Fallen Thief Read online

  “Tullor!” Kay exclaimed.

  “We’ve met him!” Mira said.

  He must not be happy to have to travel the whole kingdom just to see us, Kay’s voice echoed in her head. Mira gave him a subtle nod. She remembered the man who had watched her and her brother with suspicion and fear when he saw them show their powers of summoning water in front of the king.

  Still, Appoline didn’t seem to care.

  “Well, then, it seems Dane Tullor has already received a first-hand account of everything my children know. They will not be dragged into the affairs of the council. I’ll be giving a report on their behalf.”

  Mr. Streck’s nostrils flared, but he didn’t argue. “If you wish to ignore the mayor’s wishes, that is entirely your decision.”

  “I have faith the mayor will understand,” Appoline said with finality. “Thank you for stopping by, Councilor.” She walked around Mr. Streck and unlocked the front door. Mira and Kay hurried in after her.

  Appoline immediately lit a fire in the fireplace when they entered the living room. She grabbed parchment, sat in a chair by the hearth, and gestured for Mira and Kay to sit by her.

  “Come, children, bring me a candle so that I can write my notes for the council.”

  “Why can’t we be there?” Kay asked as he sat on the chair opposite Appoline.

  Appoline spoke without looking up from her parchment. She was already scribbling furiously when Mira brought her a lit candle. “As I told Mr. Streck, you two have already done your part. You don’t need to be put on display at every meeting just to give others a chance to see your powers. Now, I am certain one good thing will come of Dane Tullor being at our meeting: he can take our report directly to the king.”

  Mira didn’t particularly want to be at the meeting, but she did wish she could ask Tullor how Alexandra was doing. She hoped desperately that he’d come with thrilling news that the cure to everlock sleep was found, that her friend was awake and well.

  They stayed by the fireplace for a long time as Appoline wrote her notes with the help of Mira and Kay. It wasn’t long before she asked Mira to get her more parchment from her study.

  Mira hurried up the stairs, glad for an excuse to step away from the living room. She lit the lamps in Appoline’s study, the flickering light of the flames dancing on the walls. The shadows cast by the ticking display of the solar system on Appoline’s desk hopped across the shelves lined with books. Mira absently ran her finger along the spines of the ones closest to her as she walked past them.

  She sat at the cluttered desk, ruffling through Appoline’s papers and finding endless charts of the planets and the moon. How would she ever be able to find a fresh sheet of parchment in this mess?

  She was struck by a memory of the last time she had lingered in her mother’s study. It was months ago when the news of a winged horse had spread through the Old Towns, and Mira had desperately hoped that Appoline kept more information about it hidden away in the papers on her desk. It was silly how much the townsfolk were afraid of the riders that brought the winged horse to their side of the kingdom when it turned out that those riders were Mira’s own brother and the young woman who saved them time and time again from the real criminals: the Shadowveils.

  The thought of the Shadowveils sent a shiver down Mira’s spine. They were still out there, hooded and nameless, carrying out their secret plans under the rule of the Empress of the Sea.

  When she reached the last paper in the pile closest to her and found it covered in notes, she sighed and pushed the stack aside, revealing an old book open on a page with the portrait of a woman.

  The first things Mira saw were the familiar gray eyes.

  She gasped and stepped back, tripping into the chair behind her with a clatter.

  It was her.

  No, it can’t be.

  Mira shook her head, trying to calm her racing heart. She leaned over and picked up the book with trembling fingers. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the page with the drawing. There it was, plain as day: a portrait of the very person who had tried to capture her—to kill her.

  The Empress of the Sea.

  Mira recognized the light gray eyes, the delicate chin and high cheekbones, the subtle pattern of scales that ran along the edges of her hairline and down her neck. In the portrait, she wore an intricate necklace made of pearls that hugged her narrow neck tightly and hung down in loops like a chandelier. Her wavy white hair was fanned out slightly behind her as if she was floating underwater. Her left cheek had a deep scar running through her otherwise flawless skin, just like the image of the empress that was seared into Mira’s memory. There was no mistake. This was the same woman who had attacked her in the forest.

  Mira held the book up to the light of the nearest lamp. She read the words underneath it impatiently, desperate to learn more about her:

  Princess Amara, youngest of the Narrowfin royal family, at the age of thirty-three. Amara often visited coastline towns above the sea in her studies in astrology, contributing much to the knowledge of the planetary movements and their impacts upon the Earth and its inhabitants, despite strong disapproval among her people that a member of the royal family should concern herself with such faraway events. She was one of very few merrows to become involved in the study of astrology—

  “I think Peter rubbed off on you.”

  Mira jumped and turned to see Kay leaning against the doorframe of the study, an amused smile on his lips.

  “You were practically pressing your nose to the page,” he laughed. When he saw Mira’s bewildered expression, his smile faded, and he stepped forward. “What’s wrong? We were wondering where you’d gone with the parchment.”

  “Kay,” Mira said in a shaky voice. “I’ve just found…I think—no, I know that this is the Empress of the Sea.” She held out the open book for him to take a look.

  Kay took it and read, “‘Princess Amara.’” He looked up at Mira. “That’s the Empress of the Sea? The one that turned into the eagle?”

  Mira nodded.

  “But…” Kay flipped the book over to read the title, Cosmic Discoveries through the Ages. He shook his head and looked at the portrait again. “It says here that this was her in the year 2920—nearly two hundred years ago!”

  Mira took a deep breath.

  “I know. And I know it’s her, Kay.” She stood up, looked over his shoulder at the drawing, and felt the hairs on her arms rise. “She doesn’t even look a day older than she does in this portrait. Oh, I wish you had seen her before she metamorphosed in that forest! Then you’d believe me.”

  Kay continued staring at the drawing in silence for a moment. Then he turned to Mira.

  “I do believe you,” he said thoughtfully. “But you know what this means?”

  Mira nodded again. She said quietly, “It means the Empress of the Sea has been alive for two hundred years.”

  Chapter Two

  The Fire

  T

  he soft sounds of Appoline’s humming coming from downstairs were enough to wake Mira up the next day. After she discovered the empress’s true identity—not to mention her true age—she was quite on edge. She sat up—a bit too fast, for her head started spinning.

  “Kay,” she hissed, “get up! Appoline’s awake.” When her brother didn’t flinch as he slept in his bed across the room, Mira walked over to the windows and pulled the curtains aside.

  Kay frowned against the harsh sunlight and threw his blanket over his face.

  “Come on. Maybe she’s read something new about the empress!” Mira said, throwing her pillow at Kay. It bounced off of his head, and he pulled down his blanket to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

  I can do better than that, his voice rang inside her head.

  She gasped and raised her hands to cover her face, already knowing what he meant, but too late. A burst of water splashed right across her forehead and dripped into her eyes. Kay laughed.

&
nbsp; “Kay,” Mira squealed, blinking the water out of her eyes. She glared at him. “You think I can’t summon an entire bucket of water to dump on your head?”

  She raised her hands just as Kay’s voice said: You know who’s going to have to dry it all up before Appoline finds out, right?

  Mira curled her fingers into fists and dropped her arms. Kay gave her an exaggerated smile and got to his feet.

  “You should wear your rain cloak once we get outside, then,” Mira said as she left the room in a huff.

  “Mira? Kay?” Appoline called up the stairs. “Are you up?”

  Mira hurried down to see her mother, the thought of the empress and the upcoming council meeting pushing the plots of revenge on her brother right out of her head. Appoline had been up all night, it seemed, for she was sitting in the living room, slowly drinking a cup of tea with dark circles under her eyes. Still, she looked as elegant as always in her long dress and her hair pulled back into a neat bun. A bulky bag was on the table in front of her.

  “I learned as much as I could about this empress last night,” Appoline said once Mira came to sit by her side.

  “Must know everything now if you were reading all night,” Kay said as he descended the stairs.

  “Not everything.” Appoline sighed. “But I did learn enough to have a decent report for the king’s advisor.” She yawned.

  “Can’t you tell us what you found?” Mira asked.

  “There wasn’t much more written about Amara or how she could live so long, I’m afraid. Though, I did find that she became the last known merqueen before the plague overtook the merrows.”

  “She was the last merqueen,” Mira whispered in awe.

  “Clearly wasn’t enough for her,” Kay said, walking over to them. “She had to become an empress.”

  “It seems so,” Appoline said. “I think the council will be quite surprised once I show them her portrait. I hope that will encourage Dane Tullor to deliver the news to the king with haste.”

  Midday couldn’t come soon enough, and it seemed that everyone in the house was anxiously awaiting the time of the meeting. Mira was glad that she and Kay would be having their usual training session with Peter in the Mosswoods that afternoon, or else she was sure she would go mad with impatience.

  “I’m off, my dears,” Appoline said after they had their lunch. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she opened the front door. “I will tell you everything once I’m back.”

  As soon as she closed the door, Kay spoke.

  “We can’t just practice archery and summoning when they’re talking about us at that meeting.”

  Mira raised an eyebrow. “It really isn’t fair,” she agreed. “We deserve to know what Tullor has to say.”

  Kay nodded. “Let’s tell Peter to meet us in the town square instead of the Mosswoods.”

  Mira immediately threw her thoughts across town to tell Peter about their new meeting spot. The promise of doing something exciting made her smile; it had been a quiet month in Crispin since their adventures in the Ripple, and though it was nice to be back at home, Mira had become rather bored.

  A moment later, she and Kay ran out of the house, eager to tell Peter about the empress’s true identity and sneak into the Town Hall to try and find out what the council was discussing. They hurried through the streets, whispering their plan under their breaths as they walked. As they approached the town square, the sounds of sandals slapping against the cobbled street made them stop and turn around.

  A small group of younger children skidded to a halt in front of Mira and Kay, staring up at them with their eyes alight with excitement. A few of their older siblings walked up behind them with embarrassed glances at Mira, who recognized them from school. Two of the little boys held wooden swords firmly by their sides, and Mira couldn’t help but return their eager grins.

  “Mira,” one girl said shyly, twirling the hair of her doll around her finger, “won’t you show us how you summon water?”

  “I told Thomas I saw you make a fountain right out of your hand,” said another girl, tugging at her older brother’s hand. He was one of the students from Mira’s class. “Didn’t I, Thomas?”

  Thomas Wolfe gave her an apologetic grin. “She’s been talking about it for the past three days.”

  Mira knelt to look at the little girl’s wide eyes. She held out her hand like she did the last time she had seen her. “Do you mean like this?” She summoned a rush of water that shot straight up from her palm and rained down on them.

  The children screamed and cheered, which made Mira laugh.

  “Kay should do one!” the boys holding the wooden swords began to chant. “Kay! Kay!”

  Kay rolled his eyes impatiently and held up a fist. When he opened it, a stream of water sprayed right at them. They ducked and swung at it merrily with their swords.

  “Brilliant,” Thomas said with a chuckle.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Elyse Holmwood, a quiet, round-faced girl who was also in Mira’s class.

  “Now summon like you did to defeat the dragon!” Elyse’s younger brother yelled, to which the other children cheered with approval.

  “We don’t want to cause a flood in the streets,” Mira laughed, just as Peter turned the corner. She pointed at him. “Besides, Peter’s the one who defeated the dragon, once and for all.”

  Peter stopped in surprise as the children swarmed him, tugging at the bow and quiver of arrows he had slung over his shoulder. Mira nudged Kay, and, laughing silently, they used the distraction to run undetected the rest of the way to the town square.

  “I think his head might be twice as big when he catches up with us,” Kay said as they ran.

  “Well, what I said is true,” Mira said. “He was the one who shot the dragon in the end.”

  They skidded to a halt when they reached the center of town. Beyond the market in the middle of the square was a pair of horses tethered to a grand carriage. It had intricate gold patterns running up the frames of its curtained windows and even on the spokes of its four large wheels. Mira immediately noticed the small green and yellow flags on either side of the coachman’s seat, flapping in the summer breeze. There was no doubt that it was a royal carriage.

  It was right in front of the Town Hall building, where two gruff-looking palace guards were standing on either side of the door. People who passed by gawked at them and Mira didn’t blame them. She couldn’t remember a time when a member of the royal court had visited Crispin.

  Peter came running up to them then, clutching his bow tightly.

  “I had to give away one of my arrows before they let me leave,” he whined as he glared over his shoulder.

  “Never mind that,” Kay said. “Look.” He pointed at the carriage.

  “Whoa,” Peter breathed. “Those are the royal colors!”

  “Let’s go around the back of the Town Hall,” Mira said, grabbing his arm and leading the way. “We’ve got something to tell you.”

  “What’s going on?”

  Mira didn’t respond until they were behind the large stone building, where there were no guards and the low trees gave them a bit of cover from the few townsfolk passing by.

  “It’s the empress,” she said seriously.

  “What, not another dream?” Peter asked with wide eyes.

  “No,” Mira said. She took a breath. “We know who she is.”

  Peter frowned.

  “Who, then?”

  “Her name is Amara. She was a princess in the last royal family of merrows who used to study astrology before she became merqueen. When the disease wiped out all the merrows on land, no one heard of her until we saw her in the forest.”

  Peter shook his head, still frowning.

  “I don’t get it. She was the merqueen? Before the disease?”

  “I saw her portrait in one of Appoline’s astronomy books and recognized her right away. The drawing even showed the scar across he
r cheek. Remember I mentioned that? Appoline has it now—she’s showing it to the councilors.” Mira paused, knowing that Peter would catch onto the most crucial part of her discovery without her having to utter the impossible words.

  Sure enough, Peter’s eyes widened. He looked from Mira to Kay, whispering, “You mean to say that she was really mentioned in Appoline’s history book? With everyone believing merrows have been extinct for over a century, that would mean she’s at least a hundred years old if she was alive long enough ago to be mentioned in any of the history books!”

  “More like two hundred,” Kay said.

  Peter burst out laughing, making the others jump.

  “She’s a merrow empress who turns into a bird whenever she likes, and now she’s immortal!”

  “D—don’t you believe me?” Mira asked.

  “Sure I do.” Peter slid his cap off his hair and scratched his head. “But I wonder if the councilors will.”

  “Appoline will convince them,” Mira said simply. “She was up all night writing a report for them.”

  “Peter’s right,” Kay said. “The king’s advisor’s at the meeting, too.” Peter tilted his head. “Remember Tullor? The one who looked ready to faint when he saw us at the palace? He could barely believe his eyes when he saw us summoning water in front of the king. Do you think he’ll believe the empress is immortal?”

  Peter shook his head in confusion. “Tullor’s here? What for?”

  Mira shrugged. “Mr. Streck told us last night that the king sent Tullor to check on us. Appoline was rather thrilled to tell him about Amara.”

  “He’ll never believe it,” Peter replied.

  “I just hope he has good news about Alexandra,” Mira said, hugging herself.

  “If Appoline would’ve just let us go with her, we would’ve found out for ourselves,” Kay huffed. “Now the guards are blocking the door. We can’t even go inside.”

  Mira looked up at the building, struck by an idea. There were wide windows that were several feet above where she stood. The trees were too far away for her to be able to get close enough to listen, so she turned to her companions.