The Poison Season(44)

“There’s nothing the matter with me, except for the fact that I’m freezing because you’re hogging the blanket!”

“Girls!”

They both turned to the door without releasing their fistfuls of quilt. Aunt Ketty stood with her hands on her hips, watching them with disgust. “What in the name of all that is sacred has gotten into the two of you?”

Leelo and Sage began yelling to defend themselves at the same moment.

“Enough!” Ketty shouted. “Leelo, your mother is trying to rest. And, Sage, your mother is trying to start breakfast. Whatever has happened between the two of you, work it out. Your shift starts in half an hour, and no one wants to listen to you bicker.”

As Ketty stormed out, Leelo scrambled out of bed and yanked on her tunic and trousers, her back turned on her cousin.

A second later, a pillow hit her square between the shoulder blades.

Leelo whirled, her own braid whipping her in the face. “I can’t believe you just did that.”

Sage stared at her, chest heaving in rage, her hazel eyes filled with tears. “And I can’t believe you missed our shift yesterday!”

Leelo had to close her eyes to keep from rolling them. “I said I was sorry. Mama was ill. Why are you so upset?”

“I woke up and you were just gone. I...” As Sage trailed off, her tears spilled over. Leelo couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her cousin cry. “I thought you’d left.”

Leelo shook her head, trying to understand what could unravel Sage like this. “I was just getting herbs for Mama.”

“No, I mean I thought you left. Forever.”

Leelo’s breath hitched as she realized what Sage was saying. Her cousin hadn’t seemed worried at all yesterday. She’d just seemed angry, and that was something Leelo expected from her. But Sage had learned how to deal with being hurt the same way her mother did: with anger and resentment, instead of honesty. Leelo should have known better than to assume Sage was siding with a boy she barely knew over her best friend, just because she was late to a shift.

“I’m sorry,” she said, approaching Sage. “I really was gathering herbs. I would never just leave you. You have to know that.”

Sage swiped her tears away bitterly. “I know you love him more than you love me.”

Leelo looked away because while she knew it shouldn’t be true, it was. She did love her cousin, the way you were supposed to love family: despite their flaws. But unlike Tate, Sage didn’t know how to be vulnerable. She’d sooner die than admit she’d been wrong about something, and Leelo couldn’t remember ever hearing Sage apologize.

Still, she’d always told herself they complemented each other. Together, an optimist and a pessimist could find something like the truth when they met in the middle. “It’s just different with Tate,” she said. “He’s younger than us, and softer. He needed me, Sage.”

“And I’m so hard and tough that I couldn’t possibly need anyone? Is that what you think?”

“I don’t think that at all,” Leelo said, pulling Sage’s stiff body into her arms for a hug. “I’m truly sorry. I won’t disappear again.” Silently, she prayed the words were true. She would have to somehow search for the boat without drawing Sage’s suspicion. Which meant she was probably not going to be getting much sleep until she did.

Sage eventually softened, turning her face so her lips were against Leelo’s ear. “Did you put the hole in the boat?” she whispered.

Leelo leaned back. “What?”

“I won’t tell, I swear it. I just... I saw the way you looked when the boat was gone. Like you thought maybe something had happened to it. Like maybe you wanted something to happen to it.”

She shook her head and pulled Sage into her arms again so she wouldn’t see the fear in Leelo’s eyes. “Of course not. I love Endla. It’s our home.”

Sage sniffed and nodded. “Exactly, Lo. It’s our home. Ours. And nothing is going to change that.”



Chapter Twenty-Seven


When Jaren woke the next morning, he was relieved to discover he could feel his left leg again, even if what he felt was excruciating pain. Leelo’s remedies must have helped. He sat up and reached for the waterskin, rinsing out the sour taste in his mouth, and ate a little of the food she’d brought him. The sweater had kept him warm and the Forest hadn’t tried to eat him while he slept. If he did end up having to stay here for a few days, at least he knew he could survive it.

At midday, Leelo arrived at the cottage. He’d dreamed last night that she had come to kill him, slicing his throat from ear to ear while he slept. He’d woken up in a cold sweat, sure Leelo was in the hut with him, but then the door had opened and it was really her, coming to his aid. The dream had felt so real, but he told himself it was just his fever breaking.

Now, though he wanted to trust her, he peered out the small window for a moment after she arrived, to be sure she was alone. It didn’t make sense for her to heal his leg only to kill him, but maybe this was some part of an Endlan honor code: make sure your prey stands a fighting chance before hunting him down, or something.

“Hello,” he said, opening the door for her.

She propped her bow and arrows against the front of the cottage and nodded. It was a warm day, and her hairline was damp with sweat. “You’re alive. Good.”