Copper Ravens(11)

I also remembered Juliana’s warnings to not drink those beers and to never let myself be alone with her uncle. At the time, I’d thought he was just a dirty old man. Now, I wonder if his plan was to bag me and start a whole different batch of experiments.

I grabbed my drink and swirled it. “Yeah. I remember him.”

Max nodded. “He’s the bad guy, Sara. He’s high up in the Peacekeeper ranks. If he becomes President, there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“I still don’t see what difference it makes. Life already sucks for human Elementals.”

“Yeah, but at least they’re kinda free,” Max said, once again distracted by the dancing pixie. “Don’t practice, don’t show your mark, and you can live a normal life. You know that; hell, Sadie wishes she could go back to that. Trust me, if anyone can make things worse, it’s him. He was the one in with Ferra.”

Max let the implication hang in the air. Evil Peacekeepers united with evil Elementals would make life worse for everyone, but would that really happen? I mean, surely Elementals would rise up against that. Surely we of the Otherworld would band together and—

And I remembered that we had done just that, during the Magic Wars. We’d lost an entire dimension to those righteous lunatics. Maybe Max was right, and we should do something about Uncle Mike. I mean, if I had to choose a new president of Pacifica, my first choice would not be the mad scientist who’d been in with the evil queen.

“You know all this, but how?” I asked.

He shrugged. “People talk to me.”

I tugged on Max’s sleeve, wanting to discuss this Uncle Mike situation a bit further, but the pixie’s gown was now off both shoulders, held to her breasts by a delicate hand. I sighed and left Max to his fantasies while I looked around at the patrons. People-watching had always been one of my favorite pastimes, and the Otherworld certainly didn’t disappoint. And, the bartender notwithstanding, residents of the Otherworld tended to be uncannily beautiful.

I was watching a seal maiden, what Mom would call a selkie, unceremoniously shed her clothes, ignoring the chorus of catcalls as she slipped on her seal skin, when I spied one of the reasons for Sadie’s fears. As the selkie flopped into the stream and swam away (so that’s what it was for!), I saw that the table behind the seal maiden was occupied by an iron warrior.

“Max!” I whispered. When he didn’t respond, I followed his gaze; the pixie’s gown was down around her waist and, based on the pile of offerings before her, it would be going lower.

“Max!” I grabbed his arm. “One of Ferra’s warriors is in the corner!”

“So?”

“So!” I squeaked. “So what if he’s mad? What if—”

“All right,” Max said. “Act cool, and we’ll leave.” Max dropped a few coins on the bar alongside our empty glasses, spared a longing look at the pixie, and we casually moved toward the exit. And yes, the metal man followed us.

“Max—”

“Just follow me.” We walked down the middle of the wide avenue, past alleyways and shops as we headed toward the central open air market. “We’ll lose him in the stalls.”

I nodded, desperately trying not to look over my shoulder. You know, like how you specifically didn’t peek out from under the covers to see if the monster was in your room? Unless it was the sort of monster that always disappeared when you looked. Then, you had to stick your head out, at least once.

After a panicked yet slow stroll about the market, I stopped at a booth that sold cloaks made from raptor feathers. I don’t know what aspect amazed me more—that some fool had actually gone out and gathered all these feathers or that people wanted to dress up like overgrown parakeets. As I examined a gaudy pink creation, I hazarded a look down the street. “Hey,” I called to Max. “I think it worked.”

Max smirked the “I’m the oldest, of course it worked” smirk. Before I could comment, the iron warrior—the very same iron warrior that Max had assured me wasn’t a threat—launched himself out from behind the stalls and tackled Max.

Now Max is no slouch with his abilities, but he was taken completely by surprise. They rolled around on the dusty ground, and in a heartbeat’s time the iron warrior had Max pinned. That left me, still new to my Elemental nature, to save my brother.

The warrior had his full weight on Max’s chest, crushing his lungs. I squinted, concentrating on pulling the warrior off Max. He moved enough for Max to breathe, but only just. I spied a metal door across the square, and I increased the affinity between the door and warrior, hoping the larger door would help me drag him away. I was shocked when it actually worked, and the warrior inched off Max’s body.