Flamethroat (34 page)

‘I wouldn’t be much use in a fight,’ said Jack.

‘You don’t need to fight,’ Bran said. ‘The Fire-Mages will focus their long-range-attacks against Martinez’s mob, since any direct hits on Martinez himself will be useless since he can absorb them. Meanwhile, Penny and Elise will try to find a way into the dungeon to rescue our family.
I
will focus on physical combat, seeing as Martinez can’t absorb my energy. Tom will be able to mimic Martinez to some extent and you will be there to mend any injuries we sustain. If all goes well we may be able to overpower him.’

A prickle of fear ran down my spine. I could see the doubt in Jack’s eyes. Had he thought Martinez would hand over the Humans willingly?

‘Um,’ Jack began nervously, ‘this might seem like a stupid question, but, has anyone tried knocking on Martinez’s door and asking him politely to give the Humans back?’

Almost everyone laughed, except me, because I knew that Jack wasn’t joking.

After calming down, Bran said. ‘Look, Martinez is one of the largest exporters of Humans in the country. He
breeds
Humans and ships them worldwide. If we can bring him down, we will be doing a great service to Human-kind.’

Jack seemed to understand, but still looked apprehensive.

‘You’re not a coward, are you?’ My father asked.

‘Dad,’ I jumped to Jack’s defence, ‘this has nothing to do with cowardice. Jack is a very brave man and
will
fight for what is right. He is from Frost Arch and was brought up by closed-minded Mages who taught him that Humans are scum. You yourself once thought that Humans were filthy creatures, did you not? You refused to accept what Helena was-’

‘That’s enough, Avalon,’ my father shot, interrupting my speech. ‘Sit down.’

Huffing, I took my seat again. Jack gave me a small smile of appreciation, which I returned.

‘When the time comes to break into the manor, we must be ready for a fight,’ Elise said. ‘Freeing our families is only the first step of the plan.’

‘What’s the second step?’ I asked.

‘We stop the export of live Humans completely,’ Elise said.

‘Now that everyone is on the same page,’ my father stood and paced around the circle, ‘we have some new information regarding Martinez. Our informant at the docks has told us that Nicholo Martinez has a very powerful animal spirit. We are told that this animal companion resembles something the size of a polar bear.’

‘A
polar
bear?’ Penny Truscott exclaimed.

‘All we know is; it’s big and it can
fly
.’

‘Sounds like Hawthorne,’ I caught Jack’s eye and smiled.

‘Avalon, do you think you can bring your animal spirit on the rescue?’ Penny asked.

‘Of course,’ I nodded fervently.

‘Robert and Maria’s spirits won’t be much help in a fight.’ Elise said with a smirk.

‘You have animal spirits?’ I asked the older couple interestedly.

Robert eyed Elise shrewdly before nodding at me. ‘Of course. We are residents of Flamethroat Valley, so it is to be expected. My spirit, Jericho, is a robin. He is awfully intelligent, but not much use in a fight.’

‘My Pierre is just a ferret,’ Maria explained. ‘A very chatty one at zat. I fear ‘ee would give us away.’

‘Hey!’ I exclaimed, making Maria jump. ‘I saw you only this afternoon!’

‘I beg your pardon?’ Maria said politely.

‘I remember, I saw a talking ferret! He was on your shoulder and speaking French-’

‘Zat does sound like Pierre,’ Maria smiled.

‘Anyway,’ my father interrupted, ‘we need to find out what sort of animal this is and what it can do.’

‘I’m on it,’ Tom the mimic said. ‘I’ll dig around while I’m trying to learn more about this mob Martinez has.’

‘I’ll help,’ Bran added.

‘Excellent,’ Dad clapped his hands together and turned to Elise. ‘Elise, you’re still on poster duty. The guard is ripping them down every chance they get, but we already know you’re much too fast for them.’

‘Gotcha,’ Elise nodded.

‘Penny, you’re in charge of finding a new location for the next meeting.’

Penny nodded nervously.

‘Jack,’ my father shot. ‘I want you to help Robert and Maria with their son. There may be a way to heal him.’

‘I’ll try,’ Jack said doubtfully.

‘Anya and I will focus on disrupting the Human market’s operations as much as possible,’ my father finished.

‘What about me?’ I looked around. Everyone else seemed to have a job to do.

‘Um,’ I saw my parents do some quick thinking. ‘We need you to … train your animal spirit.’

Robert, Maria and I all scoffed at the same time.

‘What’s so funny?’ Dad asked.

‘You do not train zee animal spirits,’ Maria chuckled. ‘Zey are connected to you in ways zat you cannot understand.’

Folding his arms my father added, ‘she could teach him how to … how to-’

‘C’mon Kenneth, give the girl a proper job,’ Bran insisted. ‘I’m sure she is perfectly capable-’

‘All right, all right.’ My father caved easily. ‘Avalon, why don’t you stake out the Martinez manor. Find out if there is a pattern of people coming and going so we know when the best time to strike is.’

‘You want me to sit out the front of his manor and wait for him to come and go?’ I asked, rather annoyed.

‘Yes. Is that a problem? Do you have more important things to do?’ My father shot.

I sat back and folded my arms, huffing. ‘No,’ I grumbled, ‘Bit boring though.’

~

Jack and I made our way back to the lodge together. We left my parents in the cellar as they wanted to clean up after the meeting. We made it back to the Inn before it had reached two o’clock in the morning. Hawthorne, who was fast asleep on the rug in front of the dying embers, did not budge when we entered.

Once the door had been closed and locked, Jack and I didn’t know what to say to each other. Instead, we sat in silence. It was several minutes before either of us spoke. Jack was the first to break the quiet.

‘Do you think it will end in a fight when we try to rescue your sister and the other Humans?’

I sighed. ‘These things never go to plan, do they?’

‘I guess it needs to be done.’

‘Of course it does,’ I looked at Jack. ‘How come you never told me you’re a level eight?’

‘You never asked.’

Giving Jack a reproachful look, I added, ‘I thought we told each other everything.’

Jack gave a snort of derision. ‘As if you tell me everything.’

‘I do,’ I said with raised eyebrows. ‘I tell you everything.’

Jack rolled his eyes and pulled off his boots and socks. ‘Of course you do.’

Taking off my own shoes I asked, ‘Why are you in such a bad mood?’

Jack fidgeted. ‘Your father threatened that if I ever touched you he would come after me and-’

I rolled my eyes. ‘He wasn’t serious.’

‘He was,’ Jack nodded gravely, pulling off his shirt and sliding into his own bed, which was rather charred. ‘He pointed his finger at me and said; ‘If you lay a finger on my daughter I will hunt you down and make you wish you had never been born’.’

I put my hands on my hips. ‘He is just being protective. He still thinks of me as his little girl.’

‘You’re not a little girl,’ Jack argued, ‘You’re a woman and you are free to do as you please.’

‘He is just being a typical, over-protective father. You shouldn’t take him seriously.’

Jack mumbled something indistinguishable.

‘So, what did you say to him after he made his little threat?’ I asked cheekily.

Jack pulled the covers up to his chin. ‘I said okay.’

‘What? You just agreed?’

‘Yeah. What else was I supposed to say? I thought he was going to break my neck-’

‘Would that kill you?’ I wondered aloud.

‘Maybe,’ Jack shrugged. ‘I’ve never tried it and I don’t fancy testing it out.’

‘Maybe you should try talking to him in the morning,’ I suggested.

Jack scoffed. ‘What am I supposed to say?’

‘Tell him that we are best-friends and he has nothing to worry about.’

‘So, you want me to lie?’

I inhaled deeply. ‘We
are
best-friends.’

‘I’d rather tell him my intentions,’ said Jack before rolling over and curling up in his blanket.

I sat there in silence for many minutes, contemplating what Jack had meant by ‘intentions’. I did not want to dwell on it. Jack had already proved that this romance was too much of a distraction. He could have my full attention once this whole ordeal was over – if it ever was.

Finally, I slid between my own sheets and lay awake for what felt like hours and judging by the lack of Jack’s snoring, I was not the only one. As my mind slowly drifted and I was almost asleep I felt Jack slide into the bed beside me and wrap an arm around me.

~

The following morning Jack got ready to go to Robert and Maria Scotland’s address to see if there was any way to heal their son Bobby. Jack was highly doubtful that he would be able to help; he was convinced that the damage was permanent. He told me over and over again that he could not heal anything that was permanent, including amnesia.

I tried arguing that the erasing of the memories might not be a form on amnesia, but he disagreed with everything that I said.

‘Regardless of whether I can help him or not,’ said Jack as he pulled on his coat, ‘it might be interesting to analyse him. I may be able to provide a diagnosis. That might help put Robert and Maria’s minds at ease.’

‘I wish I could come,’ I grumbled. ‘I have to loiter out the front of the Martinez manor.’

‘It will be handy to work out his schedule,’ Jack reasoned, but I could see the disapproval in his eyes.

‘Oh well,’ I sighed. ‘At least Hawthorne will be with me. It’s nice not hiding him.’

Hawthorne rested his head on my knee and looked up at me with his large blue eyes. Smiling, I scratched him behind the ears.

‘It would be interesting to meet the Mage who creates these animals,’ said Jack. ‘I wish I could afford one.’

‘Just steal one like I did,’ I joked.

Jack smirked. ‘I thought you
rescued
him.’

‘Same thing,’ I shrugged.

Jack left the lodge before me and I occupied myself by play wrestling with Hawthorne until my mother and father came knocking upon the door.

‘When do we leave?’ I asked them.

My father looked anxious, my mother on the other hand, looked annoyed. Usually it was the other way around.

‘Look, Avalon,’ He began with a pained expression, ‘I think it’s best you stay inside for now.’

‘What?’ I said blankly, ‘I thought you needed me to stake out the Martinez manor. Find out where he goes, at what time-’

He sighed, ‘I just said that to make you feel like part of the team. We already know Martinez’s schedule. We’ve been tailing him for the last two weeks.’

I became annoyed very quickly. Soon my expression matched that of my mothers.

‘So, I have to sit indoors like a good girl whilst everyone else gets to go out and contribute?’ I snapped.

My father closed his eyes wearily. ‘Just … just do some sight seeing or something. Take your pet out for a walk. Anything.’

‘How does that help Helena?’ I demanded.

There was no answer. I waited for him to come up with another excuse, but he didn’t. Instead, he shook his head sadly and left the room, leaving the door open.

My mother stood in the doorway and heaved a sigh. I rushed up to her and asked. ‘What can I do? There must be something. I could … recruit members, or-’

She shook her head. ‘It is far too dangerous to speak of the group in public. No, we can’t ask you to do that. Hm, but there may be something.’

‘I’ll do anything,’ I said eagerly. ‘I want to help.’

‘Let me think about it over the day,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you go out and get to know the city? It really is beautiful at this time of year.’

I exhaled. ‘Fine. Maybe I’ll go to the Human market and-’

‘No!’ My mother said sharply, ‘Stay away from the Human market.’

‘All right, all right. I won’t go,’ I said, slightly alarmed.

My mother relaxed her shoulders and gave me a short embrace before kissing my cheek and leaving.

Turning to Hawthorne and feeling rather defeated, I asked him, ‘would you like to accompany me into town?’

Hawthorne’s bushy tail wagged excitedly, knocking a chair over and upturning a side table.

‘I’ll take that as a yes.’