Mirror

Shadow Hunt

The moon had risen to full height. May's condition had not changed. She didn't wake, but all signs indicated that the danger was not immediate.

"It's been quite a long time since the boy left," the carriage driver commented. It had been so long since he'd caused any trouble that I'd forgotten about him in my worry. I cut a glance at him. He was grinning at me.

"Ignore him," I told Kylee when I saw her hand move. She stilled and I looked back down the road toward Fillicco. It had been a long time. Two hours maybe. I laid May down flat on her back and stood up, too agitated to sit still any longer.

"Are you really going to wait here all night? You threw the boy to the wolves. He was probably captured the moment he crossed the city limit."

I kept my gaze carefully turned away and held my tongue. Danny would come back any minute. He had to.

"Do you honestly think they're just going to let him go? He's a small boy, a cute one too. I can think of a few things I'd like-"

Kylee's hand lashed out with such force that the carriage driver's head snapped almost passed his shoulder. "That's enough from you," she snarled.

He laughed and let his chin drop to his chest. A thin line of blood drooled from his open mouth onto his shirt. "What are you mad at me for?" he asked. His smile unnerved me. "I just thought she might like to know what kind of night the kid is likely to have, since she sent him out there without a clue."

"It doesn't matter," I said quickly, since Kylee looked like she might hit him again. "He won't be found. He's smart. He'll find his way to Nilla's restaurant without a hitch."

The driver chuckled. "You saw for yourself. Those officers watch the city from all angles. Did you even notice the ones on the roofs?" I froze because I hadn't. "Don't you think Danny would be back by now if he'd seen them?"

I shouldn't have let him bait me and I knew that, but his using Danny's name sparked a kind of possessiveness within in me. "You know nothing about him," I snapped.

His smile widened. I ground my teeth and looked away again. "I don't need to know anything about him. I know about the officers. When they find people on the streets after curfew, they ask for your hand." He let the thought trail off as Kylee stood up and removed the scarf from her head. She began to twist it into a thin rope.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Gagging him," she replied curtly. "He needs to stop taking and if you're not going to allow me to beat him into silence, I'll shut him up this way."

The air around me seemed to drop suddenly in temperature. "Why, Kylee?" I asked reluctantly. "Why do they ask for a hand?"

The driver laughed. Kylee made quick work of securing her scarf between his teeth and knotting it at the base of his neck, causing his laughter to end abruptly in a grunt of pain. "Just ignore him," she told me.

But I couldn't now. "Is what he said true?" I pressed her.

She drew in a long breath "There have been people who say such things, yes."

"What do they say?"

"It's just a rumor, Litty."

I could feel myself beginning to panic. "Is it? Kylee, please, what's going to happen to Danny?"