by Jasmine Walt
The Mort girl is out of keys and one of the guards is lunging toward her now. Vanessa grabs the door and digs her fingertips into the space between the door and the wall. My attention is ripped away from her when the first guard that attacked me grabs my arm.
I spin around and kick him in his shin, just below the knee. Something cracks. I’m frozen, stunned by my own strength, though I know I am still not restored to my Ankou abilities or we would be out of here by now.
Vanessa rips the door open as more guards approach. Another two wait on the other side of the door. We’re surrounded. She tackles them, letting out a war cry. I know he won’t last long in her hands, but we’ll never win this battle with so many guards outnumbering us.
Still, we will fight. We’ll fight even when it seems hopeless, because this is our only chance. If we don’t escape now, they will kill us for trying, just as I will kill them if I must—if that’s what it takes to survive.
One of the guards clips me in my mouth, and the metallic taste of blood pools along my gums. I stumble back, but the icy air against my fevered skin delivers a stronger impact than my opponent. It revives me, and I charge toward the guard, knocking him back into the hall’s cold stone walls. His head cracks on impact, and his blood trails along the rough stones, but the injury only disorients him. He stomps toward me again. I swing at him, but he blocks and grabs me by the throat.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a Mort I can use to my advantage, but I can barely breathe and struggle to concentrate long enough to move him. The guard squeezes tighter. I kick at him, but he doesn’t so much as flinch. My arms flail at him uselessly. My vision darkens, and my head buzzes as I fight to hold on to consciousness. I can’t let go. I can’t let things end here.
I thrust every last bit of my energy into moving the Mort, but by the time I’ve succeeded, I don’t have the strength to compel him to my will.
The young Mort girl I compelled earlier uses the strength of her stocky male host body to push my attacker off of me. I flop to the ground but waste no time working my way back to my feet, trying once more to compel the Mort I moved into my attacker. It’s useless. He’s still moving after me, and I realize my ability is not fail-proof.
Frantically, I search for more Morts I can move, but none stand out to me. But then I see it. Two Morts staring at one another with a murderous glint in their eyes. They communicate in grunts. The threatening vibe they give off peg them as enemies, and I waste no time moving their spirits into two of the guards.
Immediately they lunge for one another, which not only eliminates two guards from our concern but also distracts the other guards, who try to break it up. They receive a few blows in their efforts and soon have joined in the brawl. They’re diverted enough to get us through the second door, and we pound our way up the wooden steps beyond. Only one of the guards tries to follow, but he’s unable to work past the fight that clutters the narrow hall.
At the top of the steps is an empty courtroom. I stop dead. This is definitely the way out, but only if we want to draw attention to ourselves. I press the door at the top of the steps closed and Vanessa helps me barricade it with a bench that I doubt will hold for long. Then I lead Vanessa and the Mort girl in the guard’s body toward the back of the courtroom, looking for an exit that won’t deposit us into the middle of the town. All I can find is a small window.
Light pours in. Outside, the daylight is fresh. Bright. Clean. It’s like lemonade and fresh linens. I wish more than anything that peaceful, cotton-white light was safe for me, but in reality, daytime is the worst time for escape, for more reasons than one.
The door to the cellar rattles forcefully. I open the window and help Vanessa out onto the frosted ground. The Mort girl, in the guard’s body, struggles to fit, but I push and Vanessa pulls until she is through. The cellar door bursts open and three guards, bloody and already bruising, stumble out, falling on top of one another but scrambling to their feet. I climb out the window and take off.
We’re out. Free. And yet, I don’t feel any better. Nothing will be the same. The things we have left behind...they cannot be replaced.
Still, I do the only thing I can do.
I run into the daylight.
18
Late February, 1692
We need to get to the shade without being seen. I run as fast as humanly possible, because that is still all I am capable of. The iron poisoning most likely won’t cure completely until I get my hands on some nightshade, and now is not the time to hunt down plants. I have to reserve what little spotty magic I have left to move the Mort girl out of this guard’s body.
Our escape will most certainly attract some attention from the other townsfolk, but they wouldn’t have seen us yet. The forest is just ahead—shade, shelter, safety. Something to hide the hideous, amniotic wings that flutter behind me.
“Hey!” a man’s voice shouts behind us.
He’s too late. We’re in the woods now and a good enough distance away to get ourselves lost here. By the time they assemble a search team, we could be anywhere. I know that won’t stop them from trying, but I breathe a little easier.
Ahead of me, Vanessa navigates between the trees as though it’s home. I am practically dragging the Mort girl behind me, the body she possesses sloppy and weak. We run until my sides ache, until my legs stop burning and go numb. We run until my body threatens to collapse, until my lungs feel as though they are bleeding, and until my heart stabs in my chest. I’m nearly delirious, and then we run more.
Vanessa stops by a cluster of trees, and I slow to meet her. I give her a long look, then turn to the guard’s body.
“Thank you,” I say to the girl inside. “But you know you can’t stay here, don’t you?”
The guard’s Adam’s apple bobs, and his head nods. I can almost see the young girl trembling inside of him. Moving the girl does risk the life of the body she possesses. That’s what William had said. If we move a Mort that has possessed a human, the body may die. But this Mort deserves a future more than a man who would turn a blind eye when Salem’s people are mistreated.
“It won’t be bad,” I promise. “May I?”
The guard’s head nods again, and I step forward, placing my fingertips on the scalp. His chest freezes—the Mort girl is holding her breath, bracing herself for the part that is unfairly cruel right now. My nails slice into the scalp—she can’t feel it, but she will know the true end is near. The air around us vibrates.
Please let this work.
I can feel my powers fizzing in and out. I’m still weakened by the iron, but my Ankou abilities are there, somewhere.
It takes all of my energy to conjure the ability to do what must be done. I close my eyes and let my core guide me through some unknown space, some space I’ll never understand, a tunnel that is dark yet comforting.
The Mort girl doesn’t fight. That weird thing that happened with my teeth when I tried to save Verity doesn’t happen.
“We’re almost there,” I whisper, although I’m not sure if she can hear me in this place.
We arrive on the embankment of a water hole. Elephants wade lazily through the water. A young woman with elegant bones, a kind face, and dark skin carries a basket at her hip. A small girl carrying sticks teeters behind her.
What I know that this gentle mother does not is that her child’s heart is about to fail. And when that happens, her human spirit will be plucked from this world. But the life of that child is not over. Within moments, the time has come, and the Mort girl at my side is given a new home and a new life. It is a miracle no one will ever know or hear about. And as they walk away, I realize I never learned the girl’s name. I don’t know a thing about the girl who saved my life.
Then I’m back at Vanessa’s side. I vomit in a bush and fall to the ground. The move took more out of me than I had. At my side, the guard is still on the ground, and I don’t know when he will wake. Or if he will wake. I don’t check for a pulse—don’t care to know if I’ve kil
led him, because I can’t handle the guilt if I have.
An annoying tingle in my stomach and throat turn to outright pain. I feel as though I have been ripped inside out. I curl in a ball and squeeze my eyes shut. Vanessa crouches beside me and rubs my arm.
“Abigail? Abigail, what’s wrong?”
She doesn’t know me as Cordovae, but she certainly knows by now that I’m different. That I’m like her, but not like her. An elemental, but a different race. If it hadn’t been evident by the hideous wings that the sunlight reveals, it must have been by my disappearance just now as I delivered the Mort girl to her new life.
“Abigail!” She’s more frantic now.
“Nightshade,” I say through trembling lips. God, please let that be enough.
“Nightshade?” Her voice sounds far away. “Nightshade! Right. Hang in there.”
It feels as though minutes pass before she actually leaves, but perhaps it was only moments. She hesitates, but once she leaves, she moves with urgency.
I just hope she makes it back to me before the settlement’s men find me first.
I’m falling into blackness, but this time, the dark does not comfort me. This is a cold, ominous dark that will end with more darkness instead of new light. I want to apologize to William for failing him. I want to apologize to Tess for not getting to know her better, for thinking of her as mean instead of seeing her hurt. I want to forgive my parents that they weren’t stronger somehow, for their bodies hurting and neglecting me, but I can’t separate them from the Morts. I can’t stop blaming them. Most of all, I want to be whole, but I am broken, and a huge piece of me is missing—Anna. Nothing in this world can be good if she’s not safe.
A woman’s voice rattles outside of me. “Abigail.”
I moan.
Someone—I hope it’s Vanessa—grabs me by my arm and pushes me onto my back. “Come on, wake up.”
She shakes me. She presses something against my chest—her ear, I think, because her hair tickles my arm. She tugs my chin, opening my mouth, and presses something inside. My mind stirs. Nightshade.
She did it.
Vanessa.
I’m not yet strong enough for words.
“You’re going to be fine,” she says, placing more nightshade into my mouth.
It’s sweet but tart. I can taste again. The nectar of the flower bites my tongue but soothes the ache of my mouth and throat. A small vibration—the feeling of life—buzzes through me. I blink my eyes open and attempt to sit up, but fall back. Vanessa catches me.
“I’m sorry,” I manage to say, awash with guilt that she has to care for me right now when I know she has to be more broken than I am.
And yet, I don’t know that it’s just her I’m apologizing to. It’s everyone.
“Don’t be sorry,” she says. “You saved me. And you will save many more. I know it.”
She’s wrong, though. How can I save anyone if I can’t save myself?
Though I feel more stable now that I have eaten, my energy and strength have not returned enough to use my Ankou abilities to travel beyond what I have already done. Moving that Mort girl took everything out of me. I nudge the body of the guard. He’s still alive, but barely.
“We need to go,” I say to Vanessa. “Before he wakes up.”
We trudge by foot. It’s probably for the best. I need to keep careful not to trigger their attention as much as possible. I can’t help but hurry my step toward Tess’ cabin. They need to hear what happened. They’ll know what to do next. I won’t feel safe until I find them.
I grab a hiking stick to help guide our path, to check for traps and wild animals and snakes as we travel. My instincts tell me where to go, and yet something else in my gut tells me not to go any further. To stay away. But I can’t. I need to get back to Tess and William. They need to know what I’ve seen, and they need to help me finish what I am called to do so I can get out of here. I don’t belong here. Surely they will see that now.
I stay to the shade as much as I can, but there are times I must traverse through sunlight. I move quickly. Passing through the sun is painful. Not in a scorching way, as it must be for the Cruor before the sun consumes them completely. Instead, the sun hurts me through unbearable pressure, cutting through the chill of winter on my skin.
Vanessa never looks at my wings, and I wonder if it is because she finds them too grotesque, or if it’s because she cannot see them. I try to remember what William and Tess told me, but I’m too tired to think straight. I know humans can see my wings, but what about other elementals? I suppose it doesn’t matter now. Vanessa already knows the truth about me, and she’s just as inhuman as I am.
I hear voices, and I freeze. Vanessa’s eyes meet mine. She must hear them, too. They are on the other side of this wall of trees, and when I peek through, my stomach lurches, and I cover my mouth so to suppress a gasp.
Vanessa takes a look, then shakes her head sadly.
“What is it?” I whisper.
“Ankou.”
I shake my head vigorously. They are too hideous to be Ankou. The Ankou still look human. These things...they’re gray with enlarged skulls and razor teeth.
Anxiety sinks into the pit of my stomach. My teeth had gotten like that once. I wasn’t going to...to turn into them...was I?
“How?” I ask finally.
“Come,” she says, “you need shelter.”
She grabs my arm and hurries me away from the supposed Ankou’s campsite. When we’re a few yards away, she whispers, “They were exposed to too much sun and tried to reverse the effects by drinking Strigoi blood.”
“How can you be sure?” I ask.
She levels her gaze at me in a way that imparts the mindlessness of my question.
“Oh...”
“Right,” she says, nodding. “As Strigoi, we are raised on what to look out for. In this world, everyone is a predator, and everyone is prey. Survival means knowing who would kill you to live themselves.”
I shiver and squeeze my own arms. I wish William and Tess were here. I always feel safer with them. As much as I appreciate Vanessa’s wisdom, I don’t see her as capable of helping much if we are attacked.
“We should pick up the pace,” I say, just wanting to get back to Tess’ cabin as quickly as possible.
“Of course,” she says, and we hike on with a little more urgency than before.
Wind howls around the trunks of trees and disturbs the crunchy leaves of the forest path. Winter birds squawk their protest in the soughing winds. Vanessa, however, is silent. I don’t know what to say to her, and I don’t think she wants to say anything more to me. Talking right now, it hurts. It hurts the heart, the soul. I try not to look at her because I’m not sure what I might see in her eyes, and I worry what she might read on my face. Would she resent my pity?
William and Tess were right. Whatever you do in this world, you have to fight. I had waited too long, and because of that, Vanessa’s baby is dead. This isn’t a world where you wait for opportunity. This is a life where you keep moving, keep trying, keep fighting. I’ll never forgive myself, but somehow, Vanessa forgave me enough to save my life. She could have kept going and left me for the men of the settlement to find.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “For not getting you out of there sooner. For not...”
“You can’t do that,” she says.
I freeze and glance back at her, immediately regretting it when I see the tears in her eyes.
“They did this to me. Not you.”
A stinging knot lumps in my throat, and my eyes water. I try to pinch back the tears. My voice will crack if I try to speak.
“Please,” she says, taking my hand. “Don’t let my son’s death be for nothing.”
I can’t look at her anymore. I turn away, letting my hand drop from hers. “The cabin is just ahead,” I say, my voice cracking and uneven. “I’ll make you something to eat, if you want.”
I don’t disillusion myself into thinking she missed my emotion, but
as it stands, she likely already thinks I’m mentally unwell. How many times has she seen me in the trance-like state of having a fragment?
When we reach a small creek, I spot the familiar makeshift bridge constructed of stones and thick branches and old planks of wood, and we cross to where there’s a break in the trees that I also recognize. We’re close.
I veer from our path through the small space and tread over thin, wiry branches and vines that have knotted together on the forest floor. We climb a hill, and I see Tess’ cabin a short ways off. I look in every direction, but see no one. Vanessa and I hike over. It’s too quiet. Shouldn’t I hear them? Has it always been this silent here?
Anxiety creeps in. What if they aren’t here? Does that mean they went to the location William told me to travel to if I didn’t find them here? I can’t bear to think about sitting around an empty cabin, waiting for the darkness so that I can hike even farther to find them. I’ve sat around waiting for too long. I need to see them.
I hurry my step, until soon I am running, my heart pounding erratically in my chest. The closer I get to Tess’ cabin, the more unsettled I am. I need to talk to them. I need them now.
I burst through the door. The quiet is painful, but it’s not the worst of what I find.
The table is overturned. Tess’ cooking pot is on its side across the room. The mattress is sliced open. Cabinets are emptied, the contents strewn across the floor. A plate of stew has tumbled from the table, spilling herbed water and chunks of meat onto the dirt.
The doll William gave me for Anna lays in the middle of the floor, limbs bent in unnatural ways. Tossed aside. Discarded. Unimportant to whoever destroyed this place. William and Tess are nowhere to be seen.