Chapter One: Sally''s Sandwiches CHAPTER ONE Sally''s Sandwiches SKANDAR SMITH WAS SEARCHING FOR Scoundrel''s Luck. Again. Some might say it should be impossible to misplace a bloodthirsty unicorn. But those people had clearly never met one who was beginning third-year training at the Eyrie. Over the summer, the behavior of the Fledgling unicorns had become so bad, Skandar was pretty sure they were now completely beyond their riders'' control. And that included Scoundrel''s Luck. It was the last day of the break before training restarted. Skandar had been searching for Scoundrel for most of the morning: Shekoni saddle balancing on one arm, bridle looped round the other.
Now he sat on the Eyrie''s hill, ripping up handfuls of grass in frustration. Scoundrel had been disappearing all summer--Skandar had no idea to where--but they were supposed to be riding into Fourpoint for lunch with the quartet. On cue, Bobby Bruna came thundering down the hillside on Falcon''s Wrath. She looked quite the ferocious air wielder: with the sleeves of her battered rider''s jacket rolled up, the slate-gray feathers of her mutation visible all the way to her elbows. Falcon was galloping straight for Skandar, and Bobby waited just a little too long to slow her. Bobby''s mouth twitched as Skandar scrambled to his feet in alarm. Well, that confirmed it--she''d definitely done it on purpose. "Have you found him yet, spirit boy?" Bobby demanded, ignoring Skandar''s ashen face.
Skandar debated complaining about her dangerous riding, but it was nearly lunchtime, and a hungry Bobby was not a happy Bobby. Instead, he sighed. "Nope. You go ahead without us." "But we''re meeting your sister afterward, remember? Outside the Stronghold." Bobby dropped her reins so Falcon could snap up a passing rabbit. Skandar winced as bunny bones crunched. Bobby ignored him.
"We need to leave now if we''re going to get lunch at the unbe liev able place I found. It gets busy!" "I still don''t get why you can''t tell us its name." "It''s a surprise," she said evasively. "Er.since when is he the late one?" Mitchell Henderson was riding toward them on Red Night''s Delight. Red looked more demon than unicorn--her mane and tail were flaming brightly, along with her eyes and hooves. But Skandar barely noticed because his own unicorn, Scoundrel''s Luck, was trotting happily beside his fiery best friend. "There you are!" Skandar hugged Scoundrel''s onyx neck--equal parts relieved and scolding.
The unicorn tossed his head happily, the white spirit blaze under his horn flashing in the sunlight. The bond rippled with their combined joy at being reunited, though Skandar was less happy when he noticed that Scoundrel''s black coat--which had been shiny yesterday--was covered in a thick layer of dust. "Why''s he so filthy?" Bobby asked, as Falcon skittered sideways--she detested dirt. "I do hate to interrupt," Mitchell said sarcastically. "But isn''t anyone going to ask if I''m okay?" For some reason the entire zip was missing from Mitchell''s green jacket, and it was hanging open to reveal the brown skin of his chest. Bobby snorted. "Do not laugh, Roberta. I''m warning you.
" "What happened?" Skandar asked gently. Mitchell sighed, the flaming hair of his mutation billowing. "Red happened. She''s been setting fire to things all summer--and now she''s widened her targets to include me ." Skandar frowned. "But she wouldn''t hurt you, would she?" Okay, the quartet unicorns had been getting more chaotic lately, but surely they wouldn''t intentionally hurt their own riders? "That''s why I took my T-shirt off!" Mitchell said, exasperated. "Did you think I was just a bit hot?" "I." Skandar glanced at Bobby, who was biting her hand to stop herself from laughing.
"I''m not following." "Red scorched the fabric around the zip of my jacket, so I couldn''t do it up," Mitchell raved. "Then she did the same to my T-shirt, and burned my spare before I could even get it over my head. I can feel through our bond that she finds the whole thing hilarious. She only stopped when I wasn''t wearing anything on my top half at all!" "I hope Red doesn''t start on his trousers next," Bobby murmured to Skandar, who tried to hide his grin. "What are you whispering about?" Mitchell demanded. Bobby recovered quickly. "Come on, we''re already late for lunch.
Flo''s meeting us in Fourpoint once she''s dropped Kenna off. I invited the blacksmith bard, too." Mitchell''s eyes widened. " Jamie''s going to be there? This is a disaster." He gestured to his destroyed jacket, fire pin catching the light as it flapped open in the breeze. Skandar had an idea. "Why don''t you tie Scoundrel''s lead rope round you?" He passed it up to Mitchell. "Then at least the jacket will stay shut.
" Mitchell eyed the blue rope suspiciously but appeared to realize that if he wanted to make it to lunch on time, there was no other choice. And Mitchell hated lateness. "You might start a new trend," Bobby said mischievously. "Oh, do shut up," Mitchell snapped, as he fastened the rope round his middle. Skandar mounted Scoundrel and followed the others down the Eyrie''s hill toward Fourpoint''s main shopping street. Skandar was happy to see that many of its vibrant treehouses--in tones of red, blue, green, and yellow--had been repaired after the elemental destruction during Skandar''s Nestling year. And, in the distance, the Spear of the Silver Stronghold pierced the sky once again. But many other buildings across the Island were yet to be repaired, and Skandar too still felt a little broken by everything that''d happened in June.
On the summer solstice, the Island had been minutes from tearing itself apart with its own unbalanced magic--the result of the Silver Circle killing wild unicorns. Skandar, Bobby, Flo, and Mitchell had managed to work out how to save the Island by winning the bone staff from the First Rider and his Wild Unicorn Queen. But then Skandar had been faced with a nightmare beyond anything he could have imagined. His sister, Kenna, had been bonded to a wild unicorn foal. The Weaver--their mother--had forged Kenna a bond just like her own. Commodore Kazama, horrified yet fair, had allowed Kenna to remain with Skandar while a decision was made about her future with the wild unicorn. At first Skandar had tried to see the bright side. It had been wonderful writing to Dad, telling him that Kenna was at the Eyrie.
But once the dust settled, Skandar had started worrying about the forged bond clasped round his sister''s heart. He''d begun checking on Kenna''s destined unicorn--the dapple-gray--in the Wilderness of his Mender dreams. And the longer Nina delayed in making her decision, the more he let himself wonder if there was a way to get that unicorn--that life--back for Kenna. "You''re thinking unusually hard about something," Bobby observed, slate-gray Falcon falling into step beside Scoundrel. "How d''you know?" "You get a dent in your forehead," she said. Bobby might be loud, but she paid quiet attention to people''s feelings--especially Skandar''s. "My sister," he said simply. He wasn''t ready to say anything about reuniting Kenna with her destined unicorn just yet.
He needed more information. "What is Nina playing at?" Bobby exploded. "This whole delaying thing is properly out of character for an air wielder. Just make a decision! What does she think these investigations are going to show? The Weaver hiding in Kenna''s saddlebags?" Bobby had been furious from the start about the tests on Kenna and her wild unicorn foal at the Silver Stronghold--the Silver Circle''s base. She scoffed whenever Flo said that the new leader of the Silver Circle--Rex Manning--was much nicer than his father, Dorian Manning, had been. "Well, that''s not exactly hard, is it?" Bobby had snapped eventually. "Rex''s dad almost destroyed the Island last year. Had us arrested for the unicorn murders he was committing.
" Skandar didn''t like Kenna being behind the Stronghold''s shield wall either. An exclusive group for riders with silver unicorns, the Silver Circle was the most powerful organization on the Island. They had a rivalry with spirit wielders that went back centuries. "The Stronghold is the safest place to do the tests, Skar," Flo had insisted. "For Kenna and the rest of the Island. Injuries from wild unicorn magic never heal, remember?" Now, a month or so later, Skandar was happy to accept that Flo had been right. Kenna was regularly summoned to the Stronghold, and nothing bad ever seemed to happen. She''d be questioned about her time with the Weaver, interrogated about her forged bond, and then asked to attempt elemental magic.
The sentinels wouldn''t let Kenna ride; she was only permitted to place a palm on her wild unicorn''s neck. So far she hadn''t been able to summon even a spark. "Do you ever wonder," Bobby asked Skandar, as they rode side by side, "what Kenna was doing with the Weaver all that time?" She sounded hesitant, less sure of herself than usual. "Kenna told us that they hardly spoke; the Weaver was focused on preparing to forge her bond," Skandar said stiffly. "And I believe her." "Obviously I believe her too, but.why would Erika Everhart forge a bond for her daughter and then abandon her to skip on up to the Eyrie.