Flamethroat (35 page)

~

I had to admit, it was nice having time away from Jack. The crisp morning air cleared my head and I felt as though I could think properly for the first time in days. Things had gotten out of hand between Jack and I over the last week, something that I had not anticipated.

But I had found my family, well and safe. There was only one piece of the puzzle missing and that was Helena. It was painful to think about her, so I tried not to. Instead, I occupied myself by wandering through the streets of Flamethroat Valley. The shops were quaint and Hawthorne was allowed to follow me everywhere, though he did have trouble fitting through some of the doors.

We walked into a shop called ‘Spirit Devine’ – the name was so corny I couldn’t help but go inside. The woman behind the counter squealed with delight at the sight of Hawthorne.

‘Oh goodness!’ She said, bustling over. ‘She is a mess, isn’t she?’

‘He,’ I corrected, before looking Hawthorne up and down. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Oh, darling.’ The shop assistant looked at me with pity. ‘Look at her coat – it’s so long and matted!’

‘He,’ I repeated before running my fingers through Hawthorne’s coat easily. ‘It seems fine.’

‘Please.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘When was the last time you brushed her?’

‘Brushed
him
?’

‘When did you last bathe her?’

I stared, annoyed.

‘You’ve never washed her?’ She was absolutely flabbergasted.

‘Do I need to?’

She leaned close to Hawthorne and inhaled deeply through her nose, before recoiling. ‘Oh my! She needs a bath!’

I put my nose to Hawthorne’s fur and sniffed. ‘
He
smells fine.’

‘You’ve probably become accustomed to it.’ She waved a hand airily. ‘I can give her a shampoo, cut and brush for only one gold piece.’

I pulled a face. ‘Nice try.’

‘I’ll even throw in some fragrance that you can spray on her. We have lavender, rose, orange-’

‘No thanks.’ I took a step towards the door.

‘Wait!’ she called. ‘I’ll do it for half price, since
I know you’re a regular.’

I paused. ‘What? I’ve never been here before.’

She looked confused. ‘But this animal, isn’t it … isn’t it Mister Martinez’s?’

‘What are you talking about?’

The shop assistant looked at Hawthorne carefully, walking around his body and analysing him. She lifted his tail. ‘No … wait, this one is a boy!’

‘Well spotted,’ I said coldly.

The shop assistant bit down on her bottom lip. ‘But they could be twins!’

‘Hawthorne looks like the Martinez animal spirit?’

‘Almost exactly!’ she exclaimed. ‘Yours is much bigger though! But how can you afford this spirit? I heard Martinez spent half his fortune on his own companion.’

I clenched my teeth together. I was getting rather sick of people asking me how I came to acquire Hawthorne.

‘I inherited some money, okay?’ I invented. ‘So you say they are exactly alike?’

She nodded fervently, ‘Oh my goodness. Imagine if they had
pups
. They would be worth a mint!’

I didn’t want to linger in this shop any longer. I had just discovered what Nicholo Martinez’s animal companion was – and I would bet all of my money that it had the same talents as Hawthorne.

I walked briskly to the lodge, with Hawthorn tottering along behind me. I was so intent on getting back that I walked through the marketplace and ran straight into a thin girl in a black. She stumbled, but caught herself in time.

‘Sorry,’ I said quickly, but I did a double take immediately.

Her hood had slipped off when I had bumped her and I saw the beautiful face of
Ræ
ven
Blacklock.

Chapter Fifteen

Vulmessian

I gaped. I couldn’t even speak her name; I was so shocked. Brushing herself off, Ræ
ven
looked up at me with a dazzling smile.

Grabbing Ræ
ven
by the shoulders I brought her towards me and hugged her tightly. I felt her delicate arms squeeze me gently.

I had first met Ræ
ven
several months ago at the postal shop in Frost Arch. This probably explained her presence in Flamethroat, she travelled a lot, delivering letters all across the country. There were two amazing things about Ræ
ven
. First, was her ability to shape-shift into a large, black bird with brilliant tail plumage. The second was her voice, Ræ
ven
’s voice had anaesthetic qualities, causing the listener to become temporarily dumbfounded. It was true that the sound of her voice affected each person differently and that a single note could potentially kill a man. This was why Ræ
ven
hardly spoke, but when she did, it was always in a soft whisper.

‘What are you doing here?’ I exclaimed, holding her at an arms length to get a better look at her. She was tiny compared to me. Slim, feminine and slightly duck-footed as though she was better suited to flying than walking.

Ræ
ven
held up a scroll of parchment. As I had suspected, she was on a delivery job.

It had only been a few weeks since I last saw Ræ
ven
, but it felt like a lifetime ago. She and Jack had rescued me from the Human dungeon in Frost Arch, nursed me back to health, given me somewhere to stay and helped to rescue Hawthorne from Elvira Frost. I was certainly in her debt and felt awful that I had left Frost Arch so hastily.

Ræ
ven
indicated to a small shop off the street that sold pastries and coffee, where she sat me down at a table bathed in sunlight and ordered us some drinks by pointing at the menu.

‘Oh, you don’t have to-’ I began, but she held up a hand to silence me.

Once there were two cups of tea in front of us and Hawthorne was lapping up a bowl of milk, I turned to Ræ
ven
. ‘Tell me what you have been doing,’ I said immediately, ‘How are you? Is Frost Arch any better?’

She smiled. Ræ
ven
’s blue-black hair shined in the sun, bobbing just above her shoulders. Her cat-like blue eyes seemed to stare through me. Her skin, like porcelain, shone white in the sunlight. I understood why Jack had been rather taken with her all those months ago. She was breathtaking. Beautiful, in an unusual way. She reminded me of a
feline
.

I braced myself for the melodic words that would flow from her lips and knew the effect they would have on me. Yet nothing ever prepared me for it.

‘The sun shines in Frost Arch once again. The snow is slowly melting and the grass is beginning to sprout’ she said in nothing more than a whisper.

Those two sentences were all it took. I felt lightheaded. Drugged. Giddy. I steadied myself on the table.

‘That’s great!’ I smiled dopily, ‘Really great.’

‘The Forsythe man still seeks you.’

‘That’s … bad,’ I said.

‘Where is Jack?’ asked Ræ
ven
.

‘Who?’ I had never heard of this Jack character before.

Ræ
ven
smirked, ‘The man you left with, remember?’

‘Oh. Him.’ I vaguely recalled that other people existed, apart from Ræ
ven
and I. This was the effect her voice had on me. Some people even passed out when they heard her.

‘He is in Flamethroat?’ she asked, sipping her tea.

I nodded. ‘Yes, of course.’

‘Are you living here?’

‘No.’ I set my cup down and glanced around warily to make sure no one was listening to our conversation. ‘We are trying to find my sister.’

Ræ
ven
leant forwards. ‘She is missing?’

‘We know where she is,’ I said in an undertone. ‘But it’s getting her that is the problem.’

‘Why? Where is she?’

I bit my lip. Ræ
ven
did not know that my sister was a Human. Did I dare trust her with this precious information? She had proven to be a useful friend thus far and had done a lot for me, but I didn’t know what her stance on Human rights was.

I decided on the half-truth. ‘She is being held captive at the Martinez manor,’ I said quietly.

Ræ
ven
blanched. ‘Have you told the guards?’

I cringed internally. ‘No. No, we can’t do that.’

It occurred to me that Ræ
ven
would be very useful in an attack on the Martinez Manor. I’d even wager that she could do it alone.

‘You’re not telling me something,’ she said softly.

I closed my eyes and tried to think straight. Sighing, I looked at Ræ
ven
. ‘Can you come back to the Inn I am staying at?’

‘I must deliver this message first. Then I can meet you there.’

I told Ræ
ven
where Jack and I were staying and what room. She promised to fly to our window within the hour. I felt that trying to enlist Ræ
ven
’s help would be greatly beneficial for H.E.L.E.N.A, but whether Ræ
ven
wanted to join was another matter.

Hawthorne and I jogged back to the Inn around the corner from the Martinez Manor and arrived in time to see Jack walking up the steps to the front entrance.

‘Hey,’ I said, catching up to him and standing on the bottom step.

Jack turned. ‘Oh, hey. Aren’t you meant to be staking out the manor?’ he looked slightly downcast.

‘Yeah right. Dad gave me a phony job to keep me out of trouble.’

‘Let me guess,’ said Jack thoughtfully. ‘You found trouble anyway?’

‘Stop jumping to conclusions,’ I smiled. ‘What are you doing back here anyway? I thought you were at Robert and Maria’s?’

‘I was.’ Jack looked strangely pale. ‘It’s no good Avalon. I can’t help him.’

I looked at Jack sadly. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘No, I’m sorry.’ He twisted his shirt in his fingers. ‘I know you were hoping I could heal Helena.’

‘I wasn’t depending on it,’ I said truthfully.

Jack ran a hand through his dishevelled hair and clenched his fist around large tufts. He looked rather stressed.

‘Let’s go inside,’ I said quickly, before adding, ‘Hawthorne, you go through the back entrance again.’

Hawthorne slinked off grumpily.

Once Jack, Hawthorne and I were back inside our room, Jack put his hands to his face and sat on the bed.

‘Are you all right?’ I asked timidly as Hawthorne sat by Jack’s feet.

Jack groaned into his palms. ‘I’m sorry Avalon.’

‘Why?’

‘Bobby. The serum,’ Jack looked up at me. ‘It’s permanent.’

I took a deep breath. ‘You don’t know that.’

‘I do,’ he said with wide eyes. ‘It destroys the mind. I saw it. I felt it.’

Jack held his hands in front of his face and stared at them as though he did not recognise whose they were. I approached Jack and knelt on the floor beside him. He looked down at me sadly.

‘It’s not your fault,’ I told him. ‘Maybe Bobby can relearn everything.’

Jack shook his head. ‘They are brain damaged, Avalon. All of them. Helena too.’

I shook my head defiantly. ‘We’ll work something out, I’m sure of it.’

‘Even if we rescue those Humans,’ Jack continued, ‘they won’t know who we are. Helena won’t recognise you.’

‘Stop it,’ I said. ‘Maybe you just weren’t trying hard enough.’

Jack shot a glare at me. I looked away, ashamed of myself for such an accusation.

‘So what have you been up to then?’ Jack changed the subject. ‘Causing trouble, I assume?’

I leaned back. ‘Well, I found out what Nicholo Martinez’s animal spirit is.’

Jack raised an eyebrow. ‘And? What is it?’

‘A Vulmessian,’ I said smugly.

‘Come again?’

‘A Vulmessian,’ I repeated slowly and clearly, nodding in Hawthorne’s direction.

‘What?’ Jack looked at Hawthorne, then back to me. ‘A fox?’

‘A flying fox,’ I said with a smirk.

‘Exactly the same?’

‘Female,’ I nodded suggestively. ‘A shop assistant got Hawthorne confused with Martinez’s animal spirit. She said she has never seen two spirits the same before.’

Jack leaned back on the bed thoughtfully. ‘Well that’s useful information.’

‘There’s more,’ I said. ‘Guess who I bumped into at the market?’

‘Not Georgia?’ Jack pulled a face.

‘No,’ I smiled. ‘Someone nice.’