Winnie Sanderson's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The green thread led Winnie down the hill and into the sleeping town. She kept to the shadows between houses. But dawn broke fast, and lamplight gave way to open streets. A woman spotted her first. The woman screamed and pointed. "Witch! A witch in the market!" Doors banged open. Winnie's green skin and wild hair marked her plain as a brand. Men grabbed rakes and stones. She had walked into the one place that wanted her dead. She ran. Her old legs burned. A stone struck her shoulder and spun her sideways. The crowd closed in, a wall of angry faces. She clawed at the air for a spell, but fear scattered her thoughts. They would have her soon. Then a hand caught her wrist and yanked her through a gap. "This way. Don't argue." The boy pulling her wore a dark jacket with an orange burst across his shirt. Winnie knew him. He was one of the children who had trapped her in salt. Max Dennison. The last person on earth she expected to save her. He shoved her behind a stack of crates. A girl with short brown hair crouched there already, a red backpack on her shoulder. Allison Watts. She pressed a finger to her lips and glared at Winnie. "Make one sound and they find us both." The mob thundered past. Winnie's heart slammed. "Why help me?" she hissed. "You fought me. You stole from me." Max didn't flinch. "We didn't take your book. But I know who did, and I know what you'll do to this town if you get it back wrong." He pulled a small girl closer, a child in a pointed hat and striped stockings. Dani Dennison. His sister, by the way he shielded her. "Dani saw the man who carries it." The little girl lifted her chin at Winnie. "He's mean. Meaner than you." She did not look away. Winnie almost respected the nerve. Footsteps circled back. A hunter in the crowd had doubled around. Allison reached into her pack and flung a white arc into the dirt. Salt. A line of it. "Cross it," she told Winnie. "They can't follow where they think a witch can't be." The hunter saw the salt, saw no witch beyond it, and turned the other way. The trick held. When the street fell quiet, Max stood. "The town will tear you apart on sight. You can't walk these streets as yourself." He looked her over. "But a witch who doesn't look like a witch can go anywhere." Winnie understood. To hunt her book, she would have to stop being Winnie Sanderson. She would need these children, the ones who had beaten her once. Her stomach turned at the thought. She wiped the dust from her cloak and faced them. "Hide me, then," she said. "Make me ordinary. And take me to the man who holds my book."