The look she gave me told me she didn't believe me, but I ignored it.
"This is just like the time you found that wounded raccoon on the side of the road and tried to nurse him," Kate continued, her voice getting louder. "Or that stallion that bucked you off a dozen times and you nearly broke your neck. You're attracted to wounded things. You want to fix them, but you can't."
I didn't look at her. The raccoon had eventually died and the stallion was sold to a farm that used him for hard labor. I hated to think about those animals and how I'd failed them.
"He isn't an animal," I muttered.
"Might as well be one," Kate snapped back. "He's going to get you hurt. Or hurt someone else. I don't want to be responsible."
I raised my eyes to her face. "You're not going to turn me in, are you?"
Kate knew what could happen if she ratted me out to Granny or the other elders of Hanna. I'd lose that college slot faster than you could say dropout. I'd never get another chance to leave Hanna. This was my only shot.
"No..." The anger melted from Kate's face. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "I just don't want to see you get hurt. You're my best friend, Lizzy. I can't survive without you."
I smiled at her. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
She nodded and smiled weakly in response. I sure hoped that I was telling her the truth and that Gabe wouldn’t hurt anyone. I'd hate to disappoint her.
Chapter Nine
Gabe’s fever had begun to break by the time I left him that night. Kate was long gone – she went home hours ago. Since tonight was the night of Granny’s town elder meeting, I risked staying longer so that I could clean up the shack and make Gabe feel more comfortable.
If he kept getting better, I would let him go tomorrow. That’s what I had decided. No more back and forth on whether he should live or die. I couldn’t kill him. Not after today.
We hadn’t said much to each other while I cleaned up, but Gabe had been awake for some of the time, observing me. I could feel him studying me, like he hadn’t quite made up his mind about me.
His attention made me nervous, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. Anyone could’ve said I was behaving like a sixteen-year-old girl, not a twenty-one year old woman, the way I dropped things and fiddled under his gaze. Good thing no one would ever have to know.
The walk to Granny’s house was darker than I was used to. I picked over the trail more closely and watched for the nightly predators that came out at twilight. Mountain lions were becoming much more common in the Black Hills, along with the brown bears and their cubs.
Nothing would be worse than straying into the path of an animal and her babies. Even the peaceful elk wouldn’t hesitate to trample me down if I got too close to one of their young. I didn’t blame them. It was all a part of normal life in the forest.
As I approached Granny’s house, I noticed the lights shining through the kitchen windows. She must’ve already ended her meeting with the elders. I racked my brains for an excuse as to why I was out so late. She’d find out fast if I lied about being at the bowling alley or the diner. The only safe excuse was to claim I’d been at Kate’s house. It wasn’t unusual, so she’d buy it without too much of an interrogation.
I rounded the house and went in the back door, slipping off my hiking boots in the mud room. A rumble of whispers came from the kitchen. More than one person was in there with Granny. She must’ve invited the elders over for coffee after the meeting.
“Hi Granny,” I called, strolling into the kitchen.
Granny and the five other elders stared up at me over their coffee mugs. All of the elders were graying women with more wrinkles than I could count. They were the eldest in the community – women who had lived a lifetime in Hanna. There was Ruth, Trixie, Mable, Eileen, and Sarah. And of course, Granny, who led the elders and was the most outspoken of the six. Together, these women decided our laws and voted on whether a newcomer could stay and join our community. Rarely was a woman in need turned away.
From the awkward silence in the room, I got the sudden feeling I’d interrupted something important, so I grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and began to back my way out of the kitchen.
“I’m just heading to bed,” I said with a slight wave of my hand. “Nice to see you all.”
“Wait.” Granny’s commanding voice rang through the silent kitchen, bringing my escape to an automatic halt.
I leaned against the doorframe, waiting for her to continue. If I avoided her eyes, maybe I could hide this guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“Where have you been?”
“At Kate’s house,” I answered a little too quickly.
I heard Granny take a sip of her coffee and set the mug down.
“That’s funny. Kate was just here.”
My stomach dropped to the floor. Kate had told me she was heading home. I’d made her promise not to tell anyone about Gabe or what we’d done today. She wouldn’t betray me.
“Well, I was hiking and I swung by her place, but she wasn’t there. So I decided to come home,” I said, trying to back pedal my story.
“Sit down, Lizzy.”
Granny pulled out an empty chair from the kitchen table, the legs squeaking against the old wooden floor. I sat delicately on the edge of the chair, gluing my eyes to Granny’s green coffee mug on the table. This wasn’t good. Granny had never asked me to join any of the meetings with the elders. She knew something was up.
“Kate shared an interesting story with us.”
Granny picked up the mug and lifted it to her mouth, drawing my eyes to her face. Her lips were set in a hard line. A cold anger burned in her eyes, the kind I’d never seen before. I quickly averted my eyes.
Sarah shifted in her seat next to me. She cleared her throat and leaned toward me.
“Do you know what Kate told us?” she asked in her squeaky voice.
I shook my head. It was better to learn what they knew than to spill my guts.
“Kate told us that you’re keeping a pet in the woods,” Granny barked.
My stomach sunk even lower, if that was at all possible. Kate had broken her promise. She’d turned me in. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to forgive her.
“A dangerous pet,” Sarah added. She placed a hand on my back. “Come on, Lizzy. We need you to be honest.”
I sighed and shook my head. Even if they already knew, I couldn’t tell them about Gabe. It would be like I’d turned him in myself.
“So, it’s true?” Granny slammed her mug back to the table, a splash of coffee flying onto the kitchen table. “You’ve got a demon out there? How could you do this to your family?”
Tears began to spill from my eyes. I wasn’t sure if they were from frustration or fear, but I knew it was over. There was no way Granny would let me go in the fall. Thanks to Kate, I was finished.
“Please,” I said, looking up and searching each of their faces. “Please, I don’t know why I did it. Don’t take away my college slot. I’ll do anything. I’m so sorry.”
The elders exchanged glances while I mopped the tears from my face with one of the leftover thanksgiving napkins Granny had piled on the table. The rest of them didn’t seem as angry as Granny. Maybe I still had a chance.
“We’ve decided to give you a pardon,” Sarah squeaked.
The other elders nodded in unison.
I looked up at Granny. “Really?”
“If you do one thing,” she replied with a firm nod of her head.
“Anything.”
She looked at the other elders and they nodded their heads again. Each of them set their mugs down in succession, the mood in the room turning somber.
Granny stood up and marched to the cutlery drawer. She pulled out the biggest knife we had and laid it on the table in front of me.
“You will lead me to your demon and then you will kill it.”
What seemed like only minutes later, Granny and I trudged back out into the southern woods. Only the fai
ntest light on the horizon remained, so we had our lanterns in hand. In Granny’s other hand was her old shotgun. She’d kept it behind her bedroom door all these years, oiled and ready. I guess it was her insurance piece for if I messed up.
The knife felt oddly heavy in my hand. I tried to forget about it, but the cold steel of the handle made me tremble with nerves. Killing Gabe was what I should’ve done days ago, but couldn’t. Not after the time we’d spent together. Not when he was so weak and ill.
But it was the only way to get the elders to forgive me. If I didn’t do it, I’d lose my college slot. I might even be thrown out of Hanna. It wasn’t like I had anyone on the outside that could help me. My mother had never revealed my father’s name. Granny’s family were long dead. I’d be homeless and broken, with nowhere to go.
The shack came into sight faster than I expected. It was dark and silent, the same way I’d left it. Granny marched me up to the door and peered inside as I walked in. Gabe was lying on the bed, his eyes open and alert. He began to sit up when he saw me, but froze as soon as he caught sight of Granny and her shotgun.
“This is the abomination?” Granny growled. She looked him over from head to toe, pausing only to take a second look at the tattoo on his chest. “Take him outside. We’ll do it there.”
She shoved me forward and aimed her gun straight at Gabe’s heart. He sat up as best as he could with the ropes still holding him down, and watched me begin to untie his wrists from the bedpost.
“Lizzy, what’s going on?” he asked.
“Shut up,” Granny yelled. “We don’t need any of your sly tongue. Speak again, and I’ll shoot you where you stand.”
He closed his mouth in a grim frown and looked at me. I couldn’t help the tears that were falling down my cheeks. This was going to be even harder than I’d imagined on the way out here. I wasn’t a killer. Even if he was truly evil, he didn’t deserve to die like this.
“Hurry up, child.” Granny swung the barrel of the shotgun at the door. “I’d like to get out of here before I die of old age.”
I managed to untie the rest of the rope, even though my hands were shaking. Gabe followed me out the door, tripping only once on his sore and stiff legs. Already, I could tell the medicine had done wonders. His face no longer flushed with fever and he looked stronger. The muscles in his back rippled as he stretched and tested his shoulder.
“On your knees,” Granny spat. She pointed the gun at his chest until he complied, then backed up a few steps. “Okay, Lizzy. This is your chance. Do this, and all will be forgiven.”
I swallowed and took the knife Granny had given me from its sheath. Gabe’s green eyes grew big as he spotted the silver glinting in the yellow light of the lanterns. In the distance, a coyote howled and its pack answered back with yips and barks.
“Please, Granny. Don’t make me do this.”
This was like a nightmare. Maybe if I pinched myself, I’d wake up and this would all be gone. Maybe even Gabe would be gone. For some reason, that thought made me profoundly sad.
“Get on with it. Times a wasting,” she answered back.
I placed the blade next to his neck, pressing it softly against the skin. He blinked up at me while his jaw tensed. Even in the dim light of the lanterns, I could read the expression in his eyes. He was telling me that I didn’t have to do this. That I could let him go. But he didn’t understand what would happen if I did.
The blast of Granny’s shotgun nearly made me jump out of my skin. The knife dangled from my fingertips as I tried to keep myself from bolting. She pumped the gun and aimed it at Gabe once again.
“Next time, I won’t be shooting into the air, child. Now do as you’re told. Kill him.”
I closed my eyes. Even though the women of Hanna had raised me – even though they were the only family I had, I knew what I had to do. I refuse to become a monster. I wouldn’t become worse than the demon that kneeled in front of me.
“Get ready,” I whispered.
Gabe looked at me. The confusion on his face lasted only a second before he tilted his head slightly in understanding. I leaned down as if to put my weight into slicing his throat and instead, shoved the handle of the knife into his hand.
“Run!”
He was too fast for Granny to hit. In a blur, Gabe ran off into the dark, leaving her pointing her shotgun at my chest with a very sour expression on her face. If I’d thought any affection for me might make her go easy on me, in that moment, all those hopes expired. The look of hatred she gave me told me I was in far more trouble than I realized.
Chapter Ten
Granny shoved the thin white dress over my head and pulled it roughly down. She’d stripped me of all my clothes, and made me stand stark naked in the cold dark of our basement for almost an hour, before she brought the dress down to me. The elders were still there when we returned from the forest. From the look in their eyes, my punishment was going to be far more serious than taking away the college slot.
“Please, Granny, I have nowhere else to go,” I told her through my clenched teeth. “Don’t make me leave Hanna. I won’t survive.”
“I should’ve done this years ago.” Her voice was cold and harsh. “I knew the day your whore of a mother brought you into this world that you would attract evil. This is the only way to cleanse us of your abomination of a life.”
She shoved me up the stairs. I tripped and caught my hand on the wooden boards, scraping my palm and drawing blood. There was no time to cry about it. Granny was already right behind me with the shotgun in her hands.
The elders stood at the top of the stairs in long dark brown robes that fell to the ground. I couldn’t read the expression on their faces, which struck a spark of fear in my gut. They were going to toss me out of town without so much as a scrap of cloth or dollar in my pocket. I’d never imagined they could be that cruel.
“Please, don’t do this.” I fell to my knees and grabbed the bottom of Elder Sarah’s robe.
Her face didn’t change as she pulled the robe out of my grasp and backed away.
“You have disobeyed the goddess, Lizzy Redding,” Sarah squeaked. “She requires a sacrifice to atone for this sin.”
A sacrifice? Her words repeated in my head over and over again while they marched me outside and down the road to the empty campground where tourists stayed during the busy summer weekends. Right now, it was empty of tourists and full of Hanna’s townspeople. They were crowded around a makeshift wooden platform built on a dead tree. Piles of dry logs were strewn around the base of the tree with hay stuffed in between the gaps.
“Lizzy!”
I immediately recognized Kate’s voice coming from the crowd. She pushed her way through to me, grabbing my arm.
“I’m so sorry, Lizzy,” she sobbed.
I stared at her with no comprehension of what was going on.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she continued. “I’m so sorry.”
Faces and voices blurred together in my head like I was on the tilt-o-whirl at the county fair. Occasionally, a familiar face would jump out at me. There was Ms. Undine, my first grade teacher. In the back was Dr. Richt. Queenie grabbed my hand at one point and pulled me into a quick hug. That was all I could process, as they marched me up to the platform and tied my arms behind the dead tree.
“Lizzy Redding, do you deny the charges of assisting a demon and setting it free?” Granny’s voice rang out above the hubbub of the crowd. She leaned on the hilt of her gun, chewing slowly on the inside of her cheek.
“Nn…nn…nooo,” I stuttered. What else was there to say?
The first few drops of rain fell on my face from the rolling clouds above us. A storm was moving through the Black Hills. In the distance, a lighting strike lit up the sky.
“You have broken one of the goddess’ greatest laws,” Granny called. “You were given a chance to redeem yourself and you spat in the face of our goddess. For that, the punishment is death.”
Her words didn’t regi
ster with me at first. Death? But only hours ago, all I’d been worried about was losing the college slot. They couldn’t kill me. That was ridiculous.
I stared down into the crowd that had gathered around my feet. Many of the women looked up at me with anger burning in their eyes. Kate was standing in the back with her mother, their arms around each other. From the light of their lanterns, I could see the tears running down Kate’s swollen face. That’s when it truly began to sink in – I was going to die.
“Granny, please,” I wept. “Please don’t. I’m so sorry.”
She ignored me and took a handful of hay from the pile beneath my feet, holding up her favorite Zippo lighter next to it. With a pang of horror, I realized what the wood and hay was for. They were going to burn me alive. Just like a witch.
The hay caught fire in an instant and Granny threw it on the pyre. Flames began to lick at the sides of the platform, throwing sparks in the air.
“Lizzy Redding, this is your just punishment,” Elder Sarah called out. “Pray that the goddess would save your soul.”
I shook my head back and forth. If this was the goddess’ punishment, I didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Besides, I wasn’t sure if I even believed in some mystical goddess that supposedly protected the women of our town. I’d been preached to all my life, but never actually seen any proof of her. That didn’t stop the women who stood at my feet from crying out for the goddess to punish me.
The flames grew higher, licking at my bare feet. The heat was becoming unbearable. Somewhere, somebody started screaming. The noise hurt my ears, it was so loud and desperate. With a start, I suddenly realized the screaming was coming from my own throat. Panic had driven me out of my mind.
The logs at the bottom of the pyre collapsed, sending a spray of ashes and sparks flying high into the air. It was sprinkling now, but not enough to dampen the inferno burning around my heels. I was dying.
My own grandmother was killing me. It didn’t seem possible. All for saving one demon? A demon with green eyes that could look straight into your soul. A part of me hated him for coming into my life, but another part of me knew that it had been worth it.
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