Bone Walker by Angela Korra'ti Page B

heard you say the boy set foot in Lake Forest Park.”
    â€œShe did,” Christopher said. “I did.”
    Silence spread across the room, from the Seelie warrior by my front door to the stunned figure of Carson, who was taking a turn at standing watch at the end of the hall—and on the bedroom beyond. Even Fortissimo seemed surprised, for he poked his head out from under the couch and regarded us all with astonished tawny eyes.
    â€œDon’t pull an old lady’s leg, son,” Millie barked. “It ain’t funny.” At that, she paused. Nobody needed to point out that Christopher wasn’t laughing. If anything, he looked tired, stressed, and in pain, the same as I felt. Concern flared in her dark eyes, and with it, speculation. She stomped over to the younger Warder, scowling, only slightly less vehemently than before. One hand shot out to Christopher’s shoulder. At the contact, I felt her magic flare. “You don’t feel any different. How far did you get?”
    â€œHow much does it matter, Millie?” Jake asked. Now that he’d finished with Christopher he moved over to me. Without protest I let him inspect the various scratches and contusions I’d sustained in the fight, and though his customary efficiency never faltered, unmistakable strain almost palpably vibrated along his frame. Nor was it difficult to guess why. He’d started frowning the minute we walked bleeding in through the door, but a thundercloud had fallen across his features when I’d mentioned the
nogitsune
and the child they’d been chasing.
    Me, I still had my eye on Melisanda.
    Nor had her presence been forgotten by anyone else. The Seelie might as well have been a sculpture of sunlit marble for all the reaction she showed us. But all my nerves still prickled at the sight of her, and everyone else in the room avoided meeting her gaze so studiously that it was clear I wasn’t the only one discomfited. Only Millicent, still caught up in her bluster, was willing to whirl and face the warrior female directly. “Before I answer him,” she demanded while tossing a nod towards Jake, “are you going to be a problem? Or am I going to have to kick you out of my city all over again?”
    Color bloomed high on Melisanda’s cheeks, yet she gave the Warder woman a small bow and shook her head. “I’m charged to make amends to Miss Thompson,” she said, “and I’ll uphold the Pact. As I offered to Miss Thompson, so I shall offer to you: my sword is yours.”
    â€œHumph,” said Millie. She cast a narrow-eyed look up and down the Sidhe, and then pivoted back to Christopher. As she did, some small fraction of the tension in the room subsided. As approval went, it wasn’t much. By Millicent Merriweather’s standards, though, it was tantamount to a motherly embrace. “Good, ’cause I ain’t got time to deal with you on top of
nogitsune
, a dragon hatchling, my Warder Second going all haywire on me, and God only knows what that came out of the bard.”
    At that exact instant, Carson moved. “Kendis,” he called out sharply, for I was nearest to him—and to the figure that came shuffling, on bare feet and wrapped in the incongruous protection of my fire-colored quilt, out of my bedroom.
    Elessir.
    â€œI trust,” he said in a ghost of his former drawl, “that if I’m one of the topics under discussion, you won’t object if I join your council of war?”
    Right then and there you could have called us all shell-shocked, but you’d have been putting it mildly. Frankly, I’d almost managed to forget about my unwelcome houseguest in the wake of the fight Christopher and I had just been in, and in Millicent’s reaction to the news that the northernmost Wards on Seattle were apparently a little more fluid for Christopher than they should have been. From the looks on the faces of everyone except