Free Huntress by Malinda Lo Page A

each of them to sleep alone. After supper, Tali, Con, Pol, and Shae went upstairs, but Kaede lingered behind in the common room waiting for Taisin, who had taken their empty bowls to the innkeeper in the kitchen. When Taisin returned several minutes later, she was startled to see Kaede still there.
    “I thought you went upstairs,” Taisin said, picking up her cloak from where she had left it, slung over a chair.
    “I wanted to talk to you.” Kaede stood up, but hesitated. What should she say? All her words seemed to flee from her; she felt awkward.
    Taisin suddenly looked nervous. “Now? Now is not—I can’t talk now.”
    “Why?” Kaede eyed Taisin’s cloak. “Where are you going?”
    “I’m going to see the child.”
    A chill rushed through her as Kaede realized which child Taisin meant. “The child—the one they say is a monster?”
    Taisin began to move toward the door, pulling the cloak over her shoulders. “The innkeeper told me where the mother lives.”
    “You’re going now?”
    “Yes.”
    Fear prickled across Kaede’s skin. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Tali wouldn’t like it.”
    Taisin stopped and looked back at Kaede. “I haven’t yet seen any of these strange creatures that people keep telling us about. Don’t you want to see what we’re dealing with?”
    “What do you mean, ‘what we’re dealing with’? Why are you so eager to go?”
    “It’s all related,” Taisin insisted. “The weather. The rumors we’ve been hearing about these… creatures. The Fairy Queen’s invitation.”
    Kaede remembered Maire Morighan’s theory that these disparate events were all connected, but Taisin spoke with an assurance that was surprising. “How do you know?” Kaede asked.
    “I can feel it. Every day on the road—I feel something pulling me. I don’t know what it is, but I have to find out. I know it’s important.”
    Kaede was doubtful. “I don’t think you should go alone. Let me get Tali, or Pol—”
    “They won’t let me go,” Taisin objected. “They barely even agreed to stay in Ento for one night. They certainly won’t let me go look for the child. You can’t tell them.”
    “But—”
    “I have to go. Now.” Taisin’s hand was on the doorknob as she added, “Do you want to come with me?”
    Kaede glanced at the empty stairs uneasily. She knew she should tell the others, but Taisin was right. Tali would never allow her—or Kaede—to go, and Taisin’s urgency had sparked Kaede’s own curiosity. She wanted an adventure. Perhaps now was the time to get it.
    Just as Taisin was pulling the door open Kaede said, “Wait. All right. I’m coming with you.” She ran back to grab her own cloak from where she had left it at the table, and pulled it on as they left the hostel.

Chapter XI

    T hey took the lantern hanging at the entrance to the hostel courtyard, and it shed a small pool of light as they went down the road. “The innkeeper told me that she lives in a house on the edge of town,” Taisin said, but beneath her briskness was a note of trepidation.
    The buildings they passed on either side were dark, and some of their courtyard gates were wide open. There would be nothing inside to tempt any thieves; Ento had been deserted as if it were the host of a plague. At the end of the paved road they turned left down a rutted dirt lane; only the last house seemed to be occupied. A dim glow emanated from a curtained window, and from within they heard a baby crying.
    Taisin strode up to the front door and raised her hand to knock, her knuckles ringing on the wood. The door was pulled open by a woman with haunted eyes and thin, oily black hair. “What do you want?” she asked defensively.
    “May I see your child?” Taisin asked.
    The woman’s eyes flicked back to Kaede, who was standing behind Taisin. “Who are you?”
    “I may be able to help,” Taisin said. “Please, let me see your child.”
    “I won’t let you take him away from me,” the woman