Orin Wanderwood's Arc

Chapter 14 of 26

The tap came again, closer. Orin turned and saw Lily on her knees in the wet leaves. Kate was pulling at her arm, but Lily's head hung down and her breath came in small ragged pulls. The collie looked back at them with its ears flat. Marrow's face went hard. "She can't run anymore," Kate said. "Orin. She's done." Orin knelt in front of his sister. Her hair stuck to her forehead. Her eyes did not lift. He tried to think of what their mother would do and could not remember enough. He said her name. She did not answer. Behind him the tap came a third time, slower, testing the ground. "Carry her," Marrow said. "I'll walk behind you. If she catches us I'll make her deal with me first." She had her knife out and her other hand on the dog's back. Mr. Echo shook his head. "You'll last one breath. She'll take your voice and use it on him." He looked at Orin. "How far to the door?" Orin looked up through the trees. He saw the shape of the ridge he remembered. Past it, the ground fell toward the south road. "Ten minutes if she walks. Twenty if I carry her." He did not have twenty. He crouched and put his back to Lily and pulled her arms over his shoulders. She was heavier than he expected. He stood with her and his knees shook and held. Then the small ghost girl was beside him in the ferns, pale as milk, her bare feet not pressing the leaves. She pointed off the path, west, where the ground rose under a low cherry tree still holding a few late blossoms. Orin did not understand at first. Then he did. The dead knew paths the Fen kept. She was giving him a shorter one. "Go with her," Mr. Echo said. "We'll draw the sound east. Marrow. The dog. Me." Marrow's mouth opened and closed. She nodded once. Orin carried Lily off the path after the ghost. The ground under the cherry tree was firmer than it looked. He heard Marrow snap a branch behind them, then another, loud on purpose, moving away east. The tapping turned and followed the noise. Kate came up beside him and took some of Lily's weight without speaking. They climbed the small rise. On the other side, through the trunks, Orin saw a roof. A pine wall. A dark shape by the door that might have been a tree. They reached the door before the tapping came back. Orin set Lily down against the step. Her eyes opened a little. Kate was crying without sound. Orin put his hand on the wood of the door he had not touched in years and pushed it open. The others were still out there. But his sister was home.