by Ann Aguirre
I turned back to the Freak. “Has your tribe ever taken human hostages?” It was the only question I could think to ask that might give Fade some peace with this arrangement. If the answer was affirmative, then I’d turn them down, however grave the consequences might be.
“What is ‘hostage’?” it asked.
Tegan offered, “Stolen humans, kept for food?”
“Old ones do. For us, too much trouble. Humans noisy.”
“Are the old ones part of the big group you mentioned?” Morrow inquired.
“Yes.” The monster snarled, seeming agitated. “No more talk. Deal or no deal?”
I glanced at Fade. “Can you live with this?” Drawing a deep breath, he nodded. We had only this monster’s word that his tribe hadn’t kidnapped and hurt Fade, but it had to suffice. “Deal. But it will go hard for you if any of your folk break this bargain.”
We were already slaughtering them in droves and burning their bodies as a warning and posting their heads on pickets. The men had even started taking fangs to wear on leather thongs around their necks, trophies from our kills. I wasn’t sure I had it in me to do worse, but the Freak didn’t know that. It seemed to take my threat seriously as it lowered its face almost to the ground. A glance at John Kelley said he was taking it all in, eyes huge in his weathered face.
“Why aren’t you with the horde?” Tegan asked, frowning in puzzlement. “You’d have a better chance of surviving.”
“‘Horde’ is big group?” At my friend’s nod, the monster replied, “Horde wrong. Better to die than follow. Good-bye, Huntress.”
Morrow exhaled in a long rush. “That sounded like a moral judgment.”
They know of me? I was stunned into silence.
When the Freak ran off, Kelley rubbed his bristly jaw. “That was … something. Did you notice how it showed submission there at the end?”
Fade nodded. “It made my flesh crawl, hearing it speak. I’m not used to thinking of them as anything but mindless monsters.”
He wasn’t alone in that.
Morrow tipped his head toward the woods. “That’s our cue. We should tell the others, then pack things up. We’ve won a concession from the Freaks, and the colonel needs to know that it’s possible.”
I didn’t know whether it was the best course to abandon the ground we’d only recently gained but with the first snow due any day now, I couldn’t rationalize keeping us in the field much longer. Historically speaking, the winter months slowed Freak activity. They might be faster and stronger and might be able to go longer without food and water, but they froze just like humans. The horde might diminish through starvation by the time spring rolled around again.
I could hope anyway.
“Let’s give it two days, make sure we don’t see any movement. They might’ve put a sentry near the camp to see how we respond.”
“If there are any Freaks in the wood,” Fade said, “then the scouts will find them.”
Homeward
Though we waited the full two days, the scouts spotted no Freaks within the posted boundary. At that point, I gave orders for us to move out. It was just as well, for as we gathered the last of our supplies, the first white flakes drifted down through the bare branches. I was a little sorry to be leaving, but we couldn’t survive the winter here. Game would be scarce, and exposure would end us.
John Kelley traveled with us to Soldier’s Pond. “I was on my way there anyway. The trip to see about your smoke signal was a detour.”
That reminded me. “Is that common? Once, somebody saved us because he saw our fire. Does it usually mean the party needs help?”
“Depends,” Kelley answered. “But often, yes. A smart traveler doesn’t light a fire, unless he needs it for some vital reason, and he never lets it get big enough to be seen for miles. Anybody who does is essentially inviting all travelers in the area. It could be benign, a request to trade, could be somebody’s sick or hurt, could be a trap. So it’s best to be prepared if you ever answer one like I did.”
Like Longshot had.
“I understand.”
“I feel like I have to ask. Is everything that rascal Morrow told me true?”
“About me?” I shrugged. “Some of it. Not the part where I was raised by wolves, suckled by bears, and that I can fly.”
Kelley laughed. Before he could respond, though, we were approaching Soldier’s Pond, close enough that the guard called out in surprise, “I thought the lot of you were dead. You’ve been gone a long time.”
Morrow shouted back, “Tell the colonel she owes me a drink.”
That made no sense at all to me, but I didn’t have the chance to ask what he meant as the guards were lowering the defenses to permit us inside. The town looked more or less the same, squads running even in this weather, all dressed in drab green. Soldiers at the gate peppered us with questions about where we’d been—what towns, what was it like out there—and it occurred to me this wasn’t so different from Salvation. People were being strangled in Soldier’s Pond in the name of security. Colonel Park kept them safe, at the cost of their spirits. More than ever, I wanted to change the prevailing conditions so that people could visit nearby Winterville or Otterburn without losing their lives.
“This way,” Morrow said, sidestepping the questions. Over his shoulder he called, “If you wanted to share our adventures, you should’ve signed on. Now you’ll have to wonder.”
That was unlike him, but the rest of us followed. People watched and whispered as we passed through. A few of them called out to John Kelley, who apparently wasn’t a stranger. He’d probably visited the same towns we had, only with less resistance and difficulty. A woman stopped him and asked for news in Appleton. He waved to let me know he’d be along.
The lot of us went directly to HQ in all our forest dirt. It wasn’t as bad as it might’ve been since there was a brook nearby, but scrubbing with pine branches was scratchy, incomplete, and left you smelling of sap. I hadn’t washed my hair properly in weeks. But I wasn’t worried about any of that as Morrow interrupted the colonel’s meeting with the grand pleasure of someone about to prove a point.
I opened my mouth, but he shushed me. Glancing at the others, I decided they had no idea of his agenda, but I obeyed and quieted. At that point, he spun an impressive tale of a long journey and an impossible goal full of obstacles and monsters. That was when I figured out he was crafting a proper story about what we’d accomplished since we left. When he finished, every soul in the building was quiet, even Colonel Park.
She stared at him. “Swear to me on your mother’s name, everything you’ve said is true.”
“The meat and bone of it,” he promised. “I always paint a pretty face, but I never lie, Emilia.” Then, to my surprise—and I think everyone in the room—he kissed both her cheeks. Clearly I didn’t understand their relationship. “This changes everything.”
“I didn’t think it was possible for those monsters to learn,” she said, almost to herself.
I spoke for the first time. “They’re definitely changing.”
It wasn’t clear to me what our role was in Soldier’s Pond. We didn’t report to her, but it seemed polite to offer what knowledge we’d gathered in exchange for supplies and shelter. So I picked up where Morrow’s tale left off, and I filled in details, mostly related to altered Freak behavior, but also about towns we’d visited and the deal the Freaks had offered Otterburn.
Her normally detached expression faltered, revealing a trace of pure horror. She mastered it swiftly, but not before I saw the truth. The colonel averted her eyes, directing them to her maps. With a pencil she outlined the territory we had secured.
“So this is promised to be Mutie-free?”
I nodded. “We weren’t fighting the horde, just hunting parties, but it should help. If the larger group decides to attack, however, the truce means nothing.”
“It’s more than I thought you’d achieve when you set out,” she admitted.
“Just t
hink what we could do if your men weren’t all such cowards,” Stalker said flatly.
Things went downhill from there. Shortly afterward, I left HQ, longing for a bath and to see my family, definitely in that order. I shrugged deeper into the coat Edmund had made for me—it was soft leather lined in fleece shorn from the sheep they kept in the animal pens. That part of town was noisy and smelly, unavoidable when space was limited. In Soldier’s Pond they addressed that by making people sleep in narrow cots stacked one atop another; there was little focus on private space like there had been in Salvation. In some ways, this town was more like down below with its focus on duty to the collective, the dearth of amenities, and savorless food. On the plus side, they didn’t seem to mind who did the killing or wore pants. From what I could see, everybody here worked as a Hunter. They just had to turn their hands to other jobs too. That probably explained why the clothes were poorly sewn and the food was terrible. Anyone with a grain of sense knew you needed Builders like Edmund too.
“I’ll meet you in the mess for dinner,” I said to Fade, who kissed the top of my head.
I lifted a hand in farewell and hurried to the bathhouse, empty at this time of day. The scarcity of the sun meant the water was only a little better than ice cold; I bore it, though the soft soap didn’t lather much and it took me twice as long to scrape the wilderness out of my hair. After, I dug out the clean traveling clothes I kept aside for special occasions. As I tugged on the dun brown trousers with a tie at the waist, I knew a moment’s regret for the loss of the dresses I hadn’t even wanted at first. But by the time I had my shirt on, my lovely, polished boots, and the lined jacket, I didn’t care so much. It was better to be warm than pretty.
My hair went into neat plaits, and I hoped they didn’t freeze as I stepped out into the biting air. The snow had followed us from the forest, white stars now slanting downward from a gray sky. I ran all the way to the house where I’d find my parents waiting; it was late enough that Edmund might even be done at the workshop. To my delight, I found all of them there, just gathering for dinner.
“Deuce!” Momma Oaks had her arms around me before I was halfway in the door.
“I don’t think I ever said it, but I love you all … very much.”
Edmund and Rex both grabbed me close until I was squashed on all sides. It was pretty close to the best I ever felt. I tried to hug my whole family at the same time but my arms weren’t long enough. My mother kissed me all over my cold cheeks. Her eyes were sparkling when she stepped back to look at me.
“Well, you’re not bleeding, so I take it your mission was a success?”
“In a manner of speaking. I’ll tell you all about it over dinner.”
“Are you home for a while?” Edmund asked.
They got their own coats and stepped out. My father stared up anxiously at the sky, and I could tell without him saying it that he was worried about us traveling in this weather. “I think so. There isn’t a whole lot we can do during the snowy months.”
Momma Oaks nodded in satisfaction. “It’s odd here, but we’re pulling our weight, and the men seem to like Edmund’s work awfully well.”
“I imagine.” I’d seen what they wore before; Edmund’s shoes were magical by comparison.
“They’ve got us making leather grips for weapons,” Rex put in.
“I suspect they’ll make a permanent exception for you,” I said. “If you want to stay.”
“Where would we go?” Momma Oaks asked.
It was an excellent question. So far, in my travels, I hadn’t found a place I thought would suit them better. Considering all the soldiers, the metal defenses, and cache of weapons, plus the extra breathing room I’d won from the Freaks, I couldn’t fathom a safer place. Whether they were happy and comfortable, if they actually felt at home, those were questions I didn’t dare ask.
To my astonishment, when I strode into the mess hall, applause broke out. Some of the men rose to their feet and saluted me, just like they did the colonel or some other important person who ran around barking orders. I glanced over my shoulder in reflex, thinking they must mean somebody else, and Edmund nudged me.
“You have to acknowledge them somehow, so they can go back to their meals.”
This was all completely new to me, so I racked my brain for what would serve, then I touched my brow with two fingers as Longshot had when he was being respectful of some good idea. The soldiers loved it; some stomped their feet, and others banged cutlery on the table until the cook yelled at them to pipe down.
“My goodness,” Momma Oaks said. “What in the world did you do out there?”
“Let’s get our food, then I’ll tell you.”
The story was half over, though not as exciting as Morrow made it sound, when Fade arrived. Since the rest of us had barely touched our meals, he had plenty of time to catch up. Rex and Edmund offered their hands to shake and Momma Oaks contented herself with a warm smile, though she wanted to squeeze him. But she was an observant woman, and she’d doubtless noticed the way he pulled his body in when surrounded by people.
“You missed the hero’s welcome,” I teased.
Fade shrugged. “That was for you anyway.”
“We all earned it.”
“I’m just so proud of you,” Momma Oaks said.
Once, that kind of remark would’ve puzzled me. She’d had nothing to do with my training, so why would she feel anything about my accomplishments? But now I knew that love made her care about all things related to me—and I felt the same way. I would never tell them, because it would worry them more, but I might be more interested in waiting out the time until I was old enough to enlist, and then just quietly joining the soldiers here, if it wasn’t for them. But I wanted them to be happy; I wanted to give them a home as snug and safe as the one they’d freely offered me. Accomplishing that required more than mere patience.
My family asked us questions others didn’t think to pose, like what kind of shoes and clothes they wore in other towns. Did I think they could master the patterns? Dinner passed in an agreeable fashion, and as we left, Fade whispered, “I could really use some time alone with you.”
There was no privacy in the bunks where we all slept, and I didn’t know of any conveniently empty houses here. I must’ve looked conflicted because he added, low, “Just meet me out back after everyone’s asleep.”
Then Edmund dragged him off to see some improvements he’d made to the workshop and Rex went along. That left me to walk back to the house with Momma Oaks. She put an arm around my shoulders, which took some doing as I was a little taller than she was. I hunched a little to make it easier, and she gave me that glowing look, the one that said all kinds of happy things, like, I love you and I’m proud and I’m thrilled you’re here. Before I met the Oakses, nobody much cared about my comings-and-goings, so long as I followed orders.
“I’ve been wondering about something,” I said, as we stepped into the house.
This time, I got a better look at the place, and I saw she’d made it homier. The beds had been moved to a less rigid arrangement, and she’d found some chairs—or maybe Rex or Edmund had built them. There were other small touches as well: wall hangings that I was sure she’d made from scraps of cloth, most of which were green. It seemed to be the only color this settlement knew how to produce.
“What’s that?”
“Some people have two names, like you and John Kelley, the trapper we met. Why?”
“The first is the name my parents gave me, the last a family one.” She fixed a stern look on me. “And you do have a second name, missy. You’re Deuce Oaks. We claimed you as ours, and I’ll tell Edmund if I hear any nonsense about you rejecting our surname.”
I was astonished. “Nobody told me that joining a family meant taking their name.”
“I suppose not.” Her gaze softened.
“But what about Fade? Is he a Jensen now?” I curled one hand into a fist, ready to fight at the idea that he had to carry a permanent r
eminder of the man who’d hurt him.
She shook her head. “He’s one of ours too.”
“So we’re both Oakses?” I asked.
“To my mind, you are. I love that boy like a son.”
“But if I’m your daughter and he’s your son—”
She cut me off with a harried wave of one hand. “Don’t make things complicated, Deuce. There’s no blood relation.”
That wasn’t even what I was about to say. I knew I wasn’t related to Fade on the bloodline tree, so that we could breed, should I want that down the line. “No, you told me once that when people join up and make their promises, they take the same name. Does that mean Fade and I already did that?” I was a little confused by this point.
She sighed. “No. But you’re all set for when you do.”
I liked how she had no doubt that we belonged together—like the day boy and the night girl, we’d end up together forever. That was good enough for me … but much as I was enjoying this reunion, I couldn’t wait until my family fell asleep.
Interlude
The moon was a silver crescent brightening the gauzy veil of the midnight sky. With the snow still coming down in lazy flutters, I saw the cold in the smoky whorls of my breath. I gazed up as I followed Fade silently. My feet crunched on the layer of snow, untouched apart from the watchmen who patrolled the town at night. There wasn’t a curfew, but if they caught us wandering at this hour, there would be questions. I didn’t imagine they would look kindly on “we missed sparking” as an answer.
Fade’s hand was warm when he wrapped it around mine. He tugged. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
He shushed me with such obvious delight that I didn’t have the heart to ask again. He wanted to surprise me, so I let him. Our destination was a medium-size building with smoke wafting up. That meant there was a fire lit inside, and considering how cold it had become and how much snow had accumulated during the day, I was glad to see it. After jiggling the door just so, he popped it open. Within lay some kind of meeting place, but more comfortable than HQ. Instead of tables there were padded chairs and sofas scattered throughout. Shelving contained a few old books, most in worse condition than The Day Boy and the Night Girl.
