Sumi
The next morning, the Yellow girl was still on the couch, just like I’d told him she would be, all curled up and snoring faintly. Maggie, Dee, and Robin were all home and no one yelling, which meant she probably hadn’t stolen from them. The boys had slept through it all and they had nothing to steal.
The crumbs scattered across the floor would entice the bugs if I didn’t get them up. Half a loaf of bread was missing from the cabinet, so the little thief had eaten well enough in the night.
Well enough not to leave.
The girl had both push and pull magic. Strong, but hard to see until I touched her skin. Could I learn to hide like that?
If the girl stayed past waking.
Bless it, how had things gotten so complicated? I should ask Jay to get one of his sisters to take her to a temple… but as he didn’t have it in him to let her live in filth, I didn’t have it in me to let her be broken by the high priestessi or the goddessi.
We were both fools.
I swept the crumbs out the front door, then when I heard the boys stir, poked my head past their tiny blanket divider and shushed them. Cocked my head and thought hard, then tipped my head toward the back door.
We slipped outside into the dawn. The air was pleasant still. It wouldn’t get too hot to bear until the afternoon. The birds singing in the trees would be after our ripening fruit soon enough. The brownwood tree had shot up taller than the boys— Antero had outpaced Wil this time, and they both had small-but-almost-man hands. They waited for me to speak— rare for Wil— and that reminded me.
“What is going on with you two? Jay knows. Wilyam, you’ve never been this quiet, and Antero…” The Purple boy had always been quieter than my Wil, but now he was skittish—
I gave them the Look. I’d practiced it in the mirror as a priestess and then refined it when I’d become the high priestess of Maldita. It said, I already know so you might as well tell me, and if you don’t there will be more trouble.
Then I waited.
An inability to be silent being Wil’s greatest weakness, he broke first.
“There’s been… um… trouble. Because of our Colors.”
I pressed my lips together and waited for the rest. Finally it came tumbling out of them, the Purple woman trying to take Andy the first time they went to the fountains, the Purple captain the night before— as usual, Wil told the story and Andy corrected him when he needed, and at the end of it, a bright bubble of anger lodged in my chest, expanded, then popped.
Why they’d kept it from me— they were trying to prevent me from worry. Which the three of them should know was impossible.
Jay, though— Jay was still hurting, and none of us were allowing him to look after us the way he wanted. We were all too independent. Even the boys, when they remembered they had magic.
“Thank you for telling me.” I reached for their hands and they let me take them. “If you’re ever in trouble, real trouble, you can use your magic to protect yourself. Like you did in the temple.”
“But we’re not supposed to!” Wil clutched my shirt. “You said.”
“If you have to protect yourself,” I said, letting my sincerity show, “you do whatever you need to.”
Andy nodded, then ducked his head. Somehow, despite growing up in the Temple of the Damned, the two of them still had soft hearts.
“Jay brought home a Yellow girl,” I told them slowly. “She’s still sleeping.”
“She stinks.” Wil wrinkled his nose.
Andy nudged him. “You would too if you didn’t have a house.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“She has magic. Did either of you notice?”
Andy shook his head. Wil stared at me, wide-eyed. “But she’s not in a temple and she’s old— not like mom old but…”
Something half a sigh and half a laugh caught in my throat. I hadn’t been so young in such a long time… and even then, I think I’d been older because of how my blood-mother had treated me.
“She’s older than you, yes. I’m not sure how strong she is. It’s hard to tell when she’s sleeping. She’s very quiet though.”
“That’s our trick!” Now Wil was offended.
“I don’t want to send her to a temple—”
Andy shook his head fiercely.
“But she doesn’t understand our rules. Not the rules about magic or about living with a family, I think. She ate half the bread.”
Wil scowled. “That was for us!”
“It’s all right— she needs it more than we do and we can get more, but Jay wants to help her.”
“Keep her?” Wil was scandalized but Andy looked thoughtful. “In our house?”
“Jay’s family’s house, yes.”
They glanced at each other, communicating in a way I couldn’t follow but wasn’t magic per se, then nodded. Antero said solemnly, “We keep her.”
“Thank you.” They were good boys. “You watch her for me, all right? Let me know if she’s loud when she uses her magic.”
Wil scowled. “She better be quiet. I don’t like those guards around.”
“Me either,” I said, and meant it.
Andy whipped his head around and stared at the house. “She’s awake,” he said. “Jay too.”
“Our students will be waiting out front. Will you start lessons for me? I’ll be there in a moment.”
“Sure, Mom!” They beamed up at me, brighter than the morning sun— perhaps because I called the neighborhood kids our students— and then they ran for the house, their charcoal sticks and their tablets.
Good boys.
I followed more slowly. How to convince the Yellow girl to stay, for Jay’s sake— someone to coddle— and for mine— ensure she stayed quiet, so she wouldn’t bring the guard down on us all?
By the time I made it into the house, the Yellow girl was sitting at our table with a hunk of bread in her hands and another in her mouth and crumbs all around again. Jay stood behind her, looking guilty.
“Morning,” he said. “Ah, she was still hungry.”
At some point, we needed to talk about the secrets he was keeping… but not now. Now was about the Yellow girl.
“What’s your name?” I asked her.
She shrugged and stuffed another too-large bite into her mouth.
Right. If she wouldn’t tell us then… I could give her one to try on. “You remind me of a mouse. Small and hungry. Shall we call you Mouse?”
She shrugged again, but looked pleased.
“Mouse it is.” Like her namesake, the girl would panic and run if she felt trapped. I’d never dealt with children who had that kind of a choice before— once committed to a temple, always committed to a temple. Which she should have been years ago, but somehow she’d been missed.
But she’d been living without shelter, with what food she could beg or steal, without family. If her blood family was anything like mine, family would not be a draw for her. Food and shelter though— “She’s feral.” I let my dismay at her table manners seep into my tone.
“So?” Jay stared at me like I was speaking a different language. He was so ready to protect this little lost child.
“She should be at a temple.”
The girl curled in on herself, her fingers making claws and her eyes going wild.
I couldn’t see her magic use at all right now. Last night I hadn’t seen it until I touched her. How much of that was instinct and how much true control? Instinct could fail when it was needed most. “She’s dangerous.”
“I’m not going to a temple.” Mouse’s voice was soft but furious.
“She can stay here.” Jay folded his arms across his chest and set his jaw. “You can teach her anything she needs to know about her magic.”
“Don’t have magic,” Mouse scoffed.
“You do.” Denying it, ignoring it, wouldn’t help anyone.
“Sumi, you can teach her.”
“No one can know.” My words warned him as much as her. “Not your sisters, not the neighbors, not the guards. Not about her magic, not about me teaching her.”
“You can’t keep me here.” This time, her interruption was more a question than a statement.
Can. I turned my high priestess glare on her before I remembered I wasn’t that person any more. Bless it. It had been so much easier when people just did what I wanted.
But that time had passed.
So I said the things that would get her to stay. Kept my tone light. “You’re right. And when you go, we won’t have to feed you or keep your things safe.”
Her face blanked and I could almost hear her calculating thoughts, most of them starting and ending with free food. Fresh food.
Jay opened his mouth to protest. A tiny shake of my head and tilt of my chin told him I was up to something. Between Mouse and the neighboring Green girls, I shouldn’t have to clean the resting floors ever again, and that would free me to teach… and perhaps spend fun times with Jay. “I suppose you could stay, if you sleep on the couch,” I said, playing up my reluctance, “but you must rise with the sun and fold the blankets so others can use it during the day. You may eat our food, but you must clean the dishes.”
“So… not free after all.” That made her more comfortable. I wonder what she’d been offered for free in the past.
“Nope.” Now I let the weight of my gaze press on her, all my experience behind it. Just because I wasn’t the high priestess of Maldita anymore didn’t mean I couldn’t use my power to push at her… just not to push at her. “I don’t care if you stay or go. You’re one more mouth to feed.” I examined my fingernails— filthy again— as if I had no interest in her. “But if you go, take that blanket. It’s too full of holes for us anyway.” It obviously wasn’t. But I wasn’t letting her leave without something better than she had now.
Not that I would let her leave yet. I just had to let her think so.
“I can choose?” Her eyes were wide and she clutched at the blanket. “I can take this?”
“No one will bother you here.” I raised my eyebrows to see if she understood exactly what I meant by bother.
By the sudden paleness of her yellow skin, she did.
“Why would you do this?” She glanced at Jay, then back to me. “Offer me this?”
“You’re a person,” Jay said sharply. “You deserve better than the streets.”
“Tell that to all of them.” Her gesture somehow incorporated the whole city.
“We can’t house all of them,” I snapped. Softened. “You can stay if you really want to. But you have to help out. Be nice to the boys.”
She looked at me. Looked at Jay. Looked back at me. Shrugged and tucked herself more firmly into the couch.
So… she was staying.
* * *
Jay
He’d forgotten how decisive… commanding… strong Sumi was— once she decided she wanted the Yellow girl to stay, she made it happen. He wasn’t sure quite how. She’d been telling the girl to go and then—
Or even why, though he thought she might have done it for him.
Sumi was complicated. Important to remember that.
Maggie peeked out into the main room. Her gaze flicked between each of them, lingered on Sumi. Then she disappeared again.
Sumi lost all expression— reminded him of how she used to look in the Temple of the Damned when she was trying to hide that something or someone had hurt her. “Ever since the funeral,” she muttered. “Her and Thom.” She escaped out the front door. Shut the door behind her. Through the window, he heard her thank the boys for starting class for the neighborhood children.
Maggie came out of her room dressed for work. Before Jay could say anything, his youngest sister had slipped out the back door. He rocked on his heels. Mouse needed attention. Sumi needed a hug. Maggie needed to be scolded. Why the resting betweens was she avoiding Sumi? Thom too? Now that she mentioned it, he hadn’t been back to the house since Mom died.
It hit him— the ache where his mother had been, and now she was gone. Made him crankier.
Dee strode into the kitchen rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Morning.”
“What’s Maggie’s problem with Sumi?”
Dee blinked at him. Noticed the Yellow girl at their table still shoveling food into her mouth. “Who’s this?”
“Mouse.”
“As in quiet as a…?”
“So far. She’ll be staying with us for a bit. Don’t change the subject.”
Dee shrugged. “You’re going to have to take that up with Maggie. I have work to do.”
Jay lowered his voice. “You tell her I want to talk to her tonight. At the guardhouse.”
Dee grimaced. “You woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”
“I’m fine.”
“Sure.”
“Dee—”
“I’ll tell her! Resting betweens. Go back to bed, Jay. Better yet, take Sumi.”
Jay winced. “Too late.” He turned to Mouse. “When you’re done eating, Sumi is teaching the neighborhood kids to read and write. You could ask her to teach you too, if you want.”
Mouse shrugged, but the muscles in her back jumped. She wasn’t as indifferent as she was pretending.
“Not all mornings are as exciting as this one,” Jay muttered. “Mouse, this is my sister, Dee.”
Robin chose that moment to appear. Did an exaggerated double-take of the girl at their table.
“And this is Robin.” A headache bloomed behind his eyes. Maybe he should go back to bed.
“But…” Mouse whispered, “she’s Yellow.”
“Mom was Yellow, Dad was Brown.” Jay shrugged. “We’re mixed.”
Mouse stared, the last crumbs of food forgotten. “And… she’s a guard too?”
“I am.” Robin sat down next to Mouse. “You can be too if you want. If you work hard. My brother and sister had it easier, but I’ve proved myself. It’s better than any other job in the city. For Yellows.”
“Woah.” Mouse looked between them. “You all work.”
“Yes.” What had the girl’s home been like? “Remember how Sumi said you need to clean to earn your keep? She teaches, the boys fetch water and run errands for the neighbors. We all work so we all eat.”
“Huh.”
“Cleaning isn’t so bad in exchange for food and shelter. Clothes. And a chance to learn how to read and write. Is it?”
Mouse jutted her chin and looked stubborn.
“We’re not holding you captive,” Jay reminded her, though he desperately wanted to— her and everyone else he cared about.
“Robin, you’re off today? I’m to introduce this one to Maggie.” Dee shrugged.
“I’m off today,” Robin agreed. “Best wishes with that. You know how our Magpie is. Might be better if you don’t tell her.”
Dee smirked. “Might.”
Jay growled. He loved them, but sometimes—
Robin disappeared back into her room, then came out with an old shirt and pair of pants. “Here, Mouse,” she said. “Since you’re staying. If you want them, they’re yours.”
Jay hid a smile. The Yellow girl gaped at his sisters. She would stay. She had to. And he could leave her safe with Robin and Sumi.
He broke his fast and tidied up. As the morning came to a close and the afternoon started, Dee waved and headed for work, and Sumi came in from teaching. He made sure she had a large plate of food— she needed to put on more muscle— then kissed her thoroughly. Wished they had more alone time. Dressed in his guard-grays and belted on his favorite swords. Headed in to work.
His baby sister was in the weapons room. Maggie tried out first one blade, then another. Thom adjusted her grip and watched to see which fit best.
Good. He could yell at them together instead of having to do this twice.
“Out with it.” Jay kicked the door closed behind him. Trapping all of them in with this many weapons wasn’t ideal… but none of them needed weapons to hurt each other. “What is your problem with Sumi?”
Dee popped her head up from the back corner, where she’d been polishing an axe. “No one has a problem—”
“Bullshit. Resting bullshit.”
Thom took the latest sword from Maggie— too long, too heavy— with gentle hands, but his words were sharp. “Watch your tone.”
“You first.” Jay folded his arms and leaned on the door. “You spent the mourning week with us, Thom, and we haven’t seen you since. And now Maggie won’t go anywhere near Sumi. So what the resting betweens is going on?”
Maggie studied her feet as if they held the answers. Dee opened her mouth, looked at his face, and shut it again. She settled back into the seat that hid her from the door and went back to polishing the axe. Thom scowled.
Maggie broke first. “The uh— the demon hunters think the damned high priestess is alive. Not dead, not murdered—”
“The previous one,” Dee corrected mildly. “Not the current.”
“The demon hunters. Uh huh.” Jay scowled. Goddessi, of course they did. They were probably looking for her. A sudden need to run for home clutched at him, but he pushed it down. One threat at a time. And why would Maggie know what the demon hunters thought?
“You’re spying on them,” he said flatly. Then rounded on Thom. “And you approved this?”
“I’m not a little girl anymore!” Maggie’s shrill voice contradicted her statement, but Jay heroically ignored it.
“She’s doing well.” Thom said.
“You sent my youngest sister in to spy on the demon hunters. The same people who nearly killed Robin last year—”
“They had no interest in killing Robin, and still don’t so far as we know. Their interest is all on the dead high priestess.”
“The one they think isn’t really dead.” Dee again.
“Not helping,” he snapped at her.
“Not a child either,” she said, her tone pleasant but firm.
“You’re okay with our baby sister spying on these people?”
“Okay enough.” Dee racked the weapon and chose another. “She’s all grown up now and nothing you or I say could stop her.”
“Thom could.” Jay tried to strangle his bitterness.
“Thom is her commander.”
“Thom is standing right here.” Thom snorted. “The two of you are like dogs over a bone. Your sister volunteered and we need the intel.”
“Fine.” Jay slashed one hand down for emphasis. Anything but fine. “So Maggie is spying on the demon hunters and they’ve decided the dead high priestess isn’t… and you’ve decided Sumi is somehow involved?”
“She came from the temple.” Maggie pouted. “With you.”
Jay rubbed between his eyes. “You think Sumi is the high priestess—”
“Retired! Ousted! Murdered?” Dee sang from her corner.
“— of the dark goddess. One of the two highest powers in this city. With the most magic.”
“Maybe?”
“In our house.”
“Er—”
“Our tiny, little, drafty house.”
“Well, yes.” Maggie blinked. “If you put it like that—”
“You really think the high priestess of Maldita would live in rags? Share a bedroom and wear your castoffs—”
“Ousted high priestess,” Dee inserted.
Jay rolled right over her. “With no magic, no servants, crap food, half-starving and scrubbing our floors—”
“Um— ”
“Thom, you met the damned high priestess. Had conversations with her. You saw what she was like. You think Sumi is the same woman? They don’t even look alike!”
“They’re both Reds.” Maggie raised her chin.
“You and Dee are both Browns and you have the same parents. You look more alike that the damned high priestess—”
“Ousted high priestess—” Dee again.
“— than Sumi and the woman who took me as a servitor—”
“All right, all right—”
“She scrubbed the floors while you were with us in mourning. Does that sound like a damned high priestess to you?”
Thom winced. “You’ve made your point, boy.”
“Have I? She’s noticed. Maggie especially, but she’s noticed and you hurt her feelings. Does that sound like the damned high priestess? Because I’ll tell you, I served that woman and—” forgive me, Sumi— “it doesn’t. The damned high priestess was the coldest woman I ever met.”
Maggie stuffed her fist in her mouth.
Guilt hit Jay in the gut. Goddessi, they had guessed exactly right and here he was, hurting them to protect her. But if they guessed about Sumi—
His guts twisted. They’d send her back, and that would kill her or kill him or kill both of them and he couldn’t let it happen—
But Maggie.
He pulled her into a hug. “It’s all right. Just… stop avoiding her. She wants you to like her.”
Maggie sniffled into his shirt. “I’m sorry. I just thought—”
“I know. It’s all right. She’d tell you the same. It’s all right.” He could feel Dee’s eyes on him. Dee wasn’t as easy as Maggie— she was older, more experienced, and her thoughtful gaze made him wonder if he’d convinced her too… or made it worse.
“My apologies.” Thom’s hand landed on Jay’s shoulder. “She has been nothing but kind to me, and it’s obvious she loves you. I’m sorry if I caused her pain.”
Jay nodded, his throat tight. “You know you’re welcome at the house any time,” he said gruffly. “You’re family now, and we don’t give up on family.”
“Thank you, son. I—” Thom sighed heavily. “I have been avoiding it. The house without your mom in it. I’ll make some time soon. Come for a meal.”
“Happy to have you.”
Maggie wiggled out from Jay’s hug and wiped her eyes. “I have to go.”
She was going back to the demon hunters. He couldn’t keep her safe— “Be careful,” he said sharply. “If they suspect you at all—”
“I’ll be fine, big brother.”
“She will.” Dee smiled. “She’s playing it smart.”
Rest it, if he could just gather them up and keep them all together, safe in the house all the time, he would.
But he couldn’t.
Could only do his best and try to trust them to keep themselves safe. It was tearing him apart.
“Back to work then,” he growled, and turned away from them all. Could take his frustration out on one of the more skilled guards who could handle it.
Just had to find one brave enough.