I’ve just realized what your nickname should be!
Pigeon.
But pigeons are like rats with wings.
I know.
Chapter 8
Ignacio
Ignacio’s body jostled violently, wrenching him from his dreams of being clobbered by a little bird.
Strange, he thought. He didn’t recall falling asleep.
He opened his eyes but quickly slammed them shut when white light flooded his vision and an all-consuming pain lanced through his skull. He groaned and rubbed his hands over hisface.
What happened?
The muscles in his stomach tensed. He had seen Esmeralda Montero. Really and truly. The girl he thought was lost to him forever was there, dressed as some bird inside Carnival Fantástico. And she had clocked him.Him, of all people!
What right didshehave to be so mad athim? If anyone had a right to be so angry that they’d throw a golden egg, it should be him!Shehad gone back on all the promises they made to each other when they were younger.Shewas the one who didn’t show up under the dove tree that night. They were going to run away together. But what did she do instead? The little chicken.She left him a coldhearted letter. The one currently tucked away inside his coat.
Whatever bench he was resting on shuddered viciously.
“Watch the potholes, Mini,” a gruff voice called. “We’ve got a long way yet to go until we get to the clinker.”
The clinker?
The sound of clopping hooves and smell of dried grass jerked his mind to full alertness.
He shot up. Ignoring his pounding headache, he opened his eyes. His jaw dropped. Somehow, he’d been put inside a barred cart. And there was nothing but yellowed wheat fields for miles on end.
“What is the meaning of this?” he hollered.
The man driving the wagon peered over his shoulder. He had a wispy beard, a knife-sharp nose, and devilry in his eyes.
“The sleeping beauty has awoken, I see.” He chuckled to himself.
Ignacio wrapped his fingers around the rusted bars and shook them. “I demand you let me out of here at once.”
“Or what?” The man flicked the reins and the sturdy horse pulling the cart trotted faster.
“I’m an officer of the law!” Ignacio lied. In fact, he was wanted by all officers of the law on account of his desertion from the Blackbirds and his suspected ties to the Defiant. But that was none of this man’s business.
The jailer chuckled. “You’d be surprised how often I hear that one.”
Ignacio’s hand went to his collar to find proof. But his falsifiedbadge was gone.No.His fingers dug into his coat. The letter and flyer remained. He tunneled into his pants pocket. Found nothing but lint. His entire body went ice cold with dread. The tin box he’d taken from his room with dozens of rolled-up notes written between her and him was gone.
“Esmeralda,” Ignacio growled. The brat. The thief. The coward. “How did I get in here?” he asked. “Why am I under arrest?”
“That pretty girl with the wild hair caught you stealing. Said you were after her golden eggs.”
“After her…”Ignacio could breathe fire, he was so furious. “I wasn’t stealing anything. You have an innocent man.”
He shouldn’t be surprised by this. Esmeralda had always been the first to throw a low blow in a fight.
The jailer huffed. “If I had a silver coin for every time I heard that, my girl Mini here would have horseshoes made of Blackbird obsidian. But I will soon enough. Once I deposit you to the military barracks.”
