Free Tempest’s Legacy by Nicole Peeler Page A

however, and hoisted myself up into that passenger seat, next to the barghest. Ryu watched me with dark eyes that only got angrier when Anyan yelled from the front for him to stop lollygagging and get in the car.
    The drive from Chicago to Borealis, the far western suburb where my mother’s body had been found, was about fifty minutes. There was tons of construction—apparently a normal occurrence—on the tollway, but we’d arrived with the last of the flights, around midnight, so traffic was light.
    None of us made much conversation on the way. O’Hare was well outside Chicago, so there wasn’t much to sightsee. Just a string of strip malls, with all the same stores, repeated over and over again. Occasionally the strip malls mixed it up by being an outlet strip mall, butthose, too, contained the exact same stores as the full-priced versions.
    One thing there wasn’t, at all, was water. I’d never been this entirely inland before. Even when Ryu and I had gone to Quebec, it hadn’t felt landlocked because the Territory was infested with streams, rivers, and lakes. Illinois, however, felt like a desert to my selkie blood. And the farther west we went away from Chicago and Lake Michigan, the more I felt the absence of real water. I kept peering out the window and shifting about, growing increasingly uncomfortable with the idea of being landlocked.
    “You’ll be fine,” Anyan rumbled beside me. “We’ll find you water. The Fox River runs through Borealis, and Lake Michigan isn’t too far away.”
    “Sorry?”
    “You’re twitchy. I figured you could feel the lack of water. But don’t worry, we’ll find you something wet.”
    “Thank you,” I said. “It does feel… weird.”
    Anyan smiled. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, and the scruff made his tanned skin even darker. His teeth gleamed white in the darkness.
    “That’s the trouble with water, as an element. On the one hand, it’s strong as hell, yet water-elementals get so tied down geographically. But we have Julian, as well, as a backup. We’ll make sure you stay strong.” I turned my head slightly to catch Julian smiling at me. He gave me a friendly wink and I felt myself relax.
    Shutting my eyes entirely, I rested for the remainder of the trip to Borealis, until I felt us exiting the tollway. We drove just a few miles through a rough-looking strip of dive bars and long-closed businesses before we hit downtown Borealis. There were a few short streets of tawdryglitz—Borealis housed a riverboat casino—and then we were at a nondescript chain hotel, right next to the train station.
    After having insisted there was no way we’d need reservations, Anyan looked decidedly sheepish when we arrived at the hotel to find it was almost entirely booked. Especially because I’d immediately demanded four rooms, cutting Ryu off before he could ask to share with me.
    I’d been just as promptly denied.
    Apparently, there was a wedding reception at the giant brewhouse/comedy club/bar and nightclub complex next door to the hotel. Everything, even the suites, was taken except for two rooms. Ryu looked like he’d won the lottery as the receptionist handed over the two sets of keys. But I had other plans.
    “Halflings bunk together!” I sang, grabbing Julian’s wrist and pulling him toward me. He looked a bit startled, casting Ryu a slightly panicked look. I know it wasn’t fair to Julian to use him as a buffer between me and Ryu, but I didn’t really care. Plus, to be honest, I wanted to get to know my fellow halfling better. We’d spent so much time together, but none of it alone. I was curious about Julian, not least because I wanted to know what kind of life he led as a halfling surrounded at all times by purebloods.
    Anyan shrugged, quickly handing me the keys to one of the rooms. “Whatever you want, Jane.” Ryu looked like he wanted to protest, but Anyan kept talking. “We have two choices: hit the hay, or head over to the site. Cappie’s gang’s