“I’m glad you’re not a fear mage,” Noa said. “You already give people nightmares. It would definitely make you go bad, and so much for my mission.”
Julian stared at her blankly. “What?”
“Ah—nothing,” Noa said. “The mission, you know. The Lost Words. Do you think there are other magical languages out there?”
“Probably,” Julian said. “But we’ve exhausted our only two leads. Come on—we need to get you some dry clothes. And breakfast.”
Mite trailed at their heels. “Julian,” she said in a worried voice, “I didn’t mean what I said. I am hungry. Can I have breakfast, too?”
Julian and Noa laughed.
27
The King’s Spider
After a hot bath and a breakfast of goose eggs and fried tomatoes, Noa felt, if not entirely herself, then at least partway there, and a freshly baked chocolate cake brought her even closer. She slept the morning away, and would probably have slept longer had she not been awoken by a strange sound.
She lay among her pillows, trying to work out what had pierced her dreams. Was Beauty howling about something again? But then the sound came a second time, and she knew it wasn’t Beauty. It sounded rather like a foghorn, but deeper. Darker.
She went to the window, pushing back the curtain. She blinked, certain her eyes were playing tricks on her. But no—there on the horizon was the strangest cloud Noa had ever seen. At least, she thought it was a cloud. It didn’t really look like one, but it looked more like a cloud than anything else. The main problem was that it seemed to be rising out of the water and reaching up to the sky, rather than the opposite. It was huge and dark, and sparks danced across it like lightning.
If it was an approaching storm, where were the cool breeze and the choppy waves? The sky was a pure blue, and the sea was still. Noa shivered.
She threw on a clean cloak and hurried outside, muttering as she tripped over an invisible furry shape. Everyone seemed to be gathered on the beach, watching the bizarre cloud looming on the horizon.
Noa hurried across the sand to Julian, who stood with Asha, Kell, and several other mages, his brow knitted. “What do you think?” Asha said. “Some kind of storm?”
“Let’s hope so,” Noa said darkly. Her thoughts were on the Lost Words, and the book Esmalda had taken from her. She exchanged a look with Julian.
“Should we try to outrun it?” Kell said. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t look like it’s traveling very fast.”
“There shouldn’t be a need to outrun it,” Julian said slowly. “Astrae is facing away from it. If it’s only a storm, we have nothing to worry about. If it’s sentient, it can’t see us.”
“I’ve seen storms that could shred your nose hairs. Never seen one like that.” Kell sounded grim. “Why’s it look like it’s headed right at us?”
“Should we send out the scouts?” Asha suggested. “They can get as close as possible, then report back.”
Julian nodded. “In the meantime, let’s head up to the observatory. Noa?”
She shook her head, still watching the cloud. “I’ll stay here.”
“All right. If you see Renne, send him to me,” Julian said. “We can’t find him.”
“Renne?” Noa said, but Julian was already striding away.
“Maybe he went to send another letter,” Mite said from a hole she was digging in the sand.
Noa frowned. “A letter?”
“He sent one yesterday.” Mite tipped more sand off her shovel. “It looked like a secret letter. He kept looking over his shoulder.”
Noa’s heart was beginning to thud. “You mean he sent it on the wind?”
“Yeah.” Mite unearthed a sulfur clam and set it carefully aside. “I told you yesterday. Don’t you remember?”
“Oh no,” Noa murmured.
Her thoughts flashed back over the last few days. Someone had let Gabriela know that Beauty liked cakes. Renne had been on the beach with Kell when Noa had told her that Beauty had taken a fancy to them. Julian had thought Esmalda was a spy—but what if someone else had been the author of that first letter to Xavier? What if, rather than discovering Esmalda writing it, Renne had been caught with it himself and blamed her? Noa thought of how furious Esmalda had been with Julian, how she’d accused him of betrayal—that didn’t make sense if she’d betrayed him first.
And Julian . . . of course Julian would believe Renne’s word over Esmalda’s. Renne was Julian’s oldest friend. Who would believe that he’d been passing information to Xavier?
A murmur was rising on the beach. Mages backed away from the water’s edge, their eyes wide. The mysterious cloud was suddenly closer to Astrae—much closer. Close enough that Noa could make out shapes within it, or rather through it, towering shapes the color of blood.
“Xavier’s warships,” she breathed. “They’re hiding behind the cloud!”
The ships were much farther away than the cloud was. As Noa watched in horrified fascination, the cloud began to writhe and twist, and then it spilled across the water and covered the beach.
“Mite!” she shouted. “Back to the castle! Now!”
Her shouts were drowned out by screams. As the cloud spread across the beach, it touched the horde of sea iguanas snoozing atop their favorite basking rock. An eruption of startled snorts filled the air, and the creatures began to stretch and grow. Noa had to stifle her own scream as one of the iguanas leaped into the air with an echoing roar, spreading broad wings no iguana should possess.
The iguanas had become dragons.
Mite screamed and dove into the hole. Noa stood frozen, her logical brain fixated by the impossible sight. The other onlookers had no such hesitation, though. People were fleeing, including most of the mages. The dragons were young and healthy, nearly twice the size of Reckoner, and they all seemed to be taking to the sky, soaring over the beach, skimming people’s heads. One breathed a cloud of fire that a mage barely dodged. The fire touched a pile of driftwood, and Noa threw herself
