Angela Ant's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Angela did not sleep. She sat at the top tunnel mouth and watched the fence line until the sky went pale. Matilda did not come back. That was the problem. A witch who took her poison home without a fight was a witch who was already planning the next thing. Angela had to tell Summer Sun. She had to make Summer Sun believe her. She left before the foragers stirred. Tracie caught her at the south door. "You're going alone?" "She'll see me faster if I'm alone." "Take the sash." Angela took the sash. She tied the yellow strip across her back and started across the stones. The walk to the cottage was long on ant legs. She kept to the shadow of the grass and watched the sky for beaks. When she reached the step, Summer Sun was already outside, barefoot, watering a pot of clover. Summer Sun saw the flash of yellow and knelt at once. She put her palm flat on the stone. Angela climbed on. The palm was warm. She stayed on her feet this time. She needed to be heard, not held. "She poisoned the hill," Angela said. "Seven cubes. We moved them. She came to the fence and watched." Summer Sun's face did not change. "You got them all?" "All seven. I made her take them back." "Good." "She didn't fight me. She just said next time I won't smell it. Then she left." Summer Sun was quiet. She lifted Angela closer to her eye. "You have the cubes?" "She took them." "Then I have your word." "That's all I have." "That's enough." Angela's legs shook. She had come ready to argue. She had rehearsed how to describe the smell, how to explain the trail from before, how to prove any of it. Summer Sun had skipped past all of it. "You believe me," Angela said. "I know you." "She's been at your cottage. She brought you tea. She made you laugh." Summer Sun set Angela down on the step and sat beside her. She looked at the garden a long moment. "She did," Summer Sun said. "That was real too." "Both can't be real." "They are." Angela did not know what to do with that. "I'll watch her," Summer Sun said. "Closer. You watch the hill. If she comes back to the fence, you send Tracie. Don't wait." "I won't." Summer Sun stood. She did not look angry. She looked like someone counting the exits in a room she thought she'd known. "Angela." "Yes." "Next time she offers you something, don't send it back. Bring it to me." Angela climbed down off the step. The yellow sash caught the early light. She started back across the stones toward the hill. Behind her, Summer Sun stood on the doorway a long time before she went inside and shut the door.