Барб Хенди - Of Truth and Beasts

Magiere glanced at him as she dropped onto the one stool at the table.

The orbs are safe. I have seen to that.

“Orbs?” Wynn echoed back at Chap. “You had one ... I found another.”

Chap turned his head to look at her, his ears falling for an instant.

“That leaves three,” she added.

No, if your count is correct, there are two left.

Chap gazed down the passage, though no one remained there to see.

Wynn was lost, uncertain what it all meant, but for one thing. Wherever her friends had gone to hide the first orb, they had uncovered another one.

Suddenly, she wanted to go over what little she had copied from Chane’s scroll and try to see which one they had found. And that thought made her turn.

Magiere glanced sidelong toward Leesil, as if she wouldn’t look directly at him. He had his back to her and remained so. Neither said a word, not even to each other. And there was something more.

Wynn began to panic as she watched Magiere sitting in cold silence.

Chane would soon return, and Magiere was here.

Wynn looked to Chap, wishing she could just be with him, be with all of them, and try to bring Shade back. But an awful question lingered around her, as if it hung out there in dark of the catacombs beyond the reach of the cold lamp’s light.

“What happened to you,” Wynn asked, “all of you ... in the Wastes?”

Though she waited, Chap didn’t answer—not yet.