Wood Sprites полностью

Assuming that Louise didn’t trigger some automatic “hack first, ask questions later” response, what would she actually say? That Sparrow had laid a trap for Windwolf? Louise didn’t know where or when or how. Nothing but honor would stop Sparrow from denying it, and everything Louise had witnessed indicated that Sparrow would do anything and say anything to keep her secret. Obviously she had lied about why she wanted to be on Earth. According to Stormsong, humans like Louise were “good at deception,” and Sparrow was her trusted leader.

And even if the warriors believed Louise over another elf, could they save Windwolf?

By the time you cross the border, he will be dead.

Obviously the assassination attempt was scheduled to happen before Shutdown. No one could communicate with Elfhome until Pittsburgh returned to Earth on Tuesday.

No matter what Louise did, she couldn’t save Windwolf. Yves said that if the sekasha proved troublesome, he’d have them all killed. By warning the warriors, Louise would merely make them targets when they were most vulnerable. The three people plotting at the museum represented an unknown number of powerful, hidden people. Their organization had obviously infiltrated both the EIA and the Chinese government. Hundreds, maybe thousands, against five warriors stranded on Earth.

How would the warriors even stop the three here? Kill them? Louise shuddered at the sudden image of blood splattering across glass display cases. What else could the elves do? If they tried to follow human laws, the assassins would be free to contact others to carry out their plans. Their massive organization would kill the five sekasha before they could carry the news back to Elfhome.

And every action had a reaction. If Louise acted against Yves, he could act against her. Even if she slipped away without giving her name and address, the security cameras would record her face. A quick check of elementary schools in the area would find her and Jillian. These people that so casually kidnapped and dismembered scientists, murdered elf nobles, and caged children to be used against their family would know where the twins lived.

No, she couldn’t warn the sekasha. She could do nothing to save Windwolf.

Louise could barely breathe as grief and fear formed a huge burning knot in her chest. She felt like she was teetering on a crumbling edge and any moment she was going to go crashing down.

“Why,” Stormsong whispered in Elvish, “do I feel so alive?”

Louise blinked back tears and realized that the female had stopped pacing right in front of her.

Suddenly her box slid upward, exposing Louise.

Stormsong held the box over her head, gazing down at Louise with confusion.

Louise gazed up at her in utter terror.

For an eternity they looked into each other eyes. Louise knew not what the warrior saw within her, but Louise saw grim determination settle on the face of the female.

“Go,” Stormsong whispered in English. “Quietly. Now.”

And she settled the box back over Louise.

Louise gasped, startled back into breathing.

“Now,” the warrior growled lowly and gave the box a slight nudge.

Louise bolted, running blindly to the stairs and then down, and around, and down, and around, flight after flight until she was in the Grand Gallery of the first floor. They’d assumed that they wouldn’t be able to get out the way they’d come in. The backup route took her through the Northwest Coast Indians and the Imax Corridor and then to the glass-walled Weston Pavilion. It wasn’t until she was at the Columbus Avenue Entrance that she realized she had done the entire run completely blind.

Was she really in the museum’s proverbial back door?

She flipped her phone to the GPS screen and checked.

She was.

How had she managed that?

And where was Jillian?

She checked her twin’s coordinates. According to Jillian’s phone, she was just a few feet away.

“Are you okay?” Jillian texted.

Louise had to try three times to type a simple “yes” and then twice to send “here.”

“Me or you?” Jillian texted. They both had an exit kit just in case they were separated and needed to escape quickly.

“You,” Louise tapped in. She was so rattled that she screwed the spelling up, but autocorrect fixed it.

“Okay. Keep watch.”

As far as they could determine, the museum had a maze of office areas and work spaces tucked between the windowless visitor areas and the building’s façade that showed four stories of windows. They had picked their exit point because it was one of the few places where they were sure that the interior wall actually gave direct access to the outdoors and not into “staff only” areas. The sleek modern pavilion was one giant cube of glass.