Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of The One #2)(33)

“I’ve got Marshall’s brother. I’ve got Garrett.”

“Marshall’s going to be a happy boy tonight. You hurt, son?”

The man looked really, really old, but he held the rifle like he knew how to use it. “I’m okay.”

“I’m Bill, and this is Eddie.”

“How’s it hanging, my man? Hey, why don’t you get on up in the truck there, keep Joe company.”

“Who?”

“My dog, Joe.” Eddie pulled down the tailgate. A big dog stood up, a little slow, a little stiff, wagged his tail.

“I’ve got to get back.”

Eddie nodded at the girl. “Go on. We’ve got him. Come back in one piece or your mom’ll kick my ass.”

“Can’t have that.” She dashed off, swallowed by the dark.

“Let’s get you on up there, dude.”

“I can do it.” Garrett climbed into the back, dropped down, and when the dog leaned against him, he gave in to the little boy, wrapped his arms around the dog, pressed his face to the fur so nobody saw the tears.

He jolted at the sound of explosions, shivered as he saw fire shoot to the sky.

“What’s that? What is it?”

“Just taking care of business,” Eddie said while Bill leaned in, wrapped a blanket around Garret’s shoulders. “You don’t want the assholes following you? You steal some of their vehicles, and go boom to the rest. Much as you can anyway. How about you and Joe make some room back there? We’re expecting more riders.”

Some ran, as he had. Others were carried. Another truck pulled up, and the man behind the wheel gestured ahead.

Others piled into the bed, boosted in by Eddie or Bill. Kids mostly, some women. He recognized one or two. Whenever they’d bothered to feed prisoners, the slaves had brought in the slop they called food.

The boy beside him, younger than the youngest in his own pack, shivered with the cold.

“Here, you can share my blanket. This is Joe.”

He heard the roar of an engine, saw the girl he’d run with on the back of a motorcycle, behind a boy. Dark hair like the girl’s, not as curly.

The one, Garrett realized, who’d helped Jan.

He swung the bike in a half circle, stopped. “We got all we could get—some just ran so we couldn’t pull them in. They’re going to be busy putting out fires, so the ones who ran might make it.”

“Jonah said move out,” Eddie called and hopped behind the wheel.

“We’ll take point. Flynn and Starr have flank.”

He roared off, dark hair flying.

Eddie opened the window to the bed, raising his voice as he pulled into the convoy. “Hi there. I’m Eddie, and I’ll be your driver tonight. Just settle back, ’cause we’ve got a ways to go. There’s water back there and blankets. Be sweet, everybody, and share.”

Garrett shifted closer to the window. “Who was that on the motorcycle?”

“Duncan. Tonia’s twin brother. Our resident hell-raiser. Get yourself some water, dude, catch a nap if you want. We’ve got a good hour’s drive—and food and medical attention once we get you there.”

“Marshall’s there? And everybody?”

“That’s a fact, Jack.” Eddie took a hand off the wheel, angled himself to reach a hand back through the little window, give Garrett’s a squeeze. “They’re all waiting for you, so you can chill now.”

Because more tears wanted to come, Garrett blinked hard. “Where are we going? Where is ‘there’?”

“My man, we’re heading to New Hope.”





CHAPTER SEVEN


Fallon mangled a basic incantation—twice—and very nearly added belladonna rather than bergamot to a simple potion before Mallick stopped her.

“Do you wish to poison an enemy?”

“What?” Her brow furrowed as she looked up. “No.” Then she looked down at the clearly marked bottle in her hand. “Oh.” She put the bottle back and, after a moment—too long a moment to Mallick’s mind—chose the bergamot. “So I made a mistake.”

He objected nearly as much to the dismissal of her carelessness as to the carelessness itself.

Both were unacceptable, but the dismissal showed weakness.

“A mistake with belladonna can kill. As a mistake with an incantation can have far-reaching and disastrous consequences. Your words and actions, the precision of them, matter.”

“Maybe if you didn’t expect me to remember everything, and stand around watching me all the time, I wouldn’t make a mistake.”

“Perhaps my mistake is believing you’d progressed enough to know the properties and uses of extracts, oils, and powders. Sit then, and we’ll start at the beginning.”

“I know the stupid properties, okay?” Because it shook, the snap in her voice lost most of its sting. “I just picked up the wrong bottle. And ingredients like belladonna and foxglove and other deadlies should be separated out into their section instead of everything together in alphabetical order.”

He inclined his head. “That is a fair point. You may begin that task now.”

“There are hundreds! It’ll take half the day.”

“Then you should begin. The task should help calm and focus your mind.”