Лори Девоти - Amazon Queen

Kale's words had been harsh, and understandably so, but I couldn't give in to the temptation of acting on them. We needed Thea alive long enough to tell us where she had hidden Tess and Andres. I made sure everyone understood that before we set out to capture the priestess.

It was midnight. The moon was no longer full, but there was enough light that I could see the house clearly. We had come through the woods. Our plan was to escape that way too, although escaping really wasn't part of my personal plan. Tonight I meant to take back my camp, or to lose the battle completely.

This time Jack would have to drag me out of the fight; I wouldn't let him reason me out of it again.

Bubbe had got us this far. She'd walked ahead of the group, checking for wards. She hadn't found any new ones, which meant either our visit wasn't expected or Padia was depending on her alternative alarm-the owls.

Mateo had taken care of them. Despite the foggy state he claimed they had been reduced to, the sight of the condor had roused three from their perches. He'd run them off, then circled the area. With the disappearance of the owls and the appearance of the giant condor, silence had settled over the woods.

Not even a tree frog or a cicada hazarded a sound.

Or maybe it was Jack keeping the forest quiet. He roamed the woods in his animal form, searching for any other sign things weren't normal in the trees.

The rest of the group had been assigned watch points too. Cleo and Kale took the barn where many of the warriors would be bedded down. Mel and Bern held positions at the front and back of the house. Lao had the driveway. And I had the house itself, the inside where Padia/Thea slept.

My fingers tingled as I strung the rope I meant to bind her with from my hand to the underside of my elbow and back up, forming an easy-to-manage loop. I was antsy, but controlled. I had to be. . head, not heart tonight.

As I pulled the rope off my arm and hooked it to my belt, my hand brushed over my new art-not tattoos, no time for that-drawings compliments of Mel and a Sharpie marker: the praying mantis for patience and focus; the dog for his ability to read humans, to anticipate our next most likely move; the leopard for stealth; and the meerkat. I had to question Mel about that one.

"Snake charmers," she replied. "To help evade her efforts to charm you."

There were others after that, but I quit asking. I didn't need to know the reasons for the art, just trust that Mel's artisan skills would enhance my powers.

And I did trust her. Maybe that wasn't using my head, but I was an Amazon. I had to go with my heart some.

Once we were past the trees and the yard, Mel was in charge of checking the house for any last wards. I waited for her to make the circuit. After her nod, I approached the house.

I knew where I was headed. There was a window over the kitchen sink. It was small and higher off the ground than the other windows, but still within my reach if I jumped. It was also the opening farthest from any sleeping Amazons.

I jumped and grabbed the sill, then pulled myself up until my elbows balanced on the tiny ledge. Finally with one hand I shoved the window open. Another reason I picked this window; I knew it was never locked.

Amazons were lazy about locks anyway. Who needed them when you had wards? Wards were more dependable, at least at stopping humans. Obviously not at stopping a high priestess, but until now we hadn't realized one of our own could be a threat.

That was something Padia should have realized, but then, she'd had her owls to alert her as well. Too bad for her we'd had a way to combat that security measure as well.

Feeling satisfied that, so far, my invasion was going well, I belly crawled through the window.

The sink area was clean-Lao would be pleased. Using my arm strength to keep from falling, I slid over the sink. At the edge of the counter I paused, considering the best way out of the awkward position. Deciding there was no way except forward, I used the counter lip for leverage, pulled a bit more of my body into the room, then walked my hands down the lower cabinet until my palms hit the floor. From there it was one easy handstand and a flip up onto my feet.

My shoes landed harder than I had planned. I froze and waited to be surrounded.

But there was no response. No sound. No movement. Nothing.

The kitchen was dark. The house was dark. The farmhouse didn't even have most of the stray lights I'd seen at Mel's in the past. . digital clocks and flashing answering machine lights. There were clocks on the oven and microwave, but the light on the stove had been broken when we got the thing and the microwave stayed unplugged more often than not to allow some other appliance a shot at the outlet.

Tonight must have been one of those nights because the only thing clearly visible in the room was the window I'd crept through and the moonlight beyond it.

I turned away from that small amount of light and let my eyes adjust to the dark. Then I headed to the high priestess's room. Outside the room I'd called my own for a decade, I paused. I'd planned on going up the stairs to the room I'd assigned Thea when she arrived at camp, but with my room empty, would she have moved in? The room was bigger and furnished better than any of the other bedrooms.

Of course she would have.

I reached for my belt, for another unAmazonlike tool that Jack had supplied-chloroform. We'd argued about it. I'd insisted I could subdue the priestess myself; I'd looked forward to that, knocking her out with a well-placed and planned blow to the temple. But the others had reminded me that I'd agreed to change things, to do the unexpected.

Chloroform would certainly be that.

So Jack had disappeared for an hour and come back with a bottle. I didn't know where he got it and I didn't care.

Lao had soaked the rag and placed it in a plastic Baggie. That felt strange too, standing there in the dark, reaching for a Baggie someone might use to store a peanut butter sandwich.

But I did it. This wasn't about me and my pride, this was about saving the tribe.

With the cloth in my hand, I turned the knob. The door swung open noiselessly.

I stepped inside.

The room was darker than even the hall had been. Someone had pulled the curtains, so no moonlight found its way inside. And, like the kitchen, there was no clock, nothing to provide even minimal light.

But I knew the room like my own heart.

I moved without pause to the bed and the head that rested on the pillow.

She didn't wake, not until I had the cloth pressed to her face.

She tried to get up, tried to lift her body to a sitting position, but I slipped my leg over her, straddling her and pinning her arms to her sides. She kicked out her leg and bucked her hips, trying to throw me off.

It was tempting to drop the plan then, to punch her instead, but remembering my commitment, I concentrated on holding her down and keeping the cloth over her nose and mouth, just as Jack had told me.

It worked. With only a few more bucks of her body, she fell still and her head slipped to the side.

It was horribly, disappointingly easy. I muttered the complaint under my breath, then heaved her body onto my shoulder and followed through with the rest of our plan. I opened the bedroom window and tossed her onto the dirt below.

She landed with a rewarding thump.

After closing the window behind me, I picked her back up and jogged to the woods.

We had Thea. Now to force her to talk.

We trailed through the woods, moving as quickly as we could. Jack and Mateo stayed behind, watching, ready to warn us if the Amazons stirred.

In the woods I dropped the priestess back on the ground and unwound the rope I'd brought. I hadn't needed it at the camp, but I needed her tied up before she awoke.