by Nicole Maggi
I peeked in through the murky glass for a split second, withdrawing quickly before they could see me. The assistant—Pratt, I remembered—sat at the side of an enormous desk. Mr. Wolfe stood behind it, palms flat on the wood as he leaned over a grey teleconference phone.
“Are you certain?” asked a disembodied voice from the speaker. The voice had an accent; I could swear it was Italian.
“I’m sure,” Pratt said. “I checked the town, county, and state records. Her property ends at a stone wall marker in the woods, and it’s past that.”
“Who owns the land?”
“The town,” Mr. Wolfe answered.
“So we are bene.” Definitely Italian.
“Not quite,” Pratt said. “She could still cause some trouble.”
“Wasn’t she at the meeting?” There was something about the steel-edged voice on the phone that made my skin itchy.
“No,” Pratt said. “She wasn’t there.”
“Take care of it, gentlemen,” said the unseen voice, followed by a click and then a dial tone.
I risked another peek through the window. Pratt hit a button on the phone and got to his feet. I backed away from the door and ducked into the bathroom, my temples throbbing. Why were they talking about my mother and the farm?
I heard the office door creak open. “Coffee at Joe’s?” Pratt asked.
“Sounds good,” Mr. Wolfe said.
I waited until their footsteps disappeared before stepping back into the hall. My heart was shaky, like I’d just run a fast mile in cold weather. I glanced toward the kitchen. With a deep breath, I slipped into the office.
The desk sprawled out in the center of the room, and surrounding it were shelves and bookcases crammed with folders and papers and documents rolled up into long tubes. The walls were covered with tacked-up index cards and blueprints. I turned in a slow circle, trying to find something that would give me a clue as to why they’d been talking about my farm.
I walked over to one of the walls where sets of blueprints hung so close together that some of them overlapped. Twin Willows Facility—Foundation, read the label on the bottom of the blueprint. I tried to make sense of the plan, but the silvery lines swam in my vision.
A dry-erase board hung beside the blueprint, its surface divided into two columns. One column was labeled Agree. It listed many of the town’s small business owners, like Mr. Salter and Joe Burns of Joe’s Coffee Shop. The other column was titled Possible Problems. My mother was first on that list. I touched her name in red marker. What was going on here?
I moved down the wall, past a plan labeled Twin Willows Facility—Second Floor and stopped at the blueprint next to it. This one was titled Twin Willows Facility—Exterior and showed the landscape surrounding the imaginary plant.
The black-and-silver graphics of the plan blurred in front of me. I blinked to clear my vision, to make sure I was reading the plan right. My hand shook as I touched the blueprint. I walked my fingers until they struck the exact center of where the plant would be. I didn’t need a blueprint to tell me where it was; I could find this spot with my eyes closed if I had to.
The Guild’s hydroelectric power plant sat directly on top of the Waterfall.
Chapter Fourteen
The Clan
“What are you doing in here?”
I whirled around.
Jonah stood just outside the doorway as though an invisible barrier prevented him from going in.
I backed away from the wall, still burning with the knowledge I had just discovered from the blueprint. “S-sorry.” I hurried toward him, my brain spinning to come up with a good excuse. “I thought—” I swallowed. “Maybe there was something in here that might help my presentation. You know, the one for government class.”
Jonah reached out to me without stepping inside the room. I took his hand, and he pulled me into the hallway. His hand was cold. “We’re not allowed in that room.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone in there.”
“I don’t care,” Jonah said. “It’s just a good thing I found you and not my dad.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I was just curious.”
He leaned in so close to me that our noses touched. “You know what they say about curiosity.” He nibbled my lips.
I pulled back.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing. I should really be getting home.”
“I’ll walk you.”
“No.”
Jonah looked at me, his brow creased.
I took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn’t notice how shaky it was. “I mean, my mom is probably the last person you want to see, and it smells like dinner is almost ready.”
“Okay, but don’t complain to me that chivalry is dead.” He raised my hand to his mouth and kissed it. “My lady.”
“You’re a nerd,” I said.
He laughed and led me to the kitchen.
I thanked his mom and grabbed my jacket from the coatrack by the door, my nerves fighting to stay inside my skin.
Jonah walked me out onto the front porch. As soon as we were out of his mom’s sight, he pulled me against him, one hand under my jacket, the other buried deep in my hair. “Meet me tonight. At the graveyard on our bench.”
“I’ll try.” My brain was on fire to get home and find Heath, tell him what I had found. But my body melted into Jonah as he kissed the breath out of me.
At last he drew back. “Sure you don’t want me to walk you home?”
“I’m sure.” I gave him a watery smile and one last quick kiss. “I’ll call you later,” I said and ran to the top of the driveway before he could stall me again. When I turned around, he was still on the porch, watching me.
At the end of his street, I bolted into a run. My backpack flopped painfully against my spine, but I didn’t slow down. By the time I reached the farm I was sure I could give the track team a run for their money.
Heath’s truck was in the driveway. Don’t be in the Cave, I prayed; there was no way I could ask to talk to him privately in front of Lidia without raising her suspicion. But just as I skidded around the back of the house, the barn door banged open, and Heath walked out into the dying sunlight.
“I have to talk to you—it’s really important,” I gasped, bending over a little to ease a crick in my side.
“It’s too risky now,” he said. I traced his gaze to the Cave where Lidia could emerge at any moment. “Let’s meet tonight in the clearing at eleven.”
“But . . .” I straightened up and sighed. “Okay.” My insides danced between hot and cold as I struggled not to spill what I knew about Mr. Wolfe and the Guild then and there. We needed a quiet place to talk it out, but I wanted Heath to make sense of it for me now, to tell me that the Benandanti knew all about it already and had a plan, that what I had seen meant something else. That the Guild didn’t intend to destroy the Waterfall . . .
I trudged to the house and squinted at the sky just before I went inside. Daylight was weakening into greying dusk, and eleven felt decades away. I took out my cell phone and sent a text to Jonah. Can’t tonight. Tomorrow?
He responded less than a minute later. OK.
At ten thirty, I stood in the doorway to my room, waiting for the light that seeped out into the hall from under Lidia’s door to disappear. Finally, at ten to eleven, the light went out.
Carrying my boots in my arms, I tiptoed down to the kitchen in my socks. Moonlight skittered over the table and counters, turning them the color of bone. I put on my boots and slipped out the door. It felt strange to leave the house in my human form; I was more used to soaring out my second-story window, the ground like a toy map beneath me.
Heath was already at the clearing when I emerged from the dark woods. “What’s going on?”
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly sticky. “I was at the Wolfes’ house today—you know, that new family that moved to town?”
“What were you doing there?”
“I—�
�� I pressed my lips together. “Nothing. But when I was there—”
“You were with that boy, weren’t you? The one from the party. Jonah.”
“Well, yes, but that’s not the point.” I folded my arms over my chest. “Wait a minute. How do you know his name?”
“I live in this town too, you know.”
“Yeah, but you’re—” I threw my hands up in the air. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter why I was there or with who. The point is, I was there, and I was in Mr. Wolfe’s office, and I saw a blueprint of where they’re planning to build that power plant.”
Heath straightened, his whole body tense. “Where?”
I pointed into the dark forest. “Right over the Waterfall.”
“Shit.” Heath bent over, digging his elbows into his thighs. “They’ve done it.”
“Done what?” I grabbed his shoulder and heaved him upright. “How did we not know this before? The Guild is a huge company. Are they a front for the Malandanti?”
“Something like that.” Heath ran his hands through his hair. “We’re not sure how exactly the Malandanti and the Guild are entwined. We know they are somehow, but every spy the Benandanti has ever sent into the Guild hasn’t come out alive.”
I drew back. Even though I had seen firsthand what the Malandanti were capable of, reminders of it always pierced my gut. “So that’s why they’re here. To destroy the Waterfall.”
“No, they don’t want to destroy all that magic. They want to control it.” Heath blew out a hard breath. “But this is the first time they’ve ever tried to build over one of the sites.”
“What does that mean?”
Heath paced in a little circle. “It means they’re stepping up their game. Once that power plant is built we’ll never break through the barrier. We’ll never get control back.” He looked off into the forest. “We’ve got to take this information to the rest of the Clan.”
“You think?” I said.
But Heath’s mouth was already moving, already uttering secret words to Call the Clan.
Pain pierced my heart, tearing me in two. I gripped Heath’s arm for support, but his knees buckled at the same time as mine, and we both fell on the ground. The clearing filled with blue and white light, brighter than moonlight and daylight mixed together. My insides gave one last twist, and my soul left my body.
I shot up out of the clearing.
Our meeting place is the birch trees near the Waterfall, Heath told me.
I stretched my wings and soared over the treetops. In the forest below I glimpsed patches of starry-blue auras—the rest of the Clan racing to join us.
Below me, I spied the copse of birch trees, their bark silvery in the moonlight. I glided lower and landed on one of their branches.
The Eagle took a perch above me while the rest gathered below.
Tell them what you told me, Heath said.
Careful to keep out any details that could give away my identity, I related what I had seen.
You’re sure you didn’t misread the blueprint? asked the Stag. I recognized his deep, authoritative voice from the bridge.
I’m sure, I said.
But how did this get past us? It was the Lynx. I was at the town meeting when the plan was proposed. The location of the plant must have been part of the presentation. How come we didn’t realize it then?
I was there too, said the Eagle.
Me too, I said, echoed by the Stag.
I wasn’t there, Heath said. What do you remember of the presentation?
No one answered.
I tried to dredge up specific details of the presentation, but all I could remember were bright photographs of smiling people and the sense of compliance I had when the presentation was over. It’s kind of a jumble, I said. All I can say is that I didn’t think anything bad about it.
Heath’s ears pricked forward. Did any of you think anything bad about it?
The silence that followed answered his question.
The Stag pranced in place. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
If you’re thinking the Congo, then yes.
The Eagle burst upward from her perch a few inches, her wings beating wildly. Of course! How could we not have seen it?
I can’t believe I was so dumb, the Lynx said, sitting back on his haunches.
Hello? I cocked my head. Newbie here. What are you talking about?
Heath turned his head up toward me. One of the magical sites is in the Congo. It holds the power of mind control.
It’s not really mind control, the Eagle clarified. It’s more like an influence.
Okay, fine. Mind influence. Regardless, the Malandanti control that site. They must have used the magic on the town.
The conversation dimmed in my mind as I realized that we weren’t just talking about the Malandanti or the Guild. We were talking about Jonah’s father. What did Mr. Wolfe know? How far deep was he? Was he—a little needle stabbed my heart—a Malandante?
—can’t let this happen. The Stag’s stout voice snapped me back to the here and now. We have a complete Clan now. We can retake the Waterfall.
When? asked the Lynx.
Tonight. Now. We’re all here—
No way. Heath’s fur bristled. She’s not ready.
Well, she has to be. Here’s the plan—
Wait—what? I fluttered off my branch and hovered in the air. Are we attacking the Malandanti?
Yes, answered the Stag.
At the same time Heath said, No.
They stared at each other, the air crackling between them.
The Stag raised his head, and his antlers caught the moonlight, casting a long, pointed shadow on the ground. I know you’re her Guide, but I’m the head of this Clan. I have the final say. There was no ego in his voice, just a quiet authority. He actually sounded a little weary. Who knows how much more damage the Guild could do if we wait any longer? We’re going in tonight.
Chapter Fifteen
The Attempt
As the Stag laid out the plan, I tried to keep the fear out of my mind.
Heath sensed it anyway and blocked out the rest of the Clan from his thoughts. It’s okay. Just remember your training, and you’ll be fine.
The minute we come out of hiding, the Malandanti on patrol will see our auras and call for backup, finished the Stag. So be ready. And everyone keep a lookout for our newbie, he added with a nod to me. All right. Here we go. In bocca al lupo.
In bocca al lupo . . . may the wolf hold you in its mouth. An Italian blessing I had heard Lidia say many times before a big test or a writing contest.
If I were my human self, my hands would be trembling, my stomach a mess of butterflies. But in my Falcon form, my wings stretched wide and caught the wind, my sharp eyes spotted an insect clinging to a leaf, and the quietest sound from the smallest creature rang like surround sound in my ears. I was so awake to every tiny thing in the world when I was a Falcon that I felt like I spent the rest of my life sleeping. The only other time I felt this alive was with Jonah.
My aura flickered. I pushed thoughts of Jonah from my mind and focused on the training exercises I had done with Heath. Keeping low to the ground, I followed the Eagle through the trees. How many times had I walked this path with my dad? I blinked; now wasn’t the time to think of him, either. Just ahead, the trees thinned out. The sound of the Waterfall filled the air.
Get ready, the Stag told us.
I took a deep mental breath.
As soon as we broke through the trees, we fanned out. The Eagle and I flew down to the pool below the Waterfall. Inside the sparkly black barrier, the Malandanti Bobcat sat on a rock beside the water. The Stag was right. When it spotted the five Benandanti, it howled.
The plan was that when the other Malandanti showed up, we would overpower them, and the Bobcat would have to come outside the barrier to help. I had expected that we would have several minutes between the Bobcat’s alert and the arrival of the rest of its Clan. But the instant the Bobcat howled, bu
rsts of movement exploded on all sides.
They had been waiting for us.
Before I could move, before I could think, the Raven was on me, its talons ripping into my feathers. I screeched and flailed, unable to get free until the Eagle knocked the Raven away. We soared over the Waterfall, the Raven close on our tails.
Above the Waterfall, it was chaos. I had thought the Raven and the Bobcat were bad enough on the bridge, but the Malandanti Clan in its entirety was a hundred times worse. An enormous Boar faced off with the Stag. Heath was locked in battle with a huge grey Coyote. And the Lynx grappled with a massive Panther.
I pulled up short. It was the same Panther I had seen on my father’s birthday, the same Panther from my vision in the office.
Watch out!
I tore my gaze off the Panther. The Raven, talons outstretched, came right at me. I shot upward. The Eagle met the Raven head-on. In a shower of feathers, they spiraled away, a fiery ball of blue and silver light.
On the ground below, the Malandanti fanned out and surrounded the Benandanti. I pitched downward, glancing inside the barrier. The Bobcat still sat on the rock, watching us. Obviously it had its orders: remain inside the barrier, no matter what.
The Malandanti closed in. With one fluid, swift motion, they pounced on Heath and dragged him away. His pale form disappeared beneath their silvery auras.
I screamed, the sound ripping through the air, and plummeted toward the fight.
The Malandanti Panther turned and met my gaze, those fierce green eyes boring into me.
I landed on the Panther’s back, my talons digging deep into its flesh. The Panther bucked beneath me and stumbled away from the pack. The other Benandanti followed my lead. One by one, we hauled the Malandanti away from Heath. He lay on the ground, his white fur stained dark with blood, his chest heaving.
With a cry of relief, I released the Panther. It jabbed at me with its claws, but I dodged out of reach and landed next to Heath. Are you all right?
He struggled to find his footing. I’m okay. Let’s go.
We took off into the forest, and the rest of the Benandanti followed.