“Perfect. Let’s go, before Damien beats us there.”
“As you wish, darling.” Phantom launches themselves into the air, my hand gripping the band until my knuckles turn white as my legs squeeze to maintain my seat. It’s like being shot from a cannon. My red curls tug back from my face, and my eyes tear from the shearing wind. I swallow down a yelp.
“I’ve cloaked us in invisibility so that we don’t draw unwanted attention,” Phantom says into the wind.
I send them a mental note that I approve. I’m reluctant to open my mouth to say the words, worried that at the speed I’m traveling, I won’t be able to close it again. I lower my chest closer to their back and hang on for dear life.
After a few minutes in the air, they level out, their wings barely flapping as they soar through the darkness, the moon’s light melting beyond the horizon as Tenebris day turns into Tenebris night. Although this new shade body can see in the dark, it takes my eyes time to adjust to the inky blackness.
Once I do, the night becomes a glorious thing. I draw air into my lungs, the wind howling in my ears, the woods beneath us like a dark green carpet. Up here, it’s peaceful and calm. Nothing else on this world flies so high. We’re alone. We’re safe.
“It’s nice to feel you happy,” Phantom says. “We all think so. You’ve been anxious for days.”
“That will happen when an entire kingdom wants you dead.”
Phantom laughs a deep, charcoal-lined laugh. “Darling, is that all? You’ve been dead three times before. We’re all dead in here. Dead isn’t anything to fear. Fear for the living. Fear for the ones suffering under those tyrants’ rule.”
I think about that long and hard. “You’re right. The most important thing is helping free this kingdom from Brahm and Nevina and returning Damien to the throne. The only thing to fear is failure to do that. Failure to helpour people.” I blow out a deep breath. “I’m glad I have you all with me to put things in perspective.”
“We’re glad to have you too, darling. Hold on tight. I think I see the camp we’re looking for, and I hear children crying.”
Oh no. “Get us on the ground. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
Phantom drops, and my stomach lurches. My fingers grip the strap as my bottom lifts off the saddle, and I stifle another scream. By the time Phantom’s feet meet the forest underbrush, my heart is hammering in my chest and I’m wide awake. I dismount and give the beast a thank-you pat, then watch them disappear from view. Approaching the forest’s edge, I move toward the sound of children sobbing, and then something grabs me from behind. Damien. He brings a finger to his lips.
“Beat you,” I whisper.
He slants me a playful grin. “I’ve been here a quarter hour.”
I scoff, then turn serious and nod toward the clearing. The children are there, all right. Phantom didn’t steer us wrong. But extracting them won’t be easy. Zander and Zarissa are locked inside a crate enchanted with elven magic. It’s the same sort of box the hunters caged me in, and I feel bile rise in my throat, remembering the pain I suffered anytime I was jostled into the bars. The children are hugging each other and sobbing, their eyes and cheeks red from their tears.
“Those bars are charged with sunlight. We can’t touch them,” I whisper.
“Dawnbreaker will take care of the bars.” He taps the hilt of his sword.
I survey the rest of the campsite. Rabble beasts are corralled inside a small pen, and the glow of a lantern comes from inside a tent. A doused fire smolders between the cart and the tent.
“Do you find this just a tad too convenient?” I ask Damien.
He frowns. “Children left alone to sob at the edge of the woods like bait? Yes. They’re expecting us.”
“So, how do we slip the worm off the hook without alerting the fisherman?”
He rubs his chin. “I’m afraid that hook will have to be dealt with, one way or another. If we touch the box to open it, the magic will make us mortal. If this is a trap, that’s exactly what they want. I can cut the box open with Dawnbreaker, but the sound will set off the same alarm bells. One of us will have to cover the other one until we can get the children out.”
I place a hand on his arm. “What if we were able to slip the entire hook off the line?”
“How’s that?”
“They don’t know Phantom exists. I’ll have the dragon move the entire box to another clearing, cart and all.”
“I doubt Phantom can touch that thing either.”
“Not directly.” I point to the rabble beasts and then the leather straps of their halters and reins that hang on a branch of a nearby tree.
“Clever little dragon,” he whispers.
“You’ll have to do it. I can’t control the shadows well enough to build the rigging.”
