Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
If Avel heard her, or even noticed her, he didn't show it. He walked towards the creature, still playing. He had that look in his eyes again — that distant, almost dreamlike edge to his expression.
As he approached, the note changed to a melody. The creature listened with rapt attention, held in place by the lull of the melody. Even Sadie felt the adrenaline ebb from her veins as she listened, and a distant wave of calm wash over her...
Suddenly the tune changed. Sadie jerked back to attention, and the creature jumped like it had been stung. Wild panic filled its eyes and it spread its wings and launched into the air.
And suddenly, everything clicked.
She marched over to him, wincing each time her footsteps jolted her sore chest. Avel turned as he noticed her coming, and when he saw her his face went white.
"Sadie?"
"You're a liar," she said. "You said you didn't know anything about Eseran!"
"I—" Avel backed away, hands raised. "No, I said I couldn't help you—"
"So what? Same difference, isn't it? You dodged my questions and hide behind this Casper Franklin guy when all along you knew about it. I knew you were acting shady the first time we met."
"Wait, wait," Baz said, stepping out of the car. "Sadie, who is this?"
"This is Avel," Sadie said. "He's this street artist I met."
"Right." Baz looked Avel up and down. "So, what just attacked us?"
"It's a creature native to Eseran," Avel said. "A very dangerous predator." He said this with a pointed look in Sadie's direction. "So I don't know what you were thinking, pulling it into Stonebridge like that—"
Sadie folded her arms. "Well, maybe if you'd thought to tell me about Eseran like I asked you, it wouldn't have been a problem."
"I told you everything you wanted to know," he insisted. "You were only asking about the flowers back then."
"You didn't tell me anything!" Sadie shot back. "You only mentioned Casper, after I literally begged you for help."
"That was all you needed. You should have looked into it and realised that Casper's obsession with Eseran drove him insane, and then dropped it."
And she would have, Sadie realised. She'd been thinking exactly along those lines until she'd come across the painting that linked her to Etta, that one chance encounter that set everything else into motion. But of course, Avel wouldn't have known that when he told her to look up Casper's paintings.
She stared at him, eyes narrowing. He'd set the whole thing up deliberately to throw her off. And if it wasn't for Etta, she'd have behaved exactly like he wanted.
