The Poison Season(98)

“You came back.” Sage’s voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper. She took a step toward Leelo. “Or am I dreaming again?”

“It’s not a dream,” Leelo said, her voice cracking.

Sage looked at Jaren, her jaw clenched. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. It’s been so quiet here.”

“Where is Aunt Ketty?” Leelo asked, half expecting her to appear at the sound of her name, like a demon summoned.

Sage shook her head. “Gone. She disappeared the night of the fire, when the Forest vanished. I’m not sure if she died or if...”

“If what?” Leelo asked.

“If the Forest took her with it.”

Leelo felt her stomach twist with horror. She didn’t know what fate Ketty deserved, but surely it wasn’t this, to be taken by the very thing she had sacrificed everything for.

“Grimm?”

They all turned to see a man in his fifties emerge from a cottage, his weathered face wet with tears. “Grimm, is that you?”

“Uncle?”

“It really is you,” the man said.

Leelo and Jaren stepped back as the two embraced and more Endlans began to come out of what Leelo now realized was hiding. They must have seen them approaching and taken shelter. And something about that, about her once proud people hiding in the face of danger, made her heart ache.

Slowly, one by one, Endlans began to search among the incantu for their lost loved ones. After that, there was a lot of crying, some joyful, some pained, as families learned of the fate of their sons or daughters, sisters or brothers. But slowly, one by one, the twenty incantu who had come with them dispersed among the crowd.

Through all of this, Sage had stayed close to Leelo, but she hadn’t spoken.

“Where’s Mama?” Leelo finally asked. She’d been waiting for her to join them like so many of the other Endlans, but she hadn’t, and Leelo was beginning to fear the worst.

“Come on,” Sage said. “I’ll take you to her.”

Sage was dressed in furs and leather, a large knife strapped to her thigh, Leelo’s old bow across her shoulder. She looked like she had prepared for battle. But as Leelo gazed deep into her cousin’s eyes for the first time that day, she saw that all of the fight had gone out of her.

As they approached the cottage that had been Leelo’s home for so long, she noticed that there was no smoke coming from the chimney. When she opened the front door, the bells, which were frozen under a layer of ice, didn’t ring their cheerful welcome. The house was so cold and still that Leelo was convinced her cousin had brought her to her mother’s grave.

And then she heard a familiar creak on the stairs, and Leelo collapsed in relief.

“Is it really you?” Mama descended the stairs slowly, but though she was thin and pale, she wasn’t clinging to the banister for support. She knelt down next to Leelo and gathered her into her arms, and now it was Leelo’s turn to cling to something, to be held like a child and comforted by her mother.

“Are you all right?” Leelo managed between sobs.

“I’m fine. A little cold, but I’m getting stronger by the day.”

Of course. With Ketty gone, she wasn’t being poisoned anymore.

“I’m sorry I let the fire go out,” Sage said, and Leelo whipped around to face her, having forgotten she was still there.

“I was lighting it when I sensed something was out there.”

“You’re still living together?” Leelo asked Mama. “After everything she did? What happened to the Hardings?” She turned to Sage, unable to keep the venom out of her voice. “Did they abandon you, too?”

Sage gave a tight shake of her head. “I told them I wouldn’t marry Hollis.”

Fiona pulled Leelo’s face back to her. “Sage is still family. The only family I had left.”

Leelo rose and helped Fiona to her feet, then turned to her cousin. “Thank you for looking after her,” she managed.

Sage lowered her gaze. “It’s the least I could do.” After a minute, she cleared her throat. “What happens now, Lo?”

Leelo nearly scoffed. Was it possible that all this time, Sage had been waiting for someone to tell her what to do? Leelo supposed that without Watching, without Ketty’s orders or a family to care for, Sage must be feeling lost. She’d never wanted anything other than to be a good Endlan. “That’s up to you, I suppose.”

Sage grabbed Leelo’s hands. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. I thought I was doing what was best for our family. I thought I was keeping you safe. I love you, Leelo.”

Leelo swallowed back tears. It was like her mother said: too much of anything could be a poison. Even love. “I know that’s what you believe, Sage. But I don’t know if I can forgive you for the way you treated Tate. You tried to kill Jaren. You only stopped when you learned he was Endlan. Out there, in the world, most people don’t have magic. At least not the kind you and I are used to. If you can’t accept that those people deserve to live and be happy just as much as any Endlan, then I don’t think you should leave here.”

Sage blinked back tears, her eyes darting between Leelo and Fiona. “But my mother is gone. I’d be all alone.”

Leelo didn’t answer.