Chapter 8
THE OFFER
When we returned to the house, Ophira was standing on the front porch. She did not invite us into the house for milk and cookies.
“Trespassers will be shot on sight! You have been warned!”
It might have been tempting to discard Ophira’s warning, given her pretty face and melodic voice, a voice uncharacteristically genteel for a seasoned warrior—but the crossbow she had aimed at our heads told us she meant business.
There was an oddly smooth and organic look to the menacing monstrosity, like someone had captured the essence of a dragon and morphed it into a weapon.
“We’re here to help you!” I called out.
Ophira fired her crossbow, and a fiery bolt cut toward us. I ducked my head down just in time. The bolt sank into the tree trunk behind me.
I looked at Conner. “I don’t think she believes me.”
“Do you want me to talk to her?”
I considered the idea. On the one hand, Conner could be very charming—when he wanted to be. On the other hand, he enjoyed teasing and pranking people way too much. Ophira didn’t strike me as the sort of person who appreciated being teased or pranked.
“Let me give it another shot.” I rose ever-so-slightly in my knees, just enough to peek over the hedge we were hiding behind—but not enough to make myself an easy target. “We know you’re protecting Tyren, Ophira. We know he’s in the house. And we know the Nightingale is hunting him.”
Ophira unleashed three more flaming bolts into the tree trunk. “How do you know this?”
“The Nightingale came to me, pretending to be Ren’s daughter. She tried to use me to find him.”
Two more of Ophira’s bolts hit the tree. I needed to calm her down fast, before she set the whole woods on fire.
“We captured the Nightingale,” I said.
“I don’t believe you.”
Her actions said otherwise—or at least her lack of action did. She didn’t try to shoot me again.
“This is a trick.”
“It’s not,” I assured her. “The Rebels brought her to the Black Obelisk.”
Ophira’s laugh was short and derisive. “If that is indeed true, she will be free before the day is over. Humans cannot hold the Nightingale for long. She is too powerful. Too devious.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I am most certainly right.”
I could have sworn she relaxed her grip on the crossbow. Maybe I was finally getting through to her.
Sure enough, this time when she looked at me, she seemed to see something more than a faceless target. “You are Savannah Winters. I’ve heard about you.”
“What have you heard about me?”
“That you are completely incapable of minding your own business. You’re a do-gooder, a busybody, a pain in the proverbial rear end.”
Next to me, Conner was trying very hard not to laugh. His whole body was shaking from the effort. I rolled my eyes at him. I’d deal with him later.
“Some people find me helpful,” I said.
Ophira chuckled, and she didn’t sound quite so psychotic this time. I dared to be hopeful.
“I want to help you.”
“Oh, I believe that. You always try to help people, Savannah Winters. The Nightingale knew that. That’s why she spun her tale of lies. She used you to find us. So while you might mean to do good, people use you for evil. You’re too trusting and too eager. You need to work on that.”
“So I should become jaded and paranoid like you?”
“We’re more alike than you think.” Ophira finally lowered her crossbow. “You might as well come out from behind those bushes.”
“What, so you can shoot us?”
“I can shoot you either way. Do you honestly think that if I wanted to put a bolt in you, I’d let a scrawny bush get in my way?”
Probably not. I stepped around the bush, into the front yard. I took a cautious step forward. And another. And another. To my great delight, Ophira didn’t shower me with bolts.
“If what you say is true, we don’t have much time.” She fastened the crossbow onto her back. “I have to get Tyren away from Gaia before the Nightingale escapes and comes after him.”
“Aren’t you tired of running?”
I looked at Conner. What the blazes was he doing?
“If you run, the Nightingale will chase you,” he said. “It’s only a matter of time before she catches up with you again.”
“We must run,” Ophira replied. “As soon as the Nightingale realized we were here, she would have sent out a beacon. Reinforcements are on their way as we speak. The Nightingale will free herself, meet up with those reinforcements, then come for us. I cannot fight that many soldiers alone. And even if I could, if we stay, the Fortress will become a battleground. Is that what you want?”
“You need to think a little outside the box. Luckily for you, Savannah and I are very good at that.”
Ophira folded her arms across her chest and hit him with a solid no-nonsense stare. “What do you suggest?”
“Come with me. The Rebels have hideouts all over the city. Invisible hideouts, protected by magic. The Nightingale will never find you. She won’t even know you’re here.”
“She already knows we’re here,” Ophira pointed out.
“It won’t take much to make her believe you’ve fled. A clue here. A witness there. The trail will lead her and her army of evil back through the Spirit Tree.”
Ophira looked at him, and I could see it, even past that seasoned battle mask.
She was seriously considering his offer.
I didn’t blame her. It was a good offer.
Conner was a master of misdirection and subterfuge.
He knew how to hide, and he knew it well.
He’d evaded the Watchers for months, and they knew with one hundred percent certainty that he was here.
Every day, they actively searched the Fortress for him and the other Rebels.
If Conner convinced Yara that Ren and Ophira had left Gaia—which I had no doubt he could do—they would not find them. It was the best option there was, and Ophira knew it. We all knew it.
“What do you want in exchange?” Ophira eyed the Rebel leader, her expression decidedly wary.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?” Ophira’s face went from cautious wariness to all-out paranoia.
“I mean, you could help out with the dishes once in a while if you’re up for it, but I won’t insist.”
“Dishes?” And just like that, her paranoia gave way to confusion.
“We Rebels move around a lot, running all around the city. Exercise leads to hunger, which leads to lots of eating, which leads to lots of dirty dishes.”
I watched Ophira try to size him up—and fail. Something about Conner baffled her heightened battle senses. It must have been all the irreverent commentary.
“I will bring your offer to Tyren.” Ophira threw Conner a final perplexed glance, then she disappeared into the house. I waited until the door had closed behind her, waited another five seconds, then turned toward Conner.
“This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? From the moment I contacted you, asking for your help, this was your plan.”
He casually ran his hand through his hair and radiated innocence. Which only confirmed my suspicions. Sensing my annoyance, he smiled at me. I did my best not to growl.
“I don’t see why you’re so upset, Red. I told you it would all work out, and it has. Ren needs a place to hide. I have a place he can hide. You should be happy. I helped you solve your problem.”
I arched a brow at him.
He lifted his hands in the air in partial surrender. “Ok, ok, so I might have helped me too, but can you honestly blame me? I saw a chance to bring the legendary Tyren, Master Alchemist, to one of my hideouts. You can’t possibly expect me to pass that up.”
“You can’t make him build you stuff, Conner.”
“I know.”
“Because then you’d be no better than Dellondré and all of those other people who tried to kidnap him.”
“I know, Red. And I won’t make him do anything. But if he decides to help us, which I hope he will, think of all the good we can do together.”
“Hmmm.”
“So you forgive me?”
“For not telling me what you were planning? Or for using me to get to Ren?”
“Uh…both?”
“You really need to be straight with me, Conner. No secrets. No lies. No games. That’s the way healthy, functional relationships work.”
“Ok. I’ll try to do better. I promise.” He gave me a tentative smile.
I smiled back. “And speaking of healthy, functional relationships—”
“Oh, no. Not this.”
I ignored his protest. “The same goes for you and Kato. You really need to stop torturing him so much.”
“It’s cute that you worry about us, Red, really it is, but let me put your troubled mind at ease. Kato and I are getting along just fine.”
“He didn’t look ‘just fine’ this morning when he told me that you’d broken into his room. Again. And rearranged all the books on his bookshelf. Again.”
“Oh, he was upset about the books, was he?”
“You could say that.”
“Then just wait until he sees what I did to his armory.”
“His armory? Conner, what did you do to his armory?”
“Nothing.”
I buried my face in my hands and counted back from ten. I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.
“It’s not easy to find ways to interact with your best friend when the Watchers are everywhere and you’re not supposed to be seen together.”
That’s when it hit me: Conner felt left out. He missed just casually hanging out with his best friend, eating and drinking and just plain goofing off together. Teaming up to save the world was no substitute for all those low-key moments. Conner was lonely.
I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight.
“Hey,” he chuckled, hugging me back. “What’s that for?”
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m here for you. You aren’t alone.”
“This is nice.” He eased into the hug. I could feel his pulse thrumming, slow and content. Then, suddenly, it kicked up a beat, racing with mischief. “You know, maybe I’ll ditch Kato to make room for a new best friend.”
I pulled away, laughing. “Actually, I already have a best friend, and she’s way less trouble than you are, Major Rogue.”
He bowed to me, and I laughed again.
“Speaking of trouble, I hear you’ve been snooping around, Red.”
“Me? Snooping? Never.”
His face suddenly grew serious. “You’re looking for the Order of Kings.”
“They kidnapped Kylie and a whole lot of other Apprentices. Because of them, Asher is who-knows-where in the Many Realms. Of course I’m looking for the Order of Kings. I’m going to find them, stop them, free the Apprentices, and put an end to their odious order.”
“Ok, that’s a noble plan,” Conner said. “But could you do it a little more discreetly?”
I snorted. “You’re lecturing me about being discreet? You? Really?”
“I’ll have you know that I am very discreet. I have secret hideouts and invisibility spells and stuff.”
“You also tie up criminals in big ribbons and leave them on the General’s doorstep. Sorry to break it to you, Conner, but that’s not very discreet.”
“As opposed to tromping around the Magic Emporium, asking all kinds of people all kinds of questions about super-secret organizations.”
“If only any of those people actually knew anything,” I grumbled.
“They might know something, but they’d be wise to keep quiet about it. For an organization that supposedly doesn’t exist, the name ‘Order of Kings’ certainly elicits a lot of fear from anyone who hears it.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, half-laughing, half-sighing. “I guess neither of us knows how to stay out of trouble.”
The door to the house swung open, and Ophira stepped onto the porch. I recognized the man at her side, though Ren looked decidedly less tired than he had in the photograph Yara had given me. Hope flashed in his eyes when he looked at me and Conner.
“So, you are my saviors. A couple of teenagers.” He chuckled. “Why not? The universe is a crazy place.”
“Tyren has accepted your offer,” Ophira said.
Conner grinned at the Alchemist. “Smart move.”
Ren folded his hands in front of him. “We’ll see soon enough,” he said serenely.
“Shall we?” Conner extended his hands.
Ren took one, Ophira the other. As the three of them blinked out of sight, Conner turned his face toward me and winked. I smiled to myself, wondering if I had in fact done them a favor by introducing them to the mischievous Rebel.