Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker 3)

Tristan was staring at Toshi, his anger at the world distilling into one person.

Come on, Tristan. It isn’t Toshi’s fault, Lily said in mindspeak. Tristan didn’t answer. He broke away from the group and wandered, still reeling, down to the water’s edge. Juliet, who was hiding her shock with silence, followed him. Una and Breakfast slowly peeled off to go their own way. Lily found Toshi watching her as they walked to a more open-looking part of the wharf that had smaller ships that didn’t loom over them and block out the sky. Lily looked down at a few bobbing docks that were unoccupied by vessels but teeming with sea lions. They barked at the humans and flapped their flippers.

“I have a feeling a lot just happened between all of you,” he said. “Especially Caleb and Tristan.”

“Somehow it was easier to think the rest of the world had disappeared, or that they didn’t know, rather than own up to the fact that they’d abandoned us to genocide.” She gestured to the huge ships, the signs of progress. “We all suspected that the world was still turning, but it’s hard to swallow when you see just how much.”

Toshi nodded, his lips pursed. “And you can feel what your coven feels right now?”

“Some of it.”

“What’s that like?” He was trying not to seem too eager, but his eyes were hungry. Lights danced inside his willstone like a tingle. Lily looked away at the tidy dock and the scrubbed hulls of the ships. Even the sea lions looked well groomed.

“It’s annoying,” she snapped, her tone intentionally harsh. “Are we done here?”

“Sure,” Toshi said, his face falling. She remembered, too late, that he had said he was going to show them where he grew up.

“You were raised down by the docks?” she asked, trying to salvage the situation. “That must have been—”

He shook his head once. “Some other time.” He flashed one of his dazzling smiles and Lily wondered if he’d been insulted at all. He started leading her back up to the street. “We should get going, anyway. We have other plans for you tonight.”

“We do?”

“New arrivals, chosen by the Hive? The whole city wants to meet you. Unfortunately, you only get to meet the boring half tonight.”

“Ah. Bullshit Row?” she guessed.

“Exactly. Important people first, I guess.”

“I thought everyone was important in Bower City.” She was baiting him, hoping to find a crack in the high-gloss shellac that coated everything here. “What did Grace say when she paraded us through the Hearing Hall? It was built like that ‘so even the smallest voice can be heard.’ ”

“Oh, the smallest voices are the most important,” he said impishly. “Especially mine.” Lily couldn’t hold back

a laugh. Pleased that he’d gotten what he wanted, Toshi started looking down the street for a trolley. “So, do we call for your coven, or . . . how does this work?”

“I already did. They’re coming.”

He looked away. The hungry shine was back. “Convenient.”

“For some things.” Lily sought out the hole that had been Tristan, worrying it like a hangnail. “Most of the time it just hurts.”

CHAPTER

3

“It’s like body origami,” Lily said.

Juliet made an exasperated sound, looked down at the instructions, and then back up at Lily’s obi. The kimonos they’d been loaned for that afternoon’s outing to the docks were point-and-click, but the fancy dress kimonos for that evening’s ball were an entirely different matter.

“No—you have to fold that down twice, and then twist it. Can that be right?” Juliet studied the obi. “Yeah. That’s it. Down twice, then twist, then tie.” She did it for Lily. “There.”

Lily looked at herself in the mirror. She looked glorious in the petal-pink, crimson-red, and soft-cream kimono with a cherry blossom pattern. Her hair was swept up in lacquered combs and her face was subtly painted. The more layers of luxury this place seemed to pile on top of her, the more smothered she felt. She didn’t want to look beautiful. She resisted the perverse urge to spit at the liar in the mirror.

“I’m hot,” she said.

“You’ll live,” Juliet replied unforgivingly and then switched to mindspeak. You were quiet today.

So were you.