Rowan Switched's Arc

Chapter 13 of 25

The candle at the gate had gone out hours ago. Rowan sat at the table with the copy-mark folded in their pocket and counted the problem out loud. Four nights left. Three notes to sing over the deed under open sky at the dark moon. No roof was allowed, but any open field was a stage for the crowned woman's watchers. Rowan needed a place that was open above and closed on every side. The ghost in the rocker pointed one finger at the floor, then at the window. Rowan understood the first part. Under the earth was closed. But the notes needed open sky. The ghost tapped the window again. Rowan followed the line of the finger to the far edge of the yard, where the low stone wall marked the animal graveyard. Small stones for dogs and barn cats. A pear tree grew in the middle of it, heavy with fruit even this late. Around its roots, a patch of moonflowers had opened white in the dark. Rowan pulled on their coat and crossed the yard. The graveyard was walled on four sides, waist high, old stone. The pear tree stood in the center. Above the tree, open sky. Around the tree, the dead. Rowan had used the dead once before to hide the deed, and Thorn had counted it as spending. This time Rowan was not asking the dead to work. Only to sit around them like a fence. A cold shape stepped from behind the pear trunk. Selene Nightshade, black rags, black eyes. She spoke before Rowan could. "You want a room with no roof." Rowan nodded. Selene tilted her head. "Whose stones are these?" Rowan said, animals. Selene said, "Then they cannot be called as witnesses against you. The folk's law needs a human voice to testify. Sing here." She looked up through the pear branches. "Sky is open. Walls are dead who cannot speak. It will hold." Wings beat once above the wall. Thorn Nightwhisper landed on the top stone, small and sharp. "Clever," she said. "But loud. Three notes carry. Someone will come running." Rowan asked how to muffle the sound without a roof. Thorn plucked a moonflower and crushed it in her palm. "Rub this on the stones. The bloom drinks noise close to the ground. The notes will rise straight up and nowhere else. My gift. Not a debt. I want the crowned woman answered." Rowan took the pulp and did not thank her, which Thorn seemed to prefer. Rowan worked around the wall, pressing crushed petal into every stone. Selene watched from the tree. When Rowan finished, they stood under the pear and hummed one soft note. The sound climbed and did not spread. The wall ate the rest. Rowan had a place. Four nights left, the deed still under the graveyard stone in the village, and now a hidden mouth to sing from. Then Selene said, "Someone followed you home from the ridge. She is at your gate now."