Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker #3)(110)

Toshi was struck by the offer. “It would be an honor,” he said.

When they touched each other’s willstones Toshi was surprised to find Grace was there at the forefront of Ivan’s thoughts, but not Grace as they both knew her now. Toshi saw a backdrop of dusty mining towns, horse-drawn carriages, homesteaders in broad-brimmed hats and gingham prints, and Grace as a girl with long plaited hair, a buckskin dress, and beaded moccasins.

“That was a long time ago,” Ivan said, drawing Toshi back to the here and now. “Come. We have a lot of work to do.”

They went back downstairs, stopping in the room where Grace had learned to spirit walk in the hopes that they could help Red Leaf, but the shaman was gone. They continued on down to the lab where the forced calm had given way to pandemonium. Mala was nowhere to be found. The table she had been manning was tipped over, and vials were scattered all over the floor. People were pushing and shoving their way into the lab to grab handfuls of the serum and rush out. Toshi tripped over something and realized that he was stepping on a body.

Toshi pulled the inert woman out of the main flow of the mob and checked her pulse. There was a welt the size of goose egg on her neck. She was dead from a sting.

He looked out a window. Workers were swarming outside, coalescing into great clouds and descending on the most panicked people. When the cloud flew away and moved on to the next person, the dead body left behind would be covered in stings. One sting would be enough to kill a person in ten seconds, but the Workers were overreacting as much as the people were. Their hive was being invaded and they were turning on anything that was not them.

“Everyone, calm down,” Ivan shouted, holding up his hands, but the mob was past listening.

“I need good climbers,” Toshi shouted amid the rushing, grabbing confusion. Ivan called out two men by name.

“Avery! Michelson! Come with me,” he ordered.

Two tall young men stopped trying to hold back the tide of people and came forward. Ivan had them gather up as many darts full of pesticide as they could carry and led them out the back way and through the twisting passages of the villa. There were no Workers indoors. They were all out on the streets, swarming.

They stopped at one of the many service storerooms. Ivan went to the dusty shelves littered with fishing poles, skis, tennis rackets and all other kinds of recreational equipment. He pulled down a large duffel bag. Inside were ropes and grappling hooks for climbing, which he distributed between them. Toshi, Avery, and Michelson looped the thin, strong rope over their shoulders and put the pesticide in the duffel bag.

“Toshi,” Ivan called after them as they ran. Toshi stopped and looked back. “Good luck.”

Toshi nodded. You, too, old friend.

When they hit the street, they saw that the situation had deteriorated further. Bodies lay here and there in the streets. Swarms of Workers were expanding and contracting in the air in a murmuration. They were chasing people indoors, and anyone left outside would be targeted.

Toshi’s raiding party ran to the nearest watchtower. Storm clouds started forming into a wheel over the city and the sky turned an ominous shade of pewter. Grace was on her pyre, and her power was building. As the raiding party pounded down the streets Toshi felt a sharp sting on the back of his hand.

He started counting to ten.

Lily opened her eyes. She stood among the redwoods. Rowan was still clasping her hand.

Her army shifted out of the shadows of the ancient giants, their faces stark with awe. Jumping was a new experience for most of them, and even for those who had done it before, the sight of the towering redwoods was enough to strike them dumb.

Tell them to calm down, Rowan said in mindspeak.

Lily did her best to explain, and to those claimed that couldn’t understand, she did her best to comfort them.

Now. Tell them not to kill one another, Rowan added.

“Right,” Lily breathed. She could feel all her claimed balking at being thrown together like this, and it wasn’t just the ranch hands against the Outlanders anymore. The Pack hated the Pride. The Pride hated the raptors. The simians hated the humans. The insect Woven felt nothing, but everyone hated them. This wasn’t an army. It was a melee waiting to happen.

What have I done?

Remind them why they’re here, Rowan said in mindspeak. Get them to focus on fighting the Hive.

Lily felt a clamor rising in all of them. They would not accept this. The hatred between them went too deep.

“Wait,” Lily whispered desperately to herself. She could feel control slipping away. Grumbling, shouts, and hisses rose up from the ranks. She could force them to work together. Control them. Bend them to her will. That would be the easiest way. That would be what Grace would do, maybe even what Lillian would do, too.

Lily was neither of those people, and she decided she never would be.

She ran to the highest point she could find—which happened to be the back of one of the raptors—and climbed up with a silent appeal to him to help her do this. She steadied herself against the raptor’s enormous head and shouted what she only dared whisper before.

“Wait! Listen to me. You aren’t enemies,” she called. “Hear what I have to say before you all tear one another apart!”

“Listen,” Rowan yelled.

“Listen!” Una echoed, backing him up.

Every face in the crowd turned to her. She looked out, taking it all in, searching for a place to start. Her claimed. They were all so different. They were together, but she still needed to find a way to unite them. She took a deep breath and began.