Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel Read Free Page B

lives,” a third elf, cousin to Savelian and the leader of the group by force of arms, spoke.
    “Woman! Barely a girl and a mixed blood at that,” Savelian sneered dismissively. “And she too my foolish sons let slip through their fingers.”
    “Father,” Ferinyth hissed, “Do not blame me for Daeriun’s failure to defeat the Elven Guard mage.”
    “He paid well for his own failure by dying,” Savelian said coldly. “While you nearly lost us everything by trying to kill the girl who is the only one that can tell us about the spell we need.”
    “I knew she would not die,” Ferinyth bluffed. It was dangerously close to a lie, but he had been fairly certain when he had stabbed her that the Guard would be able to heal her and he been sure her injuries would slow them down, weak soft hearted fools that they were. Since she had lived after all he had been proved right on both counts.
    “Enough,” the third elf, Varessial, spoke again. “It does not matter. The girl lived, and hope remains for us to succeed. Better if she is young, she will be easier to handle, and this time Ferinyth you will be certain to do her no harm.”
    Ferinyth shifted uncomfortably not entirely sure what his father’s cousin was referring to. He couldn’t possibly mean that the girl wasn’t to be harmed at all. “I certainly won’t do her any permanent harm or risk killing her. But a little sport won’t ruin her-“
    “Nothing permanent or damaging. We need her hale and able to speak clearly, not broken and gibbering. And these children, these humans and mixed bloods, they break so very easily. It is a great risk to all of us to seek the girl out again and even more to take her with the Guard already alerted to our presence,” Varessial paused holding Ferinyth’s eyes until the younger elf looked down. “I would not risk sending you again at all after your previous failure if you did not already know the area and the girl well. You will go with Salarius” he gestured at his own son, sitting back in the corner, “and the two of you will not return without her. We will continue doing what we can to see that the Bright Court Guard is distracted with other matters. But be certain Ferinyth, if you fail again it would be a mercy for the Bright Court Guard to kill you.”
    Ferinyth bowed his head in acknowledgement, his eyes glinting. He did not intend to fail again.

Chapter 2 - Saturday
    “Wow, that stuff reeks,” Jason made a face, waving his hand in front of his face.
    Allie stopped walking, the burning bundle of sage leaves held out in front of her. She glanced around her store, the ordered rows of bookshelves now obscured by a haze of smoke. “I like the way it smells.”
    Jason wrinkled his nose, then looked up towards the ceiling, “You did remember to turn off the smoke detectors before lighting that thing up, right? Because I’m going to be really embarrassed if the alarm goes off and -”
    “And all your firefighting buddies roll up and see you playing witch,” Allie interrupted, rolling her eyes. “Fine Takada, go open the front door and let some fresh air in.”
    “More like let some smoke out. I hope no one thinks the building’s on fire,” Jason laughed, already jogging up to open the door. Allie mimed a kick in his direction, forgetting her bad ankle which screamed in protest at taking all her weight. She staggered, pain shooting up her leg, and bit her lip feeling foolish, but Jason hadn’t seen anything. She turned quickly and went back to smudging the store, limping more than usual now as she walked around trying to get the smoke into every crevice. Jason had always been prone to worrying about everything but Allie was pretty sure he was just teasing this time.
    “I’m not sure that helped very much,” Jason moaned as Allie moved between the shelves in the back of the store.
    “Well, then go open the back door and get some circulation going. Maybe that’ll help.”
    “Do you really think burning some