Green Jack
Page 22
Chapter 22
Jane
Jane hadn’t been out of the Enclave for more than a day and she was already tied to a chimney pot.
Not exactly encouraging.
Luckily, the chimney was not very sturdy and after a few hard kicks with her heels, it broke off. The moon was still pink, though it was fading. She knew why she’d been led to save Saffron. She’d seen the leaf mask in her pack when they were running from the Dust. What she hadn’t seen coming was the right hook. Her jaw ached. She shimmied down the trellis, following Saffron’s footsteps in the eerie red dust. It wasn’t as if she had anywhere else to go.
And Directorate or not, she was a Numina, sworn to the Green Gods. Saffron was a Jill. It was Jane’s duty to help her.
Even if she could already feel the side of her face swelling up.
The red powder clung to the houses, the abandoned cars, to dead birds and cats and raccoons. Jane considered putting the mask back on, even though she knew it was harmless in this form. Saffron’s tracks took her out of the suburbs, as expected. The red pavement gave way to fields littered with broken rubble and fallen telephone poles. Heat pressed down on her, humid and sticky. Sweat ran down her side under her survival suit. She unzipped the top, her tank top already damp. Her throat cramped with thirst but Saffron had taken her water. She chewed on an anise star, hoping it would help.
Saffron’s footsteps began to drag until they stuttered elliptically. She found Saffron slumped against a wall. “Jacking hell, Jane,” Saffron muttered. “What are you even doing here? If you say the moon made you do it, I will stab you.”
She thought of Asher, of the Garden, of dryads in the trees. Of her father sacrificed to a leaf mask. Of what Cartimandua would have in store for her if she didn’t produce babies strong enough to wear the mask. Of what she would do to those babies. There would be tests, laboratories. She didn’t say any of it though, not with Saffron wilting, a leaf mask in her hair and her arm tag raw and infected. “I have cream for that,” she said instead.
Saffron pushed weakly to her feet. “I’m not sure I can believe you’re not Directorate.”
“Well, I did save your life. And I’m about to do it again.” She didn’t know how else to convince her they needed to travel together. Saffron had a Green Jack mask, Jane had Green Jack numen. They had to stick together. She no longer needed a pink moon to tell her that. “You owe me.”
Saffron half-smiled. “Now you’re speaking a language I understand.”
“So consider this a temporary alliance then. I’m a Numina. We’re sworn to the Green Gods, remember? I have a duty to the leaf mask, and to you as a Jill.”
“I’m not a Jill.” When Jane just stared at her she hunched her shoulders. “If you slow me down, I’m leaving you behind.”
Jane felt something finally unclench in her stomach. The burning at the top of her spine abated slightly. She put her arm under Saffron’s shoulders, supporting most of her weight. “I’ll be sure to keep up,” she said drily.