Orin Wanderwood's Arc

Chapter 19 of 26

Orin dropped into the passage and pulled the slab shut. The tapping at the tree line kept coming. Slow at first. Then faster. It had his direction now. He ran the tunnel back to the low room where the child's tent stood against the wall. Kate looked up from Lily's side. Her hand was on Lily's forehead. "It's coming," Orin said. "I have to send it somewhere else." Lady Moon stood by the rack. Five arrows left. Blue, green, white, black, and one the color of wet bone. "Name a target," she said. "The arrow carries the creature to whatever you name. It will not stop until it reaches the name." He thought of names. Every one was a person. Marrow, still in the pines. Mr. Echo with his brass box. The constable in town. A farmer he had passed on the road. Each name was a door he would open for the thing above them. He could not do it. "A place," he said. "Not a person." "A place can hold a name," Lady Moon said. "If the name is true." The tapping reached the slab. It struck once. Dust fell from the ceiling. Kate did not look up. She was counting Lily's breaths under her hand. Then a cold shape stepped out of the wall beside the tent. A boy in a gray hoodie, edges lit blue. Will. Kate's brother. He had been drawn down by the arrow's call, or by Kate's fear. Orin did not know which. "Send it north," Will said. His voice was flat and quiet. "The peak above the north pass. She goes there anyway. Name the peak." Kate's head came up. "Will." "I know the road," Will said. He did not look at her. He looked at Orin. "Say the peak. I'll walk ahead of it. I'll keep it moving until dawn." "It will take you," Kate said. "It already did," Will said. Orin took the bone-white arrow. He set it to the string. The slab above them cracked. He aimed at the tunnel mouth and drew. "The north peak," he said, and loosed. The arrow went through the stone without sound. A long note pulled after it, thin as wire. The tapping on the slab stopped. Then it started again, moving away, climbing. It went north and did not come back. Will was already at the passage wall. He looked once at Kate. "Two sugars," he said. Then he stepped into the rock and was gone. Kate sat very still. She did not cry. She put her hand back on Lily's forehead and counted. Lady Moon lifted a small vial from a shelf behind the rack. The liquid inside was deep purple and full of small lights. "Now the trade," she said. "The girl is dying. This will hold her. In return, you owe me a name of my choosing, spoken when I ask." Orin took the vial. "Yes," he said.