Free The Spirit Eater by Rachel Aaron Page B

the red-bearded man with the ledger who was deep in conversation with Josef. Angeline was nowhere to be seen, and both men looked very grim.
    “Ah, Mr. Mayor,” the deputy said. “I’m afraid—”
    “We’ve got a problem,” Josef finished for him. “Seems last night a stranger came into town asking for Eli Monpress.”
    Eli’s smile faded. “A stranger? Here? What kind of stranger?”
    “A girl, Mr. Mayor,” the deputy said. “None of us had seen her before. We took her into custody at once. I must assure you that Home is as safe and secret as—”
    “It’s alright, Derrik,” Eli said. “I’m sure everyone here has been playing by the rules. Did this girl say where she was from or why she was here?”
    “No, Mr. Mayor,” the deputy said, shaking his head. “She wouldn’t say anything, other than that her name was Pele.”
    Eli’s smile faded instantly. “Powers,” he hissed under his breath. “Alright, where is she?”
    Derrik motioned for them to follow him. “This way, sir. I’ve got her at my house.”
    He led them across the grass and toward a large house at the far end of the square. Nico expected him to stop at the steps, but he walked past the front door and around to the back of the house, where a pair of double doors was set into the ground.
    “You’ve got her in the cellar?” Eli said. “You haven’t been treating her badly, I hope.”
    “Of course not,” Derrik said, unbolting the large lock. “I’ve got a nice little room down here I use for storing grain. It’s dry and comfortable, but this door’s the only way out. I thought it would be best, considering… Anyway, she hasn’t complained, just sits and waits for you.”
    Eli nodded and, as soon as the doors were open, started down the stairs. “Wait here,” he said when the deputy began to follow him. “We won’t be long.”
    Looking a little taken aback, the man nodded and stepped aside, letting Eli, Josef, and Nico climb down into the cellar.
    It was just as the man had said, a small, dry room in the cellar with a lamp and a bed and a stack of books that had obviously been brought down from the house above. Sitting on the edge of the bed was a familiar girl in hunter’s leathers with a long, lovely knife at her hip and dark circles under her eyes, as though she’d been crying.
    Eli stopped at the foot of the stairs and gave her a long, serious look. “Hello, Pele.”
    The girl nodded. “Eli.”
    Eli grabbed a stool from the corner and set it down beside her. “You chose a difficult way of getting in touch, you know,” he said, sitting down with a long sigh. “Why not just get your father to reach me? Slorn has more tricks than any three bears put together.”
    “If I could do that, I wouldn’t need you in the first place,” Pele said, her voice going a bit ragged. “My father’s… Slorn’s gone missing.”
    There was a long silence.
    “Missing?” Eli said at last. “Men like Slorn don’t just go missing.” He leaned forward and grasped Pele’s hand. “What happened?”
    Pele didn’t try to take her hand back. Instead, she leaned forward, blinking back tears, and began to tell her story.
    By the time she finished, Eli was looking grim indeed, and Pele was sobbing openly.
    “After what Sted did to my mother, Father was inconsolable,” she said, her voice quivering. “He locked himself in his workroom and wouldn’t come out for two days no matter how I beat on the door. Then, on the third morning, he came out dressed in traveling gear and said he was going after Sted.” Pele took a deep breath. “I wanted to go with him, but he said someone had to stay and take care of the house. He said he had to go, that he’d made a promise to the League of Storms to keep the seed secret and safe. That it was the only reason the League had let him keep Mother alive in the first place. So he left and I stayed behind. He said he’d contact me when he knew something, but that was three weeks ago. Since