“Avery…Sadler.”
“Huh.” She turned to me. “So you’re properly back, eh?”
No. I’m here for as long as it takes me to figure out where Andrew is.
What could I say? Given the news, how could I bring up Andrew’s disappearance without distressing her even further?
“Kitty,” Avery said, quite gently. “Is Andrew about? We just need to talk to him.”
Her thumb picked up its pace. “No. He ain’t here no more.”
“But he was?” Avery pushed. “Not too long ago?”
“I saw ’im yesterday. Least, I thought I did, but Aunt Jule tells me I’m imagining things ’cause of…of Billy. So I dunno.”
“Was he alone?”
“No. Some girl was with ’im, I think she left when he did. Typical Andrew, ain’t it?” She snorted, but there was no mirth behind the gesture. “Nothin’ like you, Evelyn. Shortish. Weird hair, like it’d been straight-ironed. Nice dress, though, and a pretty shawl. You know her?”
“Oh, yes.” I glanced at Avery. “We know her.”
“What about a boy?” Madon interjected, dropping his sentry post. “Was there not another boy with them?”
“I was gettin’ to that.” Kitty frowned. “Aren’t you the surveyor?”
“Was there a boy?” he repeated, harsher.
I didn’t need to hear her answer. The boy in question stood perhaps ten yards away, dressed in nothing but grimy workers’ overalls and a tatty shirt, with a pistol levelled directly between Kitty’s shoulder blades. Catching my eye, he smiled and raised a finger to his lips.
“I think I saw someone else,” Kitty was saying. “But like I said, I been muddled. He looked kinda like the girl, but…nicer. She scared me. I dunno what Andrew was doin’ with her. They were gone again ’fore I could talk to ’im. What’re you all starin’ at?”
“Nothing, nothing,” I said, taking her hand before she could turn around. “Um, do you know where they went? Did Andrew seem all right?”
Deio didn’t lower the pistol. I tried to ignore him, to focus on Kitty, but this was far easier said than done. Madon didn’t seem sure how to react, and Avery, like me, was steadfastly snubbing him.
“I think I heard ’em mention London. But they both seemed kinda worked-up. You sure there ain’t nothin’ behind me?”
“Quite, quite sure.”
Deio made a gesture with the weapon, and behind me, Madon made a show of proving he was unarmed. I heard a click.
“Why don’t you two take Miss Rogers inside?” Madon suggested.
“If any of you move,” Deio countered, still smiling, “I’ll fire all six of these bullets into her heart.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kitty gave a cry of alarm, wrenching away from me and spinning around. She screamed again when she saw the gun. “That’s him! That’s—”
“You’re the only dispensable person here, Miss Rogers, so if you value your life at all, you’ll not say another word,” Deio said politely.
“What do you want?” Avery asked with some of the deadpan insolence he used to aim at Tressa.
Deio exhaled, shoving one hand into his pocket and continuing to level the pistol with the other. “Isn’t that just the question? I’ll admit, you’ve really thrown a wrench this time, Avery.”
“Thanks. It’s my speciality.”
Kitty squeaked, covering her mouth.
“And you—” Deio glanced at Madon—“you, just can’t seem to choose which side you’re on. Blood oath or no blood oath, Demitra will kill you when she realizes you risked everything to save him. If you were going to do it, why not take Penny?”
“It’s always about bloody Penny,” Avery muttered.
“I’ve watched them far more closely than you,” Madon hissed. “I know what I’m doing.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Deio took a step forward, shifting his gaze back to Kitty. “Pity about your brother, by the way. My condolences.”
His finger tightened around the trigger.
“Where’s Andrew?” I said, moving directly in front of Kitty. “Why did you leave?”
“Ah, you’re so clueless that it’s almost endearing.”
Again he was mocking! Having proven to myself what I was capable of back at the flat, it was all too tempting to gather the Others and show Deio that he wasn’t toying with a helpless child anymore. As it was, I could only use my confidence to persuade him not to shoot me.
“Please move, Evelyn.” His smile hardened. “Miss Rogers has seen and heard a tiny little bit too much.”
“I won’t tell no one anythin’,” Kitty whispered. “Promise.”
“I believe you.” The wind tugged at Deio’s auburn hair, and for a moment, he looked like the friendly poster boys on the agricultural recruitment posters. “But as I heard you say, one more death, one less—it doesn’t matter either way.”
“If you do it,” I blurted, “you’ll have nothing left to bargain with.”
The pistol lowered, almost imperceptibly. “You’re willing to bargain?”
“You’re playing right into his hand,” Madon hissed from behind me, unable to keep the desperation from his voice. “Don’t be an idiot, girl.”
“I am not an idiot!” I shouted, loudly enough that Madon fell silent, and Avery and Kitty flicked me identical glances of alarm. Taking a deep breath, I repeated, “I’m not an idiot and neither are any of you. So please, let Kitty go, and we can talk like sane people. If you do this—and tell me where Andrew is—then Avery and I will go with you to Boundary, no more questions asked, and we can finish this once and for all.”
I was tired of waiting. I was starving, sleep-deprived, and finished with watching Madon and the Farthing twins taunt me with half-truths and promises wrapped around lies. I no longer cared about what ulterior motives Deio and Demitra had surrounding the fall of Boundary, and now Madon had made his position clear, they were once again my only option.
“Evelyn,” Madon warned.
Deio moved the pistol across to Madon and gave a short laugh. “All right. It’s your lucky day, Miss Rogers. Let’s hope we don’t meet again.”
Without a word, Kitty turned tail and ran towards the farmyard, her red headscarf fluttering to the ground in her wake. Although my heart ached to run after her, I steeled myself and faced Deio.
“Where is Andrew?”
Deio paused for a moment before tucking the pistol inside his jacket. “London.”
“London?”
“Yes.” His smile widened. “Don’t worry. Demitra is with him.”
That, of course, was far from comforting. “Why? Is he okay? What are you—?”
“I said I’d tell you where he was,” Deio interrupted, “and I have. Shall we get going?”
He began walking out into the fields, hands in his pockets, heading for the distant hedge-lined horizon. Avery and I locked eyes in mutual agreement and had started to follow when a hand reached out and seized my upper arm.
“You’ll kill them,” Madon said. I could feel him shaking. “It’s too late. The Boundary is far too unstable, and if you try to take it down, it will collapse and kill them.”
“That’s your own damn fault for taking Avery, isn’t it?” Deio called, not turning around. “Come on, you two, keep up.”
“They only want to save Penny. They’ll let the others die. Better your friends are alive and trapped than dead.”
“Debateable,” Avery muttered.
I shook away from Madon’s grasp. I’d never seen him look so panicked before; not when Penny activated the trials too early, not when the Farthing twins began intervening, not when Penny revealed she could Rip, and not even when I’d used the Others against him mere hours ago. He’d been relying on his ability to stop us, but he had forgotten one crucial detail: Harriet. Harriet, whether she knew it or not, was like me, and the Others felt it, massing around the farm just as they did in the Gloucester flat. He was powerless here.
“I wi
ll stop you,” Madon called furiously to our retreating backs. “I will.”
“He won’t,” said Deio.
I just focussed on my feet stumbling over the uneven ground and tried to forget the words,
‘You’ll kill them.’
We stopped in a copse of naked trees on the edge of the Pearson farm, out of sight of the road. Snow had started to fall from the stark grey sky, catching and melting in my eyelashes until it felt like I was crying. By now, I barely felt the cold.
“This should be far enough away,” Deio remarked. “Although you’re a better judge of that than I am. Are there many Others about?’
I cast out a mental net, then shook my head.
“Good.” To my surprise, Deio reached into his jacket and handed Avery the pistol. “Just in case. Unfortunately, it’s quite likely Madon will try to interfere at some point, and I’m under a blood oath not to harm him.”
Avery turned the pistol over in his hand, clearly surprised too. “I don’t even know how these work.”
“Point and pull the trigger,” Deio said. “I trust you’ll use it as necessary.”
Avery’s jaw set as he nodded, and I knew that he wasn’t lying. There was a reason why Deio had asked him over me.
“Now that’s taken care of, we should get going. It’s impossible to Rip anywhere without weakening the barrier, but…” Deio smiled his wide, dark smile. “We can’t afford to let Madon beat us there.”
So for the second time that day, I closed my eyes to the nausea and reopened them somewhere else.
And that somewhere else was the woods of Boundary.
Head spinning, it took me a moment to focus on my surroundings. A layer of snow covered the ground, and ice hung from the black trees like decorative crystals, where nothing moved except for a single crow perched overhead. It felt like I’d stepped into a twisted monochrome photo.
“I hate that sensation,” Avery grumbled, hauling himself to his feet from where he’d fallen.
“If it were comfortable, everyone would do it,” Deio said lightly. “Now, we’re a good mile out—else we would’ve dragged far too many Others with us—so we’ll have to go for a little hike.”
There were no paths this deep within the woods, but winter had culled any undergrowth that might have made walking difficult. Aside from occasional thickets of dead brambles and hidden ditches blocking our way, we made quick progress. Avery and I hung a few paces back from Deio. I realized that I hadn’t asked his input on whether or not we were doing the right thing, though I supposed now was too late to ask; besides, Avery wasn’t the sort to go along with a plan he didn’t agree with. So instead, I brought up the other issue that was bothering me.
“Do you think Andrew is all right?”
Avery shrugged. “I’ve never met him or Demitra. Who would you put your money on?”
“That’s not what I’m saying,” I said, stung by the flippancy of his tone. “I meant…I could’ve bartered harder to find out what they’ve done with him. But I didn’t, and I worry…”
I worried because I’d proven to myself that I was willing to sacrifice him, if only for a time, to get closer to my friends. I worried because I was someone notorious for being sweet and innocent, yet there was a clear hierarchy in my head concerning who I’d let live and die if it ever came down to it. Andrew had abandoned his family for me. I had abandoned Andrew for mine.
“Don’t worry,” Avery said. “We’ve been over this. They’d gain nothing by hurting him.”
“He knows what they are. He knows far more than Kitty, and look what nearly happened to her.”
“Fred and Andrew are both about to fall off a cliff. You can only save one. Who do you save?” Avery asked, sounding almost bored.
“Fred,” I said automatically. “But that’s a horrible, horrible question, and I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Why can’t I save both of them? Why is there no other option?”
“That’s it, right there.” Avery flashed a faint grin, pushing my side as if we were ten again. “You said you’d save Fred before you even asked if there was another option. Savage, eh?” My face must’ve betrayed my dismay, because the grin faded into something softer and he said, “Don’t worry, Evelyn. Focus on what we’re doing now.”
Right. Bringing down Boundary. In a matter of hours, I could be with Fred, Penny, Tressa and Lucas again…
I bumped into the side of a tree and sent a cloud of snow spinning into the air. Deio stopped and turned around.
“I can hear you two talking, by the way.”
“Good,” I shot back.
“Speaking like that, I wonder if you could almost understand why we’ve done what we’ve done.” Deio began walking again, almost sauntering. “Of course, trying to justify—”
He broke off.
I stared, wondering if he’d seen something. Madon, maybe? But the woods remained silent and still.
Avery frowned. “Deio?”
Nothing. It was as though he’d been frozen solid.
I walked up to him tentatively. “Are you…okay?” Not that I care.
Deio gave a strangled gasp and stumbled, leaning into a nearby tree. The Cheshire Cat smile had vanished, replaced with the sort of twisted grimace I’d seen on Andrew whenever his leg began acting up.
“Are you hurt?” Avery demanded.
“I don’t get hurt,” Deio spat from between clenched teeth. Then he doubled over with another gasp.
“Right, well, whenever you’ve finished not being hurt, can we keep moving?”
I hovered, unsure of what to do. There was no blood, he hadn’t fallen, and no one else was around. Yet Deio never showed emotion, not aside from his false politeness, and it was clear the pain contorting his face was perhaps the first real thing he’d ever let us see.
“Deio, what’s happening?”
“Burning,” he choked. He’d gone white. “I…I feel…this shouldn’t be…”
Deio’s eyes squeezed shut, his breathing becoming more and more ragged. I feel. He’d said those two words with such terror that if it had been anyone else, I would’ve felt sorry for him. Despite it all, I almost did.
“What can we do?” I asked, crouching down and trying to ignore the snow seeping through my shoes. “You have to tell us what’s wrong.”
“We’ve got to…” Deio took a deep, shuddering breath and staggered to his feet. “We’ve got to keep going. Whatever’s happening, we…we can’t let it stop us.”
“That’s all fine and dandy, mate,” Avery said, “but you look like death.”
“Madon’s not around?”
“No,” I said, after scanning the bare woods. “No, it’s just us.”
“Someone is attacking me.” Little by little, Deio’s cool mask returned, although his skin retained a sickly pallor and I could see the pain flashing behind his eyes. “I don’t know how. This shouldn’t happen—not to me.”
But I hadn’t been lying; there was no one around. I could feel the hum of the Others, growing thicker the closer we got to Boundary, but they weren’t doing this. Even Madon couldn’t hurt someone from so far away.
How could it be an attack?
Twenty-Three
After a short time, the pain seemed to fade. Deio straightened, fixed his jacket, and surveyed the woods for himself, irritation not enough to hide his confusion.
“Someone must be here,” he growled, more to himself than to us.
“It couldn’t have been a Rip,” I said. “The Others didn’t react.”
Deio stared at me and I noticed he was still shaking. “They didn’t?”
“Maybe it’s you.” Avery had already begun walking again. “Maybe you’re sick.”
Deio mouthed the word impossible.
“You’re all right to keep going?” I asked awkwardly. I couldn’t bring myself to be sympathetic, but the rational side of me knew that we couldn’t do this with Deio sufferi
ng. He certainly didn’t look all right.
“We can’t let it stop us,” he repeated. But when he made to follow Avery, all the languidness was gone from his stride; he moved like he hadn’t walked in years.
I glanced up at a crow which had been hopping from branch-to-branch following us. It cawed once and flew off, sending another plume of snow shimmering into the air.
Boundary. We had to focus on Boundary.
Even though I’d never seen the forest cloaked in snow before, the atmosphere surrounding Boundary was strong enough that I’d have been able to pinpoint it blind. I could feel the Others here; feel the odd static pressure wrapped around the trees; feel the increased sense of delicacy, almost, like if we trod too heavily then more than the icicles would break.
“Here’s the creek.” Avery dug a little hole with his foot and exposed a thin vein of frozen water. “Home sweet home.”
“Right.” Deio glanced over his shoulder at our trail of footprints, discomfort still evident, before returning to the creek. “Here’s how it works. The barrier between our world and theirs is thinnest right here—above the water—and thanks to Madon and Penny, it’s already nearly broken. It’s easier to break from the outside, but it’s also more dangerous because of the Others. You’ll be able to feel them, Evelyn?”
I nodded. They were everywhere, just waiting.
“Your job will simply be to keep them away from us,” he said. “Don’t underestimate how important that is. I’ll create a Rip in the barrier between our worlds, and Avery, you’ve got to stop Boundary from collapsing while they escape.”
Avery stared. “How do I even do that?”
“You can Rip, can’t you?”
“Barely.”
Deio stared right back, frowning. “But…oh, no matter. Demitra will be here soon and she can take over, but until then, just try to reinforce the Rips I make.”
“Reinforce,” Avery echoed, sounding thoroughly unconvinced. “Right.”
“I should also add that there’s a chance you might see things. Try to ignore them, all right?”
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