“Yeah. She’s the one who escaped the PWs before they got her to one of their compounds—but not before they’d raped her, knocked her around, and busted one of her wings beyond repair.”
“Yes, I remember.”
“She was in pretty bad shape when we stumbled on her—heading here, she said. That was me, Flynn, Eddie, and Starr. Fever from infection, half-starved, still hurting bad. Still, she had a stick she’d sharpened like a spear, and would’ve jabbed the shit out of us if she could before we convinced her we were the good guys.”
“I wasn’t here when you brought her in. The healers tried to fix her wing. Mom tried.”
“Couldn’t. Too much damage, too much time between the break and when we got her back. Rough for her, but I gotta say, she’s compensated. She’s good with the bow—not great, but she could be. Sloppy with a sword yet, but … She’s got speed, endurance, agility—nobody in her group comes close.”
“Thoughts, feelings?”
He blew out a breath. He’d been raised not to poke into people’s private thoughts—not that he hadn’t done so now and then. Now, since Petra had infiltrated and attacked, it was part of his job.
“She’s good at blocking out the poke, I gotta say. But I get she’s pissed, more determined, but pissed, too. She wants to fight. She likes learning to ride, wants to learn to drive. It’s normal stuff, Fallon. No underbelly there, I can feel. Oh, and she’s figured out Colin’s got a thing for her.”
“What?”
“He keeps it to himself, because she’s kind of young, and a recruit. But he’s got a little thing there. I didn’t poke in—I could see it. Anyway.”
“Anyway,” she echoed for lack of anything else. “How many are ready for a mission?”
“You should ask Dad.”
“I will. And Poe and Tonia and Colin and all of the instructors. Now I’m asking you.”
He hooked his thumbs in his front pockets as he chewed it over, bite by bite. The fact he’d think carefully was the very reason she’d asked him first.
“Four, maybe five. Anson, Jingle, Quint, Lorimar—and maybe Yip. NM”—non-magickal—“elf, witch, NM, and shifter. In that order.”
“Okay, thanks. See you later.”
She moved over to where Tonia’s archery group rotated out.
Duncan’s twin—and it was impossible to look at her and not see him even though Tonia’s features were more delicate, her eyes a summer blue instead of a forest green. The humidity had her hair curling wildly as if it fought to free itself from the restricting band.
She nocked an arrow, let it fly. And hit the straw-man target heart center.
“How’s it going?”
Tonia nocked another arrow. “Not too bad. I’ve got one or two in the batch I just finished with who probably won’t shoot an arrow or bolt into their own foot.”
“Do you work with Marichu?”
“Sure. She’s got potential, and I’m thinking of switching her to a crossbow. She’s got the strength, and I think she’d work better with a crossbow than a compound. She tends to drop her left shoulder—and that’s probably from the damaged left wing. We’re working on it.”
She shot a third arrow. The second had pierced the straw head between the eyes. The third went straight through the groin.
“No straw babies for you,” Tonia said, and smiled. “Music in the gardens tonight. How about we hang?” Before Fallon could answer, Tonia laid a hand on her arm. “We reclaimed it, Fallon. We won’t let Petra or her bitch of a mother take it from us. You said it yourself.”
“Yeah, I did.”
Petra, she thought, her cousin, daughter of her birth father’s brother—and murderer. Blood of her blood.
She pushed it back. “I did,” she repeated. “We won’t.”
“But you hardly ever come. Plus, there’s a guy I’m looking over. You could give me your take.”
Fallon envied how naturally, easily Tonia could “look over” a guy. And if the looking over part hit the mark, move to the next step.
“What guy?”
“Anson, recruit, worked his way up here from Tennessee. Totally cute accent, killer abs, and so far not an asshole.”
“Travis said he was about combat ready.”
“I’d agree there. So come check him out tonight. Come hang with me and Hannah.”
“Next time,” she said and meant it. “I can’t tonight.”
“You’ve got something else cooking?”
“Yeah. I’m still working out the details, and I need to talk to my dad, to Will, some of the others—including you. To start, how many do you think are ready for a mission?”
“Of the boots? A lot of greenies, still.” Tonia signaled so Fallon walked with her to retrieve the arrows. “I’d say Anson with the studly abs. He’s got nearly two months of training—an NM, fearless but not stupid. There’s Quint, who came in about the same time. Witch, damn good swordsman. He’s still learning to harness his magicks, but he keeps it wrapped well.”
“Just the two?”
“Thinking,” Tonia replied, and swiped at sweat on her forehead. “There’s Sylvia—no,” she said with a shake of her head. “Not yet there. Shit, Hanson Lorimar. He’s a show-off, and irritates the crap out of me, but he’s solid. NM,” she added. “There’s Jingle—very fast elf. She’s a little goofy, but she gets down to it when it matters.”
“What about Yip?”
“Shifter. Possible. What’s the mission?”
Fallon started to evade. But this was Tonia. “PW enclave, Arlington.”
Tonia’s eyes widened. “Arlington? It’s huge, and it’s cozied right up with D.C.”
“That’s right.”
“Word is they’ve formed alliances with Dark Uncanny and Raiders, fortified the shit out of the place.”
“That’s right, too.”
Like Travis, Tonia took time to think. A fat jay winged by to perch on the straw man she’d killed, peck at it.
“Fallon, I’m with you, but we just don’t have enough to take it.”
“I’m working on that. Keep it quiet, okay, until I talk to my dad, Will, a few others.”
“No problem. If we could take Arlington…”
“It would be a major kick in their ass,” Fallon finished. “That’s the idea.”
With her father, Colin, Poe all doing instructor duty, she walked back home.
To her profound surprise, she found her mother, Fred, Arlys, and Katie swimming in the backyard pool.
“Caught us,” Lana said with a laugh. “So join us.”
“What’s going on?”
“Committee meeting.” Katie, town mayor and one of its founders, who’d given her dark curly hair to Tonia, her green eyes to Duncan, dunked her head back and giggled.
“Somebody’s been into the wine,” Fallon concluded.
“Oh, yes we have!” Fred, naked, flowed out her wings, fluttered up, shaking her curly red mop, then dived back in.