Lena Marsh's Arc

Chapter 9 of 24

They came out of the library into gray light and saw the watchers at once. Two men in Hild's gray coats stood at the corner of the square. Another leaned by the fountain. They did not pretend to look elsewhere. Fern's red crystal was warm in Lena's palm. It pulled, faintly, toward the ridge road. The ridge road went past the fountain. "They'll take you before you reach the tree line," Linny whispered. She did not stop walking. "Keep going to the shop." They reached the seamstress shop. Forge was already at the door, sleeves rolled, an iron bar loose in his hand. He had seen the men too. "Three," Forge said. "Maybe a fourth by the alley. Your father's asleep. Fever's down a little." He looked at Linny, jaw flexing. “I’m not a housekeeper.” “Yet you’re still here,” she said with a forced smile. Lena set the crystal on the counter. It rolled a quarter turn toward the back wall and stopped. Toward the woods. Toward the deadline she could not beat on foot. "I can't leave through the front," she said. "I can't leave through the back either. He has both." Nell stood by the window, one finger on the glass. "He wants you to run. Then he can paint us the bad guys." "He said I have three days. Didn’t say I had to spend them here," Lena said. “He won’t see it that way,” Linny said. “His men will stop us.” “Then we don’t give them the chance.” Lena looked at her sister. "Linny," she said. "Wear my coat with the hood up. Take the crystal in a closed hand. Walk out the back toward the ridge. Slow. Let them see you." "They'll grab me," Linny said. "They can't hold you." Linny's mouth twitched. "Fine." "Forge, with her. Iron out. Don't hide it." “I didn’t say I was going,” he grumbled. She grinned. “Didn’t you? I could’ve sworn I heard you.” “I think I heard it too,” Linny said. “Kind of grumbly and rude.” Forge looked at her, his face a dull glare. “Fine. If only so I can get my swords back once you foolishly fall off a cliff.” "Nell." Lena did not look at him. "You and I go out the front. Toward the governor's house. In daylight. We ask for an audience." Nell's head turned. "That gives him you." "It gives him the wrong thing to watch," Lena said. "The crystal goes with Linny. So do their eyes. We meet at the mushroom circle.” They moved. Linny went out the back in the blue coat, crystal tight in her fist, Forge a step behind with iron bare. The watchers broke from the fountain and followed at a run. The alley man went with them. Lena and Nell walked out the front into an empty street. No one stopped them. No one was left to. At the governor's gate Lena did not knock. She surveyed for watchers before she turned east toward the ridge and began to walk. Nell kept pace. "He'll know within the hour," Nell said. "Then we have an hour to get as far away as we can," Lena said. The road opened before them. The crystal, somewhere ahead in Linny's hand, was already pulling them on.