‘Where am I going to find a bunch of kids without adults?’
‘Lunaria Children’s Orphanage. On Spring Street. If it’s still standing.’
Orphanage.
The word itself ached. My heart squeezed as I took off again, keeping to the narrow edges of houses.
I asked Val for directions while pressing against the shadows, hugging dark corners and narrow alleyways. She guided me, working through my sight and memory, hers and mine, as the city shifted and blurred around me. People began turning lightson, doors opening, voices filtering into the night, forcing me to slip through back yards and hop fences to avoid being seen.
King Harrow knew I was here, wielding Val, and he was using everything and everyone at his disposal to find me.
‘Hop the next fence, go south two back yards, and you are there,’Val said.
I did as instructed. The second my feet hit the yard of a pretty red-brick house, a man holding a rake stood there in his nightclothes. His eyes were glassy, blank.
I screamed in surprise as he lunged. Val shot off a burst of pink light that slammed into his chest. He crumpled onto the grass like a dropped sack of grain.
‘Val, don’t kill him!’I panicked, dropping to my knees, my fingers pressed to his neck.
‘He’s just knocked out. Keep going. You’re almost there.’
A pulse fluttered beneath my fingertips. Relief flooded me. I scrambled up and sprinted, vaulting a low fence before slipping into the back courtyard of the orphanage.
The building was quiet and eerie, the structure sagging beneath dried vines that peeled off the tattered brick like old scabs. The back doors were painted pale yellow, the paint cracked and curling.
I grasped the brass handle.
Locked.
Dang.
‘Hold my blade close to it,’Val said.
I raised one eyebrow but obeyed, pressing Valkaryn toward the lock. A soft click sounded, and the door eased. My jaw nearly dropped.
‘You were hiding that power from me?’
I could almost feel her smiling.‘There is a lot more that I can do now that you are wolfkin and can self-heal. My magic breaks down your body, which, as a human, would have killedyou to use constantly. But as a wolfkin, what I break down immediately gets built back up. Theoretically, anyway.’
‘Theoretically?’I pushed inside and shut the door behind me. The air was stale, smelling faintly of dust and old cloth.
‘Check in, Brynn. Godric said he’s been captured!’
‘I’m totally fine, and I’ll free him soon. Tell him to stay alive.’
I tiptoed down the hallway, every footstep silent on the warped wood. Shadows pooled in corners, and I felt like some kind of intruder creeping around looking for hidden treasure, only this treasure was children.
Creepy.
A siren blared outside, rattling the windows. I flinched, then hurried down the hall toward a pair of double doors.
‘I’ve got Val, and we are en route to rescuing Godric.’
‘Alone? When do my men and I meet you?’
I cracked open the door and froze.
A dozen pairs of eyes stared back at me. Little faces, some pale with sleep, others wide and watering with fear. They huddled on low cots and scratched mattresses, blankets pulled up to chins.
