The Poison Season(62)

He looked up into the trees and spotted a red squirrel with impressive ear tufts, blithely grooming its bushy tail and chittering away as if it knew he had no way to catch it. A deer who had been watching from the trees eventually established he wasn’t a threat and made her careful way to the pond to drink. He knew that even if he’d had a bow with him, he wouldn’t have the heart to kill her.

With a sigh, Jaren settled for some wild asparagus and chanterelle mushrooms that he would have been far more excited about if he’d had a means of cooking them. With his clothes mostly dry, he headed back to the cottage, trying not to think of the long, hot night awaiting him.

When he reached the cottage, he froze. The front door was wide-open.

He knew he had closed it when he left. He remembered it distinctly because he’d had an argument with himself about whether or not he should leave it open to let the place air out. In the end, he’d decided that he didn’t want to risk any snakes or insects finding their way into the cottage while he was gone, or worse, one of those bird-eating roots, though he hadn’t seen anything like that happen since he first arrived.

So if the door was open, it could only mean that Leelo had finally come back.

Looking back on his mood of just an hour ago, he couldn’t believe how ridiculous he had been. He hadn’t known Leelo long, but she’d already put her own safety on the line for him multiple times. She wasn’t someone who would just abandon him for no good reason (and no, he told himself, a lackluster kiss was not a good reason). He had needed food and water. Cleaning his clothing and himself had washed away any lingering worry. All he wanted now was to kiss her and forget about the last three miserable days. If she wanted to kiss him, that was.

With his heart somewhere in his throat, Jaren hurried the rest of the way and ducked into the cottage.

It was empty.

Jaren’s heart plummeted to his stomach. Not only was Leelo not here, but he must have missed her by mere minutes. Was it possible she’d gone to the pools to look for him on a different trail? He set his food on the table and backed out of the cottage, fully prepared to return to the pools if it meant seeing her.

But when he turned around, there was a different girl staring at him. She cocked her head and placed her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed with clear suspicion, and asked, “Who the hell are you?”



Chapter Thirty-Six


Leelo’s heart ached for her little brother with every beat. She worried about her mother whether she was gone for one hour or five. But not being able to go to Jaren, knowing that he was waiting for her, was driving Leelo mad.

It wasn’t her fault. After the festival, with Sage so clearly miserable and their mothers in a silent battle no one would explain, she’d had no chance to escape. She spent her entire day off doing Sage’s chores in addition to her own, watching in misery as the sun sank lower and lower behind the treetops, dragging her hope down with it.

All day, her stomach had been roiling, either with butterflies at the memory of kissing Jaren or with dread at what awaited her cousin. Sage had been so upset she hadn’t even gotten out of bed that day, though she managed to get up for her Watcher duty the day after.

Still, Sage refused to leave Leelo’s side, insisting that they walk everywhere together, even to see Isola. Leelo felt like a traitor for wanting an hour or two to herself so she could sneak away, but she was worried sick for Jaren. He might be able to fill up his waterskins, but what was he going to eat? She told herself he was nearly a man, that he could take care of himself for a few days in her absence. But knowing that even if he was all right physically, he would think she’d abandoned him, made her throat ache with unshed tears. Because there was nothing she wanted more than to be with him.

On the afternoon of the third day, when Leelo thought she might actually explode if she didn’t get away from Sage and the house, she told her family she was going to visit Isola. And by some miracle, Sage didn’t offer to go with her.

Leelo raised a questioning brow. “Are you sure you’ll be all right here?” she asked, afraid to get her hopes up in case Sage changed her mind.

“Will I be all right?” Sage scoffed. “Believe it or not, I can take care of myself, Leelo.”

There was a strange relief in Sage’s gruff response. If she was well enough to be snarky, then she was at least a little better than she’d been the past two days. Leelo couldn’t get Sage to talk about Hollis. Saints knew she’d tried. But she also knew she would never make Sage talk about something she didn’t want to, and Leelo was worried that she was making things worse by bringing it up all the time. Sage had six months before the wedding; maybe she just preferred not to think about it till then.

Before leaving for Isola’s, Leelo went to check on her mother. She was out in the yard, weeding the little vegetable garden she tended in the summer. It had gotten rather unruly this year, considering how little Mama had felt up to the work, but today she looked healthier than Leelo had seen her in months.

“Heading to see Isola?” she asked as Leelo approached her. She tested a plump tomato in her fingers for ripeness, then plucked it from its vine and handed it to Leelo. “Wait just a few minutes, and I’ll put together a basket for her family.”

Leelo eyed the growing pile at her mother’s feet. Fiona was the kind of neighbor who never showed up at someone’s house empty-handed. She enjoyed giving people gifts, and as she always reminded Leelo, you never knew when you would be the one in need.