“It was on the...” She slowed, knowing she had to start from the beginning. “Your sister picked me up and brought me to this place called Hatcher Pass. Her boss-- or some higher up, I’m not sure-- wanted to see if he could use the magic. It’s hard to explain but he almost showed me how to manifest it. I could actually use it.”

She thought it was amazing but Mason’s scowl indicated he did not. He let her keep talking.

“Anyways, then a bunch of police showed up to get the Band. I used the opportunity to run and then one of the police grabbed me. I didn’t want to hurt him, I just wanted to leave. So I kind of...well I guess I did attack him with the magic. But just so he could let me go. I didn’t know that he was hurt.”

Mason took awhile to answer, clearly thinking it over.

“I know you didn’t try to hurt him Avery.” He said at first, at least making her feel better. “But the more you use the magic, the more danger you put yourself in. The last thing we need anyone to think is that you can be a weapon.”

“Yea, but the Band thought it was useless when they saw what I could do. It’s just been growing stronger recently. And the mark is getting worse.” To prove her point, Avery slid off her jacket. In the bright sunlight, the contrast against her pale white skin stuck out even more than usual. “It’s not just my arm anymore. It’s my entire right torso. It keeps growing and getting darker.”

“This is bad. We need to find a solution quickly. If it’s growing this fast, we may not be able to stop it and take it out.” Mason hissed.

Avery already knew that but hearing it sent chills down her spine.

“Mason, we have to leave soon. We can’t deal with this right now, remember? We know where she is so we can come back later when you actually have answers.” Adalyn said, apparently choosing that moment to remind him of some apparent undisclosed appointment. Mason grimaced but agreed quietly.

“Wait!” Avery shouted, instantly worried they’d leave so suddenly. “Uh, what do I do if they find me before then?”

“Worst case scenario, I guess you can fight them without using the magic.” Mason finally offered.

Adalyn snorted, rocketing forward in her seat to sit at the very edge. She was obviously expecting a show and based on her smile, a humorous one at that. Avery backed off and hovered, uncertain.

“What do you mean fight them without magic?” She inquired partially dreading his answer.

Mason dropped into a fighting crouch to demonstrate something but all it did was make attention come their way. Avery tried to ignore it, hoping that a six-foot-something guy wearing a trench coat wouldn’t warrant anyone calling the police. Mason didn’t care.

“Look, there are two things you have to remember. Harpies’ biggest weakness is their wings. The wings are both easily accessible and easily injured. If you take their wings out, they can’t fly and that puts you on a more even playing field.”

“She doesn’t have any talons, Mason.” Adalyn prompted and Mason shook her comment off.

“It’s not that hard. You can do it with a harpoon, a knife, a stick-- just get creative.”

Avery was horrified to hear it. She pictured Mason’s injured wing, a harsh bloody red, that barely healed over in a few days time. She couldn’t grab a knife and do that to somebody else. Avery was human, lacked the viciousness of harpies, and the violent images just didn’t sit well with her. If Mason noticed her face turning green, he didn’t comment.

“So, otherwise you have to remember that harpies don’t weigh much. We have a lighter bone density than humans to help compensate for flying. So when it comes right down to it, brute force is a good way to go. Just hit them.”

“No way, I’m not good at that either.” She curled her fists and raised them to make a point. Bone density or not, Avery would more likely break her fists than use them right.

Mason gave her a smile and Avery’s heart fluttered. Alarmed, Avery squashed the feeling immediately. He hadn’t been hitting on her, just teaching her how to fight, and her heart was over reacting. At least Avery tried to convince herself of that. Feeling guilty, Avery refused to look back at Mason’s fiancé for fear of giving her thoughts away.

“Take this.” Mason came forward and pressed something warm and rock hard into her hand. Barely glimpsing, she recognized it as a sapphire blue amulet.

Fifteen

The suffocating scent of must and mold exploded in the air as she flipped the flimsy browned pages. The heavy text remained legible even though the binding of the book fell apart in her hands. She carefully shut the book and looked over the faceless tarnished cover again.

“Is this all you have?” She peered across the long reference table to where the Emo librarian dabbled on the computer. Headphones wrapped over his ears, Avery was surprised when he could even hear her.

He glanced up at her through the glare on his heavy glasses and shrugged.

“Sorry, but harpies aren’t a hot topic outside of Greek mythology and I already showed you those.”

His attention drifting away instantaneously, Avery cut her losses and gave up. She glanced at the digital clock above his head. A quarter till one meant Chase would get out of class soon. Her brother let her tag along to his school and she’d figured she’d poked around at the university’s library a bit. Shelves packed to the brim made up every layer of the four story building. And even with a whiny helper, the library produced virtually nothing, legend or reality alike, on harpies.

Cradling the book the librarian gave her, she maneuvered past the chattering crowds of students and towards her spot. She’d picked a desk near the back, buried behind the stacks, so she’d have the table with three wooden walls on either side. Initially, she’d thought doing harpie research would be easy, but thus far Avery hadn’t had much luck. The original mention of harpies came from Greek allusions to the subject. And all those books mentioned them as no more than tiny feathered bird creatures.

The only two viable mentions from the first book were about vicious temperament and sharp claws. Maybe she’d have more luck surfing the web for strange encounters and paranormal babble. Angels could have been another subject line she could have followed up. Flipping the new book open, she scanned the tiny text for any hint of something familiar. A single word caught her eyes.

“Magic.”

Excited, she fumbled with her pen cap and readied her yellow note pad.

“Magic had long since been affiliated with creatures such as harpies… the lore gave way to modern thought that theorized that a potential concentration of energy could be used to manifest different phenomenon… in simple terms, a concentration of energy could create magic.” Heart pounding, she couldn’t write quick enough and her shaking hand made her shoddy print more like shoddy cursive.

This was it. They were talking about amulets. Even with the technical jumble, the text gave hint to the real world. Maybe the author had actually known a few harpies.

“Research considers the ability to concentrate energy and contain it within an object. This is a different sort of science-- not physics and chemistry. Instead of creating energy, the energy will have already have existed but expounded and stuck inside a containment device. The best example is a lithium battery. The battery holds energy but not energy comparable to the ones described from mythology. The science behind the mythology holds that this energy, derived from nature and magnetic waves, has the ability to manifest different abilities to its holder. Because of its bizarre and typically unproven nature, this subject of thought is often referred to as magic and the containment devices are referred to as magical charms and amulets. ”

She began to paraphrase on the paper. Containment of energy into amulets, containing living energy, creatures. Scratching arrows and stars, she copied the connection and importance. The yellow page actually began to fill and she scribbled smaller to fit in more text.

“This mythology is scribed in multiple areas of the world and exists in oral tradition that stretches as far back as Mesopotamia. These charms are supposed to endear attributes such as power, agility, strength, and intelligence… the most coveted charms of all is allure. Allure begs compulsion and is the most influential of all.”

She stared at the page. An instant image reached her mind. Back in the top of Hatcher Pass, she pictured Mikhail. Even though the harpie carried himself with a stature of confidence and ease, something wasn’t quite right. She could still feel the black eyes wash over her and the odd sensation of closeness that wrapped her body with warmth. Her whole mind had threatened to go blank when he touched her. Mikhail had a glowing orange charm strung around his neck. She hadn’t given it much thought at the time, but now she was certain of it. He was playing with an advantage most didn’t have.

Tense, Avery nearly ripped the pages up as she flipped them. Through the jumble, she picked out sentences.

“These charms can be in direct contact to endear ability but some may be used without contact.” She’d underlined it.

The book was nearing the end as she kept flying through the pages. Nerves riding high now, she desperately searched for one more detail.

“Energy is highly volatile and nearly impossible to contain...damaged containment devices will allow energy to escape.”

Letting out a tortured breath, Avery stared at the last blank page. Not a single thing about it bonding with humans. Not a single thing about the magic that practically lived in her body. Squeezing her eyes shut, she pushed the book away. The amulet’s energy in her arm kept spreading and her time was running out to figure a solution. Hysteria threatened to follow and trying her best relaxation breathing, she pushed it back.

Reopening her eyes, she stared at the tattered cover and the aging pages. In her dream, Jericho had a similar book. One that detailed everything Jericho knew about the Willow amulet.

A buzz made her snap out of her heavy muse. Flinching, it took her a few seconds to dig the source free out of her pocket. After her beautiful phone threw in the towel, she’d borrowed one of Chase’s junkers. Heavy as hell, it only had one siren ring and a bruising vibration setting. She looked at the screen and recognized the number.

It didn’t take much. People began giving her dark looks anyways, even those who probably just surfed the web. The other line answered with white noise. She looked over the phone again. The four story library probably cut down her signal but Seward was notorious for signal problems too.

She hurried to gather her books before the signal was lost and she’d have to redial. Stuffing the papers into a haphazard bundle in her arms, she headed for the exit and the open blue sky. Emo boy at the reference desk lapsed into a heavy cough before she went through the set of sensor detectors. Fidgeting with impatience, she struggled to free the book from the bundle of papers it’d been pinched between.

The static on the other line continued.

“Thirty seconds, thirty seconds please!” She pleaded on the line.

Jogging back, she tossed the library book at him with barely enough time to see if he’d even caught it. Whirling, she plugged a finger in her ear and listened hard. She’d just stepped outside when the signal cleared enough to hear the female’s voice on the other side.

“Avery?”

“Hey listen, I can explain everything.” Avery sprung off the sidewalk, headed into a patch of yellowing grass, and finally stopped.

Something ill churned in her stomach. She took a breath to steady herself. Dialing on the thick digits, she called Leela back. The phone lit up blue and the blocky images showed a rattling phone signal out. It picked up immediately.

“You must have just missed me. Please leave a message.” The clear recording of her voicemail carried over the phone.

Clicking off, Avery stared at the blank screen. She hadn’t imagined Leela calling her-- the digits remained in the phone’s memory. Waiting, she paused before dialing the digits again. The voicemail repeated. The gross feeling growing into nausea, Avery took to pacing on the trampled grass and scanned her surroundings. The inevitable thought crossed her mind when the phone went straight to voicemail for the third time. Either Leela had turned her phone off or something wasn’t right.

“Please please tell me it’s the first option.” She said aloud while forcing herself not to panic. If there was anything Alaska was known for, it was terrible cell phone reception. Avery wobbled to a bench, sat, and forced herself to wait. Leela would call her back in a minute. She was convinced of it.

“Was that the guy?”

Avery hadn’t even realized Chase was standing above her until he spoke. He shouldn’t have been out from class this early but making it halfway through anything was an accomplishment for Chase. He’d always been a free spirit but since he’d gone to college, he’d fully embraced the hippie scene and that didn’t help his motivation. Rocking the long blonde hair and the baggy tattered clothes to campus, the teacher was probably shocked he’d shown up at all.

Maybe it was because Mason wasn’t human, but his actions gave her plenty of mixed signals. On the mountain top when they were trapped by the blizzard, she’d thought they’d grown close but then she found out he had a fiancé. It hurt Avery to think about but then it should be the last thing on her mind.

“Well what about that Nate kid? Is he still in the picture?”

Avery gagged. Was Chase trying to bring up every drama filled boy in her life? Needing to get out of the conversation quickly, Avery began the walk down the grassy hills towards the parking lot. Chase’s old Ford was all the way in the back so she’d picked up her pace.

“No. That’s another guy I wasn’t really dating.” Just the pretty boy she’d fallen for like every other girl. Avery then considered something then that she hadn’t before. Mason could easily turn out just like Nate did. The thought made her sick.

“Really?”

“Yea. Besides,” Avery added. “I think Nate is dating Leela now.”

Avery suddenly got an idea. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled to Nate’s number. He may have been one of her least favorite people in the world but he would be able to get a hold of Leela. She dialed, pressed the phone to her ear, and listened. The phone picked up with a crystal clear recognizable voice on the other end.

“The smart people typically stay in school. Where’d you end up? The entire staff turned this place upside down looking for your body. I had dibs on the forest.”

“I tried that and she won’t answer. Her phone’s out of service. I just need to know if she’s at the school...did anyone...did anyone show up looking for her? Or asking her about me?”

“Well lemme see, yea there were some people.” He said slowly but just as Avery’s breath left her, he continued. “That’s right. I just did say that people turned up the school looking for you. Of course people came around here asking about you dumb girl, they thought you were dead.”

The agonizing knot in her stomach wound down just a bit.

“Okay. I’ve never asked you for anything but I’m asking you this. Please check on her for me. Get her to call me or something but either way make sure she’s alright.”

He groaned on the other line and obediently hung up. She listened at her phone even when it stayed silent. Finally, she lowered her hand and shoved the bulky thing back into her jacket pocket. Mason’s amulet cut at her fingers when her hand lingered. She had to call Mason. She had to do something and soon. Mason’s old words echoed in her mind. They’d use her friends and her family against her. No one was safe. Worse, the Band probably knew where she was located now. Avery cursed herself. Why does she always offer herself up on a silver platter?

They’d reached the car and Avery jingled open the rusty knob with one hand. Chase had been waiting for her to finish talking and eagerly quizzed her on it when they got inside.

Avery had expected that question eventually, but still hadn’t planned a good answer for it. She’d told her mother stress was getting to her and she needed the week off, but that excuse probably wouldn’t work on Chase. Avery bit her lip as she struggled to find a more believable answer, but luckily she didn’t have to. Avery’s phone rang loudly and she hurried to bring the cold plastic to her ear.

“I went to her room and she wouldn’t answer. So when I got one the staff to open the door, the whole place had been trashed. All her stuff, even her phone is still there, but Leela is not.”

Color draining away from her face, Avery dropped the phone. It hit the floor and rolled beneath the seat.

“Uh oh.” She whispered the turmoil aloud. Now she was in serious trouble.

Sixteen

She fingered the sapphire blue amulet while examining it. With the direct lamp light behind it, she could see a blue mist that swirled inside. Mason hadn’t told her how to use this one so she referred to her literary knowledge. If touching it alone didn’t activate anything, she’d have to break it open and release the concentration of energy. Leaning back on the couch, she double checked that the room was empty. Even at nine at night, the house sat dead silent.

Turning her attention back to Mason’s telephone device, she held it firm and smashed it on the sharp edge of the tarnished wooden coffee table. The glass cracked and a hot steam seeped out. Avery sprung backward, unsure of what to expect, when the steam kept coming. It began to form a visible blue cloud that crawled over the floors and ceilings. Avery held her breath when the mist encompassed the entire room. Eyes watering, she anxiously waited for it to stop while hoping Chase or Michelle didn’t wake up. They’d probably think there was a fire in the living room.

“Avery?”

Hearing her name called, Avery looked around. The mist stopped spreading but fogged the room in a thick transparent layer. She didn’t see anything out of place but the airy substance.

“Mason, my friends are in danger.” She told him. “Please, I need help now. I’m worried that they did something with Leela. Her room was trashed and she’s missing. I think they…I think they might have taken her.”

“Are you sure? Don’t jump to conclusions.”

“Who else would have taken her?”

Frustration washed over her when he didn’t respond immediately. She’d rushed to get away from Chase and to contact Mason. The subsequent waiting became agonizing. Rubbing her eyes, she let out a whining gasp. He finally answered.

“They won’t kill her. Or hurt her. Not yet. If she was taken by harpies then they took her to use against you. But they don’t have you yet to coerce obedience by hurting her. So until then we shouldn’t worry.” Mason’s reassuring voice barely worked but the idea sunk in.

Sniffling, she held herself.

“Okay, then what do I do, let them find me?”

Her mind whirled with the fine points. They’d catch her and either free the amulet or kill her trying. And though Mikhail had let her go thinking it useless, they had never meant to let her escape completely. Even if Avery went to them cooperating, what promise did she even have they’d let Leela go alive? More fine points. The Band hadn’t been known for their morality thus far.

“No. Avery, listen to me. If they get you then the game’s over. If they’re looking, Leela will be safe. Now you’ve bought us some time by moving. They wouldn’t know you’re with your brother or where you brother lives.”

“Okay,” She twirled hair. “Well, on that subject… they might actually know where I am.”

Mason cursed darkly. The blue mist began to dissipate and with it, Mason’s voice grew softer. She inched toward the cracked amulet where the concentration of mist remained. His voice became clear again.

“You’re no closer to finding out how to remove the amulet?” She asked before having to dole out an embarrassing explanation about how the Band actually got her location. Any one in Witness Protection wouldn’t have been dumb enough to hand out her location. But at the time, she’d been too eager to think it out.

Mason thankfully didn’t ask for an explanation. Rather, he simply reminded her, “Avery, no one has ever seen anything like this before.”

Digging her nails into the couch, she waited for the assault of questions and harpie suited emotional rage. None immediately came. Mason went first to the most rational solution.

“I know there’s a book and I know that it’s Adalyn’s father, Samuel, who has it. It has everything Jericho knew about the amulet and we can get it back. I think it’s our only chance now.”

He absorbed the first part quickly.

“And you know this how?”

In a single breath, she told him in a jumble. She told him about the realistic dreams, the exact locations, the names, and the people. She told him about Jericho’s theory-- his blood leaving some sort of imprint on the amulet. She lastly filled him in on how vague her theory was. Whatever was left of Jericho was left in the amulet.

All the while, the last, most vivid dreams played in her mind-- the odd but freeing weight of wings on her back, the hot garden, soft grass, and cold fountain water. She wasn’t watching it happen from third person this last time. She was actually seeing it from the eyes of Jericho. The silence on the other line lasted for awhile. The fog kept slipping away until it barely hovered around the cracked glass itself. Taking it back in her hands, she held the glass by her ear to listen hard. Mason still hadn’t responded, and the drawn out silence was making her worry. What if Mason just thought she was making a joke at the expense of his dead father? Even bringing the touchy subject up with him brought them into dangerous territory.

Finally, his quiet voice came across.

“It’s just a dream Avery.” He insisted, sounding like he was trying to convince both of them.

“It’s not. How else would I know about Samuel being Adalyn’s father? The garden? You didn’t correct me because you know those things are real.”

He let out a deep breath that sounded like static on the other line.

“How am I supposed to believe that, Avery? That my father...my father...”

He stumbled over his own words and then stopped. Avery didn’t need to hear the end and stayed quiet to give him a chance to collect his thoughts. Mason then changed topics quickly.

The harpie girl’s voice was just as loud as Mason’s, and the unwanted picture of them closely cuddled together popped into Avery’s head.

“I don’t think it was very long ago so her father was probably the last one with Jericho’s journal. If we can get it back, we can find a way to fix this.” Avery explained roughly.

Adalyn didn’t ask for the details.

“He wouldn’t give it to me even if I asked.” Adalyn commented blandly. Avery could just picture the blonde rolling her eyes and pouting her hot red lips.

“Avery, I have an idea.” He said. “We take you to court, Adalyn sneaks you in, and you get the book. Plus, we keep you safe from the Band a little longer. They won’t look for you there.”

“What about the police in the court looking for me?”

Avery knew the phrase “the best hiding spot is in plain sight” but that probably didn’t count with the seriousness of the situation.

“Trust me. We’ll need to meet… You remember that pier by your house?” He just spit out the directions before the last of the mist disappeared, and the telephone device died leaving Avery sitting in silence.

The next morning would find her packed, out at the location, and ready to go. She’d arrived before them and had been waiting awhile. Avery wrapped her arms around herself. The pier wasn’t her definition of cold, especially not with her heavy winter jacket. Rather, the area was beginning to give her the creeps. The sun still hadn’t risen and the small bits of yellow in the horizon didn’t light up the dim area enough. Even though no lamps stayed on overnight, Avery wedged herself under a light post and wearily watched the dark clouds.

Mason had told her to meet him here, probably so they could fly in without arousing suspicion, but she began to hate it. They couldn’t have picked a place more reminiscent of any horror movie. The water made the rickety wood beneath her begin to rot and the eerie silence had her on edge. Every once in awhile the wind would howl and the wood would creak.

Just about the point she couldn’t stand it anymore, shadows dropped onto the pier. Happily recognizing the harpies, she walked down to meet them. As expected, they didn’t cover their wings up.

“You didn’t tell your brother where you were going, right?” Masons question.

“Nope. He’s under the impression I’m going back to school.” She had to really push the act too. Avery had gotten her brother to drive her to the airport. Once he’d left, she walked out, and hailed a taxi to get across town. It wasn’t a permanent solution but it’d buy her some time.

“She can’t wear that unless you want her to stand out like a neon sign.” Adalyn said to Mason and gestured to Avery’s outfit with a less than pleasant face.

Avery had adorned jeans, sneakers, and the heavy blue jacket that kept her magical tattoo hidden away. Mason made a face that indicated his agreement.

“Wait, I’m not marching in the front door, right? I can’t! They’ll know I’m human.” She didn’t want to remind them or herself, but both harpies had at least a foot on her. Not to mention the whole lack of wings thing.

“Seriously, Avery.” He shook his head, lapsing into his authoritative voice that he seemed to reserve only for her. “I said we can do this but it won’t be easy. Please take it seriously. If you don’t act the part, you’ll definitely be called out on it.”

“Fake amulet. They won’t think it’s coming from your body.” He suddenly held up a plain black piece of glass that caught the rising orange sunlight.

Never let it be said that harpies didn’t think of everything, Avery mused. She took it from him. Touching his warm skin caused her cheeks to tinge red. Redirecting her face to the grey planks below, she worked on getting the oversized jacket off. Adalyn had already tossed the pile of white and tan clothes at her feet. The material could have been see through it was so light. Made of micro fleece, it apparently did a lot to keep one’s body warmth intact. Mason turned away, casting his attention out into the ocean and giving Avery a moment to slip on the new clothes.

Exactly as she’d expected, the clothes suited someone far taller than her. It hung off her hands and she stepped on the bottom hem. She had to push the sleeves back onto her shoulders a few times. At least the pants had a string belt that she could tighten. Avery caught a glance of herself off a rusted piece of machinery.

“I look like I’m part of a cult.” She gasped.

Already pale, it sufficiently washed out the rest of her color. The clothes had no more design than a pillow case. Too big, it swarmed around her figure and made her resemble a deflated balloon. The only piece of color was the empty amulet strung around her neck, but that did nothing to fix the outfit’s blandness.

“Call it a step above how you usually look.” Adalyn laughed without even pretending to be friendly about it. If Mason heard the distaste in her voice, he ignored it.

“You can act like Adalyn’s new helper. Don’t speak unless spoken to and do not stray from her side. She can walk into her father’s study with no problem. Then you have to find it and leave before anyone looks at you twice.”

“You’re not coming?” Avery asked as it dawned on her.

“Banished from court, remember?”

Avery glanced over at the blonde harpie. She’d sprung up to balance on the railing of the pier. Adalyn’s face had twisted into something bitter, dark, and unhappy. Beyond her sat the vast abyss of blue ocean from which they’d come. Avery stared as it sunk in.

“Great.”

Seventeen

It would turn out that the harpie home base resided on an island off the California coast. Though not big enough to make the map, it still had a huge radius. It resembled one of those island paradises rich people would buy as a vacation place with the green gardens, blue pools, and shimmering waterfalls. It was also very modern. Infrastructure didn’t actually have accommodations for cars but walkways were plenty.

What Avery found most striking was the utter lack of human interference to the island. A whole other species existed with its own island and not a word about it was leaked to the media? The government either had some talking to do or harpie magic had a heavy hand in the area.

Adalyn began the first graceful harpie descent that Avery had ever been on, and she was grateful for every smooth inch of the way. The scenery became clearer as they got close enough that Adalyn stopped pumping her wings and glided them in. The buildings she’d seen from high revealed their true towering size and a monument to simple design. While they included big alcoves and huge archways, the design was ripped from middle century England with plain grey bricks. The harpies decorated well though. The buildings sat far apart with large pathways running between, and just off the pathways grew multicolored flowers, trim scrubs, and tiny ponds like it belonged in some Disney movie.

It took awhile for Avery to realize that they didn’t have any trees with long hanging branches. In fact, everything about the place demanded ample space for the harpies and their massive wing length. Adalyn glided them on the far edge of the island where the civilization hadn’t quite begun. Avery’s feet hadn’t made the sand when Adalyn dropped her and the subsequent landing left her spitting out dirt.

“Let’s get something straight.” Adalyn said while landing gracefully nearby.

Avery looked up while grudgingly wiping herself clean. The area on the beach around them was empty so Avery focused on Adalyn and waited for her to continue.

She wasn’t exactly sure how illegal this was by harpie standards but everywhere Avery went, danger followed. Adalyn’s hard expression never softened. Rather, she put her hands on her hips and stared down with a superior glare.

“I’m only doing this under one condition. After this is all over, you have to promise not to talk to Mason again.”

Avery’s brows furrowed. She hadn’t ever thought much about the after. Just the now. But letting herself consider it, she’d admittedly grown a little attached to Mason and the notion of never talking to him again left her with a mix of unsettling emotions.

Avery wrapped her arms around herself, defensive again. No way. She hadn’t done all of this for Mason to go ahead and peacefully walk out of his life. What kind of friend did that?

“Mason’s my friend. I’m not going to just like stop talking to him.” Avery said.

Adalyn bared her teeth like rabid dog. Her wings twitched and opened enough that her appearance looked huge. Towering over Avery, she intimidated.

“You will if you want my help, human. Do not contact Mason again.” Adalyn’s voice was sharp and dangerous, but Avery stood her ground.

“Wait.” Avery said as it dawned on her. “Why do you need me not to talk to him? Why can’t you get him not to talk to me?”

Adalyn’s face tinged pink and she whirled to face the opposite direction. Before Adalyn responded, a figure surfaced on the sandy beaches. The sight of another harpie made Avery freeze. The young male wore blue stiff formal wear that resembled the police uniforms. Avery waited for the man to jump, point, or scream. He only sent a half interested glance her way before his eyes went straight back to Adalyn.

“How was your trip out?” He asked her causally, not truly expecting an answer.

Adalyn gave some nonchalant chatter in response, turned, and waved Avery up the sand bank and over the rock bases. Without another word to the hovering male harpie, they marched in silence until they hit a pathway. If Adalyn had intended to finish the Mason conversation, she never got the chance. The sidewalk they were on led them straight onto a market street. Tents were set up on the side of the road bearing everything from fresh fruit to silver jewelry. The whole place smelt like heavy incense of cinnamon and nutmeg. Harpies lingered, chattering loudly and bargaining prices like auction pros. Avery probably should have acted more nonchalant but the chaos of it all had her head spinning.

The wide sidewalk became crowded enough that Avery found herself walking off the side, in the dirt, and receiving smacks of feathers in the face from a careless harpie’s wing. Only her tiny stature helped her to dart through the limited space until she surfaced almost a block ahead. Mason had spoken the truth about her trip here. No one on the island was shocked to see a human.

The crowd parted for Adalyn and the tall blonde watched her as she swaggered her way down the open sidewalk. Leaving the chattering market crowd behind them, they ended up on tranquil pathway with little more than stirring air to disturb the sound.

“So far so good.” Avery told herself to boost her wavering confidence.

“Ha, that was the easy part. Most people don’t know and don’t care. But you’re walking into Grand Central Station now, sweetheart. And if they catch you, they’ll kill you.” Adalyn dropped the foreboding comment just before they’d reached their destination.

In front of them sat an isolated building. Three stories tall, it was the first to demonstrate significant grandeur. The walls had green ivy climbing up the sides that only parted exactly where brilliantly carved insignia adorned the marble. For being on a first floor, it still had a dozen smooth steps to a set of heavy wooden doors. Harpies in sharp blue guard suits stood on either side and stared Avery down before she even got close. Growing more nervous by the second, Avery hesitated by her harpie companion’s side. She’d thought they’d sneak in, not walk in.

Adalyn snatched her shoulder, which with the height difference, was easy to do. Digging her claws straight into Avery’s skin, she pushed them both forward. Taking the unspoken hint to keep her mouth shut, Avery began the slow treacherous climb up the stairs.

“Adalyn.” One the guards stepped forward to intercept their path.

Broad shoulders, a wide abdomen, and thick beefy limbs made him look more pro-wrestler than bird. He wore an amulet around his own neck that flared an angry red. Staring down at them, his dark black eyes trained on Avery specifically.

“Who is this?” He quizzed.

Avery fought the urge to cower under the heaviness of his glare. Adalyn shrugged as casually as she ever did.

“She’s a servant and present from my father to console my breaking aching heart.” She spit out the line to intentionally sound cliché -- a move that the guard seemed to find perfectly normal.

“She can’t have magic, Adalyn, you know that.” In a startlingly swift motion he swung his fingers out, caught Avery’s fake glass necklace, and popped the thing free of its chain.

Freezing, Avery just watched as he brought the thing to just below his chin. The amulet of his still glowed a hot and heavy red. Unsure what it was, Avery hovered. What if everything went wrong? What was her sign to turn and high tail it away?

After their discussion on the beach, Avery wasn’t entirely sure that Adalyn wouldn’t let her get caught either.

“This is setting off the magic detector like an alarm. I can hold it.” He said and then tapped the amulet resting on his own chest. Avery caught on. The amulet he wore detected magic and specifically the magic radiating off her. He’d assumed it was the glass since the red hue hadn’t dissipated.

“Was that really necessary?” Adalyn complained but based on her tone, she’d probably expected it.

“You’re kidding.” He shook his head and then said, “Get it on your way out, Adalyn.”

He shifted to the side, fake amulet still cradled in his hand, and motioned for them to pass. Coldness crawled through Avery’s veins. She realized the detector would stop with its angry red hue once she left, even if the fake glass amulet remained. The second she cleared the area, he’d know in an instant that the fake amulet hadn’t been setting the magic detector off. She glanced at Adalyn’s face only to see the that female harpie had figured that too. Regardless, Adalyn nodded and with her painful grasp on Avery, pushed them up the last step. The second guard pulled the wooden door open on its squealing hinges and ushered them in.

The uniqueness of the inside registered with Avery immediately but it took her a full minute to figure out why. Then it sunk in. Instead of individual floors for the three stories, the inside lobby sat three stories tall without stairs anywhere in sight. Worse, the lobby branched out into open hallways on the top levels but had no path to get to them. The hallways were like holes in the wall. Everything was designed for wings here.

Caught between a mix of shock and amazement, Avery barely realized Adalyn had steered them down the first hallway. Here, the building looked normal. Normal white walls with normal paintings crookedly affixed. Normal red carpet beneath their feet led the way past normal wooden doors. They finally turned another corner that put them out of eyesight of the main hallway. The second they were out of sight, Adalyn gave Avery a powerful shove and they took off running. The carpet dampened the loud clacks of their shoes as they dashed down the hallway, frantic to disappear before the guard was onto them. Adalyn slid left and finally stopped abruptly at the last set of double doors.

“Go.” She hissed urgently as she jigged the door open with a bronze skeleton key. “Find it, and hurry.”

Avery slid past her, inside, and stopped in her tracks. Adalyn told her to hurry and by doing so had drastically underestimated the time it’d take Avery to dig through Samuel’s study. The big room had at least eight towering bookshelves pressed against every available wall. Worse, books had also been set out in leaning stacks everywhere.

She glimpsed back toward Adalyn, ready to recruit help, but just as Avery turned to look, the door slammed shut. Adalyn’s loud voice just barely made it through the heavy wood.

“Father, what are you doing back so soon?”

Heart skipping a beat, Avery whirled back to look around the room. She hadn’t even had a real moment to search. Shaking with panic now, Avery’s eyes desperately sought out any good place to start. She found it. Samuel’s desk sat in the middle of the shelves. Sprinting up to it, Avery searched the disgustingly tidy space. The short search turned up a dead end.

The door creaked and Avery froze. The door hovered but didn’t open. Adalyn had stepped in front of it again. Only thanks to her superior height did Samuel not get a clear look inside the room.

“Adalyn, I don’t have time for this. The counsel head and I have urgent business we must attend to.”

She heard the murmur of a third person, no doubt the counsel head in question. Avery knew she definitely wasn’t leaving out that door.

“You never have time for this.” If Adalyn was acting, she did it well. Her voice spiked with the snootiness of a bitter teenager and she slammed her boot heel on the carpet floor. The door shut, presumably Adalyn’s doing.

“Please. Not now.” Samuel said loud enough, Avery could hear it through the wood.

“I’m so tired of hearing that excuse. Is this what I need to do to get you to talk to me?” Adalyn said.

Grateful for the extra moment bought by their escalating argument, Avery skirted the room’s boundaries again. There weren’t any doors or windows she could escape through. There wasn’t even a curtain she could hide behind, and Avery needed to get out of there now.

“I’m going to ask you to move Adalyn. If you don’t, I’ll have them move you for me. Please don’t have it come to that.” Samuel’s tired voice set a final ultimatum.

Something drew Avery’s eyes to the corner. There was another oak varnished bookshelf. On the third shelf, one book lay askew in a tight pile. Driven by hope, she raced over and snatched it from its high shelf. Avery didn’t need to open it to know for sure. The memorable insignia of a silver crescent moon confirmed it as Jericho’s journal.

Adalyn’s undignified scream shot through the doorway. Avery knew that they must have shoved Adalyn aside. In the next second, the knob rattled. The noise made Avery glance up toward the door and that’s where she saw her Plan B. There a silver vent grate that opened into the bottom of the wall. She dove for it. Avery pried at the sharp metal with her fingers. It didn’t budge.

“Come on, I can’t be this unlucky!” Avery cried to herself. The hollering voices outside wafted into the room and grew louder by the microsecond. The knob had been turned but whoever held it had hesitated. Adalyn must have been struggling.

Knowing her seconds were precious, Avery forced herself to breathe and to think. Mason had told her not to use the magic, but if Avery ever had a good excuse, this was it. She dropped the book and put both her palms dead center on the two screws that held the grate in place. She then tried to conjure the stirring feeling in her finger tips to the hot palpable magic she’d managed before.

It took a moment for the fizzle in her blood to manifest into a vibration. With the vibration came a sort of burning in her veins. The metal obediently shivered with the energy and just as the hotness threatened to be unbearable, Avery yanked her hands away. She’d melted the surrounding grate metal until the screws sat askew. Breaking her fingernails, she dug the screws out and opened the grate.

The inside was just big enough for Avery to squeeze through. Struggling inside, Avery pulled the metal shut just as the wooden door in the room swung open.

Eighteen

Avery had never been the claustrophobic one. She had never fought over the window seat with her classmates or particularity cared about messy and crowded dorm rooms. Now she could, for the first time in her life, honestly describe the sensation of being boxed in. It just so happened to be brought on by crawling through an air duct where the cold metal pressed in on all sides. She didn’t have enough room to turn around but rather wormed her way around the tight corners.

Sliding on her belly as quietly as she could, Avery kept moving. The ducts thus far were dark and loud from blowing air. Far ahead there was always a hint of promising light, but she felt like she’d made no progress on reaching it. To think that somehow the movies made this look cool.

Trying to redirect her increasingly panicking thought pattern, she focused on what she knew. Jericho’s journal, currently wedged between her chin and her chest, held every detail there was about the amulet’s creation. Between her and Mason, they’d probably figure out fairly quickly how to get the Willow magic out of her. The magic would, with their best efforts, then be in another friendly glass amulet which Mason could take home to have his banishment revoked. He’d get married, she’d go home, and the rest would be history.

The devil remained in the details. She’d have to meet back up with Adalyn to get off the island and that was assuming the guards wouldn’t already be onto them. Wedging herself around another corner, Avery heard something and froze in place. On the side of the vent ahead was another metal grate, but this one was far too small for her to crawl through. The sound she’d heard turned out to be voices coming through that tiny grate. Avery held a breath to keep quiet and squirmed up another inch. Light poured in through the grate and combined with the thick metal netting, the room was invisible.

“You will regret this. They will come for me!” A girl screamed. It took a second but Avery recognized the voice.

“Eva.” She gasped to herself.

Mason’s sister was in the room, screaming and thrashing by the sound of metal clattering and clanging. They must have caught her in the Hatcher Pass raid and took her as a prisoner straight back here. Knowing Avery’s luck, she crawled herself straight into the police station.

“Haha.” A male that she didn’t recognize mocked Eva. “The last I heard you were on the outs with the Band. Probably why they threw you at us.”

Intrigued, Avery turned her ear to the grate and listened.

“The Band doesn’t work like that. We’re not traitorous, murderous banishing bastards!” Eva packed so many nasty adjectives in one sentence that she almost lost her breath at the end.

If the male harpie was impressed, he didn’t let on verbally.

“Now Eva, I’m hardly the enemy here. What you’ve done to the Prince, even if he was your father, is very much a hanging offense. But if you help me, I’ll help you.”

“You can’t make me any promises though right? I’ve heard it before.” She spit at him. “And I hate the good cop routine. Why would you want to help me?”

“For information.” The male harpie didn’t sugar coat it.

“I’m not turning in my colleagues.”

“This isn’t about your colleagues. This isn’t about the Band. So don’t jump the gun. This is just information.” The guy interrupted, clearly growing frustrated with Eva’s whining.

“And why would I give you this information?” Eva didn’t stop the verbal roulette. Her voice was light and carefree but Avery knew that she was testing her limits and learning her options. The girl may have been insane but she had yet to strike Avery as stupid.

“Let me remind you, the case against you is a bad one. If you give us any information, I’ll make sure the prosecutor is aware of your cooperation and you may get a lesser sentence.”

“How bad?” Eva questioned.

“Well, how about I tell you what evidence we’ve already gathered. Then we’ll see how cocky you are about turning me down.”

Avery could hear the distinct sound of paper shuffling and a chair being pulled along a hard tiled floor. She squinted through the grates but could only spot distinctive moving shadows. One, probably Eva, sat localized in the center of the room. Another shadow maneuvered in front of her before settling there.

“We’ve linked you red handed to the death of Prince Jericho. The motive was to steal the amulet of Willow-- an intention which was unsuccessfully fulfilled.”

“Open and shut case huh. What exactly do you want me to help you with then pops? What information, if not about the Band, could you possibly want?” Eva asked with sarcasm dripping.

“There are two incidents we need clarification on and don’t act innocent. First up, Prince Jericho’s death. We have a recorded call from Mason to Jericho at ten forty five at night asking for him to come out to the California coast line. Eleven thirty three, the Band had found his position and killed him. Now we’re not dumb enough to think it’s a coincidence. It’s no coincidence that Mason called Jericho out in such a rush that Jericho would leave without personal protection. He’d do anything for his children and it...” The male harpie slowed when his voice wavered.

Whoever he was, he certainly had some affiliation with Jericho. In fact, that odd thought brought a picture of a harpie to Avery’s mind. Short for a harpie, he was heavy set like most guards. Older, he had a square wrinkled face and large brown eyes. The image in her mind struck her with such certainty that she knew the memory had to come from the part of Jericho infused in her.

“It’s no coincidence that the entire Band knew exactly where Jericho would be down to the exact time. They set him up to walk into an ambush.”The male said.

“What do you want me to say? So far you’re just talking at me man, I don’t think its working.”

Avery could hear a crash and could see the shadows shift. It appeared that the guard, the bigger figure, boxed Eva in threateningly.

“You were there the night Jericho died, I need you to confirm or deny that Mason had any part in it. I need you to confirm or deny our suspicion that he did it as a trade off for Adalyn’s fiancé being put in the ground.” He said.

Avery went cold when she heard it. The male harpie had it almost down to the detail. Now whether or not he’d have agreed that it was an accident was a different matter. Her heart sunk as she listened. Eva would rat Mason out and then he’d have no chance of ever coming back from his banishment.

Avery could hear the guard gasping and sputtering, apparently just as shocked as she was. Avery didn’t know Eva very well, but it just didn’t seem like something that the girl would do.

“I didn’t think Mason could have done it. Not Mason.” The male harpie confessed. Avery could picture the pale shaking guard in her mind but couldn’t put a name to him. Rather, she listened to the relief rip through his voice.

“Haha! I’m not saying that’s what happened. I’m just saying that it’s a theory. I’ll never confess a word to you bastard. My friends are coming for me and then I’ll kill you on my way out of this joint.” Eva said then. In a flurry of movement, she tore at the bonds that kept her pinned. Chains screeched in protest and she kicked her feet out. Knocking the male’s chair back, the wood flew and crashed into the wall with a deafening smash.

“You will regret this! I swear you will regret this!” Eva screamed with a maniacal voice.

The male harpie’s shadow suddenly moved and disappeared from the room. Eva’s screaming followed him all the way out. Only in the wake of his presence, did Eva calm her thrashing and let her screaming become silence. Avery sent a last glance through the grate before readjusting Jericho’s book and quietly pushing forward. The chilly air rushing through the vents had practically frozen her. The amulet continued to protect her from the cold but it didn’t prevent the tips of her fingers from turning blue. She was ready to move on when Eva’s voice stopped her.

“You know, it’s funny how you always find things when you’re not looking for them.” Eva’s voice floated into the vents. Avery stilled. “I’m surprised though. The island was the last place we’d look for you. I bet this was Mason’s idea.”

Avery paled, knowing that Eva was officially talking to her. Still, Avery kept quiet while she thought about her next move.

“I know exactly what that magic feels like now. I can sense it from a thousand miles away so naturally ten feet is nothing. And it was great timing on your part too. You just got to hear exactly what they had in mind for us.” Eva’s tone showed she enjoyed this. Avery only listened.

“So I’ll make you a deal. My brethren are coming to rescue me. And if you officially cooperate then we’ll let you live, if possible.” Eva said.

Avery drew her nerves together.

“No way.” Avery whispered, just loud enough that Eva could hear and just quiet enough that her voice wouldn’t attract outside attention. “I’ve heard you say that before.”

The Band had made no bones about wanting her dead when this was done. Why start now?

“So tell me then. What are your other options? The harpie government knows about you now and if that magic can’t be removed then you’re going to become a danger to them. Let me tell you something. There is nothing in harpie law that prevents a harpie from killing humans. So if you think for a second that you’re safe with them, you’re out of your mind.”

Avery cursed herself. Eva was just getting answers. She let out a breath, ready to end the conversation and finish sneaking out of the vent. Eva then said something that prevented her.

“So you won’t cooperate with us to help yourself? I envy that. Take your chances. You have a lot of nerve for a human. But what about your little girlfriend? Would you cooperate with us to save her?”

Avery’s heart skipped a beat. The Band did have Leela. She shifted hard and smashed the metal until the resonating clank ripped through the vent line.

“Touch her and die.” Avery hissed through the grates.

“Sorry, girl. I’m not trying to hit a sore spot. I’m just making it easy. Besides, now I don’t think you’re getting off this island without help so when you realize that you need me... Well, I’ll find you.”

Avery opened her mouth to retort, to threaten, to think of something completely nasty, but she never got the chance. The door in the room clicked open and Eva’s attention turned elsewhere. Without another moment of hesitation, Avery pushed her way through the vent.

Leaving the grate behind her, she turned another corner and saw a dead end. She scooted up to the final grate and prepared herself to melt through the screws again, but this time the grate gave way when she barely touched it. Avery scrambled to catch the metal before it shattered on the floor. Now forced to move quickly, she popped her head into the open and glanced around anxiously.

The room was empty. Deeming it safe, she wedged her way out and touched the concrete floor gratefully. Her muscles eagerly stretched in the new space but the appreciation was short lived.

The vent trail had let out into an empty storage room. The room only had the single door and lacked any windows. If Avery’s internal compass put her right, the vent had led her along the perimeter of the building and dumped her in the back corner. She’d have to walk right back through the hallways or worse, the lobby. Without Adalyn, that ruse wouldn’t work well twice. Plus, she completely lacked the ability to call Adalyn. Mulling on her limited options, Avery was forced into deciding on one. She dusted herself off and made her way for the waiting door.

 

Nineteen

Avery closed her eyes and listened intently over the pounding of her own heart beat. The door had led to a short hall from which she couldn’t peer around the corner, but she’d heard the sounds of abundant activity outside. Footsteps stomped the carpet floor, people laughed, and doors creaked open and shut. The sharp scent of coffee and sweet baking pastries wafted in the air. There had to be at least a dozen people. Maybe more.

Avery opened her eyes and stared at the ugly floral wall paper across the hall. Just from the décor on this side of the building, she didn’t think she’d come out anywhere near the police headquarters. Rather the offish green, pink, and tan color scheme seemed more like a home with an atrocious decorator.

Chase had once told her that if you acted like you belonged, then people didn’t question it. Of course, he’d used it to cut school and sneak into the girl’s dorm rooms. But, the theory probably presumed the same. Avery decided it was that or attempting to blow them out of the way with her barely contained magic. Neither sounded very appealing but the former sounding less dangerous all around, she decided.

Sucking a deep breath into her chest, Avery turned the corner. She could see now that people lined the hallways. The most predominant of them were the harpies that chatted and laughed until their voices echoed off the high ceilings. Stark white uniforms and coffee cups in hand, the harpies looked like working stiffs on break. The smaller people in the hall must have been human. They lingered nearby and stayed quiet. Avery let out a breath, disbelieving her own luck. All the other humans resembled her down to the correct clothing and it made it easy for Avery to blend in.

Speeding up her pace, Avery began to maneuver between the shifting crowds. She knocked into a few feathers and elbows but if the harpies ever even gave her a second look, she didn’t know about it. The shocking wave of success saw her all the way to the end. That was about when her luck ended. Avery had slipped around the side of one last harpie when something compelled her to look up. The blue uniform struck her first. Only then did the harpie’s familiar face sink in. The same guard that had given Adalyn and Avery a hard time coming in stared back with wide eyes and arched brows.

She slid out of the hallway into the main three story lobby. Flashes of white came from everywhere. Harpies descended from the air with the heavy flapping of wings. Footsteps rushed in her direction. Avery saw them in glimpses. She kept moving. With help from her initial charge, she knocked the first two harpies backwards. Their lanky bodies sprawled to the ground and they were, at least temporarily, impeded. She dashed through the opening but the harpies were gaining on her fast.

Hands tore at her hair and shoulders. The flying harpies struggled to get a working grasp on her. Using her burning magical arm, she swiped at them. Then something caught her eye. A window sat open just at the end of the lobby. Too small for a harpie, the irrational part of her mind told her to go for it. Yanking Jericho’s journal from the draw band of her pants, she held tight.

Just as another harpie dove for her, she jumped out the window. She clipped the upper sill and the glass shattered. Smashing into the ground outside, she absorbed the force of the crippling impact with her shoulders and rolled on the floor. Glass rained down.

Just as shock had swept over her, the harpies behind her came to a dead halt. Knowing she’d earned only precious seconds to escape, Avery forced her aching body to its feet. She’d stumbled into a garden but didn’t take in the scenic view. She took off down the stone trail. The pavement took a sharp left and just as Avery could see the next corner, she skidded to a stop.

“Shit!” She cursed.

The harpie blocking her path didn’t seem nearly as surprised. He apparently recognized her as soon as she’d recognized him. The harpie Samuel looked different now than he had in her vision from Jericho. Age had more substantially ravaged his face until his wrinkled skin drooped over his dull eyes and thin frowning lips. His skinny body hunched until his presence came off smaller than hers. Smelling like a concoction of must and citrus, he still held some aura of wisdom.

Unsure of whether or not to backpedal into the police or risk pushing past him, she stayed still.

“I’d beg you not to steal from me.” He said, startling her. “But in this case only, perhaps I would condone it.”

“What do you mean?” She didn’t try to play dumb but it certainly came out that way. Jericho’s journal still clenched between her white fists, she knew the what and not the why.

“Come, walk with me child. You’ll be in no danger here.” Samuel didn’t wait for her to finish speaking. Turning around, he began a slow tread into the garden before them.

Avery sent one more wearily glance backwards. She should have heard the heavy boots slamming on the floor and the shouts or loud demands of the security team. As soon as Samuel had appeared, it seemed like everyone else had taken the opportunity to disappear.

Slowly, she began to follow. The garden finally earned her specific attention. The roses weren’t in bloom but the thickets of the red and white flowers lined the brick pavement. Ahead, she heard the distinctive trickle of the fountain before spotting the glittering blue water in the light. During the night in her memory, the garden was beautiful. But today with the sun lighting it up in a healthy orange glow, it was absolutely stunning. Looking at it brought back the images from Jericho’s dream and such a threatening headache, Avery barely heard Samuel speak.

“This was my daughters doing. No more scandal needs to be brought to my name.”

“I take it Adalyn...” Avery began while watching him. Samuel had slowed and stopped by the fountain. Folding his wings, he sat and stretched out his long legs, just like Jericho had. The familiar image brought flashes to mind and Avery pushed a hard palm to her temple until it faded.

“I needn’t interrogate my daughter for her motives are so easily predictable. The word is out. Jericho’s famed amulet runs in the form of a young human girl. As Mason attempts to reconcile his banishment, Adalyn helps him. Together, they help the young human girl find a fair resolution and to do that, they must know what they are up against. They must steal Jericho’s journal.”

Gathering quickly that nothing would get past Samuel, she didn’t deny it.

“If we could get it out of me, then I’ll give the book and the magic back. Then you’ll never hear from me again. Scouts honor.” She said.

He didn’t so much as smile.

“I’ve read Jericho’s journal many times so forgive me if I already see how this will end. But as such, I find no harm in allowing a few days time for Mason to give it his own opinion. Perhaps as Jericho’s own blood, he’ll find reason in it that I don’t.”

“That’d be great.” She muttered. Her migraine came back as if something about being in this place set off the magic’s memories of Jericho. Unable to think straight, she only pictured her dream. She pictured the glowing multi-colored hue of the garden, the massive blossoming roses, and the same trickling fountain in the moonlight.

Samuel kept talking. “But the book and you shall not leave. There is another island just off this coast that Mason can still step foot on. This will be the only place I allow you to meet and study it.”

She tried to nod but the pain in her head became impossible to ignore. Avery let out a pent up growl. The world kept spinning and she tensed her calves to keep her upright. The images in her head kept playing until that became all she could see. And suddenly she was Jericho again, standing by the fountain and looking into a much younger face of Samuel. She held the same ragged red book out.

The sky had darkened in seconds and she stood below the stars.

“This amulet is different.” Her whispers kept up, distorted in Jericho’s deep voice.

Body rocking, Avery half knowingly pressed her hands to her ears. The dream flickered and the world changed from day to night and back again in seconds. The sky increasingly resembled a strobe light.

The whole illusion dizzying, she staggered. Opening her eyes, she stared at Samuel basking in the green and blue fountain lights under the night’s sky.

“Samuel, you have to promise me!” Something possessed her to say. “Samuel, you must watch over Mason for me. Consider it my most important wish.”

The dream dissipated and she found herself back in reality under the real sky in the real heat. Samuel still sat on the fountain, staring at her with nothing more than a bored expression. He didn’t look like he heard any of Avery’s schizophrenic rambling. Rather, Avery only stood with her hands pressed to the sides of her heads and jaw clenched shut. It took a moment for her to regain control of her muscles. Straightening her arms to her sides, she blinked at him.

“You said...you said another island?” She gasped.

Her voice came out normal, light, and distinctively female. Jericho’s booming voice had certainly left even while his last words still floated in her head. She forced herself to pay attention to the situation at hand.

“Yes. I have already taken it upon myself and contacted transport for you. It is waiting for you at the end of our conversation.”

“And Mason?” She asked.

“I’m sure Adalyn is in the process of informing him now. He will show. Of that I have no doubt. Though I suspect his crimes are great, Mason has always made the distinction of being better than his sister. He could have just turned you over and more than likely had his banishment removed. And yet, he still insists on saving a human’s life.”

Avery didn’t like the way he belittled the word human but she didn’t dwell.

“I guess that’s what happens when you fight for your life together.” Avery offered the comment only for Samuel to give her a calculating look that she couldn’t decipher.

“I’m not fond of his ideas child. I doubt they will work. I’m not fond of his affections for my daughter either. I don’t want to revoke my offer to help him... but let’s say I’m beginning to think I’m more foolish by the second for doing so.”

“You’re doing it because Jericho asked you to. I know he was your friend. I know that you don’t want to see Mason fail.” She said quietly, immediately regretting what possessed her to say it. Pressing the book to her chest, she backed off a step.

Samuel’s brown eyes darkened substantially but he didn’t raise his voice.

“Turn around and go with your escort.”He said stiffly.

For the first time, Avery noticed the hovering presence behind her. Another harpie in a sharp blue suit held his hand out. Feeling more awkward by the second, she took the guard’s hand and soon watched the island disappearing below.

Thoughts of Jericho and his only son consumed her mind. She didn’t count the time but soon, the harpie’s wings stopped thumping and began to glide. Turning her cheek, she glanced below them. Sure enough, the outline of another island could be spotted in the blue sea below them. This one was instantly and distinctively different. Not only smaller, it didn’t have any signs of a tropical paradise like the first. Instead, mountainous terrain disturbed the sandy beaches and turned the entire island into a black rocky mass. Amongst it, only one building stood out. The grey brick was actually built into the raised terrain and had no windows and only one obvious door. Avery’s gut told her exactly what she was looking at.

Built into the island was a prison.

Closer down, she could see the outline of the flat roof top. On one side sat a tall wooden desk. In the middle sat a few lone steel seats. Behind that existed a mass of benches. The wide open space on the roof top had obviously been utilized for a courtroom. One stop shopping, Avery thought bitterly.

The harpie landed her half a mile north of the foreboding building and atop a high, flat rock. Small benches had been nailed into the ground out here. The guard landed and shoved her towards one.

“You’re leaving me here?” She asked the guard. Stone faced and still, the sharp suit never answered her. But then another voice did.

“That’s because we aren’t technically prisoners yet.”

Avery whirled to find Mason landing himself. The sight of his familiar brown hair, green eyes, and cocky smile made her heart sing.

Avery fumbled to free the Jericho’s journal from her waist and held it out to him. Mason never took it. Green eyes squinting, he swayed to the side and sat at the table instead.

“Open it.” He said.

Avery instinctively wanted to push the book at him again but held herself back. Mason had purposely avoided it. Cracking the book open herself, she flipped through the pages. Jericho had originally divided up the sections by a date at the top of the page and neat paragraphs with uncanny cursive. Halfway into the book though, the paragraphs became undefined clumps of text and the cursive became sloppy, barely comprehensible print. Instinctively beginning there, Avery settled into the uncomfortable seat and struggled to decipher the text.

“What’s it say?” He asked her.

She made a face.

“It’s jumble about the amulet. With terms I don’t even understand.” She admitted. Jericho’s journal made no attempt to fill in magic amateurs either.

She flattened the book on the table.

“Is that all it says?”Mason asked next.

“It goes on about the amulet for awhile,” Avery stopped when she caught his eyes. “It doesn’t say anything else. Like about...ya know… his life.” She explained, finally understanding Mason’s reluctance. The shadows in his face clearly revealed that he felt guilty about his father. Avery wouldn’t relish the thought of reading the journal in that case either. Apparently satisfied it had nothing but information on the amulet, Mason finally snaked a hand across the table and pulled the book in front of him. His eyes moved across the text lightning quick.

That drew Mason’s attention straight back from the book to her face. Happy expression drastically altering, he urged her to continue.

“They must have caught her in Hatcher Pass. You know, when they snatched me the first time.” She had forgotten to fill him on the details but skipped them for a second time. “Anyways, she said that her Band mates are coming for her. And that the police can’t stop them.”

Mason’s eyes flickered to the rest of the island sitting behind them. Lips thinning, he frowned. There weren’t too many guards in view, but Avery had no doubt security must have lingered just out of sight.

“Rafael doesn’t have that kind of strength. The walls of the prison are bespelled with magic to prevent collaborative breakouts. No harpie can ever pass the wards to go inside the prison without being invited in first.”

He didn’t explain how the wards kept people in, but Avery knew they had separate security for that. She just didn’t want to know the details.

“What about Mikhail? Would he have that kind of strength?”

“You met Mikhail?” Mason’s voice shot up.

Mason forced Avery to move again, hopping down toward the rock near the shoreline. Just as he reached his decided destination, he said something else.

“It doesn’t matter. For now we have the chance to make this all go away. Stop worrying about it, Avery. One step at a time. Even if we have less time than I thought.”

Avery never bothered to ask him why his mood had so drastically changed at the mention of Mikhail’s name. Truth is, she didn’t want to know.

Twenty

The salt of the ocean water had taken its toll on the brick prison walls. The outside of the building had begun to rot and disfigure with erosion. Inside, dampness led to mold and a suffocating stench. Without windows, no fresh air ever came in leaving the prison essentially a dark, dank tomb. Avery still found it ridiculous that they’d actually chosen to be inside the prison rather than outside on the picnic benches by the shore. As bad as the conditions inside were, Mason worried enough about Mikhail to choose the safer route.

Using the candle light to lead her way, Avery walked cautiously so not to touch anything slimy. She’d only been here a few days and already felt like the dirt covered her in layers no matter how carefully she skirted the place. A guard with his own candle accompanied her down to the cafeteria without portraying real authority. Buff and big, he apparently wrote off Avery as no real threat.

In fact, the guards hadn’t taken many steps to treat Mason or Avery like prisoners. They were locked in the cell where they resided but the guards came to let them out for whatever they needed. In this case, Avery asked to get some food but also just needed to get away from Mason. They’d been cracking heads more than ever.

“Avery, think!” He’d rattled her when he demanded that. “What did my father mean when he said this? You have his memories, right?”

Avery had spent hours squinting at the pages of Jericho’s journal while hoping that it would drudge up some explanation in her head. It didn’t. She thought back to the memories she did have about the garden and the shore line. Nothing triggered it. Head beginning to hurt, Avery had backed off and Mason grew more frustrated.

“You said you had his memories!” He snapped at her.

“I’m trying Mason. It’s not like I can control them.” She’d protested, annoyed. In fact, the more she tried, the tidbits of memories that returned to her were absolutely useless. She remembered his wedding to some pretty red head and the birth of Eva. She remembered pacing the hallways of the hospital and hovering in the garden, but she remembered nothing about the book. Avery definitely surmised that trying had nothing to do with it.

Avery knew they were just irate with each other over the intense stress. Time was running out and they were answerless. She’d finally left him behind for a food break and to clear her head.

She barely understood the concept of magic and much less the technical jumbles. Mason did and so it came down to him to do most of the research. It aggravated her that she couldn’t help and it aggravated Mason that he had to do it all on his own.

Avery and the guard turned the last corner into a room with an open buffet. As she wasn’t exactly a prisoner, the guards allowed her to eat the management’s food. Not that she would ever call it much of a favor. The buffet contained an array of fresh fruit and green vegetables that took a beating from the atmosphere around here. Dew collected around the wilting veggies and the fruit was mushy. The meat, hot red in coloring, looked like food poisoning waiting to happen. The bread was hard enough it could be used to flog someone. Maybe the whole lot was in accordance to harpie appetites but she’d have a hard time stuffing it down her throat.

“At least if Mason gets the amulet’s magic out of me, everything will be cool right? Like his banishment removed?” She asked while poking the bananas to test their softness.

“Well, yea. He could petition the counsel to lift the banishment anytime now.”

“That’s great.” Avery confessed.

“It’s not that easy. You see, Mason was banished because there were a lot of unsavory accusations about him associating with known fugitives. But more evidence has come to light and they’re gonna want to try him on murder charges the second he reenters our society.”

“Murder?” Avery glanced up at him, distracted from picking at the food. The guard continued.

“Come on. You must have heard the situation. Mason allegedly calls out Jericho and steals the amulet to give it to the Band. Then coincidently the fiancé of Mason’s lover gets wacked. They think it was all a catered deal. The amulet for the murder of Adalyn’s fiancé.”

“Is that why he needs the amulet? So he can prove that he didn’t give it to the Band?” She asked.

He nodded, apparently eager to talk with her. By the sounds of it, the whole thing had been on the guard’s mind for awhile now. Settling for her slim pickings, Avery took her paper plate and sat down at a warped, wooden table.

“Yep. Which sucks for you in the long run. We can’t let you go unless you’re magic free. If we do let you go with that Willow magic inside you, then you could potentially end up back with the Band and Mason would be unable to prove his innocence.”

Avery understood the need to know for certain that the magic wasn’t being used by the Band but she didn’t enjoy being referred to as a pawn.

“Well didn’t they find evidence at the crime scene that could prove it wasn’t him anyways? DNA? Finger prints? Wing impressions? I don’t know...something.”

Mason told Avery point blank that he didn’t kill Adalyn’s fiancé so forensic evidence shouldn’t be a problem. The guard slid into the seat across from her and leaned forward.

“But that’s the fun part, isn’t it? We know it wasn’t Mason himself because the foot prints in the dust were too small. During the struggle, the man actually got lipstick smears and chips of nail polish all over himself. Now I dare you to tell me that don’t sound like a woman to you.”

“There aren’t many females who would have a hand in offing the man. That’s why they think, with the timing, it was all a trade off. It’s a really compelling case.” He surmised.

Thoughts running away with her, Avery absently yanked the skin off the banana and brought the soft fruit to her mouth. Eva didn’t strike her as the diva type but it certainly fit with the facts-- even Avery had to admit it.

“Humans call it tunnel vision when the police get fixated on one person. What if there was somebody else in the guy’s life that just wanted him dead?” She pointed out.

The guard studied her with amusement in his eyes. Apparently he’d thought so low of Avery that any sign of intelligence on her part was amazing.

“Is that an unbiased answer?” He asked.

“Of course.” Avery snapped back. She considered herself more unbiased than most since she was an outsider looking in. The guard didn’t see it that way.

“I don’t think it is. You’re taking up for Mason because you’re clearly into him.”

Avery spit up her food in her rush to interrupt him.

“Whoa.” She protested while hoping her face didn’t flush too much. “Didn’t we just establish the fact that he’s in love with Adalyn? Reasons why he’d want her fiancé murdered and all that?”

The guard didn’t let up on that topic so quickly.

“Adalyn or no Adalyn. You like him.” He put particular emphasis on the ‘you’.

Avery steadied herself.

“He’s my friend certainly. I mean, I have to like him a bit. He’s the only one here working to save my life.” She stopped herself before starting the “why does everyone else want me dead” rant.

The guard kept giving her the stare down and Avery was beginning to feel like she was on trial. She may not have been entirely truthful because she didn’t know what the entire truth was. Did she really like Mason that much? Or was it just a false feeling based off of everything they’d been through together? There were too many complications involved to generate an easy answer.

“Besides, I’m human and he’s harpie.” She added.

“You don’t think those two ever mix?”

“I don’t know, do they?” Avery actually wanted to know. She’d known that harpies had interbred with humans but she didn’t know what defined the norm.

“They can. It’s not my personal taste but they can. My brother Charlie’s married to a human. He’s got like ten kids too.”

Avery scowled down at her food. Stomach churning, she pushed her plate away. She wasn’t thinking about kids. She wasn’t even thinking about marriage. She was thinking about whether she could even see Mason from a romantic point of view and whether it’d be worth her effort.

Something about her turn in thoughts made her head hurt. Dropping her food, Avery pressed her head between her open palms. Colors danced behind her eyelids. It was one of Jericho’s memories. Desperate to hold onto it, she faced away from the guard and concentrated.

The memory didn’t come easily. She struggled to grasp it and soon Avery found herself in a room much different than the prison. The moldy walls and muddy ground was replaced by floral designed wallpaper and polished wooden floors. She was sitting in a plush chair a few feet away from a cackling fireplace. Before her was a desk, and on the desk was the familiar black Willow amulet. Some instinctual part of her knew the amulet was an empty glass shell, magic free. Closest to the amulet was Jericho’s journal, open and waiting. Much of the book hadn’t yet been filled and a fountain pen rested next to the book waiting to fill in the blanks.

“The magic won’t stick.” She said to the open air. She remembered now trying to capture the magic in the glass amulet. The blue swirling mist of magic had temporarily stayed inside the glass but in seconds it escaped the glass and dissipated into the air. She let out a growl and strummed her knuckles on the desk top.

“I’m not mixing two energies that won’t mix. This should work. I’m just strengthening an energy that already exists…”

“It exists in organic organisms.” She was laying out the logic aloud. “Organic organisms. Of course, the amulet is lacking. There must be a way to parallel nature. There must be a way to use an organic organism inside the amulet and make it all stick.”

She brought her hand up in front of her face and pricked her index finger with her thumb nail. With harpie sharp fingernails, she broke the skin easily and a drop of blood surfaced. The epiphany made her beam. She picked up the amulet and smeared it red with blood.

“Hey, hey, girl!”

The voice hadn’t come from the memory. Snapping back to awareness, she found herself sitting in the prison again. Sometime during her vision, the guard had gotten up from his seat and crouched down in front of her to be at eye level.

“Uh. What’s up?” She asked.

She hoped her space out hadn’t been conspicuous but something on the guard’s face told her that it had. He looked conflicted between calling a doctor and rattling her senseless.

“You tell me what’s up.”

He sounded suspicious, likely used to dealing with tricky people in prison, and thought he’d seen a red flag.

“I’m just upset…” She stumbled over her words. “About Mason. Yea, I was just thinking about it.”

She was an atrocious liar but the guard bought it. Anger draining from his face, he looked more relaxed.

“Girls are insane. It’s clear that the guy likes you. He could have turned you in yesterday and this all would be over with. That’s more proof than flowers or poems could ever bring.”

“Helping me could mean he’s just my friend. Nothing more.” Avery pointed out quickly before her head could float to space.

“Does he need to stamp it to your forehead, kid? What he’s done far surpasses what a guy would do for a friend. Besides, it’s my job to read people and I’ve never been wrong about it yet.”

Avery didn’t protest again. Instead she quietly absorbed the words. Standing up, she backed away from the table.

“Well, thanks for bringing me down here but I really think I need to get back to Mason now.”

She could tell Mason about the memory and find a way to help him. She had to.

Twenty-one

Carefully gathering the half burnt out candle in her hands, she held the blue flame out to lead her down the hallway. Driven by her new revelation, she stepped in every puddle on the way and ignored the mud that marred her blue jeans. Though antsy, she had to wait for the guard to guide her down the intricate corridors. Half way there, Avery could hear screaming that would lead directly to the cell.

“This is unbelievable. Give up Mason. The game’s over.” Adalyn’s shouted, her loud voice ripping through the confined space.

Closer now, Avery could see the blonde harpie standing just outside the cell. The door to the cell could be unlocked from a panel located halfway down the hallway, but Adalyn hadn’t opened it or gone inside. She had her wings wide open, back arched, and talons wrapped around the iron bars. Avery could barely see Mason’s slumped figure inside the cell, but she heard him.

“Come on, my times not up yet!” He said.

Adalyn let out a deafening shriek in response and turned her back to him. Marching down the hall, she nearly paved Avery over in her hurry to the exit. The guard accompanying Avery opened the cell door, waved Avery inside, and then took off in hurry to follow Adalyn. Inside, Mason sat stretched along the muck covered floor with the red journal balanced on his knees. Chin down, his hair sufficiently covered his eyes and the shadows went to work covering his face. Tension lingered making the air thick. Avery chose the opposite wall to sit.

“Harpie tempers, huh?” She finally had to speak to break the painful silence. Mason’s head popped up and he looked at her with blood shot, glassy eyes.

His voice kept getting lower, forcing Avery to edge closer. His shoulders trembled but she held her hand tight by her own side, unsure if she should touch and console him.

Cold, Avery drew herself back onto the opposite wall again. The twinges of jealousy she’d felt morphed into disdain. Why had Avery even thought that she had a chance with Mason? He was too far down the Adalyn River without a paddle. She struggled to control her emotions. It felt like Nathanial all over again. She fell for the cool irresistible guy and had it thrown back in her face.

Forcing herself not to over react, she turned her attention back to the obstacle at hand.

“I remembered something else from Jericho. I’m not sure how to explain it but he was trying to get the magic to stick into the glass amulet but it wouldn’t take. He decided it only clung to organic organisms and that’s why he used his blood.”

Mason’s expression rapidly altered into interest and his body suddenly became livelier. Seemingly encouraged by the update, he reached out and snatched up Jericho’s journal. Mason clearly looked for something specific among the last pages. Avery held her breath, forcing patience that didn’t come naturally. Mason thumbed to one final page, ran his finger over the heavy ink, and scanned a few lines. Her heart lifted in her chest as she waited but when Mason finally shut the book, his expression wasn’t comforting.

He didn’t make sense and Avery began to panic. She sprinted up to him and grabbed his arms forcing him to face her. Stronger, Mason broke free of her grasp and he looped his long arms around her waist and held her to his chest. Avery didn’t fight but persistently pushed for answers.

“What are you going on about? Please tell me.” She begged.

Seeing him this upset wasn’t encouraging. Lips in her hair, he answered.

“Don’t you get it? My father bonded the energy with his blood. It’s not like other amulets in that way. The magic clings to life force. When the amulet broke, the magic clung to the nearest available life force. You. And it won’t be leaving, going into anything else until its current residence’s life force is fading. The amulet had to break for the magic to move. You have to die for the magic to move again.”

Avery heard what he said before she understood it, her mind taking an extra minute to wrap around the concept.

“I have to die for it to work.” She whispered when she caught on.

Mason kept holding her because he felt guilty, Avery realized. She should have been frightened but the emotions didn’t register immediately. Pressed against Mason, she didn’t know what to think. The adventure couldn’t end just like that. There had to be a way to fix it without her dying.

“So I can hand you over to the authorities for them to deem you dangerous and potentially kill you. I’d have to watch the one innocent person I know in this whole thing take the fall. Get my banishment removed in time to go on trial for murdering Adalyn’s fiancé. Or...” Mason said.

“Or what?” She was afraid to ask but still managed to.

His sad smile stretched into something crazy.

“I guess we’ll have to escape and evade the authorities for the rest of our lives.” His tone spiked with hysteria and he let her go. Free from her, he paced up to the bars and thrashed at them. Avery shrunk against the wall, watching the harpie.

“Of course, that means we have to break free from the most well guarded prison on Earth but that should be easy, right?” Not containing his voice, Mason’s words echoed off the closely confined walls.

He didn’t seem bothered that everyone on the floor could hear him, but Avery cared. Knocking the harpie back into the wall, she pressed a firm hand to his warm lips.

“Shut up, Mason.”

The footsteps grew closer. The fellow cells on this hall being empty, the steps were inevitably directed toward them. Mason didn’t struggle beneath her but suddenly acted content to wait too. The figure finally became visible and Avery froze when she saw the person.

“Leela.” She acknowledged in a stunned voice.

The unmistakable brunette girl stared at her in return. Though still dressed in the black coat and knee high boots as the day Avery had last seen her, Leela didn’t seem badly kept. Her neat auburn hair had been tucked beneath a ski cap and her skin was bright and flawless. Leela’s eyes scanned them before landing on Avery.