Three

Quell

“This is a mistake,” Octos whispers as he watches every corner of the forest behind the safe house.

“She’s written four times, Octos!” I shake a fistful of Abby’s letters that I’d missed at him and keep going. “Four!”

Crisp autumn air whips by as if it’s irritated, too. The truth is none of Abby’s letters have been very descriptive, and each was a little more confusing than the one before it. But the point of each was to ask me to meet her at the spot we’d arranged: a secluded patch of trees south of the safe house where Octos and I have been staying. Thankfully, the most recent letter suggested we meet up tonight.

“We’ll be back before Knox and Willam return. If you’re scared, go back.” I expect him to turn around. It isn’t his mom out there somewhere. But Octos shoulders his backpack, slipping both straps on his arms, and hurries to keep up. Afternoon sun weaves through the canopy, and all I can think about is my mom, where she is, if she heard about what happened at Cotillion, if she’s worried. If she could see how strong my magic thrums through me now, she’d see I made the right choice. She’d pinch my arm, smirk, and wink. She’d do that. She would. I blink to clear the tears forming in my eyes.

“If they find out you’ve shared their location, we’ll be looking for somewhere else to sleep tonight.”

“It wouldn’t be my first time.” I stomp ahead, keeping an eye out for a break in the trees where a small stream intersects with a slumped oak tree. Follow the water three hundred paces west. Then another one hundred south. Don’t lose count! My feet rush over the damp earthen floor, skilled at moving swiftly and quietly from years on the run, making myself invisible. Octos takes another strained look around but follows when I skip over the tree and turn in the direction of sunset.

“We really need to reconsider sun tracking the Sphere,” he urges.

I don’t respond. The moment passes and a babbling rush of water pulls us south, deeper into the forest. At one hundred paces, we stop. The air is still; the branches don’t move. Something shifts in the distance. A sudden twist of light sends a shiver up my arms.

“You’ve gone pale,” Octos says.

“I’m fine.” My insides are lead. “She’ll show.” After a few minutes, I knock two sticks together three times and wait.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Three knocks in return. She’s here. I tighten at my center, and a trickle of cold slides down the crown of my head. I feel for my diadem but there’s only hair. Abby doesn’t know I bound with toushana at Cotillion. She wasn’t there. When I saw her afterward, I hid my diadem and told her that I’d outed my grandmother’s secret to everyone. That’s why I was running.

I slip out from the shadows. “Abby?”

“Quell?” She steps into the light alone. Her dress is a deep purple with capped sleeves. Her cropped dark hair has grown out some, and she wears it tidy and pulled back in a low bun. Her diadem sparkles in the sunlight overhead. I race toward her with a hug. “I didn’t think you were going to show tonight either.”

“I’m so sorry I didn’t respond to your last letters.”

“It’s alright. Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.” I squeeze her, hugging her again. “You look really good, Abby. You’re taking good care of yourself.”

“It’s been a lot going from town to town. Making excuses at my internship.” She flips open her compact. “Almost out of transport powder. But Mynick has been helping me get more. He’s good to me.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

She eyes Octos. “Is everything…with practicing your magic going okay?”

I look away, unable to lie to Abby’s face. “It’s going alright. Thanks for coming alone.”

“Of course.”

I try to exhale when Abby sighs, exasperated. “I couldn’t bring Mynick if I wanted to. He failed his Dragun exams on purpose, but it only got him snatched from his bed to spend two nights in the dunker.” She folds her arms. “The Dragunhead intends for him to see it through.”

Octos grunts. If Mynick’s not able to get out of becoming a Dragun, that could be a problem.

“Have you found out anything about my mom?”

“I wish I had better news. But, Quell,” Abby says as she gives my hand a squeeze, “I can’t find anything about her. I thought maybe her hair or something could have changed from the picture you gave me. But she’s gone. A ghost.” She sighs. “It’s too bad you skipped your Cotillion, because what if she was there? Like, what if she came to see you debut?”

I cock my head to the side. “Abby, what are you talking about? I didn’t miss my Cotillion. You did. I wrote and told you to meet me afterward.”

“No I didn’t. That’s ridiculous. I remember the black dahlia arrangements in the crystal vases. And the plum sashes you did as an accent to the House colors. I was there and didn’t see you anywhere.” Abby plants a hand on her hip. “What’s come over you? Everybody knows you ditched your Cotillion.”

Octos and I share a glance. He steps closer to her.

“Abby, we met afterward in the Secret Wood. If you were inside the ball, you’d recall the cloud of black fog enveloping the stage.”

Abby gapes at me, shaking her head in disbelief.

“In the forest I told you that I exposed Grandmom’s tether and asked you to look for her,” I say. “Remember?”

Now it’s Abby whose forehead creases in confusion. “What do you mean by tether?”

I remind Abby of how Grandmom used tracer magic to tether débutants as they bound to her House at Third Rite. How I didn’t complete Third Rite and instead revealed her secret to everyone. I leave out my toushana.

“If that happened, I’d remember. I was at House of Marionne’s end of season Cotillion. You were not. You didn’t finish!” Abby’s stare is lucid, but a crater dents between her brows. “Quell, what kind of game are you playing?”

She’s forgotten.

“Your grandmother’s behind this,” Octos whispers beside me.

“When was the last time you visited Chateau Soleil?” I ask, my throat thickening as the pieces of what’s going on click into place.

“A month ago. After we met here the last time.”

“Did she send you an invitation?”

“Yes, I…actually, I don’t remember an invitation, exactly. But somehow I knew about it and went.” Her tongue pokes her cheek.

“And what did you do there?” I ask.

“It was a reception. Everyone was there. She wanted to speak about the rumors circulating about the House.”

Refreshments. Food. Drinks.

Elixirs.

Poisons.

“She used the tether to summon you. Then she gave you something to alter the memory.” The truth is a knife between my ribs. “So that everyone in House Marionne has fake memories of my Cotillion.” My world dents at its edges. My grandmother could have planted literally anything in her mind. And not just Abby—anyone tethered to her House. Octos stares at me with a brow raised, and I realize he’s worried about the same thing.

“Guys, what are you—”

“Abby, listen to me. My grandmother can summon you to her any moment. Don’t take any food or drink from her. Don’t even breathe the air in that place.”

“Replacing memories for all those tethered to House of Marionne doesn’t get rid of the talk about what happened,” Octos says. “There had to be others at the ball, from other Houses, who saw?”

“They’ll be written off as gossips. See?” I gesture at Abby. “My grandmother’s as clever as she’s evil. And always ten steps ahead.”

Abby’s gaze darts between us. “I did hear some things about—terrible lies, Quell, about how you accused your grandmother of enslaving her House. How you unleashed dark magic at the party to ruin it because you were denied participation. Someone even said you and Shelby Duncan were conspiring together. And that you killed her!”

Something shifts in my bones. “People think I killed Shelby?”

“I don’t believe any of it.” She grabs my hands.

“Oh, Abby. I’m so sorry.” I hug her and she sinks into my hold.

“You’re saying…Did Headmistress really—” She begins to sob quietly.

“Abby, it’s going to be okay. Just trust me, okay?” I tell her everything that happened again and detail the plan of why she was looking for my mom—because I can’t, not if Draguns or my grandmother are after me, because that’s the first thing they would expect me to do. I’m careful to leave out how I bound to toushana. I need to shield my own truth. She nods, a few tears still in her eyes. By the end, the afternoon sky has dimmed. Knox and Willam will be back before dark. We’re running out of time.

“Where exactly have you looked for my mom?”

Abby pulls out a notepad and hands it to me. It’s filled with addresses from cities all over.

“I did find out that, at one point, she wasn’t traveling alone. But no one I asked knew who she was with. And that was a long time ago, back when you were at the Chateau.”

“Where was she when she was traveling with someone?”

“Chicago.”

There’s no House near there. “What was she doing?” I mutter, more to myself than anyone. I search Octos for understanding, but he only shrugs.

“We should hurry back,” he says.

“There’s still light left,” I assure him. “Even if we get back a few minutes after them, they won’t miss us.” Safe house grocery days were an all-day affair. Keeping a houseful of people fed while living off the Order’s radar was no quick job.

“If they see us coming out of the woods from this direction…”

“They won’t.” I’m less worried about not having a place to stay if they kick us out and more worried about what they’ll do if they find out Octos lied to them about who we are and why we’re there. Octos sets down his backpack and digs through it for something that he doesn’t find.

“I’m going to get a glimpse of the house from the edge of the trees.” His cloak takes him, and I turn back to Abby, who is staring in the distance.

“Did I remember everything the last time we met here?” She rubs her arms.

I nod. “We had no idea she was going to use the tether that way, and so soon. Does Mynick know all this?”

“He does. So he should remember.” She exhales, and I consider urging her to keep Mynick in the dark about all this until I’m sure I can trust him. But this isn’t the time to stress her out more.

“Where exactly are you staying?” Abby asks.

I’m not sure what to say, but I try my best. “The people we’re staying with are very”—I search for the right word—“private.”

“Are they in the Order?”

I don’t answer her.

“I’m doing everything I can to help you. Please don’t keep secrets, Quell.”

“We’re staying at a safe house,” I whisper, hesitant to say any more.

Her eyes widen. “Those still exist?”

“Quell, the truck,” Octos shouts, his voice coming from somewhere in the distance. “I’ll try to stall them.”

“I have to go.” An idea nudges me but I immediately slouch in disappointment. If I had my key chain, I could give it to her. But Grandmom turned it to dust.

Abby throws her arms around me and I hug her close. “I’m done training. But he’s right, I should probably keep my distance. I’m going to stick to the shadows and look around, too.” I squeeze her once more. “Next time, we won’t meet like this. I miss you.”

“I miss you!”

“Remember, stay away from my grandmother’s territory. As best as you can.”

Abby nods, and I show her the way the stream curves through the forest to the south. “Follow that, it’ll get you out of here unseen.” I watch until Abby’s out of sight before shouldering my bag and grabbing Octos’s. Something beneath its leather flap flashes on and off.

My heart stutters.

I open his bag and gasp.

The pulsing glow is my mother’s key chain.