‘You’re not a coward, are you?’ My father asked.
‘Dad,’ I jumped to Jack’s defence, ‘this has nothing to do with cowardice. Jack is a very brave man and will fight for what is right. He is from Frost Arch and was brought up by closed-minded Mages who taught him that Humans are scum. You yourself once thought that Humans were filthy creatures, did you not? You refused to accept what Helena was-’
‘That’s enough, Avalon,’ my father shot, interrupting my speech. ‘Sit down.’
Huffing, I took my seat again. Jack gave me a small smile of appreciation, which I returned.
‘When the time comes to break into the manor, we must be ready for a fight,’ Elise said. ‘Freeing our families is only the first step of the plan.’
‘What’s the second step?’ I asked.
‘We stop the export of live Humans completely,’ Elise said.
Chapter Fourteen
Black Bird
‘Now that everyone is on the same page,’ my father stood and paced around the circle, ‘we have some new information regarding Martinez. Our informant at the docks has told us that Nicholo Martinez has a very powerful animal spirit. We are told that this animal companion resembles something the size of a polar bear.’
‘A polar bear?’ Penny Truscott exclaimed.
‘All we know is; it’s big and it can fly.’
‘Sounds like Hawthorne,’ I caught Jack’s eye and smiled.
‘Avalon, do you think you can bring your animal spirit on the rescue?’ Penny asked.
‘Of course,’ I nodded fervently.
‘Robert and Maria’s spirits won’t be much help in a fight.’ Elise said with a smirk.
‘You have animal spirits?’ I asked the older couple interestedly.
Robert eyed Elise shrewdly before nodding at me. ‘Of course. We are residents of Flamethroat Valley, so it is to be expected. My spirit, Jericho, is a robin. He is awfully intelligent, but not much use in a fight.’
‘My Pierre is just a ferret,’ Maria explained. ‘A very chatty one at zat. I fear ‘ee would give us away.’
‘Hey!’ I exclaimed, making Maria jump. ‘I saw you only this afternoon!’
‘I beg your pardon?’ Maria said politely.
‘I remember, I saw a talking ferret! He was on your shoulder and speaking French-’
‘Zat does sound like Pierre,’ Maria smiled.
‘Anyway,’ my father interrupted, ‘we need to find out what sort of animal this is and what it can do.’
‘I’m on it,’ Tom the mimic said. ‘I’ll dig around while I’m trying to learn more about this mob Martinez has.’
‘I’ll help,’ Bran added.
‘Excellent,’ Dad clapped his hands together and turned to Elise. ‘Elise, you’re still on poster duty. The guard is ripping them down every chance they get, but we already know you’re much too fast for them.’
‘Gotcha,’ Elise nodded.
‘Penny, you’re in charge of finding a new location for the next meeting.’
Penny nodded nervously.
‘Jack,’ my father shot. ‘I want you to help Robert and Maria with their son. There may be a way to heal him.’
‘I’ll try,’ Jack said doubtfully.
‘Anya and I will focus on disrupting the Human market’s operations as much as possible,’ my father finished.
‘What about me?’ I looked around. Everyone else seemed to have a job to do.
‘Um,’ I saw my parents do some quick thinking. ‘We need you to … train your animal spirit.’
Robert, Maria and I all scoffed at the same time.
‘What’s so funny?’ Dad asked.
‘You do not train zee animal spirits,’ Maria chuckled. ‘Zey are connected to you in ways zat you cannot understand.’
Folding his arms my father added, ‘she could teach him how to … how to-’
‘C’mon Kenneth, give the girl a proper job,’ Bran insisted. ‘I’m sure she is perfectly capable-’
‘All right, all right.’ My father caved easily. ‘Avalon, why don’t you stake out the Martinez manor. Find out if there is a pattern of people coming and going so we know when the best time to strike is.’
‘You want me to sit out the front of his manor and wait for him to come and go?’ I asked, rather annoyed.
‘Yes. Is that a problem? Do you have more important things to do?’ My father shot.
I sat back and folded my arms, huffing. ‘No,’ I grumbled, ‘Bit boring though.’
~
Jack and I made our way back to the lodge together. We left my parents in the cellar as they wanted to clean up after the meeting. We made it back to the Inn before it had reached two o’clock in the morning. Hawthorne, who was fast asleep on the rug in front of the dying embers, did not budge when we entered.
Once the door had been closed and locked, Jack and I didn’t know what to say to each other. Instead, we sat in silence. It was several minutes before either of us spoke. Jack was the first to break the quiet.
‘Do you think it will end in a fight when we try to rescue your sister and the other Humans?’
I sighed. ‘These things never go to plan, do they?’