Kurt was taller, which meant he had longer arms, giving him greater reach. Not as broad as Lunkhead, but that just made him quicker. Janco suspected he was going to end up as a pincushion regardless.

The match began. Janco stayed on the defensive, all he could do without a sword. Ducking, dodging, spinning and sidestepping only did so much. Cuts on his arms, legs and torso added up, but he'd boasted he could unarm the man without a sword.

Tired and bloody, Janco was about to admit defeat when a crazy, insane idea popped into his head--

the best kind! Janco charged the man. When Kurt lunged forward with the point of his sword aimed at Janco's chest, Janco slid feet-first on the ground underneath the blade. He hooked his foot around Kurt's ankles and knocked him to the ground. Before Kurt could recover, Janco pounced and yanked the sword from Kurt's grasp.

"Ta da!" he said, holding his prize high.

But when he turned to show Onora, she was gone. And so was Liana!

PART THREE

This was bad. Really bad. He'd lost Liana. Yelena and Valek were going to kill him. Granted, she was with Onora—he hoped—but if the baby wasn't with him when they returned from their ride, they'd never trust him to babyguard her again.

Janco handed Kurt back his sword, grabbed his own, and vaulted the training yard's fence. He scanned the people nearby as he calculated how long it had taken him to disarm the soldier--without a sword mind you, how amazing was that?--five, maybe seven minutes. That meant Onora had plenty of time to get lost in the crowd. Janco questioned a few of the onlookers, asking if they'd seen her.

"No, sir," said one man. "But you should see the medic."

"Why?"

The man gestured and Janco glanced at his arms. Cuts bled, staining his shirt. None deep enough to be sealed but he need to change before Yelena came for her daughter.

"No time right now," he said. "I need to find..." Another possibility occurred to Janco. Onora could be hiding in plain sight, using her magical ability to blend in with her surroundings. He groaned—he'd never find them. Except...Liana also possessed magic...well, sort of. She blocked others from accessing the blanket of power, which Onora needed even though she didn't consciously draw from it. Just like Janco being able to sense when magic's in use. Yelena called them One-Tricks. So Onora couldn't hide and he couldn't use his tracking ability, which left using...

His brain. Sigh. Now he wished Ari was here to help. Okay, he could do this. He needed to think like Little Miss Assassin. Did she plan on keeping Liana for long? He searched around the fence. No diaper bag. Then the answer would be yes, she planned to keep her for a while. So then where would she go? Her office!