Angela Ant's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

Angela made the walk to the cottage three more times that week. Each trip took most of a morning. A crow shadow sent her flat under a leaf for an hour. A boot came down two ant-lengths from her head and did not know she was there. She lay in the dirt after and shook until her legs would hold her. If she was going to watch the hill and report to Summer Sun, she needed a way to survive the road between them. She went to Tracie at the south door. "I need something loud," Angela said. "Something a big foot will hear before it lands." Tracie thought. "The tinker leaves scraps by the fence. I've seen a little brass thing there. Round. It rings." They went together at dusk. The bell was the size of a raindrop and hung from a broken chain. Angela cut a length of grass fiber. Tracie helped her lash the bell to the sash, right at the shoulder, where every step would swing it. Angela walked a test line across the stones. The bell rang thin and clear. A beetle turned its head and stepped aside. A sparrow landed, cocked its eye at the sound, and lifted off again. Small ears heard it as a wrong note. Big ears heard it at all. She set out for the cottage at first light with the bell ringing at her shoulder. Halfway down the path she froze. Matilda was crouched by the fence, sorting stems into a cloth. The witch's head came up at the sound of the bell. Matilda looked at the yellow sash. She looked at the bell. Her mouth pulled flat. "That's clever," Matilda said. Angela did not move. She did not answer. "A bell for the big ones." Matilda's voice went clipped. "So they step around you." "So they hear me." "Same thing." Matilda tied the cloth shut and stood. "I hear you too. From the fence. From the hedge. Anywhere you walk." She stepped over the stems and went back toward her cottage without looking again. Angela stood a long time in the path. The bell hung quiet at her shoulder. The thing that had made her safe from crows had told the witch exactly where she was, every step from the hill to the cottage. She kept walking. Summer Sun needed to know. At the step, Summer Sun knelt and put her palm down. Angela climbed on. The bell tapped her shoulder. "You made a road," Summer Sun said. "I made it for the birds." "She saw it." "She heard it. She said she'll hear it every time." Summer Sun studied the bell. Her face stayed flat. "Then we know where she'll be listening," Summer Sun said. "Come. We plan the walk different." Angela sat down on the warm palm. For the first time in a week, her legs stopped shaking.