I hear a chirp and a clatter of armor. I guessed Olan and Clarence had run for the door. “Come on wizards,” Edrinda shouted. “Let’s not lose her.”
Edrinda didn’t concern herself with gentleness when she grabbed my elbow. I almost tripped over my own feet at the speed she pulled me along.
The door slammed shut a second after I hit the bottom step. “Stop,” I tried not to gasp out the words. “I’m not going to be able to run like this.”
Edrinda came to a stop and I felt her pulling me back. “We don’t have time, Quinn.”
“You won’t have time if I fall flat on my face. Let me hold your arm. Good. Now I can follow you, rather than feel like you are pushing me.”
We ran across the street and I felt the ground change beneath my shoes. We were in the overgrown yard of Mrs. Yeardley’s house. Or rather of her ex house. She’d gone into a retirement home and whoever was looking after her affairs was letting the house go to ruin.
“Around back,” Olan called to us. “She’s cutting across the yard.”
“Lionel can you hide the body?” I called out, hoping he was in earshot.
“I have a spell that will make it look like a rhododendron bush,” he said.
“Good enough, we can deal with it later. I just don’t want the police finding it.” Having a body so close to my house was too dangerous.
We got to the back yard of Mrs. Yeardley’s house and I heard branches breaking at the far end. “Is that Clarence?”
“Yes, he’s just gone through the fence.” Edrinda slowed slightly. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to barge through the bushes.”
I gave her arm a squeeze. “I’m not waiting here, lead on.”
“Okay, Lionel, you push the bushes away and we’ll come through after.” The next thing I knew, I felt branches scratch at my arms.
“In that building over to the right. It doesn’t look like a house.” I heard Lionel say. “Clarence just went through the back door.
Great now we were breaking in to human buildings. “It’s a power station. There’s probably no one there but be careful.”
We went in and I heard voices.
Clarence and Fionuir were shouting. “You will stop what you are doing, Banshee.”
“You will not speak to me like that,” Fionuir’s voice came back. “Where is that wizard?”
“I’m here.” I tried to step forward but Lionel pulled me back. “What do you want?”
“My amulet, you stole it.”
I tried not to react, the amulet was in my pocket and until we could put it somewhere safe it wasn’t going out of my control. “What amulet?”
“Don’t toy with me, wizard,” she spat the words. “I thought you were blind from stealing my book, but no, you took the amulet. Give it back.”
I heard a heavy step and then Clarence’s voice cut across the sudden silence. “We will not help you kill more humans. Leave and stop your foolishness before you start a war between the Real Folk and the humans.”
“I don’t care about some possible war. I am fighting a real war of my own.” I heard fear in her voice.
She didn’t believe that the humans would find out, how naive could she be? “The police are already investigating these recent deaths. They may be human, but they aren’t stupid. It won’t be long before they link the last ones to this. How can you not believe they will find us?”
“It’s been thousands of years, Quinn, only a few teenagers have even suspected we exist. What is real, is me fight to keep my position. Give me the damned amulet.”
“No.” I pulled myself out of Lionel’s grasp and walked toward Fionuir’s voice. “You will have to find another way.”
“Oh, I’ve already found another way. I will keep killing humans until I get the amulet back.” She was getting careless; I could hear her footsteps approaching.
“I am still not giving you an amulet.” I stepped toward her voice.
“You are supporting Maeve? You think she will be better than me?
“Can she be worse?” I felt heat from the direction of her voice. “You are putting our entire existence at risk. What point is winning the war with Maeve and losing everything else?”
Someone grabbed me from behind and I felt the breeze of something just missing my face as I fell backward into one of the Kobolds. Edrinda’s voice grunted into my ear. “She’s armed. Let us fight her.”
I felt the wall hit my back before I could argue.
Then all I heard was metal against metal.