Vanish

She closes the door softly. “So how are we going to do this?”

I brace myself and meet her gaze and say the one word that should explain it all. “Will.”

She stares at me for several moments and then asks in a surprisingly even voice. “Have you been seeing him?”

I nod.

“The day Miram and you…” Her voice fades. Sucking in a breath, she asks what I’ve been dreading, “Were you meeting Will then?”

Again, I nod. She sighs, and the sound is tired.

“I left you and Mom notes, but Miram took them, and she followed me. Then the hunters came….”

She shakes her head.

“Are you very angry?” I ask quietly.

“I don’t know. Maybe. I’m so tired. Tired of being mad. I just want to leave here. Find Mom and never come back.” The pain in her voice makes me feel even worse. Because I put it there. At least partly. And because I can’t promise her peace. At least not yet.

“There’s something I have to do before we can find Mom. I was hoping you would help me.” With her particular talent, Tamra’s assistance could be the difference between life and death.

Wariness fills her smoky gaze. “What?”

“I’m going to rescue Miram.” And then I’d be square with the pride. With Cassian. With myself.

Her eyes widen. “Miram? But isn’t she with the enkros?”

I nod. “But they won’t have killed her yet. I don’t think. Not for a while. They’ll want to do some”—I shy from the foulness of the word experimenting and substitute—“observing.”

“So you think you can just march into wherever they have her and ask nicely for them to hand her over?”

I angle my head and say slowly, “No, but I think I can bust her out. With Will’s help. And yours. I owe her that.” And Cassian, I can’t help thinking.

“You owe her? Miram? She’s never been anything but a jerk.”

“She never would have been taken if I hadn’t been out there waiting for Will.”

Tamra digests this, looking me over appraisingly.

“Look,” I say, “let’s just make it to their stronghold, check it out… and then we’ll see.” I bite my lip, hoping she can’t read my thoughts. That once I have the enkros stronghold in sight, I’m going in. No way I’m backing out. I’m getting Miram free… and I just might do a little damage in the process. My blood warms at this, and I feel stronger, fortified. The idea of taking the entire operation down gives me a decided rush.

“All right,” she agrees, but the hesitation is there, clear in her voice, reminding me of every time I dragged her into a scheme that she didn’t really want to do.

“Mom left a note,” I say, happy to give her some bit of good news.

Her eyes brighten. “Where? What did it say?”

“I destroyed it. Didn’t want anyone to find it, but it said ‘Remember the palm tree.’”

“‘Remember the palm tree’? What’s that mean?”

Disappointment stabs me. Tamra doesn’t remember either. “I don’t know, but she obviously thought it would mean something to us. I’m sure we can figure it out.”

“Yeah.” She nods, and her voice sounds stronger, less miserable, and I’m so vastly relieved Mom left a clue, a life raft in a turbulent sea. Something, anything, to hang on to. Tamra’s steady gaze rests on me. “When do we go?”

“Will is supposed to meet me in three days.”

“Three days,” she murmurs, looking disappointed. “And then we have to find Miram and bring her back here before searching for Mom? We’re really going to keep Mom hanging like that? For a girl we don’t even like?”

“Well, we don’t know what Mom’s note means yet. We don’t know where to go. And Mom would know we might not get to slip away soon. She won’t give up on us.”

Tamra’s gaze narrows on me. “So you’re supposed to live with Cassian for three more days?” Her accusing voice claws through me. Like this is something I’ve done deliberately. Something I want. It’s the first time she’s mentioned Cassian. It’s more than awkward talking about the boy she’s obsessed over for her whole life — who happens to be bonded to me now.

My mind flashes to the cold press of those cutters on my wings. The memory echoes through me and I can taste the fear like I’m there again. Up on that block. Has she forgotten that?

One side of her mouth curls as she adds, “That should be cozy.”

“It’s not…” I wet my lips. “It’s not like that.”

Her stare penetrates and I pluck at the edge of a twisted sheet, thinking I need to choose my words carefully. I can read the question in her eyes. What is it like then?

“He hasn’t… we haven’t done anything… irreversible.”

Her lips twist. “No? I thought he would be most eager to—”

“Yeah, well, I’m not.” I’m not eager for anyone but Will.

“Right.” And I know what she’s thinking. Why her voice carries that mocking edge. She’s remembering that moment she interrupted us. How close we stood. Cassian’s hand on my face. And she doesn’t even know we’ve actually kissed. Guilty heat swamps over me.

I cross my arms over my chest. “He sleeps in one room and I’m in the other, and that’s the way it’s going to stay until you and I get out of here.”

She looks away, stares through her bedroom window at the ivy-covered wall. Not much of a view. “How are we going to get past the guard on duty?”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I’d been too busy worrying about whether Tamra would agree to escape with me or not.

And then I know what to do. “A distraction,” I murmur.

“Yeah? What?”

“Not what. Who.”

Chapter 26

Az’s laughter floats on the air like softly ringing bells. Tamra and I wait anxiously, tucked away, out of sight, squatting low behind Nidia’s house.

The sudden loss of the sound prompts us to move. As one we peer around the edge of the house. Sure enough, she’s locking lips with fifteen-year-old Remy. The boy is stuck like glue to Az. His hands grip her back like he fears the older girl might vanish from his arms.

Backpacks slung over our shoulders, we sneak past them and out the entrance. I glance over my shoulder. Az watches us, her bright eyes wide-open, urging us on even as I know she’s sad for us to go.

With a farewell wave, I charge ahead. My breath escapes my lips in hot puffs. Any moment I expect to hear the alarm. I wait for draki to spill out from the township and catch us.

In such an event, I could expect the worst punishment. I doubt it would stop at a wing clipping. Severin’s wrath will be all the mightier for me taking Tamra away, too… for leaving them without their next shader.

The pride — Severin — would know I didn’t honor my bond to Cassian. Corbin would be quick to point that out. I shiver and dart a glance at my sister.

She catches my gaze and gives me a small smile as we leap over a fallen log, in perfect accord as we flee. That feels good. To be together in this. It’s too bad that it’s such a mess bringing us together.

Our feet thud softly over damp earth. We cut through nourishing mists, weaving through trees we know well.

I pull ahead of Tamra, eager to leave the pride behind, hungry for the sight of Will.

I feel him first.

Before I even break through the trees, I know he’s there from the snap of my skin, the sudden quivering heat