stopped, but Tekkyn furrowed his brow at the crow’s nest. “Ryon lives here?”
“No.” Kira turned her back and bolted up the last few stairs. “Just give me a few minutes. Trust me.”
The path ended in an iron trapdoor above Kira’s head. Please don’t be locked. She pushed up on the iron and found it unsealed but as heavy as a yearling calf. It swung open in an upward arc and clanged on the lighthouse’s stone floor. Some sort of green slime coated every surface except the fiery hearth itself.
Kira climbed up into the space, ducking so the low ceiling didn’t smear its slime across her hood or unruly curls. The thin path between the glass and the stone hearth pushed her so close to fiery ring that the heat lapped at her arms.
A sudden sense of intimidation halted her steps, quieting the squishing sounds under her boots. Why was this place unlocked and unguarded?
Kira cleared her throat. “Felix?”
The only response was the crackling of the flames. She looked out the window and marveled at the view. She could see over the entirety of the forest in every direction, and below her, Jadenvive blossomed outward with a colorful skirt of fruited fields.
“. . . squawk like a cuckoo bird.”
She pursed her lips. What in the constellations was a cuckoo bird? Some sort of forest bird of paradise? Or was it like one of the ostriches she’d heard that they rode in the southern kingdom of Kioa? Maybe it was similar to the penguins in the ice-coated Sai territory.
Kira swallowed and craned her neck to ensure that she couldn’t see her brothers from this angle. Lillian, please let this work. She folded her hands up under her armpits as if to form stubby wings. Or Aeo, if you’re Felix’s god . . . or whatever . . .
She cleared her throat and let out a tentative squawk.
The fire seemed to chortle at her, but other than that, the swaying lighthouse remained silent.
Kira took in another breath and squawked louder.
A noise below her sounded like something moving on the steps. “Kira?” Tekkyn called.
She cringed. Come on, just do it! she scolded herself. People’s lives are at stake.
Kira reared back and strutted around the fire in her best clucking chicken impression, keeping her head low and arms close in the confined space. It occurred to her then that anyone could look up and enjoy the free entertainment through the glass windows.
Upon completion of her first full revolution, both of her brother’s heads poked up through the trapdoor. Tekkyn’s expression was that of horror while Lee’s restrained so much humor that his head might have exploded if he sneezed.
Kira froze mid-strut. “I said to give me a minute!”
Tekkyn marched up the steps and reached for her arm. “Did that d’hakka sting scramble your brains? We’re going home—”
“Aw, don’t stop her,” a new voice cackled. “It was just getting good.”
Kira looked at her elbow and nearly jumped through the glass. There, sitting in the midst of the flames, was a fox with green eyes that flickered in tandem with the blaze.
The fox cleared its throat. “I mean, I think it was working. Keep doing . . . whatever that was.” It crossed its front paws and leaned back with a cat-like grin.
Tekkyn’s dark face went sallow. “Fire . . . fire-spirit?”
The fox’s smile turned downward. “My name is Felix. Do I look like a spirit to you?”
Kira grinned in delight. “The summoning worked!”
“Naw, I just hang out here sometimes. I think for a full summoning, we’d need significantly more squawking,” Felix said.
Tekkyn gripped the sword on his belt and tried to pull Kira behind him in the confined space; his eyes locked onto the fox.
“Cut it out.” Kira jerked her arm free and frowned at Felix. “Why’d you tell Ryon he’d have to summon you if you live here?”
Felix chuckled. “Because I wanted to see him do the cuckoo dance, of course. But you were entertaining as well.” He lifted his furry jaw as if he were a dignitary and looked Tekkyn over, not even bothering to glance at his sword. “What can I do for a gaggle of Navakovrae this fine evening?”
Kira cleared her throat. “Well, what happened with Zamara? Did you find her?”
The fire surrounding Felix blazed white, and Kira recoiled from the sudden heat. “No. She dumped her syn so she’d be more difficult to sense, and I lost her.” Felix leaned back into the flames, which softened to a pale hue. “Now,