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“I make magical weapons!” I shout. “Look, here they are!” I raise the shortsword higher, which is black as night when I loose the blade. “Take me and let her go.”

“We can’t be sure she’s telling the truth,” the priestess says as the three of us finally reach the front. “We should take themboth, just to be safe. We can’t risk the blight of magic infecting this city once more.”

“The missive we received was that one of the sisters was carrying a magicked weapon,” Volanna says. “Perhaps if we just confiscated the weapon and let the poor girls go—”

“Out of the question,” the priestess says.

Temra is straining from her bonds, shouting underneath the gag, her words unintelligible.

“It’s going to be okay,” I tell her, stepping forward.

“Oh, like hells,” Kellyn says from behind me. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You, wicked priestess, are going to hand over the feisty one, and we’re going to leave the city, never to be seen again. No one’s committing murder tonight. The law forbids this. Now let her go.”

The priestess clutches her dagger more firmly, her knuckles turning white. “No. The Goddesses demand that this filth be purged from our midst. We will not sin against their wishes.”

“The law has legalized magic. You are sinning against the realm,” Petrik volleys back.

“The realm has become corrupt. We must take a stand. It must stop.”

Kellyn sighs and draws his longsword. “It’s not murder if you’re defending your life, and I’ll be glad to rid this town of you.” Kellyn points the considerable length of his sword toward the priestess.

“Take one more step and she dies!” the priestess shouts, holding the blade to Temra’s throat now. “Sotherans, grab the other.”

“No!” Volanna says, but her sons start toward me anyway.

Kellyn puts himself in front of me, blocking their path. I almost make the mistake of feeling gratitude before I remember how he didn’t immediately agree to help me save my sister.

From beside me, Petrik asks, “Should I throw the spear?”

“No, it might hit Temra. It’ll hit any flesh. That won’t work.”

For all of two seconds I consider the usefulness of Secret Eater, but that won’t work either. Temra can easily get injured if I start swinging that around. And so can Petrik and Kellyn. It’s a weapon of mass destruction. Utterly useless if you’re trying to protect someone other than yourself, unless you have the training to use it with precision.

Midnight isn’t helpful right now. That leaves…

“The staff, Petrik. Give it to me.”

“What? Why?”

“Now is not the time for your endless questions!”

He swaps me the staff for the sword.

I have impeccable aim when it comes to swinging a hammer, but throwing a projectile is another matter. Still, if it hits Temra, it won’t kill her.

I take aim and throw for all I’m worth.

The metal cuffs on either side of the wood cause it to turn end over end, and the magic gives it even more strength.

But I still have to direct it.

The staff misses the priestess completely, as I’d intended, but I shove into Petrik hard, altering the path between me and the spinning weapon.

Because when the staff starts turning end over end, backtoward its caster, it hits the priestess in the head on the return. Her eyes roll into the back of her skull as she slumps to the ground, dropping the knife. The staff twirls back toward me, and I catch it round the middle.

“Boomerang staff?” Petrik asks in wonder.

I forgot that I never told Petrik what the staff did. Kellyn interrupted the conversation by demanding Secret Eater be used on him.