Page 31 of Hunted

“Is that what Helen was trying to say, when she suggested it would take too long for me to learn how to use my magic?”

Pepper sighed. “The truth is, you need to learn how to use your own magic in your own way. We can guide you, I can show you my sigils, my techniques, but they probably won’t have the same effect—as we’ve just seen. Teaching you would require us first to figure out how you access your magic. Is it emotion? Concentration? Discipline? Raw willpower? Then we’d need to sort out some kind of plan.”

“Please,” I said, stepping up to her. “I want to be taught. I want to know how to use magic.”

“I know, dear, and I know why you want to hone your abilities. But you need to trust us… you are in the safest place you can be, and in just over a week, we may be able to get you back to Arcadia.”

“Which at the moment is hostile territory. I haven’t even begun to think about what happens when I get back.”

“And you shouldn’t. We should cross that bridge when we come to it.”

I looked over at Tallin, who had a grave look in his big, Sprite eyes. He shook his head.

“If it comes back,” I said, “Whenit comes back… you have no idea what you’re dealing with. How dangerous it is.”

“I think you’ll find we’ve tackled our fair share ofoogiesandboogiesin our lifetimes, pet.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think this is anything like the things you’ve dealt with. It won’t stop until it gets me. My very presence here is putting you all in danger. You should teach me, and I should leave until the night of the crescent moon.”

“And go where?”

“I don’t know. Anywhere that’s not here. We can cover the place with sigils, and I can sit and wait.”

“Because you’re so good at that,” she said, chuckling. She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Trust me. This will all be over soon. In the meantime, you should rest, conserve your energy. You’ve had a long day… get settled, and I’ll call you for tea soon.”

Pepper gestured with her hands, and the broken teacup bits began to fly into the air and gently place themselves in the nearby trash can. I watched the display, but I couldn’t help feeling like I had once again been told to sit on my hands and do nothing while the monster that wants to end my existence closes in on me.

Did they not care about my warnings?

Were they really capable of dealing with this creature?

One way or another, we were going to find out, and that scared the hell out of me.

CHAPTERELEVEN

Idecided to go and check in on Valerian, who had spent most of the afternoon by himself while I destroyed teacups. We hadn’t really had a chance to speak since the department store, and maybe there wasn’t much to say. We had shared a strange moment in the changing room before the creature had attacked, and I knew I wanted to avoid talking about that as much as possible, but he spent most of his time alone.

I felt bad for him.

This wasn’t his home. We weren’t his family. He was still, both to me and my grandmothers, a stranger. An outsider. He rarely spoke when we were all together. Not because he didn’t have an opinion, because he had given me plenty of opinions during our time in Arcadia, but maybe because he felt like he couldn’t express them here.

In that, at least, we shared some common ground. As much as I missed my parents, and my home, I hadn’t forgotten just how unimportant I felt while I was with them. I hadn’t forgotten how little my opinions mattered to them, especially when it came to the Royal Selection.

I knocked on the door to his bedroom, which he usually kept slightly ajar.

“Come in,” he called out from inside.

Gently, I nudged the door open. It croaked as it gave way, and I found Valerian sitting on the floor, his legs crossed, his hands on his laps. My grandmother had removed many of the boxes that were cluttering the storage space Valerian was using as a bedroom, and now it looked like he had space to meditate in.

I didn’t know he meditated.

“Sorry,” I said, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

He shook his head. “I’m finished, anyway,” he said, getting up.

“You really don’t have to get up.”

“I do. I’ve been sitting for some time and my legs are falling asleep.”