She crept out into the hall. Reckoner was waiting for her, a forlorn look on his droopy old face. Reckoner didn’t really like anyone except Julian, but he thought Mite and Noa were all right, and sometimes when Julian was away, he came looking for them. Mite scratched his ears. She was happy to have company.
Reckoner trotted at her heels as she searched the hallway and all the rooms, most of which were empty, except Noa’s. The mages lived in another part of the castle. There were no signs of the spider, and Mite was beginning to suspect that Patience had already left the castle. After all, her species usually lived on beaches and sea cliffs; they liked burrowing into the sand and then jumping out at their prey. Mite decided to go down to the beach.
She found several mages clustered in the castle foyer, deep in conversation. They had that worried, uncertain look they always did whenever Julian left Astrae, and barely glanced at her as she passed.
“—should be back by now,” one of the mages was saying. “If Gabriela—”
“She’s no match for him,” another mage said. “If she is holding the girl captive, I wouldn’t like to see what he’ll do to her.”
Mite sighed with relief. Julian must have gone to rescue Noa. He hadn’t forgotten about her story after all. Stories were important, but rescue missions were more important.
She shook her head. She had told Noa that she shouldn’t leave Astrae. But, as usual, Noa hadn’t listened.
Mite made her way down the castle stairs to the beach, her heart a little lighter. The sunshine was warm and the sky was a pretty blue. Reckoner followed closely behind her, his busy nose sniffing at everything.
She found Tomas standing on the beach with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. He had a big cart with him, the same one he’d used before to carry Beauty’s cake. Mite’s nostrils flared as she caught the scent of vanilla and pears and toasted sugar. Unfortunately, Tomas turned around and saw her before she could get close enough to peek under the cloth covering the cart.
“Have you seen your sister?” he said.
Mite found that most of the time when people spoke to her, it was because they were looking for Julian or Noa. She shook her head.
“Well, if you do, tell her I have another cake for her.” He was sweaty from dragging the cart, and he sounded mad. “It’s pear with mint. I hope she doesn’t waste this one. It takes a long time to mix everything, you know. I have to put it all in the bathtub and walk round and round it with an oar.”
Mite wanted to tell Tomas to leave the cake with her, because her stomach was growling, but she didn’t want him to get mad at her, too. He picked up the handle and began to pull the cart back up the path to the village. Mite crept up behind him and managed to tear off a piece without him noticing. She scampered away with her hands full.
After she finished the cake, she let Reckoner lick her fingers. Two salt mages were patrolling the beach, but apart from them, the pale crescent of sand was empty in the dawn light. Mite decided to start her search on the grassy dunes behind the dry part of the sand. They were piled messily with driftwood that she suspected would make an excellent spider lair.
Reckoner couldn’t clamber over logs, so he followed alongside her on the sand, sniffing and occasionally sneezing at the seaweed. Whenever Reckoner sneezed, he gave off a small puff of smoke. The dragon was too old to breathe fire anymore, but he still had some life left in him, as Julian often said fondly.
Mite followed the dunes to a cove just out of sight of the castle. Renne was down there, murmuring to a piece of paper. That was what it looked like, anyway. Then the paper rose into the air, and Mite realized that it was a letter, sealed with wax. Renne was a wind mage, so he could send letters to other islands, even if they were far away. The letter became a tiny dot against the blue, and then it was gone.
Renne glanced over his shoulder, and Mite was glad that she’d decided to crouch behind a big log as soon as she saw him. Renne had been in the background of Mite’s life for as long as she could remember—he was Julian’s oldest friend, and had been at his side constantly when they had all lived in the palace. Even though he had never said anything mean to her, Mite knew that Renne didn’t like her. Some grown-ups didn’t, though they pretended to.
Mite crept away, grateful for how quiet her bare feet were on the sand. “Come on, Reckoner,” she whispered. The dragon turned around, but not before he let out a big sneeze and another puff of smoke.
“Maita?”
Mite thought about running, but she was a little afraid of Renne, so she waited as he made his way up the sand. Reckoner caught Renne’s scent on the air and growled.
“Is your brother back yet?” Renne asked. He cast another glance up the beach. His face was pale and worried, even more than the other mages’.
Mite shook her head.
Renne yelped. Reckoner had bitten him on the leg.
“Bad dragon!” Mite said. She gave him a bop on the snout like Julian did whenever Reckoner bit someone. The dragon just growled again and skulked behind Mite’s legs. He never seemed to learn, but then he did have a short memory.
“It’s all right,” Renne said with a sour look. “I’m used to it.”
Mite swallowed a giggle. Reckoner had always disliked Renne in particular.
“Come with me, Maita,” Renne said, some of the sourness creeping into his voice. “Julian won’t be happy when he finds you’ve
