Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Eden Moore 1)

Well, it ain't.

What kind do we need, then?

Never mind, he said. I got it already. I got almost everything I need to make it work.

He turned his back to me and offered her his hand, as if to help her rise. But in the other hand, behind the small of his back, he held a long, serrated knife with a wooden handle. I only need one more thing, and you can help me with it.

Oka—

The knife cut her word short.

She tried to move backwards but he held her by the shoulder, at the crook of her neck, and he would not let her fall. Blood gushed over his hands, and down the front of her dress in dark orange streaks where it wet the yellow fabric. She clawed at his arms, and pushed at his chest, and kicked weakly at his legs . . . and then went slack.

Her knees unlocked and she folded to the ground, still sucking at air through her slashed throat.

While she lay there soaking the grass around her, not completely unconscious, Avery took the big knife to her wrist and began sawing. I clapped my hand over my mouth and turned away, but I could not escape the sound of splintering bone and snapping veins, accompanied by the woman's gasps of astonished agony.

Avery was strong, and he worked quickly. When I dared to look again, he was dumping out the contents of Willa's little bag, and replacing them with the gory trophy of her right hand. He stood and tied the bag onto his belt. Then he hoisted her up, slinging her over his shoulders and carrying her away. One of those naked, calloused feet still jerked faintly against his back.

Go on, girl, Get yourself gone.

I heard it again, more urgently. I followed Avery's gruesomely laden form anyway, staring fixedly at the knife he'd shoved down the back of his pants, just like I was toting my gun.

Someone had to know. Someone had to see. I owed them this much.

I must have said that last part aloud, for a response came unbidden from the trees.

No, you owe us much more.

II

Avery carried Willa to the edge of a fetid pool that reeked of rot and disease. He dropped her in, splashing his ankles with the smelly black liquid. She didn't sink fast enough for his liking so he put his foot on her back and pushed. Bubbles gurgled up from her dress, from her lungs, and from her hair. And then she was gone. She did not rise.

Avery shook his leg, driving the worst of the water away. Somewhere, not far off, I heard the low plop and ripple of something quite large entering the pool. Soon after, a second plop, and more ripples. Then came the yellow periscope eyes and the long, scaly heads. I marveled to see how quickly the forest had given way to wetlands.

He left the pond purposefully, striding almost happily between the trees, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Sometimes when he turned or shifted I could see the bag at his side, and I could see how the bottom grew damp and deeply red.

He nearly ran into Luanna, who threw her hand to her chest and gasped when he came charging at her between the trees. She too was perfect and alive as far as I could tell, but when she spoke it was the same tinny, faraway sound I knew and recognized from my chil

dhood.

There you are. I was just coming for you.

He smiled. Were you, now?

Oh yes. I got the last of the roots to grind down for tonight.

Let me see.

She hesitated. I told you I got them. Let's go back home and get this started.

Let me see them, Lu.

All right, then. No need to be that way. She handed him a bag much like Willa's, lumpy with its contents.

He opened it up. This ain't what I said for you to get.

It is so.