humans wrapped up in coats and cloaks against the cold. He wanted to insist that this wasn’t who the wolves were—that they were loyal, protective, that they cared about the people of Holbard. But it was hard to sound convincing just now, and he stayed silent.
They found a good spot to pass the rest of their time in the lee of a rooftop, settling in amid the flowers to wait, talking through the earlier meeting at the port square. Anders and Rayna kept coming back to the little details, trying to accustom themselves to the idea that they finally had another member of their family, after spending all their lives thinking they’d never know who their parents were, let alone discover a living uncle.
But eventually they had a different question to worry about. With a little more than an hour left before sunset, they started keeping watch for Hayn, taking turns sitting at the edge of the roof in pairs and watching the swirling crowd for the distinctive figure of the big wolf
.
But the appointed time came and went, and the sun sank down until it kissed the horizon, and still he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually the city grew dark and still, and Hayn had not come.
“What do we do?” Lisabet asked quietly. “Do we give up?”
“Well, we know it wasn’t a trap,” Rayna said. “If it had been, he wouldn’t have shown, but instead there’d be a dozen of the Wolf Guard up here to grab us. He heard Ellukka say we were heading for the rooftops. Something must have delayed him.”
“Still, we can’t wait all night,” said Ellukka. “Perhaps we should try and come back tomorrow. It’ll be hard to convince Leif a second day in a row, though. He’s going to be mad we’re back so late.”
“We have to hold on a little longer,” said Anders, desperately watching the street. “He’ll come, I know it.”
Chapter Seven
ANDERS STAYED WHERE HE WAS, SITTING AT THE edge of the roof, and suddenly he spotted a pair of figures that were much smaller than Hayn, but even more familiar.
“Lisabet,” he said quietly. “Lis, come over here. Does that look like Sakarias and Viktoria to you?”
“After dark?” she said, but she crawled over obediently.
Below in the street were two children in what looked, even in the shadows, like gray Ulfar Academy cloaks, trimmed with white. One had long, black, shiny hair, and the other a face that looked pale in the moonlight. They were standing to one side of the crowd flowing in and out of the western gate, and if it was them, then Sakarias was talking quickly—which only confirmed Anders’s suspicions that these were his friends—while Viktoria turned in a slow circle, studying their surroundings. Her head was angled back, looking up at the rooftops, though Anders knew she wouldn’t be able to see him in the dark.
“Friends of yours?” Rayna asked, settling in beside him.
“Our roomies at Ulfar,” he said. “Our friends. And they’re not allowed out after dark. It can’t be a coincidence they’re here. They’ve snuck out to find us, it’s the only explanation. I’m going to go down and find out why. We shouldn’t risk all of us being seen.”