Ninka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 2 of 29

Ninka came back to the meadow the next morning with a hammer, a bag of nails, and no idea what to do with either. The deed was still in her back pocket. The grass was still empty. She set the tools down by the spring and sat on a flat rock. If she invited someone tonight, they would sleep in wet grass. That was the problem she had to solve before sundown. She closed her eyes and tried to think it through. A tent would take money she did not have. A lean-to would take wood she could not cut alone. Her mother had said the rest was harder. Her mother had been right. A voice behind her said, "You've been staring at that rock for eleven minutes." Ninka turned. A girl stood at the edge of the birch line. Pink curls, crystal cat ears on a headband, tattoos of vines running down both arms. A cat sat at her boots, then wasn't a cat, then was again. Ninka had heard about her from the woman at the tax office. The pink-haired girl who talked to strays. The one nobody's mother would hire. "I'm Luna," the girl said. "A crow told me somebody bought this field. I wanted to see who was dumb enough." "Ninka." She stood. Her heart was going fast. "I'm building a place. For people like us." "Define us." "People who get hunted for what they can do." Luna's face did not change. "Okay. I'm in. I have nowhere to sleep tonight. My aunt threw my stuff on the porch this morning. Three garbage bags." Ninka's mouth opened. Closed. The first outcast had arrived, and she had no roof. "I don't have anywhere for you yet," Ninka said. "I was trying to figure that out." Luna walked past her to the center of the meadow. She knelt, pressed both palms flat to the ground, and stayed there. Her lips moved. The cat at her boots stretched and yawned. "There's fae work in this dirt," Luna said. "Old. Sleeping. My gran told me how to wake it, once. She said it only works if someone already loves the ground." "I love it." "Then help me." They knelt together. Ninka pushed with the part of her that pushed her father from visions. Luna hummed something low. The grass under their hands warmed. Then the ground moved, not shaking, rising, and beams of pale wood pushed up like reaching arms. Crystal grew along the roof line. Sunflowers opened at the corners. A door with iron hinges settled into place. A cabin. Small. Real. Standing where nothing had stood. Inside, a corner bunk of woven hammocks hung from the beams, layered with cushions and a fur blanket. Two beds. One for Luna. One for the next person. Ninka sat down on the lower hammock and cried, quietly, so Luna would not see. Luna saw. She sat on the floor and did not say anything about it. "I need a well," Ninka said finally. "Tomorrow," Luna said.