Free Elemental Omen (Paranormal Public Book 10) by Maddy Edwards Page A

held my hands between my knees, letting droplets fall where they might. Despite their bad intentions toward me, I didn’t want these people to drown if I could prevent it. There had been more than enough death already.
    “Hey, the water’s gone down,” said one of the clan. “How’d that happen?”
    “Yeah, how’d that happen?” I said.
    “Stop asking questions,” said Spark. “I’m sick of hearing your voice. Anyhow, we’re almost there,” he added eagerly. “Good thing the meeting party isn’t going to know what hit them.”
    I felt like telling him that neither would he, but I managed to keep my mouth shut. The paranormals he was messing with, no one could stand against them. An army couldn’t have stood against them, not when they wanted something. If they knew where I was, as I always suspected at least some of them must, and they decided to come, Spark’s anger would feel silly and toy-like. He would be crushed.
    I could now see a black dock, and I realized that the fireball that had climbed the sky was a signal from someone on shore. This was going to be a long night following a long couple of days, and I told myself I really needed to spend some time plotting how to escape, while trying to not get killed in the process. My friends back home would never forgive me.
     

Chapter Nine
    The long black dock was new and fancy and shone brightly even in the moonlight. The sky was a sort of dark gray, with no clouds but also no visible stars. It was strange to look up and see something so unfamiliar. It made me feel like I was in a different world, so after a while I stopped looking at it. Keeping my eyes down, I let Sparell lead me away. Spark, who was nearly skipping with glee, demanded to see the Appraiser.
    “Who’s that?” the Bounty Hunter asked, pointing at me. I tried to keep my face down, but Spark grabbed my chin and forced me to meet the Bounty Hunter’s eyes.
    The man was massive. He had a shaved head and a big beard and his black eyes poked out of a wide face. He basically didn’t have a neck. I wouldn’t have wanted to fight him for any amount of money.
    “Put him in the cage. He can see the Appraiser in the morning,” said the Bounty Hunter, thumbing one massive hand at a cage nestled between two bigger buildings to our right. The cage was small, but at least it was empty. From inside it I would be able to see the river and any other paranormal who came into the dock, a vantage point that might prove useful. Any time I could see the river or a lake was better than any time I couldn’t.
    “We’re all pretty hungry,” said Sparell, stepping forward.
    “Good for you,” said the Bounty Hunter as he turned and walked away.
    For months now, every morning when I woke up I had thought about how I could manage not to get caught that day. Somehow I had managed never to think about what I would do if I actually did, so now I was woefully unprepared. In my imagination I was fearless, I could face down anything. I had already faced down darkness and death, I had lost some of the people I loved most, I was, in short, not your average seventeen-year-old. Still, when push came to shove, I felt pain and fear like anyone else. I didn’t want to be there and I didn’t want anyone, even Spark, to die because of me.
    I hadn’t been able to protect Greta, and she had died. She had a family, she had people who missed her, she had deserved better, and these stupid Bounty Hunters didn’t care about any of it. They didn’t care that they had killed her and destroyed her family’s life. They didn’t care about anything but the chase and the score.
    I hated them for that. I hated them for making me hide.
    Okay, I would have had to hide anyway, because there were those who wanted to sell me and those who wanted to kill me.
    I was very angry.
    And what happened to Greta - I wasn’t going to let it happen again.
     
    That night I slept, and for once I fell to dreaming instead of thinking about Greta. I