The Poison Season(79)

Leelo stopped, dropping her voice to a whisper. “You remember I said there’s a pond in the grotto? I saw water lilies growing there. They’re part of the spring ceremony, but I didn’t give them any thought beyond that.”

“That’s what you all were releasing into the water that day, when I saw you by the shore?”

“Yes. They’re supposed to represent the new Watchers. That was all I knew. But my mother said that during the end of our year as Watchers, there’s a different ceremony, a secret one. A council member brings a cage with her, containing a mouse or a chipmunk, whatever they can find.” She swallowed, clearly disturbed by what she was about to say. “Then the council member drops the poor creature into the pond. Mama said it was reduced instantly to bones, then nothing.”

“So the lilies have something to do with the poison.”

Leelo’s blue eyes filled with tears. “Yes.”

“But you put the lilies into the lake every spring.”

She blinked and the tears spilled over her lashes, streaking down her pale face. “Yes.”

It was fortunate neither of them knew what to say, because in the ensuing silence they heard something coming through the underbrush. Leelo grabbed Jaren’s hand, dragging him down behind a rock. It was a man in a cart pulled by a shaggy pony. Fortunately, he didn’t hear their breathing over the sound of the cart, and he disappeared into the trees a few moments later.

Leelo stayed kneeling where she was, swiping her tears away with the back of her hand. He wanted to comfort her, but she was trying her best to compose herself. “I already knew that Lake Luma wasn’t full of poison when my ancestors came. That was how they made it across in the first place. But the poison doesn’t come from the Forest, like we were told. It comes from us.”

“Saints,” Jaren breathed. “How?”

“They were brought from the mainland by one of our people, a botanist. She planted and cultivated the lilies in the cave, then moved them to the lake every subsequent spring. And we’ve continued it every year since.”

Leelo’s voice was laced with disgust, and Jaren could understand why. She had just learned that something she had perceived as special was part of an elaborate lie, one only revealed to her when it was too late. “And this was all to protect your people from outsiders.”

She nodded.

“But it also kept you...”

“Trapped,” Leelo finished, her voiced ragged.

Jaren helped Leelo to her feet and pulled her into his arms finally. “I’m sorry, Leelo. That must have been so difficult to hear.”

She sighed deeply against him. “I think I understand why they did it. I just don’t understand all the lies. Instead of honoring our ancestors’ traumatic pasts with the truth, they’ve wrapped everything in flowers and ribbons, until my entire generation forgot why we’re here.”

“They make rules to protect us,” Jaren said, thinking of all the times his parents had warned him not to wander. “They just don’t realize we’d be far more apt to listen if we knew what they were protecting us from.”

Leelo tilted her face up to him. “Would we, though?” She smiled, the light returning to her eyes. “Even if my mother had told me about Nigel before, I’d have saved you. I’d save you every time, Jaren Kask.”

To Jaren’s relief, Fiona and Isola were already waiting when they arrived. They wouldn’t move the boat until dusk, to give themselves the added advantage of darkness, but they would still have to go carefully. There were Watchers on duty, and it was entirely possible they’d be patrolling the beach Jaren needed to launch from. Leelo had spoken with Isola that morning, and she had agreed to provide a distraction, if it came to that.

He studied Leelo’s mother surreptitiously, trying to find some trace of her daughter in her, but they were as different as spring and autumn. Fiona was not old by any means, but she looked so faded and brittle compared to Leelo. Once again, he had the feeling that Leelo was special, even here. Maybe it was simply because he loved her, but in the slanting late-afternoon light, she looked ethereal.

“Is everything all right?” Leelo asked her mother when she reached her. “Are you sure you’re up to this?”

Fiona nodded. “Of course I am.” She looked past her daughter to Jaren, who was hanging back a bit, unsure.

“You must be Jaren,” she said, holding out her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

Jaren stepped forward and took her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Thank you, for helping me.”

When she smiled, Jaren saw Leelo in the small gap between her teeth, in the genuine warmth in her eyes. “You’re very lucky, you know. Most Endlans would have killed you on sight. It’s a miracle you found Leelo.”

Jaren blushed and looked at his feet. “I sort of think of it as fate.”

Fiona studied him for a moment, and Jaren forced himself to meet her gaze, hoping his eyes could convey how much he loved Leelo. That he was good enough to deserve her love, too.

Finally, Fiona nodded. Jaren glanced at Leelo and was somewhat relieved to see she was blushing, too.

The boat, fortunately, was repaired and already loaded into the pulley system that would take it to the surface, as Leelo knew it would be from her reconnaissance mission in the middle of the night. She’d found new oars propped against the cave wall and lashed them to the inside of the boat.