Something was tossed into the room before the door slammed shut. Noble's instinct was to duck. Thanks to her rowdy boys, she had seen too many old movies where grenades were launched into rooms to tear them apart.
"Get back!"
Instead, she picked up the object with her levitation, opened the door, and launched it back outside.
Her emotional sense expanded, searching for the culprit. With how the city had grown over the years, it could have been anyone. However, no one was giving off a strange spike in emotion that she would expect from someone who had launched something and bolted.
'Hmm…' Noble rubbed her aching head and focused.
When nothing immediately exploded—which was good considering the number of people nearby—Noble headed into the street to find out what exactly had happened. What she found confused her even more.
There was a set of footprints in the fresh snow…but they weren't human. The small scratches belonged to tiny paws.
'Creature tracks?' Noble furrowed her brow. What kind of Nightmare Creature would sneak through town just to open a door? There was a simpler explanation. 'Echo tracks…'
The people in the street were startled by her sudden appearance and even more wary by the intensity of her swirling eyes.
"Did you see what was just here?"
Noble received only blank stares in response.
"Noble?" Sarai pulled her attention as she picked up something from the snow. It was the object that had been tossed into the bakery.
The redhead wrinkled her nose. "It's… for you."
Leaving the relieved bystanders, Noble floated over to her friend to examine the small package herself. Sure enough, the little bundle had a string and paper attached to it. On the front of the small paper was one word: 'Noble.'
Taking the package, the floating woman removed the string and revealed the object inside.
"A soul shard?" Sarai peered at the shimmering crystal. "Your core is fully saturated. Why would someone give you that? "
"I don't know…." Noble had more pressing concerns.
Someone had seen her enter the bakery and knew she was in the back room. Had they followed her or tracked her down? She had had more than enough creepy stalkers. That prospect held no appeal whatsoever.
How had she not noticed she was being observed? The only answer was that the echo delivering the shard had been the one to see her. Unfortunately, the echo was gone now, likely dismissed now that it had completed its mission.
Noble took the small card again and turned it over. "There's more writing."
She handed the note to Sarai to read.
"Your little Sheila dropped this. -A friend."
Sarai frowned. "The shard is for Rain?"
"It seems so." The other lady continued to stare at the shard in her hand. "But if she dropped it, why would someone return it to me?"
While this shard wasn't very special as far as shards went, it was still a very valuable form of currency in Ravenheart. There was no way to track where shards came from, so the person could have kept this one without consequence. To go to all the trouble of finding Noble instead of just returning it to Rain directly…
'It's a message.' Noble knew that much. But what friend would reach out indirectly like this?
Her first instinct would normally be Sunny, but that made no sense this time. Noble continued to scan the crowd for anything unusual. The bulk of the people continued on their way without giving her even a glance. Nothing seemed amiss.
'Seems someone else I know is trying to remain undetected...'
"Sheila?" Sarai tapped her chin. "Interesting choice of words. Very regional. You don't suppose..."
Noble's eyes opened wide. She grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her out of the cold. The redhead yelped in surprise.
Noble shut the door tightly, and Sarai shook her wrist.
"You know, for someone who floats, you're incredibly strong. Stronger than I remember. Have you been working out?"
Child of Promise stared at the note in her hand and at the shard. Could it be?
No, she was overthinking it. There were plenty of other explanations.
"Noble? Are you listening?" Sarai waved her hand in front of her friend's face.
"Something about working out," Noble mumbled.
The redhead looked at the woman's hand. "That shard…"
With a shake of her head, Child of Promise tucked the card and the shiny bauble away.
"I will investigate. Until then, I don't think we should speak anymore on the subject."
"I will keep it to myself until then. I hope you figure it out soon so we both have some peace of mind." Sarai nodded meaningfully. She went back to tidying and preparing for a new batch of pastries.
Work didn't stop just because something strange happened.
"Now, where were we? Oh! You were asking about the Skinwalker at the gate."
Noble refocused. That had indeed been the topic of conversation, and a very intriguing one at that.
The creatures in Australia were still in the dome, but the government had been unsuccessful in containing them all. The Skinwalkers were making a comeback in the waking world, but this was the first she was hearing of one so close to Ravenheart.
"What happened?"
Sarai packed up the last of the spilled goods to donate in a bag and set them on a table near the back door.
"I wasn't there, but I heard on good authority that Seishan was watching the gate when that flower of hers—you know, the Memory one—began to wilt while she was examining one of the merchants. Lady Seishan reacted quickly, summoning her sword…"
Noble had witnessed a battle between the grey-skinned Saint and a skinwalker, or at least been present when the struggle occurred.
'That would have been a fierce fight. No wonder people were talking about it!'
But Sarai's next words contradicted her thoughts.
"Before the Princess of Song could wield her weapon, the mirror beside her let out a bright light that enveloped the Skinwalker and destroyed it. The fight was over before the people nearby had sense enough to flee."
Noble's heart raced. "A mirror?"
Surely…surely the Others couldn't be in Ravenheart. There was no way! Only the area around Bastion had been able to gather images of people. If the Others still existed, Noble saw no reason why they would suddenly cross a death zone and help humans fight against a monster trying to infiltrate their city.
This area didn't belong to Mirage, so they had no reason to protect it. Something else was going on.
"What do you think happened?" Noble hoped her friend had an explanation.
"No one knows, but there are many guesses. Some think the blinding light came from Lady Neph, and the mirror was some kind of portal. But the prevailing theory is the mirror is not really a mirror at all but an echo designed specifically for annihilation."
"Interesting…" Noble wasn't sure she believed either of those guesses, but she had not been there either. She would give the mirror a more careful look next time she came in through the city gate.
"What I don't get is why it bothered trying to enter through the gate at all." Sarai mused. "I know the walls are high, but surely at least one of the stolen bodies can climb it."
"Or they could just bring a bunch and stack them on top of each other. I have seen that…" Noble shuddered.
"Exactly," the redhead held up a finger. "What's their end game?"
"That seems simple enough." Noble pressed her lips together. "They are less interested in breaking our defenses. They want to slip through them. What's the easiest way to overcome an enemy? Infect it from the inside…"