Peta Read online

  Saying goodbye to Scar, as she so aptly named him, she climbed up onto the ledge to find Cactus out cold with a goose egg on his head. Without hesitation, she healed him, though I felt the dip in her energy.

  Our bigger problem was Fiametta showing up.

  The queen surprised me, but more so because Jag, her familiar was behind her. His eyes met mine and he slowly shook his head. There was nothing he could do to stay her hand.

  I’d already known that.

  Coal pulled himself up behind us.

  I knew what was coming, there was no way around it. Coal would fight us on this, would try to make it look like Lark was a troublemaker. I whispered into her ear, “He will not go down easy. Be wary.”

  Coal walked right into the trap we’d set, laying claim to hurting Cactus which only pissed off Fiametta, if the tightening around her eyes was any indication. I may have never been her familiar, but I’d known her since she was a child and she’d always had a wicked temper. Even if she was better at controlling it now.

  I was proud of the way Lark handled the back and forth between herself, the queen, and Coal. Setting out the way he’d fooled the queen and gotten into her bed.

  Lark turned and started to walk away.

  “Stop,” Fiametta said.

  We turned to see Coal sprinting away.

  Cactus pulled down the archway Coal was headed for effectively blocking him. The Ender spun and pointed his club at Fiametta.

  The queen would deal with him, and we would be free to go.

  At least, that was what I thought.

  Lark pulled me from her shoulder and threw me behind her as she leapt in front of Fiametta.

  Putting herself in danger while trying to protect me.

  Heart beating wildly, I knew it was a good move politically. But I didn’t think that was why the Terraling had done it.

  She’d done it because it was the right thing to do.

  She was going to be the death of me.

  While they fought, Lark used Spirit on Coal. I could feel it flow out of her and into him in a thin trickle, loosening his tongue.

  “The first night you bedded the queen, you were searching for something in her room. What was it?” she asked.

  Beside me the queen went stock-still and I knew Lark was in trouble. It was a split-second decision I made. Shifting into my leopard form, I leapt forward, knocking her to the ground as Fiametta unleashed a wave of lava over our heads. I felt the heat through my thick fur.

  I stared at where Coal had been, now nothing but a pile of ash and a few bits of charred bone.

  Lark buried a hand into the thick fur around my neck. “Thanks.”

  “That’s four times now, Terraling,” I said.

  Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard. “I think you’ll get at least a few more chances to pull my ass from the fire before we’re out of here.”

  “I believe you may be right.”

  CHAPTER 5

  f course, one fight in a day wasn’t enough for my charge.

  We’d barely gotten back to Brand’s home when Maggie jumped Lark. The two women rolled around, and it wasn’t until Maggie started to drag Dirt Girl toward the lava flow that I started to worry.

  I shouldn’t have though. I needed to remember what I already knew about my Terraling.

  She was a survivor.

  With a quick jerk of her legs, she had Maggie on the ground and was repeatedly slamming the Salamander’s head into the hard stone.

  Smoke and Cactus rebuked her as she stood, breathing hard from the exertion and adrenaline from the fight.

  I meowed at her and she held out her arms. I leapt up and worked my way up to her shoulder. “You should have smashed her at least twice more,” I said.

  She looked up at me, her eyes wide with shock. “You aren’t going to tell me I should have let her pulverize me?”

  I snorted and shook my head. “No, showing weakness in the Pit will get you killed. The others fear you now; they saw you beat Maggie’s ass in a matter of seconds. That is why she came at you. You’ve beaten her once and she lost standing, losing to a mere dirt girl. Now you’ve beaten her a second time. She will look for another way to get at you. So we will have to be extra vigilant.”

  Which was true, we’d have to watch out for Maggie. But for far longer than Lark probably realized. Maggie would wait now, wait for a moment when Lark was at her weakest before she struck. It could be years from now, but Salamanders had a long memory when it came to those they thought had wronged them.

  Once more inside Brand and Smoke’s home, the family sat for dinner. Already word had spread of Lark’s fight with Maggie.

  Lark tried to brush it off as nothing. That would not do at all. She deserved props for beating a superior fighter.

  I stretched, my back arching as I stepped off Lark’s lap and onto the table. I would do my charge the honor she deserved. “Terralings are not to brag. They’re humble, unlike you lizards.”

  Brand seemed to be holding back a smile as I crossed the table. Smoke glowered but only for a second.

  I pushed onto my back legs, front paws stretched into the air. “Magma leapt at her from behind, and Dirt Girl sensed it coming. She rolled with Magma tackling her. And BAM! the first punch smashed its target.” I dropped to all fours and rolled over then popped into the air to land flat on my belly. I loved telling stories, but I would not admit that to anyone.

  “What happened next?” Brand’s youngest son whispered, his tiny fists pressed under his chin.

  I dragged myself across the table with my front claws, weaving one way and then the other as though stalking prey. “Magma raced backward, dragging the Terraling by her ankles. Right to the lava flow.”

  Tinder gasped and his fists shook with suppressed emotion. “What then?”

  Slithering on my belly until I was hidden behind one of the dishes, I paused. “It looked as though Magma would throw her into the lava flow. But the Terraling used her legs, jerking Magma off balance, cracking their heads against one another.”

  “And because she is a Terraling, her skull is harder than Magma’s?” Tinder asked and I rolled onto my back and jabbed my four feet into the air as if in a four-legged boxing match.

  “Exactly.” I paused again, and then rolled into attack position, unable to keep my body from wiggling with suppressed adrenaline. “Dirt Girl grabbed Magma by the shoulders and slammed her against the ground three times.” I bobbed my head up and down. “BAM BAM BAM. Each time harder than the previous until she was satisfied Magma would not be coming around anytime soon.” With the last word I leapt toward Tinder, landing right in front of his face. He squealed and laughed and I sat, looking over my shoulder at Lark.

  She smiled at me, and in that smile I saw the possibility in her . . . maybe she was the one I’d been waiting for all these years. Damn her for being a Terraling.

  After dinner, we retired to the room Lark had been given. She lay, her breathing anything but slow. I had a bad feeling about this.

  The boom of the night bells swelled over us. We should have fallen asleep within seconds.

  “Damn, you truly are a child of Spirit, aren’t you?” I whispered.

  “How do you know this? How do you know anything about Spirit?”

  I debated how much to tell her, how much of my past she deserved to know. I told her about my first charge, about how he’d had me from the time I was very small. How he’d wielded Spirit.

  She scooped me up and pressed her face against me. With her eyes closed, shut tight like a child afraid of what the night held, she clung to me and I purred. This was where I belonged.

  “I’m so glad you are here,” she whispered. “No matter what happens.”

  I licked her cheek. “So am I, Dirt Girl. But if you tell anyone, I will claw your face to ribbons while you sleep.”

  Laughing softly, she set me down.

  It didn’t take long for us to find our way into trouble yet again though. The healer’s rooms did
not hold much information that I could sniff out. Yet Lark seemed determined to find something to prove her and her compatriot’s innocence.

  Nosing the different salves and jars, I searched through everything I could.

  “Why do so many Salamanders get burned when they are immune to the flames?” she asked.

  “Normally they don’t but lately there have been injuries of that kind for many of them. Usually the salves are saved for those who are visiting the Pit,” I jumped onto a second counter that ran around the entire room. The jar of nepeta, my namesake, made me sneeze. “Occasionally a death occurs because a child who is too young tries to swim in the lava.”

  Lark shuddered, and her eyes filled with pain. “Why would they let them do that?”

  “They don’t. These are children in their early teenage years who believe they are invincible. One of my charges was just such a child.”

  Ahh, my little red headed darling. She would have been a mighty Salamander if she’d been able to keep her temper in check. A dare. She’d jumped into the deep end on a dare from a boy she’d had a crush on.

  And I’d been too far away to prevent her from doing it. Only by a few inches, but it was enough that she’d succumbed to the lava before I could reach her. Screaming for me as she sank down.

  Peta. Save me.

  Breaking my heart for the third time. Breaking my soul for the first.

  “Peta—”

  The sound of feet clicking on the stone snapped my head around and pulled me out of my memories. “Shhhh.” I hissed, twitching my ears. “Hide. Someone is coming.”

  Lark slid under one of the beds and I crouched in a shadow on the floor against the counter.

  The doors opened and in swept a dark cloaked figure. There was no scent to the person, no hint as to whether it was a man or a woman.

  The dark cloaked one searched the room and then paused. “Who is here? I can sense you.”

  This person started toward the bed Lark was crouched under. I let out a meow, pitching it high and loud as I leapt onto the counter. Trotting along the length of it, I made sure my asshole was pointed right at the dark cloaked one.

  “Damn cats. I hate felines. The first thing I’ll do when I rule the Pit as queen is kill all you snotty creatures.”

  Female. And not a nice one by the sound of it.

  She left and Lark crept out.

  We found the papers that listed the Enders Lark had injured and their wounds. How they were fine but then found dead on the morning check by the healers. This proved her and the other Terraling weren’t guilty of killing those Enders. Hurrying, we headed back the way we’d come. The torch went out but we were close enough that I could lead her.

  “This way,” I called to her.

  “This way, Larkspur.”

  The voice was not one I recognized.

  “Dirt girl!” I yelled.

  “This way, Lark,” the voice said again.

  She didn’t answer. I flicked an ear back and the sound of feet shuffling told me she was close, despite the other voice. Keeping my pace up, I took the turns, calling back to her at various points.

  The other voice faded and then so did the sounds of footsteps.

  Breaking out of the tunnels, I turned.

  Lark was not behind me.

  Heart thumping, I stared into the dark tunnel. “Dirt Girl, that is not funny. Come out.”

  Nothing.

  I reached for the bond between us.

  Nothing.

  Panic set in. How could I have lost her? She was right behind me?

  Diving into the tunnels again was stupid. I might be able to scent her but I was no wolf with the ability to track. Meowing softly to myself, I paced back and forth in front of the opening.

  A torchlight behind me spun me around. The prick was headed my way.

  “What are you doing?” I snapped at him, my fear for Lark making me prickly.

  “I woke up. I think Lark did it. She used to call me like this when we were kids.”

  Spirit. She was alive and using Spirit to bring Cactus to her. But why not me?

  The answer was simple, she was not sure she could trust me yet. And I couldn’t blame her.

  “Can you find her?”

  “I think so, but she’d deep in the tunnels.”

  He led the way, but I walked right beside him. There was no way I was going to tell him I couldn’t feel the bond between Lark and me. “Do you really love her, or are you playing with her heart?”

  “Playing matchmaker now?”

  “No. I’m her protector.”

  “I’ve loved her since we were children, Peta. I would do anything for her.”

  “Even give her up when she loves another?” I was guessing, but whenever she thought of her fellow Ender, her heart and soul beat a little louder. Not that I was telling Cactus her feelings for the other Terraling was not that different from the way she felt when he was around.

  The sounds of voices echoed through the tunnel and Cactus smartly put the torchlight out. We ducked into a side tunnel as Fiametta and two guards passed by.

  “I don’t care if it is the middle of the night, I think she has something to do with this,” the queen snapped.

  There was only one she that would have the queen up and moving at this hour.

  Lark.

  As soon as they passed, I bit Cactus on the leg. “Hurry, prick.”

  He lit the torch and we were off once more, taking turns and corners as fast as we could.

  When we rounded the last corner and Lark was ahead of us, I couldn’t help myself. With a burst of speed I bolted toward her, leaping up and into her arms. We had to hurry, but I needed to feel that she was okay.

  Clinging to Lark, I questioned her. “Dirt Girl, who was that calling to you?”

  She looked at me, then then back to Cactus. “You heard him too?”

  “Yes.” I dug my claws deeper into her clothes, the tips brushing along her skin. She wasn’t going to disappear on me again. “I tried to stop you but you couldn’t hear me and then . . . I couldn’t find you.” I couldn’t help the full body shiver that ran through me.

  “I don’t know who he is, but he can manipulate Spirit; he made it sound like you were calling to me,” she said.

  A low rumbling hiss escaped. “But you stopped him?”

  “For now. He took the papers.”

  Of course he did. The only proof we had that Lark and her fellow Ender were innocent. “He will be back, you think? We will get the papers from him then.”

  I had to believe it. But for now, we had to get Lark back to Brand’s home without Fiametta knowing that she’d ever left.

  The prick had a hidden tunnel all picked out and we scurried through it. Past the houses with only a little difficulty, we were back in Brand’s home only moments before the queen.

  “Just hurry!”

  She flopped into the bed and pulled the sheets up seconds before the queen banged the door open and began her accusations of Lark’s whereabouts.

  I leapt to the floor, stretching. “My queen, Dirt Girl has been here all night and I have slept beside her. What you are suggesting would imply that she has some sort of strength against our magic.”

  Fiametta’s eyes flicked between me and the Terraling. She bent and scooped me up, shocking me. Mouse turds, I knew what was coming.

  She held me up to her face. “And why should I believe you, bad luck cat?”

  “Because my heart is here in the Pit, no matter where I am assigned by the mother goddess.” I tried to imbue my words with as much sincerity as I could.

  The queen’s hands began to put pressure on me, her eyes never leaving mine as my ribs cracked under the strength of her fingers. Heat flowed from there through my muscles, breaking apart tendons and tearing at my ligaments. This was a trick I knew all too well.

  Once before she had questioned me like this.

  I’d broken under her hands, the pain had been so unexpected. But not this time.

>   She lowered me to the floor, then left the room. I could barely breathe past the injuries.

  “Pick me up, Dirt Girl.”

  She bent and did as I asked. I curled onto her shoulder with a sigh.

  Her feet stopped in the threshold of the room. “Peta, did she hurt you?”

  “It is her way with familiars, to get them to be honest.” My breathing was ragged and I knew several of my ribs were out of place. I expected her sympathy. But not what came next.

  Rage flashed through her; anger on my behalf. She strode out the door and through the house.

  Fiametta stood waiting with her arms crossed but Lark didn’t slow. She all but slammed their faces together, using her body to push the queen back. “If you touch my familiar again—ever—I will pull this mountain down on your head. Do you understand?”

  I let out a whimper. Not fear, but disbelief. She was not only standing up for me, but standing up for me against Fiametta. The person who held more power over her than anyone else. The person who held her friend’s life in the balance.

  I told you she was worth it.

  Stop gloating, you were right was all I could manage in my thoughts. The mother goddess was right. Larkspur was worth every bit of pain.

  We followed the queen to the throne room, and Lark was able to see her friend Ash. Perhaps more than a friend by they way she kissed him and the rush of emotions I felt along the bond between us; she loved him.

  Ash was taken back to the dungeon and Fiametta left us in the throne room, alone.

  The haze of hurt kept me from being at my finest, and it wasn’t until Lark began to question me over the library that I managed to truly pull myself up out of the fog.

  “The rules here are strict, Peta. And everyone follows them to the letter. Is there a place, like a library where I can look for maybe a loophole? Some way we can get Ash out?”

  “No libraries here.” I shook my head in an over exaggerated way despite the pain rippling from the movement. I needed her to understand I wasn’t telling the truth without saying I wasn’t telling the truth.

  Simplicity at its best.

  I blinked slowly several times, willing her to understand that the worst place to discuss things was right there, right where the queen’s throne sat. “I think we should go see your friend Cactus. He has some plants I’d like to taste.”