43 
A ruthless wind beat against Ottilie’s window shutters, knocking her in and out of nightmares. Eyes snapping open, she felt shivery and adrift. She must have kicked her covers off. She yanked the blankets off the floor and threw them over her head. She curled her hands into fists, wrapping the sheets around her icy fingers and trying to block out the relentless knocking and thumping that stirred up her nerves.
Unable to stand it any longer, she abandoned any attempts at sleep and knocked on Gully’s door just after eleventh bell.
‘Hungry?’
‘Starving,’ said Gully, scrambling out of bed.
Together they crept down to Montie’s kitchen. The lanterns were lit and Montie was inside with Alba, getting things in order for the morning.
‘What are you two doing out of bed?’ said Montie.
‘Hungry,’ Ottilie lied. She didn’t know how to tell anyone the truth, that she hadn’t had a solid sleep since talking with Bonnie three nights ago. That when she wasn’t lying awake thinking about Scoot and how to save him, she was woken by nightmares and visions of Whistler appearing above her, binding her against her will.
‘What’s new?’ said Montie, with a smile. ‘Here, you can have a bit of this.’ She pulled a large loaf of bread baked with brakkernuts and waterfigs from the cupboard. ‘But then you need to sleep. You’re both falling to pieces in front of my eyes. I can’t stand it.’ She cupped her hand gently over Ottilie’s torn ear. It felt like magic. As if her motherly touch could heal a wound. If only it could. If only Montie could rest her hand on Scoot and turn him back to flesh and bone.
Alba sat down beside Ottilie and tore a chunk of the bread for herself.
‘You too, Noel?’ said Montie, turning to the doorway. ‘And Isla – this is a party.’
Skip and Preddy sat opposite them at the table. He cut off a piece of bread and nibbled at it quietly.
‘I saw you from the end of the corridor,’ said Skip.
‘And woke Preddy, by the looks of it,’ said Gully, nudging Preddy, who seemed to have forgotten to keep chewing. He yawned and choked a little.
The outside door swung open with a bang.
Ottilie jumped in her seat and twisted to face a very windswept Leo.
‘Where was our invite?’ he said, pressing his weight against the door so it didn’t slam shut in the gale.
Ned was beside him, bruised but recovering well. He’d wanted to go straight back into hunting after the battle. Ottilie understood why; she felt it too, the need for distraction and, if she was completely honest with herself, vengeance. But the wranglers only allowed him to take on wall-watch shifts, and only with other elites.
‘Finished on the wall?’ She cringed as a biting gust breached the doorway. ‘Here for your treat, Leo?’
Leo was too busy easing the door closed to answer.
Ned flashed a grin and slid in beside her, his hand brushing against hers. He wore a bandage, but Ottilie knew that beneath it three nasty burns, shaped like stars, trailed up his arm.
Despite the violent night, a warm calm settled in the kitchen. Beside her, Gully rested his head on the table, closing his eyes. Opposite, Skip, as always, looked alert and ready for action, and across the room Alba stared thoughtfully at the water she was boiling for tea. Ottilie watched the lively flames flickering and dancing beneath the pot, and for some reason she thought of laughter, and she thought of Scoot. He would be back, she just knew it. She was going to rescue Bill and bring Scoot back. Whatever it took, she would find a way.
Preddy got up to gather some cups and began pulling them down from the shelf, one at a time, careful not to chip them. Montie had dragged Leo over to the light to inspect a scrape across his jaw and he was bragging about how he nabbed the dredretch that did it to him. Ned was laughing along, his eyes brighter than they had been in weeks.
It was a sense of family that Ottilie had seldom experienced. She felt in that moment that everything really would turn out all right. It wasn’t a burst of determination or a stubborn willing. It was just a feeling of comfort and warmth. If that feeling could exist in a world plagued by monsters, after everything they had been through – horror and injury and terrible loss – Ottilie felt unshakeably that there would always be hope.
THE END