Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 540(@250wpm)___ 450(@300wpm)
The slitherskin at the door is a faint orange-pink color, with a bright yellow belly and vivid green eyes. She has a little frill on her head past her brows, and Kipp doesn’t greet her with the usual belly-rubbing that means two slitherskin are talking to each other. They just exchange shy looks. I wonder if this is the lady friend. He hands her a coin and brings the parchment over to me.
I run a hand over the note.
It looks different than the missive that came earlier. The parchment is thicker, the wax seal ornate and showy, with the imprint of a rooster in a circle stamped with the guild’s logo. The lettering along the edge of the parchment is neat and tidy, and it has Raptor’s name on it.
Not mine. Just Raptor’s. Rooster doesn’t know how involved I am.
I glance up at Arrod and Kipp, who are watching me. The only sound is that of Marta moving about in the kitchen down the hall. “I don’t know when he’ll be back.”
“You should read it,” Arrod says encouragingly. “What if it needs to be answered right away? And it’s not like Raptor would mind, because it’s you. He loves everything you do.”
Kipp makes a chirping sound that I interpret as agreement.
I clutch the scroll and bite my lip. Raptor wouldn’t care. I know he wouldn’t. It’s just…do I want to see what Head Guild Master Rooster has said? Or can I wait?
I…can’t. I tear open the parchment and stare at it with shaking hands. The writing is pretty, but the lettering is cramped and I have to read slowly, my lips moving as I do.
Raptor,
I have decided. We will not resort to illegal methods to solve our problems. The guild’s reputation is above reproach and we will not do anything to harm that, despite the costs. What we lose now might be nothing compared to what we would lose if we were to dabble in unsavory choices. I will notify you on any updates to our situation, but until then, we wait for the criminals to show themselves.
Head Guild Master Rooster
It’s a no.
I…don’t know how I feel about that. Limply, I hold the parchment out to Kipp, since he and Arrod are both practically squirming with anticipation.
Arrod takes the letter and reads it aloud, with far more skill than I did. “I don’t understand what he means,” he says after a long moment. “What illegal methods? What problems? I thought the guild was looking for Hemmen’s murderer?”
I eye the two of them and then our surroundings. It feels too open to talk about mancers and thievery right here. We need privacy. I grab Arrod by his sleeve and gesture that Kipp should follow, and head into our dorm’s sleeping quarters. Once the three of us are inside, I shut the doors and lean against them. “The guild has a thief. Or multiple thieves.”
“And this is who Hemmen was involved with?” Arrod asks. “The thieves?”
“It seems so. Whoever is stealing artifacts from the archives is using repeaters and then murdering them when they’re done.”
Arrod sits on the edge of the nearest bed, his expression shocked. “Are…are we next?”
“Are you working with thieves?”
“Not that I know of! But how do I know if they’re a thief or not?” He jumps to his feet, pointing at me. “Wait! The messages in the books—are you a thief?”
Kipp blows out a breath. He shakes his head and hops up on the bed, gesturing at Arrod to look at him. He signs a few things and then glances over at me. The look on his face is full of reproach as he turns back to Arrod, waiting.
“Sorry, Gwenna,” Arrod says. “I panicked. I know you’re not a thief.”
“I’m not. If I was, why would I tell you about all this?” I clutch the message meant for Raptor. “I certainly wouldn’t flunk myself by killing Hemmen. So that’s another thing that makes me wonder. Someone wants us to fail. Us specifically.”
“Well, maybe it’s because we’re repeaters,” Arrod says.
I blink at him.
Kipp gestures that he should continue.
“I mean, if they’re using repeaters, and Hemmen was one—you know he repeated four times already, right?—maybe they were trying to make us fail so Hemmen could repeat again.”
I open my mouth…and then shut it again. It makes a bizarre sort of sense. “Why target me?”
“We’re on a team with a girl,” he says, his tone dismissive. “If you wanted to fail us, it’s not that hard to figure out who the weak link is.”
The hiss that Kipp makes echoes my own. “That is the rudest—”
“I’m saying what the thieves would think! Not me! I mean, I did originally think you were weak because you were a girl, but you work hard and you don’t complain, and you were better at hiking than Hemmen was.” Arrod shrugs and then gestures at the letter I’m holding. “What’s the illegal stuff that Rooster doesn’t want to do?”