by Kim Liggett
“I’ve touched your blood and I’m fine,” I reasoned.
“That’s because you’re twins—you’re of the same blood,” Dane said tenderly. “You’re the light and he’s the dark.”
“You heal and I kill.” My brother exhaled.
I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but I felt it in my gut—an awful certainty buzzing beneath my skin.
“Rhys,” I said as I squirmed out of Dane’s grasp and reached out to him. “We can find a way. I can fix this.”
“There’s no fixing this. I’m fucked. You’re fucked. This place is fucked.” Rhys swatted my hand away.
“Watch it,” Dane warned as he stepped between us.
Rhys pushed him hard.
“Please don’t fight,” Beth said as she got to her feet.
Dane was helping steady Beth when Rhys came at him with his fists.
Dane ducked out of the way and then punched Rhys in the face. My brother staggered back; a trickle of blood ran down from his nostril.
We all backed away.
Rhys’s face fell. Tears welled up in his dark green eyes before he ran toward the edge of the corn, blood dripping from his nose in a steady stream.
The corn appeared to open up to let him pass. As he tore through the field, his blood left a scorched trail of disintegrated stalks in his wake.
I could smell the salt of his tears, the bitterness of hurt and betrayal. I tried to go after him, but as soon as I set foot across the perimeter, my body collapsed in on itself.
“Ashlyn,” Dane pleaded. “Step back inside Quivira.”
“What about Rhys?” I gritted my teeth as I struggled to hold my ground.
“We’ll find him. I promise.”
“I can’t leave him.” My body began to tremble with the strain of trying to cross the perimeter.
As Beth tried to help move me back, she accidentally stumbled onto the path of scorched earth Rhys’s blood had made in the corn. When she realized she was standing beyond the perimeter, a huge smile spread across her face. “Look, I’m standing in the corn.”
“You should go,” I murmured through the pain. “If you hurry, you can catch him. He shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“Do you realize what this means?” Beth twirled around. “Rhys’s blood can cut through Katia’s spell. I kept dreaming about it . . . a path that will lead us from darkness. Rhys is the path.”
I never knew what she’d been talking about . . . maybe she didn’t either, but it made perfect sense now. Dane told me the corn was a living, breathing thing. When we first came to Quivira, Rhys fell and skinned his knee and a patch of corn disintegrated around him. His blood had been the key to escaping Quivira this whole time.
“It means the others are free to go, too,” Beth said with a little jump of excitement.
“It also means others can get in,” Dane said. “Once a path is cleared, the protection barrier won’t hold.” For the first time, Dane looked scared.
Beth leapt forward to embrace me. “Rhys hasn’t even begun to realize his full power. He will soon. And we’ll all be together again, but right now, my place is with you.”
I relented, letting Dane and Beth move me back from the perimeter. As soon as I was on the grass once again, the physical pain subsided.
“Rhys will never forgive me,” I whispered, fighting back the tears as I stared out over the corn.
“Never is a very long time.” Dane kissed my forehead.
44
RECKONING
THE COMMUNITY HAD gathered on the front lawn of the meeting house. Everyone was decked out in their finest clothes, staring at the corn in anticipation, waiting for Katia to arrive with Nina and Thomas. They had no idea.
“How are you going to convince them to leave?” Beth asked. “They don’t know you’re the vessel.”
“I’m going to need that knife again,” I said to Dane.
He caressed my fingers as he handed it to me.
Taking in a steeling breath, I made my way to the center of the crowd and cleared my throat. “I have an announcement to make.”
Some of the Grimsby girls started giggling at me. I got a few stern looks from the elders, but most of them just ignored me.
“I’m the vessel,” I said louder.
“Pay her no mind. She’s a conduit.” A lady with frizzy brown hair gathered up her children and whipped around to move away from me, her voluminous skirt nearly knocking me to the ground.
“Oh, sweet girl, you’re in a state,” Lou said as she stepped toward me, shaking her head in dismay. “Did they let you wander off on your own?”
“I said . . . I’m the vessel.” I held the knife high above my head and dragged the blade along the palm of my hand.
Lou stayed put, but the rest of the mob pressed back like whatever I had might be contagious.
“Can someone get a bandage?” Lou called over her shoulder.
“I don’t need it,” I said, trying to hold their attention.
“Sweetheart—”
“Look.” I held out my hand. As the blood dripped down toward the earth, the cut began to close up, surging back together, leaving no scar, no mark—my skin looked flawless.
Lou grabbed my hand to study it, the pity slowly draining from her face. “It’s you . . . ,” she whispered. Then she dropped to her knees and began to pray.
The rest of the community quickly followed suit. A few people fought their way to the front to suck my blood from the dark blades of grass, others reached out to touch my feet. It wasn’t the same feeling I got when the women prepared me for the wreathing ceremony. It gave me the creeps, like they all wanted a piece of me.
“I was Katia’s vessel all along,” I said as I tried to shake them off. “You’ve been lied to and manipulated. Katia killed Marie. She sacrificed Marie to the Dark Spirit in exchange for vessels—for the return of Alonso’s soul.”
“Where’s Spencer?” A man wiped his brow with his sleeve as he searched the crowd.
“No one’s seen him or Teresa since last night,” a woman with a crazed look in her eyes called out. “Do you think Coronado got them?”
I looked at Dane. He knew it, too. Spencer used Teresa to get through the corn one last time. He wasn’t coming back.
“Spencer discovered I was the vessel last night when he tried to slit my throat. He’s long gone by now. He used Teresa, who was a cornwalker, to deliver the Larkins to Coronado.”
I scanned the crowd, desperately searching for some sign of comprehension on their faces. “Katia will never make you immortal. You were only breeders to her.”
They just kept praying.
“Listen to me.” I shook Lou, but it was like she was looking right through me. “You can leave!” I yelled as I walked through the gathering. “You can walk out of Quivira and start a new life.”
No one moved a muscle. They all stared up at me like I’d just spoken a completely different language.
“If she’s the vessel, she needs her intended,” a woman with a newborn clutched to her chest called in a panic.
That’s when I noticed Brennon, pale, flanked by his parents. He took a reluctant step forward and the flock parted, as if making way for a king. He looked up at me with bloodshot eyes as he reached out to take my hand. “I’m prepared to walk the corn with you. It’s my duty. My honor.”
I couldn’t believe he was willing to go through with this after everything I’d just said. “There’s nothing honorable about giving your body to a madwoman.”
The people of Quivira only prayed more fervently, as if what I’d just said was sacrilege.
“Brennon, I’m sorry.” I released his hand. “But I’ve chosen someone else.”
Brennon let out a huge sigh of relief as Lauren ran to him, embracing him.
The realization burst inside of me.
Lauren and Brennon were in love. That’s why Lauren treated me the way she did and why Brennon was so cagey around me. His duty to his family, to Katia, had been the only thing standing in their way.
“You should all run while you still have a chance. You will never be immortal.”
The community broke out in agitated whispers. “Who is it, then? Who will be Alonso’s vessel?”
They weren’t listening to me. Finding the vessel, completing the ritual had been their one common goal for so long, they’d become blind to everything else.
Dane stepped forward and took my hand. “I will be Alonso’s vessel.”
Brennon’s mom started sobbing. “Katia will never allow it.”
“We have to kill him before she arrives,” Lou said.
The mob swept Dane up. I knew they couldn’t kill him, but a venomous feeling rose up inside me. “Let him go.” I glowered. “My blood has already chosen him.”
The crowd went silent. They dropped their hold on Dane and backed away in fear.
But they weren’t looking at me.
I turned to see Katia standing before the corn.
She was even more beautiful than I remembered. With the sun blazing down on her, she looked as if she were carved from soft gold. Dane wrapped his arm around my waist protectively.
“Clever girl,” Katia said with a smile, but I could feel her displeasure.
“But he’s a Mixed,” someone called out.
“Inferior blood,” Brennon’s mom cried.
“She’s given me no choice,” Katia spat. “I should’ve drowned Coronado’s children to begin with.” She scanned the crowd. “Where’s Spencer Mendoza?”
“He ran,” I said, hoping to provoke her, distract her from the ceremony. “He betrayed you. He’s been delivering the Larkins to Coronado for years. If you hurry, you can still catch him.”
A flash of anger passed over her eyes, but she quickly buried it. “I’ll deal with him later,” she said as she clutched her golden blade by her side.
The people of Quivira just cowered before her. They’d been suckling off Katia’s poisonous teat for too long. They’d even sacrificed their own children for a chance at immortality.
“I know you killed Marie,” I blurted.
Katia turned on me with such hatred that my body shuddered beneath her gaze.
“You don’t have to do this.” I softened my tone. “You can let me and Dane go.” I squeezed his hand before I took two careful steps forward. “We’re in love. You of all people know what it’s like to have that taken away from you.”
Katia smiled. “You think love would save you?” Her heady scent intoxicated me as she passed. “The love you feel for each other will only make the binding stronger,” she said as she circled Dane, running her hand across his back. “You’ve done me a great favor.”
I started to protest when her eyes settled on me and a blistering pain ripped through my body, grinding me to my knees.
Dane tried to move toward me, but she stepped in front of him.
“Hold still now and I’ll let her go.”
Dane stood up straight, clenching his jaw.
And Katia released me.
“That’s better,” Katia whispered as she leaned in and kissed Dane’s mouth. He didn’t kiss her back, but I felt a torturous mix of desire and repulsion bubbling up within him . . . within me.
Katia then looked at me, a cruel smile twisting the corners of her lips. “He’ll do.”
When Dane’s eyes met mine, I felt his shame, his confusion.
“It’s time,” Katia said as she slipped back through the stalks.
She knew I would follow. The invisible thread connecting us was embedded deep within my heart now. I had no choice.
As I stepped toward the corn, Beth hugged me from behind, startling me.
“Your mother didn’t leave you unprotected,” she whispered as she swept her hands down my arms and then retreated to join the others.
Dane laced his fingers through mine.
“I’m scared,” I said as I stared straight ahead into the corn.
“You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met, but you don’t have to be so strong all the time. You have me now.”
Gently, he raised my hand to his mouth, kissing the inside of my palm. Then he closed my fingers tightly around it, into a fist. “Hang on to this,” he whispered. “No matter what happens, know that this is real.”
Suddenly, I realized why I was afraid. I had something to live for. My brother, Beth, and Dane—they were family. I’d finally found something worth the risk, and now that my heart was open, I never wanted to close it again. My life was so full now. Suddenly, I was afraid of losing everything.
The wind swept through the corn, revealing our path.
They say the first step is the hardest, and this time, they were right.
45
PIECES
DANE AND I MOVED through the stalks in silence, following the path laid before us. I was terrified of what awaited me. Everything about this felt like a death march.
Dane kept a close eye on the dozen or so crows circling low overhead. Maybe Coronado was already inside Quivira—I wondered how he could stop the ritual now that Dane and I were immortal and bound?
Sensing my concern, Dane stroked my palm with his thumb. Even now, my blood craved him, my body reached out for him. Dane was a drug coursing through my veins, with an influence just as powerful as Katia’s. I felt what he felt, anticipated his every move. His touch was like an anchor holding me to myself, reminding me of who I was.
I wanted to believe we could get through this, but with every step, the darkness spread, sweeping through my cells like poison. I’d seen into Katia’s heart. I’d experienced her cruelty firsthand. Katia had been planning this for over five hundred years. What made me think I could defeat her with love? I glanced up at Dane to voice my fears, but I wanted him to hold on to hope for as long as he could. For everything he thought we could be.
I caught glimpses of Katia as she moved through the corn ahead of us, the swing of her skirt skimming the back of her knees, her hair swishing against her bronze shoulders like a wave of black silk. I reached my hand to my throat, thankful to feel Marie’s ribbon still with me. It gave me some comfort.
As we neared the sacred circle, the air went thick with warring scents, some as familiar to me as breathing—others completely foreign. Along with sandalwood, cedar, mandarins, and the sea, I swore I caught a hint of my mother’s scent, but my senses were on overload. Beyond the wall of sound—the gentle breeze rustling through the stalks—a soft susurration of breath entered my consciousness. I couldn’t see the others, but I could feel their presence like a sharp needle softly dragging down the back of my neck.
“Ku’ Quivira paatu’ huhtaat aat,” Katia whispered.
Only my blood shall pass.
As we followed her into the sacred circle, Katia halted.
A feeling of repulsion and fear ripped through me.
“Katia,” said a man standing inside the circle. It was Coronado, in the flesh, his hand resting on the hilt of the dagger slung low around his waist.
Katia took out her golden blade, and at least two dozen men stepped out of the stalks, swords at the ready.
“How is this possible?” Katia murmured as she looked past Coronado, out over the corn. Her eyes filled with tears, her breathing went shallow.
“The boy’s blood cut through your magic, led the way into Quivira.”
Katia’s face blanched. “What boy?”
“You didn’t know?” Coronado seemed surprised. “The twin. Ashlyn’s blood is full of life, but her brother’s is pure death. Death for all living things, including your precious corn.”
I felt a shiver rush through my blood as Katia reached out to the Dark Spirit for help.
&nbs
p; “So careless of you,” Coronado continued, “but you’ve always thought yourself invincible—above the laws of man and nature.”
As clouds amassed overhead, I could feel Katia’s power growing. A sinister wind rustled over the corn, a small taste of what was to come.
“We’ve already shed too much blood, you and I.” Coronado took a bold step toward her. “We were young and foolish. Just like the young lovers you’ve summoned here today.” His eyes settled on me in an overly familiar way, which made my heart beat heavy in my chest.
I looked up at Dane, his face shrouded in fear.
“I took Alonso away from you,” Coronado said with a flash of arrogance. “You took Marie away from me. We’ve had our vengeance. We can end this right now. Let the lovebirds fly away. Live in peace.”
“There will be no peace as long as I’m bound to you.” Katia’s fingers trembled with rage.
Coronado’s eyes flickered to Dane. A moment of recognition passed between them, but Dane quickly looked away. I could tell he was trying to stay strong, but I could feel his emotions—fear, sympathy, and an overwhelming sense of guilt.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Katia said, that rictus smile spreading across her face. “I want nothing more than to watch you die.” Raising her hands to the sky, she summoned a vicious wind, which swiftly swooped down through her hands to encircle Coronado in a tight cylinder, holding him in place. “When the binding is complete, your body will wither and rot off your bones. You may have found a way into the sacred circle, but you have no vessel.”
The Arcanum pressed forward from the stalks, but Coronado help up his hand, commanding them to stay back.
As Katia closed her eyes and began chanting, Coronado signaled to one of his soldiers, who pushed a hunched figure through the perimeter of corn, into the sacred circle.
It was a woman. She looked almost feral, tucked away against the stalks. But I recognized the graceful movement of her long slender fingers as she traced symbols in the air. “Mom,” I whispered as I sank down beside her, brushing her limp hair back from her face.
She looked up at me like a child, blinking slowly a few times, before focusing in on me. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t know you were the vessel until it was too late.” She looked dehydrated and ravaged by exhaustion. She tried to smile, but her lips only cracked. Still, she had a wild look in her eyes. She was very much alive.