Radane fixed a gaze on the centaur. “Why would anyone come for Kiela? She was born and raised in Caltrey and has never left. There is no reason she would be of any interest to anyone from the capital.”
Startled at the lie, Eadie stared at her. “You didn’t summon our new arrivals?”
“I did not,” Radane said firmly.
“She didn’t,” Bryn echoed. “In fact, it would be great if word spread that after failing to find anything suspicious and announcing her retirement, the former imperial investigator left the island just this morning. Shame they missed her, but we don’t know where she went.”
“Ah,” Eadie said. “Brilliant. I’ll spread the word. What else do you need from me?”
“A distraction,” Kiela said. “We have to get Radane up to my cottage without anyone knowing she’s left the bakery. She’s going dressed as Bryn.”
Eadie looked her up and down and sniffed. “It’ll hold up from a distance.” She pivoted, and her hooves clattered as she clomped out of the bakery. “Ulina, we need everyone at the docks, not just the nosy masses, but every Caltreyan in the village. Our new arrivals need to be greeted with fanfare! Let’s roll out a welcome worthy of the first visiting sorcerer in years.”
Ulina’s voice drifted in from outside. “Ooh, you think they really sent a sorcerer?”
“Honestly, no, but they should have.” From the street, Eadie bellowed at the few islanders who weren’t already gawking at the ship. “To the docks! Everyone, to the docks! Let’s show our new sorcerer how we say ‘welcome’ on Caltrey!”
Bryn finished tucking in Radane’s hair. She didn’t look anything like Bryn close-up, Kiela thought, but with the clothes, the apron, and the handkerchief, it could work? “We’ll move quickly. Pretend it’s a jam emergency.”
Radane let out a slightly hysterical giggle. “Jam emergency.”
“Just please be careful,” Bryn said. “I can’t lose you before we even know what we have. It’s too—” She was going to say more, but Radane kissed her. Bryn kissed her back just as urgently, the kind of kiss shared by desperate people who aren’t sure they’ll see each other again.
Giving them a moment, Kiela checked the street. Eadie and Ulina were herding everyone toward the dock, but she didn’t know how long that would last. She waited until the tail end of the crowd was out of sight before she said, “I’m sorry, but we have to go.”
“You must be careful too,” Radane told Bryn. “Consider that an imperial order.”
“Go,” Bryn said, and her voice cracked on the word.
Kiela and Radane darted out of the bakery. They crossed the square, past the fountain, and through the empty streets. Kiela kept an eye on the houses, but she saw no one, only the winged cats on the rooftops.
A few precious minutes later, they reached the beach and climbed the cliff stairs. Radane clutched her handkerchief, keeping her bright red hair tucked in. Kiela hoped that no one was watching them. All eyes should be on the ship in the dock. After all, this was the most exciting thing to happen on Caltrey in seasons, and it would make sense for everyone to be there to observe the spectacle, especially with Eadie herding them together. Hopefully, that would buy them time to perfect the spell. If it didn’t . . .
They ran across the field and through the greenery. Kiela was panting by the time they reached the cottage. She ran inside to find Larran with Caz in the bedroom, nailing planks of wood over the bookshelves. Only a quarter was finished.
This isn’t going to work,she thought. The wood was too fresh, the construction too new, plus even if they could doctor the boards to seem old, there were still the windows, sunken back from the shelves, a dead giveaway that the walls were thicker than they should be.We need another solution.But first, she had to deal with the immediate problem of Radane. Kiela darted to the bookcase that she knew held the right spellbook. “Caz, research mode. We need to perfect the invisibility spell that uses Radane’s ruby.”
Larran paused mid-hammering. “Invisibility spell?”
“The captain of the ship knows me,” Radane said. “If he sees me, it’s over.”
“So he can’t see you,” Larran said.
“Exactly,” Kiela said. “The spell isn’t the perfect solution, but it’s all we have. If we cast it and stash her in a cave or someplace the soldiers have no reason to look—”
Radane stood for a moment, as if frozen.
“What’s wrong?” Kiela asked.
“It’s just . . .” She gulped in air. “When I escaped, there was no one to help me. I had to . . . I did it all on my own. But all of you, who have known me for only a few days . . . My family wouldn’t have done this, and you don’t hesitate.”
“Family isn’t always the people you’re related to,” Larran said. He added the next board in front of the shelves and began hammering it into position. “Mine . . . Anyway, how much time do we have?”
“Not enough,” Radane said.
“Found it,” Caz said. Using his leaves, he flipped it open. He, Radane, and Kiela crowded around the bed to read the spell. It required a ruby, which Radane had, but it also called for a snow flower, which wasn’t native to Caltrey, and lightning-struck sand, which she didn’t know where to find, especially on short notice.
“Well, this is a problem,” Kiela said. “Do you have the other ingredients?”
