The Poison Season(24)

Leelo spluttered, unable to form words, but Sage had already forged ahead into the brush, and Leelo was too tired to run after her cousin, spouting apologies she didn’t mean. Whatever Sage thought Ketty had done, it didn’t justify the way they treated Tate.

As Leelo stomped down the trail, a starling off to her left let out a short burst of song. Smaller birds weren’t uncommon on Endla; they could generally escape the Forest, which preferred larger prey, though they never nested here. So it wasn’t the presence of the bird that startled Leelo. It was the song itself: the prayer she’d sung the night she offered the island blood for Tate’s magic, in a voice that sounded eerily like Leelo’s.

If anyone found out she had been performing a blood offering on her own, before the spring festival no less, she’d be severely punished by the council. Endlans weren’t supposed to use songs on their own before their year as Watchers was finished. The bird called again, and Leelo glanced around, her heart pounding, wondering if Sage had heard.

She knew she needed to catch up with Sage, that they were probably already late for their shift by now, but she couldn’t risk letting that bird fly around all of Endla, singing in her voice. She followed it off the trail a way, wincing every time the bird trilled again. She considered singing something else; perhaps the bird would pick that up instead. But there was no song without consequences, and for all she knew she’d end up creating a worse problem for herself.

The bird flitted from tree to tree, chirping merrily, and Leelo had the distinct impression it was mocking her. “Damn you,” she shouted, shaking her fist as it disappeared into another tree. “You’d better hope I don’t catch you!” She removed her bow from her shoulder, knowing the odds of hitting the bird up in a tree were slim to none. Perhaps she could scare it off, at least.

She wasn’t even sure where she was now. Endla wasn’t that large; she’d be able to orient herself soon enough. But Sage was probably wondering what had happened to her, and skipping out on Watcher duty was arguably as bad as singing without permission.

“Damn it!” she swore, turning to leave.

Leelo froze.

The cottage was so well hidden that she never would have seen it if she hadn’t come face-to-face with it. In fact, cottage was too generous a word for what was little more than a hut, buried under branches and leaves, with no visible chimney. A grown man would barely be able to stand up inside, and it was clearly only big enough for one room. She glanced around, the starling forgotten, and approached the hut.

The little door swung open with a groan, the hinges rusty with disuse. There were two small windows, both so dirty that hardly any light filtered through the glass. Leelo noticed a candle stump on a small table and lit it with one of the matches she always carried on Watcher duty. At night, this place would be nearly pitch-black, but it was small enough that she could make out the pile of blankets in one corner, along with a crooked stack of books, in the candlelight.

Was this where Pieter spent the entire winter? Leelo wondered. If so, it was a miracle he hadn’t frozen to death. Without a fire, no number of blankets would be enough to stay warm. Unless you were with another person, she thought, and blushed so hard she looked around to make sure there were no witnesses.

The image of Pieter running from Isola’s house came back to her again. How were they brazen enough to bring him into her house? Unless Rosalie did know, like Mrs. Harding had said.

No, she thought, extinguishing the candle and stepping back out of the cottage. It was clear from the way Rosalie had beaten Pieter from her house that she hadn’t known before that. Otherwise she would have sent him on his way sooner, surely. She closed the door and tried to block out the memory of Pieter falling into the lake, his last desperate cry for help, and Isola’s screams.

She found the trail a minute later and shrieked when she ran headlong into Sage.

“Where have you been?” Sage was angry, but it was the anger of being abandoned on Watcher duty, not from their argument before. “Our shift started half an hour ago!”

Leelo glanced around and was relieved she couldn’t spot the cottage from here. “I just needed time to think, and I got a little disoriented. I’m really sorry.” And without waiting for a response, she hurried down the trail, away from Isola’s hideout.



Chapter Fourteen


Jaren wasn’t sure why Lupin decided to confide in him about her life on Endla, but he was grateful that someone was willing to talk about it. Someone who knew the truth, not a bunch of silly stories.

They strolled around the market once, with Lupin pointing out the best vendors of various items and who to be wary of. “Never buy from him,” she said, gesturing to a man peddling what looked like ordinary copper pots and pans. “He’s a crook. And a smelly one.” Eventually she continued past the very last stall and guided Jaren into the forest.

“Don’t you need to help your parents?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at the market and making eye contact with Story for just long enough to see the look of amusement on her face before they disappeared behind a veil of trees.

Lupin strode confidently into the forest without looking back. Jaren had the impression she rarely did. “They’ll be all right. To be honest, I needed a break. You’re not the only person in Bricklebury to look at me funny, Jaren Kask.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”