“That’s interesting,” I murmured, mostly to myself.

“What do you plan to do?” Tristan asked, taking a step away from Amanda for the first time. The situation had become more complicated. It wasn’t as simple as waking Amanda up. I had a feeling that in order to remove Amanda, we had to get rid of the bubble, which meant waking them both up.

“I haven’t decided yet,” I truthfully replied. “A naturi has just fallen into my lap. What should I do with it?”

“Besides kill it?” Tristan snapped. “Is that…that spell hurting Amanda?” he demanded, turning his attention to Shelly. The witch had bent down to examine some marking in the dirt around the bubble.

“No, she’s perfectly safe. She’s simply asleep.”

“A healing sleep,” I added. “Something she needs right now. There’s no telling how long the naturi tortured her before we were able to get to the island. Let her sleep while she can.”

“Are you planning to keep her like this because of the naturi?” Tristan demanded, taking a step toward the hole that held Amanda as if he planned to jump in and grab her up, spell be damned.

“No, of course not. But a few more minutes won’t harm her.” I rose and walked over toward Tristan. I grabbed his hand and pulled him back a couple steps away. “We need to think this through. We have an interesting opportunity before us and we need to make the most of it.”

“What do you mean?” he said, his hand slipping from my grasp.

“Yes, Mira,” Danaus said with a hiss. “What exactly do you mean?”

“We have a naturi prisoner at our fingertips. Don’t you think it would be within our best interest to try to get some information out of her?”

“You’re not going to kill it?” Tristan shouted, pointing at the sleeping naturi as if it were a snake slithering toward them on the ground.

“Of course I’m going to kill it, but it’s all a matter of when.”

“Is it the same ‘when’ that has Danaus’s life hanging by a thread?” Knox asked, bringing a frown to my lips. I had been saying for months now that I would kill the hunter, and it had yet to be accomplished. I still had too much use for him. I didn’t expect the naturi to be quite as useful.

“Not quite,” I growled. Walking back over toward the naturi, I crouched down low so I could closely look at it. She seemed young; a teenager somewhere between the age of fifteen and seventeen, but then that was just her appearance. The naturi aged slowly if at all. She could be centuries old and not look it. Her clothes were dirty and there was a bruise on her temple. While she hadn’t been treated as poorly as Amanda, she was no precious cargo either.

“She could be a plant,” Danaus said, breaking into my thoughts. “The naturi knew she would be of interest to you like this and took a chance that you might try to get some information out of her. She could prove to be nothing more than a spy.”

Dusting off my hands, I stood and turned to face the hunter. It was an angle I hadn’t considered. We certainly couldn’t trust her if we did bother to awaken her. “True, but who is she going to report to? We killed all the naturi within the immediate area. She has no one to report to even if she does find something out.”

“You think nightwalkers are the only telepathic creatures?” he retorted. “I bet she could talk to any naturi she wanted to, regardless of the distance.”

“And tell them what? Where to find me? They already know Savannah is my domain.”

“It’s worth the risk,” Knox said, sliding his hands into his jeans pockets. “Any information that we can gain at this point would be of value.”

“You expect her to tell the truth?” Tristan asked.

“Not at first,” Knox replied. He shrugged his wide shoulders, a dark grin lifting one corner of his mouth. “But I’m sure under enough pain she’ll talk.”

“Shelly, wake them up,” I said, taking a step back from where Amanda and the naturi were encased in the glowing blue dome of energy.

The witch stepped up to the bubble and paused to look over her shoulder at me as if questioning one last time if this was what I truly wanted. I nodded once, prodding her on. Drawing in a heavy breath, Shelly reached her right foot forward and with the toe of her shoe smudged the circle in the dirt that surrounded Amanda and the female naturi. There was a small pop in the air as the bubble over the two completely disappeared.

“That was it?” I asked in surprise.

“Sure. It’s just a sleep spell,” she replied, stepping back at the sound of Amanda beginning to stir within her hole in the ground.

“Could you replicate it if necessary?”

“It’s been a while, but I think so.”

“Brush up on it. We may need it,” I said, returning my attention to the two creatures at my feet.

A low moan escaped Amanda as she slowly awoke and shifted in the hole. Keeping one eye on the naturi that had yet to move, I walked over to the hole so Amanda could see me. Her beautiful blond hair was matted with dirt and blood. Her clothes were torn and the visible skin was crusted with dried blood. She had briefly walked through Hell and survived, but I was solely concerned about how it would change her. My time with the naturi had not left me a better person.

“Mira?” she whispered over cracked lips.

“I’m here. The naturi are gone,” I said in a low, soothing voice. She had not yet opened her eyes, yet when she did, she let out a wounded whimper at finding herself in what amounted to a freshly dug grave. Knox leaned down, extending his hand to her while Tristan took her elbow, both men bringing her slowly to her feet. Amanda wobbled once, and then took a long sniff of the air. She had picked up either Shelly’s or Danaus’s scent, and she was hungry. Her blue eyes glowed as they focused on the young witch and a smile curved her lips.

I stepped forward and placed a restraining hand on Amanda’s shoulder. A low rumble of warning rose from the back of her throat but I ignored it. “Amanda, you can’t feed here. Knox and Tristan will help you.” I then directed my attention to Knox, who was standing on her right. “Take the boat and get her back to Savannah. Let her hunt there. We’ll take one of the other boats back.”

“Do you need any help with…?” Knox nodded toward the naturi that still lay on the ground.

I shook my head, a frown teasing the corner of my lips. “No, we’ll be fine. Get going.”

The female naturi finally began to stir when Amanda was being helped back to the boat with Tristan and Knox. She jerked into a sitting position, the manacles jangling as she raised her hands to ward me off. Her wide green eyes swept over the area, quickly taking in me, Danaus, and Shelly.

“They’re all gone. Dead,” I confirmed, in what I thought was my most threatening voice. I must have been off my game because she actually sighed in relief. “And you’re left with us,” I continued, waiting for the fear or at least the burning hatred to kick in.

“Who are you?” she inquired in a soft voice that somehow reminded me of the wind. “Could you help me take these off?” She lifted her chained wrists to me and I laughed.

“I’m a nightwalker,” I said, causing her face to crumple.

“Oh, I guess not,” she murmured, lowering her hands back to her lap.

I stood before the naturi with my hands on my hips and my legs spread wide. “Who are you?”

“My name is Cynnia. Did you come to rescue the nightwalker they were holding?”

I ignored her question. I thought it was obvious why we were there. “Why are you bound? Are you a prisoner?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” I repeated between clenched teeth when she didn’t say anything else.

“They accused me of being a traitor,” she softly said, dropping her eyes down to the iron manacles around her slender wrists.

“Mira!” Danaus snapped. I understood why he was suddenly upset. Her words had left me ill at ease as well. It was too convenient. A traitor to the naturi in the hands of the enemy. It seemed like a dream come true, but it felt like a trap.