home. I just wished they’d hurry.
Ella was lying on her back, holding a squirming kitten over her chest. “Look at this little orange one, Mags,” she said. “Isn’t she the sweetest thing you…”
As her large brown eyes fixed on me, the smile dropped from her face. “What’s wrong?”
She was only seven, but she had a real knack for reading people’s faces.
“You need to come down,” I said, reaching for the kitten.
Ella pulled it out of my grasp. “Hey! I was holding her.”
“You can have her back in a minute. Right now, we need to talk.”
She held her pet close, scowling at me. I clenched my jaw. Sometimes that girl tried my patience like none other. “You come right now, or Mama’s gonna hear about this.” I grabbed the kitten and set it on the mattress.
“I want Jeb,” she said, sitting up angrily.
Jeb was her favorite. Ever since she could walk, she’d followed him like a shadow. I wrapped my hand around her wrist. “You can talk to him when you come down. Now move it.”
We climbed down the ladder steps swiftly. Jeb was standing in the doorway, watching the fire, his rifle poised. Ella ran up to him, hugging his pant leg. He stroked her hair absently but kept his gaze on the flames. I came up behind him, looking at the burning desert beyond us. Staring back at me was the undeniable reality: Mama and Papa weren’t going to reach home before those torches did. Our safety now rested in my hands alone.
“We gotta get out of here,” I said under my breath to Jeb.
“And go where?”
“To the hiding spot, just like we always talked about.”
Jeb grimaced. “We don’t need to do that. I can protect us here.”
“Don’t be a fool. You barely know how to use that gun.”
“I do, too!”
“It doesn’t matter. Mama and Papa put
Ella pulled on Jeb’s arm. “What’s goin’ on?”
He hoisted her up against his hip. “It’s nothing you need to worry about, baby girl.”
It surprised me how calmly he spoke the lie. My anxiety was surely written all over my face.
I turned away from them, trying to mask my fear as busyness. “Help your brother grab some coats and blankets,” I said. My gaze fell to the floor beneath Mama’s and Papa’s bed. “And some water…”
I bent down and lifted up the quilt. After feeling around a moment, I located the loose floorboard and, beneath it, the small jewelry box. My heart quickened as I set the box on my lap. Our family’s single relic lay inside on dark velvet. Kraken.
At first glance, it was little more than an almond-sized piece of bone, oval cut, which was one of the more popular styles. It had been polished a clouded blue-green color. Only exceedingly rare types were diamond clear. Papa had it set in a silver necklace, another common choice for relic wearing. My breath trembled as I lifted it into my palm. I’d dreamed of the day I would be allowed to use it for the first time. This remnant of the ancient world, live with magic.
“What are you taking that for?” Jeb asked, looking over my shoulder. “It’s too small. That thing doesn’t have enough magic to ward off a vampire scorpion, let alone whoever’s coming.”
“You got any better ideas?”
It was true that the relic wouldn’t help much if those people with the torches meant to cause trouble. Kraken bone fossils possessed only water magic, and a pebble-sized piece like we had could barely contract or expand water as needed. Papa had spent our savings on it to help keep our animals and ourselves alive, should we ever have another drought like the one that had nearly killed us three years before.
I knew Jeb, like me, was wishing right now that Papa had bought a dragon claw or phoenix piece, or any of the other fire relics I’d read about. Not that we could ever even dream of affording such rare, potent ones, but still, I wished it. So many nights, I’d lie in my bed, turning the worn pages of Papa’s relic almanac by candlelight. The more I learned about all the fierce and wonderful relics out there, the more keenly I felt that the day might come when we’d need something better.
And now, we were face-to-face with that day.
I clutched the kraken piece to my chest. “It’s all we have.”
Ella pulled the fabric of my worn calico skirt. “Someone’s gotta tell me what’s happening.”
“Everything’s going to be fine. Looks like there was some trouble in the town, that’s all. We need to head to our hiding spot and wait for Mama and Papa.”
“The hiding place?” Her expression went from shock to resolute fear. “No. I’m not goin’. There’s rock devils up there!”
Every settler knew to stay away from the red-rock cliffs that cast their huge shadow over our little town. The rock devils, horse-sized lizards with endless teeth and claws like hunting knives, lived in the shadowed nooks and caves. Though not magical like their ancient relative, the dragon, rock devils were the most dangerous creature to haunt our desert lands. And with rattlers, vampire scorpions, and ghost coyotes behind every sagebrush, that was really saying something. But that was exactly why Papa said we should hide in the cliffs in case of trouble. Because no one would dare come after us.
“We don’t have a choice,” I told Ella. “We gotta go.”
She ran into Jeb’s arms. He held her and looked at me, his jaw clenched. I gave him my firmest look, and he sighed. “Fine. But I’m bringing my gun.”
The three of us rushed into the warm night. The minute we were out, though, Ella slammed her little heels into the ground.
“The kittens!” She gasped. “We forgot Sassy and the kittens!”
Jeb gripped Ella’s hand to keep her from running back. “They’ll be fine. They’ll get out in time.”
But we all knew the kittens couldn’t make it down the loft ladder on their own.
“I won’t leave them!” Ella cried, tears springing to her eyes.
I rubbed my forehead. There was barely time to save ourselves, let alone the animals. But how could we leave them to die?
“You two go on ahead,” I said.
“Maggie…”
“Go! I’ll catch up.”
Jeb hesitated, but then nodded once. Holding Ella’s hand, he ran for the cliffs as I dove back into our house. Sassy hissed at the edge of the loft, surely sensing the danger.
“It’s all right,” I said, climbing up the ladder. “We’ll get you out.”
The kittens mewed loudly as I scooped them up into my apron. But when we got outside, I realized all I could do was release them and hope for the best.
“Run, Sassy girl,” I said as they scampered into the darkness. “Get on out of here with those babies.”
I had to get
It wasn’t until I reached the gate that I remembered the lock. Put there to keep horse thieves away. Papa always carried the key with him.
“No…”
I gripped the fence, but the realization struck that it stood too high for Dusty to jump, even if I did climb it. I shook the wooden planks, then threw myself against them. They hardly budged. I slammed into the fence once more, to no avail. I could hear Jeb calling my name in the distance; the raw fear in his voice only sharpened my own. I looked to the shadowy cliffs, to the approaching fire, and then back to Dusty. Choking down a lump in my throat, I patted his glossy neck and prayed he’d somehow make it out all right.
I ran hard all the way to the cliffs, sagebrush and scrub scraping against my legs. Jeb and Ella were waiting outside the mouth of the little cave. When they spotted me, they rushed up, and we hugged. “It’s okay,” I said.
