Witch's Pyre (Worldwalker 3)

Now. Tell them not to kill one another, Rowan added.

“Right,” Lily breathed. She could feel all her claimed balking at being thrown together like this, and it wasn’t just the ranch hands against the Outlanders anymore. The Pack hated the Pride. The Pride hated the raptors. The simians hated the humans. The insect Woven felt nothing, but everyone hated them. This wasn’t an army. It was a melee waiting to happen.

What have I done?

Remind them why they’re here, Rowan said in mindspeak. Get them to focus on fighting the Hive.

Lily felt a clamor rising in all of them. They would not accept this. The hatred between them went too deep.

“Wait,” Lily whispered desperately to herself. She could feel control slipping away. Grumbling, shouts, and hisses rose up from the ranks. She could force them to work together. Control them. Bend them to her will. That would be the easiest way. That would be what Grace would do, maybe even what Lillian would do, too.

Lily was neither of those people, and she decided she never would be.

She ran to the highest point she could find—which happened to be the back of one of the raptors—and climbed up with a silent appeal to him to help her do this. She steadied herself against the raptor’s enormous head and shouted what she only dared whisper before.

“Wait! Listen to me. You aren’t enemies,” she called. “Hear what I have to say before you all tear one another apart!”

“Listen,” Rowan yelled.

“Listen!” Una echoed, backing him up.

Every face in the crowd turned to her. She looked out, taking it all in, searching for a place to start. Her claimed. They were all so different. They were together, but she still needed to find a way to unite them. She took a deep breath and began.

“I come from a world where people never know what it’s like to be someone else. We can only imagine what it feels like to walk around in someone else’s shoes. That’s what we say, by the way—walk around in someone else’s shoes—which is so small compared to what you can actually do here.

“In my world we don’t know what it is to live a different life from the one we were given, to be a different race or gender, forget about being a different species. In my world we fear anyone who’s different. We think those people are our enemies and that they want to take what’s ours or destroy our way of life. We think like that because, well, what else are we supposed to think? We can’t know someone else’s mind like you can.

“Things should be so different here. But what do I see? The same division, the same fear, the same us-against-them mentality that I see back in my world. Walltop hates the Outlanders. Why? Because the city isn’t large enough for everyone and Outlanders are always trying to sneak in illegally. Outlanders hate the Woven. Why? Because the Woven took their land. The Woven hate the humans. Why?” Lily paused, knowing this was the missing puzzle piece. “Because a human enslaved them and forced them to be killers. A human created them in order to tear this world apart.

“Your hatred isn’t real. The things that divide you aren’t real. They were created by greed. Someone has set you all against one another so she could profit. Someone has made it so you need walls—walls that divide you and make you weak so she can be stronger. This world has only one true enemy, and we can fight her. Here. Today. I brought you all together for this one purpose, but first you have to stop fighting one another. It’s up to you. I’m not going to force you. The choice is yours.”

Lily jumped down and rejoined Rowan on the ground. She felt the silence as deeply as she heard it. She waited. No one left. No fights started. Everyone just stood there, staring at her.

“What’s going on?” she mumbled to Rowan.

“They’re waiting for orders,” he told her, eyes bright as he buried a laugh.

Lily panicked. “I have no idea what to do,” she said.

“That’s okay. I do.”

Rowan turned. Tristan, Caleb, Una, and Breakfast were right behind him. Alaric and Pale One were right beside them. Rowan turned back around and pointed to a group of ranch hands on one side, and then at a bunch of wolves on the other.

“You start cutting down the trees, and you drag them into a pile,” Rowan ordered. “Our witch needs a pyre.” When no one moved, he started yelling. “Quickly! The Hive will be on us any minute now! Who has axes?”

Spurred into action, Woven and human alike started scurrying before Rowan’s anger. He struck out into the disarrayed clusters of men, women, and Woven and started arranging them into groups.

As Rowan moved away from them, Lily felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Tristan.

“I need to talk to you,” he said urgently, his eyes still following Rowan’s back as he stalked away, barking orders.

“Now?” Lily asked, motioning to the utter chaos that was moments away from tumbling down upon her head.

“I’ve been trying to get you alone for weeks, but Rowan never leaves your sid

e,” Tristan said, dragging a hand through his hair. “There’s something I need to tell you. In case one of us doesn’t make it. I need you to know something.”

“What?” Lily asked, concerned, and recalling that every time Tristan had tried to speak with her alone lately, Rowan had appeared to interrupt and hurry them off in different directions.