“Nothing,” I said quickly. “You can’t tell anyone, not yet. For now, stay here, stay safe. I have a favor to ask though, I need you to look out for Penelope. Someone has to have her back, especially, with what’s coming.”
“I can’t guarantee that,” Jacob said.
“She’s no threat if she’s fed. But if need be, lock her up again if you feel you have to, to keep the humans safe. Just, make sure it’s inside, hidden from the sky.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
“Something tells me you’re planning something foolish. How will we know if you’ve succeeded?”
“You’ll know,” I risked a small smile. “Trust me, you’ll know.”
“Well in that case, it’s been an honor knowing you, Emily Sharrow.”
I squinted again at the map on the table, marking the location on my rudimentary map. Then I quietly gathered my supplies and bags. I had a compass. I took my vial of elixir. I stopped at the blacksmith area to reclaim the knife Trevor had sharpened and oiled for me, and I used the tools to tune up the string of my bow. The last time I’d used a bow, it had been at standing targets for a prize, in the citadel. A game.
Something told me my targets wouldn’t stand still this time, and the prize was everything.
I knew I should say goodbye to Amber, but she’d never let me go off alone, and the others would try and stop me. I thought about leaving a note or a gift, but I couldn’t risk it.
I just had to get outside of the gates, without being seen. At least a dozen archers were on the platforms built into the wooden gate and trees surrounding the compound. But I was fast, and I knew how to be quiet.
I pulled the bag tighter against my shoulder, squaring my father’s bow over my shoulders. I grabbed a dozen steel-tipped arrows from a weapons rack inside the gates and stuffed them into my quiver. I wouldn’t have time to make more, and these would do more damage anyway.
“So what,” Trevor said, coming up behind me as I studied the defenses. “One night of passion and you’re ditching me?”
“This isn’t about you,” I said.
“Sneaking off to meet with your elite then?” he said, crossing his arms. I could see the pain in his eyes. He thought he’d won, but I wasn’t a prize. Plus, I knew he’d ask me to make a choice, just like he had before.
When he asked then, I didn’t have the power, the authority, to choose, or at least I didn’t think I did. Now, I wasn’t so sure. I had every reason to choose Trevor instead of Damien, and yet… I couldn’t force myself to feel differently about him.
I loved them both, for different reasons, in different ways. But this wasn’t the time to parse through my feelings.
“He’s already gone,” I frowned. “But there’s something I need to do. Something big. And important.”
“But you aren’t going to tell me what it is, or the others?”
“I can’t,” I said. “It’s too dangerous. Honestly I don’t even know where I’m going.”
“Sounds great,” he smiled, “I’m in.”
“This is something I need to do alone.”
“You’ve always been stubborn Em. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting you leave here.”
“You’re going to stop me?” I asked. I felt for the elixir in my pocket. Trevor was twice my size, but I was pretty sure I could take him if I had to, or at least outrun him.
“No, but I’ll follow you. To the end of the world if I have to. To keep you safe. But I’d rather do it at your side than sneaking around behind you.”
I frowned, biting my lip. I knew he’d do it, too.
“We can’t tell the others,” I said finally, the fight going out of me.
“Who us?” Jazmine asked. I hadn’t even seen her sneak up behind me. She was leaning against a wooden pole, casually gnawing on a chicken bone.
“Shit, what the hell?”
“You think you’re sneaky, but you really aren’t.”
“Going out hunting, huh?” she nodded to the arrows I’d picked up.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone,” I protested. “I don’t know how far I’m going. You should stay here, where it’s safe.”
“A top-secret mission?”
“If you want to go fast, go alone,” Jazmine said. “If you want to go far, go together.”
“That actually makes sense. I think.”
“In case you haven’t noticed,” Camina said, approaching from the other side, “we don’t exactly fit in here. We’re chosen, like you. I didn’t choose