Becky


    Meanwhile, back at the manor…


    “Ms. Erring?” Lyssa asked from outside the vent near the manor’s front entrance. The one Becky currently had her head stuck in. “Are you looking for the traitor in the venttion system?”


    Becky winced slowly as she slid out, then waved a stern finger. “Why would I look for them in the air vents? A person wouldn’t even fit in here.” As she’d just discovered—three seconds ago.


    “I think you’re worried about de, so you’re probably not thinking with a clear head,” Lyssa said solemnly,ying the back of her hand against Becky’s forehead as if checking for fever.


    Becky pushed the girl’s hand away and climbed to her feet, standing inches above the little girl and pushing her sses straight up on her nose. “Who told you that nonsense?”


    “You did.”


    “Well, I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Becky argued.


    “Because you’re worried,” Lyssa suggested innocently. “About your suitor.”


    This kid was smarter than she let anyone see and more perceptive by half. Becky was proud and irritated all at once. It made her miss her little brother. It made her miss all her brothers. Family had great power over a person; no one else knows better how to mend your heart, and no one else knows all the easiest ways to break it.


    “I am worried,” Becky admitted. “But he’s not my suitor. I just wish he would wake up so I could know for sure he’s okay. As a…concerned colleague.”


    “Because you love him.” Lyssa’s eyes lit up, and she jumped like she’d just found something valuable. “I knew it! I should have locked you both in the closet.”


    The buzz of the office had just begun, but Becky was having difficulty discerning what time it was exactly. She hadn’t checked a clock in hours, hadn’t worried over schedules or ways to increase office productivity or if there were enough pens in the supply closet. Her entire evening into the wee hours of the morning had been consumed with den Gushiken, if he would wake up, and when he did, what she would say.


    You do love him.


    NOOOOOOOO.


    Becky shut her eyes and held out her hand. “Did you bring Evie’s journal like I asked?”


    Lyssa nodded, tossing Becky the book. She paged through it, searching for the word “starlight” but instead stopped when a note fell into herp.


    “What is that?” Lyssa leaned over her shoulder to see.


    Becky picked it up, holding it higher so Lyssa could see, too. “It’s a note to Evie from the boss. Asking her toe into work early for a morning meeting, dated from months ago. It says toe urgently or she’d be terminated.”


    Lyssa ooohed. “Wow, harsh. Good viiny tip,” she stated, making a mark on the list the boss had given her that she’d been carrying around in her pocket.


    Something wasn’t right. Becky continued staring at the note, wondering why it looked so strange to her…and then it struck her.


    She’d seen the boss’s handwriting dozens of times over from all the paperwork she filed.


    And this…was not it.


    The letters curled with a flourish The Viin’s decisive handwriting did not have, and the cross on the T was nted.


    Becky breathed deeply, her shoulders rising and falling. “Lyssa, do you have any of the notes you received? Any you didn’t give to re?” It was just a hunch, but a hunch she needed to follow.


    Lyssa looked guilty, frowning. “I do.”


    Becky nodded in relief. “Let’s go get them.”


    “Hold him down!” a male voice screamed from out in the courtyard. “Get the chains! Now!”


    Becky and Lyssa came to a wordless agreement in a single nce, both running for the back doors and entering the courtyard to absolute wreckage. Fluffy mmed his neck into another pir, keening and iling, echoing another screech from the male guvre below the grate. Something was wrong.


    The grate rattled.


    “What’s going on?” Becky demanded, holding an arm out over her face. She shoved Lyssa behind her to protect the little girl from flying debris.


    One of the Malevolent Guards who had remained in the manor, Dante, yelled at her over the frantic pping of leathery wings. “We have no clue! The guvre was making these wild sounds, and then Fluffy started to panic.”


    Dark-gray clouds rolled in, dimming the sun and casting a gray shadow over the scene, just as the grate began to shake as if somethingrge was mming into it.


    One ng. Everyone stopped.


    Another ng. Becky gripped Lyssa’s shoulder.


    A third ng, and Becky knew there would not be a fourth as the grate flew off and out came the male guvre, his scales glittering the rainbow sheen of Rennedawn, of Fate.


    Becky expected the animal to take to the skies at its newfound freedom, but instead he clomped over to them, his serpentlike body slithering with each step. Becky stumbled back, hand extended in front of Lyssa as the guards charged the animal with spears and weapons at the ready.


    Lyssa spotted them before Becky could block the scene from her view. “No! You can’t do that!” the little girl cried, sprinting toward the guvre like her life depended on it. Becky chased after her at the same speed.


    But she was toote. The guvre opened his mouth, letting loose a breath of purple mist—mist that was heading right for Lyssa.


    “No!” Becky screamed, helpless as the mist enveloped Lyssa, surrounding her as she yelped in fear. It would kill her. And Becky would never forgive herself. The rest of her life would be haunted by all the ways she could’ve prevented this.


    And just as she felt deep in her soul that her heart was breaking, something incredible happened. The animal stopped and calmed, and the mist parted, revealing an unharmed Lyssa, and…she glowed.


    A silvery white.


    Like a star.


    Becky watched, a hand raised to block the brightness from burning her eyes. Her mouth had dried out, and the drops of water that began to fall from the sky did nothing to help it. “Lyssa,” Becky whispered, reaching for her carefully.


    The guvre leaned down, bumping Lyssa’s head with his own and lowering a wing, motioning for her to get on.


    “NO!” Becky called, going to grab her. “No, Lyssa, you can’t go with him! Don’t.” Without another thought, Becky mbered over the wing, following Lyssa up the guvre’s back. “We must get down, now!” she yelled.


    Lyssa shook her head, still glowing, gripping a spike on the guvre’s back. “He needs someone.” The guvre sighed in contentment, and the guards slowly began to lower their weapons.


    The guvre’srge, iridescent-scaled head leaned over and looked Becky right in the eye. “Don’t,” Becky begged, recognizing that look. It was a look she’d seen in herself when she ran away from home.


    The daring gumption of someone about to take flight.


    “Hold on!” Becky screamed as they shot into the air, Lyssa holding tight to the spikes, squealing rather than screaming.


    The screaming came from Becky.


    The guvre swooped away from the manor and into the cloudy sky, toward gods knew where.


    All Becky knew was that wherever the guvre was going…Becky and Lyssa were going, too.