Calla's Story

Chapter 14

Fourteen

I spend my fourth day at the Guild focusing on calm thoughts like gentle streams and snowflakes dusting quiet winter landscapes. I make it through the day without traveling to a different time, but I almost project an image of a sunset on Ned as the two of us walk into the Fish Bowl to fight each other. I watch him frown, blink, then shake his head while I mentally reinforce the barrier around my mind. Ned then proceeds to kick my butt because, as it turns out, he’s far better at fighting than he is at talking to people.

After dinner, I return to the Guild to meet Olive so she can give me my first assignment. She doesn’t greet me when I enter her office, but I’m quickly becoming used to that. Annoyed With Life seems to be her default setting.

“Sit,” she says after I’ve hovered near her desk for several uncomfortable moments. “I’ve got things to do, so let’s get this over with.”

Let’s get this over with? Fantastic. That’s exactly what I want to hear right before my first assignment as a real trainee. Calm thoughts, Calla. Calm thoughts.

“It’s a fairly straightforward assignment,” Olive says as she scans through the paper in her hand. “Normally I’d be happy for you to handle it on your own, but since I’ve never observed you in action before, I feel it would be irresponsible of me not to be present. Depending on how you do tonight, I’ll decide whether I need to babysit any more of your assignments.”

Be calm, be calm, be calm.

“So. We’re going to a home in the human realm, and we’re expecting a harpy to show up and try to take a four-year-old boy. You should know the assignment rules already, but since your training has been severely lacking, and things have changed since your brother’s day, you probably don’t.”

“I’m aware of the—”

“You can’t do anything to the harpy unless she first makes a move against a human. Once she does, you should protect the human first, then restrain her so she can be brought to the Guild. If she gets away, you’re unable to do anything else, and your assignment will end once you’ve laid protective spells around the area. If she fights back and you have no way of resolving the situation without killing her, then you have to do that. There will be an inquiry to determine whether you were justified in killing her. If you were, you’ll continue with life as normal. If you weren’t, you’ll be suspended. And there’s counseling, of course.” She appears to shudder slightly, probably at the thought of having to counsel me. Hopefully that never has to happen, since I don’t plan on killing anyone. “Here’s your tracker band.” She hands me a narrow strip of leather. “Put it on, and don’t take it off until the assignment is over.”

“Oh, is it still necessary for me to wear it if you’re with me?”

“Yes. All assignments are recorded via a replay device and kept for three years, after which they’re disposed of. If there’s an inquiry, it will be used for evidence. Didn’t anyone record the assignments you did during your summer break crash course?”

“Uh, no. I didn’t have a tracker band then.”

Olive makes an annoyed tsk sound and shakes her head. “How are we supposed to run things properly when people simply disregard policies? This is how things went wrong the first time. This is how the Guild fell.”

“Actually, I think the Guild fell because a lunatic named Draven somehow got an explosive device inside the old Creepy Hollow Guild, where most of the Council members, who were following policies by meeting to deal with an impending threat, were then killed.”

Olive’s lips form a tight, straight line, and her jaw tenses.

“At least, that’s what my textbook says,” I add before she can explode. “Anyway, we should probably get this assignment started.”

“We should. And you should keep your smart mouth shut if you’re hoping to make it to the end of this year without failing.”

I consider adding a ‘Yes, ma’am,’ but decide to follow the keep-your-smart-mouth-shut advice instead.

We arrive in the kitchen of the house where my assignment is to take place. Olive walks out of the paths behind me and hovers nearby while I try to pretend she isn’t there. The kitchen is empty, but a doorbell rings moments after we arrive, so I leave the room and search for a front door. I walk into a large living area and see a woman letting a teenage girl inside. “Thank you, Lizzie. I know it was short notice,” she says. “He’s already had dinner, so you don’t have to worry about that. He’s in the playroom now. You can let him play for another—” she checks her watch “—half hour or so, but then he must go to bed. Anyway, you know the drill.” She hurries to the foot of a staircase and shouts, “Simon, we need to go.” Then she disappears into another room.

I follow her there and find her hugging a little boy goodbye and reminding him to be good. I assume this is the boy I’m here to protect.

“Come on, Mary, let’s go,” a male voice calls. The woman hurries away, and Olive walks in behind Lizzie.

“Hey there, Jamie,” Lizzie says. She sits on the floor and joins in playing with the cars. I stand with my arms at my sides, waiting for something to happen. In my left hand, I gather magic from my core so I can stun the harpy as soon as she appears and makes her move. My right hand is ready to grasp a weapon if needed. Olive stands in a corner, looking bored.

After a few minutes, Lizzie moves to the couch, finds the TV remote, and flicks through channels while the boy pushes his cars around the floor. Another minute goes by. I step over the various toys scattered across the carpet and peer outside through the blinds. No movement in the garden.

Then I hear the rush of flapping wings.

I spin around. The harpy swoops down toward the boy, her feathered wings beating the air and her great bird talons reaching out for him. Her human-like face is twisted into an angry expression. I throw my stunner magic, but she wrenches her wings out of the way, and the magic strikes the wall behind her, leaving a hole. Dammit. I lunge toward her, realizing as I go that there’s already a sword in my grip. I’m vaguely aware that Chase was right—it happens easily when you’re not thinking about it—as I s***h at the harpy. She backs off with a screech that sounds unnatural coming from a human mouth. Her black eyes stare hatred at me. Then she dives again.

I raise my weapon to slice at her, but she moves at remarkable speed and wraps her talons around my arm before I can swing the sword. She shakes me vigorously, yanking me off my feet before dropping me back down. I stumble, then duck down as she swoops once more. As she swerves in the small space and comes back for me, I release the sword and throw myself at her. We drop to the floor in a confusion of clawing, flapping, and scratching. Toys are kicked to the side, and the boy is screaming, and Lizzie is screaming, and I just … can’t … pin her … down.

“This is none of your damn business!” the harpy screeches as her wings flap heavily around me, almost knocking me out. With a great thrust of her talons, she kicks me off her. I fall onto my back, then roll to the side and jump up. I’m standing against a wall—and the harpy is coming straight at me.

I have nowhere to go.

I whip my hand up. A dagger materializes in my grip, pointing straight at her. It’s too late for her to slow down. She’s going to fly right into it. The blade will pierce her heart, and she’ll die. This fight will over.

But I can’t do it.

At the last second, I move my arm out the way. She crashes into me, flattening me against the wall, squeezing all the air from my lungs, and knocking my head back so hard I feel the crack of pain throughout my entire body. I blink and groan and try to suck in air. The knife is still in my hand, and I s***h blindly at her wing. I feel it sinking into flesh and feathers. She shrieks in pain and pulls away from me. Flapping clumsily, she rises to the ceiling. I stagger over to the boy and place myself in front of him. Despite the intense throbbing pain that makes me want to drop to the ground and clutch my head, I raise my eyes and give the harpy a defiant look that says, You’ll have to go through me to get to him. She flaps some more, her dark eyes sizing me up, then drops toward the whimpering girl on the couch.

“No!” I shout as the harpy grabs Lizzie’s arm and yanks her into the air. She plunges past me, aiming for the door along with the screaming girl who can’t see any of what’s happening. I dive after them and manage to catch Lizzie’s ankles. I pull hard, dragging her closer to the ground. With one last furious cry, the harpy lets go and vanishes.

Lizzie and I hit the floor. She’s still screaming, and I’m still trying to catch my breath after being flattened against a wall. But no one’s dead, and the little boy wasn’t taken, so hopefully that means I’ve managed to earn some—

“Get up,” Olive hisses, grabbing my arm and tugging me away from Lizzie. She kneels beside the girl and holds a small vial to her lips for a moment. Then she moves to the boy and does the same thing. She opens a doorway to the faerie paths and pulls me into it. Seconds later, we appear in the garden. “Don’t move,” she snaps. She walks to the outer wall of the house, holds her hand against it, and mutters some kind of protection spell. Then she opens another doorway, grips my arm roughly, and pulls me after her. We come out in Creepy Hollow somewhere near the Guild entrance.

“Absolute disaster,” Olive says.

“What? But I managed to—”

“Do you know what this costs?” she demands, shoving the tiny vial in my face. I manage to make out the word Forget on the label before she snatches it away. “A lot. And I wouldn’t have had to use any of it if you had done your job properly.”

“Done my—but I did. I stopped the harpy from taking the—”

“What is wrong with you? You had the knife pointed at her. She was going to ram herself into it. That would have been it. The end. No need to worry that she’ll probably attempt to come back.”

“But that would have meant killing her.”

“Yes,” Olive says, nodding slowly and looking at me as if I’m stupid. “Because she was trying to kill you. You were defending yourself.”

“That wasn’t the only way to end the situation.”

“No, but it was better than almost getting yourself killed, having both humans way more involved in the mess than they should have been, and letting the harpy get away.”

“I didn’t want to kill her, okay? I just wanted to stop her. I was trying to come up with another way to—”

“Sometimes there is no other way!” Olive shouts. “This is the job you’re training for. What did you think was going to happen? That you’d be able to save the world without anyone ever dying?”

Yes. That’s exactly what I want, and I shouldn’t be ridiculed for it. My voice is quietly defiant as I say, “It should be possible to do that.”

“It should be. And in a perfect world, it would be. But we’re not in a perfect world.” Olive shakes her head. “If you’re too scared to kill someone, then you’re not cut out for this life.”

“I’m not scared, I just don’t want to.”

“Nobody wants to. But the rest of us suck it up and do it if we have to.”

“Well,” I say quietly, “I happen to believe that’s not the only option.”

“Then you’re going to wind up dead a whole lot sooner than I thought.” Without waiting for a response, she turns and walks away through the forest, leaving me wondering if perhaps she’s right.