Page 27 of Wings of Starlight

Here and there, Clarion caught glimpses of scouts clinging to the tallest boughs of the pines. They nodded in silent acknowledgment as they passed. “Have they found anything yet?”

“No,” Artemis said grimly. “Not that I’ve heard.”

“It seems impossible that something that size could just vanish without a trace.”

“Even if they did find something…” Artemis looked troubled. “That thing didn’t even flinch when it was struck by my arrows. But I saw what your magic did.”

Clarion warmed at the open reverence in her voice. In truth, she hardly knew what she’d done. One moment, she’d felt almost resigned to her fate: that if she were to die, she would go down protecting someone else. The next: golden light, as brilliant as a felled star. She hadn’t known Artemis had even seen that, considering she’d promptly tackled her to the ground. The scrapes on her elbows still stung.

“So you understand,” Clarion said quietly. “Why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

“I don’t think you have any idea what you’re doing, but I have placed my trust in you.” Artemis offered her a faint smile, then seemed to remember that she’d been almostcheeky. In a grave tone, she added, “With all due respect, of course, Your Highness.”

It wasn’t exactly the vote of confidence Clarion had hoped for, but for now, it would have to be enough.

They flew in silence until they reached Petra’s cottage in her lonely corner of Tinker’s Nook. In the morning light, the dew beaded on the moss-thatched roof glittered invitingly. When they landed on her porch, Artemis ran her fingers over the house’s rough stone face. With genuine wonder in her voice, she said, “I didn’t realize the tinker was so enterprising.”

Clarion allowed herself a small, private smile. “Have you never seen her focused on something? It’s actually quite frightening.”

Considering Petra’s pale, freckled face hadn’t appeared in the window yet, she likely was in one of her fugue-like states as they spoke. Indeed, all the blinds were drawn, shutting out the light. Really, she could be sointense. Most of the other tinkers stayed well out of her way when she was engrossed in a project. She became a different fairy entirely.

Clarion knocked. No answer came from within, but she could hear the bright clang and clash of metal on metal. Oh, Petra was almost certainly lost to the world by now.

“Shall we come back another time?” Artemis asked.

“Oh, no need.” Clarion tried the handle and found the door unlocked.

Artemis glared at the ajar door with a look of baffled consternation. Clearly, she had a few choice words about security that she was electing to keep to herself.

Clarion eased the door open and was greeted by a blast of heat and the distinct smell of welding. Sweat immediately began to prickle at the back of Clarion’s neck. Pixie dust twinkled in the stuffy darkness of the room. All sorts of tools Clarion did not have names for floated in the air, as if borne aloft on the current of a river. And there, bent over her worktable and bathed in the warm glow of her forge, was Petra. Her red curls were wild and her freckles were hidden behind streaks of gold and soot. She hammered a fine sheet of molten metal, shaping it with a focus so complete, Clarion thought for a moment that she had not registered their presence at all.

“Clarion.” Petra’s voice was preternaturally calm. She pointed at some contraption hovering just out of her reach. “Hand me that.”

Artemis stationed herself by the door. Clarion smiled at her encouragingly before she complied with Petra’s request. As she handed her the tool, she said, “I need to ask you a favor.”

Petra made an absentminded sound to indicate she was listening but did not look at her. At least, Clarion did notthinkshe did. She was wearing the safety goggles she’d devised with the help of a water-talent last year. They’d affixed dewdrops—dyed black with hawthorn berries and walnut husks—to metal frames. Like this, Clarion couldn’t see her eyes at all.

“I need you to help me cross into the Winter Woods.”

“Gah!” Petra stumbled back from her worktable and nearly crashed into the wall. Her safety goggles fell askance on her face, and the dewdrop lenses burst from their rough treatment. The water dribbled down her cheeks and left blackened stains behind, but so great was her shock, she hardly seemed to notice. “What?!”

“I said—”

“Oh, I heard you,” said Petra darkly. At last, she smeared away the remains of her goggles with the back of her hand. “What I don’t understand is why you’d want to go to Winter.”

“Because it’s for a really,reallygood reason?” Clarion tried.

“But it’s against the rules!”

“Crossing the border isn’t forbidden.” It wasn’t, technically. It was, however, deadly without proper precautions, which made it something of an unpopular destination.

“Maybe not for me,” said Petra. “But it almost certainly is for you.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Artemis said dolorously from the back of the room.

Petra shrieked in surprise. Then, when she realized who exactly had spoken, the color drained from, and then rose high, in her cheeks. “You! What areyoudoing here?”

Artemis glanced over her shoulder, as though there might be someone else who had provoked such a reaction. When she turned back around, she wore a rather flustered expression. She cleared her throat, then said, “Accompanying Her Highness, who was quite insistent on this course of action. Can you help, or can’t you?”