“Not all,” I say, kicking the stiff claw of his hand off my ankle. I scan his body quickly for anything I might need. Knife. Crossbow. Net. I take them all. I notice he has no willstone. This is the fourth one I’ve killed and none of them wore willstones. It’s a puzzle I have yet to solve.
The deaths of men like this have helped keep me alive so far. There is no food left in this part of the world. To find food you’d have to live through a trek across the Woven Woods and far enough out into the interior of the continent to escape the fallout. A trip like that would be suicide. Either the Woven would get you, or starvation would. All the plants close to the cities have died in the never-ending winter. The surviving animals were made sterile or unable to produce healthy offspring by the blast and then, in a matter of months, were hunted until there were no more.
It didn’t take long for this area of the world to run out of food, and getting to another area would mean somehow getting past an army of Woven—whose number seem to have grown, not fallen, since the holocaust. They have thrived in the ashes of this world, hemming in the few survivors of the blast until they all starve to death. The only living things I’ve been able to find on this side of the Woven Woods are the Woven and the scum who hunt me. I can live on the body energy of both with no need to eat, but water I cannot do without.
There is a large group of them gathered at what used to be a heavily walled ranch outside the city of Salem. Ranches like this are rare and existed only to raise luxury meats for the wealthy who could afford meat that was born and not grown in the Stacks. We used to send petty criminals and poor citizens who could not find work to these ranches. Work camps, we called them. As if calling indentured servitude work would make it better. I did this or helped at least. As Lady of Salem and head of the Coven I had to cosign the papers for worker transport along with Danforth, who was head of the other branch of government, the Council.
I tried to change the law. I tried to get the men fair pay, but too many powerful people made too much money off the ranches. Eventually I gave in to the pressure, and now I’m paying for it. I justified sending them to the ranches by telling myself I was protecting society from criminals. Ironically, what I did ensured that c
riminals would be all that is left of humanity.
The ranches were built outside the city and their thick walls, originally meant to protect precious livestock from the Woven, were the only things for miles to survive the blast. This particular ranch I’ve been orbiting for weeks is all that is left for protection from the Woven and one of the only sources of water for miles. The scum who now run the ranch know I’m out here, hiding in the woods, taking my chances with the Woven. They send out gangs to search for me. I can survive their attacks, as I can the Woven, but only if they come at me in small numbers. Too many of either of them would overwhelm me. I wouldn’t be able to kill them fast enough.
This is a game to them now. They don’t seem to value the lives that I’ve taken in the slightest. They laugh when they find the bodies and talk about having more food to go around. Probably because they know that soon I’ll need water again, no matter how tainted it is, and I’ll come back to their well. They’ll catch me eventually, and then they’ll put me in the barn …
The barn, Lily. They did catch me, and then they put me in the barn.
Lily shook herself awake, instinctively severing her connection to Lillian to protect herself, but her body was still flooded with every drop of Lillian’s intense fear. Lily ran her hands over the top of her covers, still not sure if she was feeling the crackle of burned-out leaves under her fingers or the soft nap of her duvet. She circled her hands again and again until the echo of Lillian’s feelings ebbed away.
Lily! What happened?
Lily looked around her bedroom as if it were the first time she’d ever seen it. Lillian had been close to panic and Lily couldn’t shake it off, not even to answer Rowan. The image of a white barn with peeling paint and a rusty chain binding the door shut crowded out any other thought. Something had happened in that barn—something that had changed Lillian.
“Lily,” Rowan said. She looked up and saw him standing over her. “What happened?”
“Nightmare,” Lily answered, and realized that she wasn’t lying. Her spirit had strayed into the Mist, that empty nowhere-land that was somewhere between deep sleep and death. What she had witnessed there had been a nightmare for Lily, even if it was a memory for Lillian. “I was being chased.”
Rowan sat on the edge of Lily’s bed. “I have that nightmare all the time. The Woven come out of nowhere. I run, but I’m too slow.”
Lily frowned. She’d had nightmares about the Woven, but this was worse somehow. Humans had chased Lillian, and humans can hurt another person in ways that animals can’t. Rowan brushed the tears off her cheeks.
Do you want me to stay with you?
“Lily?” Juliet asked from the doorway. She was wearing mismatched flannel pajamas. The top half was decorated with clouds, but the bottoms had cows jumping over the moon. She was so disheveled and adorable that Lily smiled.
No, Rowan. I think I want my sister tonight.
Okay. Whatever you need.
“I had a nightmare. Will you stay with me, Jules?” Lily asked, ignoring the hurt look on Rowan’s face. She couldn’t spend the night with him. What if she shared another one of Lillian’s memories and he picked up on it?
“Sure,” Juliet replied, already crossing the room. Rowan lifted up the covers for Juliet and tucked the sisters in together.
“I’ll be downstairs if you need me,” he said before leaving them.
Lily settled in and put her head on her sister’s slim shoulder. Did I wake Mom, Juliet?
She’s out like a light, Lily.
Drugged again.
No. Rowan gave her tart cherry juice, a bite of turkey, and then he put lavender under her pillow. No drugs. He said she didn’t need them anymore.
Rowan’s treating Mom?
Yeah. And she’s doing really well, Lily. She’s more aware now. Damn, I love mindspeak.
It makes some things easier.