Spirit Ascendancy by E. E. Holmes Read Free Book Online Page B

not a job he’s cut out for,” Savvy said. “Still, he’ll be alright. They all will, as soon as they open up the Gateway and do a bit of…”
    She broke off, a flush creeping into her cheeks and staining them crimson. She didn’t need to finish the sentence. We all knew how the Durupinen would deal with the injuries left by our escape, especially now that Marion was in charge, and it wasn’t a subject any of us wanted to discuss.
    “Well, I’m just glad everyone’s going to be alright,” I said, steering the conversation away from dangerous waters. “Has Marion put out a bounty on our heads? The Durupinen’s most wanted, a million pounds, dead or alive?”
    Milo coughed. Savvy and Hannah exchanged a dark look.
    “Oh, my God, I was kidding!” I cried. “Please don’t tell me we’ve got a bounty on us!”
    “She’s offering a reward to whoever brings us in,” Hannah said. “Not all of us, actually. Just me.”
    “Why just you?” I asked.
    “Don’t be jealous,” Hannah said with the slightest of smiles.
    Now it was my turn to have no sense of humor. I glared at her and she went on quickly. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s the prophecy. I’m the dangerous one, as far as she’s concerned.”
    “But what’s the point of adding a bounty when the Caomhnóir and the Trackers are looking for us anyway? It’s their job. They don’t need some reward to motivate them to find us.”
    “The bounty isn’t for the Caomhnóir or the Trackers,” Finn said, slapping the cover closed on his notebook and looking up at last. “You’re right; they will be hunting for us, reward or not. The bounty has been added to tempt us, not them.”
    “That doesn’t make any sense,” Milo said.
    “Sure it does. They know that we’re all together. If we all have a bounty on our heads, we’re all equally in danger, and so we stick together. But if the bounty is only on Hannah, there’s a better chance one of us will be tempted to betray the others and turn her in.”
    “None of us would ever do that!” Milo said.
    “People have done worse for less,” Finn said. “Marion is counting on it.”
    No one had any response to that. I crammed the rest of the pastry into my mouth and stood up, suddenly filled with a panicky sort of energy, a need to do something, anything, besides waiting around for the Necromancers or the Caomhnóir to come busting down our door.
    “Did Lucida give us any kind of instructions? Where we should go? What we should do?” I asked.
    Hannah nodded. “We’re supposed to lay low and try to stay in the flat as much as we can. The idea is not to attract attention.”
    “That’s it?” I asked.
    “That’s it.”
    I groaned and started to pace. The room, already depressingly small, seemed to close in on us instantly.
    “And what about Annabelle? Does she know we’re here yet?”
    Everyone stared at me blankly. “We haven’t gone down yet, Jess,” said Hannah.
    “You haven’t? I was out of it for three days and you never bothered to check if Annabelle was home?” I asked incredulously.
    “She’s in hiding. We couldn’t just go down and bang on her door,” Finn said. “You’re the only one she knows, and you’ve been in no fit state to contact anybody.”
    “Well, I’m okay now, so what are we waiting for?”
    Hannah bit her bottom lip fretfully. “I don’t know, Jess. Lucida told us not to contact anyone. I’m not sure if she’d want us to—”
    “Hannah, I’m not talking about making social calls on all our new neighbors. Annabelle is here hiding out from the Necromancers. She’s the one who warned me about the possibility of them in the first place, and she’s in almost as much danger as we are.”
    “I agree with Jess,” Finn said.
    “Well, there’s a first time for everything,” I muttered. Only Milo heard me. He betrayed only the slightest of sniggers.
    “This Annabelle is a liability if we don’t let her know what’s going on,” Finn went on.