‘The thing behind your back? Is it a knife? Where did you get it from? Did you bring it with you?’ I fire the questions at him without giving him a chance to answer. I really do need to practise speaking to people again.
‘You can’t bring anything with you when you apparate, only the clothes you’re wearing,’ Bron says, confirming what Esme told me. ‘I stole it from the pub.’
‘You can be pretty sneaky when you want to be,’ I say admiringly.
He blushes slightly and glances over my shoulder. ‘There,’ he says.
I turn round to follow his gaze. Two uniformed men are standing in the street exchanging greetings. The first one waves goodbye and wanders off while the second heads inside. Bron stiffens. I reach into my back pocket and extricate a marble.
Praying I’ll get this right, I draw my hand back and throw. The marble hits the guard smack bang on the back of his head. He lets out a cry of surprised pain and immediately starts looking for the culprit. Bron and I hastily look away as the guard marches down the street. He spots a teenager who’s walking in the opposite direction and takes off after him.
Bron grabs the doorknob, wrenches it open and ushers me inside. As soon as we’re in, we lean against the wall, panting.
‘He won’t hurt that kid, will he?’ I ask nervously.
‘Nah. Not when he can’t prove anything.’
I hope he’s right. ‘Come on,’ I say, ‘let’s find the mares and get out of here as quickly as we can.’
Bron nods, grabbing my hand just as the door opens. There’s no time to run or even react. I squash down my anxiety and prepare to attack.
‘Is this a private party,’ Dante asks, his silver eyes glancing at our clasped hands, ‘or can anyone join in?’
I pull my hand free and glare at him. ‘What are you doing here?’
Dante raises his eyebrows at Bron. ‘What is she doing here?’
‘I couldn’t stop her. It was either bring her along or risk getting caught.’
My mouth drops open. Bring her along? He makes me sound like a piece of baggage. ‘Hey!’ I protest. ‘I’m the one who distracted the guard. I brought you along!’ I stare at them both. ‘What’s going on with you two?’
‘We don’t have time for this,’ Dante growls.
Bron meets my eyes. ‘We work together against the Mayor. Me and some others.’
‘You mean like the Resistance?’
He shrugs. ‘I guess. We have to be careful though. There aren’t many of us and we can’t risk getting caught.’
I look at Dante suspiciously. ‘But he used to work for the Mayor.’
‘And it wasn’t until you showed up that he stopped hiding out in the damn forest,’ Bron mutters under his breath.
Dante sighs as if annoyed. ‘Let’s get a move on.’
I narrow my eyes. ‘What? You’re going to let me tag along? What if I tell the Mayor? After all, I’m the one who works for him now, aren’t I?’
Bron starts but Dante just gazes at me expressionlessly. ‘I think, upon reflection, I made an error of judgment accusing you of that.’
‘You think?’ I mutter. Annoyed with the pair of them, I start walking away.
‘You should keep back, Zoe,’ Bron calls after me. ‘Mares can be dangerous.’
‘Yeah, yeah.’
I round the corner and halt in my tracks. Both Dante and Bron come up behind me. ‘Fuck.’
There are six mares in total. Taut silver chains bind their legs and necks, cruelly pinching into their skin. I gasp in horror at the dribbles of blood. Each mare wears some kind of hood. Dante marches over to the first one and whips it off. The mare tries to rear but the chains hold her back; she makes no sound because of the tight steel muzzle around her mouth.
‘How could they do this?’ I whisper, staring at the pain-dulled expression in the mare’s eyes. ‘It’s so wrong.’
‘Let’s get this over and done with quickly,’ Bron says.
I turn towards him and see the knife gleaming in his hand. For a moment I stare at him uncomprehendingly.
‘Put the hood back on, Dante. It’ll make it easier.’
‘No.’ I shake my head. ‘No.’
‘It’ll be quick and humane.’
‘I thought you brought that to fight the guard, not to kill the mares.’ I stare at him, horror-struck.
‘Zoe, this is the only solution. We can’t bring the mares out to the town. They’ll attack everyone. If Travellers die here then...’
‘Then they die in real life. Yes, I know. That doesn’t mean it’s right!’
‘If we leave them here for the Mayor to use, he’ll have too much power at his disposal. We can’t let them stay here alive.’ His tone is heavy but there’s not the slightest hint of doubt. ‘It’s the only way.’
‘No, it’s not!’
‘Zoe...’
‘He’ll just go and get more from the forest!’
‘And we’ll come back here and take care of those too.’
‘You can’t!’
‘Yes,’ he says quietly, ‘we can.’
‘Stop.’ Dante’s voice cuts through the air. ‘She can do it. She can free them.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I’ve seen her. Besides, she’s a dreamweaver.’
‘She said that too. It can’t be true though.’