That niggling sense of unease blossomed into full distrust. This hadn’t been about giving me privacy. I’d known she was off. Dammit. I should’ve made Callon stay, even if he did bruise my pride a little.
I opened my mouth to yell before he got too far away, but she stopped me. “Just hear me out.”
I swallowed as she stared. One of the guys might not be too far away. Would they hear me if I did yell? Would they come? Callon might think it for the best to have this problem taken from his hands. Maybe I was better off letting her speak while she still thought there was someone out there willing to save me.
“What do you want?”
She laid a hand on my good leg. “I don’t want to harm you. I know you’ve been sold and I know the one you’ve been sold to. What I’m going to do is save you, but I’m going to need something in return.”
What were the odds that this woman knew anything? Logic said word hadn’t spread that fast, but that didn’t stop my heart from pumping so quick and hard that I thought my ribcage would burst open.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” This two-bit witch was not scamming me just because my face and body screamed that I was desperate.
“I saw how you looked at my boy when you came in. You’re the one.” There wasn’t a shred of doubt in her eyes. She was so intent that the boy in question edged closer, wondering what was going on.
“I didn’t look at him strangely.” I scooted back on the pillows, dislodging her hand. Was I going to have to use my good leg to kick her in the gut while I screamed bloody murder?
She followed, nearly leaning over me. “Tell me what you saw.”
“I didn’t see anything.” All I needed was to get out of here. The break would heal eventually. I didn’t need whatever crazy this witch was selling.
“The monster who comes for you will never let you go. If you want to survive this, I can help you.” She took my hand. “I’m going to save you. That man who carried you in, I know him and his people. He’s your answer. He could keep you safe if he had to.”
There was truth there. I’d seen it myself. Callon didn’t even fear the beasts. Turrock would be nothing to him. There was just enough bait on that lure to hook me into the conversation, even after I’d decided I wanted no part of it.
“But he doesn’t have to.”
“I can make it so that he does. I know what’s coming for you, and this is your only chance. I’ve heard things. The one that’s coming, he won’t give up. You won’t find another that can help you. It must be Callon.”
How many times had I heard crazy rumors at the village that had been all lies? Was I really going to let some woman claiming to be a witch with crazy eyes and a dying son lure me in?
“You know what? I think you’re full of it.”
She grabbed my shoulders. “Listen to me. You’re right. Do I sometimes take a coin I didn’t earn? Yes. I do what I have to, and so will you. Because I’m telling you, I know what is coming for you, and if you do this thing for me, I will help save you from this evil.” She released me and waved toward where her son was hanging back a few feet.
He made his way to his mother, and she put her arm around him. “I’m a witch. I know the power of words, and I swear, all I say is true on the life of my son.”
I’d seen her sobbing as he’d lain suffering in my vision. The agony his death caused her. She believed everything she was saying.
And now, so did I.
Chills shot through me. “What’s coming for me?”
“A man, if you could call him that. He’s more monster than anything now. There’s not many that would be able to protect you, but Callon and his men can.”
“And you can force him to protect me?”
“Yes.” She said it with desperation, as if her life was on the line.
But force? The word tasted like bitter poison on my tongue. How many times had I been forced to do something? Years stolen away, and I was going to turn around and do it to someone else now to save myself? Someone who, other than not wanting me around, hadn’t wronged me in any way? Was paying to have my leg healed? I might not like him, but he didn’t deserve this.
I shook my head, not trusting myself to say the word no, the temptation was so great. But I couldn’t do this to someone else.
“This has to be done, and we don’t have time. That smoke will block whatever things might be watching, but not for long. This must be done now.” Her hands were back to gripping me, fingers digging into my wrists.
“I can’t—”
“If you don’t, it will kill everyone and everything around you to get you. You must.” Her voice was frantic, her eyes scary.
Tuesday. My heart stopped beating. My skin grew clammy. Tuesday would never leave my side. I might not be willing to sacrifice Callon for me, but I’d sacrifice him and his men to save her. I owed her that. I owed Maura even more.
“What would I have to do?” I said, knowing as soon as the words left my mouth that I’d taken the first step toward hell.
Tuesday was going to get her wish, and she wasn’t even going to have to conjure up a miracle to get it. I’d made a deal with the devil instead.
9
I walked out of the tent on two good legs, and yet I was rockier on my feet than before she’d touched me. Callon would probably assume Hera had done a lousy job healing me, and I’d let him. It would save me telling him the true reason I felt like I’d been deboned. As for the shaking hands, I’d blame it on exhaustion and not the shock coursing through my body.
Had that really happened? A tremor shot up my spine, aftereffects leaking into my arms. I shook it off. I’d done what she’d told me. That was all. Don’t think of it. Do what you have to and think of what happened later, much later. Maybe never.
I walked across the packed earth, where Tuesday and Koz were waiting by themselves.
Tuesday saw me first. She squinted, as if the light were ruining her eyesight, and then her jaw dropped. Koz followed Tuesday’s stare.
I turned to Tuesday. Tears were streaming down her face. “You’re beautiful. She took it all away, every bad thing.”
“Teddy?” Koz asked. “I didn’t know Hera could do that kind of magic. She didn’t even heal the last bone right.”
My fingers went to my face, feeling the smooth skin. I’d known she’d done something to my face because I’d felt the tingles as the magic had burned there, and everywhere else. She hadn’t asked if I wanted my scars gone. She’d just done it, saying it was safer. She’d said it was one of the things people would be looking for as they hunted me.
Once upon a time, I’d dreamt of having a pretty face again. Being admired and beautiful. Now, as their eyes burned my skin, I wasn’t sure this was better. They weren’t seeing me anymore. Every mark was still there, carved into my soul so deeply that they’d never go away. The only thing that had changed was that no one else could see them. I felt like an imposter in a stranger’s skin.
“What’s going on?” Callon asked, coming up from behind me.
Keeping my back to him, I launched into what I’d been told to say before I lost my nerve. “Hera said the leg was on her because she owed you for the last thing that went wrong.”
She owed him even more for what we’d done. I wasn’t ready to break that to him yet. Wasn’t sure when I was going to be able to break that. That girl who’d wanted to live large and rage against the world was even telling me we weren’t quite ready for this fight yet. Plan. Think it through.
Telling him was going to be bad, worse than breaking a leg. Might be worse than breaking every bone in my body. I wasn’t sure what the fallout would be yet, but it would be intense. Had to be, because Callon was. I still couldn’t quite believe I’d gone along with this.
I heard more footsteps and then a gasp.
“Holy shit, what did she do to you?” Zink asked.
Callon stepped in front of me to see what the deal was. For someone who didn’t show much emotion, his eyes f
laring was the same as Koz running around and screaming.
My skin grew warm. Why I was embarrassed over not having scars? Still, my face grew hotter and hotter until I must’ve been beet red. When I couldn’t stand it anymore, I knelt down, tying a lace that was already tied.
“It’s not a big deal. She’s healed, is all,” Callon said, walking until his legs were in front of me.
“Hess can’t help himself. He doesn’t get close to too many girls,” Zink said, picking up on Callon’s vibe and moving the conversation along.
“Excuse me, but I think we all know how untrue that is—for me, anyway,” Hess said.
“You think you get more ass than me?” Zink shot back.
When I stood, Callon was facing me and his broad shoulders blocked me from the others. “Tuesday has some new stuff for you. Go duck behind a building and change before we take off.”
If he’d suggested that an hour ago, I would’ve rebuffed his gift. Now, I couldn’t wait to get away from them for a few minutes.
Tuesday’s hand was on mine. She tugged me behind the building that was closest. It backed up to the river and had a few trees around it.
She shoved a pair of pants, a new shirt, and a sweater at me. “Are you all right? You seem weird for someone who has, well, had some good shit happen for once. Why aren’t you smiling?”
“Yeah…” I gnawed on my lower lip, not saying anything about the amount of clothes I had. Bigger problems and all that.
I started undressing while I decided how I was going to break the news to her before we went back.
Tuesday leaned forward, staring. “Wow, they’re really all gone. That’s amazing.”
I yanked the new shirt on so quick that my arm got jammed up from not aligning with the sleeve right. And I could still feel her staring. My head poked out and I grabbed the sweater next. Layers would be good, considering this newfound scrutiny.
By the time my head popped back out, she said, “What else, though? You look like you did that time right before Turrock got sick.”
Figured Tuesday would put that together. She knew me better than maybe even Maura had. It had been my first try at retaliation. I’d taken a piece of decaying meat and put it in his water bucket when he wasn’t paying attention. He vomited that night like his insides were trying to escape his body, but he survived. I’d never actually uttered aloud what I’d done, but Tuesday always suspected I’d done something.
She held up the new pants for me. “You can tell me. You know I’d never betray you.”
“I know you wouldn’t.” She had plenty of chances and had always stayed true. She wasn’t the problem. It was what I’d done.
“But you aren’t ready?” she asked, watching as I put on the new pants. They were leather, like the guys had. I looked at her legs, and noticed she had leather ones too, just as we always said we’d get.
She noticed me looking and struck a pose, pointing out a hip one way and a leg the other way.
I tried to smile for her, but it didn’t last. I ran my hands through my hair and then crossed them in front of me. “I did something bad.”
Her mouth popped into an O. “How bad?”
“Bad enough that we won’t be going to the next village. They’re going to have to take us with them. But you can’t say a thing yet.”
Tuesday’s face transformed, and suddenly she was looking at me like she looked at Koz—the you’re a god part but minus the lust.
“Oh, Teddy, I love you.” Her arms were around my neck, squeezing tight while she jumped up and down. “How?”
“By doing some shit I can’t talk about yet.”
“I don’t care what you did. This is wonderful!” She stepped back so she could jump a few more times without me anchoring her down.
“I’m not sure this was a good thing.” I gnawed on the inside of my mouth. “You can’t say anything.”
“I won’t.” Her hands were gripped in front of her heart. “I’m meant to be with Koz. I know it.”
I grabbed her arm, trying to weigh her back down to earth. “Don’t. Say. A. Word.”
“Okay, okay.” She shook out her hands and then wiped the smile off her face.
“You’re good,” I said, hoping she could hold it.
We headed back, and I had to nudge her another five times to keep her from bouncing.
We walked out of the Gathering, and for the first time since I was twelve, I didn’t limp.
10
“When will we be getting to the next village?” I called out to Callon, who was about ten feet ahead of me and Tuesday. The rest of the guys followed behind us.
We’d been walking an hour before I spoke. I’d been afraid to ask earlier, as if he’d be able to smell my guilt, know I was counting down the seconds to doomsday. Because when we got to the next village, I’d have to tell him he couldn’t leave me there, or really anywhere, and I was expecting one hell of a blow-up.
“Not until the day after tomorrow.” He sounded casual enough as he continued walking.
He’d made it sound like the village he was bringing us to was closer. Hadn’t he?
Tuesday looked over at me at the same time I was turning toward her. Both of us had the same huh? expression. She shrugged. I nodded.
It worked to our benefit, so why bring up the fact that we’d thought it was only twenty miles away? Maybe the witch had been farther out than we’d thought. I wasn’t going to complain when it didn’t make a difference. He was stuck with us, and if I had a little more time to figure out the best approach to telling him that, it wasn’t so bad.
By the time we did stop, the sun was setting. Zink had the flames burning bright, and I edged as close as I could without setting my clothes on fire. Tuesday sat beside me, shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip, while fall felt like it was morphing into winter quicker than it should’ve. I kept my hands bunched in my lap, resisting the urge to touch my face again. The smooth skin was the only tangible thing I had that proved today had happened.
Koz was off hunting, again. I chewed on some dried meat he’d given us from his pack before he’d left.
“My stomach feels like a monster that can’t get enough,” Tuesday said, finishing up her last bite.
“Here. You can have the rest of mine.” I handed her what I had left. I could finally chew, but now my nerves were taking the edge off my hunger.
“You sure?” she asked, already reaching for mine.
“Yeah.” I couldn’t eat after what had happened back at the witch’s tent. Images kept sneaking in, and I told myself to not think about it.
“He’s staring at me again,” Tuesday said. “He stares at me every time I eat.”
“I told you. Chew faster.” I rested my hand on my chin, not looking at Callon. Pretending I didn’t feel his stare on both of us. I had bigger issues. If he had a food hang-up, that was the least of the problems. How was I going to tell him that he was stuck with me? Did I just spit it out now and hope for the best?
“Why does he always do that?” Tuesday continued.
I didn’t answer. I couldn’t focus on Callon watching her eat. Didn’t care unless he walked over and grabbed the food from her mouth. He might’ve had to beat her with it, too, before I could muster up anything for that situation.
I was staring at my shoes when a pair of boots entered my vision. I looked upward until I was staring at Callon’s face. Obviously, he wanted something, and since I currently wasn’t eating his food, I couldn’t imagine what.
There was no way he knew. No way. Right?
“Why do you keep giving your food away?” he asked.
“She was hungry. I wasn’t.” I put my chin back on my hand and waited for his legs to depart from view. If the guy got this crazy about food, what was going to happen when he heard about the real issue?
He stayed put. There was a flutter of movement as he crossed his arms in front of his chest, and I looked back up.
“I’m not going to carry you because you pass out from
hunger.”
I leaned back so I could look him in the face. “When that happens, you can say something or just leave me there.”
We were really going to fight over food. When he found out what I did…
“I’m saying something now.”
For the first time, I realized Tuesday was frozen next to me, the piece of dried meat still in her hands.
Now look what he’d done.
“Eat that,” I said.
She didn’t move her hand.
“Don’t give away one more bite,” Callon said to me, ignoring my poor little frozen friend.
What was up with him and food? He was starting with me at the wrong moment. I was a ball of pent-up energy looking for an outlet, and he was opening the door.
“I’ll give away every bite if that’s what I want to do.” I stood up on two sound legs, holding my spot even as he leaned in and crowded me.
That wild thing inside me had napped all damn day and was suddenly bursting with energy, thrilled to find a fight we were in the right about. “I don’t take orders, not from anyone.”
We squared off, neither of us moving. His chest was rising as rapidly as mine. I knew why I was mad, but I couldn’t figure out why he was so angry—not yet, anyway. It wasn’t even his dried meat we were eating. It was Koz’s.
Tuesday got up and tugged on my arm, putting the meat in my hand. “I’m really not hungry anymore. You should definitely eat this.”
“What’s going on?” Koz asked, as he walked into camp, a dead turkey hanging from his hand.
“Ah, shit. There’s more food. Does that mean the show’s over?” Hess asked.
I hadn’t realized Hess and Zink had been watching our little drama unfold.
Tuesday took the opening to grab my hand and drag me away a good twenty paces, right beyond the camp clearing. “Don’t fight with him like that. We need him. If he wants you to eat your food, eat it. He wants you to stand on your head while singing, do it.”
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