Rowan Switched's Arc

Chapter 14 of 25

Rowan crossed the yard back toward the cottage with the moonflower pulp drying on their palms. The gate stood at the end of the path. A shape waited on the other side of it, still, hands folded on the top rail. Rowan stopped at the pear tree and looked. The shape did not move. Selene Nightshade drifted up beside them. "One watcher," she said. "Not six. Ask yourself which kind before you speak." Rowan crouched in the ghost garden patch by the wall. The white blooms drank the sound of their breath. Three watchers were possible. A folk scout sent by the crowned woman would carry black thorns or a lantern. A village neighbor drawn by rumor would carry nothing and stink of fear. A friend would name themselves first. Rowan lifted a stone from the wall and held it in one hand. Iron nail in the other pocket. Salt in the fold of their sleeve. They walked to the gate. The shape at the gate was a woman. Gray braid. Shell necklace. A satchel hung at her hip, heavy with small bundles. She did not flinch when Rowan stepped into the candle-line. "Rowan," she said. "I am Elara Rootwhisper. I came from the ridge. I followed you because I saw what you carried on your hands and I wanted to know if you were alive by morning." Rowan did not open the gate. "Say what you want plainly." "I want nothing," Elara said. "I brought this." She lifted a small clay jar from the satchel and set it on the top rail. "Ground root. Chew a pinch before you sing. It steadies the throat. The notes will come out clean." She paused. "A friend of mine sent me. She said a child was going to try something hard in four nights and would need her voice not to crack." Rowan asked the friend's name. Elara said, "Elspeth Moonwhisper. She keeps a promise about a child that was not hers. She counts you in that promise now." Rowan tested her. They dropped the iron nail from their sleeve onto the gate rail beside her hand. Elara looked at it. She did not flinch. She picked it up and set it back in Rowan's palm. "I am not folk," she said. "And I am not a watcher. If I were, I would not have stood in your candlelight this long." Rowan opened the gate. They took the jar. Elara did not step inside. She said, "Chew before the first note. Not during." Then she turned and walked back down the path and was gone before the candle flickered again. Selene watched her go and said, "That one was true. The next will not be." Rowan closed the gate and set the jar on the sill of the haunted cottage, three nights left, throat now armed.