Free Lady Renegades by Rachel Hawkins Page A

mouth lifted in a smirk. “The longer you’re away from the Oracle, the weaker your powers will get. It may not happen at the same rate,” she added, nodding at Bee, “but it
will
happen to both of you, Harper. And that means you’re going to have Paladins coming after you without being able to fight back. Do you see
now
why my idea might be the best one?”
    It was. I totally saw that. Heck, I’d always wanted to go after David rather than sitting back and waiting for things to happen to me. “Proactive” was practically my middle name, but that didn’t mean this would be easy.
    But if we had Blythe—and Blythe’s plan, whatever it was—maybe it could work?
    I felt the briefest spark of hope in my chest, and then I remembered Blythe at Cotillion. The look on her face as she’d done the spell on David. The way she’d vanished with Bee. The complete and utter havoc she’d wreaked in the few days I’d known her.
    I wanted to find David, and I was curious about whatever she had planned, but trusting Blythe after everything? Was I
that
desperate?
    â€œI understand that you don’t trust me,” Blythe added. “I mean,
I
wouldn’t trust me if I were you.” She leaned closer, and I could see my own skeptical face reflected in her sunglasses. “But there are things I know that you just don’t. Spells this guy”—another dismissive glance at Ryan—“hasn’t even heard of.”
    Reaching out, Blythe tugged my purse off my shoulder. I gave a startled squawk, but she just fished out my phone and typed into my contacts.
    â€œNow you have my number. When the three of you decide to grow up,” she said, even though I was the only one she was looking at, “you can give me a call. But I’m only sticking around for a few days.”
    With that, she spun on her little ballet flats and headed toward the parking lot.
    But then she stopped, turning around to look back at us, her hand lifted to shade her eyes. “This isn’t just about you, Harper. You or your friends. Alaric destroyed an entire
town
when he turned. He killed Paladins, sure, but innocent people, too. This whole thing is so much bigger and worse than you understand.”
    She nodded at my phone, still in my hand. “So you think real hard about that. And then call me.”

Chapter 11
    â€œ D ON’T YOU HAVE anything smutty on that cart?”
    I blinked at Mrs. Morrison. It was Monday morning, which meant I was helping The Aunts with their volunteer work at the local assisted-living facility, Hensley Manor. They visited at least three times a week, sometimes arranging activities for the residents, sometimes just to chat or sneak in homemade cookies. My Aunts genuinely liked helping people, but they also liked to remind themselves that while they might be old, they weren’t
that
old yet. I was usually too busy to help during the school year, but during the summer I tried to commit at least one day a week to being in charge of the mobile library, which was really just a rolling cart full of paperbacks.
    Paperbacks that were not smutty enough for Mrs. Morrison.
    I glanced back over the rows of spines, trying to find something that had the word “savage” in the title, finally settling on a bright pink book with half-naked people on the front, and a very alarmed-looking swan in the background. “Will this work?”
    Mrs. Morrison’s watery blue eyes went wide and she pluckedthe book from my fingers. “You’re a good girl, Harper,” she said, and I smiled as I stood up, pushing my cart toward the door.
    â€œYou’re welcome!” I said sunnily, then headed out in the hall to continue my rounds. As soon as I was out of her sight, my smile dropped, and I had to fight back a sigh. It had been two days since we’d done the ritual in the field, and while Blythe had turned up, there was still no sign of