by Melissa Marr
Chastity folded her arms and looked from the builder to her sister. “Mr. Vaduva?”
“Damek,” he corrected. “To you, I am only Damek.” He caught and held Chastity’s gaze then as he added, “It is an honor to work in your nest.”
“Their nest?” Justine echoed. “Oh, the house. In English, it is house. A nest is what animals have.”
Damek motioned for Justine to come closer to him, but his gaze remained fixed on Chastity. “Do you wish me to do this work?”
“Yes.”
There was a moment when neither Bori nor builder moved, and then Damek turned to Justine. “Come here.” He pointed into the section of the wall that had been torn open. The drywall was gone, and a peculiar stone-and-wood structure was now alongside the original studs. The stone wall was already built almost knee-high.
“You see the beams. They are good beams. A structure must have the right support.”
Justine leaned forward and looked into the partially built wall. “I see.”
“No. You must come closer.” Damek stepped over the stone and stood in the opening. He laid one hand on the beam. “Inside is the support. This is where the strength comes from. In here.”
Then he stepped out and motioned for Justine to step into the opening. Obediently, she did.
“Look there... to the side.” Damek stepped closer, invading Justine’s space, and bodily blocking her exit from the partially built wall. He pointed. “Do you see the weakness of the beams? They need more support.”
Once Justine was looking away, Damek made a gesture at his side with one hand. Alison pulled a rope, pulling a board from above Justine and releasing the sludgy mix Damek required. It poured over Justine, who shrieked as she lost her balance.
“You idiot!”
“Hold still.” Damek reached out with both hands, but instead of steadying her, he wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed.
Eyes widened in fear, she stared at him as she clawed at his arms.
Once she crumpled, Damek looked toward Chastity. “You must hold her up.”
With one hand, Chastity pushed Justine backward until her shoulder was flush against the exposed beam behind her. Damek took Chastity’s other hand and put it on Justine’s throat. “Squeeze if she wakes.”
Damek knelt at Chastity’s feet and continued building the wall. He hummed softly as he worked, and he paused only to look admiringly at Chastity—who pretended not to notice.
Justine was walled in up to her hips when Chastity finally allowed her to stir. “What are you doing?” She pushed against Chastity’s grip. “Stop.”
“Support matters,” Damek told her with a frown. “My buildings... they never fall. You say you want to understand. You are learning a secret now.”
“No.” Justine slapped at them with hands caked in the clay mixture and scratched Chastity’s arms. Her fingernails gouged Chastity’s forearms, leaving behind tiny red cuts atop the thin scars already there.
“I share this secret.” Damek frowned. “Many years ago people understood. Now? Things have changed.”
Chastity nodded and shoved Justine more firmly against the wall. The ARB chair struck Damek and clawed at him, scraping her now-broken fingernails on his face. She grabbed Chastity’s wrists, bruising them. Damek and Chastity ignored her.
“It has. It’s not that I can’t appreciate the benefits, but I worry. The littles are so young, and this world . . . It was different before. I worry—” Chastity stopped herself.
Damek paused. “I understand.”
As they stared at one another, Justine shrieked and struggled against the stone, brick, and spell-laden mortar that now encased her legs. “You people are sick. You can’tdo this. People will notice. It’s—”
“People never notice. Sacrifice helps buildings,” Damek said.
“I won’t tell. I will sign your fence form and—”
“No,” Alison interrupted. “We needed someone with strong emotions. You are the right person for this job, Justine.”
There was a flash of sorrow in Chastity, but not so much that she would fail to do what must be done to keep her nest safe.
While Damek worked, he said, “People see that my buildings are good. They write the articles. Now, I build for people with money, and when it is important, I build some special things in the old ways.”
“No!” Justine tried futilely to dislodge the stones and bricks. “This isn’t happening.”
As Damek worked, the only sounds other than the grate of brick against brick or tool against stone were those of Justine’s mix of screams, objections, and pleas. Then, even those faded, and only the rhythmic scrape of tools remained.
Chastity watched the bricks as Damek built them up around the exhausted, yet still weeping ARB chairperson. Quietly, she spoke to Justine. “It is for the good of the community. You understand that, don’t you?”
Justine lifted her head and stared at Chastity. “You’re a monster.”
“Yes.” Chastity nodded. “Not so different from you. You wanted toprotect your community from fences and divisiveness...” Her words drifted away for a moment as she realized that she felt strangely sad. “I understand now. We both are trying to protect what we believe in. I have to protect my nestmates. The littles need safety, stability, a home... and you are helping provide that for them. Our home will be safe from any damage now. It cannot be broken into. Even our windows will not break.”
“You’re insane,” Justine said wearily.
Only her head was still exposed.
“No.” Damek lifted a trowel of mortar and carefully spread it on her face. “My buildings are safer. You make this building strong. Your rage. Your sorrow. Your death. It is good. Strong feeling from you and for you.”
He lifted several more trowels of mortar, and Chastity scooped it from the trowel with her fingers and packed it around Justine’s face and smoothed it into her hair.
The littles had come into the room at some point and now sat nestled against Alison’s body in the middle of the floor. Raven was tucked under one arm, and Remus was curled on the other side.
“You wanted to make a difference, to be noticed, to be important. You have been. You will always be important to us now, Justine.” Gently, Chastity covered Justine’s eyes.
The last couple of tears had left tracks in the mortar on the ARB chairperson’s cheeks. Chastity left them there.
She stepped back, looked at her sister and at the littles. Then she nodded to Damek.
Silently, he finished strengthening the building. Each brick and every stone he placed solidified the security and strength of the building.
When he was done, the sisters and their young sibling went up the stairs, and Damek begun humming again.
***
Several days passed as Damek continued his work in the house. On the third day, Chastity found another letter in the mail. Nervously, Chastity clutched it in her hand as she read the first paragraph:
The River Glades Community prides itself on high community standards. Therefore any and all exterior architectural alterations must receive approval of the Architectural Review Board. Please file the attached approval FOR FENCE CONSTRUCTION for your records.
She smiled.
“What does it say?” Alison came to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her sister.
Chastity held up the paper so they could both read it. “They’ve approved our fence!”
Alison let out a whoop of triumph, and the littles came careening into the room.
“I told you it would all be okay.” Alison bumped her shoulder against Chastity’s. “The littles will have their safe home and safe play yard.”
“We owe thanks to Justine.” Chastity nudged her sister back. “And to you.”
Remus bumped his head gently against hers. “Go catch yellow birds now?”
At that, Raven and Alison exchanged a worried look, but Chastity smiled at him and then said, “If you keep eating them, we won’t have any left.”
“Is a feeder though,” Remus complained. “Feeder is for food.”
Chastity laughed. “True. We need to mark the fence line anyhow. Come on.”
And the sisters led their younger nestmates into their soon-to-be-fenced yard.
A Note on The Strength Inside
Once upon a time I lived in a neighborhood with a H.O.A. and . . . they did not like me. I had notices for so many silly things. The rules included how long the garage could be open, and which part of the yard could be fenced, and it was maddening. I have a temper. When I received a letter that the fence—which had been authorized, papers filed, forms signed—was "too high" I responded with a photograph of me holding a tape measure. My fence was shorter than I am. The citation accused me of "illegally installing a ten foot fence." I am, incidentally, barely over five feet tall. When I moved to my current house, I refused to look at a single property with a H.O.A.
I did not, of course, have anyone walled up in my house. The characters in the story are not my former neighbors. The inspiration, however, was my sheer frustration of their petty, form-filling-out invasiveness.
Added to this is my fascination with the long history of immurement in architecture. There are several ways this has been approached, but it all boils down to the notion that there is strength or protection in the building or to its inhabitants because of the human sacrifice. Really, who doesn't want a safe home?
So it was a joy to get to write this one. Sometimes when I get invited to an anthology I am at a loss as to what to write, but when Charlaine and Toni asked me to do this one, I knew exactly what I wanted to write.
ALSO BY MELISSA MARR
Wicked Lovely (HarperCollins)
Ink Exchange (HarperCollins)
Fragile Eternity (HarperCollins)
Radiant Shadows (HarperCollins)
Darkest Mercy (HarperCollins)
Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales (HarperCollins)
Faery Tales & Nightmares (HarperCollins)
Made for You (HarperCollins)
Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets (first published as Carnival of Souls) (HarperCollins)
Graveminder (HarperCollins)
The Arrivals (HarperCollins)
Seven Black Diamonds (HarperCollins)
One Blood Ruby (HarperCollins)
Bunny Roo, I Love You (Penguin)
•♦ •
Writing as M. A. Marr, Coauthored with K. L. Armstrong
Loki’s Wolves (Little, Brown)
Odin’s Ravens (Little, Brown)
Thor's Serpents (Little, Brown)
•♦ •
Writing as Ronnie Douglas
Unfiltered & Unlawful
Undaunted (HarperCollins)
Unruly (HarperCollins)
ALSO BY MELISSA MARR
Wicked Lovely (HarperCollins)
Ink Exchange (HarperCollins)
Fragile Eternity (HarperCollins)
Radiant Shadows (HarperCollins)
Darkest Mercy (HarperCollins)
Wicked Lovely: Desert Tales (HarperCollins)
Faery Tales & Nightmares (HarperCollins)
Made for You (HarperCollins)
Untamed City: Carnival of Secrets (first published as Carnival of Souls) (HarperCollins)
Graveminder (HarperCollins)
The Arrivals (HarperCollins)
Seven Black Diamonds (HarperCollins)
One Blood Ruby (HarperCollins)
Bunny Roo, I Love You (Penguin)
•♦ •
Writing as M. A. Marr, Coauthored with K. L. Armstrong
Loki’s Wolves (Little, Brown)
Odin’s Ravens (Little, Brown)
Thor's Serpents (Little, Brown)
•♦ •
Writing as Ronnie Douglas
Unfiltered & Unlawful
Undaunted (HarperCollins)
Unruly (HarperCollins)
•♦ •
Co-edited with Kelley Armstrong:
Enthralled (HarperCollins)
Shards & Ashes (HarperCollins)
•♦ •
Co-edited with Tim Pratt:
Rags & Bones (Little, Brown)
Co-edited with Kelley Armstrong:
Enthralled (HarperCollins)
Shards & Ashes (HarperCollins)
•♦ •
Co-edited with Tim Pratt:
Rags & Bones (Little, Brown)