Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48407 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Claudia looked at the children, then back at me and raised her eyebrows. The kids went silent.
“We found some missing children,” I told her. “I’d like to petition the Order to return them to their parents.”
“Where did you find them?”
“In the Red Horn’s human kennel.”
Claudia’s expression didn’t change. She reached into the desk drawer on her right, took out a piece of paper, and pushed it across the desk to me. “Fill this out.”
Form J-7, unaccompanied minor. In my brief stint with the Order, I had processed so many of those, I could do them in my sleep.
Claudia turned to the children. “You are now under protection of the Order of Merciful Aid. You are safe. We will take good care of you and make every effort to get you back to your parents.”
I went through the form, ticking the right boxes on autopilot, put “Kate” in the contact field with my phone number, listed the children’s names and descriptions, signed, dated, and slid the form back to her. I could’ve had Thomas do it, but it would’ve taken a lot longer. Thomas didn’t look like the type to bust down gang doors. She would’ve kept him for questioning. This was faster.
“You’ve done this before,” she said.
“On occasion.”
She studied the form. “Kate with no last name. Are you a merc?”
“Used to be.”
“Guilded?”
“Yes.”
“Which city?”
I really didn’t want to give her any more information than I had to. “Atlanta. Thank you for your assistance, Knight-Protector.”
“When I call Atlanta’s chapter, what are they going to tell me about you?”
She would call. I could tell by her expression. Claudia had a nickname in the Order. They called her the Badger because she was stubborn like one and once she got a hold of something, she wouldn’t let go.
“When you call, ask for Nick Feldman. Tell him Kate brought some kids in. He will vouch for me.”
Nick and I had our differences. He was almost a stepbrother, and Conlan called him uncle. He still thought that I was an abomination, but he and I talked before we left for Wilmington. He understood my reasons for leaving and laying low. He wouldn’t stab me in the back.
“Okay, Kate. Where are the two of you going from here?”
None of your business.
“To the Farm!” Nika piped up. “Where the undead things are! They are going to save Thomas’ son. He’s been kidnapped.”
Oy. When did she even pick all that up? Thomas and I said, like, two sentences about it, and we’d kept our voices low.
“How nice,” Claudia said. “Since you’re heading that way, will you deliver something to Barrett Shaw for us?”
I had intended to avoid Barrett Shaw like a hole in the head, but we were going to the Farm, and she would take care of the kids. There was no way to weasel out of it.
“Sure.”
Claudia rose, walked over to the small side room, and came back out with a bird cage wrapped with silver wire and covered with a cloth. She lifted the cloth for a second. Inside a small ball of light hovered like a fur pompom made of greenish glow. A will-o’-wisp. Nobody knew for sure what they were, but it took supernatural speed to catch one and a lot of knowledge to contain it. And carrying it around was a really dumb idea, because will-o’-wisps attracted all sorts of weird magical crap to themselves.
“I trust you to get it there safely.”
Kate Lennart, the Order’s errand girl, at your service. “I’ll make every effort to.”
I hugged the kids, said my goodbyes, picked up the cage, and Thomas and I escaped the office.
“You don’t look happy,” he observed.
“It could’ve gone better,” I said. “Will-o’-wisps are expensive, dangerous, and hard to catch. If some merc you didn’t know walked into your office, would you trust her to carry it across town and safely deliver it?”
“No. I’d get someone I knew to do it.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.” I strapped the cage into Cuddles’ saddle bag.
Had Nick called down to Wilmington and given them a heads-up to expect me? If so, what did this errand mean? Was she trying to put me in my place? Was this a show of trust from Claudia? Was this a message to Barrett intended to communicate that I was allied with the knights? I doubted Barrett would recognize me. I’d never met him.
Maybe I was overthinking this. Maybe Claudia felt that saving Darin was a good thing, realized that the Farm would hardly welcome us with open arms, and wanted Barrett to understand that she knew why I was showing up on his doorstep.
I climbed into the saddle.
“To the Farm?” Thomas asked.
“To the Farm.”
So far I’d run into the Order, and I was about to go and throw a stick into the undead hornet nest that was the People’s base in Wilmington. I would need to mind every P and Q because if they found out who I was, I would never hear the end of it.