The Poison Season(23)

As Oskar and Marta returned to their customers, Jaren thanked them again and started off to look for his sister. A moment later, he felt a hand on his arm and turned to find Lupin standing there.

“Did you really go to Lake Luma?” she asked, her green eyes searching his face.

He nodded. “It was a ridiculous bet to protect my sister.” He decided it wasn’t necessary to include the part about protecting himself. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I suppose you heard I’m from Endla, then?”

There was no sense in lying now. “Lars told me.”

She twisted her lips to the side, considering, and nodded. “Well, then. I suppose you have questions. Come with me.”



Chapter Thirteen


The day of Tate’s departure had finally arrived, and Leelo wasn’t sure how she would survive it. Fiona hadn’t moved from her bed since dinner with the Hardings, and Ketty and Sage had done all of the chores, leaving Leelo to care for her mother and Tate.

The boat would leave at dusk, which seemed unnecessarily cruel. Tate and the others would have to navigate an unfamiliar forest in the dark.

“Stay with Violet and Bizhan as long as you can,” Leelo told him as she finished tying up his bundle. He had few possessions to take with him aside from clothing and his bow and arrows, but Leelo had packed him enough food to last a week, if he was sparing. “Violet is going to be terrified, and I imagine Bizhan is, too.”

Tate nodded. “I will.”

Leelo considered asking him again what their mother had told him. If she was so certain he would be safe out there, why was she unable to leave her bed? But Leelo wouldn’t pry. If her mother wanted her to know, she’d have told her herself.

“I’m so sorry, Tate,” Leelo said, trying not to cry.

“Why should you be sorry?” he asked. “This isn’t your fault.”

“I...” Leelo sighed. “I tried to bring out your magic. I even offered a blood sacrifice.”

He looked up at her, his dark eyes questioning. “You did?”

She wiped her tears and nodded. “I did.”

“But you know that’s not how it works, Lo. The island doesn’t give us magic. We’re born with it, or we’re not.”

“I know. Of course I know. I just hoped...”

He nodded in understanding. “I know. So did I.”

She didn’t tell him how worried she was about their mother. Tate couldn’t do anything to help her, and he had more than enough on his plate right now. Perhaps it would be a sad kind of relief once he was gone, and Fiona would slowly get better. There wouldn’t be this constant dread looming over them, mingled with their dwindling hopes that Tate’s magic would appear. For whatever reason, he hadn’t been born with magic, and they had to accept that now. It was the only way to find peace moving forward.

“I have Watcher duty,” Leelo said, rising from Tate’s bed. “But I’ll be back in plenty of time to say goodbye. Will you sit with Mama until I get back?”

“I will. And, Lo?”

She stopped in the doorway to his little room, which would soon be just a broom closet again. “Yes?”

“Promise me you’ll be happy when I’m gone. I need to know you’ll be happy.”

She nodded, hoping he hadn’t seen the tears coursing down her cheeks when she turned to go.

Of all days, Sage and Leelo were tasked with Watching on the far side of the island for the first time, a fact that annoyed Leelo, since the launch would occur clear on the other side of Endla. Getting back would take two hours, giving her no time to wash up or change in between.

Sage, sensing that Leelo’s emotions were as taut as a bowstring, was silent for the first half hour of the walk. It wasn’t until they were deep into the woods that she finally cleared her throat and spoke.

“Do you ever wonder what your father would have done, if he were still alive?”

The question was so out of the blue that Leelo stopped walking. “What?”

Sage glanced around at the Forest, and that was when Leelo realized where they were. This was the location of the accident that had killed both Hugo and Kellan.

The details had always been fuzzy to Leelo, but of course, she’d only been seven when her father died, and her mother never wanted to talk about it. All she knew was that somehow Uncle Hugo had shot Kellan, Leelo’s father, by accident. And when Hugo had gone to help his brother-in-law, he’d stepped in his own trap, severing an artery. Both men bled out before they were found.

“I think my father would be devastated that Tate is leaving, if that’s what you’re asking,” Leelo said coldly. “He loved us both equally.”

Sage’s lips flattened into a line, and Leelo felt her blood begin to rise.

“He did. My father wasn’t prejudiced, like some people.”

They had both resumed walking. “You mean people like Mother and me?” Sage asked.

“I was thinking of Hollis, but yes, people like you.”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Sage muttered.

“Then tell me!”

Sage rounded on Leelo, her hazel eyes burning with an intensity that frightened Leelo. “My mother gave up more than you’ll ever understand for you and Aunt Fiona. Just remember that the next time you want to call us prejudiced.”