Lotus and Alejo were at my side, and as torches were laid on the graves, Lotus took my hand. Tasch wasn’t out there in the field, but we were both thinking of her. Mourning her for the second time. Nik took my other hand and leaned in to kiss my head. Nearby, the pup whined from where she sat on Jaesun’s feet, making sure he wasn’t going anywhere.
The Festival Grounds became a field of flames. Blocking out the stars. Even those who could barely walk were there to bear witness to what had happened.
Ada, June, Oksun, and Riya all watched together. Behind them, the ranks of Kisaengs and Mothers were shoulder to shoulder. My pain was reflected on each of their faces and somehow that made it more bearable. The weight of it shared among us all. And I saw it—strong and bright and real this time. What our new world would look like. Who would usher it in.
It would be built out of pain and love, and loss would be its foundation. A house of air and light.
Because that’s how worlds are made.
• • •
We slept out there—Nik and me and the pup—huddled together for warmth. I’d wanted to stay with those we’d lost. To make sure that the fire freed them from this place that’d been their home and their cage.
A noise woke me just after dawn—a harsh beating of the air. My breath puffed out in the chill early morning.
Nik was awake now too. His hair wild. His sleep-fuzzed face searching for danger. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure. You hear that?” The noise was getting louder and I got to my feet, looking east, toward the crest of the mountains.
It was a low steady pulse now, throbbing through me. Shaking my bones.
Thooom-thooom-thooom-thooom.
And over the ridge—glowing orange in the new sun—rose three monstrous machines. Their propellers cutting against the air. Descending on the valley.
As they got closer, I could see they were ancient and dilapidated. The bodies had been patched and repatched, until they were nothing but an overlapping quilt of steel and rust. The only thing shiny on them were gun turrets bolted to the sides. I linked my hand with Nik’s and tucked the LOTUS necklace back under my shirt—the cold metal burning like ice against my skin.
After five hundred years, Earth had remembered us.
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang
SARA WILSON ETIENNE went to college in Maine to become a marine biologist . . . but when her research transformed itself into a novel, she realized that she loved fantasy more than fact. So she gave in to it and wrote Harbinger. She now lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband and two dogs. Lotus and Thorn is her second novel.
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