Devil in the Device by Lora Beth Johnson

Author:Lora Beth Johnson [Johnson, Lora Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2021-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FOUR

THE GUARDIAN

“I take it your lessons are going well?” Meta asked, holding pace with Zhade as they made their march through the market.

The day was bright, the sun not full low yet to disappear behind the pocket. A gentle breeze flapped Zhade’s cape, a sign for certz that the gods’ dome was weakening, but he didn’t want to imagine bout that now. This even, he would look at the controls in the cathedzal. Maybe even use the Crown to fix it—though Andra had said not to use High Magic with the gods’ dome.

“Too much power,” she’d said. “You’d fry your brain in an instant.”

But she hadn’t seen what he could do with the Crown. Hadn’t seen him command nearish a hundred angels at once.

His collection was growing. Though he’d commanded all citians to surrender their angels apalace a turn ago, his guards still found resistance—citians who held on to their magic despite the danger. He’d tried reasoning with them, but each day he heard more and more whispers of hidden angels acity. So he’d had to start taking them by force. He wasn’t happy bout it, but it was necessary. Most oft, he sent his guards to seize the angels, but he’d received word of some angels hidden in Southwarden.

Above a bakery.

Dzeni.

Zhade shot Meta a look as people in the crowded market square dove out of the way of his entourage. Meta shouldn’t be asking him bout his Crown lessons afront of people, specialish citians.

“Jealous I’m passing time with your zerox?” he asked quietish.

Meta snorted. “Scuze. I’m the one who wanted her dead, marah.”

“Evens.” Zhade looked back to see if the guards were spending attention. Sole Gryf could hear. “She’s proved useful. If we’d killed her, I’d still be figuring the Crown, and how would we fight the angels?”

Meta was quiet a moment. “I don’t imagine you have need of the Crown to fight them. Sides, you should have more shakes of the people holding them than the angels themselves. We don’t reck they’ve gone rogue.”

Zhade nearish stumbled. “We convoed this. I’m not hurting Dzeni. I can reason with her. For certz, she’ll see things our way. We sole want to hold her safe.”

“And if she won’t see reason?” Meta asked.

Zhade clenched his jaw. “She will.”

Meta looked away, eyes narrowed, and shrugged, staying silent the rest of the march to the bakery.

It was mereish as he had memory: a teetering apartment with a white facade and intricateish embellished windows and eaves. Though the bakery was on the ground level, Cheska’s apartment was at the top. Without knocking, Zhade burst through the side door to the stairs. Kidduns were playing on the steps, olds chatting to one another from across the hall. When they saw him, their eyes widened and they scurried into their homes, afraid.

Good, Zhade thought. It wasn’t that he wanted his people ascared of him. It was that he wanted them to hold a healthy fear for the angels. Sides, citians’ fear of Maret was part of what had held him in power.

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