Meadow Faeoria's Arc

Chapter 9 of 12

Little Red came back through the grass without sound. The basket was empty. Meadow's chest loosened for one second before she saw the huntress's face. Little Red set the basket down beside the willow roots. "She's in the iron cottage," she said. "Door shut. She didn't look back." Meadow tried to sit up straighter and could not. "Thank you." "That was work," Little Red said. "I don't do work for thanks." Meadow already knew. She had known since she pointed at the cottage. She pushed the wand across the dirt toward Little Red anyway, because it was the only thing left in the field that had weight. The star at the tip was dark. The twisted blue shaft caught what little moon there was. Little Red looked at it. She did not pick it up. "That's your tool," she said. "I don't want your tool. I want a name." "Whose." "The girl in the cottage. What she is to you. What she can do." Meadow's throat closed. Cinder had a furnace where her heart should be. Meadow had felt it through the bond the first time she touched her cheek. A huntress who mapped fears before she struck would take that name and go straight to the cottage door before dawn. "No," Meadow said. Little Red tilted her head. "No." "She's mine. I don't trade her." "Then we have a problem." Little Red crouched so their faces were level. Her shadow did not crouch with her. It stayed long across the grass, thin, watching from the wrong angle. "I ran a girl to a door for you. That's a debt. Debts get paid or they get taken." Meadow drew the wand back into her lap. She had nothing. Her magic was gone. Her disguise was gone. Her brother had pulled back to a whisper. The only thing she owned tonight that Little Red might want was the one thing she would not give. She made herself speak. "Take me instead." Little Red went still. "I'm the youngest daughter of Hades," Meadow said. "I've never had a story told about me. That's worth something to a hunter who maps names. You keep me in your basket until I earn back what I owe you. Not her." Little Red studied her a long time. The shadow behind her shifted, interested. "A daughter of the underworld," Little Red said. "Owing me." She almost smiled. "That's a name I can carry." "Then it's paid." "Not paid. Held." Little Red stood. She lifted the empty basket. "I'll come when I call it in. You'll answer. Anywhere. Any hour." "Yes." "Say it." "I'll answer." Little Red nodded once and walked back into the dark. The shadow went with her this time. Meadow lay in the grass with the dead wand across her stomach. Cinder was safe behind an iron door. Meadow was not. She had traded herself for one night of shelter, and somewhere a huntress now owned the string.