The Fire Sisters (Brilliant Darkness 3) Read Online Free

this first. We have to find the children.
     
     
    Peree and I dash to the allawah . From the number of people it sounds like are already packed inside, we’re late. The spacious, wooden shelter where the anuna hold meetings and have meals isn’t as warm or cozy as it usually is. There’s no fire today, and it’s noisy and crowded. Someone bumps into me, barely stopping to apologize.
    I hear Derain. There’s no hint of grief in his voice now, like there was earlier; he sounds as focused as the point of a knife. The voice of the man he’s talking to is low, urgent, and filled with barely contained sorrow.
    “This is the lorinyas’ doing, Derain. You must see that!”
    I freeze, my stomach clenching, and pull Peree to a stop.
    “What?” Peree whispers. He didn't hear it.
    We’re doing all we can to bring the children back! I want to say, but I hesitate, knowing the man must be distraught. What good does it do to argue with him?
    “Fenn?” Peree asks again.
    “Mirii and Myall are here,” Derain says, as if in warning. He uses the names the anuna gave us. Mine means star , and Peree’s means wild, thanks to his long hair and feathers. It usually makes me snigger when someone calls him that. Not today.
    “The search party has gathered.” Nerang raises his voice to be heard, and the crowd quiets. “The anuna are grateful to you all: Derain, Amarina, Moray, Cuda, Conda, Mirii, Myall, Bear, and Kaiya. The hopes and blessings of the anuna go with you. Bring our guru back to us.”
    Derain’s children were taken. Moray and his brothers want Frost and her baby back. I’m not sure about Amarina. And Bear? Why is he going?
    Whatever the reason, I’m elated my old friend will be with us. I know I can trust him, unlike the brothers or Kai, who almost shot me with a stray arrow a few days ago. Honestly, I’m a little surprised she’s so community-minded as to volunteer for this.
    Peree and I shuffle back outside with the crowd. I’m handed a bag of food and two bags of water that we’ll need to refill often, given the small sizes. I shove them in my pack. Bear comes over to stand beside me; I’d know his woodsy scent anywhere. I nudge him.
    “You’re coming?”
    He’s quiet for a moment. “I want to help.”
    My hearts warms. Bear . I squeeze his hand.
    “Say your goodbyes,” Derain says to us. “We’ll set a fast pace. We must catch up to the Sisters as quickly as possible.”
    Kadee embraces me, and we hold each other for a long time. I have to clear my throat to speak.
    “How’s Wirrim?” I ask. The ancient Memory Keeper has been seriously ill.
    “Not well,” she says. “Nerang doesn’t expect him to survive the week.”
    More bad news. Wirrim is as much a part of Koolkuna as the massive greenheart trees surrounding the village or the waterfall in the Myuna. “I’m very sorry. He’ll be missed.”
    “So will you, my daughter. Come home, Fennel, you and Peree. Find the guru and bring yourselves back to me.”
    I kiss her cheek, and then Moon pulls me away. She crushes me to her, squashing Yani between us. Peree’s cousin is crying, her words spilling as quickly as her tears.
    “What you and Peree are doing for Thrush and the other children… I won’t ever forget it. I know how selfish I’m being, Fennel!”
    I pat her. “Selfish? How?”
    “I feel terrible, but I can’t let Petrel go. What if he doesn’t come back? He’ll leave Yani fatherless!” She lowers her voice. “And you know he wouldn’t be much help. I love him dearly, but Petrel’s a carpenter, not a hunter like Peree.”
    It didn’t occur to me Petrel might go, even though Thrush is his brother-in-law. I hear Petrel now, speaking to Peree in a hushed voice.
    Peree told me they were inseparable when they were younger, living in the trees as Lofty boys. Then Petrel married and became a father, and Peree met me. Their lives and loyalties are shifting and changing, blown about grains of sand, some coming together, others