A knock came at the door. “Ru!” Kimu called. “Ru, hurry!”
I ran to the door, unbarred it, and swung it open. Kimu stood there, hood pulled low and cloak coated in snow. He stepped inside for just a moment, his stare darting back to the landing.
“What's happened?” Cyn demanded.
“We're tracking a few Shanba through the Forgotten! Come on!” Kimu dashed back outside.
Cyn and I grabbed our cloaks and rushed out as well. I locked up but didn't take the time to set the traps. Kimu was too anxious, and he would only be so if it was urgent.
“Come on!” Kimu said again, motioning for us to follow. He raced down the stairs.
Cyn and I ran after him, then kept running through the icy dark, chasing my friend through the Forgotten.
“I left them on Hudden Street,” Kimu said as we caught up with him. “They should be nearing Jekk by now. If we time this right, we can corner them on Leliss.”
I glanced at Cyn to explain, “Leliss is a dead end.”
“How are you going to get them to go down that particular street?” Cyn asked.
“We haven't just been telling people you're in the Forgotten. We've been telling them you're in a building off Leliss,” Kimu said. “And if they don't go down Leliss, we have ways of herding them there.”
Cyn grinned at me.
I didn't smile back. This was too important. Too uncertain. And I had a strange feeling in my stomach that didn't bode well. So, instead of reassuring my mate, I asked Kimu, “Is everyone prepared in case the Shanba try to enchant them?”
“Yeah. We've got archers on the rooftops. If they see a green light, they'll shoot the Shanba.”
“Good.” That made me feel a little better,
The night seemed darker than usual. Colder. Our breath puffed in the air before us as we ran, our cloaks shifting open with the breeze of our passage. My cheeks and lungs stung by the time we reached Leliss Street—a lane as unmarked as the others in the Forgotten. But I recognized it by the crumbling corner of the building on the right. Even if I hadn't recognized it, the crowd of Raltven at the open end, all facing inward, would give me a clue that we had arrived.
Kimu pushed through them, drawing us after him. Cyn and I rushed past Kimu.
Into an empty space.
Frowning, I turned around in a circle, looking for the Shanba.
There were none.
“Ru,” Cyn said softly. Gravely.
I turned back toward the street entrance and saw the Raltven draw in closer. So many faces I knew. People I had known all my life. People I cared about. Even Diyak was there. And they all held Raltven daggers in their hands.
Even with the evidence before me, it took a few seconds for me to process what was happening. Precious seconds that my friends used to close in on us. I glanced up, a zing of fear shooting down my spine when I spotted the archers. But I still didn't grasp why their arrows were pointed at us. Only when the mob stepped beneath the light of a streetlamp did I finally admit the obvious. Because that's when I saw the green glints in their eyes.
“No,” I whispered. “Kimu.” I lifted my voice to say, “Kimu, snap out of it! You're enchanted! All of you are.”
Kimu didn't answer. His expression had gone blank. He drew closer with the others, dagger lifted.
I reached for my dagger, unsure what I was going to do. Would I have to kill my friends? Oh, fuck, Neb was there. And Huso. No, these people were my clan. Myfamily. I couldn't hurt them. Damn. Our enemy had won.
The sound of tearing fabric came from behind me and a roar rent the night. I turned just in time to see Cyn finish his transformation into a dragon—a gorgeous crimson dragon who knocked my clan back with one toss of his giant tail and protected me from the rain of arrows with his scaled body. As my people went tumbling, Cyn launched upward. I gaped at his enormous body above me, leaving the ground.
Without me.
Panic briefly filled me, but then I remembered who he was, and who I was. Cyn would never leave me behind.
Sure enough, he rose just high enough to knock the archers over with more slashes of his powerful tail. Only then, when it was safe for me, did he dive into the lane and snatch me up in one of his massive talons. His sudden grip knocked the wind out of me, but I quickly recovered, gasping in freezing air as the ground fell away. My mate swooped upward, knocking back the front line of Raltven who were just getting to their feet. The enchanted members of the Midnight Clan lay in the snow and watched us fly away without any hint of emotion. No anger or frustration. Nothing.
