Chapter Thirty-Nine

Nomad

The remaining townsfolk were scattering before my eyes, eager to get about their business in the new dawn. To my surprise, Miss Crosman led the small group heading out into the world.

“What will you do?” I shook her hand.

“Salt the ground and move on from this awful place. Do the same if you’re smart. There’s got to be better lives women like us can have.”

Fewer than twenty people joined her in her desire, but sometimes twenty people was all it took to start something great. Heck, sometimes all it took was two.

Salt the ground and move on. Maybe someday, I wouldn’t have to.

Perdy got twisted looks from nearly everyone she passed, but everyone was far too busy making decisions about their future to worry her. She went straight to Flor and sat on the ground in front of his eyes, so that there was no way he could avoid looking at her. I didn’t know what she said, but his frown deepened, then loosened. Later, I heard him crack a laugh, and it was as sweet as honey. By my side, Mara watched them as well.

She placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Anna, thank you.”

“What for?” All I’d done was bring her horrible news. I wanted to be able to do so much more for her, but there was so little that could make up for what she’d been through.

“For saving me, in a way. I think in my head, I was ready to give up living. One of the things keeping me sane right now is the thought that you came here with nothing and nobody, and must have lost so much in the process. And yet you kept going, and found us, and meant so much to us after only a few days. Did so much. It makes me feel like maybe I’ll be able to still have meaning too. Still be there for Clara. Still do good things.”

“You already mean everything to everyone who knows you.”

She wiped at her already reddened eyes.

“What will you do?” I asked. “Stay, go?”

“I’m staying. For my sister and for the community.” She drew a breath that was half a sob. “And for Eugen. He’s here too.”

I stood by her in silence as she settled, holding her hand.

After a few moments, she nodded to herself. “I’ll be all right. The brewery still needs to run. We can have a little industry, set up a proper little town. I’ll take over Miss Crosman’s duties. Keep my hands and head busy.”

I nodded back. Sometimes, moving forward involved a lot of actual moving. I had every faith she’d change the shape of the town before long. I hugged her and wished her well before heading back to Perdy’s house to gather what little I’d left there.

Dawn broke. It was by far the maddest sky I’d seen in Whisperwood yet, light blue to the east rising into pinks and greens, still pitch-black and starry above, and tinged by a final, dwindling line of blood-red at the north toward the Unspoken. Just like that sky, inside I was made of chaos, a leaf in the wind again.

I gathered my belongings as best I could, greeted those few townsfolk who would bear me, and bought or traded a few useful things. I filled my pack with food and water, a waterproof skin and blankets, cooking tools. All needful things for someone on the road.

The main street was a tumbled mess, but somehow peaceful. I wanted to walk down the cobbles one more time. Empty and scarred, most of the buildings stood testament to how many had left, but many others were already being set to rights. The dark and empty guesthouse was the hardest to look at, heavy with the intensity of its former master.

“Anna!”

Perdy ran to me, Florin hobbling along behind her. They carried packs and supplies too, him carrying a far heavier load than she did. She looked almost human now, only a faint trace of horns still telling the story of her unusual biology. She’d made her choice, then. Quietly and without fuss, her whole identity decided by one desire she’d finally accepted. I beamed at her.

“We’re leaving too.”

“Together, then?” I hadn’t expected her to want to stay in town, but half wished he’d convince her. Whatever their decision, I’d be pleased for it. There was too little joy in the world not to rejoice in the happiness of others.

Florin caught up with us. “Together. We both have a lot of explaining to do, and a lot to make up for.”

“Flor, n—”

“But also a lot to be grateful for. If this infection clears—”

Perdy and I spoke in unison. “It will!”

He laughed, and it was so very nice to hear. “When it clears, we might be able to see the world a little. I’m a passable fighting instructor, if not a fighter any longer, and Perdy’s a gifted healer. We can always find something to do. More importantly, maybe we can learn about what it’s like out there.”

“And each other.”

I hoped against hope they would, gave them every blessing I knew how to give, and held Perdy until I couldn’t hold her any longer.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t walk with us awhile?” Her cheeks were damp. “Or even stay with us? I’ve so many things I want to tell you about. Everything. No more secrets.”

“I’m sure. I still have to say my goodbyes, and you have even more important things to say than that. This isn’t the last of you and me, Perdy. I promise. You’ll get to tell me all those things.”

“Then let’s meet again soon at the house. I saw you’ve put it in order. It’s your home too now. Anytime you want it.”

I laughed. “I suppose we’ll both have to remember we have roots now.”

She squeezed me one more time before turning away and falling into a slow, measured step alongside Flor. I watched them for a while.

There was nobody left to greet, but there was one more thing I had to do. Weaving through the mess of burned-down rubble and abandoned belongings, I found my way to the fountain at the heart of Whisperwood. It seemed like it couldn’t possibly only have been a handful of days ago that I arrived and tossed a copper coin into that very fountain for luck.

Had it worked, I wondered? Was what had happened luck?

I rifled through my satchel and gathered together the handful of gold coins that had been weighing on me ever since I ran away, my stolen safety net that I could never bring myself to use. The measure of imaginary control I thought I had over the world. One after the other, I dropped them into the fountain, savoring each heavy, wet plonk.

“Good riddance, Alec.”

Plonk.

“Good riddance, guilt.”

Plonk.

“Good riddance, gold.”

Plonk.

“Go down like the day and drown evil away.”

Plonk.

“Go down like the sun until evil is gone.”

A flurry of clinks and plonks drowned out the final line of my improvised unsong. After the last of them faded, I yanked on the collar of my shirt and spat in my bosom for good measure.

“There.”

I had no doubt Mara would put them to good use for the town’s benefit, and I smirked picturing the look on her face when she found them. A million stones lighter, I floated down the main road one last time. With every moment that passed, the sky drained of all alien colors and returned to a resplendent deep blue that you could almost swim in. At the crossroads, I turned to all four directions and took it in. The air pulled almost unnoticeably toward the forest, and I fancied it a side effect of the Whispers withdrawing their influence from the world. It caused my fingers to lift and caress it like a warm current under the ocean.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye.”

I said those words, then started one final Walk into the Unspoken.