None had been grabbed by the Healers’ League’s new recruiters, but we all knew people who had been: pulled from their homes, dragged to the League, forced to heal – even if it killed us.

The Takers behind Tali paled and backed away. It depends if the recruiters are snatching people off the street again. Aylin could take care of herself – Danello was the one with the street smarts of a hen. So was Danello, but Tali always worried more about Aylin, which was silly. Some girls hovered behind her, a few Takers we’d rescued last week but hadn’t managed to smuggle off the isles yet. Is Aylin back yet? asked Tali, lurking in the doorway. Not that Geveg had been all that safe in the five years since the Baseeri invaded but being hunted by the Duke, his soldiers, Geveg’s Governor-General, and who knew how many trackers added a whole new level of danger. I should have been out there with them, but I’d been recognised on our last rescue mission, and it wasn’t safe outside for me any more. Just busy work, but I had to do something other than sit in the town house worrying while my friends were out risking their lives. I watered the lake violets in the front sunroom. I hoped mine were deep enough for the mess I’d caused.

And if your life and choices hadn’t gone the way you’d planned, well, then your mistakes might reach deeper than your pockets could afford. Sure, it sounded good – take control of your own life, make your own choices – but that also meant you had to pay for your own mistakes.

Blue fire by janice hardy