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“A few months now,” Tora admitted. She whipped off the sheet covering the sofa, then sneezed violently as a cloud of dust hit her in the face. “She’s been taking care of my grandmother, who lives on the southern coast and has been ill. I don’t think she’ll be back anytime soon, so Mavlyn and Leap should be safe here.”
The four of them spent the next fifteen minutes going through the rooms, removing the furniture sheets, clearing away the dust, and lighting a few of the wall sconce candles. “Much as I hate the idea of spending all our time in the dark,” Leap said as they folded the last of the sheets and put them away, “I think we should leave the windows shuttered.”
“I agree,” Tora said. She closed the shutters of the window Leap had climbed in through. “My aunt’s neighbors are busybodies. They’ll start snooping around if they see someone else is living here, and the last thing we want is for one of them to report you to the authorities for squatting.”
Lyra opened the cold box in the kitchen and clucked her tongue. “Your aunt hasn’t left much in the way of food,” she said. “We should bring them some supplies while they lie low.”
“Here,” Leap said, digging some coins out of his money pouch. “You can use these to buy us some food.”
“But not too much,” Mavlyn said. “We aren’t going to stay long.”
“You’re not?” Tora raised her eyebrows. “What are you going to do, then? You can’t be seen around town right now, not when Lady Mossi’s got her guards on the lookout for you.”
“I don’t know yet,” Mavlyn admitted. She tried to ignore the helpless feeling rising in her gut, tried to stay positive. “But I do know that we can’t just sit in here and hide forever. I promised… I promised I would do my best to thwart Nox’s plans, and I can’t do that if I’m shut away.”
The two friends exchanged glances. “We’ll brainstorm some ideas on how we can sabotage the war effort while keeping you out of danger,” Lyra said. “I don’t want the two of you to have to go on the run, especially since you’re the only two who will tell us lesser fae the truth about what’s really going on.”
They left Mavlyn and Leap then, promising to come back tomorrow with food and a plan. The two friends made themselves a meager meal out of the items Tora’s aunt had left in the pantry and cold box, then settled in for a long and restless night.
“Did you get any sleep at all?” Leap said with a yawn as he stumbled out of his room the next morning.
“Maybe an hour,” Mavlyn said with a groan, sitting up from where she was lying on the couch. She’d tried to sleep in the bedroom she’d claimed, but after startling awake with every creak and groan the old house made, had given up and moved to the living room. She’d spent the rest of the night with one eye on the door, ready and waiting in case Lady Mossi’s guards broke down the door to arrest them.
“Same.” Leap flopped into the armchair next to her. He ran a hand through his spiky hair as he stared up at the ceiling, making it stand on end. “Maybe we should just leave today. Travel from town to town and spread the message, get ahead of the recruitment officers.”
“That is an option,” Mavlyn mused. “We could ask Roylan’s sister to print more pamphlets, and you could use your wind magic to spread them through the towns and villages.”
“That could work for one or two towns, but we can’t carry enough for the entire realm,” Leap pointed out. “We’d have to keep coming back to Talamh to restock. It would be better if we could attend more town hall meetings and convince the mayors and village leaders to let us speak.”
“I don’t know about that.” Mavlyn shuddered, remembering what had almost happened to her in Fenwood. “It sounds like a good way for us to get arrested. What about going to the Gaoth Aire and trying to spread the word there?”
“It’s too dangerous to travel into the Gaoth Aire right now,” Leap said. “The mountain passes will be snowed in, and even though we’re flying, we’ll have to go through snowstorms. My magic is pretty strong for a youngling, but even I can’t battle blizzards.” He scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. “I wish I was old enough to do the coming of age ceremony.”
“You’re only a few years away,” Mavlyn said encouragingly.
“Yeah, but still.” Leap sighed. “Anyway, I don’t think I want to go back to the Gaoth Aire anytime soon, given what happened the last time.” He curled his lip. “If I see Ryker again, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself from killing him.”
Mavlyn nodded absently, her mind drifting to Adara and Quye. She wondered how the two of them were doing, if they’d found Princess Ylena yet, and if the dragons had agreed to help them. Close to two weeks had passed since they’d left with Einar… she hoped they’d made it to Mount Furian safely, and that they hadn’t run into too many shadow creatures along the way.
“They’re fine,” Leap said drowsily, and Mavlyn realized she’d spoken the last part aloud. “If they weren’t, Kiryan would be hounding us right now.”
“That’s right.” Mavlyn had forgotten about the Radiant. She wondered where he was, if he had retreated to the spirit realm, or if he was out there influencing the fae to counteract Nox’s efforts. She wished she had his ability to possess other people’s bodies—if she could, she would impersonate high-ranking officials, mayors, and other leaders and have them tell their people to take a stand against the draft and the war.
Tora and Lyra returned later that afternoon, bringing not only a large supply of food, but a few friends as well. “Emelie!” Mavlyn cried, flying off the couch to greet her friend. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” she said, hugging the other girl tightly. “Did they hurt you?”
“No, but you’re going to if you don’t let go of me,” Emelie croaked.
“Sorry!” Mavlyn quickly released her friend. She was relieved to see Roylan and Rina were there, too. “You’re all okay?”
“We’re fine,” Roylan said, shooting a grin at Lyra. “Lyra’s father showed up bright and early this morning and gave the jailer a dressing down. Said he’d have a story running in the paper about corruption and student harassment if they didn’t let us go. We were released thirty minutes later.”
“Our parents were another story,” Rina groused, taking a seat in one of the living room chairs. “They scolded me for being reckless and tried to ground us both from leaving the house after school hours.”
“My parents weren’t too happy either,” Emelie admitted. “I had to sneak out of the house to come see you.”
“Is it okay for you guys to be here?” Mavlyn asked, her insides squirming with guilt. “I don’t want to get you into trouble with your families.”
“Are you kidding?” Lyra scoffed. “We’re talking about the potential end of our world here if this Shadow succeeds. I think that’s worth rebelling against our parents a bit.”
