Page 5 of Shadows of Perl

“You know you can’t do that. Draguns will expect that. Abby will be more successful without you with her.”

“I’m not afraid of them.”

“Then you’re arrogant. You overestimate your own power, something else our training can address.” He walks away. I don’t follow.

He stops, sliding his chin over his shoulder to glare at me. “Come. Along.”

“I said, we’re done training.”

“Quell, you have to trust me.”

“I have. And now you have to trust me. I’ve mastered not hurting myself, you said it yourself. I passed the last test.” I offer Octos his Sun Dust vial back and tighten my bag on my shoulders. “I’m going back to the safe house to see if there’s been word from Abby. From there I’ll figure out what to do next.”

“Quell, please. A few more nights.”

“For all I know, Draguns could have found my mother by now! Do you have any idea what they’d do for information on me? Because it’s all I think about when I lie awake at night!”

“You must stay calm.”

“I’m as calm as I can be!”

“The trace,” he whispers, as if the words alone will summon Jordan.

“He’s not coming.” I hold my chest, remembering the silver flame that burns inside it. Jordan’s flame. “I’ve experienced a whirlwind of emotions these last several weeks, but Jordan hasn’t found me. Either binding with my toushana ruined the trace or he’s choosing not to respond. If and when I see Jordan Wexton, I will be ready to end him before he ends me.” I unleash my toushana and it swallows us in a dark fog. My fingers throb with a pain I thought was behind me.

Octos tries to step closer to me but my shadows push him back. He won’t stop me this time. At first, he told me to stay at the safe house until he got there. A month I waited, with the person in charge, Knox, and her helper, Willam, side-eyeing my every move. I didn’t know what lies Octos told them to let me stay there. I didn’t know what to say or not say. Every night I worried they’d try to strangle me in my sleep. Then he showed up and finally began training me. But that took several weeks. I am done waiting. I need to find my mom, with his help or not. I pull my shadows back into myself with a big breath, and Octos gapes at my growing bruises.

“I can handle it.” I walk away.

“Quell!” The unfamiliar lilt of anger in his voice stops me dead in my tracks. He catches up to me and shoves the vial back into my hand. “One. More. Night!”

Then his eyes widen.

He turns pale.

“We both have to go now.” He grabs me by the sleeve.

“Stop telling me what to do and listen for once!” I shove away and push the vial back to him, but his hands fumble the metal. He gasps. I watch as the vial of Sun Dust plummets toward the ground. He grabs for it, but it lands with a smash. Sun Dust bursts from the top, spilling all over the grass, dusting it in a bright glow.

“No, no, no.” Octos whimpers, trying and failing to grab handfuls of fine Dust before it disappears into the ground.

“Maybe now you’ll start listening to me.”

His eyes widen.

“I’m leaving. Now.”

He follows without a word.

Two

Jordan

Unmarked tourists crowd Yaäuper Rea like fleas.

What was once a university at the heart of the Order’s operations now masquerades as a museum. My insides swim with nerves; raiding here feels like sacrilege. Still, I put another step forward and gesture for my team to gather. The Dragunhead intends to name me second-in-command, but if I fail at something this big, in a place this important, I’ll never see a raid again, let alone lead one. Everything I’ve been working toward, all I’ve sacrificed, all I’ve lost, will be for nothing.

I twist a ruby ring on my finger, recalling the notes on the target. He’s described as young, tall, and slender, with dark brown hair, wearing jeans, a windbreaker, and a red baseball cap. He was first spotted exchanging goods with a Trader in New Jersey using toushana, which put him on the brotherhood’s radar. From there we trailed him to London: he was carrying liquid kor in quantities large enough to level a block of small buildings.