Page 26 of Heir of Autumn
I chewed on a hunk of jerky. Evander was right. He could only conjure one eidolon. How much longer before I could summon my pixie familiar, plus an entire fae prince?
“Going by that, I’ll probably have just enough essence to hold my hawk form for half a mile before I shift back to a human, fall in the ocean, and drown.” Namirah groaned, her head in her hand. “I could be back at the Wispwood tossing back some lattes at the café, but no. Instead I had to insist on sticking my beak where it’s not wanted.”
“Hey. Your beak is always welcome. I mean your nose, whatever.” I scooted a little closer. “But I do want you to be honest with me. Every single time I walk into an oriel, you’re there, too, whether it’s in secret or by circumstance. And don’t deflect this time. I know it’s not just a coincidence. Or three coincidences in a row, actually.”
Namirah rubbed her temples and sighed. “So telling you I have a killer headache isn’t going to save me, is it? Fine. You’re never going to believe this, but I’m not an only child. I never talk about my younger brother, do I?”
“Come to think of it, no. You have major only-child energy, if I’m being honest.”
Evander balled up his demolished chocolate bar wrapper. “I don’t know if that’s true. You’ve threatened to kick my ass for being mean to Locke enough times over the years. You’re more of a big sister than anything.”
My brow furrowed. “Actually, that makes sense, too. I guess — maybe both things could be true? You’re pretty independent, but you’ve always been, you know, really cool to me.”
“We were never close, all right?” Namirah said. “My brother and I. Never got along well, either. And it’s weird, spending so much of my time at the Wispwood, but wishing I could fix things back home between us. In some twisted way, maybe my brain thinks that Locke is the practice little brother.”
She crossed her legs underneath her, smiling absently as she toyed with the thong of her sandal.
“It’s funny. I studied shapechanging because I wanted to escape who I was. But it’s actually helped me see the parts of me that I dislike, these unpleasant things that I can change. I can be haughty. I have a temper. It’s strange. By becoming an animal, I’ve learned how to become a better human being in the end. I hope he’ll see that.”
I beamed. “That’s really sweet, Namirah. For him, I mean, and for me. You’ve always got my back.”
She scoffed. “Don’t worry about it. Natural impulse by now. I like to think that it’s like building up good karma or something. Better than seeing Headmaster Shivers dragging your ragged body out of one of the oriels because of death by bush baby, or from falling off a spire, or drowning.”
I frowned. “Gee. Thanks.”
“Come off it. I’m only joking. I know you’re perfectly capable.” Namirah flung her arm across my shoulder, pulling me in for a hug while ruffling my hair. “I guess now I have two baby brothers. Can’t wait to see him next time I go home.”
Her hair smelled like cocoa butter, like precious oil extracted from the bark of a rare, expensive tree. I hugged her back. Namirah and Bruna really were like sisters to me. Maybe we weren’t related by blood, but the bond felt just as unbreakable.
Evander chugged on a bottle of water, then cocked one of his perfect eyebrows.
“What? What are you two staring at? If this is where you expect me to drop my sad little backstory, then you can just forget it. I was raised perfectly, with a perfect family, in a perfect home.”
I didn’t say it out loud, kept my reaction on the inside. But the lady doth protest too much. Aphrodite had taunted both Evander and Namirah about matters of filial love and loyalty, plus his overcompensating about a perfect upbringing smacked very loudly of insecurity. He was definitely hiding something.
But it wasn’t any of my business in the end. Maybe Evander wasn’t ready to talk, or maybe this wasn’t something he would ever learn to confront about himself. That was fine. We didn’t have to be friends. It was enough to be allies, at least here in the Oriel of Water.
Namirah sighed and pushed me away. “See, Skink? This is why everybody thinks you’re such a prick.”
Evander smirked, pushing his perfect golden hair out of his face. “As long as they think I’m a beautiful prick.” He snapped his fingers. Two butterflies poofed into existence. “Okay, so it looks like we’re getting somewhere, but still much too slow for comfort.”
My fingers curled, nails digging into the rock and dirt we were sitting on. The longer we sat there doing nothing, the greater the chance that the kraken had caught up with Sylvain. Wasn’t it possible that the kraken had misjudged its own strength, blowing the boat so far off course that it couldn’t find it anymore?
A better question, though. Was I going to gamble the lives of my eidolon and familiar — scratch that, two people who were very, very important to me — on a hypothetical situation involving a kraken with a terrible sense of direction?
“This is ridiculous,” I said, bashing the ground with my fist, regretting it immediately as sharp pain reverberated through my knuckles. “Sylvain and Satchel could be fighting a kraken all on their own now. We can’t afford to wait. Gods above and below, we need a miracle.”
Evander winced. Namirah cleared her throat. “You may want to be careful what you wish for there, Locke.”
“Well, we can’t just sit around and snack like it’s a fun little camping trip. Next time we really should bring along some of those essence potions Bruna makes, expenses be damned.” I paced our little pebble of an island, my breaths coming quicker and shorter. “Gods, I feel so helpless. Say we even make it off this rock. Where would we even begin looking for them? What am I supposed to do?”
“Locke?” Evander muttered.
I rounded on him, frustrated, furious, on the verge of panic. “What?”
He pointed at my chest. I looked down. The medallion was glowing. No, not the entire thing, actually, just the milky, moonstone likeness of the Breath of the Wind.
“Oh, shit,” I said, hands stuck out to either side of me. “You guys, what do I do? What do I — ”
