Ninka Evertrue's Arc

Chapter 5 of 29

Ninka's grandmother drove her the forty miles home the long way, taking dirt roads Ninka had never seen. They watched the mirrors the whole time. By the time Ninka climbed out at the edge of her meadow, the sun was low and her legs ached. The cabin sat waiting in the grass, small and stubborn, its crystal-flecked roof catching pink light. Luna came running from the sunflowers with dirt on her hands. "You made it," Luna said. "I couldn't hold the door open. I tried." "Gran's safe. Deed's burned." Ninka sank onto the front step. She looked at the empty meadow around the cabin. Twelve acres. One shelter. Two people. "Luna. We can't do this alone. There are kids out there like us. Kids sleeping in cars. I don't know how to find them without my father finding them first." Luna sat down beside her. "You can't post a sign. You can't send a letter. Anything traceable is a road he can walk down." Ninka closed her eyes. She thought of her mother. She whispered the name they used when they wanted the eye to come. The air over the step shimmered. A blue eye opened in it, ringed in gold thread, lashes long as fingers. It hung there without blinking. Her mother's floating watcher. Rebecka had let it follow Ninka since the meadow was bought. "I need to find people," Ninka said. "Gifted. Alone. Not him. Not his people. Can you do that?" "Yes," the eye said. "Quietly." "Not alone. You need a caller. I only see." "A caller." "Your mother has a bottle. Rainbow inside. She keeps it in the pantry. It calls beautiful souls. Together we can reach them without a road." Ninka stared. "She never told me." "She was saving it. Ask her." Ninka went inside and used the cabin's small mirror to project. She kept the timer, the cracked window, the water on the table. She slipped out and found her mother in the kitchen at home, chopping onions. She spoke through the air the way she had learned to. Rebecka set the knife down and listened. She did not argue. She went to the pantry and lifted down a slim glass bottle. Inside, a rainbow twisted like smoke around a white beam. "Bring Luna to the porch tomorrow at dawn," Rebecka said to the empty room. "I'll hand it to you myself. And Ninka. Once you uncork it, anyone who needs you will start walking. You'd better be ready." Ninka snapped back into her body. Luna was watching her. "Well?" Luna asked. "We drive to my mother's at dawn. She has something. The eye will guide it. It calls people like us." Luna's face broke open. "They're coming?" "They're coming." Ninka looked at the one small cabin. "We're going to need more beds."