Page 81 of Pretense

“Wait here while I check if it’s safe.” Edmund drew a knife and tiptoed forward. At the door, he paused, listening. No sounds came from inside.

He dropped to the forest floor, pressed his hand to the door, and whispered the word to turn on the lights.

Lights flared, and Edmund squinted through the tiny crack at the base of the door. He couldn’t see any explosives set to go off once he opened the door. Once again, he used his knife to probe around all the edges of the door before he lifted the latch.

When he heard nothing but the dull scrape of the latch, he eased the door open, peeking around the door before he cautiously stepped inside.

The cabin appeared less disturbed than either of the other safe houses. Through the partially open door to the back room, the bed and the costumes appeared to be in place. Though, there were likely a few items missing.

The overall neatness prickled against his senses. The Mongavarian spies had been so cavalier with the other two places. Why would they take the time to clean up after themselves here? Had they even been here, or had they skipped it entirely?

No, they couldn’t have skipped it, unless they had brought their own elven disguises. Humans were still rare enough in Tarenhiel that a pack of humans hopping the train and going to Estyra would draw too much attention.

“Jalissa, Sarya? Could you both come here? Slowly.” Edmund searched the cabin with his gaze, trying to pick out what was wrong.

The grassy forest floor was so springy that Edmund couldn’t hear Jalissa and Sarya approach, but he caught a whiff of the faint floral scent of Jalissa’s shampoo a moment before she joined him in the doorway.

“What is wrong?” Jalissa glanced around, but she didn’t step inside.

“I’m not sure. But it is too neat. They haven’t been neat with any of the other places.” Edmund gestured at the cabin. “Could you send your magic through the cabin and see if you can sense anything off?”

Jalissa nodded and pressed her hand to the cabin’s wall. Green flowed from her fingertips. A few twigs and leaves sprouted from a few of the logs, as if the power of her magic was irresistible.

Sarya set her hand on the wall as well, her magic flowing along the other side of the wall.

After a moment, Jalissa’s magic disappeared inside the bedroom in the back. She frowned, her forehead scrunching. “There is something wrong back there. Sarya, can you tell what it is?”

Sarya’s magic rippled through the wall and into the bedroom as well. Her mouth pressed into a thin line. “There is an explosive. It is rigged to go off when the door is opened all the way.”

As he had feared. The neatness of the front room was designed to lure him into a false sense of security. He had taken the time to check the front door, but the spies had been hoping he would make the mistake of not checking the inner door.

He glanced over his shoulder at Sarya. “Can you undo the wire that attaches it to the door?”

“I believe so.” Sarya’s frown deepened. “Perhaps we should move out of the doorway.”

Edmund nodded and backed away. He shut the door, then the three of them moved to the side of the cabin with their backs to the giant root that stood taller than their heads.

The explosive probably wasn’t that big, and they should be safe here.

Still, Jalissa placed hands on both the root and the cabin wall, until green power glowed in both. “I think that should shelter us.”

Sarya nodded and pressed her hand to the cabin wall, her magic flowing into the cabin as well. She closed her eyes, forehead scrunching.

Edmund braced himself with his body between Jalissa and the door of the cabin. All he could do was hold his breath and wait. He couldn’t see what was going on inside nor could he help in anyway.

Jalissa’s breathing was going slightly ragged, and he didn’t think it was because of holding her magic in place. Her face had whitened, her muscles stiff.

He stepped closer to her and gently rested his hands on her waist. Not pulling her closer nor crowding her if she wanted to pull away.

She leaned into him, though she didn’t remove her hands from the cabin or root.

“I believe I have the wire free.” Sarya didn’t open her eyes. “I will remove the explosive from the cabin.”

A root sprang from the ground outside of the cabin, opened the door, then slithered inside. After several long seconds, the root withdrew, wrapped around what looked like a grenade. The root dove back into the loam, taking the grenade with it.

Sarya pinched her hand, and the earth where the root disappeared glowed an even brighter green. A faint rumble vibrated through the forest floor, a tiny spray of dirt burping into the air.

Then Sarya slumped against the cabin wall. “It should be safe now.”

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