“I’m not sure yet. Ilyan is taking me out for dinner tonight. Then we get to leave soon.”
“But you don’t know where to yet?” Her voice had dropped, and my heart sunk a bit with it. I was so excited to be leaving the apartment, I hadn’t thought about where we would end up. But the thought of not getting to see Wyn again soon was depressing. As much as I was getting used to Ilyan’s company, and as much as I enjoyed being around him, I needed Wyn.
“Don’t rain on my parade, Wyn.” I grumbled.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that I miss you. It’s been months and with everything that’s happening, I worry.”
“What do you mean with everything that’s happening?” I asked.
I plopped down on the bed, curling my toes in the beautiful shoes, and waited. There was a much longer pause than I was used to as Talon whispered something in the background. It wasn’t like Wyn to hesitate. She usually said what was on her mind, whether it would offend someone or not.
“Wyn,” I prompted. “What’s going on?” My stomach tightened a bit in anticipation.
“Just with everyone looking for you, people being able to track your magic, and all that.”
I knew Ryland could track my magic, and would presumably be looking for me but Wyn made it sound like something more active.
“Everyone’s looking for me?” I said quietly. “Everyone like Ryland everyone, or everyone-everyone? I don’t suppose you and Talon were planning a rescue mission to get me out of my studio-sized prison?”
“Ryland everyone, Jos.” She paused, and my shoulders knit together in frustration.
Twice in one day I wasn’t being told exactly what was going on. Worst of all, people were keeping things from me. ‘People’ being Wyn and Ilyan to be specific. And Wyn was probably just following orders. While Ilyan had a right not to tell me everything, I trusted him – with my life, my secrets. He had become more than a friend. Hearing that he was keeping something from me, for the second time in under an hour, made my head hurt.
“He can’t track my magic behind Ilyan’s shield, Wyn,” I said, a little perturbed that my good news had been smashed.
“I think it’s a little bit more than that, Jos. I think it’s more of an active searching.” Active searching? Wyn made it sound like someone was hovering on the balcony waiting for me to absent-mindedly walk out.
“Why wouldn’t Ilyan tell me?”
“I am not sure Ilyan knows, Jos.” Her voice was quiet.
“What?” I asked, my back straightening in alarm. “What do you mean he doesn’t know?”
There was a scuffling and more whispering on the other end of the line. I held the phone to my ear tightly, desperate to hear anything. Ilyan always knew what was going on. He had spies and contacts everywhere who reported back to him. His phone rang off the hook most of the day with reports on Edmund and Ryland, and Prague, and who knows what else. The fact that he could possibly not know something scared me.
“Wyn?” I asked when I couldn’t wait anymore. There was a bit more of a whispered fight and then Talon took the line, his deep voice booming through the long distance connection.
“Hey Jos. It’s Talon, how’re you doin’ little girl?”
“I’m fine, Talon. Can you please tell me what is going on?” I was practically begging, but I needed someone to pull me back from the edge of my growing fear.
“Sure kid,” he exhaled deeply, and for a moment I was worried he was going to lead me on too. “Last week I was harvesting in the orchard when I overheard someone crying and whimpering, I’m not sure who. They were begging for help and pleading with someone. I heard them give whoever they were pleading with your location. I ran to find out what was going on, but nothing was there. No one was in the trees.”
“A few other people have heard it too,” Wyn broke in, having obviously put me on speaker phone, “someone whimpering and crying. But no one can figure out who.”
“What are you saying, that there is a spy in our midst?” I said, purposefully making my words sound like a spy movie in an attempt to break the tension. It didn’t work.
“That’s exactly what we are saying, Jos,” Talon said.
I threw myself back on my bed. I should be happy. I was finally getting out of the house, we had decided Ryland might still be able to be saved, and soon I was going to leave this prison forever. But now, I was stressed and uncomfortable.
“And Ilyan doesn’t know?”
“Ovailia is looking into it, but I don’t know if she told him yet. I would assume not if he is planning on taking you out to dinner tonight,” Wyn said. I could hear Talon whisper something behind her again.
“Why didn’t you call and tell me or Ilyan?”
More whispering, I waited for a minute, my impatience growing.