“That doesn’t sound fair,” she said.
“You really aren’t from around here, are you?” Elof said with a bemused laugh, and he looked over at me. “Where was it that you said you found her, Ulla?”
“I didn’t,” I corrected him. “She found us.”
“She fell on the roof of our car,” Hanna added.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Elof used his foot to gently kick a stool closer to Eliana. She hesitated, chewing her lip as she stared down at it, but she finally took a seat beside him. “Tell me about yourself.”
She shrugged. “I don’t really know where to start, and I don’t know all that much about myself.”
“That’s not your real hair color, is it?” Elof asked.
She looked up, as if she’d be able to see her long brown hair pulled back into a loose bun. She’d gone for a “natural” color this morning to blend in. “How can you tell?”
“Dagny did tell me that you have unusual hair, but when you get tense, it starts to lose its hold—it ripples a bit at the roots.” He leaned forward and used a pen to motion to her hairline, where the dark brown intermittently shifted to a much lighter, brighter hue. “If I can see it correctly, it appears to be a dull . . . chartreuse.”
He frowned and sat back. “But that can’t possibly be your natural color. I don’t think there’re any mammals that exist in nature in that spectrum.”
“What’s chartreuse?” Eliana asked, glancing over at Hanna, who could only shrug in response.
“It’s a bright yellow-green,” Elof elaborated disinterestedly, and his eyes scanned the lab. “Ulla, can you grab me that textbook off that shelf over there?” He pointed across the room, and I went over to retrieve a book titled Troglecology: Studying Trolls, Biology, and the Environment in the 21st Century.
“Thank you,” he said as he took the book from me. He tilted the cover toward Eliana—which depicted several trolls of varying complexions, and with plastic smiles, holding a menagerie of animals and plants. Elof tapped the pale limegreen lizard sitting on a blond Skojare student’s shoulder. “That little guy there, he’s chartreuse.”
“Oh, yeah.” Eliana’s smile brightened, and the rippling of her hair finally stopped as a wave of pale greenish yellow washed all the brown out of her hair. “Yeah! I think that is my real color. I’d just forgotten.”
“You forgot your own hair color?” I gasped. “How is that . . . that doesn’t . . . No.”
“Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time I’ve encountered something like this,” Elof said as he set the textbook aside. “Once, I was called up to Doldastam to examine an elderly couple suffering from dementia. They had been very powerful color-shifters before, but with time, they’d lost control of it, and it was becoming quite problematic and uncomfortable.”
Hanna leaned on the counter next to Eliana, propping her head up on her hand. “How did you treat them?”
“I didn’t,” he said simply. “I’m not that kind of doctor.”
Hanna’s dark eyes narrowed. “What kind of doctor are you?”
“The kind that studies troll phenomena and biology,” Elof said. “Then, hopefully, the information learned from those studies can be used to find treatments for illness and ways to help our society function better.”
“So, you’re not going to be able to help me at all?” Eliana asked.
Dagny returned with her phlebotomy tool kit, and then she began to lay out her needles and vials in a precise row.
“I believe I can help you,” he answered carefully. “There is solace and knowledge in discovering a diagnosis. But that does not mean I’ll be able to cure you.”
Eliana frowned and leaned away from him. “Cure me of what?”
“Whatever ails you, I suppose.” He held up his hands with his palms out. “Right now the only thing I know of is that you have fairly severe memory loss. But there might be other things underlying.”
“Like what?” Eliana pressed.
He nodded toward Dagny. “That’s what we’re hoping to find out with the blood draw.”
“How are you with needles?” Dagny asked as she wiped an alcohol swab on Eliana’s inner arm. “I forgot to ask last time, and Ulla nearly passed out.”
I grimaced. “It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“I don’t think I have a problem with needles, but I can’t remember,” Eliana said, and she stared down at her arm, watching with mild curiosity as Dagny wrapped a tourniquet around her arm and prepared the needle.
Slowly and carefully, Dagny pressed the needle against Eliana’s skin . . . but instead of going in, the tip of the needle snapped off.
“Shit,” Dagny muttered under her breath and immediately hurried to switch the needle out.
“What happened?” Elof asked.
“The needle snapped. I’m going to try a needle with a larger gauge.”
“That’s a good plan,” he said, and as Dagny readied the next needle, he pulled Eliana’s attention from that and back to him. “Eliana. That’s a beautiful name. Do you have a last name?”
“Hanna’s tried to explain them to me, but I don’t think I fully understand what it is. The only name that I know I have is Eliana.”
“You’re going to feel a prick,” Dagny warned her, and this time the needle slid in easily.
“Oh,” Eliana said with a laugh. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“Oh, wow,” Dagny said in a surprised breath, and I looked over to see the liquid slowly filling the vial.
It was as thick as molasses, and that combined with the strange iridescent burgundy color reminded me of an ad I’d seen for slime. But this wasn’t slime.
This was coming from inside Eliana’s body.
“Is that how your blood always looks?” I asked dumbly as we all gaped at her.
“Yes. I think,” Eliana said, but she sounded less and less confident the more she talked. “Blood is the stuff that courses through our veins, right? It’s full of food and water and magic for our bodies.”
“It definitely seems like it’s blood,” Elof said, sounding about as convinced as Eliana had.
“What’s wrong with mine?” Eliana asked with a panicked tremble. “It looks fine to me. Why are you guys so scared?”
“We’re not scared,” Hanna insisted without much conviction. “Our blood just looks . . . different.”
“I don’t like this,” Eliana declared, but the thicker viscosity of her blood meant it flowed a lot slower, and Dagny had hardly half a vial filled. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“Eliana, hold on,” Dagny said, and she was using both her hands to try to hold her still and keep the needle in. “Let me take it out. You don’t want a needle to break—”
“No, I can’t. I . . .” Eliana was breathing rapidly, and panicked blotches of dark purple sprang up all over her skin. “It’s too tight in here.” I walked over and put a firm hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her and help keep her from breaking the needle in her arm. “I shouldn’t have come here. It’s too much and it’s all too close.”
“Eliana, calm down.” Hanna ran around me so she could stand in front of her and tried to force Eliana to look at her, but Eliana kept turning her head away. “Eliana, it’s okay.”
“No,” she said flatly.
“I’m almost done, only a few more seconds,” Dagny said.
“What’s wrong?” Hanna asked. “What’s going on inside your head, Eliana?”
Eliana stared down at the floor, and in a low whisper she said, “I should never have come here.”
Then suddenly she sprang up—the needle breaking off in her arm with an audible but tiny snap—and before any of us could react, she jumped over the island and raced out of the room. Hanna and I ran right after her, but by the time we’d made it to the door, she had already disappeared.
32
Tracking
Hanna ran after Eliana, nearly screaming her name, but Eliana didn’t slow, and I took off after them both.
“Hanna! Wait!” I grabbed her arm before she could run off ahead of me again.
“Let me go!” Hanna tried to wriggle away from me, but I was stronger than her, so she could only flail and whine. “Ulla, let me go! She’s scared, and she’s lost! I can’t just leave her!”
“I’m not asking you to!” I argued. “We just need to be smart about this. She’s fast, and she can camouflage. She could be anywhere, and it won’t do us—or her—any good if we’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”
She took a deep breath and seemed to calm down some, so I let go of her arm. “Eliana’s not going to stay in here. She’ll want to be outside, where she feels safe.”
“Would she go back to our apartment?” I asked.
“Not right now. Not when she’s so scared.”
“Okay. Let’s go outside, then.”
Before we headed out, Dagny and Elof joined the search, but we decided to split up so we could cover more ground. Once we were outside the building, they went north, while Hanna and I went south. I kept my eyes up, scanning the rooftops for any sign of Eliana, while Hanna resorted to intermittently shouting her name.
“I never should’ve listened to you guys,” Hanna complained after we’d been searching for about fifteen minutes. “I shouldn’t have let you talk her into this.”
“Hanna, I know you’re worried, but she has been surviving on her own for at least a little bit of time before you found her,” I told her gently. “She’s got some . . . disadvantages, sure, but she can take care of herself.”
“Are you looking for someone?” a woman asked, and I turned to see her standing at the side of the road, carrying a basket of flowers.
“Uh, sort of,” Hanna answered uncertainly.
“Are you with the security?” I asked.
“No, I’m merely a concerned bystander,” she replied, and to her credit she did look worried—her dark eyes wide and teary above the round apples of her cheeks.
“You don’t need to be concerned,” I told her with a thin smile. “We’ve got this under control.”
We started to walk away, but she called after us, “I can help you, if you need it.”
I looked back over my shoulder, trying to get a read on her.
Her hair—black tight coils—was braided tight to her scalp on one side, while on the other it flowed freely, ruffling slightly in the wind. Her leather pants were tight, squeezing around her legs, and were paired with a loose sleeveless top that showed off her rather muscular forearms.
The youthfulness of her face—the smooth sepia skin and full cheeks—contrasting with the weary concern of her eyes made it impossible to guess her age. Twenties? Thirties?
“Are you a tracker?” I asked.
“That’s not my official title, but we have a similar skill set.” She smiled and stepped closer to us. “I’m Sumi, and I find things that are lost.”
“Even living things, like trolls?” Hanna asked.
Her smile deepened. “Especially trolls. Would you like my help?”
“It can’t hurt,” Hanna said, looking up at me with pleading eyes.
“So . . . how would it work? What do you do?” I asked.
“Do you have anything that belonged to the missing individual?” Sumi asked.
“She made me this bracelet yesterday.” Hanna tugged off the friendship bracelet, made with neon thread and strung with plastic gems and a large bauble with a linnea flower covered in clear resin. “She made this one for me, and it looks just like the one I made for her, but this is the one she handled the most.”
“I’m sure that will work fine,” Sumi assured her.
She took the bracelet from Hanna carefully, gently, as if handling a priceless heirloom. Delicately, she began winding the thread between her fingers, and her eyes closed. Her expression softened, and her lips relaxed into a sublime smile.
Sumi opened her eyes and announced, “West. She went west.”
“Where?” Hanna asked, looking frantically in every direction.
“Follow me.” Sumi turned and started following the road down toward the ocean.
“Do you know where she is?” I asked.
“Not exactly, but I’ll sense when we get close,” she answered, and Hanna was already following her, so I hurried to catch up.
“What is your title, then?”
She glanced over at me but didn’t slow her steps. “Pardon?”
“You said that tracker isn’t your official title,” I reminded her. “What is it?”
“Vizier.”
“What?”
“It’s like an adviser of sorts,” Sumi explained.
“Who do you advise at the Mimirin?” I asked.
“Oh, I don’t work for the Mimirin,” she corrected me. “I’m not from here.”
“I don’t think anyone actually is from Merellä,” I contended. “It seems like everyone is a transplant.”
“I would say that I’m more of a tourist,” Sumi clarified.
“Are you enjoying your vacation?”
“It’s really a working vacation for me,” she said with a sigh. “My boss doesn’t like to travel alone, but he offers me plenty of time to sightsee and explore the city.”
“What have you seen so far?” I asked.
“Oh jakla, will you two stop chatting and hurry up?” Hanna shouted in exasperation. “This isn’t some casual stroll through the town. Our friend is missing.”
“She isn’t much farther,” Sumi insisted.
Hanna looked up at her sharply. “How do you know?”
Sumi shrugged. “You can trust me or not. I don’t really care one way or the other.”
Then she stopped short and pointed to the Forsa River—which was more of a wide stream, really, that sliced through the city and flowed out to the sea. “If you follow this river out to the ocean, you should find her.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“As sure as I ever am,” she replied with a small smile. She held out the bracelet to Hanna. “You can have this back.”
“You aren’t coming with us?” I asked.
“I’m afraid that I have an appointment to keep, but I sense that she is safe and nearby,” Sumi said. “You can handle it from here.”
“Thank you for your help,” I told her, and Hanna was already dragging me away and telling me to hurry, hurry, hurry.
“You are welcome. I wish you luck on the rest of your adventures.” Sumi watched us for a moment as we followed the river away.
When we made it to the city wall—and the narrow ledge of a path that ran along the stream and allowed access to the world beyond the city—I looked back to see if she was still there, but she was long gone.
33
Brave
It was just beyond the city where we found her, past the small but sheer drop where bright green grass ended and the narrow rocky beach began. Eliana sat on the shore, her back to us, her knees pulled to her chest, and waves lapped at the sand mere inches from her bare feet.
Hanna raced on ahead of me, reaching Eliana much sooner than I did, but I could hear her shouting. “Eliana, I was so worried about you! Why’d you run off like that?”
“It wasn’t safe there,” Eliana replied, and her words were nearly lost to the sea.
Out here, without the walls shielding us, the Pacific Ocean raged loudly. Right above us the sun was bright and clear, but dark clouds were on the horizon, a storm that was whipping the ocean into angry frenzy.
“What do you mean?” Hanna sat down on the beach beside her, but I stayed a ways back—close enough to hear them but giving Hanna a bit of space to calm Eliana herself.
Eliana looked over at her for the first time since Hanna had come to the beach. “You saw. It wasn’t safe.”
“I’m sorry I pushed you into that.” Hanna’s voice cracked with sincerity. “When I did it, it didn’t seem so scary, but I didn’t count on how different and more frightening it must’ve seemed for you.”
<
br /> “It’s okay.” Eliana absolved Hanna with a simple smile and a shrug.
“Why did you come out here?” Hanna asked.
“The water seemed safe, and I had to get away.”
“Dagny and Elof don’t want to hurt you, and you don’t have to—”
“No, I know Dagny wouldn’t hurt me.” Eliana cut her off. “Not really. It wasn’t them.”
I stepped closer, inserting myself into the conversation, and asked, “What wasn’t them?”
“Who was after me,” Eliana replied. “They were different.”
“What are you talking about?” I knelt down beside her.
“There were two of them, and they were chasing me,” Eliana explained. “That’s why I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop until I got out to the water, because I knew that I would be safe here.”
“Who was chasing you?” Hanna asked.
“Was it security or Mimirin staff?” I added.
“No,” Eliana said, then changed her mind and shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t really be sure of anything.”
“If you don’t know who was chasing you, can you at least tell us what they look like?” I asked carefully.
“Yes.” Eliana closed her eyes, as if focusing on their images. “One was . . . my shadow, and the other was a dragon.”
“A shadow and a dragon?” I repeated.
“And I know what you’re thinking,” Eliana said and opened her eyes. “The dragon sounds scarier, but no. The shadow is sooo much scarier, because I didn’t know if I could outrun it. Is it even possible to get away from your shadow?”
“Eliana, you’ve had a really long, rough morning,” I said gently. “Why don’t we head back home, you get some rest, and Hanna can make you something to eat?”
“Can I watch my shows on the laptop?”
I smiled. “Yeah, of course you can.”
She returned my smile. “Okay. Let’s go back.”
Before she got up, Hanna took her hand so Eliana would look at her. “You have to promise me that you won’t run off like that again, Eliana. I was so scared that I would never see you again.”
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