The Passage to Mythrin 2-Book Bundle by Patricia Bow

polite smile and walked on.
    A moment later something cool slid into her hand. She stopped and looked. A card with a pair of rhinestone earrings in it glittered up at her.
    â€œFor you.” Mara smiled. “A — what is the word? A present.”
    â€œUh ... Mara...”
    â€œYou don’t like?”
    â€œDid you pay for them? Of course you didn’t. No time.” She met Mara’s puzzled eyes. “Besides, you don’t even know about money, do you?”
    â€œMoney?”
    â€œHey! You two!”
    The mall cop was coming after them at a run. Amelia hesitated only a split second. Mara was already starting to turn back, eyes bright. Amelia threw the earrings as hard as she could back along the corridor and snatched Mara’s hand. “Run!”
    Mara laughed as she ran. Amelia sprinted to keep up. Heavy feet thudded behind. “He’s ... gonna ... catch us!” This was awful. Any second now they’d be arrested for shoplifting and Grandmother would tell her parents, and...
    â€œThen we slow him down.”
    Mara darted at a storefront. Pets Galore, said the overhead sign. She plunged her hand into a glass tank standing beside the entrance. Amelia jogged on the spot. “Mara, put that back!”
    â€œGo,” Mara said to the tiny thing in her hand. “Go and be many.” She set it down gently on the floor. It was a spotted lizard.
    â€œYou girls! Stop!”
    Amelia grabbed Mara’s hand again and dragged her away.
    The corridor behind them filled with flickery sounds, like thousands of tiny feet on tile. Amelia grabbed a look over her shoulder. The floor and walls were ... moving.
I didn’t see that!
She faced front and sprinted on. Two seconds later somebody behind them screamed.
    They skidded around a corner and burst across an open space filled with little round tables and chairs. The food court. A few people were here, mostly near the Espresso Bar. Cups stopped halfway to lips as Amelia and Mara dashed past.
    Amelia looked back again. “There’s another one after us — and — his eyes —”
    â€œYes, I saw.” Mara wasn’t even out of breath. “The eyes are the last thing to change.”
    â€œHe’s — your — Assass—” She slid to a halt, because Mara had stopped short. Amelia’s feathered headband dipped over her eyes. She pushed it back.
    â€œLook, Amelia — firebird!” Mara’s voice rang out across the food court. She pointed a long finger at the Espresso Bar. A big shiny chrome espresso machinestood on the counter. On top was the brass eagle that Simon had boasted about. People on both sides of the counter gaped at them.
    The mall cop with the strange, too-bright eyes was walking towards them now. He must think they were already in the bag. And in a couple of seconds they would be.
    â€œMara, let’s go!”
    â€œFirebird will fight for us.” Mara crooked her finger. The espresso machine rocked from side to side. Heads turned. Amelia stood staring until Mara seized her hand and dragged her towards the glass doors that led to the street.
    This time she had no chance to look back. Behind them, somebody shrieked, and somebody else yelled
Oh my god
, and a cup smashed on tile. And then a horrible yowl, like the cry of a gigantic cat, drowned them out.
    Mara burst into laughter as she bounded out into the crowded street.
    â€œWhat happened?” Amelia gasped. “Who got hurt?”
    â€œHim! Ha, first blood goes to me! Now he will chase with a whole heart!”
    â€œAnd that’s good?”
    â€œYes! Now we run for true!”
    Â§
    â€œHow many?” Simon echoed.
    â€œThousands of them,” said the pet store owner. He waved a hand at the corridor outside his store. “Just like that one in the tank. That’s the only one I could catch.”
    â€œLeopard geckos,” Ike scribbled in his pocket notebook.
    Simon looked