Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker #3)(104)

The Alpha turned back around and glared at Lily. He gave one curt nod.

“She’s not afraid of you,” Lily said. “Grace allowed the Pack to maintain this land after you defied her because she realized it was too far from her city for her to hold on to it remotely. She let you live, as long as you kept the eastern humans in the east, because she physically couldn’t be everywhere at once. That’s about to change. She’s coming back, and when she does it won’t be to claim you. It will be to exterminate you.”

Toshi ran the last few blocks back to the Governor’s Villa. He tried to imagine that he was just out for a bit of healthy predawn exercise and that the adrenaline pumping through his body was from enjoyment, not fear. He envisioned a stress-reducing jog followed by a little tai chi, and gradually the Workers clinging to his arms lifted off.

After spending the night going to every restaurant, tavern, nightclub and after-hours bar he could think of, looking for people who might want to be claimed by Lily, Toshi was running on fumes. He climbed the stairs two at a time, but stopped before he entered his apartment. He could tell that someone was in there.

He backed away from the door. It burst open and two Warrior Sisters stalked out of his rooms, their whips wrapped around their waists. They grabbed him roughly, tearing his skin with their barbed hands, and even though he struggled against the iron strength of their arms, he knew it was useless. They dragged him to a window. His gut lurched as the Warrior Sisters jumped.

This is it, he thought, and then it occurred to him. He wasn’t alone anymore. Lily! Help me!

Toshi—what’s happening?

The Warrior Sisters flew him around the building and into another set of rooms.

I need strength, he answered as they threw him roughly onto a balcony. I think they’re going to kill me.

Toshi staggered forward and tipped onto his hands and knees. When he looked up he saw Grace lying on the floor in front of him. Next to her was the shaman. They were immobile, barely breathing, and too pale and stiff to be simply sleeping.

They’re spirit walking, Lily told him. You must stop them, Toshi. I have no fire ready—wait—

One of the Warrior Sisters buzzed her wings in agitation and then she grabbed Toshi by the back of the head and dragged him by his hair to Grace’s side. All of the Warrior Sisters in the room seemed distraught. Their heads twitched and their hands grasped at their whips, unraveling them from their waists or from across their chests and then rewrapping again to no purpose. They weren’t attacking him, he realized, not intentionally.

I think they want me to help her, Toshi said.

You can’t, Lily insisted. Toshi felt a swell of fear overtake Lily and he briefly caught a glimpse of an enormous creature looming over her before he felt her leave him.

Lily and Rowan left Pale One with the Pack—her new claimed—and jumped back to the speaking stone on the mountain. Pale One would be no help to them, and maybe even a hindrance, on their subsequent missions. They arrived as the sun was rising.

“I’m running out of time,” Lily said. She looked around for the drake. “Here, boy,” she called, feeling like an idiot. She heard Rowan’s rumbling laugh.

“Tame Woven aren’t boys or girls,” he said.

“I can’t just say ‘here, it.’ Here, Spike,” she called again, figuring that was as good a name as any.

As they searched the gloom for the wayward drake, Lily felt Toshi roaring into her mind in a panic. She stuck out an arm and grabbed Rowan’s hand.

“It’s Toshi,” she said, her eyes far away. “The Hive has him.”

“What about the rebels he was supposed to gather for you to claim?” Rowan asked urgently.

“Shh—wait.” She gasped. “There’s Grace. And Red Leaf. She’s spirit walking.” Her face screwed up as she shared a rapid exchange with Toshi. “I think they want him to heal her?” she said uncertainly.

The bush in front of Lily trembled. As a member of the Pride pounced on her, she vaguely wondered how it was possible that she could have overlooked a cat the size of a rhino. She felt Rowan’s weight coming down on top of her at the last moment, and then she saw the cat Woven jerk backward and lift off the ground. Behind the lion Woven’s outraged roar, Lily heard a sound like the flapping of a sheet in the wind.

Rowan rolled with Lily under him. The two of them came up on their hands and knees to see Spike caging the armored cat to the ground under his talons.

“Wait, Spike,” Lily shouted, holding her hands out in a stop gesture. Spike held the member of the Pride down, his eyes sliding off to the side.

“There are more hidden out there somewhere,” Rowan said, watching the drake’s movements.

Lily came forward and knelt down to look the member of the Pride in the eye. “I want to speak to your alpha,” she said. The Woven made a growling sound in the back of her throat. “I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to help.” The Woven did not respond. Lily looked up at Rowan and shrugged.

“Maybe she doesn’t understand language,” Rowan suggested.

Lily didn’t have many options. She reached out to find the Woven’s willstone, buried somewhere under the skin at her throat.

“Witch,” the Pride member hissed.

“You can speak,” Lily said, removing her hand. “I know the rest of your Pride is out there somewhere. Tell your leader to come forward.”