Blue Blood (Series of Blood Book 3) by Emma Hamm (books to read this summer .txt) 📕

“There are creatures who do not fit into your perfect little city,” she told him. “Those of us who are more…progressed than others tend to stay away from cement and walls. They are too enclosing. And your people like to make spectacles of us.”

She waited as silence weighed heavy between them. His questions were almost palpable. Curious man.

“How do you know all of this? How do you know where we are going?”

“I told you. Ignes is unusual. He can travel on his own.”

“He can what?” Jasper hurried forward, his long legs eating up the distance between them. “You can send him away from you? For how long? For how far?”

She gave him a pointed look. “This is precisely what I was talking about. I tell you one little thing that’s different, and all you want to do is dissect me.”

“It’s healthy curiosity.”

“It’s none of your business.”

She raised a hand and waved it towards a branch in front of her. The wood charred and it turned to ashes drifting on the wind before it ever touched her skin. It was petty to use magic in front of him, but she was already incensed. He had a talent for making her angry.

Jasper brushed the branches away on his side of the tree and cursed at the fresh welts on his arms. “I wasn’t trying to pry information out of you. I am genuinely curious.”

“And why’s that?”

“I’ve never met a Phoenix before.”

“I know,” she told him. “No one has.”

“Why aren’t there any of the Phoenix kind left?”

“You’d have to ask Ignes.”

The lizard appeared on her shoulder and flicked a long tongue out at Jasper. “None of your business.”

Mercy turned her head to hide a smile. The lizard was just like her. Neither of them were quick to trust others, and this Fairy seemed to think he could insert himself into their lives. They had escaped together; that didn’t mean they were going to be best friends.

“Are you usually this stubborn when you meet new people?” Jasper asked. He rushed forward, holding a branch out of her way. She hated it when people helped her. Mercy turned the branch to ash as well, blushing furiously as she ducked past him.

She hated blushing. Her guard instantly raised, and she wondered what secrets he wanted to pry from her. “What do you want, Jasper? Do you want me to tell you a story about how everything is going to be fine?”

“I want you to tell me what’s going on.”

“I’m trying to! I told you everything you need to know.”

“You told me veiled secrets! Small bits and pieces of a larger puzzle, but nothing of substance!”

He had a point, she supposed. Mercy hadn’t talked to anyone — apart from Ignes — in a very long time, and the Phoenix lived inside of her. She didn’t have to explain things to Ignes when he could read her thoughts.

She sighed. “Fine. We’re going into Giant territory. They are extremely volatile creatures, and extremely possessive over what they consider their land. It’s dangerous. We aren’t walking into your city made of tiny cement boxes where people know what belongs to someone else. We don’t know where their lines are, or when we’re crossing them. So watch your step.”

She could almost hear his teeth grinding. “I’m going to say it again. Giants aren’t that scary.”

“These ones are.”

“They aren’t going to be that much bigger than me, and I can teleport.”

Mercy winced as she stepped on a twig. They were making good headway for all their arguing. “Let me ask you a question then, Jasper. What have been the most drastic changes to the human body that you have seen?”

“Horns,” he paused. “Lyra once mentioned a Hydra with two heads. But I still think she was embellishing a bit.”

Mercy made a humming sound. “Why do you think that plants and animals changed so much when the magic was let into our world, while humans didn’t?”

“Because we are more complex creatures. We do not change so easily. Also, the creatures are sharing our bodies. They don’t have complete control over them.”

“Sure. It could be that. Or it could be that the creatures you are seeing were already mostly humanoid to begin with.” She gestured at his body. “Look at you. You’re a man with wings. If you stood next to a real Fairy, no one would know the difference.”

“Fairies were smaller.”

“Not all of them. And who else do you know? Name the creatures.”

He grinned, playing along with her game. Fairies were always a sucker for fun. “A Siren.”

“So a human woman. Another?”

“A Dream Walker.”

“A human who is capable of walking in dreams. Not a particularly unusual looking creature.”

He arched a brow at her. “A Legion.”

Mercy stumbled and halted. “A what?”

“Legion.”

Hysterical laughter bubbled up from her chest, escaping her in a twisted choke. She didn’t bother covering it up. Ignes wrapped his tail around her throat, agitated sparks crackling from his spine.

“That is—” She shook her head. “That is so wonderful. There is a Legion left in this world?”

“Its name is E.” Jasper averted his gaze and rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. “It’s attached to a woman named Wren.”

“A Legion,” she repeated and chuckled. “I cannot believe it. After all this time, they managed to survive. Good for them. Or, well, good for it.”

To know that there was another rare creature still existing in this world with her was a balm to her wounded soul. She shook her head. For once, she didn’t feel as though she was the oddest duck left. A Legion.

“Why are you reacting like this?” Jasper hurried behind her.

“Legions were how we pieced together the knowledge to combine dimensions. Did you know that?”

“No.”

“They live inside other creatures. They don’t have a body of their own, I suppose if they weren’t inside someone they would simply be black smoke. They were the ones to give us the idea that since creatures lived inside a Legion, and a Legion lived inside something else, that perhaps it was