Bay of Sighs (The Guardians Trilogy 2)

As the vote for pizza rounded the table, as beer and wine were served, he sketched out his map from memory. The curve of the land, the sweep of sea and beach, the rise of hills. He added the road they’d traveled, positions of houses, groves, fields.

Riley leaned over to study the work. “That’s pretty damn good, cowboy.”

“You gotta know where you are. Which is here—or the house is here. We came up this way, over, and now we’re here.”

He drew a compass rose at the bottom of the page.

“What do we have if we go back and down?”

“You’d end up at the Piazzetta—or as it’s known by locals, chiazz. The square—little, as the name indicates—is the social center and tourist haunt. Cafes, bars, and, fanning out from it, the narrow streets, the shops—”

“Shopping?” Annika interrupted Riley’s explanation. “We can shop?”

“We’ll need to eventually. Supplies, ammo. You’ll get trinkets,” Riley assured her. “Up here, that’s the Marina Grande.”

“Got it.” Sawyer penciled the name in.

“We’ll pick up the boat—another RIB—our equipment there in the morning. We have a van on tap if we need it, but I don’t recommend driving here—van or bike—unless we have to. Public transpo’s good, plus we have Sawyer if we need to get somewhere fast. The funicular goes from Capri town to the marina if we need that

. It’s just getting there. Bus is probably the best way to get to the marina from the house.”

“Just how do we get weapons on a bus?” Doyle demanded.

“I’ll come up with something,” Bran assured him.

Since the pizza came out then, hot and bubbly, it blocked an immediate argument. But sensing one coming, Sawyer took a stab.

“We could hike it. Public transpo when and if, legs otherwise.”

“A reasonable compromise,” Bran declared. “We can see how it goes. I’ll deal with the weapons either way, and we can consider the hike to the marina part of our morning calisthenics.”

“I like calisthenics,” Annika said. “I like pizza, and this wine is very nice. I can hike to shop.” She gave Sawyer an under-the-lashes smile. “You could go with me.”

“Ah—”

“We should walk off lunch,” Doyle put in, “and get in an hour’s weapons training. I bet there are shops around the marina, Gorgeous. You’ll get your chance.”

“I like my weapons.” She studied her bracelets, smiled at Bran and Sasha. “They’re pretty. It’s nice to have a day together. To practice, yes, to train and to plan. But just to walk in the sun with all the flowers and trees. To eat pizza. To just . . .”

“Just be?” Bran suggested, and plucked a starry little flower out of the air.

With a laugh, Annika tucked the flower behind her ear. “Yes. To just be together. Here, where Sasha said to come. Where Sawyer brought us. Where here”—she laid a hand on her heart—“I know we are meant to be.”

“Seventh daughter of seventh daughter knowing?” Riley asked.

“Yes, it may be. But I know. And I feel, I feel so strong that we’ll find the Water Star, that whatever weapon is forged against us, it will never be enough. The dark cannot win, so the light must.”

“You’re a light, Anni,” Sawyer told her, and made her heart swell.

“One of six. It’s good to be one of six. Can I have more pizza?”

Sawyer took a slice, slid it onto her plate. “All you want.”

They hiked back for weapons training. Annika liked using her magic bracelets, and liked even more practicing with them in the lemon grove. The floating balls Bran conjured for her could slide and bob behind trees, try to hide, so she had to be quick and clever to deflect.

And careful not to destroy so he didn’t have to stop his own training to make her more.

She didn’t mind sharing the grove—it smelled so nice!—while the others practiced with bows. But when the time came for the guns, she couldn’t pretend not to hear that awful sound.