205

205



[From 201]
[Tag: no coat]
[205]

Luckily, my mother isn’t in the kitchen just at that moment. I grab my coat from off the peg and tiptoe out the back door. Once I’m out to the chopping block, I sit on it to put on my coat and then tie the laces of my boots. As I run, the cold air slapping my face and chilling my lungs wakes me up. Spring is in progress, but it’s still cold, and the snow isn’t all gone yet.
I know the general direction to head in, and now that it’s light, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. I race faster and nearly trip over a tree root for my trouble. I’m getting closer.

That’s when I hear a noise behind me. I turn around in time to see a skimmer catching up to me fast. Boron, it has to be Boron. What do I look like? I didn’t even think before I left. It didn’t even occur to me that he would be here. Since I slept on my face, my hair shouldn’t be too bad, but I still must look like I just woke up.

He slows down when he sees me. “What are you doing here?” he demands. “This is a search, not a picnic.”

“I couldn’t stand waiting at home for news. You see--”

“Well, it would be safer if you did. What if those Outliers are still around? I heard that one of them was killed last night, which will save the price of a rope.”

Suddenly, I’m aware of how cold my feet are, sunk to my ankles in a bank of rotten snow.  “They’re not going? What did they do?”

“Tried to burn down my house for one thing. Thank Benevolence that they were found out. A runner just brought the news, so I came right over to make sure that they didn’t miss any evidence. Now you see why you should go home.”

I try to smile, but I feel like I have a big rock in my stomach. “Thanks, I’ll keep going. My dad should be there. I’ll stay near him.”

“You really should leave this to the men.” The he rushes off, the skimmer gliding just above the snow.

I take a step, watch my foot sink through the pile that is really more a heap of little bits of ice than snow. It will be gone within a week except for pockets in dark places under trees and between rocks. I think my socks are getting wet.

When I look up, he’s gone, disappeared between the spruce trees just ahead. I’ve never ridden on a skimmer before. I wonder if Barry got away. What if he was wounded? What if he’s dead? If Boron is right then someone is dead. But then I knew that. I knew that someone would die--I just didn’t believe it.

My feet start moving, slowly at first, but then faster. Running takes all of my concentration, which is good.  Just through the line of trees I can hear voices. I can also smell a campfire. And then I stop short because I can see the black snow, muddy patches of ground, and the charcoal trunks of trees.

Logs that have been partially burned are black and have little burned grooves in them where the surface of the wood has been consumed and then pulls apart. I’m not used to seeing that on upright trees. Something must have been very hot to make them burn at this time of year.

“What are you doing here?” It’s my dad. “First Wren and now you? Isn’t your grandmother coming any minute? Why aren’t you at home helping your mother? You know how she gets.”

“Dad--”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“Did you find anyone?” He can’t send me home before I find out anything.

“No. Barry’s not at home, either. The enforcers have been there to check.”

“So we don’t know if he’s hiding or if he, if he’s dead?”

My dad shakes his head.

“Okay,” I say and turn to go.

His big hand rests gently on my shoulder and pulls me back. “It looks like they were planning to use explosives on the Domini House, but that some enforcers somehow knew that they were here and followed them.  The explosives went off. And we did find blood on the snow in more than one place. I don’t want you to see it.”

I nod, and this time he lets me go. The way back seems longer; it’s definitely colder. I shove my hands into my pockets and wish that I had remembered my mittens. It looks like my scrying went well last night. So why does that make me feel terrible?

They were planning to burn down the Domini House? They were planning to kill the Domini, the Lady Domini and Boron? What would they have done to me? I try to keep the thought from slipping in because I should be more worried about the Domini family. I should trust Barry, but I guess I don’t. And as sorry as I am that someone died, I can’t help being glad that I’m alive.

1) I don’t want to deal with my mother and grandmother being polite and disapproving at each other right now. I’m going to go talk to Daisy. Maybe she can help me figure out what to think about all of this.

2) Going home is the sensible thing to do now. If I’m lucky, my mother will have been too busy to notice that I was gone. I’ll still be able to see Anen if I go now.