Hidden Dragon (The Treasure of Paragon Book 7) by Genevieve Jack (best ereader for manga txt) 📗

doing sure as hell isn’t working.” Raven rubbed her temples. “I don’t suppose one of you two has a better idea?”

Avery shook her head. “A long nap and a few hours on the beach? It won’t translate the scroll, but it might make me feel better.”

“Ladies, ladies.” Clarissa spread her hands and released an exasperated sigh. “Have you forgotten who the fuck we are?”

“We’re the three sisters,” Avery mumbled with a roll of her eyes.

Raven rubbed her shoulder encouragingly.

“Who the fuck are we?” Clarissa asked again, louder.

“The three sisters,” Raven and Avery said in unison.

“That’s right, bitches. We are the three fucking kick-ass sisters. We are more magical than unicorns and fairy dust!” Clarissa punched her fists into the air in front of her as if she were boxing a ghost. “One little scroll is not going to defeat us.”

Avery’s head dropped into her hands. “What do you suggest we do, Clarissa? I don’t have much left in me for this.”

“Maybe we should take a break,” Raven said. “Avery should lie down and maybe have something to eat.”

Clarissa gave a beleaguered sigh. “Here’s what we are going to do.” She picked up a piece of blank parchment beside the scroll that Raven had procured for taking notes. “Avery is going to neutralize the enchantment one more time; then you and I, Raven, are going to copy the symbols we see furiously. You take the first row and I take the second, and so on, alternating. And we are not going to even try to do the translation spell on what we are copying until we reconstruct the entire message.”

Raven ran a hand over her face. “That will take days.”

Clarissa clapped her hands. “So? Like nothing has been this difficult for us before? We thought we could muscle through it if we worked together. It’s proving to be a little bit harder than that. Are we going to give up or give it another try?”

“Give it another try,” Avery said, although there wasn’t an ounce of excitement in the words. “But I’m seriously drained. I’m not sure how many more times I can do this.”

Raven kissed her sister on the side of the head. “We’re safe here. All we have is time. Just do what you can.”

With one nod, Avery rolled her shoulders back and reached for the scroll again. “On the count of three.”

Raven and Clarissa readied their pens.

“One, two, three.” She touched the scroll, and they began again.

Chapter Twelve

“Please, miss, do you have any food?”

Dianthe had been trying to walk through the camp on the beach at Serenity Harbor without being noticed when someone grabbed her hand. She kept her gaze down and pulled her hood as far forward as possible. While Sylas and Tobias could change their appearance at will and Sabrina was unknown to anyone on Ouros, if Dianthe was recognized, she could jeopardize their entire mission.

She tried not to look at the person who squeezed her fingers. If she made eye contact, it would be too hard to turn away. These were her people, and they were in an awful state. The young fairies could hunt, but the elderly must truly be struggling. The person whose voice she’d heard sounded old and weak.

She tried to walk on, but her assailant only squeezed tighter, refusing to let go, and Dianthe had no choice but to address her. She turned, peeking from under the hood… and recognized the person behind her immediately. “Willow?”

The old woman smiled at the sound of her voice. “Di—”

Dianthe cut her off with the press of her finger to the old fairy’s lips. She shook her hooded head. Behind her in his disguise, Sylas must have given Willow a look because her eyes grew wide with understanding.

Willow lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m so happy to see you made it out alive. After the fire, we’ve assumed those we can’t find are dead.”

“I’m not dead and neither is… my mate. But how are you getting on?” Dianthe thought Willow looked more frail than usual.

“Hungry, my dear. There is never enough food. The younger ones collect pollen from Solaris Field every day, but I’m too old for that.” Willow’s wings sagged over her shoulders.

Dianthe glanced back at Sylas, whose strange face contorted with concern. If people were relying on Solaris Field for food, it might be difficult to do what they came to do without being seen.

“Oh, Willow…” Dianthe had to force herself not to hug the woman.

“Some are beginning to rebuild. Dead houses of course. All the fairy magic in the world can’t grow saplings into proper dwellings. We’ve started coaxing the forest back to life, but who knows if that beastly woman will attack us again? She wants us to kneel before her and swear our fealty to the kingdom of Paragon and her own overinflated ego, but let me tell you, I’ll choose starvation over allegiance to Eleanor any moonrise. And as of now, the residents of the Elder Tree agree with me.”

“Chancellor Ciro is standing strong?”

Willow nodded. “Although there is pressure from the Highborns to give in. Every day it becomes harder to resist. People are hungry.” She pointed at a group of children playing in the sea. “Orphans. Their parents died in the fire or at the hands of the Guard. We all try to care for them, but…”

“Keep the faith, Willow. The goddess knows and sees all,” Dianthe said.

“If only the goddess would send us some help.” Willow’s voice cracked.

Dianthe reached for the strap of her bag, intending to remove it and dig inside for one of her rations. A hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her. Sylas.

“That’s not a good idea,” he whispered in her ear. His eyes scanned the surrounding crowd. They were all staring, suddenly quiet, everyone intent on her bag. He was right. This was dangerous. She recognized many faces—all good fairies to be sure—but hunger made people do desperate things. Could she get one ration out without exposing that