Taken

I thought for a second and nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on but I know something is.” I paused. “Of course, it’d help if I had a reason for being there.”

“You do,” Luna said, and then caught herself. “Oh, right. You can’t tell anyone you’re there to watch the apprentices, can you?”

“Nope. Of course, if my apprentice had a reason for attending . . .”

Luna looked back at me for a second. “You want me to enter the tournament, don’t you?”

“It would make things simpler.”

“After how well I did last time?”

“Good practice.”

Luna sighed. “Oh, fine. I suppose it won’t kill me.”

“That’s the spirit. So what did you think of our friend Jagadev?”

“He was . . .” Luna frowned. “Different. From what I was expecting, I mean. I guess I thought he’d be like Arachne.”

“Do you think he was being honest with us?”

Luna thought for a second. “I’m not sure.”

“Neither am I. He was very hard to read.”

“He said Anne was his ward,” Luna said. “Does that mean he’s like Anne and Variam’s master?”

“Magical creatures do sort of adopt apprentices sometimes.”

“Then he’s supposed to look after them, right?” Luna said. “So why’s he sending them to the tournament if he thinks the thing that’s making apprentices vanish is there? Shouldn’t he be keeping them away?”

I nodded. “And there’s something else. Back there Jagadev was acting as though the only reason he was seeing me was because I’d helped Anne. But he sent me that invitation before I helped Anne.”

“So why did he invite you?”

“Good question.” I glanced into the future. “Looks like Variam’s here too.”

“Where?”

“Far corner over your right shoulder. Don’t turn and look.”

Luna had already taken a glance. “Why’s he scowling at us?”

“I’ve got the feeling Variam doesn’t like us very much,” I said. Like Anne Variam had dressed up, but his outfit was much less eye-catching: a dark shirt and pants, a black denim jacket, and a black turban instead of the khaki one. By looking into the future in which I met his gaze I could watch him without seeming to watch him, and just as Luna had said he was staring at us with a scowl.

“What’s his problem?” Luna said.

“Maybe he’s pissed off that I didn’t let Anne get killed.”

Luna gave me a look. “I’m kidding,” I said. “Probably.” I glanced along the balcony. “Those mages are about to finish with Anne. Why don’t you go talk to her?”

“Okay,” Luna said, and started to turn, then stopped with a suspicious look. “Wait, are you just trying to get me out of the way?”

“Yes.”

Luna rolled her eyes and left. I watched her go, seeing her move unconsciously to keep a safe distance from the people in her path. Luna’s control over her curse is much better now and to my sight it looks like a tight, dense layer of silver mist over her skin, but through force of habit she still won’t get any closer to another person than she has to.

Someone cleared his throat from behind me. “Hi, Lyle,” I said without turning around.

“Ah,” Lyle said. “So, er . . .”

“No, I haven’t been arrested.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear it.”

I thought about saying Are you? but held myself back. I turned to see Lyle looking awkward. He was wearing his usual suit and really didn’t fit into a place like this. I wondered why he’d agreed to meet Crystal here. “You want to know the story, don’t you?”

“Well—”

I sighed. “Oh, fine. That apprentice Anne was reported missing. I was the last to have seen her so those two came looking for me. Luckily Anne wasn’t missing after all.”

“Ah. What happened?”

“If you want to know the details, you’ll have to ask her.” Which was technically true: Lyle would have to ask her because I wasn’t going to tell him.

“I see. Well, it’s good everything turned out well.”

“Just a sec,” I said. “While you’re here there’s something I wanted to ask. What’s the deal with Anne and