Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,31

effective threat, and Zoe actually laughed as he retreated.

“Thank you,” Tala said, still puzzled.

“No need to thank us.” Ken glowered. “Guys like him are itching to be punched. In the throat. With a car.”

“I don’t know if His Highness is still at Elsmore,” Zoe said, “but you guys ought to make another sweep.”

“But why did he think Alex stole his bike?” Tala asked, but stopped when an odd, low growl rose at the back of West’s throat.

Something dark and vaguely human-shaped had slid away from the cafeteria ceiling and zipped out the door, which was still swinging back and forth from Hughes’s angry shove.

“I’m on it.” Ken pushed his chair back.

“You? Alone?”

“It’s just one shade, Zoe. How much damage could that possibly cause?”

“With you hunting it down? Oh, I dunno. Floods. Burning buildings. General calamity. This place looks like it’s due for an earthquake soon.”

“Oh, ha. Ha-ha. Such a comedian, Zo. I’ll be right back.” He snatched up the guitar case from underneath the table, slung it over his shoulder, and strode out.

“What’s he going to do?” Tala asked.

“Don’t worry. He knows what he’s doing.”

“But you said…”

“If I don’t let him, he’s not going to shut up about it. He’ll be fine.”

“But with a guitar?”

“Would it make you feel better to know that wasn’t a guitar? Swords aren’t the easiest things to smuggle in.” Zoe glanced at her plate and made a face. “Let’s go. I’m not eating any more sloppy joes. We need to find Alexei Tsarevich now, guys. The last thing I need is getting my ass raked over the coals by the Cheshire again.”

“Swords?”

“I mean it,” West said. “I really need to pee.”

8

In Which There Is a Very Good Reason Why Someone’s Head Is on Fire

Alex Smith, a.k.a. Alexei Tasarevich, a.k.a. the seventy-fifth king of Avalon, was still nowhere to be found. It was becoming clear to Tala that he was not within the hallowed halls of Elsmore High nor at its basketball court, where a majority of the students had gathered to cheer for ten guys fighting over one ball. (She could admit that had this been any other occasion she, too, would be sitting on the bleachers and cheering, but with a kingdom at stake, she could afford to be hypocritical.)

West was enjoying himself. “That was the best basketball game I’ve ever watched,” he enthused, “and I’ve seen two of them!”

“That’s nice, West. Loki, are you positive?”

Loki shook their head. “Sorry, Zo. He’s not here.”

The firebird had not made an appearance since that morning, which was one more thing to worry about.

Zoe had gotten off the phone with Alex’s lawyer, Mr. Peets; they were to hold their positions and remain within Elsmore while his own team conducted further searches throughout Invierno. That did nothing to curb Tala’s annoyance, because Alex was a jerk. Why was he so adamant about keeping himself hidden?

The bonfire celebration was their last resort. Zoe had instructed Loki and West to infiltrate the Sydney Doering party over Tala’s protests. “Those two have handled worse things than a group of socialites,” Zoe had assured her.

“That group of socialites has the same kind of mob mentality biologists might observe in a pack of hyenas,” Tala pointed out, “and those two are going to be hopelessly outnumbered in there.”

But Loki only shrugged, their confidence the only loud thing about them. “We’ll be all right.”

Zoe and Tala, on the other hand, had joined the celebration at the desert bonfire, which suited Tala just fine. Her parents were bound to be nearby, and she was relieved, in hindsight, that they’d be close at hand.

Zoe had changed out of her school clothes and was dressed in a very cool black leather outfit that was a cross between a bodysuit and a cloak and would have also looked excellent as part of Tala’s wardrobe, and also had pockets. “Is that some kind of mandatory Banders uniform?” Tala asked. “Where do I place my order?”

Zoe laughed. “We can look into one for you once we reach England. Right now, we’ll need to split up. I’ll take this side, and you comb the other.”

That was all well and good, but now Tala couldn’t find Zoe either. She craned her neck every few seconds, scanning the crowd for glimpses of her father’s tall form or for Zoe’s bodysuit, without success. It was early evening now, and the firewood had been piled as high as an inquisitioner’s enthusiasm, nearly as high as Tala’s frustration. Leave it to her parents to actually keep